K2

Kelton's Surgery

2012-01-21T16:13:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday I packed a bag for Kelton and myself with our basic necessities and a few toys, drove 3 hours, and checked into a hotel. Kelton was scheduled for surgery the next day. Our perfect little boy had one minor problem; he was born with a rare gingival tumor called a congenital epulis of the newborn.

At first I thought it was just a nursing blister on the roof of his mouth. That is the best description I can give it, but about a month passed and it din't go away. Kai researched it a little and took a picture to his previous oral path professor. She seemed to think that it was a congenital epulis of the newborn. I took Kelton to his doctor, who referred us to an ENT. The ENT's diagnosis was that it was likely a hemangioma and that we should wait and watch and have it removed if it changed. When she found out that we would be switching insurances at the end of the month, she opted to have it removed right away just to be safe. However, Kelton would have been only 2 months old so we opted to wait since he was so young and the risks were greater due to his age.

We changed insurances after the move and decided to get it reevaluated by an oral surgeon. After taking some pictures and doing some research he concluded that it was a gingival cyst. His diagnosis was to wait and do nothing unless it changed significantly, in which case it would need to be removed immediately.

All was fine until about 2 months ago. Kelton's two lower teeth broke through and immediately the bump tripled in size. I immediately called the previous oral surgeon and emailed him pictures since we had moved again. He said that it was time for it to come out. I found a trusted oral surgeon that my little sister, Stephanie, works for and scheduled a consult. By the time I got him in to see him, the bump had grown a tooth. Not kidding. Yes, it grew a tiny tooth. This oral surgeon decided that it was a congenital epulis of the newborn and that it needed to come out. (First diagnosis that actually agreed with one of the previous ones! 4 doctors; 3 different diagnosis's.) Since about 7 months had passed from the first surgery treatment plan making Kelton much larger and having a better ability to handle the surgery, and since the bump had changed significantly, we decided to go ahead and schedule it. A week later, the tiny tooth fell out and another appeared in it's place. A week after that, the second tooth fell out and the bump returned to it's original size (maybe even a little smaller). Still the oral surgeon said that we needed to go ahead and get it removed. We scheduled the date and I prepared.

I checked into a Westin with a great city view, and the front desk upgraded me to a large quiet room to accommodate Kelton better. They were fantastic every step of the way. I was so thankful for a nice, safe hotel since Kelton and I were staying alone. His surgery was scheduled for 8 a.m. and we needed to be there at 6:30. The hardest part about this was that he wouldn't be able to eat or drink anything after 4 a.m. He is still nursing on demand and nurses first thing in the morning (and loves solid food as well). I didn't get much sleep the night before. I went to bed late and being the worrier that I am, tried not to think of all the possible things that could go wrong. I slept with Kelton in the large bed and let him nurse as often as he wanted all night long. I set my alarm for 3:30, made sure he got one good and final feeding in, and then reset my alarm for 5 a.m. Thankfully Kelton slept soundly until 6:15 when I scooped him up and put him in my ergo carrier and made the short trip to the children's hospital.

Everyone was extremely helpful and kind. Kelton did well until the last 45 minutes when he kept looking directly at my chest and screaming because I wouldn't let him nurse. "How could you DO this to me, Mommy?!?!?!" He seemed beside himself at my refusal to give in and let him nurse. I tried to face him away from me and keep him distracted, but it was a pretty miserable time for everyone. Finally, it was time to go, so I got suited up to go back with him while they put him to sleep. It was so hard to watch! He screamed for an excruciating minute while they held the mask over him; his body squirming, trying to wriggle free of the doctors and nurses hands that gently pinned him to the bed. Then his eyes lost focus, and he dropped off to quiet breathing. Parents weren't allowed to stay beyond this point, but I was very thankful that I was able to be there to comfort him during what must have been a scary time for him.

20 minutes passed and the oral surgeon came and said that all went well and Kelton should be back with me soon. About 20 minutes later they finally brought him to me and he almost lept into my arms the second he saw me. I half ran to hold him as well. He immediately nursed and continued nursing for the next 3 hours!! I was so thankful that he was done and okay. The time that I spent waiting for him to be brought back was similar to the time you spend in labor waiting to see and hold your baby for the first time. The anticipation is palpable and you can hardly contain your eagerness to hold your baby. Every single baby I heard, every set of footsteps that came near to our area, I jumped up to see if it was Kelton. I was so relieved and thankful when I finally had him in my arms again.

When they finally discharged us, I gathered him in my arms and started out of the hospital. I had to walk right by the children's oncology department. I hadn't noticed it on my way in, and my heart sank as soon as I read the sign. My mind immediately prayed without consciously intending to do so , God, please, let it be empty. I knew this was irrational as soon as I prayed it, but I hoped that the number of children battling cancer would be so small that it would be empty. Instead as I got closer I saw children of varying ages, with bald heads, still full of youth, yet robbed of the ability to live the carefree life they were intended to enjoy. I fought back tears imagining what they and their parents must be going through, realizing that for whatever reason, they were going through something so terrible and awful while I was walking out of the hospital with my healthy child in my arms. I thanked God for the health we all have enjoyed to this point, and prayed that it would continue. I also silently prayed for the children I had just seen and their families. I prayed that they would be able to fight and win the terrible battle raging in their tiny little bodies.

Once we left, we went back to the hotel for a couple of hours. They had given us a complimentary late checkout, so we didn't have to rush. Kelton still wanted to nurse and took a short nap. I packed up our bags, called for our car, and started the 3 hour drive back home. Kelton slept the whole way home and then continued to nurse almost constantly the next 2 days. Then he got ravenously hungry and ate 5 servings of his favorite veggie at the moment--steamed and pureed cauliflower. The next morning he ate a piece of wheat toast, a hard boiled egg, oatmeal, and fruit. You wouldn't know he just had surgery. He is still full of smiles and has loads of energy. We are so thankful he's back to normal so quickly! Here are some pictures from the experience.

Just before we went back for surgery. Glad I'm not a surgeon. This look in not flattering on me ;-)

Just after he got back from surgery. He just wanted to nurse and cuddle. So sweet. They had to unattach his iv because he kept setting off the alarms because he wouldn't leave it alone.

A very thankful mommy to have her little boy safely back.

Ready to leave the hospital. Hard to tell that he just had surgery.

Nap in the hotel.

Exploring the hotel when we got back.

He's so happy and full of energy--even after surgery!

The congenital epulis at 2 months old.

Again when his 2 lower teeth came in at about 8 months old.

About a week later (8 months and a week). See the tiny tooth? It was a bloody mess during that time.

About a month later after the teeth fell out. (approx 9 months)

His top 2 teeth have come in on one side, but not on the side where the congenital epulis was. They may or may not come in, but we honestly don't care. He's still as cute as ever to us and if his baby teeth don't come in in that spot, most likely his adult teeth will. If not, God thankfully let him be born as the son of a dentist so it could be fixed one day.

Our little guys

2012-01-15T16:46:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-19T06:50:00.000-08:00

We hope 2011 has been a great year for you! It proved to be full of change, adventure,and new life for our family. I don’teven know where to begin…

The early part of the year found us nestled in acozy home, on a bubbling river, surrounded by heaps of snow in beautifulVermont. Kasen awoke every morning tobuild new routes for his trains, enjoy play dates with friends, go to his gymclass, and help Mommy, who was very pregnant with Baby Brother. Kai was making plans to purchase the dentalpractice where he had been working and was excited about the possibility ofownership. Yet, just as we were in themiddle of the paperwork, the deal fell through. Trying to plan our next steps, Kai realized that he didn’t want tocontinue working for the practice if he would not be purchasing it, so he putin his 2 month notice and we began making plans for another move. California and Michigan were at the top ofour list because we have family and friends in both places. We weighed out the options and chose California because of the great weather and active life we could enjoy.

On March 11, just twelve days before we leftVermont, Kelton Everett Anders was born. He was perfect! His bright blueeyes and reddish hue made him melt our hearts from the moment we laid eyes onhim. He has captured our love and is somuch a part of our family that we wonder what life was like before him. He’s such a happy baby almost all of thetime. His smile can light up a room andhis laugh is absolutely contagious! Healso is the only one in our family who can be called a true Vermonter! (whichis quite a feat!)

12 days after Kelton arrived, we said goodbye tothe beautiful state of Vermont and the friends (who felt like family) we hadmade during our time there. We made astop in MI on the way to CA to introduce Kelton to the family. While in MI, Kai toured the brand new medicalfacility his dad had been working on, which is also the same company hisstepmom, Bev, works for as a midwife. The medical facility sees all patients regardless of income level andhas various specialties in one building including an impressive dentalwing. On seeing this and learning thatworking for this company also provided loan repayment, Kai decided he wouldmake a call just to see if they needed another dentist to join their team. When he contacted them, they told him thatthey needed a dentist in another location, but they were fully staffed at thenew facility. Kai thanked them for theirtime, but declined an interview for the other location.

When we moved to CA, Kai didn’t have a job linedup, but he was very diligent about looking. The first week there he had 2 interviews and 2 job offers as aresult. Life was going great and we lovedevery second of it. Kai was enjoying hiswork and I was really enjoying my life as a stay at home mom in Southern CA. Our days were filled with trips to the beach,play dates with long time friends, classes at the gym for Kasen, and just gettingoutside to enjoy the beautiful sunshine. Several months after we arrived, Kai received a call from the office inMI stating that they were adding a dentist position to the new facility andoffered him the position. This was sucha surprise! We were enjoying everythingin CA, yet the MI offer was very compelling. We prayed and talked and talked and prayed about the decision. We never thought that after moving all theway across the country again we wouldbe ready to pick things up 6 months later and move most of the way back, butthat’s exactly what happened. Werealized that it was too good of an opportunity to pass up and while it seemedfoolish to leave a good, steady, full-time position in CA that Kai enjoyed, wehad the distinct impression that we were making the right choice.

So this Christmas season finds us closing on our new home just in time for Christmas within walking distance to the beach andnext to the new Jack Nicklaus golf course. Kai loves his job and has a great team that he works with (thankfully he's been blessed with a great team at every job!). One of his favorite things about his new job is that while he sees the general population, he's also able to to serve those in our community that need, but can't afford quality care. It's a very rewarding position. The boys and I love it here too. Ourdays here have been filled with house hunting, time with family and friends,trips to “our” beach, outings to the local museums and family attractions, and and even some dates for Kai and I (a rare treatbefore!). After so many years, we areback where it all began for us. It’sbeen so much fun to go back to the places where we started dating. It has been a long and eventful journey toget to this point, but we are breathing in the sweet relief that comes onlyafter having been through an experience such as this. :-)

Wehope that amidst all the holiday bustle and activity, your holidays are filled with special moments among cherished friendsand family too!

With the Warmest Christmas Wishes,

Kai, Kristi, Kasen, and Kelton

“Inhis heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” ~Proverbs16:9

Local Photo Session

2011-10-18T22:56:00.000-07:00

I had some fun with the camera today! Saw some great looking places onmy drive last week that screamed "photo session!!!" and couldn't resistthe opportunity to grab a few pictures of my favorite little guys! Ihad a great time shooting these (Kai took the ones of the boys and Itogether). I know I haven't given any updates yet on our status, but Ipromise I will soon... In the meantime, enjoy some pictures!

2011-09-26T10:12:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that we have a lot of changes taking place...most of you are well aware of everything going on, but I will post more when things settle a bit to keep everyone updated on the new developments :-) Thanks for your patience!

2011-09-18T15:56:00.001-07:00

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

11 Quantified

2011-08-20T09:21:00.000-07:00

Today we are celebrating 11 extraordinary years of marriage. It has been a crazy, wonderful, adventurous, unforgettable love story in the making. Here's a fun little quantification of our 11 years together and some little known facts.

10 months: length of engagement

16 jobs (includes college jobs, year abroad, and parenting!)

7 homes lived in (6 rented, 3 without dishwashers)

1 house owned

3 states we've resided in

2 countries lived in

5 continents toured

17 countries visited
14 number of states Ketlon had traveled through by the time he was 1 month old
32 states visited together since marriage (and 2 while dating)
14 number of rolls of film used on our trip to Europe
0 number of good pictures actually taken in Europe

9 cars owned (3 Hondas, 3 Dodge, 2 Ford, 1 GMC)

4 degrees earned and one more in process

624 Roses (the approximate number of roses from Kai while living in Korea.)

65 Shared flights taken together since marriage
23 number of flights Kasen has taken in his short 2 1/2 years
14 consecutive hours spent ~~gripping~~ holding Kai's hand during a particularly long and scary flight. You may not know from how much we've flown together that I have a major fear of flying.

8 number of dollars per hour I worked for when we were first married

30 number of minutes spent waiting for Kai to "break into" our house after our wedding because we locked our keys inside (by climbing in through the upstairs kitchen window while wearing his tuxedo).
1,428 number of pop cans collected and redeemed for our 5 year anniversary. We were so broke, but loved to celebrate.
140 dollars spent on our 5 year anniversary meal at the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada.
2 number of hours we were stuck in a traffic jam on the way to our 1^st honeymoon hotel. I didn't mind that traffic jam!

21 the number of consecutive days spent sleeping in a tent for an extended backpacking trip.
38 the % of my life I've been married
34 the % of Kai's life married
10 days: the longest we have been apart
12 the number of tomato, mozzarella, and french bread sandwiches eaten in France in 3 days (the plight of a vegetarian who doesn't speak the language)
7 nights spent in a hospital

3 place settings of our formal china owned

1250 price paid for my wedding dress
14248 minimum number of family prayers said
0 number of nights spent sleeping apart from anger. We promised we would always work a fight out before heading to bed. Some nights have been very late, but never alone.

30 stamps in my passport, which was issued 3 years after we were married. I love looking through our passports and reminiscing.

91 years is the longest recorded marriage

82 years current longest married couple alive today

4017 days we've currently been married
5,784,480 Number of minutes married

½: size of the carat of my engagement ring
4 months Kai spent working as a nurses aid, changing poopy diapers, to buy my engagement ring. One dedicated guy!
8 ½: the number of years married before having kids

400: approximate number of people who attended our wedding
Thousands: number of cuddling times
Tens of thousands: approximate number of kisses shared
Millions: Number of times Kai has crossed my mind.
2 extremely adorable little boys created as a result of all of this
Countless: the number of unforgettable moments shared

Happy Anniversary to the One I call, "Wonderful", "Love", "Honey", and more... and has shown me how beautiful marriage can be, how loved I can feel, and how much love my heart can hold.

Here's a song that was performed at our wedding: (though I couldn't find the official music video :-(

The Anatomy of a Boy's Face

2011-06-27T16:50:00.001-07:00

Thankfully all were "fixed" by Mommy's kisses, and an ice cold Popsicle.

Kasen or Kelton?

2011-06-26T10:58:00.000-07:00

Photo 1

Photo 2

Weekend Away--Father's Day

2011-06-23T23:09:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we spent Father's Day in the mountains in Kai's cousin's cabin. It has an absolutely gorgeous view of the valley! The air is cleaner, the views are spectacular, and it's a little slower paced from the normal day-to-day. Kasen seemed to love it as well. He couldn't stop pointing out all the mountains he could see and picking up all the sticks and pine cones, etc. he could find.

The start of sunset

Showing off their Michigan clothes from Grandma and Papa

Evening setting in

A special treat. How many times do you see a heart in the clouds???

Father's Day morning

The valley sacked in

Gotta love those morning eyes :-)

Afternoon hike

Kelton's favorite spot--as close to me as he can be! I love it! (And I know I'll miss it someday!)

Of course, Kasen's famous string in the mouth shot! I'll have to do a series over the months/years.

Brothers

2011-06-05T18:38:00.000-07:00

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero.

~Marc Brown

Happy Birthday Kai

2011-05-27T22:10:00.000-07:00

Kai turned 32 last week!! We had a simple and small party with just family because it was a work day.

Kasen thinks all candles are meant for him.

We had to cover his mouth while we sang to Kai so he wouldn't blow out all the candles.

Thankfully Daddy didn't mind a little help...

...and family didn't mind a little extra slobber... ;-P

...just to make him proud!

Yum! Baby K and I aren't pictured, but I have some cute ones of him coming!

Boys

2011-05-09T14:43:00.000-07:00

Cousins.

Fast friends.

Making mischief.

Bubbles + Dirt = Mud

Mud is every boy's dream come true!

Kill shot with a squirt gun!

Can't imagine a day without a few sticks.

Swinging with an awesome uncle.

Flying a kite with the world's best dad.

Wuv Woo

2011-05-04T00:41:00.000-07:00

Had to share something that has brightened my last several days:

Lately K has started the cutest thing with his little brother. He'll come up to Baby K, kiss him on the cheek, and say, "I love you Baby" (which sounds like: "I wuv woo baby"). If you can guess, I completely melt when I witness this and am so grateful that the transition from only child to older brother has gone so smoothly so far. He truly does love his little brother and this has been evidenced in the little kisses, soft pats, and even the sharing of his favorite toys (though Baby K can't exactly play with them yet). I'm sure the day will come when this will change, but these simple things make me so happy.

All Smiles

2011-05-03T00:32:00.000-07:00

Here's what we've been enjoying the last 2 weeks...

Hope you're all smiles too!

The Big Leap (the long awaited update)

2011-04-24T15:03:00.000-07:00

So I recently took a test that calculated stress levels. 681. The scale said that 0-149 was low susceptibility to stress related illness, 150-299 was moderate, and 300 and over was high. 681. Seriously? Stressed? The funny thing is that I don’t feel stressed, but honestly, it must be there and underlying. A little over a month ago, I gave birth to our second child. 6 days later Kai’s resignation was final. 12 days later we packed up our house and moved from one coast to the other. We crossed the country with a newborn and tried to reassure ourselves that he would be fine. We were neurotic about germs and sterilizing e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g along the way. We successfully made it to the other side of the country with our family intact and relatively healthy. And then…what? What was our plan? Why would we even consider doing something so…reckless? Well, here’s the abbreviated story…

We loved a lot about Vermont. In fact, we were making plans to stay there for many years. Kai put an offer in on the practice he was working for, the owners accepted, and he was in the process of getting a loan to complete the deal. We were really excited about owning the practice and had started to see ourselves living in Vermont for the long term. Throughout the whole process, we were praying for God to lead in the deal. We had a lot of things that we were really looking forward to, but we had some major hesitations as well. So our prayer was simply that if God didn’t want the deal to go through, that he would close all the doors and make the process impossible.

Long story short, somewhere in the middle of the whole process the owners changed their minds and wanted significantly more money for the practice than we were willing to pay. At that point we decided to walk away from the deal. When Kai signed his contract in the very beginning, there was a clause that said if he resigned then we would have to move at least 35 miles away from the practice so as not to take any patients from the practice with him. We knew this before he put in his resignation, but we decided that since he wasn’t buying the practice, which had been his intention, he would put in his 2 month notice and we would move on even though it meant moving at least 35 miles and moving at a tough time (right after the birth of Baby K). I’ll spare you all the details, but we considered all the options to try and stay in the area, even considering buying the non-compete clause which would allow us to stay, but the owners wanted to charge close to a couple of hundred thousand dollars for it even though the going rate is in the ten thousands range. Kai is apparently very valuable :-) We realized that our prayers were being answered even though the answer was different from what we had expected. It seemed that God was obviously and completely steering our ship in a different direction.

So knowing that we had to move at least 35 miles, we decided to start thinking about where we really wanted to live. We were crushed to have to leave the close friends we had made in our short time there. (I cannot say enough that the friends we made while in Vermont were some of the best people we’ve ever known!! We have already been missing them!) So we started trying to decide. Would we move somewhere else in Vermont? We didn’t know anyone in Vermont when we first moved and now moving 35 miles from where we began would mean starting over making new friends again. We thought of Michigan where we have family and lots of friends. That was a very real option, but we’ve discovered that we’re not very fond of the cold. Texas? Warm weather and it’s rumored there are tons of jobs, but again, we would be starting over making new friends and not knowing anyone. California? Where we just moved from almost a year ago? We have so many family and friends and we love the weather. We love all the busyness of the city and all there is to do, but a big drawback is that the market is overly saturated with dentists. Kai had many friends that had wanted to stay in Southern California, but never found jobs and had to move away. From what we’ve heard, the job situation hasn’t changed. But one thing we knew for sure was that we loved it there and missed our friends and family. If we had to start over, why not try in a place we loved? God had answered our initial prayer (not the way we expected), so we continued praying and decided to make a huge step out in faith.

Our plan was simple. 2 months. We would move back to California and give it 2 months of long, hard, persistent job searching. If after those 2 months Kai still didn’t have work, then we would look at our options again. That decision was both simple and formidable. It was simple because it was obviously what we wanted, and if you know us, you know that we don’t mind a little adventure in our lives. But it was formidable because we had an idea of how tough it would be and while we love adventure, we don’t like to be irresponsible. With 2 children, 1 of which would be a newborn at the start of this “adventure”, the feeling was dangerously close to that of irresponsibility and thus, left us with an uneasy feeling. Yet that uneasiness was overshadowed by a feeling that we were, for some unknown reason, heading in the right direction.

So we packed everything we owned back into a 26’ Penske rental truck and moved out of our house a mere 12 days after Baby K arrived. We took our time getting from coast to coast with a stopover in Michigan to visit family and friends, and a stopover in Texas to break the trip up and see if it would be a potential “plan b” if things didn’t work out after 2 months in CA. We also met friends for dinner along the way and introduced Baby K to 13 new states. Traveling 4000 miles with 2 small children is daunting. Between books, stories, movies, snacks, feedings, changings, and bouts of screaming (mostly the kids—though Kai and I joined in to make a merrier chorus at times ;-), we were thankful to reach our destination!

We arrived on a Saturday night and Kai had 2 interviews scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. Both interviews went well and one of them wanted a working interview on Thursday. Both places offered him jobs and Kai came home Thursday after the working interview with full time work! What a HUGE blessing and relief! I had thought for sure that it would take almost the entire 2 months to find anything and I was steeling myself for the reality that we might end up resorting to “plan b” in the end, and yet everything worked itself out in less than a week! This whole experience reminded me of 2 of my favorite Bible verses:

“In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.” Proverbs 16:9 and

“I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11.

Things are far from “completed” yet and we still have a lot ahead of us, but one of the major pieces in our uncompleted puzzle has been placed and it makes it a little easier and less stressful as we plan for the future. I’m thankful that we decided to take the leap of faith, though it was stressful and seemingly reckless, and I’m so thankful for the way things have worked out so far. For the record, both boys are doing great. I hardly find the time to check my email and blog lately, but now with this megapost completed (which has been hanging over my head since the inception of this whole ordeal), maybe I will allow myself a few minutes to post smaller bits and pieces of our lives on a more regular basis and catch up on the blogs of those that I have been seriously neglecting. Thanks for your patience!

Dancing In The Mine Fields

2011-04-13T12:47:00.000-07:00

For those of you who know what this is all about...beautiful!

Birth Story

2011-04-10T17:16:00.000-07:00

Life is busy with two! Not to mention all that’s been going on the last few weeks, which I will post about again soon (as I’ve already promised so many of you waiting for an update on that), but first things first. As promised, here is the birth story of our 2nd perfect baby boy!

This pregnancy had been a little harder than the last in regard to the timing of the first trimester sickness, some killer back pain that made me immobile at times, and at the very end, the return of cholestasis of pregnancy which I developed with my first pregnancy also. This condition is very serious as it increases the risk of stillbirth. After seeing my doctor, he decided that it was best to induce me to prevent harm to the baby. The induction was scheduled for the next morning at 6 a.m. As you may (or may not) remember, my due date was March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day).

Kai and I let his mom watch K and went out for a “last supper” date. We went to our favorite local restaurant and had some delicious food. It was great being able to tell the waiters and waitresses who had watched my belly grow the last 9 months that we would finally be meeting the baby the next day. They served me up a virgin cocktail on the house in celebration of pregnancy and delivery. We savored every minute knowing things were just beginning to get crazy. The entire meal I had irregular, but fairly strong contractions which lasted all night and until I went into the hospital the next morning.

Being induced is a completely different experience from spontaneously starting labor and then heading to the hospital, which is how older brother K arrived. We arrived at 6 a.m. freshly showered and excited to meet the newest member of our family. The nurses laid out my hospital gown and warm blankets and took all of my information while I was not experiencing intense contractions--much better than last time when I was trying to give answers in between major, piercing, awful contractions that had been going on for days.

At the very beginning

Around 7:30 after the information gathering, etc., the doctor came in and broke my water (painful!!!!) and started me on a pitocin drip. I already had requested an epidural on my birth plan, but hospital policy wouldn’t allow it until I reached 4 cm. The contractions started immediately and were 2 minutes apart for the next 6 hours. They didn’t start off too bad, but after about an hour they started getting pretty intense and after 2 hours, I was close to begging for my epidural. Thankfully I got my epidural around 10 a.m. because I had reached 4cm! Once the epidural was in, life was great!! I watched the contractions continue and felt only the hardness of my belly. The nurses came in and marveled at how intense the contractions were on the monitor and told me that I was ready to have this baby and probably would have gone into labor on my own that day or the next. The highest dose of pitocin they administered was 10, which according to them was not much at all.

I remembered that I had promised to tell several friends and family when we started labor, so I pulled out my phone and started updating. I then came across the sad news of Japan’s devastating tsunami. We realized that while we were having one of the best days of our lives and would soon meet our beloved new son, thousands of families had just been torn apart by tragic loss and destruction. It was sobering to say the least. We will always remember the day baby K came into this world and now we will never forget one of Japan’s worst moments in history.

Finally around 12:15, less than 5 hours after everything was started, I told the nurses that I felt like I needed to start pushing. After a check, they agreed that it was time. What a difference! Last time my labor lasted for 5 days, this time a little over 5 hours!!! Kai got into his gown as he was planning to deliver baby K, just as he had delivered older brother K. Pushing with my first labor experience was painful. Even with an epidural, it was bad. So I was expecting/dreading the same thing this time too, but was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t painful. Yes, I felt the pressure, but there wasn’t pain involved like the last time. I can only guess that the last time they had backed my epidural off and I was feeling everything. This time was soooo much better and soooo much easier. I pushed for a little over a half an hour and at 12:57 baby K made his appearance!!

No, I didn't take this picture, the 2nd delivery nurse did :-)

They put him directly onto my chest as soon as he came out and his cries were immediately calmed by my voice. He weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces and measured 20 inches in length. He was perfect. His tiny fingers grasped mine and were formed beautifully. His tiny little legs curled beneath his small body and he felt so extremely helpless in my arms. After holding a solid 2 year old, he felt so fragile in my arms. I was in awe that God had blessed us with 2 seemingly perfectly created little boys. I had been afraid during this pregnancy that something would be wrong or go wrong. When I looked at older brother K and realized how wonderful he was, I was sure that it wasn’t possible to have 2 healthy babies with all the potential risks. But holding him in my arms and staring into his beautiful face made me thank God that even though we don’t deserve 2 amazing little boys, for whatever reason, He blessed us with them both. I felt such a immense sense of responsibility that I graciously accepted. Being a mom is one of the best things I’ve ever attempted.

His red hair! I hope it stays!!

We spent the next 2 days in the hospital recovering. Kai stayed with me and older brother K stayed at home with Kai’s mom who had come to help with him during the delivery (he came to visit several times though). The hospital staff were wonderful and we actually got some rest in the hospital this time. By the way, the only people present for the delivery this time were 2 nurses, the doctor, and us. Much different from the approximately 20 that were in the room last time! To be honest, both birth experiences were wonderful. They were completely different in so many ways, but they were both wonderful. Both times we had fantastic doctors and nurses. Both times the boys were very well taken care of. Both times we marveled at what a positive experience it had been. But each delivery was completely unique and different.

We have been enjoying baby K so much these last several weeks. He’s such a sweet baby. His personality is different from older bother K’s so far. Older bother K has a “grab life by the horns” approach and has always been so full of energy and activity. We have always loved this about him! Baby K seems to be much more relaxed so far. He only cries when he’s hungry or needs changing, and is content to be held and stare deeply into your face. This makes anyone holding him completely melt—me included! He seems to adore his older brother already when K comes over and strokes his face or touches his tiny hands. Older brother K has adapted so well. He jumped into the “older brother” role immediately and has done amazingly well. Of course there have been occasions when he’s acted out more than normal, but those are rare and he’s easily deterred from those moments. In his defense, he’s also gone through so many more changes than is “normal” for his age... But more on that in the next post… :-)

Cute little feet!

Beautiful boy!

A Teeny Tiny Announcement

2011-03-17T19:45:00.000-07:00

Our beautiful baby boy arrived on March 11, 2011. He came into this world weighing 6 pounds, 12 ounces and measuring 20 inches. The delivery was much easier this time around! And for the record, he's a GREAT baby! He has been sleeping all the time (not through the night though, of course) and seems so much more relaxed than our first little guy was at this point. Older brother K is very captivated with him and has been such a great helper since baby K arrived. I will share the whole birth story in another blog post, but that will have to be another day because things have been pretty busy around our home with 2 amazing boys to take care of. We are so blessed to have the privilege of raising these 2 wonderful little guys.

Kai delivering K. (He also delivered older brother K)

Older brother K and baby K meeting for the first time

Daddy and K's first skin to skin time

First family picture

Mommy and K's skin to skin time a few minutes after delivery

Road Rash

2011-03-07T14:55:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of K with his first major accident (at least one that left a major mark). It's funny because he's taken falls, etc. before that probably hurt worse, but this is a rug burn down the entire length of his nose and it looks terribly painful!! He was playing with an older boy at church who adores him. Anyway, they both took a tumble and K's nose apparently took the brunt of the fall. Poor little guy! :-( Although as you can tell, he doesn't let much get him down. He's still as happy as ever! He's such a huge blessing!

Week 38 and a 1/2

2011-03-06T19:11:00.000-08:00

(I had to include one where I'm wearing a maternity outfit instead of the boring black and white regular outfit!)

How far along: 38 1/2 weeks

Best Moment of the Week: Last week I had a great baby shower brunch with local friends from K's playgroups. It was so much fun and we got all kinds of awesome gifts for our new little guy. It was a completely different shower than I've ever had before. The food was all maple themed because of the start of maple syrup season here and every present we received was made from organic, all natural products. Several gifts were even wrapped in cloth instead of paper! Very cool!

Movement: He’s slowing down a little now probably because he’s out of room. He still stretches and moves quite a bit, but it’s not as sudden and jerky.

Food Craving: Now that I’ve been on iron for a few weeks my ice cravings are gone. No big cravings at the moment, although today we went out to brunch with some great friends at a Victorian Inn and had some of the best food I’ve had in my life!!! K ate his fill too, eating as much or more than I did! He surprises us like that at times.

What I'm looking forward to: There are soooo many changes taking place right now. Life is so crazy!! At the moment I am just ready to meet this little guy and be done with pregnancy. I love being pregnant, but the last month is soooo hard! My list of complaints are: not being able to sleep well, back aches, not being able to bend over easily, etc., etc. But who likes to hear all of the complaints? On a positive note, people are even more friendly (if that’s possible in our state which I swear has the largest grouping of the friendliest people on earth!) when you’re huge with child. I get help all the time—from the grocery store to the airlines to the doctor’s offices. I will miss the special treatment once pregnancy is over. ;-)

Weekly Wisdom: A parent's love is whole no matter how many times divided. ~Robert Brault

Big Brother: Have I mentioned what a great helper he is lately??? Wow! This week it seemed we had a doctor’s appt everyday trying to get everything in before I go into labor (K’s 2 year checkup, dermatology appt.’s, OB, and a couple others—our insurance is going to love us!). Well, K made friends with everyone at every single appt. From the nurses and doctors all the way to the other patients in the waiting room. At one point he had 4 different people all playing cars with him. It was a huge relief because it’s much harder for me to get on the floor and play with him myself at this point.

Also this week at church, he took a spill and got a nasty rug burn that runs the whole length of his nose. It looks absolutely terrible and will likely still be there for our first family pictures when our new little one arrives. I feel so bad for him every time I look at him. Poor little guy! He was really tough though and handled it well. He did catch a glimpse of himself in the mirror while we were brushing his teeth and stared for a long while at his road rash. I don’t think he liked what he saw either. :-( It was really cute to see him look so puzzled though!

Weight: Several people have asked about how much weight I’ve gained this pregnancy. I've found that pregnancy affects every woman’s body differently and I’ve had friends that have gained 100 pounds and others that have gained 5 pounds and the shock of it all is that even those that have gained 100 pounds have had it all come back off after the baby comes. Soooo…with that said, I’ve had a personal goal with each pregnancy to gain in the neighborhood of 20 pounds because for me it seems that weight doesn’t just pour back off of me when I want it to like it seems to for other people. With K I gained 19 pounds and with this pregnancy I have gained 20 so far, but he’s not here yet, so who knows what the final number will be… Honestly I don’t think my body could handle much more than that (see my list of complaints above).

Hopefully my next post will be pictures of our new little guy... :-)

2 Is Grand!

2011-03-04T20:02:00.000-08:00

Last week we celebrated K’s second birthday! How can it be that he’s 2 already? We celebrated at home as a small family on the actual day (see pictures) and then had a party with all of his local friends on the weekend (see pictures). We rented the gym where he has his gym classes every week. They put on a fantastic birthday program that all the kids seemed to really LOVE! I think the best part was watching K’s face and excitement. He seemed to realize that the night was all about him and this reality made him even more thrilled.

Since he adores Thomas the Train (even though he rarely watches any of the movies), we themed his decorations around that. He also loves anything having to do with transportation in general—trucks, airplanes, excavators, trains, buses, etc., which makes going anywhere with him an absolute blast because he’s bound to see one and bubble over with excitement.

Our little family celebration at home

He actually liked his dessert this year!

I have no idea where he gets his sweet tooth...;-)

His cake (Sorry, I blurred out his name).

I love his expressions! This was taken while everyone was singing to him.

Blowing out his candle. This was taken just before he took Thomas and started trying to make him "drive" on the tracks of his cake. It was a great, fun mess!

So many friends turned out to make the day special! We are so blessed!

Circle time of songs and movement

The proud birthday boy!!

K demonstrating for everyone how get up the beams

Backwards roll

Even dads need to have a little fun sometimes!

Practicing the "bear crawl"

Under the parachute

Swinging from the rings. He loves this one!

This is another favorite too!

Getting awarded his birthday medal

Obviously thinking he's pretty special :-)

Group picture with most of the kids--at least the ones that could sit still long enough for a picture.

This was/is his favorite thing to do. He absolutely LOVES it and we have such a great time watching him go. He's extremely fast! Enjoy!

Last of all, they finished with the bounce houses. He had a blast on these as well.

All in all, being 2 has started out well. K has been such a helper lately which is so nice because my growing belly is making everything a little tougher these days. By the way, contrary to the pictures above, I was at the party, just the one behind the camera! I will try to post what will likely be my last belly picture in the next day or so. Any day now Baby K number 2 will arrive and I think K will be a fantastic big brother! Thanks for taking a few minutes to re-live his big day!

2nd Birthday! at OneTrueMedia.com

2011-02-24T14:03:00.001-08:00

Today is K’s 2^nd birthday!! I honestly can’t believe that much time has passed already! I remember vividly the day he arrived 2 years ago and changed our lives forever. All I can say is that I never knew it would be possible for us to love him as much as we do. The strange thing is that everyday I’m sure I couldn’t love him anymore, and then I live the next day and realize that I’m dead wrong. Thank you K for expanding our hearts even more and blessing us with your energetic and fun loving self. You are truly God’s gift to us!

Here’s a little montage of his last year. Hope you enjoy it!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Belly Progress 35 1/2 Weeks

2011-02-15T14:22:00.000-08:00

How far along: 35 1/2 weeks (Almost there!! If he comes on K's schedule, I'll start labor in 2 weeks!)

Best Moment of the Week: A special Valentine’s date with the best guy in the world!!

Doctor: Started seeing the doctor weekly now and he says that everything is looking great! I’m excited that this time around they will admit me as soon as I have regular, consistent contractions instead of waiting until I’m a 4 to admit me. With K, 5 days of labor was not fun!

Movement: All the time and usually both sides of my stomach at the same time which looks weird if you’re watching my stomach. This little guy loves to stretch and move. Good thing because K will need an active playmate!

Food Craving: Ice and even snow! I must be slightly anemic because I can’t stop eating the stuff. My husband has been lecturing me about how bad it is on my teeth. In my own defense, I have a great recipe that I think is easier on my teeth:

1 cup of ice + 1 cup of water.

Let stand for 10-20 minutes and then enjoy the soft crumbly ice.

Mmmmmm. Makes my mouth water just thinking of it. Although the other night I did have one of my bizarre pregnancy dreams in which all my teeth fell out on one side because of chewing ice, so today I’m planning to pick up a bottle of iron since that’s a lot cheaper than fixing a broken tooth (or a whole mouth).

What I'm looking forward to: Getting this baby out! I’ve been sooooo uncomfortable lately. Sleep at night is restless at best: waking at least 10 times to pee and tossing and turning to try and get comfortable. Oh how I miss stomach sleeping!! And my back has been screaming at me for all the strain.

Weekly Wisdom: A ship under sail and a big-bellied woman, are the handsomest two things that can be seen common.

~Benjamin Franklin
He obviously was not ever pregnant! ;-)

Big Brother: Started K in a toddler gym class this week. He LOVES it. He played on the balance beams, trampoline, and swung on the rings. It was so much fun to watch his eagerness.

We also started potty training this weekend. We’re trying the 3 day potty training method and so far he’s done pretty well except that he doesn’t like to go poop in the potty, so we’re trying to figure out what to do with that. He seems really proud of himself for peeing in it though!

The Name Game: After months and months of trying different names, I think we may have found one that we love. We just came up with the middle name this weekend and have to see if we still love it in a few more days, but it’s looking promising…

A Few Pregnancy Pics

2011-01-30T16:41:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pregnancy pictures from this past week (33 weeks). Honestly I'm starting to feel really uncomfortable now and wonder how I'll make it 6 1/2 more weeks... We have been extremely busy the last 10 days with our little vacation, but have been having tons of fun. I saw Kai off on the airplane this morning and will join him again next weekend :-( It's going to be hard to be apart from him for almost a week, but I couldn't resist a little more warm weather and sunshine. K loved the airport and watching the planes land and take off. He screams "Pair Plane!!! Pair Plane!!!" every time he sees one. On our first plane ride of the trip, Airforce One landed at our airport and we were able to see the President board and then take off. Very cool. I don't know if K will remember it later or not, but we have pictures to remind him. I'll try to post those another day...

K pointing out Mommy's baby...

K showing me "his baby" in his tummy. He always makes me smile!

Our little beach bum.

Free Nursing Cover

2011-01-20T14:51:00.000-08:00

Just found out about a great deal on nursing covers from a friend! If you visit: http://www.uddercovers.com/ and enter the promo code at checkout: Family2011 all you have to pay is shipping ($9.95). I just ordered mine! Hope you get yours too if you're at that point in life :-)

Another Great Book

2011-01-13T17:14:00.000-08:00

We read this book together and finished it last week. It was fantastic!!! The entire time we were reading it, we were amazed at Louis Zamperini's story. Without giving away too much, this true story kept us up late at night wanting to finish the "next section" and find out what would happen next. It was just recently published late in 2010. If you're looking for another great read, pick this one up--you won't be disappointed!

I've also read 4 others and have a few more to go in that series, and am in the middle of another book, but I won't share any of those yet...

Grandpa

2011-01-08T10:09:00.000-08:00

A picture of Grammy and Grandpa taken over 54 years ago on their wedding day.

Last week as Kai was finishing up his holiday work week, I received a call from my mom who was visiting my family in the Midwest. She told me that my grandpa had suddenly and somewhat unexpectedly taken a turn for the worse and she didn’t know how much longer he would make it. When Kai got home on Wednesday night, we ate dinner and debated about whether we should leave immediately or wait until morning to leave. We decided that it was best to live with no regrets and leave immediately so that if there was a chance he wouldn’t make it, we would be able to see him alive and say our goodbyes.

We changed K into his pj’s and a fresh diaper, packed our bags, and began the long journey back. Kai and I took turns driving through the night. We had to pull over around 3:30 a.m. and catch a few brief hours of un-restful sleep (honestly being almost 8 months pregnant and trying to sleep in a car is the furthest thing from comfortable). But several hours, and a few cups of fully caffeinated coffee (my only this entire pregnancy) later we arrived in the late morning.

My mom had warned me that my grandpa’s body had started shutting down and that his lungs were filling up with fluid making his breathing labored. Still, nothing prepared me for seeing him in that condition. Grandpa has always been one of the strongest men I’ve ever known. From the time I was a little girl, I remember his strong arms and thinking there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do. His strength has been passed on to our family. My male cousins are well known local and state wrestling champions which was an inheritance of Grandpa's sheer strength. He was a teacher and farmer and was constantly busying himself with anything from large remodeling projects to international trips. Even up until his last days, he would spend hours working in his workshop.

When I walked in, I saw my strong, steady grandpa struggling for every breath. His breathing was very difficult and there was a unmistakable gurgling in his lungs and throat. His shoulders rose and fell with every breath indicating the struggle that was taking place for each and every breath. His trademark pale blue eyes met mine and I tried to be strong, but the tears erupted from deep inside me and poured out. I held his big, rough hand and stayed by his side just to be there with him in his final hours. I hugged him and tried to let him know that I loved him. He couldn’t really talk since his focus was on breathing, but he mouthed a few simple words and I knew that he knew I was there. K kept saying, “Papa! Papa!” and even though I thought the scene might scare him, he wanted to stay there to touch his papa and give him loving hugs. K seemed to realize the solemnity of the moment. We stayed with him and took turns with other family members holding his hands throughout the day. He was constantly surrounded by family in his final hours. The last word I saw him mouth was, “home.” He knew that he wasn’t going to be with us much longer and he was letting us know that he was going home so we didn’t need to be sad.

9 hours after we arrived, Grandpa passed peacefully. His labored breathing finally ceased while he was surrounded by 4 generations of his family holding his hands and tearfully mourning his passing. As I watched him breathe his last, I was heartbroken, but at the same time I felt that he truly had lived his long life well. He had made innumerable memories, had countless friends, had provided well for his family, and his family knew he loved them. What more could you ask for? I look forward to seeing Grandpa again someday. I can’t say enough how thankful I am that we made the decision to leave immediately to see him. If we hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been there for his final moments that I will forever carry and cherish in my memory.

Grammy and Grandpa were married for 54 wonderful years. The hardest part for me was watching Grammy say goodbye. As she hugged and gave Grandpa one last kiss, I remembered some of the best advice I’ve been given on marriage. It came from her. “Marry your best friend.” she had advised. She explained that marriage is forever and that it’s so much better when you’re married to someone that you love to be with. I took her advice to heart when I married Kai. He is and has been my very best friend for the last 10 years of marriage (and before). I can’t imagine having to say goodbye to my best friend after 54 years together. It was heart wrenching to witness and will continue to be hard for my grandma, but she has a wealth of great memories to pull from over the last 54 years.

Here are a few pictures from Grandpa's life:

Long ago on the family farm. My grandpa's family had emigrated from the Ukraine to the U.S.

Growing up on the farm

Grandpa and his older brother

Grandpa's family

A much younger version of Grandpa

A wedding dance. I love the fun, happy, carefree expressions on my grandparent's faces.

Taken on their 25th wedding anniversary. Gotta love the styles!

Grandpa in the kitchen. This was a rare occurance, but there is a picture to prove it happened at least once!

Grandpa taking my older sister fishing. I have always loved this picture because of her ecstatic expression.

At Butchart Gardens. We actually went here on our honeymoon and have a picture in this exact spot.

After my college graduation. We went to one of our favorite restaurants in the area--Tabor Hill Winery. I love this picture because you can see Grandpa's suspenders. I can't recall a single memory of Grandpa without his suspenders! (He even wore them under his suits!)

Taken on my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary

Here are the last 2 pictures I have from my trip back to the Midwest in October. This is the last time I saw him before his final hours. He's in his golf cart (which was his favorite mode of transport to get all around the farm). K loved riding in it with Papa.

This is the last known picture of Grandpa. It was taken on Christmas at my sister's house, just days before he passed away.

"The Girls" out for dinner. Me with my 3 sisters, mom, grandma, and 2 nieces. It's been about 4 years since the 4 sisters have all been together. Even though it was a sad occasion for us to gather, we had a great time.

Grandpa will be missed so much. I am thankful for his legacy and the hope that I carry of seeing him again at “home”.

The Belly at 30 Weeks

2011-01-07T19:31:00.000-08:00

How far along: 30 weeks (Oops! I got ahead of myself last week. I’m actually just over 30 weeks now.)

Best Moment of the Week: Planning for our vacation in a couple of weeks. Although everything has been overshadowed by the unexpected passing of my grandpa last week. I’m working on a post regarding that, but I’ve been busy going through old pictures and mentally sorting through all the memories. He was a great grandpa and will be greatly missed. :-(

Movement: Honestly, it feels like he’s walking across my stomach all the time. The weirdest feeling is when he moves his hands and feet at the same time and my stomach gets tickled all over from the inside. I can’t wait to meet this little active guy!

Food Craving: Healthy stuff! After the holidays I don’t want to see any more junk! Our fridge is stocked with fresh fruit and veggies. Tonight we had veggie pitas with homemade cucumber dressing, chickpea and roasted veggie salad, and fruit salad. Also had some Martinelli’s to drink in our pretty wine glasses.

What I'm looking forward to: Family vacation soon!

Weekly Wisdom: "You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment. ~ "Things That It Took Me 50 Years to Learn""

Author: Dave Barry

Big Brother: LOVES trains!! Even though we don’t have a TV, I’ve been letting K watch a few online Netflix movies of Thomas the Train once in a while. It’s so cute to watch him get soooo excited about it. He yells, “Choo Choo Train!! Choo Choo Train!!” I have no doubt he’ll introduce his baby brother to trains as soon as he arrives.

The Name Game: I think we have the first name picked, but now we’re trying to decide on the middle name…

Biggest Fear: How do you divide your love between 2 kids?? I've been so nervous over making sure both kids know they are equally loved without loving either of them less, but I have no idea how I'm going to do that...

Christmas Time

2010-12-29T06:48:00.000-08:00

Have things been crazy for you the last couple of weeks?? They have for us! It's been a good kind of busy with the holidays and family visiting, but now that everyone is gone and the shopping is over, I have a little breather. Ahhhh...

I'm getting ready to fly out the door and run a day of errands, but wanted to drop a line and say that the pulse of our house is still strong, but we've been a little preoccupied. I will write more on that later... We've been making some big decisions here and I'm not ready to write about them yet, but I will be in a few more weeks depending on how things go...

In the meantime, here are a few un-edited pictures from Christmas in our house. No makeup. No frills. Thus, no judging ;-) Just enjoy the pure unadulterated Christmastime shots.

Did I mention that K does NOT like Santa??

"Mommy! Save me from the big, hairy, red man!!"

So we all had to sit on Santa's lap for a good shot.

Making Christmas cookies. One of several, several dozen! K LOVES them!

First shot Christmas morning. Like I said, no judging! You're lucky I'm even posting one of me in the morning!!

I had to include this one too because I love K's expression.

The opening begins...

A fix-it car!

A car garage!

A basketball hoop!

Tired Mommy and Daddy. I love how K's foot is a blur here. He has so much energy! He honestly never stops until we put him to bed!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas too!! When I have a few minutes, hopefully I can catch up on the blogs I love to follow. It's been a while! Oh, and by the way, 30 weeks tomorrow!! Yes, another belly update is in order. But honestly, where does the time go?? With K it seemed like I was pregnant forever. This time around I keep asking myself, "Am I really that far along already???" We still have a lot to do on the nursery, buying necessary things, and finalizing the name (which seems to change from month to month). Wish us luck since I only have 10 weeks and 8 1/2 if he comes on K's schedule...

Winter Wonderland

2010-12-16T09:51:00.000-08:00

These were taken on Tuesday morning after my last post. We had so much fun after our little winter storm.

Can you really get any happier than this??

Our backyard winter wonderland

First taste of snow

Mommy's and K's snow angels

Making tracks

When we were done, we came in and made Christmas cookies. I'm so happy they've been turning out this year!! And K just loves it!! He's turned into a little cookie monster. Since he can reach the counter tops easily now, it's getting harder and harder to keep things out of his reach. The other day, he actually grabbed a plateful of freshly frosted cookies and took them into the living room to enjoy. Thankfully we caught him just in time and averted disaster.

Hope you're getting ready for Christmas! Only 9 days!! Soooooo hard to believe it's almost here!

Brief Glimpses Into My Everyday Life

2010-12-14T06:54:00.000-08:00

A simple re-cap of my last very ordinary 24 hours.

Woke late thanks to my awesome husband who took K and let me sleep in a little extra. This made me late to playgroup. Oh well. I think an extra hour of sleep was definitely worth it!
Met Kai for a lunch date which consisted of black bean burgers, fruit and veggies, chips, and yogurt.
Went to the post office to get our weekend’s worth of accumulated mail and chatted with the friendly post office workers that I see weekly. They think I’ve now suddenly “popped”. Lovely. I still have 3 months. I’m blaming it on those darn Christmas cookies that ~~I have been craving~~ the baby loves!
Opened beautiful Christmas cards from great friends and it made me miss them all the more!
Opened Kai’s loan repayment notices that start next month. He’s worth a lot to someone else besides just me now! Ugh!
Headed out the door to the next playgroup. K grabbed a granola bar from the pantry and I thought he’d be fine playing with it in the car. Halfway there, I noticed it was a little too quiet and checked on him only to find that he had smashed, mashed, smooshed, and utterly destroyed the granola bar thus breaking open the wrapper and covering himself in gooey chocolate and peanut butter. He was thrilled with his genius. I was not. This was realized about 2 miles from playgroup #2.
Prepared for a small winter storm coming through our area.
Put K to bed after our normal routine of story, songs, prayer, teeth brushing, and rocking. His favorite song is, “Only a Boy Named David”. He's awesome with his imaginary sling and makes a great dying giant impersonation!
Finalized the purchase of the bedding set for Baby K. Julie, you're a genius!! Found the matching aeronautical set I wanted on Craigslist from a major city several hours away. They are shipping it directly to me and it will be perfect!! I love conveniences of the internet!
Realized I have only several short days until Christmas!!! Eeeek! So much to do!
K woke up at 3 a.m. for some unknown reason. I went in to check on him and was immediately overpowered by the stench of a behemoth mess in his diaper. Good morning to me!
Woke again later in the morning to discover a beautiful white wonderland outside. It’s gorgeous! Sometimes I miss the beautiful weather and palm trees of southern California (not to mention great friends and family), but we may be making a trip there again soon!
While writing this, K has brought me almost every toy in his toy box trying to entice me to play with him. He’s adorable, so I’m done. No blog, you just can't compete. I think I’ll dress him up in his winter clothes and take him outside to make snowmen and snow angels! Hope you’re having a great day too no matter how ordinary it may be!

26 Weeks and the Belly

2010-12-10T20:21:00.000-08:00

How far along: 26 weeks

Best Moment of the Week: Today! Spent the day as a family and took K to see Santa. He didn’t do very well this year though. He screamed and ran away from him. So, we all sat on Santa’s lap in order to get a decent picture ;-) Also paid for a full day’s admission into the enormous bounce house exhibit in the mall for K—to which he also was not interested. Note to self—schedule a long nap before attempting new things. Still, even though K was not excited to try new things today, he absolutely adores Kai and I being with him together all day. It always makes me smile to see him so happy.

Movement: A lot of rolling! I feel a butt or foot stick out all the time and I love it!

Food Craving: Christmas cookies!! I made some yesterday and decorated them today. Such fun times with K! Finally after years of trying and failing, I actually made a great batch!!! Martha is a genius--again!

What I'm looking forward to: Kai’s mom coming to visit next week and Christmas of course! Also, I’m almost into my 3^rd trimester—whoa! Where did the time go??

Weekly Wisdom: A mother's joy begins when new life is stirring inside... when a tiny heartbeat is heard for the very first time, and a playful kick reminds her that she is never alone.
-- Author Unknown

Big Brother: My favorite thing he does lately is when he comes up, pats my belly, and says, “Baby!!” in a singsong voice.

His favorite thing to do is read, read, read! He loves books lately, which makes me soooo happy because up until a few months ago he showed very little interest. Being a teacher before having K I know how important reading is for kids, but he wouldn’t sit still for stories. I worried a little about it, but didn’t push it. I figured when he was ready he would let us know. Now he brings us book after book to read to him and absolutely loves story time--especially if the book includes an airplane or a digger!

Nursery: The second convertible crib has been purchased and we are thinking about the bedding options. I love the bedding set we have for K and since they will be eventually sharing rooms, I looked for more of the same bedding, but since Babies R Us seems to retire every collection after a year or two, I can’t find it anywhere L So…we’re still considering several things. I might buy baby K some neutral bedding that would match the colors of the already loved aeronautical theme or we may go with something completely different…

Weaned

2010-12-08T19:24:00.000-08:00

Last week I weaned K. On one hand it was completely liberating to have sole ownership of my body again, but on the other hand it was sad.

We decided it was time because the new baby will be here in just about 3 months and I didn't want to be nursing 2 or have K have hard feelings toward his new little brother, and honestly I was ready...or so I thought. I had already cut back to two times per day; morning and night, and had been on this schedule for months. That first night while I was rocking K and he was no longer nursing, I thought I would be thrilled and happy that it was done. Without even knowing why, tears started suddenly pouring down my cheeks. K had fallen asleep quickly and there I was crying my eyes out over...what? When I thought about it, I realized that for me it felt like K had just arrived a few months ago and now he was weaned! I realized how fast time flies and I think the sentimental feelings took over. I imagined him going to school on his first day, graduating from high school and then college, and someday living his life completely independently--which is exactly what I want for him, but not yet when I'm his mother of 21 months!

So, I kissed him on the cheek, laid him in his crib, and walked downstairs for the first time as a "free" mommy with the new burden of realizing that one day all those things would happen and that as hard as it would be, it would also be wonderful for all of us. I vowed to cherish the moments I have here and now and treasure the time we have together before Baby #2 arrives, and then after as a bigger family. I also reminded myself that while time does fly, there are days that seem to drag by and hang on forever, so I need not worry too much!

If you haven't weaned yet and are thinking about it, here are a few things that helped me:

Gradually cut back the number of feedings.
Replace the special time with a different kind of special time whether it's reading books, playing with toys, or rocking (something where you are still spending time together).
Give extra snacks to make sure your little one is getting enough to eat
Make sure your little one's dairy/fat/calcium/etc. needs are being met since you are no longer providing that. I've been making sure K has been getting extra organic yogurt, cheese, etc.
I put K to sleep with a sippy cup of water now. That way if he really feels he needs something, he has something. I don't give him anything but water in his cup though because I don't want him to get baby bottle mouth and have teeth issues. Everyone is different though and you have to decide what works best for you.
Start when you feel ready and think your little one is too. It was extremely easy--besides crying the first night ;-) because I think we were both ready. K still tried to nurse for over a week, but I just occupied him with something else.
Good luck!

The Great Stroller Debate

2010-12-07T05:10:00.000-08:00

We've been debating which double jogging stroller to get. I think this will be the only double stroller we get since they are rather pricey (although we may get a double umbrella stroller for the quick trips since they aren't too bad). When I was going to my mommy and baby workout group, all the moms had the Double Bob stroller and they seemed to be great for the daily pounding we put them through. I had pretty much decided that we'd probably go with that one this time around, but then a couple of friends recommended the Chariot Carrier Cougar 2. After looking at it, there are several things I really like about it. First of all, it has attachments for a bike and also for cross country skiing, so it's extremely versatile. I like the options this one has, but it's a little pricier and I've never actually seen it in person yet. I guess we'll have to make a trip to REI to see both of them and then decide which one is a better fit for our family...

If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share them as this is probably the biggest purchase we'll have to make this time around.

Chariot Carrier Cougar 2

Double Bob

As a side note, we decided on the bed...we bought another convertible crib exactly like K's. It's actually being discontinued now and we had to do some searching, but found it clearanced out! Yay!! We decided on this because both of them will convert to toddler bed's and then full size beds later. It seemed like the easiest choice since we wouldn't have to buy another toddler bed and then regular bed later. They will have separate rooms in the beginning until Baby K's sleep routine is figured out so K can still get sleep, and then we'll probably transition them into the same room. Thanks for all the advice! It helps so much to find out what others have done and how it has worked!

The "Junk"

2010-12-01T07:08:00.000-08:00

I know, almost 2 weeks!! Things have been busy around our home. My mom came to visit for a week at Thanksgiving and we had a great time. It was sad to see her leave so soon, but we had so much fun while it lasted. Hopefully we'll be visiting her soon.

As promised, here are the ultrasound pictures of our little guy! Yes, after the last appointment (and a much better u/s tech), we got several clear shots and are 100% sure he's a boy!! If you've had an u/s before, then you'll probably know what you're looking at. If not, don't worry if it just looks like a bunch of blobs because that's what it always looked like to me before I had my first one.

This is his profile shot from our 19 week u/s. It was clearer than the one from our 23 week u/s.

From our 23 week u/s. Like I said, you kind of have to know what you're looking at. He's sitting on the camera, so you're seeing his butt and boy parts.

Again, this is a similar shot to the above one.

Looks like K will be having a brother close in age. We are very excited and still working on names...wish us luck!

The 23 Week Belly

2010-11-18T12:46:00.000-08:00

How far along: 23 weeks (I'm starting to get the feeling of having a beach ball in my belly when I bend over!)

Best Moment of the Week: Putting up our Christmas tree on Sunday! Yes, it's way too early, but I really couldn’t wait and after a little begging and pleading, I convinced Kai to bring in the decoration boxes :-D

BTW, we get another peek at our little guy tomorrow!! I can hardly wait! Maybe this time I’ll get around to scanning in the u/s pictures to share them. I miss LLUMC and how they put them on a cd for us. It made it so much easier to share online. Oh well, enough complaining, I will definitely try to make it a priority ;-)

Movement: All the time!

Food Craving: Nothing too out of the ordinary. Lots of citrus still.

What I'm looking forward to: My mom coming to visit, maternity clothes shopping this weekend, Black Friday, and seeing our little guy tomorrow!

Weekly Wisdom: Everything grows rounder and wider and weirder, and I sit here in the middle of it all and wonder who in the world you will turn out to be.
-- Carrie Fisher

Big Brother: He’s becoming so helpful! He has been “helping” me cook in the kitchen and loves it. He’s also pretty independent. If I take something away from him that he’s not supposed to have and set it on the kitchen counter, he’ll push a chair over, climb up, and retrieve it. I tried not to laugh the first time he pulled that stunt, but it was hard. Now I’m getting more creative.

Our biggest battle right now is that he’s been trying to skip nap time every day for the last couple of weeks. I gave in and figured he was done with naps, but the dr. said that he needed it and I needed to let him cry it out. It’s agonizing to hear him cry it out, but I know he needs it. He was a perfect napper until a few weeks ago. So now I'm praying for strength and am very happy that the baby monitor has a volume control.

Nursery: We’re going to pick out a few things this weekend…

Life As I Know It

2010-11-17T18:52:00.000-08:00

Here's a brief snippet of my week:

When I picked K up from his nap this afternoon, he was in an especially cuddly mood, so I wrapped him in a warm blanket and we snuggled for a few moments. He immediately fell right back to sleep in my arms for another 45 minutes. The entire time, Baby #2 was giving playful little kicks and I was reminded that I am a mother to 2 very active, wonderful kids. In those special moments I felt so blessed.
Made quinoa and Black beans with vegetable quesadillas for dinner and spice cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for dessert. Won over the affections of my husband.
Made Indian lentil stew last night for dinner and won over my own affections. I thought it was great! My dear husband was not so impressed--neither was K. Note to self--make that one again only when I'm eating alone or when I'm really mad at Kai ;-)
Bought $500 in energy saving light bulbs and spent only $5. Yes, it was a GREAT feeling once I assured myself that I was not actually robbing the store.
Ordered my Christmas cards from Shutterfly!! Very excited to see them!
Bought a gently used treadmill off of Craigslist and am loving it so far!! Put it in K's playroom. Tried to avoid stepping on the toy cars he kept launching down the center of the track amused by how they flew off the end.

I've also been busy reading some more great books and thought I'd share:

Have a Little Faith

This book was great! I literally cried the entire last 2 chapters. Pregnancy hormones? Not sure. Mitch Albom is a great author. Tuesdays with Morrie was a previous favorite and I cried on that one too (and I wasn't pregnant then).

The Secret Life of Bees

Another good book. I felt like I was transported to the time and place in which the story was set. Great story.

Eat, Pray, Love

I'm in the middle of this one right now and am not sure yet. I know they made a movie of it (haven't seen it), but so far I haven't been overly impressed. I'm still in Italy though--1st of 3 countries. Has anyone read this one and does it get better??

The Associate

Not so good. You wouldn't miss much if you never read this one. John Grisham, you disappointed me this time.

I'm also in the middle of another long series, but I'm not sharing the details about it because I don't want to be judged ;-)

Mrs. Thrifty Claus

2010-11-14T06:05:00.000-08:00

I started my Christmas shopping last week! After teaching for 6 years before staying home with K, I had been saving up bonus points from the Scholastic Book Clubs with the intention of using the points for books for our kids once I started staying home. Well, I finally got on the website and decided to use some of those points for a few Christmas presents for K this year. I came across some great books that I thought I would share with you. Everything from potty training to Christmas books (which I'll give to him before Christmas). The best part was that it was free--even shipping!

You may not be a teacher or have bonus points, but even so, you can still order from Scholastic and get some great prices on books. They run specials for $1 books each month and always have prices far below the regular bookstore prices. If you want me to let you in on a little secret, you could visit your child's school or your local school if your kids aren't school aged yet and offer to run the program for a particular classroom/s and start accruing bonus points for yourself. I know for a fact that not all teachers take advantage of the program because it's an added hassle every month with collecting and placing orders, but it's a great program to promote reading in the school and earn your family some free books/toys/stuff. Good luck! Here are a few we got this time around:

So far, my favorites are: Goodnight Train, The Crayon Box That Talked, Little Quack's Bedtime, One Snowy Night, and Have You Seen My Potty? (which is hilarious!)

Shutterfly Christmas Cards

2010-11-13T16:07:00.000-08:00

I'm planning to order our Christmas cards soon and came across a great offer from Shutterfly featured on a blog I follow. They're giving away 50 free Christmas cards to bloggers this year, which is a great deal because they have awesome cards. Last year I wanted to order cards from them but since I was staying home with K and it was Kai's last year of school, finances were tight so I ordered from somewhere cheaper. The cards last year still turned out really cute, but I was thrilled to find out about this offer this year because Shutterfly has so many great cards to choose from. Here are my top picks for this year. The card we're getting isn't actually in this batch because I like it to be a surprise when we send them out. Anyway, here they are! And if you're a blogger, I hope you take full advantage of this great offer here.

Found here

My Midwest Trip

2010-11-11T13:36:00.000-08:00

As promised, here are some pictures from my Midwest trip to visit my MIL a couple of weeks ago. As you may recall she had surgery and is recovering, so we went to spend a little time to try and help her out and keep her company as she was pretty much home bound. We also got to see many friends and family while we were there. I managed to get some great pictures between my MIL’s and my own camera, but there were several times I forgot :-( We saw K’s cousins from 3 siblings and I only got pictures with 1 set and I also forgot to get pictures with others that we visited with, but they know we love them anyway! Honestly, being a “single parent” for those 10 days was hard enough. I’m surprised I managed to get any pictures!

K played at the park a couple of times and loved the new "toys"

Helping Nini with her "Zoom-Zoom"!!

He met my Grandparents horses which he wasn't too fond of. I think they scared him because they were so big. I have so many great memories growing up riding their horses. These are not the ones I grew up with, though those horses lived into their 30's and had a long life.

He liked this view much better from Great Papa's golf cart.

K with Nana--also known by me as my Grammy.

K with his Great Papa, my Grandpa, on his golf cart.

Playing peek-a-boo at Grandma and Papa's house.

Riding Quick Silver. I now frequently spend money on these rides. In Meijers (one of my favorite Midwest grocery stores) you can still ride these same horses for $.01--yes a penny!

K with his cousins on Kai's side

K and Leethan during a playdate. Leethan's mom is a good friend of mine from grade school!

Nini got K a new construction set complete with power tools and a hard hat. He LOVES them and plays with them all the time!

He discovered my blow dryer--under supervision of course!

Gotta love the hair!!

I learned a new piano part with my younger sister, Stephanie, who can play piano so well!! You can laugh at my face--I'm concentrating really hard just to get it right. Someday maybe I'll take lessons and be as good as her or my other younger sister, Katie.

K loved aunt Stephanie!

Nini and K on the carousel. He loved it!

Stephanie and K. Kevin, Stephanie's long time boyfriend, took this awesome picture!

I LOVE this picture! Kai's mom took this one.

And this one too.

Beautiful sunset on the Lake.

Playdate with Kim, Samantha, and Kaden.

Practicing what it will be like in a few more months!

Making a mess of Nini's playroom.

But always having fun!

As you can tell, it was busy but so much fun! We definitely need to do it again soon, except this time hopefully Kai can go too!

The Belly--21 1/2 weeks

2010-11-08T09:10:00.000-08:00

Do you see the growing bump?? Here's last time's progress. I think I'm definitely bigger this time around.

How far along: 21 1/2 weeks

Best Moment of the Week: Finding out that after our big scare, everything is okay with our little guy. Saw the doctor twice last week and got the gold star both times :-) We have an ultrasound scheduled again next week, so we’ll get another peek and verify either the 85% or 15%. Woo hoo!

Also, we had a great date this weekend. We went and saw the TSO, which was a lot different than what we expected, but we still had a good time. We ate some great food, visited a new state, and started the Christmas season in our home. Yes, the Christmas tunes are now playing regularly. I’ll wait to decorate a little longer though.

Movement: This little guy is a strong kicker just like his older brother! He kicks K incessantly when he’s sitting on my lap for story time. I think feeling the baby move is probably my favorite part of pregnancy.

Food Craving: Korean and Mexican food together also known as Kogi. It’s way better than it sounds!!

What I'm looking forward to: My mom is coming for Thanksgiving in a week and a half! I can hardly wait to see her! We’re also planning to buy a few big things this year on Black Friday, so I’m gearing up for that (hoping we can get a few baby deals too). I LOVE Black Friday!! Though this year will be much colder!

Weekly Wisdom: A mother's joy begins when new life is stirring inside... when a tiny heartbeat is heard for the very first time, and a playful kick reminds her that she is never alone.

-- Author Unknown

Big Brother: I just have to share a super cute thing that K does all the time lately--SING!! When we do our nightly routine of singing before bedtime, he has been singing along and doing the hand motions. And when we're listening to music, or even when he's just playing, he'll belt out the tunes! It's the cutest thing ever!!

Nursery: We’ve been debating having the boys share a room or just giving them separate rooms. Also in the debate is whether to get another crib or give K a big boy bed now. I go back and forth about both of these things almost every week. If you have any words of wisdom on either of these issues, please feel free to share!

Trick or Treat!!

2010-11-03T08:11:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun trick or treating again this year. K actually understood what was going on this time. We dressed him up as an astronaut (with his warm pj's on underneath since it had snowed that day). When we took him up to the houses, he set his bucket down and waited for them to give him candy. Once they gave him a piece he reached in their bowl and tried to pull out another! No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't break him of this habit. Everyone thought it was really cute though and gave him 2 pieces anyway. I guess that's the advantage of being 20 months old and trick or treating ;-) He thanked everyone by blowing them kisses and won over many new admirers.

Kai and I dressed up too just for fun. Since we both have scrubs already, it made for an easy and cheap costume. I was this close to buying us real costumes this year, but the ones I liked would have cost nearly $100, so I passed knowing that we could get by with the scrub routine for another year. Kai ended up getting a patient from the whole ordeal--completely unexpectedly. When we were at one of the houses, the owner of the house realized that the stethoscope wasn't just a dress up one and asked what Kai did for work. We tried to explain that it was just part of the costume, but he pressed us, so Kai explained that he was the new dentist in town and the man wanted to set up an appointment. Crazy! I'm sure it was great PR--a dentist asking for candy! lol!

Here are the pictures:

Our little astronaut

Waving to his fans--yes, he'll be around later for autographs ;-)

Even astronauts pick their noses sometimes...

Peeking at his loot. We hadn't given him candy before, but we gave him a Kit Kat after the day was done and I'll just say that it was love at first bite!

He was so excited and that made the night all the more fun!

He kept trying to take his over sized hat off. We eventually gave in and just put his warm hat on even though it didn't match.

Early Morning Pregnancy Scare

2010-11-02T06:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning I woke to find that I had had a little spotting during the night. To say the least, I freaked and immediately called the doctor who immediately got me in for a checkup and concluded that everything appeared to be okay, but gave me a few restrictions until we can be sure the bleeding has stopped completely. :-( I was thankful to hear our little guy's heartbeat (which was 150) and showed no signs of distress. I also spent the day majorly tuned into counting kicks just to make sure he was still okay.

The good news is that he's still as active as ever, the bad news is that I'm not. No longer can I go running until the doctors feel comfortable about the situation. This news made me a little sad until I thought about the alternative, and then I realized a month or two of non-running is fine. So in the meantime, I will be doing much more walking and maybe even some swimming. I'm very thankful that my restrictions were fairly mild and that I can still carry on with normal life. However, today I'm staying home and enjoying K, trying to let my body do what it needs to do in order to keep our little guy safe and sound for another 19 weeks. I'm so excited to meet our new little bundle of energy, just not quite yet.

Menu Planning Monday

2010-11-01T04:16:00.000-07:00

Last week I started a monthly menu hoping to solve the dilemma of opening the fridge to find lots of food but nothing to eat. I'm toying with the idea of making 3-4 months worth of menu's and then cycling through them, but I'm not sure yet. So far it's worked out great. We used all the food in our fridge, and always had great nutritious, tasty, and different things to eat. Other blogs I follow post their weekly menu's in order to get ideas from others about what to make and share their menu's with the rest of the blogging world for others to get ideas from them. I can always use a little inspiration when planning my menu to avoid the rut I sometimes get in, so here's our menu for this week (feel free to share any ideas you have too!):

Sunday:
  Lunch: Leftovers
  Dinner: Layered Applesauce, Fresh Berries, Kiwi, Yogurt
Monday:
  Lunch: Masterful Mac n Cheese (from the Sneaky Chef Cookbook), Veggies, and Grapes
  Dinner: Veggie Chicken Chopped Salad
Tuesday:
  Lunch: IQ Tuna Patties (from the Sneaky Chef Cookbook), Raisins, Veggies
  Dinner: Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili and Spinach Salad
Wednesday:
  Lunch: Leftovers
  Dinner: Enchilada's and Broccoli
Thursday:
  Lunch: Leftovers
  Dinner: Teriyaki Tofu, Green Beans, Rice
Friday:
  Lunch: SLT Sandwiches, carrots, fruit
  Dinner: Minestrone Soup and Corn Dodgers
Saturday:
  Lunch: Special K Roast, Green Beans, Salad, Bread
  Dinner: Open Kitchen

My Martha Stewart Moment

2010-10-31T10:36:00.000-07:00

While visiting my MIL last week, I shared a secret with Kai's aunt (who is an absolutely amazing seamstress) and also with his mom and between the two of them, I accomplished one of my long time goals.

My secret was this: I have been wanting to sew a baby blanket made from fabrics that I have chosen and have it turn out really cute. I have only sewn for school projects and once as a girl I made a skirt and jacket outfit with the help of a neighbor, so I knew this would be tough. Kai's aunt gave me some great tips on what to do, what fabrics to use, and what kind of stitching to use. Kai's mom helped me pick out the fabrics and lent me her sewing machine. Also, in dental school there was another wife who always made beautiful creative baby things and I loved them. She made several burp cloths, bibs, and paci holders for K's shower. Several months ago, I saw a baby blanket she made for a mutual friend that was in my baby/mommy workout group and thought how much I would love to have one just like it someday. I don't remember much about it except that fabric on the back was so fuzzy, cuddly, and perfect for a baby blanket--and it was for a girl, so I think it had pink in it. I made a mental note that if I ever decided to take up sewing, I would try my hand at something like that (realizing that I probably would never attempt it anyway). But that is how my idea started.

So last week while visiting my MIL, I was in the fabric store with Kai's aunt's and my MIL and decided to "just look" at the different fabrics. Then I came across THE fabric!! I don't know if it was the same or not, but I loved it anyway, and thus my fantasy of sewing something beautiful began to take shape again. The next day, my MIL and I went back to the store and whole thing came together. I found a really cute pattern and some adorable gender neutral colors to use since I didn't know what we were having yet. I went back to her house and while K was napping began to cut, pin, and sew the pieces. I altered the pattern just a little because I didn't like the original center piece. I worked on it again after K went to bed and again the first thing in morning. Less than 24 hours later, my baby blanket was completed. I had no idea how easy it would be! Thanks to my MIL's sewing machine, the whole process was seamless (haha)! Thankfully the directions were really easy and even I could understand it! I LOVE how it turned out! Now I'm debating buying a sewing machine...not sure if this will be something I take up on a more regular basis.

Here are a few pictures. BTW, you're NOT allowed to make judgments because in this picture I have not showered or put on makeup. I don't even think I had eaten breakfast yet--I was on a mission ;-)

K even loved it!

The finished blanket

The fuzzy fabric

The king in his robe ;-)

The Belly Update--20 Weeks

2010-10-29T14:19:00.000-07:00

How far along: 20 weeks (5 months!)

Baby Size: He’s about 10 inches long now—crown to feet. I'm at that awkward stage where it looks like I'm putting on weight, but you can't tell for sure that I'm pregnant. Not yet in maternity clothes, but the jeans are starting to get tight so it probably won't be too much longer. I may pull out my Bella Band soon...

Best Moment of the Week: Seeing our little guy on ultrasound!!!

Movement: All the time! This little guy hardly sleeps…hmmm hope it’s not a sign of things to come.

Food Craving: Grapefruit! Seems like I can’t get enough lately.

What I'm looking forward to: We’re heading to a Halloween parade tomorrow night that everyone here says is the best ever. They also promise that K will not be scared because it’s not a scary parade, so we’re willing to give it a try.

Also Kai is taking me to a Trans Siberian Orchestra concert next weekend to kick off the holiday season!! I am sooooo excited!

Weekly Wisdom: “Having a baby is like getting a tattoo on your face. You really need to be certain it’s what you want before you commit.”
--Taken from Eat, Pray, Love (which I’m reading right now)

Big Brother: K just might understand that there is a baby growing in my tummy. Lately he has been coming up, rubbing my belly, saying “baby”, and then giving me a big hug. It’s one of the sweetest things!

He will be an astronaut for Halloween on Sunday. His little outfit is pretty cute. I wish that I could have found a cool astronaut helmet, but he probably wouldn’t have kept it on anyway, so I have to settle for a hat. Pictures to follow later.

Off the Hook

2010-10-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

So you may remember reading a few days ago that I had a story involving a 2 calls to 911, a semi, and a police officer. Here's a little more about that embarrassing story...

I was driving back from my MIL's house and had 13 hours of driving to accomplish in one day. Yes, it would be a very long day, but I piled the toys and snacks in the passenger seat to hand back one at a time to K on the long drive. All was going great until I reached about halfway. I was passing a semi truck and was almost by him when he started drifting into my lane. I thought he would realize and pull back over, but he didn't, so I honked my horn to alert him to the fact that I was there. He then gave me the bird! And in the very next instant, he started trying to run me off the road on purpose!! I had K in the backseat (19 months) and me and 5 months pregnant and completely alone. Not very intimidating. I was terrified that this maniac truck driver was using his truck like a weapon, so I called 911 to report him. I gave a description of the truck and his license plate number to the dispatcher and was told that she would alert the highway patrol. I then got into the middle of a group of cars and passed the truck and was happy to be free of the psycho driver.

About 15 miles down the road, my adrenaline had almost worn off and I wasn't paying close attention to my speed (or the speed limit) and failed to see the highway patrol officer shooting his radar gun right at me until I was close enough to realize that I was going to be pulled over. Great. He pulled up behind me, flashed his lights, and I pulled over. Here's a fact that you may or may not know about me, but is entirely true and somewhat embarrassing. Every single time I get pulled over by a police officer, I cry. Not the tears that come hoping to get out of a ticket, but actual tears of oh-crap-I'm-in-big-trouble. I have no idea where this comes from!! I don't have issues with authority figures, etc., but throw a police officer at me because I'm speeding and no matter how hard I try to fight the tears back, I have never yet been successful. Now that I'm nearing ~~my late 20's~~ 30, I thought for sure that I could handle this like a big girl. So while he was getting out to come and get my license, registration, and proof of insurance, I was rehearsing in my head over and over that I would NOT cry this time. Well, he got to my window, asked for the 3 needed items and I nervously fumbled around looking for them. My hands were literally shaking and I was trying not to let him see that fact. He then asked me if I knew why he pulled me over. That was it. Blame it on the pregnancy hormones, or the fact that I had been run off the road twice by a semi driver 15 minutes before, or the fact that I was making a 13 hour drive alone, but I started crying and the story of the psycho driver spilled out and "yes, I was speeding but I didn't realize it until I saw you", and...

He took my papers and looked relieved to be able to get out of the situation. Poor police officer! No sooner than he got into his car and closed the door to run my information, the psycho truck driver passed and honked his horn twice as if to taunt me for stupidly speeding. The nerve!! I rolled my window down and pointed to the truck and started trying to tell the officer that that was the guy who had run me off the road twice. He came back, told me I could go, and said that he was going to try and catch the psycho driver. He told me that if I saw him with the truck pulled over, I should stop behind him. I pulled myself together, got back on the highway, and proceeded to drive for another 15 minutes without seeing either the police officer or semi. All of the sudden my GPS told me to keep left at the split of 2 major highways. Since I hadn't seen the police officer yet, I was worried that he went right and I would miss him. Sure enough, just as I passed the ramp that exited to the right, I could see that he was down the ramp and had the truck pulled over. It was too late. I noticed that while I was passing the ramp going around 65 mph. So I found myself with a major dilemma. Should I make a several illegal u-turns to get back to the police officer? Should I just keep driving and think, "See ya! Wouldn't want to be ya!" No. I called 911 again and got the same dispatcher, explained the entire situation, and asked what I should do. She told me she would pass my phone number along to him and if he needed to get in touch with me, he would call. Feeling satisfied that in case he still wanted to ticket me, he could and I didn't get out of a ticket with a story, I continued on driving (setting my cruise to a "safer" limit).

I never heard from the nice officer that stopped me. I hope that the next time I am pulled over (because I know with my lead foot that it will happen), I will be able to keep it together even if it means answering only in "yes" or "no" so my voice doesn't crack and send me on a downward spiral! Suffice it to say, I was very happy to arrive safely home, away from the psycho truck driver and free of an expensive speeding ticket.

The Big Gender Announcement...

2010-10-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

...It's a BOY!!!!!

Disclaimer: We had an ultrasound tech that was a major stickler :-( She wouldn't let us take any pictures before the ultrasound and would only tell us that she was 85% sure it was a boy because he was extremely active during the ultrasound and wouldn't hold still for clear pictures. I have been telling everyone that this little one is very active, just like K, and the ultrasound confirmed it. That seemed to be the only thing the ultrasound tech was certain of. Now we are bracing ourselves for having two very active little ones tearing around. I'm so excited K will have a brother to play with and that our home will be a house full of testosterone--or maybe I should say that I'm 85% excited ;-)

Home Sweet Home

2010-10-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

I just arrived safely back at home. After 12 hours of straight driving, lots of snacks, a passenger seat loaded with toys to hand back to K throughout the drive, a couple of stops to break the trip up, 2 audio books completed, and 1 more started, I have to say that it's nice to relax. I pulled into the winding driveway of our house almost wanting to kiss the ground after the long drive and then saw my hot husband waiting in the driveway with a huge smile to welcome us home. Home never looked more beautiful! 10 days is a long time to be apart. Our record prior to this was 5 days. We doubled it and could definitely tell. Though the best part of getting back home was seeing how excited K was to see Kai. He gave him the world's longest hug (seriously he just didn't want to let go), and has been laughing and playing with him since the second we walked in the door. It's one of the sweetest things to witness.

I have a crazy story to share when I have a few more minutes involving a semi truck, a police officer, and two 911 calls. Don't worry, it's not quite as terrible as it sounds. However, we have much more exciting news that we'll likely be sharing tomorrow if our little one isn't too shy. Our ultrasound is scheduled for tomorrow!! Well, I must go for now because I have a family to enjoy now that we're all together again :-)

Update

2010-10-18T21:05:00.000-07:00

I know. I haven't been faithful this week with posting. As you know, I've been visiting my MIL as she's recovering from surgery, and have been so busy. I have tons of pictures to share soon of our time here. We've been able to do a few small local things that don't require much getting around and I've seen so many great friends and family in my few days here. My sister surprised me with a special overnight visit this weekend. It was so much fun to catch up again. We stayed up until 3 a.m. talking and laughing, but I definitely felt it the next day. Being in my 2nd trimester and having a 19 month old wake me up in the morning makes those late late nights a little different now. I have to say that after this trip I am completely exhausted and am looking forward to heading back soon. It's the good kind of exhausted though--you know the kind that comes because you've filled the time with so many fun moments.

I've learned that life as a single parent is hard!! I'm thankful that I have a great husband that helps out with K every chance he can. After this trip I appreciate him even more! I'm hoping that once I get back he'll let me have a late-sleep-in morning (hope he's reading this;-) BTW, the baby bump is growing due to all the great food I've been eating and the irregular exercise I've been getting while gone--missing belly pictures will be up soon. AND, in just a few short days until we'll find out the gender!!!! I can hardly wait!!! So, I'm off to bed a little earlier than the last few nights (though still much later than I should) in hopes of catching up on some dearly missed zzzzz's.

Here

2010-10-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

I left on Monday morning after Kai had completely loaded the car with our bags, pack n play, toys, food, books, and music we needed for the long trip ahead (he's such a great husband!). K and I headed out solo for the first time ever with an almost 14 hour trip ahead of us that would be split into 2 days. I started out with the friendly voice of my GPS leading the way, yet I was completely terrified because I was going to have a solid 11 hour drive the first day with my 19 month old son strapped into his car seat. I still have him rear facing because of the current recommendations and my fear of serious injures to him in the event of a crash. If you want to know more about car seat safety click on the link here I borrowed from my friend Jessica's blog. It's definitely not as fun as having him front facing, but I'd rather have him safe.

K did amazingly well the whole trip. There were moments of screaming (on his part--although I thought of joining him a few times), but I kept a supply of snacks and toys that I would continually hand back when he grew restless. We stopped for lunch, gas, bathrooms, and playtime and arrived at 8 p.m. in time for dinner and bed.

So here we are for the next few days. It will be the longest that Kai and I have been apart in our 10 years of marriage and it's already a lot harder than I thought it would be. I assumed the toughest part would be not having Kai's help with K, but actually the hardest part has been sleeping in an empty bed and not being able to talk with Kai in person every night. :-( At least we have face time on our iphones! That makes it a little easier! It's amazing how much I took these things for granted. I'm enjoying the time with family and friends right now, but am looking forward to being back home with my guy. Wish me luck--both for the next several days and for the return trip. Yikes! I don't even want to think about that yet!

Fall Family Pictures

2010-10-10T12:45:00.000-07:00

On Friday morning we had family pictures taken in the beautiful fall colors. We just got them back today and here are a few of my favorites. BTW, as we found out, it's much harder to get a good picture when you're trying to work with the light, a 19 month old, strong winds, and 2 very hyper dogs! I'll just say that we took a baggie of animal crackers and bribed K in almost all of the pictures. Some of the pictures we broke down and he's actually eating a cracker in the picture. I can only imagine what it will be like with 2 soon! You mom's that have 2 + always amaze me when I see the beautiful pictures with everyone smiling. We did get several that I think are fun.

The Belly Update--17 Weeks

2010-10-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

How far along: 17 weeks

Next week we could find out the gender, but I will be out of town, so we’ll be finding out in 2 WEEKS!!!! I can hardly wait! The suspense is killing me!!

Best Moment of the Week: Had my monthly checkup yesterday and heard the little one’s heartbeat! It was 160 again, so…??? Also found a new hair stylist and am very happy. After over 10 years of Aveda salons, they’re all I trust. I did a search on their webpage, had 3 options and am very happy with the one I chose. No more mom hair. Okay, maybe still a little because I’m trying to let it grow out again. Oh and we got our family pictures done this morning. I'll post some as soon as I get them! Busy week!

Movement: Tons!!! Especially at night! The kicks and rollings are getting stronger and more frequent. Another active little one! Kai could feel the baby a lot this week too. It's so fun to have him be more a part of this now!

Food Craving: ~~None. I'm perfect and never have cravings.~~ Okay, major confession...I was getting my prenatal vitamin prescription filled and saw Skittles on sale. I hardly ever eat these (honestly it's been years), but I had a seriously strong craving all of the sudden so I bought 2 packs, and enjoyed them both. Yikes! Can’t do that very often! Although I have this to say about that: Why purple ones??? Personally I love the reds and can't get enough, but I had to leave all the purple's in the pack because they made me sick. Okay, so maybe it was the fact that I ate 2 packs of Skittles that made me sick. If you love purples, we'd get along great. I'll trade you purples for your reds :-)

What I'm looking forward to: Heading to MI to be with Kai’s mom as she’s recovering. Looking forward to seeing her and spending some quality time. Also looking forward to seeing some friends and family while I’m there.

Weekly Wisdom: Pregnant women! They had that weird frisson, an aura of magic that combined awkwardly with an earthy sense of duty. Mundane, because they were nothing unique on the suburban streets; ethereal because their attention was ever somewhere else. Whatever you said was trivial. And they had that preciousness which they imposed wherever they went, compelling attention, constantly reminding you that they carried the future inside, its contours already drawn, but veiled, private, an inner secret.
-- Ruth Morgan

iphone Hacker

2010-10-07T05:43:00.000-07:00

K has figured out our iphones. He's called his Papa, sent Kai a text, and will easily be our go-to man for all things electronic in a few years. See for yourself.

Do You Remember This?

2010-10-06T12:15:00.000-07:00

It's so hard to believe it's been over a year since this was taken! I watched all of our old videos over lunch with K and was shocked at how much he has changed since he was born. He hardly looks like the same baby! He absolutely loved watching them even though I'm not quite sure that he understood he was watching a younger version of himself.

No One Ever Told Me (on being a mom)

2010-10-05T06:06:00.000-07:00

My child's kisses would brighten any day
I would unashamedly make my child's picture the background on my computer, phone, etc.
I would cry while watching a tragic movie involving a child
I would worry about someone else's future more than my own
A handpicked flower from my son would be even more beautiful than a store bought bunch from the store
I would find so much satisfaction in playing cars and building towers
Laughing would be extremely contagious when coming from my child
The word "mommy" would be one of the sweetest words in the English language
That "what if's" would terrify me when placed in the context of my children
Watching my child sleep would be one of the sweetest things I've ever seen
The simplest accomplishments would warrant me standing up, cheering, clapping
I wouldn't mind my house being a little out of order at times because Lego's, blocks, balls, and cars can easily be put away
Shopping for my son's clothes would become more fun than shopping for my own
That each day I could love my family even more than the day before