I Love You

T said "I love you" to me for the very first time last night! I love being a mom!

Fevered ramblings

T has been sick the past several days with a high fever - ranging from 99F-103F. Last night after I put him to bed, he kept waking up every 5-10 minutes and when I measured his temperature, it was above 102F. Here is the conversation one of the times he awoke:
T: "Daddy! Daddy!"
I ran back to the bedroom to check on him and found him sitting up.
S: "Yes?"
T: "Andy fell in the water."
S: "Who's Andy?"
T: "He goes right there" gesturing to the spot next to him in bed.

He then went back to sleep. I'm not entirely sure he was awake though. 20 minutes later, he woke again and I went back to check on him:
T: "I fell in the water."

Thankfully, his fever dropped shortly after that and he was able to sleep most of the rest of the night.

Zombie Dad

Last year, M gave me a Zombie Bowling gift for Christmas. The whole set is made of wood. The pins are cone shaped with spheres on the pointy tip as the heads. They are about 3.5" tall. Nine of the pins are painted like decomposing zombies and one is painted like a terrified woman. The bowling ball is painted like a bomb. The goal is to setup the pins and then bowl down the zombies to save the woman.

M's intention was for me to take it to work, however that never happened and T got a hold of it one day. We have been periodically playing with the set ever since, but mostly in a non-traditional bowling format. In fact very little bowling has taken place. Over the past week, the game started as the zombies trying to attack T and then T blasts them with the bomb. When the zombies attack one at a time, he doesn't have any problem destroying them, but sometimes they attack two at a time and one gets through to nibble on his neck. T is quite ticklish on his neck, so we have a great laugh over it. Over the week, the game evolved into T using the container, which is a cylinder, as an arm cannon that can shoot out a variety of things - water, fire, bombs, etc. and the zombies would look for brains and get blasted by the cannon. Sometimes the zombies burn briefly until the get put out by the water cannon. Sometimes they explode and go flying through the air (this is T's favorite). The zombies now have names and hold conversations with each other.

I went to pick up T from school the other day. At the end of the day, his class usually ends up in the gym for free play time, and I usually end up playing with him and the other kids on the days I pick him up. This day was no different and when I entered the gym, the kids were all playing with giant green balance balls. The balls are almost as tall as the kids. So T asks, "can you be a zombie, Dad?" I agree and the next 25 minutes are spent with T trying to bowl me over with the balance ball while I make zombie sounds trying to get him. When I get hit, I explode and fall down or get blasted into a wall. It doesn't take long for all of the other kids to join in and I am completely overwhelmed by the balance balls and then kids piling on top of me.

School closes by six o'clock, so we have to leave. We had such a great time, T asked if we could continue playing at home. On the way out, we pass by the front desk. T says, "Dad, I want to write something." So we find a piece of paper and a pen and I let him write down what he wants. It is just scribbles, so I ask him what it says and he replies, "Daddy, thank you for being a zombie."

Halloweeners

Skunklet

Skunklet trick or treating

Trunk or Treating

Engineer

Construction Worker

Trick or Treating

Little Laughs

K started laughing this week!
October 31, 2013

Dancing Francis

A dancing Chipmunk?

A dancing Ladybug!

First Milestones

I see it's been 2 months since my last blog. I spend so little time on the computer now that I have an super dependent little one again. However, said little one (K) just picked up a toy and put it in his mouth for the first time and I was so excited I decided to blog about it (one handed if necessary). K turned 12 weeks yesterday. He's become quite playful and loves to engage us with his sweet smile. Last weekend I believe Scott got K's first attempt to laugh while playing on the changing pad in the bathroom. It was more of a deliberate "ha ha" than a real sounding laugh, but I'm pretty sure it was an attempt. One of K's favorite places is the changing pad. I suspect there are a couple of reasons for that (besides the clean diaper). First, we have wind chimes hanging above the changing pad and K loves to hear them. Second, he knows we'll play with him there.

Yep! I love my bath, what are you going to do about it?
10/6/2013

Hey! play my wind chimes now!
10/6/2013

Sitting in the big boy chair
10/12/2013

Sad

T got out of bed this morning, walked to the family room, and came back with a mournful face:
T: I'm sad because my friend is gone
Me: Who is your friend?
T: Oma

Oma has been here for a week and The Scoot just took her to the train station this morning. We were all sad to see her head home, but T will especially miss her. She spent the day with him yesterday and took him to the park for over two hours.

Birth of a Yeti

I thought I was going to be pregnant forever. Seriously, I thought it would never end ... the nausea, the ligament pain, and the complete inability to play effectively with T. Three weeks before K was born I got a respiratory infection. I gave birth to T with a respiratory infection, so I thought maybe it was a sign I was about to go into labor. The week ticked by and eventually I was able to breath again, but no baby. I'd only just recovered when T came down with a fever. He was home from daycare for the better part of the following week. He was so sweet and easy to care for, but I was exhausted, sick, massively pregnant, and I just wanted to laze about on the couch (or better yet, give birth). Another week ticked by and still no baby. Did I mention I was already dilated to 3cm?

On Monday July 29th, I mentioned to my acupuncturist that I thought the baby was out of alignment. It felt like his head was centered over my lift hip. Every time I had a contraction it felt like something hard was smashing into my left hip bone and I thought maybe his lack of centeredness was perhaps making him hesitant to emerge. My acupuncturist didn't have any trouble sliding him over a few inches so his head was lined up with my pelvis and the next morning I was dilated to 4cm and the little guys was still in the right place. Throughout the day I felt more contractions, but nothing regular or painful. Still, I hoped. Have I mentioned that pregnancy is torture?

Finally around 1am I thought the contractions might be getting stronger and more regular and I couldn't sleep because I was afraid that if I fell asleep the contractions would stop. By 3am I'd had regular contractions for an hour - yay! At 4am they were 10 min apart and we headed to the hospital. My first labor was relatively fast (dilated from 5-9 in 45 min, but then pushed for 3 hours) so I figured we better not waste time getting T settled at my sisters house. I turned around to check on him expecting to see a sleeping child in the car seat as we pulled out of the garage, but there he was - wide eyed - staring back. We probably wouldn't have been able to get him settled at my sister's place, lol. T laid wide awake on the couch in the triage room and was very quiet. The Scoot and I sang "The Ants go Marching" to him while I was being monitored. Singing is good for relaxing!

Lying on the table in triage was so uncomfortable. I don't know how people lie still while in labor. I had to get up and move, but that slowed down the monitoring. The triage nurse told me I was only 5cm and not in active labor, but that they wouldn't send me home. Thank goodness. They did take their sweet time getting me to the labor room where I had to be monitored again - yuck, but I get it. By the time they finally agreed not to give me a saline lock and let me get in the hot tub the contractions were getting serious. The Scoot stayed with T in the delivery room (T, still awake and lying quietly on the couch) while my doula, Corrine and I headed to the hot tub. Corrine was amazingly supportive and reassuring and helped me moan my way through the next few contractions with useful reminders to relax my jaw. At this point, the contractions came fast and close together and by the third one, much to my surprise I was READY TO PUSH! I couldn't not push. I really expected to be in the tub longer than 10 min, lol, but I'm not sorry my time there was so short.

Somehow I marched (assisted by Corrine and my midwife Mary) back down the hall to the labor/delivery room while in the midst of a pushy contraction. The Scoot had just finished dressing T and was about to take him to my sister in the waiting room when we arrived. I had just enough time to tell T I was fine and not to worry about me when I doubled over (grabbing onto the bed) as another contraction started as I sort of screamed and my water broke all over the floor. I managed to get onto the bed so Mary could check my progress and was greatly relieved to find that I was a whopping 10cm. I couldn't stand being on my back, but luckily no one was opposed to me rolling over onto all fours. I got there just in time to endure a wave of contractions that didn't seem to have any end. I remember one brief rest of about 30 seconds and the rest was just contractions tearing involuntary scream-sobs from my body. I remember saying, "He's never going to drop" and "This is never going to end." Thank goodness he did drop and it did end and all in less than 15 min. I still remember the relief of feeling that little body slide out of mine and the immediate relief it brought. The Scoot got back mere seconds before K emerged. Being on all fours, I couldn't really communicate effectively with anyone behind me, but I was so grateful for The Scoot and Corrine who were each at a shoulder cheering me on.

Mary passed a screaming K to me between my legs and everyone helped me roll onto my back so K could hang out there until they cut the chord. The nurses gave us a long time to hang out out together before taking K for his first bath. K has a real set of lungs. After his super fast delivery and rude awakening into the real world, I wasn't sure he'd every stop screaming. Eventually he did and he also latched within the fist 10 min! yay!

I don't know when I officially went into labor, but I gave birth just two hours after being admitted (take that triage nurse!) and while those two hours weren't exactly comfortable, only the last 30 minutes pushed my tolerance to its limits. Those last 15 minutes were crazy! I could not have done that for 3 hours. During the three hour push with T there were actually breaks between my contractions. What I didn't see, but was told about afterward is that the midwife turned around to put on her smock after checking me and helping me get onto my hands and knees and turned back around just in time to catch the K in the smock she hadn't had time to do more than get over her hands. It was that fast. K was 7lbs and 19.75 inches long and left me with no stitches and very little swelling. I only spent one night in the hospital and was up and around as soon as I got home. I was still very grateful to my mom who came the day K was born and stayed for a week (cleaning, making meals, and making extra meals for our freezer), and to The Scoot's mom who came the following week and did the same. Although I emerged in good shape, I'm still very sleep deprived and it was so nice not to have to worry about household tasks for a couple of weeks. We will miss them both.

I also need to thank:
• The Scoot who put up with nauseous whining for 9 months and spent extra time entertaining T so I could go to bed early and/or lounge around like and invalid.
• Corinne Friedrich, our labor doula and Gracie Koester her partner who provided pre and post-partum doula support.
• Coleen Gibson, my acupuncturist - who worked with me through the entire pregnancy to help me cope with the never ending morning sickness and other pregnancy aches and pains.
• Jessica Dorrington and Essie Whitaker at Bethany Physical Therapy for helping me prepare for birth and for helping me get my body back. I visited their office in my last month of pregnancy because I had a diastasis. In only two visits they taught me how to give birth in the most effective way. First they taught me how to push correctly for maximum effect, second, they hooked up sensors to my pelvic floor and measured how relaxed it was in different positions to determine my optimal positions for labor. All fours was one of my lowest positions and ended up being very effective along with the pushing skills I learned. Everyone should see a skilled physical therapist before giving birth. Jessica and Essie are now working with me to close my four finger diastasis recti and we are optimistic it can be done - yay! I'll have to blog more about this after we're done.
• The amazing Certified Nurse Midwives of Woman's Healthcare Associates LLC for supporting me in my second unmedicated delivery.

If you've made it this far and ware wondering about the title, "Birth of a Yeti" ... when I first saw K, I thought he was bald ... He's actually just really really blonde with plenty of hair and tiny white eyelashes. He also has white hair on his back and shoulders and growls and groans like a yeti. After T and his head full of dark dark hair, I'm still ticked and surprised by this tiny blond boy.

Elephant Stink

T: I don't like you
Me: Well, I like you
T: But I don't like you
Me: Why?
T: Because you're stinky
Me: What do I smell like?
T: Elephant Stink!

So, was it my morning mouth or the fact that I hadn't showered for 36 hours?

Big Brother

T is now a happy big brother to K:

The recipe for Honey

We were talking about the difference between bees and wasps/hornets last night at dinner (roasting hot dogs over the fire pit in the back yard) when T decided to tell us how bees make honey ...
"They [the bees] cook them in a little pan with a spoon and they scoop them with a ladle and they put them in a jar and they give it to us and we eat it all up and then they make some more."
I kid you not, this was his awesome story about how bees make honey. I wrote it on a post it note as he was telling us.

Put it in your Pocket

What?!? You don't want me to take a video? That's a first. He did enjoy watching it over and over and over in the car the next morning though.
I hate getting the video orientation wrong. I really need to remember to rotate the phone.

I want my hat

T wanted to wear his hat this morning

Daddy, the flash is too bright:

Dream

Me: "Did you have good dreams?" T (after sleeping in my bed most of the night): "There was no dream in your bed" Me: "Was there a dream in your bed?" T: "No, there was no dream in my bed either, but yesterday there was a dream in my bed"

I want something

T got out of bed the other night sometime after 9pm, well after his bed time, and shuffled down the hall while we were relaxing, watching TV. I went to meet him in the hall and T looked at me with a smile, "I want something." I asked him what he wanted. He replied "Parmesan cheese." Chuckling, I said "ok." I picked him up and set him down on the kitchen counter while I got out the cheese and a knife. While I was cutting off a sizable chunk, T said, "I want one... two... all of them" while sticking up one, then two, and then five fingers on his outstretched hand. There was still the majority of the cheese wedge remaining which made his remark even more hysterical.

Stall Tactics

Just this week T has turned up the bed time stall tactics. Monday night I got home from acupuncture just in time to put him to bed and made the mistake of telling him I was going to eat dinner. He immediately piped up and said he wanted to eat dinner. "I want some applesauce" ... "I'm hungry" ... so I let him get out of bed and have dinner with me. Apparently he'd eaten quite a lot before I got home and was likely NOT hungry, lol. The next night when I put him to bed I did not mention food, but he said he was hungry again. I'd been there for our regular family dinner and knew he'd eaten plenty, so I quickly told him it was bed time and he complied without further comment.
Wednesday night he took his tactics to a whole new level. After his bath we spent quite a bit of time playing his favorite after bath game where he dresses up in his monster towel and sneaks up on and scares whichever parent isn't carrying him around. The Scoot, T, and I spent quite a bit of time running around the house scaring each other. Then T and I spent some time hiding under the covers in "mommy's bed" scaring the Scoot by pulling the covers back quickly or being scared by him.
Eventually we got him into his PJs and talked about reading stories and singing songs. At that point, T decided he was going to put me to bed, so I played along. He took me to my bed and "read" (mimicking many of my reading expressions) three stories for me. Then he sang a vary abbreviated version of "Edelweiss" with his pacifier in his mouth. Finally he tucked me in, handed me the pacifier and then climbed out of bed to join Daddy in the family room. He is so cute and clever! It was hard for me to burst his bubble and put him to bed. After some very brief tears and protestations we started the bedtime routine all over - this time with me reading, singing, and tucking. What will he come up with next?!?

Prune humor

Me (eating prunes): Do you want a prune?
T: No thank you.
Me: It will help you poop.
T: I don't want to poop.
.
.
.
T decides to try a prune and likes it so much he eats several.
.
.
.
T (a few minutes later): It didn't poop me!

The Morning Routine

Getting ready for school is such a drag!

photos take 1/31/2013

Pistachios

T loves pistachios and so do I! I buy the big bag of shelled pistachios at Costco (yes, I'm that lazy) and often include them in the snack stash when we go out. One morning after baby circus, T was eating pistachios in the back seat so I asked if I could have one. At first he wasn't going to share, but a minute later he said "here mommy" and handed a pistachio over the seat. Right off I noticed that it was wet. I held it for a moment, trying to decide what to do with it when T said "I just licked it!"

Boogers

T wakes up a bit annoyed and begins wiping his nose.

T (annoyed): “I have boogers!”

S: “Let me get a tissue.”

S gets out of bed and gets some toilet paper from the bathroom. T continues wiping his nose with his hand.

T: “No! Not that one! The other one!”

S: “The suction one?”

T: ”Yeah.”

T whines. S gets the suction bulb.

T: “Mommy want to do it.”

S: “Mommy’s sleeping.”

S proceeds to suction T’s nostrils. Nothing comes out.

S: “Is that better?”

T: “No!”

S: “Nothing is coming out. You have a dry nose because you are dehydrated. There is nothing I can do.”

T whines some more.

T: “Do it again.”

S proceeds to suction T’s nostrils again. Still nothing. T whines.

S: “The only thing that will help is standing up and drinking some water. Should I get your water?”

T: “Yeah.”

S gets up and gets T’s water. T takes a drink.

T (excited): “It’s helping!”

T happily gets out of bed.

What my smell?!?

T (distress): "What my smell?!?"
Me: "Stinky Elephants"

Lily, the newest addition to the elephant family at the Zoo

Next we headed to the train. It was cold and T snuggled me to keep me warm. He enjoyed the ride, but the train whistle was really loud and it hurt his ears.
Later ... as we were walking around the zoo...
T (distress) "What my smell?!?"
Me: "Is it a good smell or a bad smell"
T (with conviction): "A BAD smell"
Me: "Stinky animals"

A little later ... still walking around the zoo ...
T (interest) "What my smell?!?"
Me: "Is it a good smell or a bad smell"
T (with conviction): "A GOOD smell!"
Me: "Cinnamon from the elephant ears"

We shared an elephant ear for lunch - one of my favorite zoo treats! Our zoo outing on February 23, 2013 was going to be a brief visit to kill some time on the way home from Baby Circus (downtown). We had so much fun we stayed for 4 hours!

Sleep Running?

Last night I woke up at 2am and heard T climb out of bed and start down the hall. I thought he would come into our room, but he blew right past. I listened for a bit and thought I heard him call "mommy" from the other end of the house so I got up to see what he was up to. He was standing between the kitchen and dining room when I came out in the hall. He waited for me to come and pick him up and then said in a very sleepy whisper, "I was just running down the hall." He was so groggy I had to ask him to repeat it. I don't think he was even fully awake, silly boy!

A Big Scary Ghost!

I posted this for my family on January 8th, but forgot to put it here: I woke from a dead sleep around 1am to the stomping of small feet. I opened my eyes just in time to see Torin stomp past the bedroom door heading toward the family room. I called his name and he stopped, but didn't come into my room. He walked to my doorway and stood in the hall where I met him and asked what he was doing. He raised his arms over his head in a grand gesture and said "A Ghost, A Big Scary Ghost." We continued to talk about the big scary ghost in the dark doorway for what seemed like forever, until he finally walked into my outstretched arms and let me take him to bed. He wasn't scared and appeared to be wide awake. I still don't know if he had dreamed about ghosts or if he was pretending to be a ghost, but it was pretty funny even at 1am. We both lay wide awake in bed for quite sometime until he scooted closer to me and said "snuggle me." I can never say no to that request, even when his soft little head takes over most of my pillow.

Big Eyes

T has such big eyes, but they aren't as big as his stomach. He's become quite the little trader lately, and seems to think more is better. Friday morning we had cut up eggs (hard boiled eggs mashed lightly with a fork and mixed with torn up toast). The Scoot served T a T-sized portion and then left his own daddy-sized portion on the table and headed back to the kitchen to get something. During his moments of absence T excitedly said "Trade" and daddy came back to a T-sized portion of cut up eggs. The Scoot did get to finish the leftovers of his original serving once T was full.

Saturday at lunch T offered The Scoot a wedge of his children's quesadilla in exchange for a whole burrito! T realized very quickly the the burrito was too big and traded back right away.