Makenna's Birthday Party

We had a small birthday party for Makenna after the family arrived. She had a great time with her new bike. Ryan and Uncle Colin pushed her around on it for most of the night. She also dug into her cake and had fun being sung to. She even clapped for us when we were done singing. She calls birthday candles "happy"

because she knows that when she sees them we sing "Happy Birthday". I'm glad we had a little party for her, she really seemed to enjoy it.

Happy Birthday sweet girl, we love you!

Holy Cow

I have a "follower", meaning someone who's interested in my blog and signed up to follow it. I'm feeling the love.

Hi Tasha! I didn't know you had a blog. I've added you to my favorites, guess I should figure out this whole follower thing too. :)

Gah!

I've been trying to format Makenna's birthday post for two days and I still can't get some of the paragraphs to work. Not sure if it's user error or Blogger, either way it's user frustrating!

Sorry for the rough transitions in Makenna's post, but I wanted it up and running, even if it's missing a few spaces.

She's TWO!

Dear Makenna,

Today is your birthday! You're two!! This almost surprises me because it's seems like you've been two for awhile now. You're on the high end of the growth chart for height and seem right on track socially and physically with kids that are a number of months older. You have, in the past week or so, started exhibiting more of the "terrible two" behavior that we hadn't seen much of prior to this. You really are two!

You are so much fun to be around. You smile and laugh all the time, love to play with us and your brother, and constantly want to be tickled. You're still pretty easy going and distractable, although you definitely have a mischeivious streak and have recently figured out "No!". You still love playing hide and seek, peek a boo and even patty cake, but you also appreciate light saber fights with Ryan, books (which you are constantly asking one of us to read) and anything associated with baby dolls. Oh, and I can't forget your obsession with bags and shoes. You got that from your mommy.

You continue to enjoy just about any fruit we put in front of you. You call all of them apples, even the green olives that I eat are called apples, and your favorites right now are probably cantalope and clementines. Your favorite meals are spaghetti and stir fry, both of which generally get a "YUM YUM" when they arrive at the table. Other favorites include pickles, string cheese, yogurt, milk, chi bok...which means juice box to you, and any kind of cracker or cookie you can get your hands on.

You're still pretty quiet when out of your environment or around people you don't know, but we slowly see you coming out of that. Strangers can get you to smile now, although you still survey your surroundings intensely and the smiles only come when you feel comfortable. You get tons of comments about your little ringlet curls, cute cheeks and grey eyes which you couldn't care less about, but they make your daddy and I smile.

You tell all of us that you love us all the time. It's the cutest thing and makes my heart burst each time I hear it. I really want to get it on video but every time you see the camera or video camera you freeze. I hope to catch it soon.

You have your own language right now. I find myself translating for you at times, even with your daddy. Some of your better known "words" are:

chi bok = juice box

elk = thank you...it stems from the shortened version of welcome, which you seem to think means thank you

ook/bok = milk

yock = sock

Your vocabulary is growing all the time and most words are understandable, so your "makenna-isms" are pretty cute. You've also begun stringing two words and sometimes even three together and often if you're talking about an action you have to talk about it for each member of the family, ie. "Daddy bye bye? Ryan bye bye? Mommy bye bye?"

You got Pneumonia for Christmas this year and got to be just like your brother and have breathing treatments. You did really well and even held the mask with only a few short lived battles. I hope this doesn't mean you'll develop the asthma issues that he's developed. You also got to visit a dermatologist last month because of a rash on your face that refused to go away. The doc thought it was eczema, so we're treating it as such. Seems to be working, so hopefully you won't have continued issues.

You seem to have the same appreciation for music as the rest of the family. One of your favorite Christmas gifts was a little guitar that Ryan picked out for you, you play it and dance around. You dance and clap along with songs on the radio and you're constantly singing the ABC's. You seem to have an affinity for 80's music right now...your daddy is proud.

We're thankful your baby brother hasn't arrived yet, I was nervous he'd want to share your birthday. We're glad your special day continues to be just yours.

Your favorite outfit currently consists of a diaper, your brothers sunglasses and some mismatched flipflops that your brother wore last summer. I wouldn't care, except it's the middle of winter, so we're constantly trying to put your clothes back on.

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl. We love you very much!

Love,

Mommy

*1st and 2nd pictures by http://katecrafton.blogspot.com/

*Updated to add Makenna's stats from her well check up. She was a trooper and very cooperative. The nurse and ped both commented on how good she was. She shed a few tears when she got her shots, but then sat through the blood draw like it was nothing. Turns out her iron is a little low so she's on a daily vitamin for that now. She weighed in at 30lb 14 oz which is 90th percentile, 35 1/2 inches tall which is 89th percentile and head circumference is 88th percentile. Ryan better watch out, she might just be taller than he is!

Happy New Year!

It's resolution time!

I know mine need to be pretty minor, what with having a new baby in the house as well as a toddler and 7 yr old. That being said, here are a few things I hope to accomplish this year, in no particular order :

~Loose the babyweight I gained, plus about 10 lbs
~Get back to meal plans, cooking more and trying new recipes
~Pay off some debt
~Find a church
~Focus on my relationship with my hubby. (We always struggle when a new baby is in the house due to lack of sleep and stress which we take out on each other. I need to remember that and instead try to make him feel loved and appreciated and not get frustrated with him too easily.)
~Create a portfolio of rooms I've designed

A woman in my mom's group asked the question "What 5 things would you do, if you didn't have to do them perfectly?" Here were my answers:

1. Open my own decorating/staging business.
2. Community Theater
3. Host more gatherings at my house
4. Paint, as in pictures...specifically watercolors
5. Landscape my backyard and build a screened in patio.

Something to think about for future years and goals. What are your resolutions?

2008 in Review

I saw this on a friend's blog and thought it was fun.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before? Planned and executed a major home renovation project with the help of a few family members.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I didn't really make any resolutions last year. Had a few goals but didn't do very well on those. A little surprise a few months into the year sidetracked me. I've made some for 2009, they'll be in another post. :)

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My stepbrother and his wife had the sweetest baby boy and a number of women in my mom's group had babies.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Not this year.

5. What traveling did you do? We went to Atlanta for a long weekend and to Colorado to see family for a week. I also spent a long weekend with girlfriends in Atlanta early in the year and the DM travelled some for work.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? More fun times with friends. Pregnancy tends to make me become a homebody. I'd also like to find a church our whole family enjoys.

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? I don't know that there's a specific date but the election and our unexpected pregnancy will be the events that hold a place in my memory.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Redoing all the bedrooms in our house and feeling like my decorating ideas were actually good.

9. What was your biggest failure? Probably my parenting. I've not had a lot of energy since April and know that my kids have missed having a more active and patient mommy.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I had a few pregnancy related ailments but nothing major. Ryan broke his collar bone this year and the DM had some back trouble.

11. What was the best thing you bought? I managed to catch the 90% off sale at Target in early January. I got awesome deals and had toys for most birthdays and a number of Christmas gifts. It felt great to save so much throughout the year. My favorite purchase, however, was the stuff to redo our master bedroom. The result was exactly what we wanted and we enjoy our space every day.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? The DM's. He works really hard and then comes home to two kids who can't wait to see him and a pregnant wife that's either sick, tired or both. He's been a workhorse this year as well as an awesome father and husband.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? I plead the 5th.

14. Where did most of your money go? Food, things for the kids, our house.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Our unexpected pregnancy, all of the work we did to our house and the election.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008? Hmmm, probably It's A New Day, since it was linked to the election and has other emotional significance for me.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: Much happier, richer, nicer? All of those are probably comparable to what they were last year. If anything I'm probably less nice, as I've become more egocentric towards the end of pregnancy.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Exercise!

19.What do you wish you'd done less of? Worry. We had a few big things come up that brought with them lots of worry and thought. They all worked out so I wish I'd worried a little less.

20. How did you spend Christmas? We spent Christmas Eve with friends and their family, who are like an extended family to us. Christmas day was spent at home with just our immediate family. It was a wonderful and relaxing day and it was nice to be home and not trying to split time between families.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009? Yes, with a little blob on a black and white screen and then with the little kicks that followed.

22.How many one-night stands? Since I've been married for 15 years, not a one.

23. What was your favorite TV program? Criminal Minds, or just about anything on HGTV

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Nope

25. What was the best book you read this year? I really enjoyed Eat, Love, Pray and the Twilight series was surprisingly engaging.

26.What was your greatest musical discovery? Not sure I had one.

27. What did you want and get? A trip to Colorado

28.What was your favorite film of this year? I didn't see many new releases this year, although I enjoyed the Sex and the City movie. I also rented What Happens in Vegas and The Other Bolin Girl, and enjoyed both of those a lot.

29.What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 36 this year...sigh. We travelled to Colorado on my birthday and spent the evening in an awesome house in Breckenridge with my mom, stepdad, brother, stepbrothers, SIL and nephew. We had a yummy dinner and dessert and enjoyed the time together.

30.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? If I had done more with my desire to help people decorate/stage their homes. I helped a few friends with some small projects but I really need to figure out how to expand to a little business for myself.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? Big. I don't think Maternity clothes count as a fashion concept.

32.What kept you sane? Music, books, my laptop and the DM.

33.Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Probably Barack Obama.

34. What political issue stirred you the most? The election as a whole was really important to me this year.

35. Who did you miss? My family, they all live across the country, a couple close friends that I don't see much and my friend Jenna that passed away in 2007.

36. Who was the best new person (people) you met? Our newest family member and I have been becoming very acquanited over the last number of months. :) I can't wait for the rest of the family to meet him!

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008: You can't plan everything, fate has a way of stepping in and taking over when you least expect it.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: Capri by Colbie Caillat
"She’s got a baby inside
And holds her belly tight
All through the night"
This year has mostly been about gestating and preparing for the arrival of our little man.

Hi!

Apparently I've lost my blogging voice.

I guess I've been so busy being mommy to a 7 yr old, keeping up with a toddler, gestating and trying to be a good wife, daughter and friend that I've let blogging fall to the bottom of the priority list.

Where to begin...

Sadly, I don't even remember what I've talked about over the last few months, maybe I need to read my own blog before I start writing. October, November and December have flown by. We went to Colorado for Ryan's fall break, which was awesome. We spent time with my family in the mountains the first part of the week and spent time with DM's family the second part. We flew this time, allowing us a lot more time to spend with family. It was wonderful to see everyone, and meet our nephew Sebastian for the first time.

Other than that, we've been working on home projects in preparation for the arrival of our newest family member. The kids switched rooms, giving Makenna the bigger since she'll be sharing with her younger brother at some point in the future. Ryan's room is done, and looks great. I'll post pictures soon. Makenna's room has been painted, but lacks all the finishing details. We're still working on those. DM also finished all the crown molding and trim that was installed in August. You wouldn't think it would take that long to caulk, sand and paint trim, but it does. He was thrilled when he completed that task.

I've been working on Christmas crafts and have been pretty happy with the outcome. Can't post pictures of those until after Thursday.

Pregnancy wise, I'm 34 weeks now (35 tomorrow)! Hard to believe we're almost there and we'll soon have THREE kids! My mom's group hosted a beautiful babyshower for me a couple weeks ago and our little guy got some cute outfits including a handknit hat, BPA free bottles, eco friendly diapers ,an adorable diaper cake, some cute burp cloths and personalized baby gear! By the time you get to three kids, you don't expect a babyshower, but these women are so awesome and are sure to celebrate every baby, no matter if it's a person's 1st or 5th. We also had maternity/family photos taken a few weeks ago. I haven't done this during my other pregnancies and am so glad we did it this time. I absolutely LOVE the photos and will always cherish them. The photographer gave me an album with all the photos at my shower, she apparently knows what a slacker I am about printing photos but how much I love looking at them.

Other big news is that we've decided on a name. Actually, we came up with it months ago and it's the only name we both like. We kept it a secret for awhile, trying it out and seeing how we felt. After time it became pretty obvious it was the one. So, our little guy's name will be Eli Sterling. Eli is a name we both like and Sterling is a family name. It's my brother's middle name and the name of my maternal great uncle. We both love the significance and are excited to honor my brother with a namesake. We've gotten mixed reviews about our choice, Ryan in particular has expressed his disdain. His preference is some variation of Jack, but since there are already two people with that name in my family, we needed something different.

Other than that, I'm trying to keep things pretty low key. We spent last saturday night in labor and delivery due to consistent contractions. Once there, of course they slowed down and then stalled, we did, however, discover that I've already started dialating. I was pretty embarrased to be on my third pregnancy and making my first false labor at midnight trip to the ER. Had I been a few more weeks along I probably would have waited, but at this stage, I'd rather not have a baby that has to spend a lot of time in the NICU. Anyhow, contractions have continued here and there, so I'm resting as much as possible and drinking lots of water.

The kids are starting to wake up, so I'm going to enjoy my last few moments of silence and sip a cup of tea by the lights of the Christmas tree and mantle garland. I love this time of year.

Vote!

Go Obama!!!

That is all.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! I'm terrible about posting pictures, so here's one of the kids taken yesterday. We were at the Pumpkin Patch for the last time this season, it was a beautiful day and the kids had a great time. Not sure yet what they'll dress up as for trick or treating tonight. Ryan wants to be a ghost, storm trooper, batman, cowboy. We have the pieces for all those costumes so it'll be a last minute decision. Makenna will be a frog if it's cold or Princess Amadala if it's warm and Ryan is a storm trooper. Makenna missed out on the fun last year because she was sick so we're looking forward to a fun family evening.

Hair Talk

Do you know how you can tell if big changes have occured or are about to occur in a girls life? You can tell by looking at her hair. If her hairstyle changes drastically, her life is probably in transition.

Any guesses what I did today?

If you guessed that I cut my hair off, you guessed right. I also got darker lowlights along with highlights. The husband is shocked, but adapting to the new me. I'm still unsure about it, but once I fix it myself I hope I like it.

The last time I chopped it, I was pregnant with Ryan. Must be a pregnancy thing.

Adulthood

Ever wish your life had an escape hatch? If not an escape hatch, an easy button?

I wish for one of those right now. We have a lot going on, most of which I can't really talk about. A few big things with a few smaller things thrown in, which only make the big things feel bigger.

I laid in bed last night tossing and turning and never really sleeping, issue after issue running through my brain. Some of the issues require a decision now, and some require us to play the waiting game. I'm not very good with either of those scenarios...I don't like forced decisions, but also really struggle with letting things go and just waiting to see what happens. Being an adult is hard some days.

On the bright side, Ryan is receiving a citizenship award at school today. I'm so proud of our boy and what a good kid he is. I'm looking forward to sitting in the bleachers watching him get recognition for being a positive role model for his peers. Moments like that make being an adult pretty great.

Look what I did...

What can you do with a little scrapbook paper, some Mod Podge and a brush?

Line the inside of your bookshelves with it! See before and after pictures, I'm thrilled with how it turned out. A project that costs less than $10 and only takes a couple hours to complete...what could be better?

History Lesson

It's Sunday, a day to sleep in, and yet my lovely children were up before 6 am. Ryan needed to ask me a very pressing question, and proceeded to wake his sister up when he got up.

The question:

"Hey mom, you know that bell, the Liberty Bell, why does it have a crack in it?"

What? How is it that a 7 year old is woken from a deep sleep by pondering the crack in the Liberty Bell? More importantly, why didn't he wake up his father, the man with the History degree?

Light The Night

I've signed up to walk the Light The Night walk again, in memory of my friend Jenna who passed away last year. The walk will be on October 16th and my goal is $100, although I'm hoping to raise more. If you'd like to sponsor me, please follow the link.

http://www.active.com/donate/ltnNashvi/2471_chandramharrison

Found it!

Camera was in the diaper bag...duh. Here's her rash. Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?

Missing Camera, a Rash and a Rant

Makenna's had a rash on her face for over two weeks now. I took her to the pediatrician early on and they thought it was a virus and would probably go away. They said it's possible it's an allergy, but we hadn't really changed anything...detergent, shampoo, food...all the same. I wondered if it could be related to the amount of dairy products she consumes since she seemed to have a lactose intolerance early on, our ped thought that was unlikely.

Anyhow, here we are, more than two weeks later. The rash has gotten a bit better and then worse again. I'd love to take a picture but I can't find my camera! Who loses their camera??? I try to be organized and a camera isn't a little thing. I'm annoyed at myself, and concerned about my little one's poor face, besides, I want a picture of it!

Speaking of annoyance, I'm also annoyed by an aqaintance of mine who continually calls Makenna fat. I recognize that she's a big girl and has a little chub, but according to the charts she's the appropriate weight for her height, besides the fact that she's NOT EVEN 2! This person needs to keep that opinion to herself because the next time she says it I'm going to have to get all "mama bear" on her.

One Issue...

The topic of overturning Roe v Wade was discussed with Senator McCain this morning on Good Morning America. He said he's Pro-Life and he believes the abortion discussion should be about changing the culture of America and about courage and compassion. He says we need to tell young women that if they have the courage to have a baby we will help them in every way we can and that there will be compassion for them. That would be wonderful, but overturning Roe v Wade won't magically make people have compassion for young, unwed mothers. Money won't fall from the sky to help those young women support their babies. (especially not from his camp since Republicans are generally anti welfare) People aren't going to come out of the woodwork to adopt the babies that have serious health problems because a young mother didn't take care of herself while pregnant. People aren't going to automatically change their opinions and their actions because Roe v Wade was overturned. Abortions will still occur, they'll just be illegal and unsafe. No matter how much you preach abstinance and safe sex there will still be people with unwanted pregnancies.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm not pro-abortion, but I am pro-choice. Because of that belief, McCain implies that I don't have compassion for the young women who chose to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term, which isn't true. I would prefer to see a young women take care of herself during pregnancy and give the child up for adoption or decide that she was going to raise it, and then have the programs available for her to do so. I also think it's her choice, not her parents, not her Supreme Court, not her doctors...her choice.

During the same interview Cindy McCain completely sidestepped a direct question about her opinion on the matter and tried to change the topic, and then proceeded to nod her head yes, showing agreement with her husband. When she's on record stating opinions on the opposite side of the matter.

I'm not a one issue voter, but this candidate makes it difficult.

Wake me up, when September ends...

I wanted to post two pictures yesterday, but unfortunately blogger couldn't read the second so I'll have to tell you what it was.

It was an x-ray, showing a broken collar bone. Taken Tuesday afternoon. The x-ray belongs to Ryan. The poor kid can not catch a break. Next year I'm going to wrap him in a bubble for the entire month of September and hope he makes it through unscathed. The sad part, he was just playing chase and tripped on the playground. Apparently he fell just right and the bone buckled. He's been a trooper, but it's obviously very painful. His teacher said he was so brave, neither she nor the school nurse realized how badly he was hurt at first. He has a cheesy little sling from the doctor, that doesn't do much but at least tells people he's hurt. DM and Ryan went out to purchase a more "manly" sling yesterday but they couldn't find one. He'll have to deal with the "babyish" boats and the diaper pin holding it together for at least a week. Sadly, he only got to play 1 full game of this baseball season and is very concerned about how he's going to do schoolwork, since it's his right side that hurts. Our poor boy, we just want to hug him constantly.

Wordless Wednesday!

First Day of First Grade