Life As We Know It

Let Summer Begin

The solstice has come.  The full moon has past and the school year is over!  WOW there is a ton going on.  I am posting a bunch of picts...check 'em out.   This past weekend we went to McMenamin's Edgefield.  McMen is a pacific nw micro brewery that specializes in buying unique properties and converting them into playgrounds for adults.  This place is an old poor farm that is now a 3 story hotel, with 32 holes of pitch-n-putt golf, a winery, a distillery, brewery, spa, for starters.   Throughout the grounds there are bars and a couple restaurants.  Part of their deal is,. McMen also has an on-staff artist crew that paints their properties with historic shots of the place and then adds a certain blend of hippie art to it.

Check it out: http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=3

thanks...

Thanks kar for the super sweet note for Daddy's day!  Truth be told you and Sam make the whole thing a bit easier.  For all you out there that thought I forgot how to post to the blog you are WRONG.  Life has had me running circles.  Getting through the lax season and the end of the school year has not left me with time to come home in the evening and get back on a computer...or may be I have just tried to stay off them after being at the machine all day.  In the coming days as I say good by to another school year and start the summer tour I'll post some more picks and maybe pull together a photo essay of sorts.  Untill then here is a shot of 2 people that add to my life...

Happy Papa's Day!!

I know it is a little belated, but I wanted to wish all the dads out there a Happy Father's Day!  I especially want to wish the papa of my baby a happy day.  I could not ask for a better partner in this crazy gig we call parenting.  It truly has been a joy for me watch Brian become a father.  I put in the picture on the left because it is a very common scene in our house...Brian carries our little guy everywhere in that sling.  It is a beautiful blending of Brian's old life and new life.  He is able to keep Sam close to him, yet have to hands to do all the "busy" things that Brian likes to do.  He is just such a natural at this Dad thing.  From the second Sam was born, he didn't look back.  Sam is so fortunate to have him as a Papa and I am so fortunate to have him as a husband.  He is the balance to my craziness.  He has taught me to be more mellow and I have taught him to be more careful.  :-)  He has taught me that we don't have to be quiet all the time unless we want a baby who only sleeps in silence and I have taught him that maybe you don't want to vacuum under Sam's crib while he is napping.  :-)  As a result, I think we have a pretty even tempered baby.  I'll stop with the sappiness now, but I just want to say that becoming a parent with Brian has been a crazy ride and I know that neither one of us would trade it for anything.  Happy Father's Day!

We're back!

OK...I have been working on this post since Thursday.  What do I do all day?!?  It might be long and boring for some, but here it goes...

Some of you probably didn't even know that we had gone anywhere, but Sam and I took a BIG trip to the east coast last weekend.  It was Addie's (Sam's cousin) first birthday party and we wanted to be there.  Sammy was WONDERFUL on the cross country flights!  I was terrified, but he reminded me that he usually just goes with the flow.  When I sat down on my flight there I noticed I was surrounded by men...I was sort of hoping to be surrounded by Grandmas.  The two college guys that we were sitting next to took one look at us and then one asked, "so does your baby have an angry cry or a quiet cry?"  It made me laugh, but I said "we'll have to see."  Turns out Sam had no cry at all on the plane and all of the guys that were sitting by me were so friendly and helpful.  Sammy loved them.  My only question is why was it necessary for him to poop like 5 times on the way there...changing babies on planes is no fun.

Uncle Matt (Brian's brother) picked us up at the airport on Thursday (very late).  We went back to their house in the Philadelphia area and spent our first couple of days there.  Sam and Addie got to meet for the first time.  I have to say that I'm not sure Sam knew Addie existed, but she seemed to like him.  Since I accidentally left our camera  back east I don't have pictures to show you, so let me just tell you that Addie is SO adorable and so much fun.  She has a great little spirit...can't wait to see her (and Matt and Mel) later this summer.  Thanks Matt and Mel for everything! 

While we were at Matt and Mel's, we had dinner with Mike and Julie Carr (friends of Brian's family).  It was great to see them and for Sam to meet them.  Congratulations to Mike and Julie on buying their first house!

Addie's party was tons of fun on Saturday...we got see Mel's sisters and all of their kids.  It's been ages since I've seen any of them.  Sam also got to meet his Uncle Chris.  He was sleeping most of the party (Sam, not Chris!), so he didn't get to enjoy any time with Chris until a few days later.

Then off to Brian's parents house in NJ on Saturday evening...at this point Sam was still pretty overwhelmed and exhausted.  He had a few cranky days.  When we got to NJ, Karen (Brian's mom) already had things set up for Sam...there was a little makeshift changing table, diapers, burp cloths, blankets, etc.  It was so nice not to have to worry about any of that!

On Sunday, Susannah and Ben (my friend from college and her beautiful baby) came all the way from Harrisburg, PA to visit.  It was SO great to see them.  Ben and Sam got along splendidly, although Ben tried some wrestling moves on Sam that he was no match for.  Susannah and I loved catching up and, as always, left saying that we wished we lived closer (But instead we play scrabble on Facebook!).  Matt, Mel, and Addie came up for a BBQ later that afternoon which was fun. 

No wait, there is more!  We really crammed in the visits.  On Monday, my dad, Wendy, and Grandma came down to Brian's parents house for brunch.  Luckily Sam was back to his old self and gave plenty of smiles to his Poppy.  Later that evening Sam and I walked over for a quick visit our friends Abe and Lorissa house and their son Julian, who was all smiles.

Tuesday...time to fly home already!  Brian's parents and I head down to Philly, stop in for too quick visit with Mama (his grandma) and Aunt Mary Ann.  Mary Ann was flying back to Chicago that day, so we got to spend a little time in the airport terminal together.

It really was a whirlwind trip!!!  I didn't even mention all the people who just stopped by Brian's parents house to say hello.  We had an awesome time!

Took us a few days to recover, but we are doing great.  Sammy is getting so big and is doing so much these days.  He is giving lots of smiles, trying to roll over, grabbing things with his hands, loves playing with his dad, sleeping pretty well, and lots of other things that I am forgetting.  It's just so cool to watch him learn new things...it's amazing how fast they grow!

I think you should all encourage Brian to post something...he might have something more interesting to write about than baby poop.  Hope everyone out there is doing well!  I'll post pictures when the camera returns.  I also keep trying to add pictures to that album on the right and I keep getting an error.  I'm getting there.  :-)

He rolled over!

We were doing some tummy time this morning and Sam had his head up, pushed up on one leg and rolled right over!  He's been trying to do this for a few days now...I think he felt pretty proud.  He actually looked kind of stunned.  We'll see if he does it again soon.  :-)

Life is good...

Today is a good day...lots of things happening which may not seem exciting to some, but I am happy.  First of all, it has been sunny and warm!  It's cloudy today, but at least I feel like spring is finally on it's way. 

I went to book group last night and Brian took Sam to a lacrosse game at Churchill (the team he used to coach).  I did not read the book (which has happened the last two times), but went for the friends and food.  Had a great time and Brian picked me up on his way home.  He brought Sam's carseat inside and I went to get him out.  He looked at me and gave me a HUGE smile, like "you're back Mom...yay!"  This was very exciting because it's the first time I've seen him show recognition.  I spend all day with him, so it's nice to know he loves me.  :-)  He just kept smiling and smiling...so did I.

Now, it gets better.  Let me start by saying that the night before last I was crying when Sam woke up at 10:30 saying, "I can't do this anymore...I need to sleep!"  I fed him and Brian rocked him and put him down.  Then he slept until 3, which was great.  At book group, Sarah was telling me that just when she and her husband thought they couldn't take it anymore their baby started sleeping more.  I came home and told Brian that and we thought, "well it's got to be soon then."  I fed Sam around 9:15 and put him to bed.  I woke up around 12:30, no Sam.  I finally hear him...look at the clock and it's almost 4!  Six and a half hours!  Brian gets up to give him a bottle (I still pump, so Brian can feed him once a night) and asks when I fed him last.  I tell him 9:15 and he seemed very confused.  I was so excited that I could hardly go back to sleep.  He started doing his grunting around 5, but I got up and gave him a pacifier a few times and he went back to sleep until 7.  There is hope that we will sleep again!  I actually didn't have to get up at all.

We've also had some fun days lately.  Took Sam on his first big hike with Scott and Jenn on Sunday.  You'll notice in the picture that there is snow.  The whole trail was under snow.  We had some very soggy shoes.  Last week we went to library story hour with Melissa and Justin (and saw lots of other people we know there).  It turned out to be a special week where we did movement activities and dancing with the babies...very fun!  Yesterday we went to baby clinic...saw some friends and got Sammy weighed (10 lbs. 3 oz.).  Afterwards we went to Brian's school to bring him lunch and ended up staying the rest of the day.  We had a great time...Sam mostly slept and got passed around and I kept asking Brian if I could help him work because I am bored and need to use my brain for grown up things! 

My little man is waking up, so more later.  :-)

When will spring be here?

Well, it was sunny a while ago...now it is raining/hailing.  I am SO tired of this weather!  Sammy and Shasta want to be able to play outside.  We see glimpses of spring, so I hope it won't be too long.  Last weekend was beautiful.  On Saturday we went to a lacrosse game at the U of O (vs. BYU).  That was fun even though the ducks lost.  Then we went to Steelhead Brewery with our friends Jack and Amy and their kids for some food (nad beer of course).   Their kids (Zack, 6 and Grace, 3) are so fun.  I was feeding Sam under my "hooter hider" and both kids were under there with him...Grace saying "why is he in there?" and Zach saying "when I got teeth I bit my mom's boob."  Gotta love it.  :-)

Sunday was Graham's (our friends Jess and Wil's son) first birthday party.  The weather was beautiful, the food was great, and the cupcakes even better.  Graham seemed to have a great time playing football, opening presents and eating his first cupcake (which was very messy much to Jessica's dismay).  Sam on the other hand slept through the whole thing.

Sam is doing well...today he sat in his swing after he woke up from a brief nap and just talked and cooed to himself.  Then we headed to the "gym" (his new activity gym from Aunt Melanie and Uncle Matthew) and hung out there for over a half an hour!  He was totally loving it...just chatting away and rolling and scooting all around .  I gave him a little toy to hold and he held on to it for quite a while.  He's getting to be such a big boy.

Staying home with a 2 month old can get a little boring at times (as I'm sure all the moms know), so we are trying to fill our time with other activities.  Tuesdays we usually go to baby clinic at the birthing center.  This is a time when you can weigh your baby and talk to the lactation consultants, but more importantly, we sit and talk to the other moms in the waiting room.  I'm finding that talking to other moms is crucial.  I am also hoping to start going to baby/mama yoga on Tuesdays.  I am going to start doing a few things for work...Brian might take a few days off to be with Sam, so I can do that.  I still go to lunch with my work friends on Wednesdays.  And this Friday, we are going to go to baby story hour at the library...doesn't my life sound thrilling?!?!

As hard as it can be at times, I am so in love with this little guy.  He is so sweet and I wouldn't change anything (except, again, maybe that waking up three times during the night thing). 

Brian still has lacrosse and I can't wait for that to be over!  We miss him!

Hope everyone is doing well!

What the? an original haiku by Kara

Woke to snow today
Last week eighty four degrees
I hate winter-ughh

I am serious...it was snowing when we woke up.  Now for some reason Brian thought this was great and expected me to be excited too.  It was 84 degrees and sunny last Saturday!  Why would I be happy about this unfortunate turn of events?  I am so sick of bad weather.

On to happier things...the dads stayed home with the babies while Melissa, Jessica, Teresa and I went out for dinner.  I've been wanting to do something to thank them for throwing me a fantastic baby shower and for all that they did for us when Sam was born.  I don't know what we would have done without them.  In any event, it was so much fun to get out!  I pumped 3 bottles ahead of time, so I was able to enjoy some libations...yee haw!  Melissa was just excited to be carrying a purse rather than a diaper bag.  Good times.

Well I'm off to enjoy the snowy weather...yeah right.

2 months old and growing fast!

I know, I know...it's been forever since we've posted.  You'd think because I am home all day, I'd have tons of time.  Who knew that this kid would be so demanding?!  Just kidding!

We have had a busy last month.  I'll share some of the highlights:

~We went on our first getaway with Sam to the coast over our Spring Break...we had a great time.  Check out the photo album for pics.

~My dad (i.e. Poppy, Grandpa Dougie, Big Doug) came to town.  I can't remember a thing that we did, but he got to spend lots of quality time with Sam, who loved him!  It was great to have Poppy out here!

~Kristi and Noah (sister and nephew) also came to town, overlapping with my dad for a few days.  It was really fun (and helpful) to have them.  Kristi shopped and cooked great meals for us!  Noah and I got to go out and spend a little time together while Kristi and Sam spent some quality time at home.  It's been a while since it was just me and Noah...good times!

~We got a new fridge.  (Thanks to the parents for your help!)  Our old refrigerator had a little sign on it that boasted "no frost!" That's how old it was.  Unfortunately, unbeknownst to us it didn't work.  We realized after a few days that the top wasn't cold and everything was defrosting.  Apparently the fan didn't work.  It is fixed now, but we are trying to get Sears to give us an extended warranty for free.

~Either as a result of the new freezer not working or moving stuff over too soon, the ton of breastmilk that I had pumped when Sam was in the NICU and when he first came home DEFROSTED and went bad.  I had a good cry about it.

~Last week, Sammy met the ladies at book group...he cried the whole way there, but of course was perfect when we got there.  He sure knows how to show off. 

~Sam also had his first photo shoot last week.  I saw my friend Tyan in the park...her mom, who is a photographer, stopped by.  She asked if she could take pictures of Sam in order to practice some techniques she learned at a workshop.  I don't think that she got to practice because Sam didn't exactly cooperate..she kind of wanted him to be sleeping.  He was great, but not sleeping.  In any event, she took some beautiful photographs. See them here www.momentsbyjoy.com/sam.  Her name is Joy Taubner and her website is  www.momentsbyjoy.com.

I had the best day last Saturday!  It was sunny and HOT.  I walked with Sam to meet Jessica, Jenn, and Teresa for breakfast...Sam was great the whole time.  It is so nice to live in a neighborhood where you can walk everywhere.  Then Brian stayed with Sam while I rode my bike to Saturday Market and the Farmer's Market.  Then we walked to Jack and Amy's house for dinner.  When we got there, Grace (their 3 year old) handed me a book and said "this is for your baby for this many days" as she held up 10 fingers.  Cute.  Their 6 year old son Zach made us the cutest card when Sam was born.  It had a mommy elephant and a baby elephant (drawn well too!) and it said, "I love you baby Samuel."  They are sweet kids.

~Brian stared back to work full time this week (plus lacrosse after school).  It was a hard couple of days, but Sam and I are getting in the groove now.  I think part of the difficulty is that he is transitioning from being a newborn to the next stage which means not sleeping as much during the day.  So figuring out the new sleep/eating schedule is where we are at now.  I already feel sad that he is growing so fast already...he's not my little pipsqueak anymore.

~Finally Sam went to the pediatrician yesterday for his 2 month check up.  He is almost 9 pounds!  They say he is 20.5 inches, but I think his head was bent and he might be taller.  Apparently his head circumference has grown the most (it must be his big brain!).  Sam totally showed off there too.  He was chatting with the nurse who remarked how talkative he is...umm not usually.  I keep trying to get him to talk to no avail.  Then the doctor put him on his tummy, the he proceeded to pick his head up immediately and look around forever and practically roll over.  She seemed impressed.  I said he is much more lazy with me.  :-)  We're going to start raising the expectations around here!

~I almost forgot that Sammy started smiling at me the day Brian went back to work.  I think he was trying to make me feel better, which it did!

Whew!  That about sums it up.  I'm going to work on the photo albums now provided that Sam stays asleep.  Look for them soon!

I know it's a good day when...

I remember to put my shoes on before I leave the house.  In fact I remembered all week!  Prior to that I would get out to the porch or car, realize I was wearing my slippers, curse, then run inside to get my shoes.  This happened EVERY SINGLE TIME I went out.  Eye yi yi.

It is Spring Break which means Brian is home all week!  It is so nice for us all to be home together and not have Brian heading to work or lacrosse in the afternoon.  We are gearing up for our first big trip with Sam tomorrow.  We're heading over to the coast for a few days...it's going to be rainy, but I plan on just relaxing.  I did see Brian looking at some hiking guide books, so we may have different ideas.  :-)  My dad is coming into town on Friday, so we are really excited about that!

Sam is doing great...check out the new picture album to the right.  He is currently sleeping and grunting in my Ergo pack (which I love by the way...thanks Jenna!).  We just got back from a little walk on this beautiful day (they called for rain all day, but it was gorgeous).  Sam is sleeping well during the day, but at night when he is done eating his eye are WIDE open.  He is not fussy, just looking around.  I have lately been taking him back to bed with us and I go back to sleep while he stares at me.  I wake up every few minutes and he is still staring.  Eventually he falls asleep, but if we put him in his crib he'll grunt and cry.  If he's in bed, he mostly just looks around.  Crazy.

I had my six week follow up visit with the midwife today.  Every thing looks good...my blood pressure is back to normal which is good.  The midwife said that seeing me now makes her realize how puffy and swollen my face was with the preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome.  She did say that I don't have a high risk of getting HELLP syndrome again with a subsequent pregnancy, but it is something that they would monitor. 

I'm sure there is more to report, but I can't think if it right now.  I am starting to feel sane again and ready to participate in the real world.  It's been nice to be out and about lately with Sam.  We take lots of walks when it's nice, go out to eat, go shopping...like a normal person.  Thank god I am still somewhat of a normal person (I know I am opening myself up for all sorts of sarcastic comments with that one). 

I am sure we will have pictures to post when we get back from the coast and definitely after Grandpa's visit.