Strung together

I had a 'mommy' date last night. I headed over to a my friend, mama of twin boys and artist; Lisa's house for dinner (spaghetti and meat balls- homemade I might add). Once her two boys were down for the night, a lesson in bead work began. We were up waaaay too late, especially for a school night.  But it was o-so fun and worth it. How is that time speeds up and passes more quickly when you are in a creative state of mind?
I think I have the bug now and may need to make another trip down to the local bead shop for some fun new beads to play around with!

sigh*

O meets Lo and Scooter for the first time, 09-0708

I am a little teary eyed today. Not sure if it is because I had a hard time sleeping last night or if it is because I met my new niece for the first time (if you are family and wanting to know more, you will have to wait for Lo to share the news, it is not my place to do so...) I saw baby B. thru the glass windows in the nursery last night. She was only hours old- Freshly bathed, sprawled out with her arms above her head like she was taking in the best sunny day, every. Ironically she was born on one of the most rainy days we have had in a long time here in the high desert.
She is BEAUTIFUL and it makes me scared and excited to have a new little bundle of my own in only a few short months. I can't believe I am going to be in that place again. All that newness, all that potential, all that getting to know one another- it's sort of overwhelming and crazy, ya know?
We brought O into the hospital with us, he smiled when he saw his new cousin chilling out in her 'sun bath'. He looked at me and said, "Rock?" I asked him if he thought that baby needed to be rocked and he nodded his head yes. I think he will be a good older brother...
The photo in this post is of the new parents- not holding their new baby, but holding O when he was only a day old- look at that little, tiny thing that he was! That blanket he was swaddled in barely covers him from shoulder to foot now.
Have a beautiful weekend friends. I promise to not stay teary-eyed all weekend.... That is until I get to hold that new little bundle and smell her sweet baby smell. But those will be totally tears of joy should they fall.
xo

Rib Rub

We had an amazingly nice weekend, with the weather in the 70s and lots of time in the garden and yard. We got a few tomato plants that are haning out in the kitchen window for now and Daddy-O got a few little things fixed in the yard. We found a big leak with the hose bib that needed to be fixed, but the sprinklers are on and things are defenitly looking green around here.
All this nice weather and time outside got Daddy-O in the mood to do a little bbq (or grilling, if you are from the south since bbq doesn't have the same meaning there as it does here).



Not only did we have tri-tip and yukon gold potatoes done on the grill on Saturday, but some really yummy ribs on Sunday. Daddy put them in the oven for about 6 hrs and then finished them off on the grill for about 1/2hr. The meal was complete with a side of fresh corn on the cob and coleslaw.



Daddy-O got a little help from his "shadow" while prepping the ribs. I love having O help in the kitchen. I am hoping it not only peeks his interest in cooking, but also in assisting him in being a good eatter since he is a part of the preperation process.



I like to think of food in our family is not just sitting down to eat, but usually an entire event (especially on the weekends when we have more time to make it so). I really think when everyone (even the littlest of us) is helping, the food is filled with more love and tastes better as a result.



If the taste of this meal is any indication of that idea and philosophy then we are off to a great start!
~~
Today we are back to snow flurries and wind. Ah, spring you are a fickle friend. I owe you all an update on Deuce-baby since we had our 20wk utlra sound on Monday. (this week has sure been full already!) I will do my best to get the picture scanned tonight so I can post about it tomorrow. Until then, be well!

winking practice

winking practice, originally uploaded by NessieNoodle.

O sends you a little *wink* to say thanks for all your positive thoughts this morning. The procedure went really well and he did great.
Thank you for all your love~

Totally Tubular...

On Tuesday our 'big' guy will go in to get tubes placed in his ears. He has gotten a few ear infections in the past, but since early December he has been battling with an infection that just doesn't want to go away, or rather the gunk in his ears that causes the infection doesn't want to go away.



There were several times in late January early February that he woke up with a bloody-goo draining out of his ear. I chalked it up to it just him scratching the inside of his ear with his long fingernails that he won't let me cut and then causing it too bleed. But it happened again and again, and finally we took him into the doctor to have her look at it. (I am stubborn about not going to the doctor unless we really need to...)

Turns out, he has probably had an on-again off-again infection for the past few months, the crusty gunk on his ears in the mornings being the crud draining from a ruptured ear drum. ---Um, ow-ow-ow. ---No wonder the kid doesn't want to sleep all night long, it doesn't feel good to have all that pressure in your ear when you lay down for sleeping.



We gave him two rounds of antibiotics in the past month, but other than fixing the infection they did nothing much to fix the pressure that has built up behind the drum. Our pediatrician referred us to an ENT and the recommendation from him to have tubes inserted was made on Wednesday.



I was really scared about this, but after a great meeting with the ENT doctor and a clear explanation of what is happening and what will happen, I feel much more at ease.
The 'pudding' that is sitting behind the drum isn't draining the way it should and the antibiotics will get rid of the infection, but not dry out the inner ear. What will happen during the procedure is that the doctor will drain the stuff behind the ear drum and then inserting a small, itty-bitty tube in the perforation as a means to maintain the space (like an earring would do in a pierces ear) and airflow in and out of the inner ear is then maintained. This keeps the inner ear dry when he gets a cold or allergies and full of snot. When there isn't moisture in that warm dark place, the infections stay at bay.



The results will/could be a more articulate little boy, (good lord he is going to be giving speeches for the local politicians at this rate) and a better sleeper (we could all use more sleep!) We decided it was worth a shot to do this very common procedure. I had chronic ear infections as a child and so did my mom so this doesn't surprise me that he would also get them. I am just going to be happy to have him off the antibiotics. Those things are nasty and totally cause O's tummy to be a mess, not to mention the long term effects of reoccurring use of antibiotics.



I should tell you that O has been walking around the house pulling on his ears and saying, "mouse?" since we saw the doctor last week. The doctor told him he needed to see if there was a mouse in his ears, so could he take a look? He has also been saying the docotor's name over and over agian as well (it is a fun name to say, I have to admit). I love that he recalls funny little things like this.



So, I ask of you, dear readers, to be thinking of us on Tuesday morning as we head in and put O under anesthesia (he won’t be put under full anesthesia and won’t need an IV drip, but he will still be knocked out and that is a little freaky!) and have those little tubes inserted. Thanks so much!

20-20

Here I am, finishing up on the 20th week of my second pregnancy, twenty more weeks (plus or minus) to go. I don't feel that much bigger than when I posted a picture just two weeks ago- but I do feel like my belly looks more like a 'pregnant belly' than a "hmm, did she have a big lunch or drink too many beers this winter" belly.



I can hardly believe that we are half way through this baby building process again. Maybe it is because we didn't share our news as soon as last time. Or maybe it is because it is the second time around and I feel more comfortable, confident and 'in the know' about what is going on in the process. Or maybe it is the fact that I have a 1.5yr old to chase around, a crazy work environment to deal with and all those other things that make up life to really focus in exclusively on the pregnancy as I did last time. Not sure.



Don’t get me wrong, I am by all means totally excited about our growing family, tear up when I hear the heart beat at the doctor's office and can hardly wait for next Monday to roll around since that is when we get to have a peek at this little one again via ultra sound. (I will scan those and the first ones in after we get them) It's just that this pregnancy has been much mellower than with O. I like that mellow stuff, a lot.



I started to really feel the baby moving about 2 weeks ago. Little flutters and flips that made me smile. But over this past week the movements have gotten really strong and can be felt from the outside now. I got totally punched on Wednesday when I pressed on my belly, it startled me and I think I laughed out loud at the force and strength Deuce-baby has already. This baby is also all about stretching out and I feel the kicking and moving a lot more internally than I remember with O. As in let's play soccer with Mom's internal organs sort of thing. There is also a lot of length wise stretch that happnes- pushing down on my cervix and up into my stomach. lovely! I don't remember that with O and it is funny and a weird feeling for sure.

I am definitely a lot more sensitive this time around. I often find myself feeling the need to fight back tears when something overwhelms me or when certain commercials come on the TV (SPCA and Sarah Mclaughlin, you kill me every time). I am certainly way touchier when something goes wrong, or when I precive something to have gone wrong- I lost it last night when I attempted a new recipe and the chicken curry salad came out totally in-edible (making my own mayonnaise when I realized we were out wasn’t a great idea). I cried a few weeks ago for a good half an hour (at least) when someone cut me off in a parking lot and flipped me the bird (um, guy could have killed me in his giant suburban cutting thru the parking spaces and not looking where he was going- but what’eva).

I am so glad to be feeling more energy these days. I still feel a little icky at times but haven't hurled lately- woot! It totally helps that O has been sleeping thru the night more often and Daddy-O has been helping to put him back down when he does wake up in the wee-hours. I have had some wonderful girl time too and that always makes me re-energized and happy. We are getting back into our morning swimming routine and I have hit up my prenatal yoga class on Saturdays when we are around.

This weekend we hope to get things moved completely out of the ‘craft room’ and transform it into Mr O.’s big-boy room. We have paint to pick out and a new bed to buy. I am excited about how we are going to decorate (some inspiration from here) and I am going to use these prints (I have three of them in his room now) as further inspiration. I love these wall decals too! However, I am sure it will be a mixture of stuff since we have super artistic friends who have painted him a couple small canvases that I want to keep in his room. And while we were in Death Valleywe found a mobile that we loved with white cranes. The baby’s room will remain the same, save for a few touches for when he/she arrives to make it more personalized.

Happy Friday everyone! and happy spring too, as you can see things are starting to get colorful around here.

A blessing...

This beautiful belly (which I have photographed before) is full of baby once again. I was honored to be a part of the blessing yesterday.



If you are interested in having any henna work done please contact me and I can put you in contact with Kim, the artist.She does more then just bellies and was recently featured in the Reno News and Review doing a bridal blessing. As you can see, her work is beautiful. And if you are interested in documenting the amazing artistic process,I would be happy to tag along and take pictures!

Eatting Out

Spring feels like it is here. It is light out until almost 8pm, which means that we have time to actually enjoy hanging and playing in the backyard after work. Here O is balancing along the retaining wall that lines the entire span of the yard, or "UP-high" as he likes to yell over and over again as he walks around up there. It was just over 65 F today and the fresh air and sun was just what we all needed. We also all needed a good dinner, I was happy to help out with that.



For our first meal in the backyard, I made a big salad with parm/garlic toast on the side. I found the salad recipe in an old Cooking Light magazine in the "Quick Fix" section. I have been pulling out my old magazines and trying to get into the habit of picking a few recipes to make for the week- I guess you could call it meal planning, but I just don't feel like I am quite that organized at this point-it's a start though!



We grilled up a bunch of chicken last night so we already had the meat ready to go for tonight. This morning I had a little extra time before work so I chopped the potatoes and green beans. Placing them in individual bowls of water and storing them in the fridge for the day kept them fresh. Doing this meant that after work I would only have to boil water, make the salad dressing and prep the toast.
Easy-peasy.
Although I made the salad exactly as the recipe stated, except for the onions,(and it was super yummy), I think I would add a few things next time. Maybe some roasted almond slivers for crunch and sliced strawberries for a little extra sweet, juicy kick. Sliced watermelon also might be good too once it is in season (this little mama is SO looking forward to watermelon season, I lived off of it when pregnant with O and have a filling not much will change this summer while pregnant with Deuce-baby). One of the local breweries in town makes a very similar salad- adding seared ahi instead of chicken. One of my favorites when hanging on the roof top deck and enjoying a good beer with friends.

I think this would make a great salad for a brunch or wedding/baby shower. It is surely going to be on my list for summer time this year.

~~ Recipe originally found on Cooking Light, May 2004

Ingredients
Dressing:
1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon whole-grain Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced

Salad:
1 pound small red potatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound diagonally cut green beans
2 cups cubed cooked chicken (about 8 ounces)
2 tablespoons chopped red onion
1 (10-ounce) package gourmet salad greens (about 6 cups)

Preparation
To prepare dressing, combine first 8 ingredients, stirring well with a whisk.

To prepare salad, place potatoes in a saucepan; cover with water. Add 1 teaspoon salt to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until almost tender. Add beans, and cook an additional 4 minutes or until beans are crisp-tender. Drain. Rinse with cold water; drain well.

Quarter potatoes. Place the potatoes, beans, chicken, onion, and greens in a large bowl. Drizzle with dressing; toss gently to coat. Serve immediately.

A year and a shuffle

A year ago today he looked like this:

Silly and crazy and fun.

Today, he looks like this:

Still silly, crazy and fun. This past month has been full of little things that I love to see and hear. He has been practicing whispering and yelling, changing the volume of his voice is something he has learned will totally get a reaction from. "DADDY!" can be heard when he hears the garage door go up in the afternoon. He is figuring that if he starts a song with a, "lmnop" or 'row-row'we will sing along. (Have you heard the version of row,row, row your boat that includes "if you see a crocodile, don't forget to SCREAM!" we hadn't either until my mom brought home an Aussie nursery rhyme book- I am sure the day care wonders why O screams when ever they sing this song to him!

He started to call it "applesauce" nose when he gets a snotty/runny nose. It is one of the best descriptions for the ailment that I can think of- it is like having applesauce running out of your nose when you have a cold.

He loves, loves, loves to go outside and play in the back yard- first plucking pieces of the garlic/onion greens and 'smelling' them. (he saw me doing this when I was trying to figure out what plant was what and thinks it is what you are supposed to do). Then up the side yard to the sitting area up top and declaring, "UP-high" to the entire neighborhood. I turned my back for a minute the other weekend and found him dangling, action hero style, from the edge. If you think my heart wasn't racing then you would be crazy. when I got up there to help him he just kept repeating, "ball, ball, ball" he had thrown his ball and was on his way to go get it and then realized that even, 'feet firt' wasn't going to help him from the 4 foot ledge.

We are getting ready to move his room to the other "kid room" (we have a 'jack and jill' set up) I am looking to do a robot theme in there for him since I have a couple of these prints from the fabulous LeSophie and I also found these super fun wall decals over on Etsy. I am loving this room's color scheme from "Land of Nod", though I won't be purchasing anything from them right now, our budget is a little tight.

This move means that my craft room will be shifting it's home as well. We settled on putting it into the master bedroom after tossing around the idea of putting it in the office area or maybe the guest room. Our bedroom is HUGE and so part of it will be sectioned off for my craft/sewing table and shelving. I have been trying to come up with some fun ways to store my yarn and fabric stash, but right now it looks like it will be plastic bins/drawers. I am crossing my fingers I can find something fun and affordable at one of the local thrift shops-Any ideas or inspiration out there from you guys??

Easter

Easter was quite around our house. The "Bunny" came and left a fun little assortment of treats for O- a camp chair that is just his size, a pinwheel- because if you know this kid, you know he likes things that go "round and round", and a bubble wand which was the hit of the day. His 'Easter basket' was a gardening bag complete with little tools and seeds for planting his own carrots and squash. He loves being out in the garden.

During nap time we got a ton of things organized in our bedroom in prep for the 'big shuffle'. I will chat more, and hopefully post some before and after shots of the changes we are making soon. O is getting a big boy room and my craft room is moving into the master bedroom with us. I filled 4 boxes with clothes to take to the goodwill and moved my non-pregnant clothes out of the closet and the maternity clothes in- It will be so much easier and less frustrating to get dressed in the morning now!

We were supposed to go to Grandma and Grandpa's for an egg hunt and dinner but mid-day O came down with a fever, cough and a runny "applesauce nose" (O's term, do you love it?). So in an effort to keep the other 3 cousins healthy, we decided that Daddy-O would go hang with the family and O and I would hang at the house. I am glad he isn't old enough to understand what he was missing out on, a boat load of candy and hanging with some of his favorite kids in the world, or it could have gotten ugly. (photo in link is from last year's egg hunt-man these kids have grown SO much already)

The two of us hung out and read books (a few of his favorites right now are Farkle McBride, The Zoo I Drew and Dinosaur Roar, Moo Ba LaLaLa) He knows most of these by heart (or at least parts of them anyway) already and cracks me up as he helps me read. I got out the 'dough' for him and we 'rolllllled it' and 'paaaaattttted it'. It was a nice day, despite missing out on seeing the family and our little guy feeling sick.

I hope your weekend was filled with good food, family, friends, peeps, and bunny ears. Be well!

Death Valley- Day Three

I hope you aren't sick of my camping re-cap. I use this space not only to share with all of you, but as a journal of sorts and it is so important to me to get these memories down before they fade off into the mommy-brain ether....

On Saturday we had a mellow breakfast and got out early to check out the sand dunes.

The wind was still around that day though so they weren't quite as fun as I remember them being from last time- sand in your eyes and in your waiste band aren't all that great.

Poor O. decided that it was a good time to fill up his diaper and had an epic 'field change' to beat all field changes on the top of a windy, windy sand dune. Sand shouldn't be part of any diaper change but it was nearly a blowout and had to be done.
We did get in some kite flying though (perfect weather for that!) and football with Grandpa back in the parking lot. "TOUCH DOWN"!

It was again agreed that a dunk in the pool was necessary so we brought all the lunch stuff , plopped down on a big blanket and had a picnic. We then jumped in the pool to clean up and cool down-though Saturday was not nearly as hot as the other days, so we didn't stick around as long as we had before.
After a quick splash, we headed back to camp for nap time. That is when the funniest part of our trip began. Daddy-O's sister R. headed out for a run (she is training for a marathon and despite the heat, needed to get her miles in for the day). It was Daddy-day care time....
O. fought his nap at first, but finally went down. However, E and N were another story all together. Putting two kids in a hot tent with bouncy air mattresses for a bed and expecting them to doze off quietly to sleep is just plain crazy.
N (the 18mo) figured out the zipper on the tent. We watched, with stifled laughter, as one little, pudgy toddler foot popped out the tent door and then another. I wish I would have had my camera out, especially when, at one point E (the 3.5yr) opened this little 'escape hatch'/"doggie door" on the tent and shoved N right on out and onto the ground. We were trying so hard to just ignore the silliness and continue playing our game of Uno, but the cocktails that the boys were enjoying were not helping the giggles and made keeping quite extremely hard to do.
Finally, T. decided that it was futile and let the kids just skip nap time for the day. He got out the bubbles for them to play with. For some crazy reason or another the wash buckets of water were filled and dumped, making the most spectacular "chocolatte-chocolatte" you have every seen.

I was sort of sad, yet totally relieved that O was still fast asleep for his nap during all of this desert latte making... hee hee.


There was an easy dinner of wieners and burgers that night.

Then off to the play ground for cookies, face painting, swinging, basketball and glow sticks. It was a prefect last night to our awesome camp trip.

On Sunday we packed up camp and headed out for the 7hr drive home. One last group shot of all of us was snapped before we hit the road. Daddy-O and I (and O.) also did a quick visit in the museum and gift shop. We purchased a couple of t-shirts and a new book about deserts for O. (Something we always like to do to support the parks is get a t-shirt or book.) O was amazing on the long ride and slept, sang, read his books and spotted "moo-cows" and "neigh-neighs" along the way.

I am was so glad to have had a little break from work and reality. And even more happy that I have such an awesome set of in-laws to join us on our trip. We had a great time exploring. I think I laughed more laughs then I have in a long, long time. I never had cousins in the same town (or side on this side of the country for that mattere) while growing up, so getting to do this sort of thing with O, and his cousins E and N is a total treat and an only child's dream come true for her kid.
Thanks Death Valley for being a warm sunny spot in our late winter early spring days. It was well worth the drive to get to your intense landscape and beautiful scenery.

I cus, you cus, we all cus for ASPARAGUS!

Look what's popping up in the garden! We planted the asparagus last summer and were crossing our fingers to see it pop up this year. I hear you get one harvest the first year, and consecutively more the following- anyone up on their asparagus gardening rules?

The other leafy greens are volunteer broccoli and in the top left corner is garlic or onions (we have a ton of both since it too went to seed). I am sure there is some cilantro in there if you look really hard- it always comes back and is such a great herb to have on hand in the back yard.

We need to do a bit of thinning so we can make room for some other veggies- I would love to do snap peas and cherry tomatoes this year. But, we are waiting for the weather to settle down. It can be 70 one day and snowing the next...

What about you? Anything growing in your yard yet?