Humpty Dumpty

Mallory and I were saying poems this morning... I would say a few words and then pause and she would fill in the gaps. She was getting all of them right, but apparently thought Humpty Dumpty needed a rewrite. This is now how it goes;
Me: Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall. Humpty Dumpty had a...
Mallory: great opportunity.

10 Months

10 Months old already! Time is zooming by. Wesley is growing like a weed, I think he around 22 pounds but I’m not sure how tall he is (sorry). He is now anything but stagnant! This boy is into any and everything! Don’t even dare think about leaving something within grasping-reach that you don’t want him to play with, because he’ll find it… and try to eat it. He takes a step or two without holding onto things, but he prefers to cruse/walk. If he’s in a hurry though, he’ll drop and crawl like there’s no tomorrow! This boy is FAST! Too fast. Thankfully he is (almost) always close at Mallory’s heels.  He says Daadaa, Momma and Baba-baba (bottle, I think). He has two cute little bottom teeth that he likes to rub on everything. We’ve been working on the sign language thing, but he is not having it! He is a grunter… and boy does he get his point across! He has different grunts/pitches for ‘more’, ‘water’, ‘done’ and ‘Hey, I want whatever it is that my sister is playing with/eating’… its sooooooo funny! He has had two really nice little bruises on his head all within the past 3 days (since when he’s going into ‘supper-speed’ crawl mode, he tucks his head and doesn’t look where he’s going)… BAM! Right into the wall/door/toy box/table /dog … you get the picture. He loves nothing more than having someone get on the floor with him. He’ll laugh hysterically, inches closer to you, than high-tails it in the opposite direction (giggling the entire time). If you don’t crawl-chase him, he’ll turn around and give you the cheekiest grin and then crawl back and rub his face all over you. This boy just kills me! (oh and is you are wondering what happened to the cute foam letters/numbers… a little busy-handed little girl found where I had hid them and has lost most of them… not to mention it would have been virtually impassable to get Wesley to leave them alone.)

B-Day Gal

Yesterday I turned 25 again… for the 7^th time. It was wonderful! I honestly think it was one of my favorite birthdays ever!

Saturday morning Joyce and John came over to watch the kids, while Matthew and I drove to San Francisco for a wonderful overnight stay. It was heaven. We first went to the San Francisco Academy of Science and then bought lunch from a fancy traveling/tuck lunch-place that had killer clam chowder and calamari. Then it was off to the Hotel Griffon. I had found a deal from living social and it was well worth it! This place was awesome! Super fancy and all that I could have hoped for…. robes, chocolate on our pillows and a beautiful view of the bay. We had dinner at a way up-scale place called Butterfly (Thanks again to living social), then we walked down to pier 39, then walked back to our hotel. Being the party animals we are, we are asleep by 10:30!

Sunday morning we didn’t roll out of bed until 8:30 (it’s amazing how long you can stay in bed when there aren’t kids to take care of or work to run off to), and then headed out for brunch followed by a 2 mile walk to and up Coit Tower. What a view. We walked back to the hotel (randomly met up with Carrie for a second) and then headed home. That evening Mom, Dad, Joyce and John all came over for an amazing dinner and dessert that Mom made. It was such a wonderful day(s). Thank you to all, it was perfect!!!!

Thanksgiving

I feel like I have been in a constant state of catch-up.
Here are some of the pictures from Thanksgiving. It was our year to spend it with Matthews family, so we went to Forest Hill for a few nights. It was really nice.... different, but nice. The biggest difference was that we have kids, so it's not just a get together and shoot the breeze sort of time. Its now a try to entertain/feed/care for the kids, make sure they aren't tearing someones house apart, and try and say more then just a passing 'hi' to family that we haven't seen in months sort of a time. Traveling with kids is EXHAUSTING! They are off, I am off (which makes Matthew feel off), NO ONE sleeps and yet the entire time I'm trying to tell myself 'relax, enjoy yourself, you're not at home/work,' which just stresses me out more because i KNOW i need to relax...(I need to remember self-pep-talks don't work for me). Any way, all in all it was a really nice time. Maybe next time we'll just leave the kids at home to fend for themselves so we can gets some adult time.  Just kidding.

Baby Crack

Pretty sure toilet paper is like crack to a baby! I mean seriously! The more they play with it, the more they want it. It all starts with just a innocent little swat of the roll, then before you know it they are crawling down the hallway with the entire roll trailing behind them.  Just say NO to T.P.

 

Remember this one? Mallory was the same age when she started dabbling in T.P. Thankfully she kicked the habit shortly there after. ;)

 

Trifecta

Today was a day of firsts for Wesley.

His first steps! Yep, at 9 1/2 months this boy is ‘walking’! Our life is about to get drastically more insane… just as soon as these two kids start running in opposite directions.

His first fat lip! Matthew as playing with him and Mallory out on the stone patio and Wesley was standing up or trying to walk and instead fell face/lip first into the stone. Brave boy didn't cry for more than 10 seconds.

His first visit with Santa! He was actually pretty cool with Santa. Mallory, on the other hand, all day couldn't stop talking about him, yet the second she saw him she didn't say a word or crack a smile (not even for a candy)!

Ice Cream

 We went out for ice cream the other day. It was some fancy place with CRAZY flavors (rose petal, hay, corn, avocado, chili... and then all the 'normal, boring' ones too). I think Mallory got mint chip, Matthew got Elvis (chocolate/peanut butter/banana) and some chocolate espresso one, and I got Vanilla Chai Tea. They were good! It was Wesley's first Ice Cream experience... I think he loved it! No surprise there! ;)

9 Months

Wesley has now been growing in the outside world, as long as he was growing in my inside world! I can’t believe he’s 9 months old. He is a wonderful little man. Full of joy, laughter, contentment and just the right amount of neediness to keep us from forgetting about him and we chase after Mallory. From the get-go I had pegged him as a laid back, don’t want to rush sort of fellow… I was wrong (so much for mother’s instincts). He wants to play and follow Mallory so badly that there is no holding him back, staying put or tying him down! This past month he has started doing so much… He says Daada, and will have a conversation with you (back and forth) if you ‘aaaaa’ at him. He ‘zips’ around the house doing what I have termed ‘Monster Crawling’ (since he drags himself around with his arms while on his belly like a zombie with missing legs)… most normal people call it an Army Crawl. Anyway, as a result you should check out the shoulder muscles on this boy! Dang! Wesley pulls himself up on everything and has started ‘cruzing’ and just tonight started using the push/walking toy and was taking lots of little unsteady steps forward. He has even started pushing himself up to a standing position from the ground (without holding onto anything) and standing there for 5-10 seconds before toppling over! So despite my hope of having a baby that wanted to remain stagnant, it seems that Mallory is too much of a temptation and he is determined to run after her (sooner rather than later). He’s a total cheese ball, and has grins like a mad-man when we take the camera out…these grins are so big that he practically goes blind in the process. It cracks be up! Oh and he FINALLY has teeth. Two cute little bottom ones. And no shocker here, he still loves, loves, loves to eat! I only am nursing him once a day (in the mornings). It was a joint decision between him and me. As his distractibility went WAY up, my milk went WAY down. I have tons and tons of frozen breast milk though so we don’t have to worry about buying formula ever!  Oh and he is weighing in at a whooping 21.2 pounds! There you have it.

Daada

 

Wesley LOVES his Daddy. I mean he totally and utterly adores him...(but don't take that to mean that he's not a Momma boy, because he totally is). But Matthew walks into the room and Wesley wiggles, giggles and beams. So it's no wonder that today he started saying "Daada, Daada, Daada"!!!!!! I'm not sure if he knows what he's saying, or who he's saying it to, but it's darn cute. And since Mallory said 'Momma' as her first word it's only fitting that Wesley said 'Daada' (besides, you should have seen the glow on Matthews face today!!!!!)

Happy Halloween

Halloween was fun. Wet, but fun.
Mallory wanted to be a Spider (don't ask me why, I still haven't figured that out), and Wesley was a Raccoon. It rained all through trick-or-treating, but it made for great memories. Mallory pretty much 'got' Halloween this year. It was fun to watch. She would stomp up to the door in her purple rain boots and umbrella and say "tick-or treat" to the closed door. "Mallory," we would tell her, "you have to wait until you knock on the door." She she would then knock on the door and immediately say "trick-or-treat." "Mallory, you have to wait until someone opens the door." Then when someone would open the door Mallory would shyly mumble "trick-or-treat." But as soon as she was given candy she would excitedly want to move on to another house (and the entire process was repeated). Good times.

Pumpkin Time

Happy Halloween!

Last week we went to the pumpkin parch and carved pumpkins.

 

 

What a blast!

Our Lucky Charms

Way to go Giants! Another World Series won!

Good thing we aren’t superstitious.

You’re probably wondering how the giants wining and us being superstitious have anything to do with each other. Little did you all realize but Matthew and I apparently are the KEY to their successes! Honest, I have proof. In 2010 Mallory Rose was born, that year the Giants FINALLY won the World Series (they hadn’t won since 1954)… now in 2012 Wesley Robert was born and once again the Giants won. I see a trend developing. Pretty sure that if any of the die-hard fans or the owner of the team catch wind of our little sure fire way to have a winning season, we might be propositioned to keep popping these kids out!

Another Mallory Moment

Mallory was standing outside eating her popsicle (because everyone wants to have a popsicle when it’s cold and rainy, right?) Any way she poked her head inside and told me, “Momma, Sonny has no hands, hes gots only feets.” I told her she was right and held up my hands and asked her, ‘who does have hands?’ (Thinking she would obviously tell me that I did). She replied with “Moose have NO hands, silly momma.”

What was I thinking?

Mallorys Mind

  Mallory has been cracking me up lately, the way her mind works and the things she says are priceless. The other day we were invited over into our neighbors backyard so that Mallory could see the HUGE, beautiful spider that was living on her tomato plant. We oooo’ed and ahhhh’ed at it and then our neighbor asked Mallory if she wanted to name it. So Mallory looked and looked at the spider as if trying to pick the perfect name, then said, ‘yes, her name is Piss!’ My neighbor and I died! We were laughing so hard. I don’t even know where she heard the word piss. In the end I had her re-name the spider and she chose the name ‘girl’. A much more appropriate word to come out of a 2 year olds mouth.

The other night while driving home Wesley started coughing/gagging, so I asked Mallory ‘is Wesley ok?’ Without a moment’s hesitation she said ‘yeah Wesley’s fine.’ Then she thought for a moments and said ‘Actually momma, it’s dark outside so I cannot see him.’ That killed me. It’s like she realized that her previous statement wasn’t really true because she didn’t really know if he was fine. Sweet girl.

Lastly, during that same night-time car ride she saw the moon and said in her sweet, husky, sing-song little voice ‘Moon are you coming home with me?’  Once again she was quiet for a few seconds (will wonders never cease) and then told me ‘momma the moon has no mouth so it cannot answer me.’ Love this little girl.

8 Months Old

I can’t believe another month has gone by in a blink of an eye! My little man is already 8 months old! He is just the most wonderful little guy. He is turning into a little busy-body, wanting to touch any and everything that anyone is holding. He has managed to pull himself upright from a sitting position all on his own twice in the past few days. He loves to stand and really wants to walk and chase after Mallory (even though he isn’t even crawling).  When he’s sitting up he’ll move into the crawling position and rocks/reaches, then always flops forward onto his belly. But when he’s on his belly that’s when the trouble begins… he twists, turns and wiggles (almost like an army crawl) and evens climbs over things (legs, books, toys, pets) as long as he can grab it he’ll yank himself over it… nothing is technically ‘out of his reach’ any more.  He started waving last week! It’s sooooo stinking cute. He’s clapping too (and is even doing it in him highchair which confuses me because I don’t know if he’s just clapping to be happy or if he’s trying to tell me ‘more’ in sign language).  This little man is a TALKER! (Granted he’s spent the past 8 months listening to Little Miss Chatter-Box so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised). He squeals, coos, ‘baaaabaaaabaaaaa’s’, gaaaaaaa’s, blows raspberries, and screams (like a high-pitched girly yell).  He eats solids like a champ and would rather have a fist full of meat/veggies then anything puréed on a spoon. He’s gotten great at pinching little pieces of food then proceeds to shove most of his fist in his mouth when he goes to eat them. I weighed him a few days ago, he was 19.8. What a tank. (Looking back, Mallory was 21 pounds at 9 months… looks like we have another moose on our hands).

Woo Hoo

Great news…. I don’t need surgery! I spent the morning at the doctors and learned a ton about my knee. First off, when I got there they sent me over to get a few radiographs done. I had had an MRI done already, but the doc wanted some views of what my knee was doing in a standing/weight barring position. Then I headed back over to the doctor’s office.  He then informed me that back in 98 I not only had I had ACL reconstruction on my left knee but also PCL!!!!! I didn’t know that. Apparently tearing both your ACL and PCL is fairly rare and takes TOTAL dislocation of the knee and about 40-70 degrees of rotation. No wonder it hurt so badly. He then went on to ask a ton of questions about how often there is pain, swelling, immobility of my knee(s)…  all of which was vertically never (besides this injury now, and occasional stiffness when the weather changes).  He manipulated my knees and we chatted about my hyper-flexibility. He even did a few tests/checks to rule out Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (since having hyper-flexible joints is the number one sign). No worries I’m ‘normal’ just very ‘bendy’. He watched me walk and then we went through my MRI and radiographs. They look GREAT! The surgical repairs are perfect, the meniscus is clean and I have only one little arthritic change. Which according to him, is unheard of. Apparently when people tear their ACL and PCL, without fail, by the 10 year mark there is significant (and painful) arthritic changes at the ventral attachment of the PCL… I have NONE! The fact that I haven’t had swelling or pain on a daily basis since my surgery is unheard of, and the fact that I don’t have degeneration of the meniscus and am not riddled with arthritic changes is mind blowing to him… and according to all the ‘texts books’ I should not be able to run like I do. It’s as if my body never had an injury… let alone a MASIVE, potentially physically limiting injury! All wonderful news. The injury that I am currently dealing with has nothing to do with past issues! It just is a patellar (knee cap) injury that will improve with rest!!!!!!! I asked him if I should stop running and he said, “you never should have been running, but since you have been for the past 15 years and your body doesn’t mind it, take some time to let your knee heal and then go ahead and get back into it…’!!!!!!! WooHooo! He did recommend some inserts that should go into all my shoes and potentially some quadriceps muscle exercises… but that’s it! Cool Huh?!?!?

Oh and apparently the bendy-joint gene is hereditary and bendy people who play sports almost always tear their ACL, so we’ll have to watch and see what the kidd-o’s are like…. We might have to get them to strengthen their quads before playing physical sports. (Pretty sure Mallory can already squat as much as I can…. This might be frightening)

Another Stiller Parenting Moment

Pretty sure this goes against just about everything 'they' recommend to reduce the risk of SIDS. It's truly a wonder that Wesley has survived 8 months of Mallory-filled-life. Between being climbed on, pushed over, picked up by the head, buried in blankets/toys/book etc. he is bound to be one tough little man!
Oh and by the way, the MRI results were sort of 'inconclusive'... so I'm going to see a sports medicine specialist Thursday morning. Still no running. Sigh.

Knee Update

For all those who are asking, the MRI results are 'Still under review' according to my dr.'s e-mail yesterday. Pretty sure that next time I need a MRI I'm just going to go to over of the referral vet hospitals near here...those patients get their results that SAME day. It's almost been a week! Darn human medicine. ;)
The knee itself is doing better. I can walk and bend down ok. It'll start hurting if I keep it bent or straight for too long, if I go on a walk for over 15 minutes, or try to stand up after being in a squatting position. So better, yes. But still a pain in the booty.

All Grown Up

Mallory started calling herself 'Malla' about a year ago... which we all thought was just the cutest nic-name ever. Well, about 2 weeks ago she told us "it's not Malla, it's Mallory!" Our little girl is growing up too fast and has an opinion (or 2) about EVERYTHING!

Knees

My knees soul purposes in life are to torture me. Honest. In 1995 I had my first ACL repair (I was only in 8th grade), followed by another ACL repair on the opposite knee in 1998. My meniscus in the first 'bad' knee went up in flames in 2001, both have been holding pretty 'steady' for the past 11 years. (And by steady I mean, pop, creak, lock, swell and stiffen with any change in the weather or strenuous exercise). I'm sure you are thinking then why in the world do I run.... well, because I’m crazy. And at this point I have given up so many other things because of my knees; Basketball, soccer, skiing, jumping on trampolines (not that my bladder would allow for that any way)... so I need something. And I love to run. Any way.... a month before the lasts half marathon I kind of tweaked my left knee (The one that has only had 1 of the 3 surgeries). I rested it for 2 weeks, it felt great. I ran, it felt great. Woohoo. Wednesday I went for a little 4 mile run and half way through my knee kind of hurt. Being the bull-headed lady I am, I pushed on. 1/8th of a mile to go I had to walk/limp back. It was KILLING me. I iced it. I elevated it. It still hurt. I saw the doctor yesterday and tonight I get to have an MRI. Sigh! It feels like meniscus again. But I would really appreciate any and all prayers because I really am not in the mood for another knee surgery. Besides if I needed another one, I'm afraid that my Dad would guilt me into never running again. ;)

 

 

Siblings? Are You Sure?

I took some pictures of Wesley a few weeks ago and as I was looking back through them I realized that I had taken some of Mallory in the same sort of style at just about the exact same age.... so I thought it would be fun to see them side by side. Pretty sure if I didn't know they were siblings, I wouldn't even think they were related. Aren't genetics strange????

Little Cowboy

Yeeeeee-haw!

7 Months Old

How time flies. Wesley Robert is already 7 months old, and growing like a weed. He sits up like a champ now (and only topples over when he's trying to go from a sitting to a crawling position). He wants to crawl and really wants to stand! He even gets frustrated that he can't do it on his own. He is still a little chow hound and just a few days ago finally mastered the 'finger pinch into mouth' technique with his food pieces. He loves to bawk and squawk especially to Mallory and me. He LOVES the camera and will even stop crying to smile for a picture (sooooo unlike his sister). He is a joy. He loves to be outside and puts any and everything in his mouth (toys, clothes, wood, rocks, sand.... anything that he can grasp he puts into his mouth). He has yet to sprout any little chompers, and yesterday I weighted him at my work and he was 19.1 pounds! Yikes!

Santa Barbara

Last Friday the four of us took off for Santa Barbara to go to Matthews cousins wedding. I was a little worried about the it. Not the wedding, but the DRIVE! I had no idea how the kids were going to handle a 7 hour car ride. Turns out that I didn't need to worry at all. Each way we only needed to stop once, to eat/play (I do have to say that the portable dvd player came in very handy for Mallory though). The other worry was all 4 of us in one hotel room. That too went perfectly. So with all my worries put to rest I got to enjoy the 4 day vacation. It was wonderful. Santa Barbara is beautiful. The wedding was stunning! And the company was perfect. It just ended too quickly. Ahhhh back to reality. Laundry. Cleaning. Cooking. Work.

 

 

 

The Chapman Visit

About 3 weeks ago Janie and her wonderful, beautiful family came to Sonoma County for a whirl-wind trip. Somehow I was lucky enough to get them ALL for just about 8 hours!!!!! We met at my parents house and let the kids run amuck in the back yard, while Janie and I talked and laughed like we were in high school. Thank you guys for blowing an entire day on us!!!!!!

p.s.... Happy Birthday Baker (not that we are getting ANY older) :)

 

Chunk

This is a game I like to play...

'Count the Baby Rolls'

How many can you find? :)

 

Got to LOVE baby chunk!

Just Peachy

Life has been busy as ever... so sorry for the lack of posts. These past few weeks I have been working more then the usual 2-3 days a week, it's been 4-5 (and they are 10 hour days minimum). The good news is that I am love, love, loving work, but bad news is I am missing my kiddo's/husband like crazy, so on my days off I am just soaking them in.
 The other week I FINALLY got around to picking the peaches from the tree... I got 9 full bags! 2 I took to work to share, 2 I froze, 2 mom froze and 3 we used to make 84 jars of jam and jelly! That's right, 84!!!!! It was fun.... took about 6 hours, but fun and yummy. Guess what people are getting for Christmas?!?!?! Oh Angie, do you want some for the Africa trip fundraiser (just thought of it)?

 

 

 

Also, remember that sweater I made for Klein baby #1, yeah the baby that I KNEW was going to be a boy? I finally got to use it (the sweater, not the baby). Looking at Wesley in it, I feel like he should be just getting off a Nordic fishing trip.... the sweater, the pale skin the stunning indigo blue eyes. Any way, fun to finally see the sweater on a baby instead of hanging in the closet. 

Another First

Yet again another Motherhood first... Mallory had been given a supper cute birthday card with little colored decorative cotton balls on it and she loved playing with it. The other day she came up to me with her head held funny and was  saying 'aaahhhhhhhh, aaahhhhhh, aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh '  and was on the verge of freaking out. Since she it typically very articulate I knew there had to be something wrong since she was using grunts and groans instead of explaining the meaning of life to me in the queens english. Now to only figure out what the problem was. A split second later her finger started to creep inside her right nostril as she continued to 'aaaaaahhhhhhh' at me. I had her lean her head back and I could see just a sliver of bright yellow fluff.

I just about died laughing. Poor girl is almost in full blown panic mode and there her mom is laughing it her (probably not the best thing for her little psyche). I tried closing off her left nostril and having her blow it out... but it was too jammed up in there. So I told her we would have to do surgery (she is WAY into having to do surgery on EVERYTHING) so she was excited about it. She was a trooper, she tilted her head back, held very still and let me gently 'cram' my eyebrow twister up her nostril and grab that little yellow fluff ball. (I figured if that didn't work the next stop was my hospital and I could use the long, skinny alligator forceps that I use to get foxtails out of dogs ears).

Half a Year

I can't believe how time flies. Wesley has already been here a half a year already! Wow! He really is perfect in every way. He is a happy, content, babbling, smiley, ticklish little man. He is starting to flirt with ladies when they coo over him... it's adorable. He still has just a touch of reddish blond hair, but his indigo blue eyes make up for the bald-ness factor. He puts everything in his mouth (though we still don't see or feel any teeth), and if we are eating/drinking something, he wants it too. He loves, I mean LOVES to eat! Milk, solids, mashed, pured, cubed, cooked, raw... whatever, just let him but it in his mouth and he's happy. Hes a big fan of sleeping and takes 3 naps in the day and sleeps all night (8-10 hours straight)... his eyebrows get red when he's tiered, it's his 'tell'... it's so cute. He LOVES the water (we are in the middle of swim lessons with both of them right now). He's sitting up unsupported, but will topple over after a few minutes, which doesn't seem to phase him one bit, he just carries on playing and laughing. He loves to be up high, and if you sit when you're holding him, he'll let you know that that is not tolerated. He had his 6 month check up/shots today. He is now weighting in at a whooping 17 pounds 6.5 oz (48%). Can you believe he's gained 11 pounds since he was born! He's 26.25 inches long (44%) and his peanut head is 42 cm (9%). I am in love, love, love with this little man!

Just a Little Run

Yesterday Carrie and I did yet another 1/2 marathon. It was my third total but my first since having Wesley. It was AWESOME! It was here in beautiful Healdsburg, through the vineyards, with my family and friends waiting at the finish line. What could be better? Uhhhh, shaving 13 minutes from my previous time, that's what could be better! I was shocked how well I did. I wasn't really racing, nor did I really train for it... but I guess when my daily jog includes pushing around 50 pounds of kids and 20 pounds of stroller, when I get a chance to run alone it means I am now lighter.... and apparently faster! I made it through 13.1 mile in 2 hours and 49 seconds!!!! Man, just 50 seconds less and I could have said I ran it in under 2 hours!!!!! Next time. (October 14). But I feel really great about it all. I was 12th in my age group (though I don't know how many there were.... probably 13) ;) Besides feeling stiff and my knees hurting a little I am feeling great. Supper happy I was able to complete it and do better then I had even hoped for! Anyone want to join me in 8 weeks?

The Good Ol' Days

Matthew is an incredible father and husband and has been working so hard (at work, at home, and in the yard) that I thought I would thank him for all that he does for us. For those of you who know Matthew, you know that he thinks with only one part of his body… his stomach (gross, what were you thinking?).  So I thought I would make him a fancy dinner, just like I used to do (before kids). I wanted him to see how much I appreciate and ‘see’ all that he is doing for us (even if I forget to comment on it). So I took the kids grocery shopping and utilized their nap time to prep for this beautiful dinner.

The table was set with our wedding china; a fancy zin filled our wedding crystal wine glasses, the cloth napkins were folded perfectly inside the mother-of-pearl napkin rings we had picked out together. (There were even different sized of forks and a salad plate). You get the picture… a beautiful fancy perfect diner.  I prepared a spring salad with heirloom tomatoes form the garden, fresh steamed spinach and veal saltimbocca with sautéed mushrooms! Then I made a flourless dark chocolate cake with fresh peach sauce for dessert. All looked, smelled and tasted perfect. I had visions of getting all dolled up, getting the kids in their Sunday clothes, and the house spick and span and really blowing his socks off.

What he got was; me still in my sweaty runny clothes (hair in shambles), the kids in the same clothes they had been in all day (I didn’t even get a chance to wash their faces) and the house looked… lived in. The food was wonderful though (if I do say so myself), Mallory sat in her seat and ate for all of 5 minutes then asked to be excused and chased Sonny with a plastic rake and tried to brush him (he was her pet lamb apparently) and Wesley grunted and whimpered because I couldn’t shovel his dinner of bananas and peas in his mouth quick enough. Pretty sure I wasn’t able to make eye contact with Matthew for more than a few seconds before having to attend to someone about something.

But in the end Matthew took me in his arms, kissed me hard, and squeezed me tight and I knew he KNEW what I was trying to do for him. Our life isn’t like the good ol’ days… it’s different… it’s better.

Friends

Mallory just did THE sweetest thing. It was my night to put her to bed (Matthew and I rotate every other night), after saying her prayers and talking about the day, she reached up with both hands and held my face and said, "I love you momma, you are my friend." I instantly burst into tears... but sometimes that all I really want to hear... Sigh. I feel as though my heart is about to explode!

One of THOSE Days

Yeah, I'm having one of THOSE days! You know the kind of day where you just wake up and EVERYTHING is wrong, dirty, whiny, cluttered, frustrating... The kind of day where I just want to play hooky and run away from ALL my responsibility. The kid of day where I'm pretty sure it's taking more effort to remain sane then simply allowing myself to go crazy. Yeah, one of those days. Wish me luck.

B-Day Boy

Happy birthday Matthew-Man! This actually happened 11 days ago (sorry my love). Both Matthew and I had the day off work, so his mom and john came over to watch the kids and we drove out to the coast and enjoyed a yummy lunch.... without the kids!!!!! That evening a handful of people came over for a little BBQ and ice cream sunday eating. It was wonderful.

Happy Birthday!

What A Day!

I don't have the time to go in to all the details... but I have to get this down before I forget the intense/sickening/wonderful feeling. Yesterday I had the most exhilarating, frightening, nerve wracking, adrenaline pumping emergency at work that I have ever had to deal with!
I literally had a 60 pound boxer (yes people, that's a breed of dog) :) blow part of her jugular vein to pieces (it was the maxillary branch of the jugular, for those of you who want to know). She had been attacked by a boar and once the clot let loose, my hospital looked like a scene from a horror movie... I am in NO way exaggerating. Blood was pouring and gushing from this poor dogs neck!!!!!!!!!
My staff was GREAT! They totally got everything that I needed as a tech and I and bark orders since we were keeping pressure on the neck (I could feel the pressure of the blood hitting against my palm) and trying to stabilize that patient. Within minutes the dog was under anesthesia and I was trying desperately to keep my hands from shaking as I searched for the exact location of the tear. At one point I had to place my pointer finger inside the vein (yes it was THAT big!!!!!) so that I could get a good visualization of the wall of the vein as cut down over it!!!! I kept talking to myself and to God, asking for help... which He gave me, because somehow I got ALL the bleeding to stop (with the wonderful help of sutures and some clotting gel for added reassurance). We ended up playing ambulance too, and transported the patient in my truck while she was sedated, intubation and on IV fluids to a 24 hour emergency facility (since this of course occurred at 5:30 pm and I wanted her monitored overnight). By the grace of God she is alive and doing great, despite getting gouged by a boar multiple time, losing an obscene amount of blood and having emergency surgery! It was an amazing and very frightening feeling knowing that literally at THAT moment if I couldn't find or stop the bleeding, she would bleed out and die... then and there! Once it was all said and done, I felt like I needed to vomit and I'm pretty sure my hands didn't stop shaking until I finished a glass of wine and sat in the bath for 1/2 and hour! What a day!

July Visitors

July has been WAY fun and its mainly due to the copious number of visitors we have had!
Brie and her wonderful family started it off and came the first part of the month. Needless to say EVERYONE and their mothers (literally) were vying for her time. We got to see them quite a bit and even spent the 4th with them, my parents and the Shiras! Really good times.

Benna, Aunt Dottie, Jeff, Lindsay and Connor all came up mid-month and it was heaven seeing them all. Jeff's stay was way too short, but it was cute watching Connor and Wesley hang together. Connor taught Wesley how to play with his feet (pretty sure Wesley didn't even know he had them prior to Connor), and Wesley taught Connor how to chug milk like nobodies business.

It's been fun having Benna here, though her allergies, my work, and life-type factors haven't let us spend enough time together. But it has been so sweet to see my kids getting to spend time with their Great-Grandma! How lucky are we?!?!?!?!
Aunt Dottie spent almost a week at my folks house and that was a blast! We had wonderful meals, fun shopping trips and she and I enjoyed some nummy wines and a great talk on our little Dry Creek outing.

People keep commenting to me about how it 'seems' like my family is so nice and are amazed that we all get along and really enjoys each other. Well, it's true! I guess sometimes I just take it for granted that I have such a close, friendly family. I forget that not every family is THIS lucky!

Wesley

I'm a little late with getting Wesley's 5 month picture up, but here it is. I can't believe how much he is growing!!! He is now rolling over (every few days), and is VERY into eating! He is loving his once a day solids (all except butternut squash). He is still happy and mellow and would be content to spend the day watching faces and laughing at his sister.

 The other big even with Mr. Wesley man was that on July 15th we had his Dedication. It was really nice and so special that soooooo much of the family could be there. Once again he wore the dedication gown that Benna made for my older brother to wear when he was dedicated, then each of us siblings wore it along with Mallory, and now Wesley! Tradition! (it makes me want to break out in song... for those of you who know Fiddler On The Roof).