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?