The Sees

Two Glorious Months

2012-02-16T17:24:00.002-07:00

Today, we celebrate two months of Camryn!

She is holding up her head beautifully, smiling at anyone and everyone, cooing and ooing and making all sorts of adorable sounds and she is *just beginning* to adopt a regular sleeping schedule.

Everyone keeps telling us that she looks more and more like Brock.
At first, she didn't look much like big bro; people commented that Cami had "her own look," whereas, Brock was clearly an equal mix of Clarke and myself from day one. I suppose now that she is looking more like Brock, it's also safe to say that she's looking more like mom and dad too.

This morning, Miss C weighed in at 13 lbs and measured 23 inches!
This puts her in the 87th percentile.
Can you say chunkalicious?

Camryn likes snuggling with mom, eating, bath time, people who speak in high pitch voices, listening to Adele, mirrors, her crib mobile, being bunny bounced by daddy and jabbering to the wall. She dislikes her car seat, being swaddled, sleeping, having her nose suctioned out, relief society and watching Brock and daddy play the Wii.
She finally likes her swing, is "meh" about the pacifier and is very ticklish!

Never has a double chin looked so scrumptious...

We can't get enough of this darling face:

Grow baby, grow (but not too fast)!

XOXO

2012-02-15T17:38:00.000-07:00

Spectacularly Spoiled

2012-02-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

Confession: I absolutely dread my birthday because it means that someone, somewhere will inevitably sing the song "Happy Birthday" to me. And, you know what? I HATE being sung to. It's a bright, vivid and sweltering hate on the same level as, say, doing the dishes or scrubbing a little boy's bathroom. I'm also not crazy about being the center of attention, so when it comes to birthdays, I like mine very low-key.

That said, last Saturday I turned the golden age of 29. Again.

I've been 29 years old for years now as I find it suits me rather splendidly.

I expected a low-key birthday as I shrugged and said, "whatever" when Clarke asked what I wanted to do on my birthday. Whatever, here means don't plan anything big or extravagant, don't invite anyone over and for pity's sake, do not sing "happy birthday;" oh, and, most importantly, don't skimp on the cake. The cake makes the day worthwhile, after all.

Clarke interpreted "whatever" to mean something like this...

...make breakfast for the family

...make the bed and do the dishes

...gift the wife a new car stereo specifically created for use with her iPod,

her favorite perfume and lotion and repair the wreath that it took the wife two months to make and took only two seconds for your son to break last month.

...take the wife shopping to buy her a swanky, new, smart phone

...treat the family to a birthday lunch at Red Robin

...allow the wife the pleasure of choosing her own cake at Costco (red velvet with cream cheese)

...encourage the indulgence of an afternoon power snooze with the baby

...arrange for cake and ice cream BEFORE dinner and sing "happy birthday" to the wife (who winces as she recounts the memory of being sung to that afternoon)

...arrange for a babysitter and take the wife to Tucanos for dinner

...put on your "I'm game" face when the wife suggests shopping at Target afterwards

I was spectacularly spoiled and blessed by my family this year.

Here's my new phone, the HTC Amaze 4G:

We had fun exploring the camera option on the phone at Red Robin...

The man behind the spoiling...

Lazing it up with my girl..

And finally, that thing about the wreath...
Remember this post?

Do you ever find yourself repeating the same command to your children and being purposefully ignored? Of course, you do. Repeating oneself is an integral part of parenthood.

Over the better part of last year, I found myself continually asking Brock not to bounce
or throw balls in the house.
"You'll break something," I'd chide to my deaf audience, "and then I'll really get mad."

Finally, the inevitable happened. Brock was bouncing balls in the living room when a ball hit the wreath, that had taken me two months to create, and it tumbled from it's place atop a tall shelf and crashed into pieces on our wood floor. Tearing paper and dislodging rosettes.

I was horrified and furious and heartbroken (it tore through my grandmother's signature on the back of the wreath, see post link above). Is this what it takes to get my son to obey, I thought. It has to take him breaking something irreplaceable to learn a lesson?

The wreath sat in pieces in the garage for weeks as this happened shortly before Camryn was born and I never had the time or energy to put into fixing the wreath. In truth, I had all but forgotten about it.
And then, my wonderful husband decided to fix it himself and wrap it up for me to open on my birthday.
What a amazing gift! Save for one missing rosette, the wreath is complete.

Can you guess?

2012-02-03T18:48:00.000-07:00

What inspires such happiness...

...and such joy...

...and such thoughtful wonderment?

Here is a clue or two...

It's Camryn's new Tiny Love Princess Mobile!

And she is absolutely mesmerized by it!

(Excuse the mess. Cami hasn't officially moved into the nursery yet so it's still a catch-all space.)

Milk and Religion

2012-01-23T08:47:00.002-07:00

Admittedly, I've teeter-tottered the decision about when to take Camryn to church. I hate the idea of people touching her, breathing on her, sneezing on her and sharing all their germs with her practically nonexistent immune system. And who doesn't love a newborn baby at church--where it seems that every newborn baby is game to coos and cuddles and caresses? On the other hand, the nagging guilt that I had been absent from church for about 6 weeks definitely rested heavily in my thoughts this past weekend. Ultimately, we decided that Camryn and I would attend sacrament meeting only and just the boys would stay for classes afterward.

Cami and I had fun raiding her closet for the perfect dress. She has about seven dresses that currently fit her little 10-lb figure and we paired them with headbands and bows and onsies and jackets until we were quite overwhelmed by the dozens of wardrobe and accessory ensembles. I love that having a daughter means that we have to make these difficult choices! ;) We chose the red dress with the pink hearts, not only because it looked absolutely warm and cozy, but that it had significant sentimental value. I chose this dress for my niece Libby when she was born. It was during a time when we were still grieving our Amelia and I had a difficult time walking past baby clothes without getting that pang of sadness in my heart. Nevertheless, I saw this dress in the baby department at Target, at Christmastime. I couldn't help but stop and admire it. And if I couldn't buy it for my daughter, I would buy it for my newborn niece! Who would have imagined that my baby girl would be wearing the same dress two years later?

Baby Camryn

Baby Libby

Clarke and I felt like, and probably looked like, first time parents as we ogled our baby girl throughout sacrament meeting, panicking whenever her little face scrunched up and turned red--quickly shoving the pacifier in her mouth and hoping she didn't start to bawl. Brock loved on his sister with hugs and kisses and snuggles. As soon as the closing prayer was offered in sacrament meeting and people began to exit the chapel, hands began to appear from everywhere, reaching for Camryn to touch her hair or her cheeks. The germaphobe inside me was cringing and I had to bite down hard on my lip to keep from slapping the hands away. After all, all the affectionate caresses from friends in our ward were sugarcoated with words of admiration and praise for our baby. It was fun to soak up all the compliments as they confirmed what Clarke and I already knew: Cami is adorable, precious, perfect, amazing and a true miracle.

And guess who is smiling?

100% real smiles.

(there will probably be dozens of pictures in the next several weeks as proof, but here is a small smile for now....)

Yesterday also marked another big event for Camryn.

Confession: I love breastfeeding my babies.

Not only is it convenient and thrifty, it creates a special bond between mother and child. Clarke will get all the credit for being the "playful" parent as our children grows, and rightly so, which means that this unique time that I have to bond with my babies is important to me. Nevertheless, I have to go back to photo shoots at some point and Clarke would really like to go out on dates, without our children for a change. This means one thing for my breastfed baby: momma needed to pump and Camryn needed to learn how to drink from a bottle. With great anxiety on my part ("Will she take a bottle?" "Will she like this bottle or do we need to go buy one of every kind from the store until we find one she likes?" "Is this a bad idea?"), Clarke offered Cami her first bottle and she took to it like a champ, downing four ounces in no time! Way to go Cami!

Cami exhibited a clear distrust of the dining room chandelier during her meal...

Go milk?

We Gots Da Bug

2012-01-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

It's always exciting to welcome Brock off the bus after a day at school, to give him an I-missed-you-today squeeze and a smooch on his chubby cheek and to go through his backpack to see what treasures he brought home from school that day. Waxy and crayon colorful pictures of ninjas and knights, worksheets of clumsily written alphabets and numbers, the weekly library book about fighter jets or dinosaurs and the rock he found on the playground. And then there is the thing he brings home constantly that you can't see: every little flu and cold germ imaginable!

Last week, Brock was grappling with his SECOND cold in a month.

A mini-man-cold you might call it.

"Don't sneeze on the baby!"

"Cover your mouth when you cough!"

"Wash your hands!"

"Did you wash your hands?"

"Well, wash them again."

In spite of copious amounts of Lysol blanketing every surface, doorknob and light switch in the house, and every precaution we could think of to protect Camryn from getting sick, the inevitable happened.

Cami caught her first cold.

*a-choo!*

cough-cough

sniffle-sniffle

pitiful baby cry

I really wish parents would smart-up and keep their sick children HOME instead of sending them to school to infect my child. *shakes fist at irresponsible parent*

Luckily, both kids seem to be on the mend. Brock, having had more practice at dredging his way through the coughs and the sniffles, is back at school and play. Camryn, on the other hand, has no idea why she can't breath through a stuffed up nose and why mommy is always coming at her with the saline and the nose bulb. Her first cold was bound to happen, though, and we're just so incredibly grateful that it hasn't resulted in RSV.

Ice Ice Baby

2012-01-19T11:25:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, Clarke and Brock went on another exciting father/son adventure: ice skating!

Brock had never been ice skating and was anxious to try out his mad, ninja skating skills thanks to a "purchase one admission, get one free" coupon Brock brought home from school last month. They invited uncle Sean to come along when mommy and Cami had to bow out of the invitation due to Cami's first cold.

According to my guys, the rink was packed, but they had fun, nonetheless. Brock fell several times, of course, but Clarke managed to stay upright on his ice skates the entire time. Ten years ago, Clarke and I went ice skating on a date. If I recall, Clarke was agile on ice skates even then while I clumsily slipped and slid my way around the rink, taking several spills. Sounds like Brock might take after me. Sorry, little dude.

Brock and Daddy:

Brock and Uncle Sean

One Month

2012-01-16T16:12:00.000-07:00

Today our sweet baby Camryn turns 1-month old!

What a blessing and a joy she is to our family!

Losing Sleep

2012-01-13T12:31:00.001-07:00

Dear Camryn,

You are my favorite reason for losing sleep, my darling girl.

(but it wouldn't hurt to try sleeping some at night instead of all day)

Love,

your mom

The Competition

2012-01-11T16:16:00.001-07:00

It seems that my posts and camera clicks have been largely Camryn-centered of late. The truth is that when it comes to Brock, I am met with stiff competition.

My nemesis goes by one name: LEGO.

Brock fell in love with Legos last year and it's clearly not a short-term romance; for when Brock is not enthralled in Lego Star Wars, on the wii, with daddy, he is closed up in his room creating finely engineered space ships or building dragons and castles. This past December, Brock scored FIVE new Lego sets for his birthday and Christmas (and we're not talking the little 39 piece sets, either. We're talking the BIG box sets with hundreds of pieces each!).

So, the only way to capture my little boy anymore is to play his game. Literally.

And here's what I got when I asked him for "just one smile picture:"

and this...

"What do I have to do to get a genuine smile out of you, stinker?"

His answer: "Just say skeleton poop, mom!"

And what do you know? It worked...

Camryn's Song

2012-01-09T08:18:00.004-07:00

Three years ago, thereabouts, I typed up this quick little post about songs that remind me of my children. Brock's song is 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. Amelia's song is 'Clair De Lune' by Debussy. Several weeks before Camryn was born, I began contemplating what song I might choose for her. One unwelcome title kept nagging at my brain, much like a sink full of dirty dishes or a pile of laundry waiting to be folded. It's not that the song isn't fantastic; it's the kind of song with a contagious groove that you want playing on the radio when you're conquering household chores or an excuse to dance around the kitchen while you make dinner.

The problem is that it's so cliche and probably the most "daughter-ish" song out there,
next to 'Butterfly Kisses.'

But, I followed my gut and purchased this song through iTunes.
Turns out, I kind of love it now...

And here are the first two verses:

Isn't she lovely

Isn't she wonderful

Isn't she precious

Less than one minute old
I never thought through love we'd be
Making one as lovely as she

But isn't she lovely made from love

Isn't she pretty

Truly the angel's best

Boy, I'm so happy
We have been heaven blessed

I can't believe what God has done

through us he's given life to one

But isn't she lovely made from love

Happy New Year

2012-01-08T11:14:00.000-07:00

Better late than never.

We sent out our Happy New Year/birth announcement cards just last week,

after missing the Christmas card deadline...for the second year in a row.

Oops.

Punkin and Princess

2012-01-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

Nicknames are fantastic things!

I love it when someone feels comfortable enough around me to call me Char or Charly (my parents have called me Charly since I was a baby. My grandfather's name was Charlie and he passed away just months before I was born, so the nickname has a lot of sentiment behind it.). I don't think Clarke has an issue with nicknames either; just don't call him "Clarkie." EVER! He hates that. I've contemplated calling him Sparky, though, (after Clarke W. Griswold). And Brock has a number of endearing nicknames, including Brockie, Brocksters, B, Buddy, Stinkpot (daddy's favorite) and Punkin (momma's favorite).

The other day, I was talking to Cami (aha....another nickname!) and I thoughtlessly started calling her "punkin."

"Mom, that's my name!"

Brock was clearly phased by the idea that his sister might be called Punkin too.

His comment caught me off guard and we began discussing nicknames. And I have to admit, I sort of love that Brock really owns "punkin."

"And don't call her Brocksters, either, 'cause I like that one too." And then Brock added lightly, "But you can call her stinker, 'cause I don't like that nickname." Haha. What a nut!

Apparently, I'm a hopeless cause when it comes to nicknames, though, because "punkin" just naturally rolls off my mother tongue when it comes to my kiddies. And every time I start to call Cami "punkin" I have to give myself a mental head slap. Now, I'm trying to get used to saying "Sweet Pea" or "Princess" and hoping that, should those terms of endearment become habit, I don't slip and call my son "princess."

And since no post is complete without a picture, here is our Punkin and our Princess:

B is for...New Years Day?

2012-01-03T09:08:00.000-07:00

Bath time!

Camryn celebrated New Year's Day with her very first bath!

And she loved it, I think.

Except, of course, for the naked part. hehe.

Blessing Day!

Ordinarily, in the LDS faith, babies are given a priesthood blessing at church, during sacrament meeting, in front of the congregation. It was important to Clarke and myself to plan Cami's blessing at a time when some of our out-of-town family would be here to participate in this ordinance. Particularly my dad, Cami's papa, who has been working in North Dakota these past several months. New Year's Day seemed as good a day as any for the blessing; but we faced the additional challenge of whether or not to take Camryn to church at only 2 weeks old. Ultimately, we decided that exposing our newborn to threat of RSV (and all sorts of other cold and flu bugs) was not worth it and made the necessary arrangements to have Clarke bless Camryn at home in the company of our immediate families.

In hindsight, Clarke and I had to chuckle at the preposterous idea that we crowded and squished so many family members into our tight little living space for the blessing. Our humblest apologies to our families. I don't think we've ever had so many bodies in our living room at one time!

Clarke offered a very beautiful priesthood blessing for our daughter. The other priesthood holders in the circle included Cami's papa (my dad), her grandpa (Clarke's dad), and uncles: Scotty, Sean and Paul.

Camryn wore a special blessing dress for the occasion. It was the dress my Grandma Ailean had made for me when I was blessed 30+ years ago... I imagine my grandma was smiling down from Heaven that day, as her great granddaughter wore one of her creations. For the pictures, I placed Cami on the gorgeous quilt that my aunt Julie (my mom's sister) made for Camryn. It's a soft pink and offered a nice, vintage-like contrast between the dress and the background. And it represents a rich, hand-made heritage from my mom's side of the family.

Beauty

We can't get enough of this little beauty...

(This is one of those "throw away" shots as I was testing my lighting before Cami was dolled up in her blessing dress and accessories. Except that there is no way I'd throw this picture away. Ever!)

And finally, B is for Brother...

Sadly there is no New Year's Day image for this one, although my intentions were good.

With so many cousins to run around with, there was no way Brock was going to stop and pose for a picture with his baby sister. Even, if he kept telling us how "beautiful" Camryn looked in her blessing dress. But, we'll get one of the two kids soon!

Not that we don't have plenty of sibling pictures already...

December. In Pictures.

2011-12-31T11:36:00.000-07:00

Countless times I have sat down and tried to blog this past week, but all my efforts fell prey to a fussy baby, a bored 6-year old, housework and the thud of my head hitting the keyboard after a cumulative 2-hours of sleep the night before. Instead of trying to play a fast and furious game of catch-up as I type one-handed and attempt to keep my eyes open when all they want to do is give into a nap, I'm going to just make this a picture post and call it good for the year. ;)

Here is December in pictures.

Brock had a birthday!!

Clarke took cupcakes to Brock's kindergarten class where his teacher had a small party planned to celebrate B's birthday. Brock loved the birthday crown his teacher gave him...

I was contracting the entire time it took to frost Brock's Lego head cake--so it looks a little wonky, but Brock was delighted by it and that's all that mattered.

Did you hear that we had a baby?

This is what 2-hours of sleep looks like on a new mom.

Thank goodness, Cami looks cute.

The hustle and bustle of Christmas...

Cami had to spend Christmas under the photo therapy lights...

Luckily, she's off of the bili lights now and is expected to slowly de-yellow as her jaundice leaves her system over the next several weeks.

Here is some Cami-cuteness overload to round out this last post of 2011...

Happy New Year!!

Get Your Camryn Fix Here...

2011-12-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

Only a few minutes old...

Cami's first bath at the hospital. She LOVED having her hair washed.

My little night owl is wide awake and alert in the middle of the night. Every night. So far.

Half smile.

Here's our princess, ready to go home from the hospital.

I LOVE this picture. It looks like Brock and Camryn are both smiling; happy to be together!

*swoon*

Angelic.

Camryn is fascinated by the Christmas tree lights...

As a germaphobe mom, I'm adamant about keeping Cami home all the time for the first few months, except, of course, for the necessary outing to see her doctor. In which case, getting all dolled up is essential.

Taking a rare break from her bilibed, Cami gives mom one of her smiles.

( I know, I know, it's gas, not a real smile.)

Our happy girl...

Swaddled right up to her double chin.

Cute head. Cute ears. Cute profile. Cute girl!

I could just sit and watch her all day long. And I do.

Photo Therapy

2011-12-20T11:01:00.001-07:00

The thing about our babies is that they're kind of yellowish at first.

As in jaundiced.

Brock had jaundice six years ago and spent about three days in a photo therapy "bilibed."

...and Camryn has jaundice today. She'll spend the next few days in photo therapy; in a bilibed that looks just like her big bro's from years ago. Fortunately, all this photo therapy can be done at home.

And here is how "mom" practices photo therapy...

Meet Cami

2011-12-19T16:08:00.000-07:00

Camryn Olivia See

December 16th, 2011

8 lbs. 3 oz.

We are in love.

Less than 24 hours now...

2011-12-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

We've been waiting 39 1/2 weeks....

Will she be big or little?

Will she be blonde or brunette?

Will she look like Brock?

Will she have daddy's nose?

Will she have mommy's eyes?

Will she still be a she?

And the million dollar question: What is her name?

All these exciting questions will be answered TOMORROW.

Baby See will be arriving sometime on Friday, December 16th, 2011

during a scheduled induction, two days shy of her due date.

We are beyond thrilled to meet this little lady and welcome her to our family!

Six

2011-12-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

Six years ago, we joyfully welcomed our firstborn into the world, all 7 pounds, 11 ounces of him!

Brock has been our pride and our joy! Happy Birthday big boy!

Failed by the Full Moon

2011-12-11T17:16:00.000-07:00

Today's headline should read something like: Crazed Woman Still Pregnant.

Despite numerous attempts to help ignite some labor-ish activity, including, but not limited to walking, eating spicy food, walking, relying on the full moon = labor theory, walking, walking and more walking, and a whole slew of other methods that I'm not mentioning here, one truth has unfortunately prevailed:

nothing is working.

NOTHING. ZIP. ZIPPO. NADA.

And today marks the LONGEST I have ever been pregnant. EVER. EVER. EVER!

Thirty.Nine.Weeks.

39 agonizing weeks.

Okay, so 39 weeks is not overdue. I get it. I do.

And I am happy that Miss Rapunzel is taking her time

(after all, it gives Clarke and I more time to decide on her real name!),

but here's the problem (aside from the backaches and heartburn)...

Brock's birthday is on Tuesday.

As in THIS Tuesday.

December 13th.

And there is one thing he doesn't want on his birthday: a baby.

And I don't blame him one bit!

I really want my kids to have SEPARATE birthdays.

It's hard enough having a December birthday, but having to share it with a sibling would

be a double whammy for both my kiddos.

Of course, with my luck, or lack thereof, and clearly bad luck passed onto my kids, December 13th will find us in L&D. So cross all your crossables and say a little prayer for us that if Miss See does not make her appearance today (Sunday), she'll hold out until Wednesday or Thursday, at least.

Just don't wish us overdue!

All this waiting to deliver a baby is driving me batty!

Did you know?

2011-12-08T07:51:00.001-07:00

Elephants are pregnant for 22 months??

Suddenly, I feel an endearing and heartfelt
kinship with these pachyderms.

Tick...Tick...Tick...Tick...Tick...

2011-12-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

I suppose the trick to staying pregnant is to

plan on delivering early.

Don't go grocery shopping or make meal plans.

Don't RSVP to Christmas parties.

Don't make appointments.

Don't worry about the laundry.

And if you do all that, you'll stay pregnant forever!

Your family will be combing the pantry and fridge in search of any last morsel of food.

You'll have absolutely nothing to wear (that fits) to a weekend of parties.

Your days will be mind-numbing long.

And your kid will be out of clean underpants!

Needless to say, my plan for today is to start making plans.

Lots of them!

And then, maybe, just maybe, I'll finally deliver this baby.

Still here. Still pregnant.

2011-12-04T19:29:00.000-07:00

Nothing to report, except that we reached 38 weeks pregnant.

Unbelievable!

Maybe this week...

Sew, Sew, Sew Easy!

2011-12-01T17:14:00.000-07:00

Car seat canopies are just the pure genius of some enterprising mom who recognized the real need to protect one's baby from wind, rain and germ-y fingers of well-meaning people who love to touch a newborn.

Don't get me wrong, I understand the appeal of a new baby. They're tiny and adorable and smell good...and unfortunately come with a susceptibility to every little cold and flu bug floating around in the atmosphere. Germs aside, there is also weather to contend with when transporting baby from one place to another. When Brock was a baby, I remember trying to drape a little blanket over his car seat only to have the wind blow it off as we hurried from the car to wherever we were headed.

Naturally, when I saw a car seat canopy in action (at Tai Pan of all places!), I told myself that I'd invest in one for Rapunzel. So, I scoured Amazon and Etsy and couldn't make up my mind about which one to purchase, or rather which one would match our car seat. Shrugging in indecisiveness, I decided that I'd just have to make one myself.

Using this tutorial, I created a car seat canopy all on my own...

The choice of fabric was the result of hours of searching fabric.com...

I also used this tutorial to create car seat strap covers out of the remnants of the car seat canopy fabric.

Another super easy project. This is what they look like:

All in all, I'm rather proud of myself!

Dear Baby, You've Been Served

2011-11-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked a milestone, 24 weeks in the making.

My doctor removed the cerclage;

issuing Rapunzel her official eviction notice.

So any time now, baby...

We're anxious to meet you!

Tooting My Own Horn

2011-11-27T07:13:00.001-07:00

I just have to shout it from the rooftop...

WE'VE MADE IT TO... FULL TERM!!!

37 WEEKS PREGNANT!!!

Initially, this pregnancy was supposed to be fraught with complications and our biggest goal was to make it to viability so that our baby girl had a fighting NICU chance.

We were not supposed to make it this far.

But we did!

*Happy Happy Happy Dance*

And a HUGE thank you to our Heavenly Father, for it is through the millions of answered prayers that we get to celebrate this unimaginable milestone!

With Grateful Hearts

2011-11-24T04:36:00.000-07:00

36 Week Update and (lots of) Nursery Pictures!!

2011-11-20T07:19:00.001-07:00

Nine months pregnant looks like this....

...but feels like this...

Continuing to battle the 2-week sinus infection was most assuredly not the way in which I was going to celebrate our 36-weeks pregnant milestone. Nevertheless, here I am, big bellied, with my trusty box of Kleenex, can of Lysol and a determination not to let feeling miserable get in the way of acknowledging such a monumental week!

36 weeks = 9 months!!!

My doctor is stunned that we've made it this far into a pregnancy and repeatedly declared, at my appointment last week, that this will be her happiest delivery of the year. She's been with us through our seven pregnancies and has to heft around my 4-inch thick folder around her office. She knows our history, our battles and our losses and has been as tense and anxious as we have these last nine months.

This week, Miss Rapunzel should be tipping the scale at around 6 pounds and measuring full length, around 20 inches. She will continue to put on around 1/2 pound per week until delivery, which could, realistically, be any time. Her favorite pastimes in the womb include hiccups and head-butting mommy's ribs. That's right, our little stinkerette is still breech! We briefly discussed the pros and cons of medically turning the baby (external cephalic version) and other methods and have ultimately decided that after all we've been through with past pregnancies and following all the obstacles we've had to overcome with this pregnancy, we're going to let Rapunzel turn on her own or schedule a c-section. We're not taking any chances!!

As you can see, I'm still referring to our bundle of pink as Rapunzel, an indication that my heartburn has quadrupled in potency and the promise that this little lady will have tons of hair at birth. Cankles are ever so stylish at 9-months, which is why I never leave home without them! And if swollen feet and ankles weren't enough, my hands resemble fat, pink sausages! Fortunately, there is no sign of pre-eclampsia! Whew! Just fat feet and fingers. Sleeping is a real challenge with a sinus infection, murderously painful hips, heartburn and a sore back, but the zombie look is rather becoming on new moms so I'm just going to embrace the dark circles and mental what-ever-ness as a precursor to the next several months of my life. My cerclage will be removed next week (*gulp*) which means that the baby could arrive any time after that.

***

You want to see the nursery, right? EVERYONE wants to see the nursery, but since it's not entirely complete, I'll give you a quick glance at how things are turning out so far...

Originally, the room was two shades of yellow (I liked to call it butter and cheese) and featured that hideous carpet I was so zealous to rip out of our living room and hallways last March:

My mom volunteered (because she's the nicest person on the planet) to paint our nursery for us (THANK YOU MOM!!). We decided to go with neutral colored walls and chose the color 'Lyndhurst Gallery Beige' to mask the butter and cheese. Brock was anxious to help...

You can see how beautiful the walls turned out in the images below.

Pardon the mess, as you can see the nursery is incomplete!

The bedding we chose is from Pottery Barn Kids. It's called 'Scarlett" and features shades of ice pink, light red and khaki. We only purchased the crib skirt and sheets (as seen below):

I created a mural to hang above the crib, matching the color of the bedding...

Shelving decor (in above pic and the two below)...

This mirror hung in my grandmother's house, well, for as long as I can remember, and after she had passed away my parents offered it to us. Gratefully, I snagged it and then sheepishly kept it in my walk-in-closet until I found the perfect spot for it: the nursery!

Why is it that laundry sucks, unless you're washing and folding baby clothes?

Thanks to my niece, Libby, we had eight glorious loads of hand-me-down outfits to wash and hang up and fold (and ooh and aww over).

Do you think there is enough pink in this closet?

Remember the most awful carpet on the planet, as mentioned above? Well, thanks to some elbow grease on Clarke's part, we now have new, soft, luxurious carpet (Brock's room got new carpet too!):

And finally, the light. Initially, we had the same builders-grade lighting that came with the house and let off a dingy, yellow glow. But that doesn't do for a little girl's room. She needs bling...and so we chose something befitting of a tiny, but stylin' nusery...

(I took these pictures at night...it's really quite cute by day!)

I'll update with 'the finished product' pictures when the nursery is complete!

Two-Time Loser

2011-11-17T11:21:00.000-07:00

On Monday evening, Brock surprised us when he disappeared into his bathroom and minutes later, shouted, "Mom, I just lost a tooth!" I knew he had a loose tooth, but the last time I wiggled it, it was only a "little loose," as Brock would say. So, we pulled out the tooth fairy pillowcase, tucked the tiny tooth in the pocket on the pillowcase and Brock anxiously went to bed, on time that night, in anticipation of whatever surprise the tooth fairy would leave for him. At 11:30pm, he came bounding into our room, waking us both with squeals of "The tooth fairy was here, mom!" With his four quarters in hand, I re-tucked Brock into bed and said goodnight. I imagine it took some time for him to drift back to sleep.

The next day warranted a visit to the dollar store as the shiny quarters, courtesy of the tooth fairy, were understandably burning a whole in his pocket. He chose a blue recorder and played it (mom shudders at the memory) all the way home, where it promptly broke (this is where mom smirks). Big shocker, right?

Then, a curious thing happened.

Last night, I tucked Brock into bed at 7:30pm, like usual, and decided to take advantage of a warm shower. When I got out of the shower, I heard Brock shouting from across the house. Rolling my eyes and throwing my hands up in surrender ("You're supposed to be in bed!"), I padded across the living room to where Brock was standing in his bathroom.

"I lost another tooth!!" he sang happily.

"W-w-w-hat? Another one?" I was admittedly baffled as I was unaware that he had any other loose teeth. Yeah, bad mom moment confession.

But there it was, another pearly tooth clutched in Brock's pudgy hand. He giggled gleefully at my astonishment. "Let's call daddy!" Brock was dancing merrily around the bathroom with his tooth as I tried to recover from my shock. Daddy was at scouts. And Brock was up 45 minutes past his bedtime.

We pulled out the tooth fairy pillow again and I did my best to settle my enthused 5-year old and bid him goodnight once again. Then, I whipped out my phone and texted Clarke in a panic, "Do you have a dollar bill???" Luckily, he did. Whew!

And just as he had done several nights before, Brock woke up in the middle of last night, bounded into our room, waving his dollar bill and announcing that the tooth fairy had visited again! I rubbed the 3am sleep out of my eyes, took my goofy, grinning, toothless child by the hand and tucked him back into bed.

And first thing this morning, I made sure to check each and every tooth still left in Brock's mouth for any loose culprits sure to break the tooth fairy should any more fall out this week.

One Last Hurrah

2011-11-11T08:57:00.000-07:00

....as a family of three!

Every holiday season, Clarke and I debate whether or not to buy tickets to see Trans Siberian Orchestra's Christmas concert; after all we love their Christmas albums.

And every holiday season, we invent an excuse not to go.

"Tickets are too expensive."

"The concert coincides with a Christmas party."

"The concert coincides with a football game."

"Let's spend our money on Christmas gifts instead."

"One of us has to work that night."

..and the list goes on.

But this year is different. This year, we are making NO excuses!

As our last hurrah before our baby girl arrives, we are treating our little family of three (and a half) to the afternoon matinee concert at Taco Bell Arena the day before Thanksgiving.

And to prove it, we already purchased the tickets!

The matinee prices are NO DIFFERENT from the evening show, except that kids under 14 get in free with the purchase of an adult ticket!

This will be Brock's very first concert. He LOVES rock music. To put his passion in perspective, he frequently requests that we turn on "Frankenstein" by Edgar Winter so that he can rock out around the house! Look it up on iTunes if you have no clue what song I'm referencing. I think he'll be awe struck by the music and the light show.

This will be an awesome start to the holiday season and a great memory for our family!

Is "genius" too strong a word?

2011-11-08T09:38:00.003-07:00

I'm not going to say that Brock is a genius, but...

...at parent teacher conference last week, his kindergarten teacher suggested that he needs a more challenging program than public school can offer. To be fair, every parent thinks that their child is unequivocally intelligent, and I'm no exception. Nevertheless, to be told that Brock is chronically bored in school because the learning comes too easily for him and that he tests beyond the level of kindergarten confirms my suspicion that my precious 5-year old is far more clever than we give him credit.
Genius.....probably not. But smart? You betcha!

His teacher thinks we need to give charter school a try before Brock is in 2nd or 3rd grade because the charter school teaches at a swifter and more challenging pace and would engage Brock's intelligence at a level that public school is unable to compete with. Now, Clarke and I are almost kicking ourselves for not switching to the charter school when we had the chance. At the same time, it just wasn't the right decision at the time. So, perhaps next year, we'll revisit the idea of charter school. For now, our junior smarty pants is going to have to chug along with the rest of the kindergartners.

33 1/2 week update!

2011-11-03T17:05:00.002-06:00

We're coasting downhill on what ultimately feels like the longest pregnancy in history.

Even my own doctor commented that it seems like our pregnancy has taken forever!

A sentiment echoed not only by ourselves, but by friends and family alike.

At this point we're anticipating

only another 4-5 weeks

until little Miss Rapunzel makes her worldly debut!!!

My cerclage stitches will be removed on November 29th and after that day, all bets are off.

My doctor suspects that I'll deliver this baby girl sometime during the first week in December.

Everything is looking great, though. My blood pressure is healthily low and my weight is agonizingly high (as happens when you CAN NOT EXERCISE, no matter what!). Aside form the attractive, trunk like cankles I sport on a daily basis and the monstrous, chronic heartburn that haunts me day and night, I have very few 3rd trimester complaints.

Baby See is currently breech. Again.

She must be half-acrobat because she favors flipping back and forth between my doctor appointments.

With several more weeks to flip, we're not concerned about her position at all.

We're just anxious to meet the latest addition to our family!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T20:41:00.000-06:00

At first he determined to be the world's most fierce and celebrated ninja.

This came as no surprise to us or to anyone who knows Brock.

Then, one day, quite suddenly, Brock changed his mind about shopping for a ninja Halloween costume and announced that he was going to be Kellen Moore this year.

(For those not in "the know," Kellen Moore is the QB for the Boise State Broncos).

We were surprised and delighted!

Clarke and I shopped for the perfect jersey. Brock already had the socks and the football cleats.

All that was missing was the pants, the shoulder pads and the helmet.

This is where I give a very gracious shout out to Clarke's sister, April--who came to the rescue when she sent us her son's used football gear. Thanks a million, April!!

Clarke and Brock spray painted the helmet and we added the Bronco stickers and extra pads.

We also attached a face mask to the helmet, BUT it added about 10 extra pounds and was way too heavy for Brock, so we took it off and B went maskless on Halloween.

This was the perfect costume for our rough and tumble boy!

We spent Halloween with Nanay, Alison, Jamin, Travis & Libby.

Brock and Jamin could hardly contain their trick or treating excitement!

Grrrrr....

Jamin made an awesome Ninja Turtle:

Travis was the cutest Spider man, ever!

The boys...

The cousins...

The impromptu game of ring-around-the-rosie, courtesy of Travis...

...and we all fall down!

Libby was the most elusive (and adorable) witch! She was so crafty that she managed to outwit my lightening fast shutter speed and I wasn't able to capture as many pictures as I wanted!

Alison stepped in and helped contain Halloween's most flighty, little witch for this cute,

mother-daughter gem:

Hope your Halloween was as fun and spooky as ours!

Family Portrait 2011

2011-10-29T15:36:00.000-06:00

Just one to share. For now.

Shopping for My Kids

2011-10-21T16:06:00.000-06:00

I get to use the word "KIDS" now. Plural. As in more than one!!!

And I'll tell you what, I'm having way too much fun and spending way too much money.

Eep!

Last week, I ordered *coordinating* Christmas outfits, from The Children's Place, for Brock and baby! These outfits are truly camera ready and my head is already spinning wildly with portrait ideas.
Here's why...

For Brock:

For Baby:

See what I mean? The Christmas dresses at the Children's Place are absolutely to-die-for cute, but seeing as Miss Rapunzel will only be a few weeks old, we'll stick to something infinitely more comfy than a froo-froo dress and tights. We're saving that outfit for next Christmas!

And I also ordered a coming-home outfit, for baby, that we may or may not use, after all there are still about 6 shopping weeks left until she makes her debut!
This velour sleeper is so soft and girly and tiny. I love it!

And while shopping for my KIDS, I spent way too much time pondering the perfect big brother shirt for Brock. I'm still undecided...

We're going to go broke just outfitting these children! *oi*
But the fun we'll have is clearly priceless!

The Same Old Question

2011-10-19T09:57:00.000-06:00

Brock, are you excited about being a big brother?

NOT ONE DAY goes by when Brock is not confronted with the same old question regarding

his excitement level as it pertains to his baby sister. Sheepishly, I confess that even Clarke and I are guilty of asking the "same old question"of our 5-year old son.

Are you excited about becoming a big brother?

Yeah.

What do you think we should name your sister?

I'm thinking, Luna See. Luna is a nice name, mom. Or how about Twelvie? Or Ruby? 'Cause that's a great name. Daddy would like that. We could call her Rube.

What do new babies do?

Cry and use binkies and use bottles. Except, we're going to need a lot of diapers, right? Because our baby is going to poop a lot. Well, I hope she's not a poopie baby.

What are you going to teach your baby sister?

I might teach her how to feed herself, that's one thing. How about, I could also teacher her how to stand up and walk a little bit and crawl? I want to teach her how to color, except she'll do a lot of scribbling.

Who do you think the new baby will look like?

I think she would look like momma. With blond or blackish, brownish hair. 'Cause we are the blond family, right?

What's the first thing you're going to do when the baby comes home?

I'm going to cover my ears with my hands because YEOW my ears will hurt. That's what I'm going to do, bring ear plugs. Because the baby will whaa, whaa, whaa, whaa, of course.

What are you going to get your sister for Christmas?

A big brother that loves her!

Sometimes, Brock surprises us with his brother skills, as evidenced in the following image...

Last week he brought home from school 11 pictures he drew of himself and his baby sister, brandishing swords. Every picture features the same two characters and the same swords. Fortunately, they don't appear to be sword fighting each other! Whew!

On Monday, he wanted to color pictures for the door of the nursery and this is what he came up with:

Brock is going to rock big brotherhood!

"Sometimes being a big brother is even better than being a superhero." -Marc Brown

Catching Up

2011-10-13T11:32:00.000-06:00

I miss my camera some days, but the necessary energy and drive to pull it out and start snapping away abandoned me sometime last spring. The few times I've actually taken it out--usually at the behest of family--I am admittedly sluggish about uploading the pictures. So, in homage to my summer of sluggishness, here is a plethora of what happened when my camera was present....

August: Sean's Homecoming

My littlest brother, Sean, served a 2-year LDS mission in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His homecoming was anticipated for weeks and when the afternoon finally arrived, my family gathered at the airport brimming with anticipation of what 2-years did to and for Sean.

Brock, Jamin & Travis were, respectively, only 3 years old and 1 year old when Sean left in 2009. They hardly remembered their uncle, but rallied in the excitement of the rest of us--waving their welcome home signs at every stranger who exited the terminal--in the hopes that one of them would be uncle Sean.

Impatient 5-year olds are rough on signs and by the time uncle Sean did arrive, our sign was falling to pieces.

Miss Libby had never met her uncle before; nevertheless, she was easily the most patient of all the kids.

He promised to bring a cheese head home, and that is exactly what Sean did as he came running through the doors into the arms of his family...

Mom got the first hug. And deservedly so.

Sean almost took down dad in his excitement to be home!

We are so proud of Sean for his dedication to missionary service, for his strong testimony and we're especially happy to have him home!

September: The National Gas Rodeo

Don't let the title fool you into thinking that we've embraced some sort of flatulence contest. Ew.

Nope, Clarke, as you recall, works for the local gas company as a technician. Every year, natural gas companies from across the country send their strongest teams to compete in a national test of technician skills (like setting a gas meter, digging and backhoe and dump truck challenges). This year, Clarke's team, Rapid Expansion, won the right to compete for Idaho, and traveled to St. Louis, MO to meet and compete against the best teams in the country!

Each team consisted of four members. This is what Rapid Expansion looks like:

They had a great opportunity to lunch at the Boise State Sky Box a few days before they left for the national competition. While there, they decided to pay a visit to the coaches offices, where they explained who they were and about the competition. The coaches office staff happily gifted them official Boise State helmet stickers to decorate their safety helmets for the competition!

When arrangements were being made to send the Rapid Expansion teams and their wives to St. Louis, I had not been cleared to travel and we assumed I would not be able to travel. When I was cleared for travel, in August, it was too late to get on the same flights and even then, Delta wanted TWICE the amount for tickets. Um, no thanks. So, all the pictures from the competition and St. Louis are courtesy of Clarke, who diligently called home often to report how much fun he was having and how much fabulous food he was eating. Clarke's favorite part of the 4-day trip was the Gateway Arch.

View from the top of the arch, looking down...

He couldn't (and can't) stop talking about how much fun he had on his vacation! Next year, if his team wins the privilege of returning to St. Louis to compete once again, I'll go too.

Late September: Papa's New Gig & Rig

There are a lot of smart, talented people out of work right now. After devoting most of his life to becoming a master carpenter and business owner, my dad found himself struggling these last few years to procure any little job he could to help bring in what used to be a substantial monthly income. With ZERO construction going on in the valley, pickings for skilled workmen were slim and my dad, or "papa" as we call him since he started going gray, had to make a career choice. He decided to study and earn his CDL and become a truck driver. Right now, he's hauling gravel to the oil fields in North Dakota. The night before he left, he brought home his brand new truck to show off to the family. The kids had a ball climbing all over it!

Travis...

Libby & Sean...

Brock

and Brock again...

Jamin...

Lovely Miss Libby and Nanay...

So, that's it, folks. I've emptied out my memory cards and they're fresh and ready to take on autumn. I hope I can find the energy and inspiration to exercise my shutter button in the next several weeks!

Twenty-Eight Weeks

2011-09-29T13:40:00.000-06:00

Joyfully, we salute another monumental milestone...

28 weeks pregnant!

28 weeks means...

*A 90% chance of survival for Miss Rapunzel if I have to deliver after this point. Yay!

*Swollen hands and feet. Boo.

*An uncontrollable craving for grilled cheese sandwiches. At every single meal.

*Time to paint the nursery! Thanks to my sainted mother for helping me out with the task!

*Tossing and turning in a fruitless quest to sleep at night.

*The dreaded GTT test (to see if I've developed gestational diabetes).

*The Rhogam shot. (trust me, you don't want to know the injection site).

*Only 9 weeks to full term!

Here's what I've been doing to keep myself busily challenged while Brock is at school...

Nursery Decor....

This was a really simple project.

You need:

styrofoam balls

dollar store candlesticks

flower paper punch

corsage pins

pretty paper

Bibs!

Using an online tutorial and generic pattern, found HERE, I *painstakingly* sewed these bibs--they were slightly tricky for a girl who cat fights and argues with her temperamental sewing machine. One one side of the bib, you have a fabric of your choice. On the flip side, is chenille. All that's missing is the velcro closures.

I plan to make more of these.

Burp Cloths

I found a great tutorial for burp cloths HERE

Although, I don't remember needing many burp cloths with Brock, this little lady could prove to be a much messier baby than her big brother was.

Using chenille and an assortment of cute fabrics (from fabric.com), I created my own template with a cereal box (9"x16" rectangle). This was such an EASY project because all you had to do was sew two rectangles together, flip them inside out and sew shut. Then run a top-stitch around the perimeter of the rectangle. Voila! That easy! Seriously, I would not (could not) have tackled anything more challenging than a rectangle with my meager sewing experience. So, this was a great project for me!

And they would make awesome baby shower gifts. Except, I'm keeping these!

Crisis Averted

2011-09-26T10:06:00.002-06:00

My first thought, when I hung up the phone last Friday morning, was, "I wish they had never called."

Sometimes opportunities present themselves at the wrong time and this was one of those situations. It was an opportunity with a deadline of that afternoon, leaving hardly enough time to fully digest the pros and cons and to formulate a sound conclusion.

Last May, we were devastated to learn that Brock's name had not been chosen in the Falcon Ridge Charter School's annual lottery, determining which new students would be attending the charter school that fall

. The letter of non-acceptance arrived and we were asked to sign it and send it back to allow Brock's name to be added to the school's waiting list. The letter sat on my kitchen counter for two weeks, daring me to sign my name and mail it back. I clearly remember the day, I crumpled up the letter and tossed it in the garbage, not out of spite towards the charter school, but because we felt it was not in Brock's best interest to change schools mid-year, should there be an opening at the charter school.

When Falcon Ridge Charter School called me on Friday morning to notify me that they had an immediate opening in the kindergarten class and that Brock was next on the waiting list, it seemed like a no-brainer answer; though, I was stunned that Brock's name still made it to the wait list, despite my not returning the signed consent form. I called Clarke and he and I both agreed that since this is what we initially wanted for Brock, we would accept the open spot. I spent that afternoon making all the necessary arrangements.

But, I couldn't shake the overwhelming feeling that something was very, very wrong with our decision.

In fact, I was physically ill. And it had nothing to do with my pregnancy.

All weekend long, I dreaded the changes that our family was about to make. On Sunday afternoon, Clarke also began receiving promptings that we were making a mistake by pulling Brock out of public school and putting him in the charter school. Neither one of us could explain why something we had wished for initially was now causing us so much gut-wrenching turmoil. After all, this was allegedly an educational advantage for Brock. Right?

Crisis Averted....

After much discussion, Clarke and I decided to decline the charter school's invitation. This morning, I made all the necessary arrangements to re-enroll Brock at the public school, with the same schedule and teacher. It is as though a gazillion pound burden has been lifted from our shoulders and we feel such comfort and peace with our decision; although, we can't fully explain why. Except, that prayers are answered, even if the answer isn't what we hope or expect.

Did we make the right decision? Absolutely.

Cheeky Baby

2011-09-21T13:43:00.001-06:00

Miss Rapunzel has grown rather cheeky in the past month since our last ultrasound. That's not to say that she's grown impudent and saucy, rather she's developed the most precious chubby cheeks! Evident by yesterday's ultrasound picture...

Explanation: You're looking straight at her face. The top of her nose/brow bone is bright whit and the black socket is her left eye. You can see the roundness of those cheeks and see her right arm and hand up near her chin.

In previous ultrasound images, my doctor has always managed to capture the same shot--looking directly at Rapunzel's face. In every single image, she closely resembled, I'm sorry to say, an alien. But now, she is "rounding out" those cheeks and looks more and more awesomely cute. She is just over two pounds now and is lengthening out around 15 inches!

In celebration of making it past viability and inching ever so closely to full term, Clarke and I began shopping for something other than completely adorable clothes. In the past week, we purchased the following items...

Graco Snugride 35 Racer

Fischer Price Space Saver High Chair

Fischer Price Snugabunny Swing

and Aden + Anais Muslin Swaddle Blankets

(which Clarke is just now finding out about as he reads this post...)

This weekend we will joyfully usher in autumn AND 28 weeks pregnant--which is another huge milestone!

That leaves only about 9 more weeks to shop! Eeep!

Conflicted

2011-09-19T10:07:00.000-06:00

Sometimes teaching your kids real-world consequences is as painful for them as it is for you.

This morning as I stood in my pajamas and flip flops, shivering slightly in my driveway, as I watched my backpack clad 5-year old walking toward the corner bus stop where a handful of other children were waiting, I was overwhelmed with a sense of anxiety and seriously questioning our decision, as Brock's parents, to make him ride the bus to school today. I was conflicted.

After an incident on the bus last Thursday that landed Brock his very first bus citation and the label of "bully" by his bus driver, I was determined to drive him to and from school for the remainder of the year, per my 5-year-old's desperate request last week following the citation. To be fair, Brock was not being a bully on the bus as we were led to believe by the message the bus driver left on Clarke's phone (let's not get into the discussion about why I hadn't been called first...I dealt with the school district about that one already). Our kindergartner was one of three children cited that day for bad behavior after Brock tried to defend a child who was being taunted by one of Brock's classmates. For the record. Brock twisted one arm, but was kicked twice by two different children, and one of those kicks was to his head. We're proud of Brock for being courageous enough to stand up for another child, but we do not advocate hurting another child, so Brock was in the wrong on that count. And we're dealing with that behavior.

Although Clarke and I are still uncomfortable with how the situation was handled, we also recognize the importance of allowing Brock the "real world" consequence of disobeying the rules. If he learns these difficult lessons now, it is our hope that he'll understand the vital importance of action and consequence and will avoid much harsher punishments for inappropriate behavior when he's older.

Today was a hard lesson for Brock to learn and for me to impose, but we're ultimately doing him a huge favor and giving him a great advantage. My first instinct this morning was to play the role of "mommy hero" and remedy Brock's discomfort following his citation by driving him to school, but sometimes doing the hard thing is also doing the right thing. And that is being a good parent.

"I'll be right back, mom."

2011-09-17T10:25:00.000-06:00

Brock was watching a cartoon on Netflix and I was busying myself in the kitchen. It was Thursday evening and outside the wind had picked up and ushered in a bevy of charcoal colored clouds. We were in for an exciting storm! Brock was semi-engrossed in the cartoon playing on the screen before him, however. I noticed that he continued to glance, worriedly, out the windows at the ensuing chaos that Mother Nature was unleashing on our backyard. Then he slid off the computer stool, and with a sly and challenging glance said, "I'll be right back, mom." He slowly walked towards his bedroom, all the time watching me, as though he was up to something menacing. And I knew something was up.

Minutes later, he bounded happily back into the room and took up his seat before the computer. Smiling.

"What did you do?" I asked, nonchalantly.

Still grinning, Brock replied, "I just said a prayer that Heavenly Father would protect us from the storm."

Then, turning around, he continued to watch his cartoon without a care in the world.

I'm so in love with that kid! He does his momma proud.

Ninety-Nine!!!

2011-09-10T13:25:00.000-06:00

We made it to the double digits, at last, in our countdown to baby!

Today marks 99 days until our baby's official due date: Dec. 18th!

We won't make it another 99 days, but we're hoping for 80 days. At least!

And...

We've also made it to VIABILITY!

Our baby now has a 50% chance of NICU survival if she is born!

If we can make it to 28 weeks pregnant, she'll have a 75% chance of NICU survival!!

We're still shooting for full term: 37 weeks pregnant.

And...

Last week, in honor of game day, Clarke took a belly pic.

25 weeks pregnant...

Here's to another 80 days of pregnancy!

Bruiser

2011-09-09T16:32:00.000-06:00

Inevitable?

This is what happens the night before school picture day for Brock...

Thanks to his bike and a dirt hill at the bmx park!

Oatmeal Cookies at 9:07pm

2011-09-08T21:21:00.001-06:00

I always thought it was such a farce to watch a movie in which a pregnant woman is hit by a middle-of-the-night craving for a sandwich or watermelon and her poor, sleepy-eyed husband would graciously tumble out of bed, scramble for his shoes and make his way to the nearest 24-hour grocery store.

After all, that never happens.

At midnight.

But at 9:07pm.....yeah, that can happen.

Tonight, baby Rapunzel wants cookies. NOW! No, not now. Like 10 minutes ago.

And not that store-bought crap. Homemade cookies.

And not Clarke's homemade cookies (sorry hon), but oatmeal cookies with (gasp) walnuts.

So instead of playing the role of the helpless preggo who is so hungry that she can't get out of bed to make her own sandwich, I am playing the role of the preggo who conquers her insatiable cravings by ravenously scouring the internet for the perfect cookie recipe, tearing through the pantry and in record time collecting all the necessary ingredients and expertly whipping up a batch of creamy cookie dough.

But there's a catch. There's always a catch.

I didn't read the recipe very well because when I got to the part that the dough needed an hour to chill, I almost sat down on my kitchen floor and cried. In abject desperation, I tossed the cookie dough into the freezer, hoping to cheat the "chill" time because there is no absolutely way I am going to make it to 10pm unless it's with a cookie in each hand.

And a glass of milk close by.

I believe they call this being a good mother (and not a crazed preggo with a mad craving for sugar!)

Mission Accomplished?

2011-08-31T08:54:00.000-06:00

I suppose you could say that I have a love/hate relationship with Brock's staunch independence.

I love that I don't have to hold his hand through everything.

And I hate that I don't get to hold his hand through everything.

He is, after all, my only little boy.

Today, he wanted to ride the bus to school.

As he curiously and confidently stepped up onto the bus,

I was left standing on the street corner watching as the bus doors closed and

drove away with my heart on board.

For several minutes after the bus had left our street, I stood there,

keys and purse in hand, ready to jump in my car and meet the bus at school,

just to make sure that Brock had made it safely.

But, sometimes you just have to trust you've taught your child everything

he needs to know and he'll be okay. Without you.

For the next 7 hours. At least.

Tears and Cheers

2011-08-25T10:25:00.001-06:00

"I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry."

"Don't you dare cry," my tough sub-conscience challenged.

Clarke parked the car and our little family of three (and a half) exited onto the grounds of Brock's elementary school, now crawling with backpack clad students and parents alike; the mayhem of the first day of the school year alive and thriving.

We walked Brock to his kindergarten class, where his name was posted by the door on a bright red apple and he posed for the inevitable picture that was the whole reason for me carrying my camera with us this morning.

We gave him the pep talk about smiling and being friendly and listening; all of which most likely fell on deaf ears as Brock anxiously searched the faces of the hundreds of kids hurrying past us and onto the playground. With a nod from his teacher, Mrs. Hubbard, Brock gave us a quick wave and a nonchalant, "Bye mom!" as he went sprinting in the direction of the playground.

Shrugging and mercifully tearless, Clarke and I walked back through the crowd of children and parents to where our car was parked and began the short drive back home.

"It's kind of sad," Clarke began.

And that's when it happened. The sudden and insatiable urge to quickly put on my sunglasses just in case a pregnancy-induced tear began to well up in my eye and run down my cheek.

Gotta save face in front of the hubs, after all.

Fortunately, we made it home, still tearless, but I did have to swallow down the lump in my throat when Clarke commented that he wished Brock was still a baby and that our boy grew up too fast.

"Don't you dare cry," the voice repeated in my head. And I didn't.

Instead, we have a lot to cheer about!

First of all, here is to embarking on new adventures...

to meeting new friends...

to wearing new clothes and new shoes...

and finding silly new ways to fashion a backpack.

Here is to growing up...

but not growing up too fast.

Here is to teaching kindergarten the subtle art of the ninja...

to teaching mom and dad that you'll be okay for the

6 hours and 25 minutes you won't be home today...

and for also teaching your mom and dad that you're an amazing kid!

We absolutely adore our kindergartner and look forward to

sharing in his kindergarten adventures this year!

Rapunzel

2011-08-18T20:03:00.001-06:00

Turns out, we are still seeing pink this pregnancy!

A second ultrasound today confirmed that the little creature currently beating up my uterus is all girl.

And we couldn't be happier!!

Most importantly, however, our baby is healthy.

(insert a huge sigh of relief here)

My doctor waived off all talk of a due date because she believes I will not carry this baby to December 18th; most women who are diagnosed with incompetent cervix do not carry their babies to their due date! Remember, labor and deliver is just one stitch away and when that stitch (cerclage) is removed, probably around Thanksgiving, my body will undoubtedly do it's best to evict our little lady as soon as possible. So, we're hoping for an early December due date (around 37 or 38 weeks)

And of course, our little Miss has a top secret name that we will not reveal until she is born!

In the meantime, we're playfully calling her "Rapunzel" because if heartburn is any indication of how much hair she will have at birth, then she should come into this world plump, screaming and proceeded by enough hair to wrap around the delivery room twice!!

Lions and Tigers...and Cougars?

2011-08-11T11:42:00.000-06:00

Part I: Lions &Tigers

Last week we celebrated my nephew's birthday with a trip to Zoo Boise!

When I was young, Zoo Boise was a haven to local wild life: bears, elk, and deer. Perhaps a few birds, some monkeys and a giraffe or two. It was an okay zoo.

Zoo Boise has gotten so much better! Now we have lions and tigers, giraffes, zebras, hyenas, penguins and even a Komodo Dragon. I love that a trip to the zoo is a more exciting, educational and enriching experience for children today than it was when I was young.
Here's our zoo excursion in photos...

BFFs: Brock & Jamin

My *favoritest* picture of the day: Brock, Jamin & Travis

Perhaps one day Zoo Boise will feature real elephants...

Birthday boy Travis!

Safari Bound: Brock & Jamin

Neicie-poos: Libby. Sharing toast with Aunt Coco

Jamin, Brock, Travis & Penguin

Jamin feeding Llamas

The sign read: Do not play on penguins.
Rebel Brock, breaking the rules...

Libby had a wonderful time breaking that rule too!

It won't be much longer that these two can slide together.

Llamas? Yup, still a "countryish" zoo...

Brock loved feeding the llamas for about 9 seconds. And then he lost interest.

The butterfly house delighted everyone. Except for Travis, who was petrified!

Butterflies were landing all over us! Brock's hat became a favorite landing spot!

A very hallowed moment for Brock and Jamin.
A real dragon.
A Komodo dragon.

This was Brock's sole excitement for our trip to the zoo. He's fascinated with Komodo dragons.

A not-so-real Komodo dragon...

Let's see, who makes the best baby bird? The one who is nesting or the one who is ready to flee?

The merry-go-round was the pinnacle of zoo fun for the kids!
And a great way to end our visit to the zoo.

Part II: ....and Cougars?

I'm of the mindset that dangerous animals should be kept caged at the zoo or live in their natural habitat.
Aren't you?
The desert, for example, is a natural habitat for foxes and coyotes. Should we spot a desert creature wandering about our area, we hardly think twice about it. But this week my perspective was shaken when a mountain lion (also called a cougar) was spotted within a mile of my house and then chased to within 1/2 a mile of my neighborhood. A MOUNTAIN lion has no business hanging about in a DESERT, let alone rural neighborhoods. How did it get here? Where is it now? For two days, the media and fish and game officials tracked it to and through my neighborhood. Literally MY NEIGHBORHOOD. Police officers were knocking on doors and notifying people out and about that there was a dangerous animal on the loose and to be vigilant.
Lock up your children and your pets, they advised.
Be on the lookout!
And then a second cougar was spotted, presumably, in my neighborhood. The media went wild with their "cougars on the loose" update. However, they later retracted that update and settled on the initial report of only one cougar stalking the neighborhood. And when police lost sight of the animal, the media lost interest and not a word has been reported on the cougar since Tuesday night.

So now, we're left wondering (and worrying) where is the cougar now?

A Birthday. A Belly. A Bike.

2011-08-08T10:04:00.000-06:00

Last week, Clarke celebrated his 30-somethingish birthday.

We kicked off the celebration on Saturday with an amazing lunch at Tucanos.

(And when you're pregnant and carnivorous, Tucanos is like a trip to foodie heaven.)

On Sunday morning, we cozied up to a big country breakfast at the Cracker Barrel before heading out to Veteran's park to walk along, and play in, the river.

After the river, as the temperature soared above 90 degrees, we headed home for a relaxing afternoon of movies on Clarke's new Blu-Ray player and napping off a busy morning in the air conditioned comfort of our house. The boys went swimming after their movie and arrived home just in time for birthday visitors, a dinner of bbq'd ribs & veggies and, of course, German chocolate birthday cake with coconut icing and Bunny Tracks ice cream.

Last week, we hit the 20 week mark in our pregnancy.

Many people would probably just shrug helplessly with a wan smile or pat you on the back with a "gee, that's great." if you were to tell them that you were blessedly 20 weeks pregnant. For us, 20 weeks indicates a HUGE milestone. We lost our Amelia at 19 weeks, so passing that anniversary (of sorts) is a big deal as we held our breaths through week 19 of this pregnancy. If we're very fortunate and heaven smiles down on us, then it's our hope to make it another 17-18 uneventful weeks until we can welcome a living and beautiful, baby girl See into our family.

We've also chosen a name, but here's the thing....

It's a SECRET!!

We'll announce our baby's name after she's born!

Here is my lumpyish, 20 week belly...

Bike riding without training wheels rocks!

It's often been observed that Brock is something of daredevil. He's fearless when it comes to nearly everything...except riding a bike without training wheels. Even encouraging him to ride a bike with training wheels took a lot of time and patience on our part. As soon as he mastered the training wheels, he thought he had it made. Until we went cold turkey on our boy and took the training wheels off entirely; logically thinking that we would teach him to ride his bike the old-fashioned way. It didn't work and in all of our frustrations, the training wheels found their way back onto Brock's bike.

Finally, we received some great advice from my aunt Diane. She suggested taking just one training wheel off and manipulating the remaining training wheel so that it didn't fully touch the ground. Amidst Brock's childish protests, Clarke took off one training wheel and walked around the neighborhood with Brock until he caught onto the concept of balancing himself on the bike. By that evening, he was all smiles as he went sailing up and down the road on his bike with the one training wheel.

Brock's bike posse...

On Sunday morning, Clarke took Brock on a bike ride and halfway back home, Clarke and Brock both noticed how mangled Brock's remaining training wheel had become. They stopped and Clarke removed the training wheel; Brock promptly spotted a trash can and threw the training wheel away, only afterward realizing that he had to ride his bike home without the training wheel. So, he did. He RODE HIS BIKE HOME WITHOUT TRAINING WHEELS!! And then he raced his bike up and down our road to "show mommy" his new trick.

We are so proud of Brock!

The Scourge of Public Education!

2011-08-01T11:20:00.005-06:00

In 25 or 26 days, Brock will be a kindergartner, in public school. His first day of kindergarten depends entirely on which schedule I can arrange for him. This has come to be known as Plan C.

Plan A: As a first time mom, I was confident that Brock would be accepted into the local charter school, the only country alternative to public school, not to mention being the only school within walking distance of our home. Imagine my disappointment and dread when the rejection letter arrived to let me know that Brock had been wait-listed and would have to begin his educational career in public school.

Plan B: In an effort to make lemonade of lemons, I registered Brock for 1/2 day kindergarten, understanding that I would have to provide the transportation to and from school. Local 1st grade teachers agreed that children who attended 1/2 day kindergarten performed much better in 1st grade than the children who were volleyed between the infamous A or B, full-day schedule. And why wouldn't I want the best possible choice for Brock? So, together with other moms from our neighborhood, we formed a car pool for our 1/2 day kindergartners and even though Brock would not be attending the charter school, I felt at peace this new arrangement and waited with apprehension to hear from the school district about Brock's 5-day a week, 1/2 day schedule.

Plan C: To be fair, there never was a "Plan C." Like a poltergeist, it materialized on it's own to terrorize parents of kindergartners with it's promise of an A or B schedule and quashing the hopes of 1/2 day kindergarten altogether. The district had decided to discontinue 1/2 day kindergarten WITHOUT notifying the parents who had registered for that schedule. Typical behavior of public education, I hear. Brock was assigned to Schedule B, which translates to a few days this week, and maybe a few the next, equating to about 10 measly days of kindergarten a month, with the first day of school falling on a flippin' Friday! What the crap??? Such a flippant schedule is no better than preschool and the inconsistency is a huge disservice to 5-years old children throughout the district. I suspect that many families, like my own, will have to resort home school kindergarten on off days to COMPENSATE for the school district's incompetency! Don't get me started on tax paying families, like ours. I think every tax payer is entitled to a complete itemized list about how the district is spending OUR money. Clearly, it's not on our kids or the teachers.

And so on Friday, August 26th Brock begins his first day of school. On a Friday, for crying out loud! Sans orientation, my son will be expected to show up at a school he is entirely unfamiliar with and walk into a classroom of children, in like circumstances, and expected to listen to and obey a teacher he has never met; a stranger essentially. His backpack will carry a bevy of un-labeled supplies that will fall prey to the communal kitty as part of public school's homage to supply socialism and he'll become one of millions of "sheep" preparing to be herded through the scourge that is pubic education.

Conclusion
On what should be the first day of a very exciting, kindergarten adventure, I'll be one of many local parents gritting my teeth and proverbially shaking my fist at a tax-payer funded, public education system that is set up to fail our children before they even step in the classroom.

Never has home school looked so tempting.
But I'm not at that point. Yet.

It's a girl?!

2011-07-21T18:40:00.001-06:00

As I lay on the table at the doctor's office with the cold, blue ultrasound goo pooling on my swollen abdomen, I almost shot Clarke a knowing and mischievous wink because in a matter of seconds we were about to find out that I had won our gender bet.

The doctor began moving the ultrasound wand across my belly and the baby appeared on the black and white screen, as did the one liter of orange juice I had consumed the previous hour and tried to hold in, even resorting to the infamous little girl pee pee dance while waiting our turn for the ultrasound room. After all a full bladder = optimal baby gender shots!

In spite of the copious amounts of sugar I had ingested to help "wake" up baby, there he lay, peacefully exercising his mouth while he slept. SLEPT. Awwww. My son.

Thankfully, our baby was sleeping with his legs wide open and there we saw it...

...or rather didn't see........

a penis.

"This looks like a baby girl," the doctor announced.

She was pointing to the lack of boy parts on the black and white image swimming on the screen just to the right of my belly.

Hmmmm...there must be something wrong with the machine...

The doctor admittedly did a thorough exam of the area in question and determined that she was 95% certain that we were expecting a girl.

A GIRL?

A GIRL.

A GIRL!

Clarke was very diplomatic not to sneer or crow about his victory as lesser human beings might do.

Namely, myself.

Instead, he was smiling ear to ear like a proud daddy and I couldn't help but concede the bet and smile myself, because this means that I will have a son and a daughter. One of each.

Aside from our healthy baby sleeping off the orange juice sugar high, everything else checked out great. Translation; the cerclage is holding beautifully and my doctor is fully confident that my body can sustain this pregnancy to (or near to) full term!!! Unless, of course, it doesn't. But let's pray on the glass is half full approach and plan for another December birthday for our little family.

A girl.....we're having a girl...pink and stuff, right?

Time to shop, I think.

Nine

2011-07-20T12:09:00.000-06:00

Nine years ago, on the afternoon of July 20, 2002, Clarke and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the Boise, Idaho LDS Temple.

Today, we celebrate our ninth anniversary in the style of 98.937% of all married couples: going out to dinner. Grappling with the inevitable question of where to dine has occupied our thoughts, conversations and research. Yes, sadly, even researching the hot spots to eat in the valley has appeared in our recent Google search history.

As a result of our indecisiveness, we are relying on planned spontaneity. Clever, eh?

Last night we scribbled the name of five or so restaurants in the valley and we're going to put them into a hat. Then, as we're pulling away from home tonight for our anniversary celebration, we'll pull the name of a restaurant out of a hat and that is where we'll eat!

If we have any energy left after dinner, perhaps we'll make it to the movie theater or home to watch Netflix and probably fall asleep on the couch.

Do we know how to capitalize on romance or what??

I love you my Clarke. Thanks for being such a superhero husband!

Update on Mom & Baby: An Interview with Myself

2011-07-13T11:25:00.000-06:00

It's a tremendous blessing to know that so many people are thinking about and praying for our family. As you can imagine, we are bombarded with the same questions from caring friends and family on a daily basis and those inquiries have prompted me to create a little Q&A questionnaire to answer your questions.

How are you doing?

I am doing great; kicking back and enjoying the second trimester euphoria, free from morning sickness of the first trimester and the promised aches and pains of the third trimester.

My only redeeming symptom is insomnia and if it weren't for Unisom, I probably wouldn't sleep at all.

This past week, I began feeling the baby move, which is the BEST feeling in the whole world!

How is the baby?

Baby is awesome. Very healthy heartbeat!

Pink or Blue?

We get this question quite often and we don't know what color to paint the nursery. Yet.

If we're lucky, and our baby is embarrassingly immodest, we may find out at next week's appointment.

Clarke says girl. I say boy. Brock says boy but calls the baby "she."

Regardless, we will be thrilled with either a son or a daughter.

How far along are you?

We are 17 weeks and change, or 4 months. The baby's due date is on or around December 18th-20th. Most likely, we will not make it to the third week in December. Our first goal is to make it to 24 weeks, or NICU viability. Naturally, we want to maintain this pregnancy for as long as possible, but should something happen that would result in an early delivery, we hope it is after 24 weeks.

Our next goal is 33 weeks, when the baby's lungs are mature. And finally, making it to full term, or 37 weeks is our ultimate goal.

Are you worried?

Absolutely. We are less than two weeks from the time during pregnancy when we lost Amelia. The anxiety of facing another catastrophic loss has kept me up nights and the reality that these things can happen a second time has really dampened the excitement of this pregnancy. Frankly, it sucks not to show any enthusiasm for this baby and go crazy shopping and planning, but we're cautious. And rightly so. However, this is a different pregnancy and precautions have already been taken to prevent a second loss. All we can do is hope and pray and obey the rules.

What can friends and family do to help?

Should something happen, like another round of bed rest, no fewer than 98 people have made me promise to call them right away so that they can step in and "help." Our support system is incredible!

Right now, we're doing great and don't need a lot of help. Clarke, in his amazingness, has taken on much of the heavy housework, including laundry, frequently offers to make dinner and clean up afterward and is always active outdoors with Brock. I'm most astonished with Brock and his willingness to help out "momma" whenever he recognizes the opportunity. For example, I have been directed by my doctor to refrain from lifting anything heavier than a purse. Brock is quick to point out when something might be heavier than a purse and he loves to be the muscles around home when daddy is at work. When we grocery shop, Brock likes to push the cart and bag the groceries, in addition to unloading the car when we get home. One day he caught me trying to make my bed and my chastised me for "overdoing" it and offered to help. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE my boy to pieces! He is a fantastic helper!

If you really want to help, just keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We are big believers in the immense power of prayer and are so appreciative for all those prayers being sent Heavenward on our behalf.

What about our plans to adopt?

When you're an adoptive client of LDSFS, you are required to report a pregnancy and your profile is suspended for the duration of your pregnancy. This is perfectly fine with us. You'll notice if you go searching for our profile on itsaboutlove.org, our profile is no longer available. Given our unique and high risk circumstances, LDSFS has agreed to postpone our home study renewal (expired last month) until September, by which time we have to make the choice to renew or not; depending entirely up on our pregnancy. Best scenario is that we do not need to renew and have a healthy, biological baby to bring home this December. Nevertheless, we are not opposed to consider adoption in the future. Friends of ours just adopted a sibling group of three young children and we are over-the-moon happy for them; inspired that one day we may be able to offer our home and family to adoptive children in like circumstances.

We will continue to update everyone as the pregnancy progresses.

Hopefully, we'll have gender news next week!

Fireworks and Stuff

2011-07-08T17:01:00.000-06:00

The "4th" was a CRAZY day for our little family. It involved a swimming pool, chocolate dipped strawberries, two bikes, one sunburn, an overprice bag of beef jerky, a very long drive, one bottle of syrup, couch cushions, fireworks and the scare of police lights. Intrigued?

We spent the weekend in Washington at a family reunion and drove home in the afternoon heat on July 4th, sleepy, sunburned and racing the clock to arrive home before dark. We had just enough time to empty our car trunk before loading up Clarke's pick-up and heading out to Melba, a small Idaho town of no consequence, except on the Fourth of July, when the town boasts a spectacular fireworks display.

My brother and his family joined us along a lonely stretch of country road just outside the town to park beside a field and wait for the show to begin. Clarke and Scotty backed their trucks up towards one another so that the kids could play between the two truck beds and the adults could talk. It was a relaxing way to spend the hour and a half wait. In the meantime our lonely country road grew more and more populous with cars and people and on that night you'd never suspect Melba to be a sleepy town as it was alive with crowds and excitement.

Jamin:

Brock:

Alison & Trav

Travis:

Scotty:

Clarke:

Libby:

Relaxing, after an exhaustingly long summer's day, in the back of the truck with blankets and couch cushions was the perfect way to cozy up for the fireworks. As soon as it was dark enough, they started to glitter in the dark sky overhead...

By the time the last embers were falling from the grand finale spectacular, we were more than anxious to hurry to the comfort of our air conditioning and the welcome reprieve of sleep. Our anticipation to get home as quickly as possible was hampered by the miles of break lights that wound their way up every road leading out of pokey, little Melba. We slowly snailed along the country roads while Brock recounted the excitement of the evening and waved around his red, white and blue glow stick. Apparently, there is a setting on the glow stick that makes it look like police car lights and one glance in the rear view mirror sent Clarke swerving to the side of the road in a panic. Fortunately, Clarke quickly realized that it was just the glow stick radiating the flashing lights. Unfortunately for Brock, Clarke quickly realized that it was just the glow stick radiating flashing lights. One tongue lashing and a long, quiet drive later we were all ready to retire July 4th, 2011 once and for all.

Blowing This Popsicle Stand!

2011-06-22T17:19:00.000-06:00

Today I received the long-awaited green light to return to a paler shade of normal; which translates to light cleaning, cooking, leaving the house, driving and best of all, shopping! Even grocery shopping holds greater appeal for me now; although, I'm sure the thrill of a weekly trip to the store for eggs and milk and popsicles will quickly grow dull.

The baby looks fantastic. Yay! HIS heartbeat is awesomely strong, although if you ask Clarke about it, he'll tell you that HER heartbeat is awesomely strong. No, we don't know if this baby is pink or blue yet and have a few more weeks to wait and wonder.

As a reward to myself for having braved and been *almost* completely obedient to the rules of bedrest, I splurged on an Old Navy maternity tee and some new mascara. Do I know how to reward myself or what? I probably deserve some ice cream too. And maybe a trip to Hawaii. And post-partum liposuction.

5:21 a.m.

2011-06-21T10:23:00.000-06:00

It's 5:20 a.m. on a Tuesday morning. The neighborhood is queit. All is dark and cool and peaceful in the See home; everyone is asleep.

It's 5:21 a.m. on a Tuesday morning. The 55-year old neighbor cranks the ignition of his LOUD motorcycle and revs the engine for a full 5 minutes. The sound reverberates throughout the neighborhood. Our floors tremble.

It's 5:22 a.m. on a Tuesday morning. Brock fitfully wanders through the house until he finds his way to mommy's bedside and declares that it is too noise and he cannot sleep.

It's 5:22 a.m. on a Tuesday morning and mommy is leading a sleepy Brock back to cool of his bedroom, to the hum of his white noise machine. She tucks him back into bed and puts her hands over his ears so that he can fall back to sleep.

It's 5:26 a.m. on a Tuesday morning and the neighbor finally points his motorcycle in the direction of work and finally guides his machine out of the neighborhood.

It's 5:27 a.m on a Tuesday morning and the nieghborhood is once again quiet. Brock has turned to his side and falls quickly back to sleep.

It's 5:28 a.m. on a Tuesday morning and mommy is wide awake and unable to fall asleep.

And to think, we get to do this routine FIVE days a week, thanks to a very rude neighbor and his blasted motorcycle! *GROAN*

PSA

2011-06-19T11:13:00.002-06:00

I am releasing this PSA as a courtesy to all our readers to inform you that the title of

'World's Best Dad'

has, for the 6th consecutive year, been awarded to Clarke See.

Mr. See embodies all the qualities of an amazing father. He is handsome, athletic, playful, teasing, silly, resourceful, handy, talented, and 100% super heroish in the eyes of his 5-year old son. Over the past month, Mr. See has excelled as a father in the following fields: laundry, cooking, cleaning, chauffeuring and bedtime stories.

This year's 'World's Best Dad' award includes lots of hugs and kisses and two giant water guns for use on hot days in the backyard.

Without further ado, I introduce you to this year's

'World's Best Dad'

Surgery=Success

2011-06-16T21:01:00.002-06:00

I couldn't have gotten "stitched up" at a better time as when I was wheeled into the operating room and examined, it was discovered that my I was already dilating! My body was preparing for labor and had we not elected to get the cerclage, we would be weeks, maybe a month or two away from burying another premature baby. This is why pregnancy makes me nervous.

The cerclage procedure took approximately 11 minutes from start to finish, and was only a teeny tiny fraction of our 11 hour hospital stay. After meeting with the anesthesiologist, I was given my choice of sedation methods and chose a spinal block over general anesthesia because it is allegedly better for the baby. The doctor interpreted this as "Give the patient enough juice to tranq an elephant" because after the horrifying and excruciating painful needle entered my spine, I couldn't feel a thing below my rib cage for the next 8 1/2 hours! The anesthesiologist also added enough happy juice to my i.v. to keep me smiling through the whole procedure. Before they wheeled me from favorite operating table to recovery, the nurses wrapped me in dozens of warm blankets; my "cocoon" as they affectionately called it, and wheeled me into a quite little place called recovery.

After two hours of awkwardly staring at the ceiling in recovery, the nurses finally gave up on my legs regaining feeling and sent me to my room to "denumb." Clarke met me in my room with a relieved smile and a "hey baby." We waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited and waited while Clarke's iTouch and my Nook exhausted their battery power in an attempt to keep us entertained. Finally we had to turn to TV to occupy our time and chose "Extreme Couponing" on TLC. For three hours. And all I can say about that show is that those women are FREAKS! Who needs 400 cans of dog food and 300 bottles of Powerarde anyway?

Finally, I could wiggle my toes and we were able to go home, armed with pain pills and a little more hope than when we had arrived at the hospital that morning.

Recovery consists of: bed rest for another week, meds that make me sleepy, pain in my unmentionables and the hope that the stitch will make all the difference so we can bring home a little brother or sister for Brock this Christmas.

A huge thank you for all your thoughts and prayers! They worked.

An Update....with pictures!

2011-06-11T18:32:00.000-06:00

Television, books, napping and altogether circumstantial laziness are exhaustingly time consuming!
Which leaves little to no time (or let's face it desire) to play online or to update our blog. Especially considering that one must peruse and blog while laying down and precariously balancing the laptop on her knees and navigating with the mouse tucked snugly between her hand and the couch cushions. See what I mean?

But, inquiring minds want to know what's the news with the Sees. So, here's another rare, but brilliant, blog post from the (dis)comfort of our overstuffed living room couch...

Brock....
Conspiring to launder his collection of camo clothing takes stealth and cunning; a daring feat which usually occurs while our little soldier is saving the world from the safety of a good night's sleep. Brock wears camo every single day of the week, except to church on Sunday (a small concession he grants mom and dad) and it is a very gloomy day for our little towhead if his dresser drawers aren't stocked with clean camo pants, camo shorts, camo underpants, with camo shirts hanging in the closet. On those rare occasions when the camo gear is trapped in the washer, Brock compromises by wearing all black, not in mourning, but because if he can't be a soldier, then the next best thing is a ninja. Duh.

Brock and daddy are one of the same these days. Where you find one, you generally find the other. This past week, they camped in the backyard. In eager anticipation of the event, Brock slept in his sleeping bag every night last week until he and daddy had a "real" campout in the tent in the backyard. Today, they went on a bike ride and then to see Kung Fu Panda 2. Brock had trouble controlling his bike as they rode downhill and Brock, unfortunately, collided with a tree. Thankfully, he was wearing his helmet, but that doesn't mean that he wasn't thoroughly beat up, complete with bloody nose and bruised, bleeding and goose-egged forehead. Our little soldier is tough, though, and hardly let the injury slow him down!
You can't see the bruises very well in this picture, but I have to say that they're rather impressive to see in person...

Clarke....

My workhorse. The poor guy is doing everything around here, grudgingly at times because he's tired or because appreciates how badly it sucks to have to do the dishes everyday--a sentiment I freely share with him. Nevertheless, he keeps propelling himself from one task to the next and refuses my offer of help (not that I could anyway). If he catches me walking around the house, he is strict to point to the couch and say "GO LAY DOWN!" This weekend, he has been installing our new baseboards. A task that, in theory, sounds simple enough, but has turned into quite the project, including reconstructing some the walls and has Clarke muttering something about why we even started this project in the first place. The baseboards, however, look awesome. Of course.
Today, Clarke had a "first" when he gave Brock a haircut, a chore that is exclusively mom's domain. Brock took one look at his very short buzz cut and declared, very sadly, that he didn't like it. Until I told him that it makes him look like a real soldier, then he was all smiles.
Clarke is also headed to St. Louis, or thereabouts, this fall to compete in the National Natural Gas Rodeo after his team took first place in the local IGC Gas Rodeo. He's also plenty busy with scouts. And cooking. And cleaning. And gardening. And parenting. And even scrubbing toilets. What a guy!

Me....

I'm pleased to announce that we are still pregnant, which, given our history, is a remarkable accomplishment. We've only made it this far into pregnancy two times before now, with Brock and Amelia, so our expectations are starting to rise-just a little. A couple weeks ago I purchased a fetal doppler so that in my long hours of pondering, okay, freaking out over whether or not the baby was still living, I could find some reassurance. All I can say is that it is the BEST PURCHASE of this entire pregnancy. Right up there with cherry tomatoes, and those who know my insatiable craving for tomatoes right now can fully appreciate the comparison. Every day, I prod around my belly until I find that rapid thump, thump, thump of Bubsicle's racing heartbeat and then I can relax a little. Sweetest sound ever! At our ultrasound last week, the Bubs was wiggling all over the place and his (or her as Clarke says) heartbeat was (and is) so amazingly strong!

Countdown to surgery: 4 days. I could put on my courageous Wonder Woman face and tell you that surgery will be a real cinch, but I'd be lying because I'm nervous. The benfits of the cerclage far outweigh the risks. The reality is that without the cerclage, the odds of losing this baby in the 2nd trimester are HUGE, probably guaranteed. Surgery will not be painless and will require a few additional days of bed rest, and possibly some vicodin. But, if everything goes well, then this pregnancy has a fighting chance of survival, which is our greatest hope. My doctor has also given me the okay to ditch bed rest following the surgery and return to my previous status of limited activity. I almost hugged my doctor when she said that I could once again go grocery shopping. I mean, really, grocery shopping generally sucks until you're STUCK at home, IN BED, all day every day for weeks. Then the appeal of grocery shopping is akin to winning the lottery!

So, that's what's going on at casa See! Will update more later!

Blogging from Bed

2011-05-27T14:39:00.000-06:00

Well, I've done it...I survived my first full week of bed rest.
The thing about bed rest is that it's not easy and it takes boring to a distrubing new level.
But, if everything works out and we become a family of four this December then all this time spent lazing around on my back wataching Netflix, reading until the words begin to blur and fighting the urge to get up and vaccuum, then this all will have been worth it.

Everyone wants to know how I'm feeling. Truth is, I feel great. In fact, I haven't battled nausea for the last 24 hours which is a welcome break from the last 5 weeks of wrapping my arms around the porcelain throne and begging for mercy. But then, if I think about it, I start to worry. "Where's the nausea?" "Why didn't I lose my lunch yet?" "Is something wrong?" Bed rest gives you way too much time to think about this kind of stuff. So, I bought a fetal doppler today on eBay. It will be here next week.

Next, everyone wants to know how Brock is doing. Aside from battling a little cold this week, he has been doing awesome. A HUGE shout out to Aunt Alison for watching him every day! Brock knows about the pregnancy and he is excited to become a big brother. He thinks the baby is a girl, but he knows that this pregnancy is no gurarntee.

Clarke is the real work horse around here. I'm admittedly wracked with guilt when I see him folding laundry, sweeping and grocery shopping. I think I can handle Clarke doing the dishes indefinitely, though. ;) In addition to tackling all of my daily chores around the house, Clarke is also dominating our garden, one row at a time. We usually work on the garden together, but this year he's flying solo. Oh, and Clarke also works full time and is the do-all parent right now. Clarke = Superman

Thanks to our parents for all your help and our friends and families for your thoughts and prayers!

Surprise: We're Pregnant!

2011-05-20T10:22:00.001-06:00

It was just a joke. Kind of. In an effort to keep up my skills at taking pregnancy tests, I went ahead peed on a stick (POAS for the acronym crowd). The joke was entirely on me, however, when that second pink line appeared. Whoa. Holy Crap in a Hat! Omigosh. This has to be a joke. So I took 20 more tests and guess what: all positive. And that is no joke.

Our latest endeavor is due December 20th.

We're making this announcement 7 weeks prematurely as our original plan was to ambush family and friends with the news on July 4th, but circumstances have gone topsy turvy, as they usually do with a one of our pregnancies.

The good news is that our little gummy bear is perfectly healthy and has a very strong heartbeat. Morning sickness has been blessedly brutal, which is extremely reassuring.

The topsy turvy part is when my doctor prescribed bedrest ysesterday to keep me from miscarrying. I'm supposed to stay in bed for the next 4 weeks until I can go in for surgery next month to stitch me shut and keep the baby "in." If you recall, I had a problem with that when Amelia was born. The hospital won't allow the surgery until I'm 14 weeks pregnant, so that's that.

The reality is that nothing is guaranteed and even with all my restrictions and limitations, I could still miscarry. My doctor commented that if I carry this baby to term (36 weeks), it would be the delivery of the year. And who doesn't want to be the delivery of the year???

A HUGE thank you to family and friends who are keeping us in their prayers, helping out with Brock, my sainted husband who now has to do EVERYTHING around here from gardening, cooking, cleaning, laundry and parenting and to everyone will help us out these next four weeks.

Wicked

2011-05-16T10:25:00.000-06:00

Last Thursday took FOREVER to arrive.

Why?

Because I was harboring the uncontainable excitement of a 5-year old on Christmas Eve.

My mom and I had tickets to see 'Wicked.'

Eeeeee!

We were sitting with 'Wicked' veterans: Kevin, Carisa & Annette. Not only had they already seen the show, but the knew all the words to the music. Whereas, I have to admit that I had never in my life heard the music and was intrigued by the show's hype instead.

The show was AMAZING!!!!

It's based on the book 'Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West' by Gregory Maguire.

Who wouldn't be interested in the prequel to 'The Wizard of Oz?'

When I worked at the library, I saw this book come and go hundreds of times before I finally snatched it off the shelf and gave it a read. It took FOUR attempts to get through the story, which was horribly written and dark and boring. In short, the book is agonizingly awful. Don't read it.

Instead, go see the show!! It's an admission price you won't ever regret!

And then, you come home and purchase the soundtrack through iTunes and make your family listen to it over and over again until everyone can sing along to every song!

Goings On...

2011-05-10T21:43:00.000-06:00

I'm swamped with work which means that after a full day of staring at this computer screen, editing image after image, the very last thing I want to do is spend more time sitting in this very spot, blogging. So, here is the latest scoop on us.

1. Look Ma, no training wheels!
Perhaps it was a happy accident when Brock's training wheels, admittedly on the cheap side, bent into an awkward shape and made riding tricky for our first time biker boy. Instead of working his magic to bend them back into shape, Clarke just removed the training wheels and presented Brock with a big boy's bike. Like a new colt first learning to wobble, Brock is definitely not ready to spin around the neighborhood without daddy clutching firmly to his bike seat. But this is a start...

2. No more football! Yay! Oops, did I just say that out loud?
Ah, the luxury of not rushing off to football practice twice a week and planning our entire Saturday around the weekly game. A mom can get used to this. Brock's team, the Bears, won their very last game of the season last Saturday. Now we can kick back and wait for the madness of next football season...in four months. Gee 4 months, that's all?

3. Did you watch the royal wedding? Why yes, I did. Thank you for asking. Sometimes believing in the fairytale princess and the happy ending is good for the soul. And, yes, I know that she's not really a princess. Actually, what I found most entertaining was the hats. Why don't we Americans have corny traditions like outlandish head gear to one up each other at weddings and social events? Millinery is, sadly, a lost art here in the states.

4. Clarke and I went to see a movie...at the theater. I know, I know....cha-ching. We saw 'Water for Elephants' and it was surprisingly good and not exactly a chic flick. So man up guys. You CAN take your girl to see this movie and not walk out feeling like you "took one for the team."

5. We switched from Dish Network to Direct TV all in the name of college football, and one channel in particular: The Mountain. So far, so good.

6. Guess who is going to see 'Wicked' this week? Me! Yay!

7. Easter looked like this:

8. Mother's Day was great. Clarke made breakfast and he and Brock made me a card and gave me some hanging baskets for the front porch. We had no power at church and had to teach without lights or microphones. Fun times. Dinner was dutch oven at my parent's house, where we sat around and talked for hours while the kids wore themselves out, playing.

9. We planted our tomatoes last week. After months of FREEZING cold temperatures, we were finally able to put down our first plants. Of course, in the process, Clarke was met by a snake! A 20" garter snake. EW. Seriously gross and a guarantee that poor Clarke will have to do ALL the gardening by his lonesome this summer as I refuse to set foot in a garden inhabited by snakes. I shudder to remember that undulating creature taking up residence in my tomato bed. In our eight years in this house we have never seen a snake in our backyard. Never! Is there such thing as snake repellent?

10. Our kitchen. You're anxious for an update with pictures, right? Sorry to disappoint. In our busy-ness, we haven't worked on our house at all. We're still baseboard-less, the painting is not yet finished, the cabinets are still builder-grade brown, Clarke still has one itty bitty plank to complete the flooring and there are probably a million and one other tasks to complete before it's done. Sigh. Perhaps by summer?

So, that's about it for us.

Busted...TWICE!

2011-04-22T22:22:00.001-06:00

~~~~Part I~~~~

Tonight's senior photo shoot was amazing. The lighting was awesome! The senior was gorgeous! My pictures are BEEEEEEAUTIFUL! We started at a new location that I stumbled across last week that includes an open field, a foot bridge over a raging creek, train tracks and split rail fences. We finished up our session at a weathered and abandoned home, popular with photographers. And that, folks, is where my story starts.

We pulled into the overgrown, dirt driveway of the abandoned house, exited our vehicles and I posed the senior on the rickety steps leading to the boarded up front door. As I'm positioning my camera, from the side of my eye, I notice something running towards me. It's not a something, but a someone and the look on his face told me that he was trouble.

"This is private property!" he shouts.

I shrugged, looked around and then asked where the private property sign was located.

He told me that there was no sign.

Uh-huh.

Then, he muttered something about how photographers are always using this house.

I replied with a compliment about the great texture of the walls and explained exactly what we were doing and where we would be shooting.

Grumpily, he told me that I could have at least asked permission.

Really? On an abandoned property that is not marked as private?

And then to whom may we ask this required permission as that information has not been posted either.

Then he admits that he doesn't even own the property.

Seriously?

It belongs to his mother.

Unh!

So, I casually asked if we could use the house for some pictures and he said yes.

But it wasn't a nice "yes." It was the "yes" of a bully on a power trip.

Feeling just a little defeated, I proceeded with my photo shoot, taking my sweet time, as he watched on from a distance. Truth be told, it really is a great location, but if it was properly marked as "private property," then you can bet that photographers would respect the signage and find a different location.

I left that abandoned unmarked "private property," seething.

~~~~Part II~~~~

Just because I was fuming about a bully, doesn't mean that I was driving like a maniac.

Because I wasn't.

I was just a mom on her way to pick up her little boy from his nanay's house.

However, when that cop car pulled out behind me, I was hit with a sudden premonition of a flashing lights. As the cop car began following me through town, I was diligent to go BELOW the speed limit. Mentally, I began rattling off a list: registration, check. Insurance, check. License, check.

Then it happened. The lights began to flash.

"Really? I mean, really?" And that is the exact line of thought that was playing in my head as I pulled over to the side of the road and the cop car followed suit.

Flippant, and somewhat irritated, I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel as the cop began approaching my side of the car.

"Good evening," he started, as though we were friendly strangers passing one another in a park full of families. "Not especially, officer," I wanted to respond, but didn't.

Instead, I sighed. Yes, I SIGHED out loud and said, "what's the problem, officer?"

Because, let's face it, tonight was not turning out to be one of the five favorite nights in my life.

"Did you know," he began,

(and I pause here to give you time to sit down because this next part is a doozy. I promise! And you'll want to be sitting down to keep yourself from falling over LAUGHING!!!)

"that the current registration sticker on your license plate is not completely covering up the previous year's sticker."

(go ahead, laugh.)

I KID YOU NOT! THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT HE SAID.

I mean, how do you respond to something like that???

My response was classic: "Oh. Hmmm.."

In my mind, I was thinking, "So? You pull me over on a Friday night for something that isn't even against the law?"

And it's true. It's not against the law for your current year's registration sticker to not entirely cover the previous year's. Even the cop admitted it wasn't a law.

He then gives me the standard police schpill about my license, registration and insurance.

At this point, I'm *almost* laughing, because, hello, this is the STUPIDEST thing on the planet to get pulled over for!!! But that's immediately followed by a feeling of dread and wonder because I really don't think I could handle getting ticketed tonight....for this.

By this time, my hands are shaking because I'm nervous. I sloppily dig through my glove box and present the requested documents to which the officer responds that he'll return them in a few minutes and he walks back towards his car.

I bite my lip and watch him in my rear view mirror.

Then, I clean out my glove box.

Check my text messages.

Count the clouds in the sky.

Reflect on how much I have to pee.

Flip through the radio stations.

And FIFTEEN minutes later, the cop is still in his car with my stuff.

And this is where the story gets even more ridiculous...

A second cop car shows up and parks right behind the first cop car.

Now, I've seen this protocol on the side of the road for what I can only assume will be the gallant arrest of a most wanted felon, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that a law abiding MOM would deserve such notoriety in a small town on a Friday night. Or anywhere, ever, for that matter!

Admittedly, I'm freaking out now. FREAKING OUT.

WHAT.THE.CRAP?????

This can't be good, right?

The cops converse for a few minutes and then my officer turns towards my car and starts walking.

I swallow down the lump in my throat and take a deep breath as he returns to my open window.

He hands me my information and reminds me to makes sure that next year's sticker entirely covers this year's registration sticker and then he sends me off with "have a good evening"

Have a good evening?

Are you kidding me? I mean, REALLY, are you kidding me?

I just went through a TORTUROUS and humiliating twenty minutes on the side of the road for something that isn't even against the law? And deserved a second cop? For what? As backup??

In case I ran for it?

And hello: NO ticket because you can't get ticketed for something that isn't even against the law!

Seriously? Is it idiot's night out???

So, I got busted twice on a Friday night!

Do I know how to live it up in a small town or what???

Easter Eggs

2011-04-20T17:10:00.000-06:00

When I was a little girl, my mom and my grandmother would make German Easter eggs. My grandmother's warm kitchen would smell of used coffee grounds and vinegar and the browned eggs with their delicate lace leaf pattern were the centerpiece of our Easter tradition.

My traditions don't include German Easter eggs (maybe someday). For now, it's all about the artificial colors around here.

This year, I found a Easter egg-coloring deal-io and decided to give it a try because it looked like this:

and, let's face it, anything touting the glories of camo are heartily embraced by a certain 5-year old I know.

The colors advertised were: army green, army brown, girly camo purple, hunter orange, teal (c'mon is that really a camo color???) and pink. Yes, pink. Probably to satisfy little sisters of camo aficionados. However, Brock insisted that pink is for the moms. Love that boy!

While we waited for the color tablets to dissolve in vinegar, Brock went absolutely silly with the hard boiled eggs.

Then, without fanfare or ceremony, we plopped the virgin eggs into the cups of color and waited.

And waited.

Then Meh.

The colored eggs resulted in an odd combination of camouflage and spring. Not exactly what the box advertised. But then, their one half-sheet of camo stickers hardly filled half of one egg.

Overall, it was great one on one time with my little dude who is dazzled by the eggs.

Next year, we're going to get far more creative, though.

And say no to Paas.

This Boy

2011-04-14T14:37:00.001-06:00

This boy of ours sits still once in a while, on very rare occasions.

This boy of ours sometimes follows instructions, when it's not "mom" giving them.

This boy of ours can stand still, like a black belt, for about 6 1/2 whole seconds.

This boy of ours is almost too cute to look tough, but doesn't stop him from trying.

This boy of ours can't decide whether to shake hands or to give a high five. This boy of ours, in his silliness, makes strangers chuckle.

This boy of ours is now an ORANGE belt in Tae-kwon-do!

This boy of ours is swift to action when he hears "Down. Set. Hike!"

Except when he forgets to hike the ball.

This boy of ours is fascinated with his mouth guard.

This boy of ours has a football play specifically designed for him to make a touchdown.

And he did!

This boy of ours doesn't always play by the rules, like tackling or pulling on uniforms.

And sometimes he gets away with it. But most of the time, he gets a whistle and the ref throws a flag.

This boy of ours might someday remember the rules.

But for now, he's just 5. And that's okay.

This boy of ours kind of looks like Charlie Chaplin when he doesn't keep his mouth guard in his mouth.

This boy of ours sometimes forgets that he is playing football and not in karate,

like when he casually practices his round kicks on the field.

This boy of ours makes us proud, makes us laugh and makes us pull our hair out and continually call out, "Brock! Hey, Brock, pay attention!!!"

This boy of ours looks forward to football practice and game days.

This boy of ours practices his round kicks and power punches as he walks through the house.

This boy of ours might just, one day, grow into an athlete.

Or a ninja.

An Update

2011-04-12T14:25:00.002-06:00

At last, an update!

I just know you've been hungering for an update on the See family remodel like you hunger

for something sinful and chocolaty after dinner.

First of all, we FINALLY have a working sink, dishwasher and range!!! After seven long days of glamorously washing the dishes by hand in my master bathroom and feeding my boys on microwave meals and Pizza Hut, I am excited to announce that we are re-acclimating ourselves to the glories of kitchen technology. This also means that we have a new counter top and it looks awesome. Of course.

Except, too bad for me, because now my boys expect real dinners again, and just when I was getting used to the convenience of Michelina's and ordering out.

The floor, which is STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL, is about 95% done.

The paint, which is BRILLIANTLY GORGEOUS, is about 97% done.

The area rug, which is AWESOME BEYOND DESCRIPTION, is 100% rockin' the floor decor.

We've ordered our 5" baseboards! Don't you love the look of tall baseboards?!

Our tile is sitting in boxes in our family room patiently waiting their turn.

The upper cabinets are anxious for crown molding.

And our plain jane cabinets are ready to luxuriate in white paint.

And we, the worker bees, are ready for a night off already!

Alright, what's left to do...

...that's right: post pictures!

I've had HUNDREDS of request for pictures, so here are some to tie you over until the project is finished...

My handsome set of muscles tearing out subfloor...

We made sure to include Brock in the project, but insisted on safety measures. The hat, for the record, was Brock's idea, as was the chin raspberry. Boys play rough!

Recycling dog food bags for construction purposes was a smart move on Clarke's part--they're much stronger than other bags. Brock was our official sweeper upper!

The subfloor, as I've complained about before, took 12 agonizing hours to FINALLY and fully tear out. Blasted awful stuff of the devil!

No subfloor. No sink. No dishwasher. No lower cabinets (i.e. naked kitchen).

This is what the other half of our miniature kitchen, aka the dining room, looked like when Satan's subfloor was finally done away with!

Another naked kitchen shot....

Here is what our living room looked like during the process. Even the plywood floor looks BETTER than our late, disaster of an excuse for carpet! You even get a peekaboo shot of the new wall color and the flooring!

Ding Dong, the carpet's dead! Woot! I spent a very blissful day, tearing out carpet with animal abandon!

We honestly thought that the flooring would amount to a weekend project, however by Sunday afternoon we had just started laying out the pad, a sure indication that our two day DIY would last all week long. And then some.

(insert Hallelujah chorus here, and maybe a drumroll for added ceremony)

Here

what

the

floor

the

kitchen

kind of

looks

like...

The floors are twice as dark as they look in the picture (thanks to my flash for brightening things up a little TOO much.

And that's all for now, folks. I'll post more pictures when the project is complete-o!

Going Slow and Going Bold

2011-04-05T14:21:00.001-06:00

The arduous challenge of phenomenalizing a starter home in a thriftville suburb of Boise is painstakingly snailish, at best. We've foregone the real hardwood floors and granite counter tops for their slightly more affordable cousins: laminate and Formica and have ultimately decided to "go big or go home" when it comes to what was, initially, a weekend project. Added to the to-do list:

New Counter Tops (Formica)

Paint

Tile

New Sink

New Faucet

New Baseboard

Area Rug

Here's our success so far:

ripped out baseboards

ripped out carpet

ripped out subfloor

ripped out cabinets

pulled thousands of staples from floor

ordered Formica

purchased tile

purchased paint

prepped for painting

laid new flooring in kitchen and pantry

re-installed cabinets

installed new chipboard counter tops (to precede Formica)

installed new sink & faucet

re-installed kitchen appliances

We still have so much work ahead of us, but the end result will be STUNNING!

Here's what we've chosen for our counter tops:

Smoked Quartzstone

(you can't see it in this picture, but there are flecks of brown...)

And a color for our walls that incorporates the brown in our floors with the coolness of our counter tops:

I have to admit that this color is intimidatingly DARK for our walls and after waffling about my decision for an hour last night, I decided that since we were going bold with some of our choices, why not do the same for our walls? *gulp*

And, finally, Clarke and I are debating the virtues of area rugs in a price vs. pretty argument that will undoubtedly last until I head to Lowe's to make the final decision. Will it be indulgence or clearance???

How DIY Ruined Our Weekend

2011-04-03T07:55:00.000-06:00

The headline this weekend should read:

Weekend Warriors Overdo It

The Devil Does Subfloor

Clarke and Charlotte See may have bit off more than they can chew when they attempted to install their new laminate flooring in their miniature country home this weekend. A project that they initially concluded would take two days work and at minimal cost has grown into a complete kitchen remodel. The homeowners maintain that subfloor, designed by Satan himself, is to blame for the delay in completion as well as the escalating cost of the project. After hacking away at the aforementioned subfloor with hammers and crowbars for eight solid hours, followed by the painstaking task of pulling out each of the thousands of staples with pliers, the homeowners were cursing the entire institution of subfloors. Without kitchen cabinets, a kitchen sink or appliances, the See family has taken to fast food, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and washing dishes in the bathroom sink. Fortunately the fridge, which currently resides in the middle of the living room, is plugged in and keeps copious amounts of Diet Coke cold and at the ready for these overworked homeowners. The See family say that a fair mix of LDS Conference talks and Aerosmith keep them going and that in spite of the sore backs and bruised and bloodied fingers, the work will go on and the end product will be fabulous.

Giddy

2011-03-30T18:53:00.001-06:00

Guess what?

GUESS WHO IS GETTING NEW FLOORING???

C'est Moi!

And this is what the sample looks like...

(!!!!!!!!!)

And this is what 24 boxes of flooring look like stacked in my guest room...

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

We picked it out last Saturday and picked it up last night!

We're replacing the flooring in our living room, dining room, kitchen and hallways!

AMAZING new flooring will replace this stained-beyond-hope, train wreck...

And it will replace this blander-than-vanilla ugliness too...

I can't possibly explain in words how THRILLING it is to replace 8 years of stained carpet!

If you've seen my carpet, then you know what I'm talking about and are probably

filled with the same giddiness because we have carpet that could easily compete for the title of "world's worst!" So, that's what we'll be doing this weekend while conference blares in the background!

But, that also led us to consider two additional projects to add to our Decor8 list.

We've also picked out a new kitchen sink, new kitchen faucet and new counter tops!

*shivers gleefully* Eeeeee! I feel like I've won the lottery!!! *blushes*

This week, I also chose three shades of blue competing for the honor of my bathroom walls.

THANK YOU LOWES for sample-size paints!

The problem now is choosing the winner...

What do you think?

Part Fish....probably.

2011-03-27T14:55:00.001-06:00

I've long maintained the notion that Brock may be part fish. Probably.

He gets it from his dad, I think.

Brock loves everything water. Bathtubs, Pools, Rivers, Oceans....

He loves swimming as much as he loves snack time and those who know Brock best can appreciate the gravity of that comparison.

Brock loves swimming so much that when he heard that we were going to vacation in Portland, he packed his own backpack with four paris of swim trunks; four pairs of swim trunks that found their way back into his dresser, courtesy of mom. Of course, we did end up swimming on our vacay and Brock scored a new pair of swim trunks because mom was WRONG! Happy to be wrong, though, because Brock had the time of his life swimming with his cousins last Tuesday afternoon.

Bringing a football to the pool turned out to be a HUGE hit with Brock and his cousins... and his dad.

"Uncle" Clarke took our niece, Abby, down the water slide!

I kind of really love Clarke's dimple...

"Hi mommy"