We are back in Lakewood and Betty and Richard have joined us for more celebrations.  Yesterday I worked a long day at the hospital, but the boys and grands had fun opening presents and playing at the mall.

Today is Ben's birthday!  He let me open my Christmas presents first, then we did his.  I made him eggs and bacon for breakfast too.  Oven bacon rocks.

We are going out to lunch and then seeing the Hobbit 2D with Richard.  I read the book since seeing it the first time, so I'm actually excited for a second viewing.

Here are some of my latest favorites from Jack's camera.  If you care to see them all, I'm continually updating his collection. 


 










 

Ben emailed a youtube link to me while at work.  I forgot about it until this morning, and it turned out to be a video of Jack.

My husband is weird :-)

Isn't January the worst?

I worked three back to back shifts this week.  Plus call since Thursday night until this Monday morning.  There hasn't been much yet, I hope it stays quiet.

We had a fun little outing with Jack to the Cherry Creek playplace and Cafe Rio today.  I can't wait for the Cafe Rio to open up in our neighborhood.  I'm going to get faaaaaaat.

With the holidays over you would think my knitting would slow down.  But I have so many projects I want to work on!  I'm doing a Downton Abby KAL (Knit ALong) and my yarn finally arrived!  I know what I'm doing after bedtime tonight.

Here are a couple pictures from Jack's camera.  The latest batch was added to the ongoing collection on flickr. There are some choice photos there.  Including one of my butt.












(Is this the laziest blogging ever?  Not only do I rarely post, but I don't even take my own pictures anymore :-P )

Wednesday I had the pleasure of a sick day where neither I nor Jack was sick.  It was strange.  Our nanny called in sick and we have no back-up.  Since Ben missed work last time, I called my boss to say I would not be at work the next day.  We had so much fun!  It was a bright and sunny day, so we took a long walk.  Jack held the leash for most of it and does a good job of telling Jem where to go.

We also took his camera.  I haven't uploaded the photos from that day yet, but I'm looking forward to them.  He made some interesting choices, like this:

The next two days of work were surprisingly hard.  I had two really difficult patients Thursday morning all to myself.  Almost every complication (except the biggies: cardiac/respiratory arrest) happened.  Vomiting, panic attack, catheter clogged, clotted systems, hypotension not responding to albumin, antibiotics to hang, alarms on machines I haven't been trained on, and cranky nurses to deal with.  I was so happy when a helper arrived mid day and I could get out of the room for a few minutes.  The afternoon was a bit better and I would have been able to go home early except we had a staff meeting at that hospital at 6 pm.  So I video chatted with Ben and Jack for a little bit before the meeting.  I didn't get home until 8:30.  What a long day.

Friday I had an ICU patient with dementia.  He kept calling out "help me help me!" Then when I asked him what he wanted, he either said "I don't know" half the time, or the other half it was a small thing that didn't satisfy him ("cover my legs," "give me water") or something I refused to do ("get me out of here," "my butt is itchy").  He was also positive for flu, so I had to wear an itchy mask the whole treatment (5+ hours).  But he at least tolerated treatment kind of ok, so it wasn't too hard.  Plus he left his TV on the history channel.  When you spend a lot of time in ICUs, you appreciate it when they don't watch Spanish language talk shows, faux courtroom shows, trashy paternal testing talk shows, or horror movies.

The afternoon patient was cancelled so I just helped out in the big room upstairs before going home in the late afternoon.  Good thing too, because I was on call.  I had been on apheresis call the previous two nights already, but we rarely get called out for that.  Friday I was dialysis call, first up.  1 1/2 hours after I fell asleep the pager went off.  I was at the hospital from midnight to 4 am, setting up two different treatments that would run through the night.  As soon as I put my head to pillow at 4:30 the pager went off again.  My call partner got it, but that meant I was up for the next one if it came.  Thank goodness it did not.

Ben let me sleep in until almost 11.  We had a nice lunch at Panera Bread (Yay for new restaurants at the Mills!).  Then he went to Lyons with the menfolk for pinball while I went to a baby shower in Aurora.  Novline and Neil are looking forward to their first baby on Valentine's day.  It was fun driving through my old neighborhood to find the party that Neil's mom and aunts hosted.  It was a sweet party too.  All the usual games (I won gift bingo- suckers don't know how to set up a board) and delicious quiches and chocolate dipped fruits.  I made sure to try the "Many Layers Cake" that Novline made.  She said it's an Indonesian dessert made with rice flour and coconut milk and then steamed.  She got plenty of things for the new baby girl.  I cooed like a dove over all the socks and booties.  So tiny! 

I slept 11 hours last night, still making up for the call-out.  Jack was developing a cold Saturday night, so Ben brought him into our bed when he woke too early from coughing.  When I got out of the shower I found Ben cleaning up throw-up. 

And that brings me to my quiet Sunday at home.  Jack had a fever (101.8) and terrible cough.  We stayed in pajamas all day and didn't leave the house.  We watched Finding Nemo and Kipper.  We both took long naps.  I read Lord of the Rings while Jack read Bizzy Bear.  He ate a little at lunch but refused dinner.  Even another popsicle.  When we were reading a Richard Scarry book at 7 pm and I took this picture:
I noticed his eyes rolling back; he could barely stay awake.  I declared it bed time.  I hope he feels better tomorrow!  I have another day off.  Whether we will spend it doing our normal Monday errands or watching Pixar's Cars under a quilt remains to be seen. Either way, I'm looking forward to three shifts this week with NO scheduled call.  Hallelujah.

Jack tried to climb into his crib tonight, but it's just too tall.  On a whim Ben unleashed his allen wrench and took off the side (as is intended-it's a convertible crib).  Jack bounded inside like a playful fox to his den and burrowed under his quilt.  No fanfare or preparation about graduating to a "Big Boy Bed." 

Tonight will prove whether he gets out of bed to play when he should be sleeping.  Or maybe he will roll off.  He often sleeps pressed up against that side.  I better put down extra pillows after he falls asleep.  We shall see.

This haircut is courtesy of Tow Maters Tall Tales and a bowl of M&Ms.

We are having a rough winter.  There's a lot of changes on the horizon for us, though I don't want to talk about anything until it's really final.  But there's a lot of stress and hope involved. 

On top of that we've had a lot of stressful events.  Difficulties with work for both of us.  Ben had to go to urgent care for a profusely bleeding nose.   Jack had a big fall today, with a goose egg bump and vomiting afterward.  Our nanny hasn't worked a full week since Christmas break due to multiple sick days. 

So yeah, I haven't been posting much.

In between all of this I try to knit a little, play with my kid, keep the household functioning, and watch Parks and Rec reruns to quiet my mind. 

I think back to a song Ben put on a mix tape for me the first year we were dating, when I was 18 and he was 19. 

Here's wishing you the bluest sky,
And hoping something better comes tomorrow.
Hoping all the verses rhyme,
And the very best of choruses to
Follow all the doubt and sadness.
I know that better things are on the way.

I made this top out of the most luxurious yarn.  I LOVE Anzula Squishy.



The color is most like this first photo. 



I added the sleeves to the pattern - they turned out great!  I'm worried about the neckline.  It felt really well when I tried it on mid-knit.  But now that it's blocked and the ruffles weigh it down, the neck is stretching too much.  I might track down some trim at you-know-where to sew along the inside for stability. 



I also finished the first gauntlet from the Downton Abbey knit-a-long. But that means I'm still two episodes behind, so don't talk to me about anything recent!

Ha ha! Having a child is finally paying off in labor. If only he would learn not to dump the snow where the path should be.

Ugh.  I was back-up-back-up today (call #3) and I got called into work at 05:40 this morning.  Did two patients at a time in our main room.  Transfused two units of blood.  Got blood pressures down from 190s to 140s.  Took out 10.3 liters gross of fluid (8 net).  Called in a faulty alarm to biomed. The usual.  But not usual for a Sunday morning.

Laid low this afternoon knitting and watching Two Towers.

Jack got to attend his friend's birthday party.  I was sad to miss out - Trish throws amazing parties. Ben took this video of them playing live action Angry Birds. 

Then after nap Jack asked to play Kinect. He loves this game where he builds a castle and then destroys it as a dragon.  When the game puts a crown on his head he calls himself a queen- not a king, mind you. 

Today I turned 31.  As a treat to myself I requested off today and the next two days from work.  How I love being home with my boy! 

I woke up before him and took a long hot shower.  I used ALL my lotions and scrubs.  Then I knit while Jack ate breakfast.



After he helped me put the curlers away, and declared my hair "silly," we bought cupcakes.


He easily convinced me to eat at least one right away.


The nanny came over and I excused myself to a relaxing, unhurried lunch. 


Followed by a soothing massage at the student clinic ($23 an hour is hard to beat!)


When I got home Jack was just going down for a "nap."  Naps have morphed into "quiet time."  He doesn't sleep every day anymore. But he will stay in his bed for a couple hours, playing and reading quietly to himself.  I'm fine with that.  More knitting, this time with Ron Swanson.


Ben came home early and we did presents and cupcakes!

Then we talked to my folks on facetime.  Mom read a book to Jack.   Then he went outside to shovel snow and throw snowballs.

Our sitter came back (eventually, Brian covered for a little while because the snow backed up traffic) and we went on a real, true date.  Dinner at Le Central.  DELICIOUS!  My lamb shank isn't pictured because I forgot.  I was in a mini food coma by then. 

We picked up a few small treats at Target and came home to a sleeping boy.   Not pictured: Watching New Girl in my jammies with my hubby.

What a wonderful day!

So happy to be off work when we have weather like this!

I neglected to buy a sled, so Ben improvised.

Did you know I make phenomenal deviled eggs?  Well, I do.

There are . . . 4 big things happening in our lives right now, as I alluded to earlier.  I can't go into detail on some of them, but at least a couple are getting answers.  A lot of my readers already know what I'm talking about, so you will please forgive lack of details.  You never know who is reading on the internet. 

Thing 1:: Pertaining to Ben
We finally got an answer.  We have been waiting over a month for something to pan out.  Today we learned that it would not happen.  At least not in the near future.  At this point, we are just happy to have a definite answer.  They say that in a few/many months things will change and things will move forward again.  But for now it's a no.

Thing 2:: Pertaining to Rachel in the same manner
We have a plan and although it's not exactly what I had in mind, I'm excited about it.  I should be able to talk more by the weekend.

Thing 3:: More Space
No reason to keep this a secret really, even in light of the above things.  We are passively looking for a new house.  We have outgrown our little townhouse and are dreaming of a real house, with a real yard.  We chatted with a loan officer and I have spent a lot of time looking on Zillow with a lot of cute, promising houses.  Probably after Thing 2 is resolved I will starting visiting houses with a real estate agent.

Thing 4:: Other Reason for More Space
Let's end on on a happy note.


Yes, we are having another baby!  I am 12 weeks along, next week marks the beginning of the second trimester.  No, we won't know the gender until mid-April.  Yes, I would like a girl.  But brothers could be fun too.  So far the pregnancy has been easier than the first one.  No one at work knows yet (unless they are reading this now).  I haven't been too sick, at least compared to last time.  Everything baby-wise is looking healthy and normal.  I'm due in the first half of September. 

My parents came up for a fun, if hurried weekend to see the musical. The kids did great! The final performance was postponed due to heavy snow on Saturday. At least we were able to rush up Friday to see it. I couldn't make it to the moved finale last night because I was working late and on call.

There was one casualty to the weekend. Jack's beloved gift from Brian, a Bumblebee Transformer, was left behind in my parents' car. Luckily they discovered it and mailed it back right away. Jack was dramatically distraught when he learned his Bumblebee ("Bubby") took a trip with the grumpies. He received it yesterday and, except for sleeping, it hasn't left his hand. I recorded him talking about it and reading the enclosed pictogram-letter this morning.

 There's a new Disney series I'm excited about. They are making 19 shorts in the classic 1930s style to bring Mickey back in a starring role for the company. The first one is out and you can watch it here. I found it charming and impressive that they decided to speak French without subtitles. Jack watched it and found it hilarious. He was very concerned that the motorcycles crashed.

Jack tried to use his camera but the memory card was full! That finally got me to upload his latest batch of photography. You can see them in the set on flickr, labeled Feb-March 2013. Here are a few of my favorites.

The internet just reminded me it's pie day!  And I have no pie!  I asked Jack if we should go to the Humble Pie Shop to buy a pie, or if we should make a pie together.  I'm sure you can guess his answer.  Actually, no.  Usually his answer is "Both!" So keep in mind how much my kid loves to bake.

I told him we have to decide what kind of pie to make.  He ran to his book basket "Find recipe!  I look Clifford book for recipe! Hmmm, need flour."   Then he started to pull his chair up to the counter.  I had to explain that not only do I need to find a recipe too, but we will need to buy ingredients. 

He was a little disappointed, but then he turned Caillou back on his tablet and now is making engine noises while he flies his toy plane.

Yeah, he gets spoiled the day after I'm on call.  I only slept a few hours due to phones calls for a CRRT all night and a cat begging for extra meals.

Written Saturday night

I'm LOVING this stay at home thing.  Plenty of errands and fun things to keep me occupied.  I'm not going to miss the paperwork or the pager or the vomiting or the cranky hospital staff. 

Good-bye to this!

Hello to this!


For now it feels like extended vacation.  I'm sure it will be some time before the finality of this sinks in.  But at least I can sleep through the night, sleep in the morning (until 7:30!), and schedule appointments any day I please.  Jack is sick this week and for the first time I'm not filled with dread for when I will catch it and how bad it make working for me.

My first week at home was capped off with a quick trip to San Diego.  Ben and Jack went to Maine to celebrate Easter with the Masons, so I joined my family in SoCal.

There are many more photos on my flickr photostream, at the link on the right side of this blog.

I love being home every day and every night.  I just love it.

Jack and I are finding lots of fun ways to spend our time.  I try to get my house cleaning done while he watches TV and takes his lingering meals.  (Probably not the best parenting choice, but it self-limits his TV time and he does a really good job cleaning his tray when given plenty of time and good entertainment.  We don't allow TV with dinner, of course.)  I use his quiet time to do my remote billing work.  In between we play games and run errands.  Today was Monday, so we had story time at the library and a trip to the grocery store (completed with horsey ride).

Here are some pictures from the last week.



(Two toddler boys with hammers. I'm amazed that no fingers were smashed)






I'm working on more regular play-dates with Wolfie.  Not only do we parents get a little break, but the boys get some great play time together.  

On the weekend (oh, glorious word!) Ben and I had a bona fide date.  We went to the new Alamo Drafthouse to see Oz.  Now, the movie was as expected- pretty to look at and mildly entertaining, but no greatness.  However, the theater is why I wanted to go. What an awesome place!  It's gorgeous, reserved seating, comfortable, with delicious food you can order during the film.  They don't have ads; in their place you will find vintage reels of material tailored to the film for the 20 minutes prior to showtime.  It was such a fun experience, I can't wait to see another movie there.

How nice to have a blizzard and experience no stress.  No where to go, no traffic to fight, no problems.

My trusty porch shovel man.




Pretty snowflakes.
 

Forming a snowball attack.


Tuckered out and cold after his adventure, he drifted to the floor while playing trucks, then retreated to my lap. 


After lunch we stayed indoors. That's a pan of baking soda with colored vinegar. 


Over an hour of play time with this one. 

I'm digging all the "sensory play" ideas on Pinterest, and Jack loves them too.

This is a pan of old lentils, rice, and beans.  He drives his trucks in them, practicing digging and loading his dump trucks.  I hid some pretend coins in there, so he can dig for buried treasure over and over.  We also shake the pan flat and practice writing letters and shapes with our fingers.  Easy clean up with a vacuum or broom. 



This pan of baking soda idea came from Trish.  She said sometimes she even packs a dinosaur in a water and baking soda lump, and lets Wolfie hatch the egg by dripping the vinegar on it.  I didn't go that far, but still Jack LOVED this. First making the colored foam.  Then digging around with trucks and dinosaurs. Then adding more and more vinegar until it was more swamp than sand. 



Today I had Wolfie over for babysitting.  These two were being pretty turdy, so I had to whip out home-made slime.  Also called, home-made Gak, it's a simple recipe.  Just water, elmer's glue, and borax.  Luckily I had just enough glue to make a batch.  There are many recipes online.  At first they were timid to get messy.  But after a few minutes they embraced the slime and were coming up with several ways to play it.  It was even Wolfie's idea to add dinosaurs.  This kept them busy for 45 minutes after lunch, which is, like, eternity in toddlerhood. 




If anyone has more, cheap, indoor play ideas, I'm all ears.

Jack's speech is improving so quickly.  I'm going to miss many of his simple phrases, so I thought I'd jot them down for memory.

ups ups down = upside down

I do it boy self = I do it by myself

horsey boy = cowboy

Sounds like good idea? = please, can I?

Both! = his answer to any choice I offer

tee tops / Sarah dino / tie tops = triceratops

stegosoarsoar = stegosaurus (you should hear him pluralize it)

semen = musem

quailllll ree lee umm = aquarium (mostly he stumbles in different, funny way each time he tries.  L's and R's are still mixed for him)

Pa-Chow = Lightening McQueen's "Kachow" catchphrase

begwee = spaghetti

cop cop / cop copter / hie copter = helicopter (UPDATE Ben says the correct current version is "hopper copper")

Grumpies = grandparents

Grumpies, did I forget any?

Long ago I meant to post his Easter bunny quote.  Ben sent me this after dying eggs with Jack, reporting Jack's response to the Easter bunny hiding the dyed eggs in the morning:
 "I be mad afterwards.  I be saying no no rabbit. Rabbit not be hiding those eggs!"

We also started to teach him jokes this week.  I'm trying to get video of a good exchange to share.  But next time you talk to him you could share a joke or ask him to tell one.  Knock Knock jokes are a favorite, though clearly he has a loose grasp on the structure and source of humor in them.

Another wonderful weekend of leisure!  We took Jack to the zoo today and renewed our membership, so I can come back whenever I want.

We happened upon his friend by the Lorakeet Adventure.






And here's proof that I was there too :-)



We had lunch at Uber Sausage.  Yum!

Friday morning I wanted to hit the gym, but Jack firmly said no.  Ben suggested I use our dance game on the Kinect and let him play along.  Here are the results of my efforts, for your enjoyment.  (I have good faith that none of you will judge harshly my expanding body dorky dancing). 

I feel like there should be bonus points for playing with a moving obstacle under your feet, stuffed animal missile attacks, and body recognition interference. Do you hear me, Xbox developers?

Once again, I'm happy I had no where to be today.



It's still coming down just as heavy.  Double happy that I got out of Jury Duty tomorrow--my juror number was just 8 higher than the range they summoned!  Ben gets to work from home again tomorrow.  What will I do to keep Jack busy inside all day?

I feel like I'm reaching that place where I wanted to be, back in February.  Overworked, stagnant, constantly tired.  I dreamed of a week like this:

Time for play dates for Jack.







Time to shoot movies with Brian and company.






And time to look for a new house. 






(I've seen nine houses this week.  The market is crazy right now, everything selling super fast and there aren't many for sale.  Many are under contract before I can get out to see them.  We love this one and we're going to put an offer on it today)

We bought a new house!  We are elated and in love with our new home.  The sellers accepted our full price offer this morning with no quibbles.  It was a little higher than we wanted to pay, but the market is so competitive, and we fell in the love with the house, so it was a necessary indulgence.  As our realtor, Kathy, pointed out, the interest rates are so low right now that since we want to spend at least the next ten years in this purchase, it's better to stretch if we can so we have room to grow later.

Boy, do we have room!  This place is 2310 square feet, more than double our current home.  It has 3 upstairs bedrooms with a master bath and a shared hall bath.  There's a third bathroom on the main floor, between the kitchen/dining room and living room.  The basement is fully finished with a large home theater room (projector/speakers/screen and stadium seating included), a second room with a cabinetry and sink, and a third room that could be an office, craft room, toy room, 4th bedroom, or whatever.  So much space!  There's a two car garage and a large fenced yard.  The house is shaded by three large trees.  You can see the tops of the mountains from the backyard, even better views from upstairs.  The main floor and upper floor are all hardwood.  The house was built in 1963 but has been thoroughly updated.

The location is ideal.  It's everything we wanted in our new neighborhood.  Well, I wish the nearest park was a few blocks closer, but it's still walking distance.  We are close to our old neighborhood, but farther north where the better schools are.  Ben's commute will be about the same, since the highway is close by.



Kathy scheduled everything so we close on May 23rd and take possession on Sunday morning, May 26th.  With any luck we can have things moved in time to throw a backyard birthday party for Jack!

I've always been a cold weather loving' girl.  But having a little boy has changed my mind on how much snow I can handle.  Enough is enough!  We need to play outside!



This was yesterday.  We only briefly left the house to walk the dog.  We spent out indoor time reading, playing tablet games, batting around a balloon, and doing new house paperwork.  Poor guy.  I think I was partially demotivated by bitterness.  You see, yesterday I turned 20 weeks pregnant.  Halfway done!  Traditionally, that's when you get to find out the baby's sex in a big ultrasound.  But my clinic has changed their policies, making me wait a whole extra week. Not fair!  It shouldn't be a big deal, but I'm quite annoyed by the delay.  The baby is kicking all the time now.  I want to attach a pronoun to it that isn't it!

Whew!  I just got home from a three day trip to the Windy City with my family.  Me, Jack, Amanda, her friend Jason, my parents, and Grandma Lois and Grandma Rosina were all there.  It was so much fun!  If you follow my flickr photostream (link on the right) you've seen my pictures.  I hope to pull some over here for a summary post.  But right now I'm in sweatpants, catching up on internet, with a strawberry lemonade while Ben and Jack play video games in the basement together.  I don't want to do much else right now.  Tomorrow morning is my new house inspection, followed by laundry and library time and grocery shopping.  Tuesday morning is my Big Ultrasound.  Wednesday I'm going to start potty training.  So it's a full week!  But do at least look at my photos, or the other family blogs linked on the right hand side who also wrote about our trip.

Here are my pictures from today's ultrasound.


Cute little nose, legs and bum tucked up tight.



 Scratching his head with his finger.  



Adorable baby toes

 
 Don't know why the tech felt it necessary to label this one so. 
 

Good strong legs.

I got a voicemail while asleep that my US tech called in sick, so I would have to reschedule.  Luckily they could squeeze me into their north office a little later today.  Jack woke up with a cold but by gum, we are doing this today!  The tech said my little guy is sitting super low in my belly.  Like, "Ouch, that must be painful" low.  Why yes, it is quite painful. I have nearly constant pain on the my right side.  Since about two months in I can't turn in bed normally due to sharp pains.  That explains it I guess.  

When I told Jack he would have a little brother he asked "What's his name?"  I have no idea, child.  No idea.

I have to admit that I'm disappointed we aren't having a girl.  I really wanted one and I was hopeful that this one felt different enough.  I guess it's just the fact that's it's a second pregnancy, and every gestation is a beautiful unique snowflake, blah blah.  Girls names came easily to me and I had visions of ruffles and purple and princesses and ballet shoes.  I know, I know.  Brothers!  How fun!  We already have all the clothes we need!  Boys are easier than girls!  All of that is true, but I'm still sad I won't have a little girl.

But I have a loving husband who merrily agreed to take me to Fancy Tiger tonight so I start a baby sweater for our new little boy.  I think that will help cheer me up.  Fine yarn has that effect on me.  I'm perusing Miranda's adorable projects for Cedar to get ideas.  I also have to dive into Nameberry.  Seriously.  No idea.

This cheers me up nicely.  Over dinner we brainstormed baby names.  No progress.

Today we are potty training for reals.  I don't want to.  Jack doesn't want to.  But he's clearly ready.  It's snowing, so we can't play outside.  He has a cold, so we can't go to indoor play areas (without irking other mothers).  Might as well spend the day inside working on body functions.



3 hits, 2 misses so far.  I'm glad I bought an extra pack of undies to make it through the day.



This feels wrong.  Salty snacks, candy for success, TV, lots of juice, all while I sit back and knit and wait for the next potty alarm to go off.  I feel so lazy, but I love it.

Amanda gave me a fiber class for my birthday many many weeks ago.  We finally had the time to take the class yesterday.  Even with both of us hacking and sneezing from colds caught in Chicago, it was so fun!  It's hosted by this strange little fiber studio in the middle of no where Colorado. We each made a beautiful gauzy silk scarf using the Nuno wet felting technique.  It used quite a but of equipment and space, so I'm not sure how easily I could do more at home. But it was nice having the large studio with tons of supplies to choose from and space to work with.  I adore my scarf.  Here are pictures of the process.

The scarves are being rolled in that machine against the wall, wrapped up in blue bubble wrap.



The final product (I love Amanda's and wish I had a better picture of it.  Don't trust farmers to take pictures for you!):



Thank you, dear sister!

Amanda pointed out that I haven't posted in a while, so let me give you a quick run down of our May so far.

1.  The house purchase is going extremely well.  The offer, inspection, objections, appraisal, loan, and closing preparations are all going so remarkably well, the realtors are even amazed.  At least half of our house is already in boxes.  Jack spent the morning playing Transformers with Brian while Ben and did a packing spree.  In addition, we've been doing a couple boxes a day for the last few weeks. I have met with carpet and paint people to prepare our townhouse for market.  I feel like I have all my ducks in order.

2.  I declare Jack potty-trained!  He took to it really well.  After a week I started leaving his diaper off during naps too, and he wakes up dry every time.  We carry about our days normally and he's able to use all public restrooms or hold it until we get home pretty much all the time.  I'd say he had two minor accidents in the last two weeks - and I blame myself partly for putting him in a tough situation.  He still wears a diaper at night.  I'm told that part will come much later.  It wasn't exactly easy to train him.  It took a lot of work.  Diapers sure were easy.  But hopefully we can enjoy a few months diaper-free before starting over again with the newborn.

3.  We have a short list of names for the new little boy, with two that we really like.  Not certain on the middle name yet, but we have a list for that too.  We're going to keep all our ideas under wraps again.  We don't get too much negative feedback on names we actually love, and so we might change our minds last minute if needed.  But I will say that Elmer Lightning Mason is no longer on our lists ;-)

4.  Been doing lots of dishes, lots of laundry, lots of grocery shopping.

5.  I took Jack to the zoo a couples times.  We also go to the playground most days.  And . . . here are some pictures to jog my memory.

Zoo trip on a Friday.  Silly me, I didn't realize it would be crawling with school groups and other moms, happy to finally have a nice weather day to take out our kids.  I brought his stroller because he hurt his foot that week, and carrying him isn't an option for me anymore when he gets tired.  It had been at least a year since he rode in it.  Maybe more.  He didn't recognize it.  He was SUPER into the stroller.  Then he went all old school with his hat, duck, and puppy. 

Completed hat and sweater (minus buttons) for the baby.  I'm halfway through sweater #2.  Yay for autumn babies! 


Snuck into Pre-opening night at Cafe Rio in our neighborhood and got a free dinner.  It was so busy we ate it outside. 


Jack was cold, so we improvised.  Ben declared this photo "Glorious."


Play time with Wolfie.  These movie trades are great.  They were seeing Iron Man 3.  The Saturday before we got to see The Great Gatsby (at the Alamo, of course!).










That brings us to this Saturday.  The day was spent packing, more Cafe Rio for lunch, and nap time for all three of us.  Then we went to H Burger with Brian and Amanda, and dessert at Sweet Action ice cream.  It was 30 minutes past Jack's bedtime and, again, too crowded inside.  We ate on a sidewalk table.  After asking "How about inside?" I went to the car to get his blankets again.  This was met with "You have undies for my hat?"  Not wanting to make another trip to the car, we got over our giggles and made a head wrap.

We are here in our new house!  Thanks to helpful family and hired movers, we got our new house moved in on Sunday.  Monday was a birthday party for Jack - now THREE!  and a flurry a unpacking.  Today is more settled in, the slower unboxing part of moving in.  Ben is back at work.  His folks are staying for the week to help with Jack while I continue unpacking.  The cat and dog both seem to love the new house.  When Ben and I catch our breaths between moments of exhaustion, we are over the moon about the new house. 

Pictures to come of the party and house later.  Too tired to dig out transfer cords.

Here is our dark, narrow, small, dingy carpet shell of an old house. 


Quail street, you were good to us.  But I think we outgrew you two years ago. 



We filled the truck, plus a minivan, and at least 4 Pontiac Vibes. 


Now onto some of my favorite things in the "New Big Orange House," as Jack insists on calling it.  (Excuse the mess.  The decorating and arrangements are all improvised and temporary. 

Laundry on the main floor!  With nearby chairs to sit and sort fresh from the dryer.


A wood burning fireplace that isn't tacky or dated or overtaking the room! Doesn't it scream for Christmas stockings?



A shaded back patio with ample (but not too ample) back yard!


Jack's larger room, with adorable and totally rad new bed!  Which he sleeps deeper and longer in!


A master bedroom with room to walk around!


Attached master bathroom for private trips during the middle of the night when the boy in residence in my tummy decides to play the tom-tom on my bladder!


Walk in closer with triple the rod space, shelves to the ceiling!


A happy happy cat!

Today the Masons went visiting, so Jack and I had a kind of normal day together.  We did our breakfast routine. I swept and vacuumed for the first time.  We got new library books.  We got yogurt at the grocery store.  We have lunch at home.  We walked Jem down the street.  We got mail for the first time.  When Ben got home we tried out the new lawn equipment.



We have no idea what we are doing ;-)



But isn't this nice?

Jack likes to play Lego Star Wars on the Xbox.  He's getting really into it now. 

Later he paused to game to drink some water from his sippy cup.  Hilarious.

UPDATE:
Ben took video too and sent it to me.  See facial twitching and aforementioned sippy cup break.

My whole photo set is up on Flickr.  Here are my favorites.  Not a bad little party considering we had moved the day before and half the invited friends were out of town on holiday. The important thing is that there were balloons, cake, presents, and Jack had a great time.























(Thank you, Amanda, for taking these!

Not much to say.  Just thought I'd post a few pics.  Jack and I are back in the glorious swing of routine.  I've stalled on unpacking as we reached that stage where enough is out of boxes to live.  Eventually, a certain box in my view will grate on me enough that I unpack it, but for now I'm taking a break.  Also, someday I need to, you know, put together a baby room.  For a baby.  Now only 3 months away.  But I have time, right?  I also finished getting the old house ready for sale.  It will be listed at midnight.  Does anyone out there need a townhouse?

Anyway, here are some snapshots from the last week.  Dang.  I can't believe I was walking around in a sweater just then.  I've had our swamp cooler on all day today (verdict - not as good as A/C but pretty dang helpful and a lot cheaper).   The heat continues for the rest of the week. 




Jack got two capes for his birthday, Superman/reversible Batman from April, and this one from Amanda with the sign for Danger.  He's pretty into them.

Matching tats



Jack LOVES to help me in the kitchen.  Maybe it's because now there's a stool for him in the kitchen all the time, because he pulls it up to the counter with every meal, insisting "I help you! I help you!"  Saturday morning we made crepes.  He asked for peas after gagging them down with dinner the night before, saying "I like peas!"  See, Dr. Nagel told him at his check-up that he should try to eat more superfoods, like superheroes do, so he can be super strong and fast.  I can't believe that's working.  He's eaten a handful peas, a bite of broccoli, and half a slice of avocado since then.  Not much, but that's infinitely more than the amount of green he would eat before = big fat zero.  Anyway, on this particular morning he ate only two peas because the crepes introduced him to Nutella.  Seriously mom?  You want me to eat peas when this brown stuff exists??



White Fence Farm with my family right before they left for Europe. 


Oh my gosh.



Seriously? 



Jack is going to make this new baby WORK IT to beat his cuteness. 

More help in the kitchen.  He can wash, stem, and pit cherries all by himself.





This week's story time made me proud because he sat up front with the other kids the whole time.  Normally he makes me sit with him in the middle on the floor, so he can be on and off my lap.  This way, I got to sit in a comfy chair in the back.  He did great!


 
 

Welllll...



Mostly great.  In terms of bravery.  Not so much in front row etiquette. 



Random today shots

Our house has been listed for only a few days and we've had ten showings and three offers.  Wow!

We sold our house!

I love knitting things for babies.

Jack and I descended on my parents abode for the holiday week.  I had three goals:
1) Pick up baby things I had stored at their house
2) Do more work training
3) Put Jack in the pool

Happily, I accomplished all three!  Amanda was able to come down too.  Ben had a quiet week back in Arvada while we brought the non-stop questions and playing to Grand Junction.  I think we swam every morning and evening, about 3 hours a day at least.  It was great fun.

As usual, more pictures and video are on my flickr photostream.  

Pre-trip, dancing with stars at Story Time.


On the evening we arrived Jack was ready to swim.  He was so zonked by the end of the day, I found him in this position at bedtime and he hadn’t moved by morning. 

Legos


Periscopes and Parachutes


 

We found that the best flotation tool was a noodle.  He could stay afloat and move around better than with the vest or the water wings.   

[Video originally hosted on Flickr]

The slide was a big hit.

[Video originally hosted on Flickr]

He didn’t expect to go underwater again.  But he was really brave about it every time!

[Video originally hosted on Flickr]

On the Fourth, we went with pool glowing toys instead of fireworks. 


Grandpa juggling

Glowstick balls


The fire pit had a little gas leak or we would have made s’mores on it.


Sad to leave on Friday, but excited to see Dad in Arvada. 

Let's check in on this pregnancy thing.  Little boy is growing bigger and doing well, as far as we can tell on this side of the uterus.  I'm 31 weeks pregnant now, which is firmly in the third trimester (40 is the goal).  My friend posted her itty bitty bump so I was inspired to post my belly too. It's quite a bit bigger, even considering I have a few weeks head start on her.





Thoughts at this point:

• It's hot.
• I still suffer from chronic nerve pain on the right side of my groin.  Nothing helps.  The intensity of the pain depends on where he is settled at the moment. Usually it's a dull ache while sitting or standing.  Sometimes when I turn over in bed it's sharp and makes me wince and cry.  Sometimes it's burning pain.  I really hope the SI problems I had with Jack don't stack on top of this in the last few weeks. 
• I'm having some serious heartburn this time around.  I don't remember much of any with Jack.  Zantac is awesome.
• I dropped a bobby pin today.  I stared at it for 4 seconds, said "Meh," and walked away.  Some things aren't worth bending down for anymore. 
• It's hot.  
• McDonalds will give you a giant bag of ice for $1.  I can go through a bag in 5 days.  
• I've pretty much given up on pants.  I have a couple maternity pairs that fit, but what's the point when there are cotton jersey skirts in the world?  Did I mention how hot I am?
• We have three top names.  One has a solid middle name choice, but the first name is our least favorite.  The other two first names are great, but we haven't settled on good middle names for them.  Our favorite first name is the trickiest to match with a middle.  More so than with Jack, I think we will need to see the new baby and spend a little time trying them out before deciding. 
• I wake up about 2-4 times per night for nerve pain or bathroom breaks.  I'm trying to remember the first couple months of waking with a newborn.  That makes me grateful for the sleep that I am managing to get.  
• Many more Braxton Hicks contractions this time around.  
• I miss bacon.  
• I miss runny eggs.
• Jack is totally on board with the idea of a new brother.  He gets that he is growing in my tummy now.  He asks to see the ultrasound and feel kicking.  He tells me how excited he is to give him a bottle.  I think this is going to be another good transition.  For good measure, we should make sure baby brother brings Jack a new Transformer from the hospital. 
• The nursery needs a lot of work to get ready for the baby.  Decorations, clothes sorted, diapers purchased, rocking chair, and bottles/pump cleaned.  I have zero nesting urge.  Hopefully that changes sometime soon.  
• It's really nice not having to be a full time RN this summer.  I regret nothing.  I love being Jack's mom.  

(Ponchos are awesome too.  Thanks Miranda for lending this one!) (Who doesn't take selfies while supervising their child's hand washing?  Isn't that the norm?)

I can't believe I neglected to post about this for so long.  Last month we had the pleasure of entertaining our good friends the Walkers while Nate had business in Golden!  Oh, how I miss having them around all the time.  We mostly ate, shopped, and talked.  We to the Alamo Drafthouse too.  It was splendid.  Azalea stayed in Idaho, but Jack was all over playing with Cedar - shocking to me.

Gah, the pictures I took are horrible and few.  But I'll share them anyway.   Guys, come back anytime.  Please.

At dinner Jack has a full glass of chocolate milk.  He spills the whole thing towards me, pooling across the table, on the floor, and on me.  I try to catch it in my skirt. Ben rushes for rags. 

After a long pause, Jack says politely, "I need more chocolate milk."

No kidding, kid. 

We laugh and mop it up.  I opt to shimmy out of my skirt and use it as a rag.  Jack looks at me and says, "You got chocolate milk on your skirt, Mommy."

I chuckle as I run upstairs to change.  What a helpful child.

Internet savvy folks are aware that Google Reader ended service this month.  We were sad.  Ben opted to self host an RSS reader for me and friends.  He has the ability to tweak it's design, because he's smart like that. 

Sometimes when I'm browsing my internet feeds, I am assaulted by snakes.  Like this one.  And this one.  NothankyougoawayImgonnawashmyeyesnow.  I really really hate snakes.  After a request that was mostly a joke, my dear husband did this for me:



"Redacted due to snakes (click to toggle)"

In other words, he filtered snakes out of my RSS feeder!  I'm so happy.  It does a keyword search, so sometimes articles are redacted that don't need to be.  But the title is preserved so I can click to view it if I think it will be safe.  

Thank you Ben!

We hadn't been to the zoo in a couple months.  We left bright and early this morning to try to beat the July heat.  I packed icy water bottles, sunscreen, hats, stroller, gym shoes, back brace, and took a Tylenol and Zantac just to be ready.

The zoo crowds were lighter than earlier in the summer.  We found parking easily and didn't have to fight to see animals.  Most of the animals were cooperative and playful, coming right up to us. Except the big felines, they were mostly hiding in the shade.  But it was 11:30 by the time we got to them, and everyone was wilted at that point, us included. 

Dusty Cape Buffalo.



A pelican, as requested on our drive to the zoo.  "Can we see that bird with funny bumpy mouth?" "Flamingos?"  "No, the funny bird, with big mouth.  Nemo's dad and Dory go in his mouth."  He laughed with glee when this pelican stretched his neck to let us see his mouth.





All the penguins were in the caves except this dummy.  Water or caves, dude. That's where you should be.  This was the smaller exhibit near the monkeys.  We saw better penguin action by the Bird Palace. 




Brown Bears




Better Penguin Action




Fishing cat making rounds right up to the glass.  He made up for the otters across the hall who were sleeping.



We took a break in the amphitheater to eat PB&Js, grapes, and water.



While we ate we watched this guy take a bath!



The sea lions were very playful too.





Despite asking for giraffes several times, when we finally got to them he was feigning interest.  These tigers next door were lounging and bathing.  Jack had devolved to asking useless questions, like he does when he is tired and bored.  For example, this picture he is asking "How that tiger take a bath, mom?"  "uhh, by sitting in the water."  "But how he take bath?"  Ok, time do go.


Jack was wearing out, so we headed back to the car.  I couldn't believe all the people just arriving now that it was almost noon.  Dudes, it's going to get hotter!

But seriously, I should get some Mommy achievement points for spending the morning Downtown Denver, walking in the high 90s weather while 8 months pregnant, right? This was NOT EASY.

At home we had a bigger lunch with Ben, who was working from home today.  He went back in the basement while I turned on the sprinklers for Jack to frolic.  It cooled him down to chattering teeth.  He played with his cars in his room while I sorted baby clothes.  (Oh my gosh, were his feet ever really this small??)

I was sweltering by quiet time.  These afternoon storms are nice for bringing down the ambient temperature outdoors.  But the rainfall makes our evaporative cooler worthless.  Ben suggested I get out of the house since he was there for Jack if needed. 




Ahhhhhh.  If only their WiFi worked as well as their AC.  I was goose bumpy and loving it.  But after several disconnections I had to go home to finish my work.  It was a wonderful respite while it lasted.

Some more artistic shots from Jack D added to his set on flickr.  Here are my favorites.  Zoo pictures are from our outing I blogged here.

Tonight we made it down to Baker for the Broadway Farmer's Market.  Baker is one of our favorite neighborhoods in Denver; home to Sweet Action Ice Cream, Humble Pie Shop, and the beloved Fancy Tiger, amongst other hip fair.

Speaking of hip fair, this was one strange farmer's market.  Settled on a small grassy lot, you could find tickets to the Underground Music Festival, wine freezers(?), boozy marmalade, and vegan food trucks, all while listening to a live band.  But if you came with your canvas bags for farm fresh vegetables, you might be disappointed.  There was one booth tucked in the corner selling fresh greens.  To their credit, there was also a sign by the band "Peaches couldn't make it . . . truck broke down . . . will be here next week!"  The fact that Ben thought this might refer to the band tells you what kind of market this was.  I wonder why they don't just call it a neighborhood fair, or summer festival, or something. 

Despite our preconceived notions we had a fun time.  Jack and I shared a refreshing watermelon-pineapple juice and kettle corn.  Ben had a delicious tamale.  The booths were generous with their samples, so we also had "artisan" pickles, pistachio pesto, chocolate caramel sauce, and rhubarb pie. 

Today I felt pretty crappy.  Lots of contractions, lots of back pain, nausea, reflux, all the bad stuff pretty much.  I managed to clean, do laundry, get groceries, took Jack to the Apex Center indoor play ground, filled him a kiddie pool, did my billing work, and made dinner.  Writing that all out makes me feel better for how wiped I am.  But really, I shouldn't be this tired and uncomfortable. 

While Ben got Jack ready for bed I took video of the baby having hiccups.  This happens several times a day, just like with Jack.  Although large rolls and pokes are easy to see, it's hard to catch them on film.  It's more unusual for hiccups to be visualized.  I added the tablet so you can see them clearer with the wobble.

For my Dad's birthday last week the family descended on Grand Junction again.  I was happy to be back to their pool and lazy days of free entertainment and care for Jack. 

We flew this time, using the Denver Air charter flights out of Jeffco Airport.  It was pretty slick - no security, no long drive to DIA, super friendly, no crowds, etc etc. 



Unfortunately the afternoon storm made this the worst flight I have ever been on.  Our lightweight plane was bounced hither and thither.  Jack and I both made use of the airsickness bags - several times in his case.  The flight was also double in length because of the detour we had to make around the storm. 



But we made it in one piece!  Jack quickly recovered and was ecstatic to see Grandpa at the airport. Jack made him open his present as soon as we got to the house.  The rest waited until the next day, when Mom would be back from visiting Grandma Lois in Salt Lake, and Andy and Jen and dogs could arrived too.  Ben even drove up for a short overnight stay.



Friday I baked a cake, we swam, played, and ate well.  I didn't put shoes on all day. 





Saturday a little shopping downtown.  Very little - it was sweltering.  Jack picked out this "dapper hat" with Ben.  After Red Robin lunch we snapped some adorable pics.





Sunday everyone had left but me, Amanda, and Jack.  We went to church, made ice cream, and, of course, more swimming. 









Monday morning we flew back home on a much gentler flight.  Smooth and short, we arrived in Arvada with spare time before story time at the library started.





We were both worn out.  It was so much fun though.  I love getting together with all my family.  Jack said no less than three times on Monday "I just wanted to stay with grandma and grandpa."  Me too, bud.

This July has been kind to me.  Most days there are afternoon thunderstorms that hide the sun.  Yesterday it felt like we had left Colorado.  Drizzly, cold rain all day long.  We were in heaven!  We took a nature walk, napped, read books, and I watched Becoming Jane at Amanda's house.  Look, we wore jackets!







This morning is another chilly one.  Jack slept in until 8:20!  I should be vacuuming, sweeping, and doing the dishes so we can get to story time on time.  But jammies! Slippers! Internet!  So much more fun!

Saturday was a building day for us.  Ben took Jack to another Lowes Build and Grow workshop.



I bought some wood trim and made Jack a new bookshelf.  I've been scouring the internet for a good kids bookcase, that's not super expensive, and holds a lot of books.  Front facing shelves are great for kids to browse and put away on their own, but they are pricey, often ugly, and don't hold a lot.  Finally, on Amanda's suggestion, I got a $22 Target bookshelf and added the trim.  Just a little paint, glue, and nails, and he has a new place to collect his many many books! 

 

Ok, no more delays. I gotta do my housekeeping.

For our anniversary this year we took a family vacation in Colorado.  Manitou Springs has been on our list of local places to visit for a while.  We planned a short weekend trip for Ben, me, Jack, and my big belly.  The photos are a mix from my phone and from Ben's good camera.  You can see our entire sets on our flickr accounts here and here. 



We drove into town midday Friday and started downtown.  There's a very cute, if very touristy, downtown scene.  Weird little souvenir shops and almost every other place sells ice cream.  Best of all for Ben and Jack, there is an arcade.  Rich with modern and vintage devices, we spent a good deal of quarters and dimes here.  Jack was ecstatic about the rows and rows of ride machines. 






























After walking around a bit we checked into our little hotel and put our feet up, hoping Jack would take a little nap.  He didn't, but Ben did, and I think he needed it more than Jack anyway.  That guy works really hard.



We had a nice pizza dinner before going back downtown.  Jack and I split off to wander, so Ben could spend some real time playing games at his speed.  Then we met up for more games and ticket cashing in.  It was a simple day, but we were super tired by the end of it.












Saturday we checked out of the hotel and went the short drive to our main attraction: the Cog Railway up Pike's Peak.  This is a very old cog rail track that goes all the way to the summit of Pike's.  That's right: I "climbed" a fourteener when I was 34 1/2 weeks pregnant!  Honestly, I was pretty worried about handling the altitude, the tiny old fashioned seats, and being trapped without a bathroom for the 1.5 hour trip each way.  But it ended up being very tolerable and quite enjoyable.  We had pleasant seat-mates visiting from Minnesota who took a real shine to Jack and helped keep him entertained. 

The views were amazing.  The pace was slow enough to see the flowers as you passed by, so there wasn't any motion-sickness problem.  I saw a pika, a mule deer, six marmots, and four big horn sheep! Ben took Jack out around the summit while I mostly staying put.  It was a little alarming how fast my heart was pumping and breathless I felt, just from walking around the top.  But we were only up there for 30 minutes before they boarded us back on the train.  Not long enough for anyone to get really ill.  Even so, I was glad to know the gift shop at the summit sold oxygen if I needed it. 





















While I stayed up here




They went down there





















(None of us were as enthusiastic about the downhill trip.  It was well past nap time and lunch time)




The train got back at the station in the afternoon and we were pretty tuckered.  A quick stop to one of those springs for Ben to fill bottles, then we got lunch and went on the road home.  What a wonderful little trip!

Jack and I are sick.  It's a long, lingering head cold we started Tuesday night.  Jack was mostly congestion, I had mostly sore throat.  But I think we are trading symptoms here in the last couple days.  His coughing last night kept me up, along with what I guess would be an anxiety attack about coordinating the house to get to the hospital in case I go into labor on my own.  I couldn't sleep for hours.  Maybe the cold or the benedryl contributed.  Or just the fact that I'm a month from my due date. Either way, not sleeping last night made today the worst of the week for me.  I couldn't go to church and didn't get out of bed until noon.  I finally started to feel better late afternoon, just well enough to converse with my boys.

Anyway, lots of sick and laying low this week.  Mostly we wear sweatpants and stay at home.  At times we felt better, and could get out to do things.  Friday Ben and I went on a date to the Alamo, a much needed break for adult time.  Last night we went to the Denver County Fair.  I probably should have stayed home to rest, but it sounded really fun and I felt bad dragging Ben down for the weekend.  He took a lot of photos, if those get up I'll share them with you. 

I also babysat Wolfie, bought a new dishwasher, unpacked and decorated the nursery, packed my hospital bags, finished Jack's sweater, and did the sundry other chores I must do to keep the house humming. 

Oh, the owl, I forgot that I wanted to tell you about that.  We ordered this alarm clock for Jack and it's FANTASTIC.  I had been working on him getting out of bed himself, so when the baby comes he doesn't need me to retrieve him from his room.  He did great after a few days, but wasn't really understanding when it was ok to come out.  Sometimes he would come downstairs 20 minutes after I put him down, expected praise for waking up on his own.  This owl from Amazon is an alarm clock that works brilliantly.  Jack loves it and follows it faithfully.  It glows orange, says "Go back to sleep now" and plays lullabies if you press its belly and it's not time to wake up yet.  It turns green at the appointed time, and says "It's time to wake up" if you press the belly after wake time.  You can set night and nap modes, it's super easy to program, and again-Jack adores him.  We've had 100% sleep and wake behavior since we started using it last week. 

I woke up to Jack having a coughing fit.  I tried to let him get back to sleep for 10 minutes, but I could see that the coughing wouldn't stop.  I got him out of bed, 45 minutes early. 

We went to the potty.  He sprayed the wall.  While correcting aim, he sprayed my eyes. 

My. eyes.

Urine in my eyes, folks. 

The day can only get better from here, right?

August feels like I'm stalled.  It's warmed up a little, touching into the 90s some days.  Blech.  The colds Jack and I had lingered for about 10 days.  I had a few days of feeling better, but the last couple days I've had a worsening stuffy nose and sore throat with cough.  Ugh.  It would be totally unfair if this turned into another full blown illness.

My hospital bag is packed, my birth plan (brief as it is) is printed out, and my friends on stand-by for taking Jack.  Sure, with his birth I still had almost 4 weeks at this point.  But it could come anytime now so I'm preparing just in case.

No sign of the dreaded SI joint pain I had last time.  The ongoing right groin pain is still there and as bad as ever.  I'm pretty sure it's round ligament pain, according to the descriptions I read.  The little guy has also taken to kneeing me in the ribs on my right side.

Jack and I have been talking a lot about babies and what will happen when he is born.  He seems to have a pretty good grasp on the change.  We look at pictures of himself as a baby to reinforce how small and boring they start out.  He saw this picture yesterday:

So we took this picture when Ben came home:



My goals each day are fairly short: do some house cleaning, entertain Jack with errands or playgrounds, work online while he naps, knit.  Here's some playground action:

This is the "Bear Bridge" park at Majestic View in Arvada





And this is the Peter Pan Park in Westminster.  Ben suggested it and I'm so glad he did!  It's adorable and well designed.  Shaded picnic tables for mom, restrooms and drinking fountains, and a theme that's perfect for Jack.  They have various structures to be Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Darling House (with Shadow Peter Pan in a window), Captain Hook's ship (with crocodile), and Neverland (with rock tower slide, tree hide-out, and hollow log).







I read online that this wading area is supposed to represent the Thames.  :-) 





Pro tip: dress your kid in neon clothes so you can easily pick him out in the crowd.

Weekends are super fun, even though I'm sick and whale-like.  It's so nice to have Ben around for company, conversation, and his share of pee clean-ups and lunch refills.  Jack is obsessed with his dad and pesters him like a moth to a light when he is home. 

Amanda and I went to see Peter and the Starcatcher last weekend and I LOVED it.  So glad she could get me tickets.  If it's not too late I highly recommend you see it in Denver before it moves on in the tour (Amanda has a discount code if you email her).  We had a delicious meal at the French place Le Grand Bistro.  It was only a one block walk back to the Ellie Opera House for the show, about as far as I can walk these days.  

The next day Jack filmed his piece for Brian's latest movie.  He did great playing with Mavi while Brian and Jeff scrambled around to arrange all the shots they needed.  We had pizza dinner together afterwards and dessert at my place, while watching Hot Fuzz on our projection screen.  Man, I love our basement.  









Last night we tried out a local ice cream place, Scrumptious.  I prefer Sweet Action's recipe better, but this place was fun and waaaay closer to our house.  Ben also grabbed some Mannekin Frites and I wished I hadn't bothered to cook and eat dinner so I could have some too.  Delicious. 

I have tickets to see The World's End at the Alamo Drafthouse tomorrow night.  I've been looking forward to that for months, so this cold had better pass by.  I might have to rest tonight by re-watching How I Met Your Mother on Netflix and knitting baby socks instead of going out. 

With a little moral support from Ben, Jack selected his outfit and put it on all by himself.  Ok, the motivation was a new Transformer if he could do it.  But still, success! 

Behold:

• Clashing reds (even the undies and socks have red, he claims it's his favorite color)
• Long sleeves and shorts
• Shorts put on backwards

A perfect outfit for a three year old, don't you think?

I'm feeling surprisingly well for being nearly 39 weeks pregnant.  I credit it completely to being home and able to rest pretty much whenever I need, and spending a large part of the day with my feet up.  The baby is much lower than Jack was, so I actually have room to breathe and eat.  Don't get me wrong, I'm anxious to get this part over with.  It's not pleasant, by any means.  But it could be a lot worse. 

I have a lot more pre-labor symptoms than the last time around.  Maybe this kid will find his way out on his own.  It's strange, but I feel like this is my first time because I still don't know what it's like to naturally go into labor. 

We had another nice quiet weekend.  While Ben took Jack to Dinosaur Ridge, Amanda and I got pedicures.  Later that night we went to see Austenland (hilarious!!) while Ben took Jack to see his first movie in a theater: Planes.  You'll have to ask him or Ben about it.  It sounds like Jack had a riotously good time.

Today I barely made it through Sacrament meeting (those pews are torture at this point!).  I went home to rest while Jack had nursery and Ben taught Primary.  He and I were called to team teach the 6-7 year olds.  They have subs lined up for the next few weeks for us, but Ben started it today.  It will be nice being able to share the duties and the calling together.  Jack adores nursery.  Today he told me they took a nature walk "with that rope thing.  You have to hold onto the rope!"  I always loved seeing the little kids walk around while holding onto a rope.  I'll bet Jack tattled on anyone who dared loosen their grip.  He's a lover of rules and order. 

I've knit two sweaters, two hats, and a pair of socks for the baby.  I'm working on a third hat now just to pass the time.  I also made some large scale cross stitch art for the house.  Maybe I'll get it hung and post pictures soon. 

Sorry for the rambling, picture-less post.  But I just felt like saying something about the week.

Staying home most of the day, every day, was getting boring for us.  I proposed a quick visit to the zoo and Jack jumped on board.  It was going to be another 90 degree day, but the morning was clouded over so I hoped it wouldn't be too bad.

I'm 39 1/2 weeks pregnant, with a due date on Monday (they kept switching between Tuesday and Monday, now they are sticking with the earlier one).  My last visit has me optimistic I might actually go into labor on my own, because I was dilated to 3 cm!  If you will recall, I never dilated beyond a 1 with Jack, even up to the night I was induced.

Walking is supposed to help start labor, and I certainly gave it my best attempt today.  We spent 1 1/2 hours walking the zoo, enjoying the small crowds now that school has started up.  Jack wanted to see pelicans, monkeys, and gorillas.  We did all that and he said he wasn't done, so we went to see Billy, the new 5 year old elephant.  Jack laughed that his name was billy, like belly button.  We saw another elephant and he said they were friends and his name must be tummy :-)

(He's mad at me in this photo because I crouched down to shoot it, but I wouldn't let him sit on my knee) (There's a mountain ram behind us)











"Belly"



"Tummy"

He sort of gets it.

Today this kiddo is officially fully cooked.



Obviously I'm still pregnant.  Despite many encouraging twinges and pains and feelings in my nethers I'd better leave undescribed, no labor has started.  My mom points out that I wasn't even to my due date yet, so of course nothing has happened.  But I've always seen the due date as a "Sell By" date, rather than a "Do Not Open Until" date.  I know it's wrong, but that's how my brain interprets it.   I can't help but be hopeful starting at 37 weeks.

Tonight I see my midwife and we'll make a plan.  I'd still love to go into labor naturally.  It's safer, and darn it, what was the use of studying all those labor signs and warnings, memorizing instructions, baby-sitting arranging, and hospital bag pre-packing for if I don't put it to use?  It's like a big test I studied for was changed to open book by the professor that morning.  You feel relief, but a little put out that you did all that prep for nothing.

I LOVE having Ben home with me.  He has declared himself my intern, and to give him things to do.  I was vacuuming this morning and feeling worn out.  But mopping needed to be done.  I hesitantly asked him to do it and he jumped on board.  He also did the dishes for me without asking, and took care of Jack while I showered.  It's so nice to shower without "mommymommymommy" coming in through the door, trying to judge whether he wants to show me a toy or whether he pooped his pants and actually needs attention.  Quiet, hot showers.  I love them.

Ben joined us at our usual Monday Story Time at the library.  I plan on him taking over this duty for the next few weeks, so Jack can have his usual routine despite the new brother sucking up all of mom's time and energy.




Then I had Ben drop me at home while they go grocery shopping without me.  Ahh.  So nice to put my feet up and blog, instead of limping through the aisles. 

You can be sure once we have baby action to share, I will let you all know.  Hopefully my next post includes adorable newborn squishy baby pictures.

I might as well post again to erase the optimism I inspired with my last post.  Just got back from my midwife with almost no change from last week.  I'm becoming convinced that my body doesn't know how to go into labor.  The bigger bummer is that the hospital is maxed out with scheduled inductions.  I got the next available, which is Thursday evening.  And I'll be first up to get bumped if they get too busy.

So that blows.

At least they've got me on the books I guess.  I wanted my membranes stripped but I'm GBS+ again, so that's not an option.  In the meantime I'll tell Ben we need to do this list of natural induction methods. 

• Consciously surrender and give consent to yourself the universe ... to allow the journey to begin.
• Try ‘slow-dancing’ and belly-dancing type movements.
• Visualise the swirling of a galaxy, and the funnelling of a hurricane.

I'll tell him to pick up some aromatherapy candles and then we'll REALLY be in business. Oh, and apparently we need to spend more time cuddling in the nude.  I hope Jack doesn't mind.

Here is Samwise Storm Mason!

Born Friday the thirteenth of September at 7:02 pm.

9 pounds 8 ounces, 20 1/2 inches long

I know that I should write out some details of Sam's birth before I forget them all.  But I'm grasping at brain cells here.  Sam slept like an angel at the hospital, but his first night home was fairly awful.   He just wouldn't stay asleep.  Cluster feeding galore, and my milk came in.  He was struggling with a gurgling tummy and frequent poops all night.  I think I slept for 30 minutes between 10 and 11 pm, then I fed him, got another 10 minutes of sleep, then he was awake from 12:30 until pretty much 6:30 in the morning.  I got him to settle a few times, but when I checked the clock on waking only 5-10 minutes had passed each time.  Ben rescued me in the morning and I took a little 30 minute nap while everyone else was downstairs.

So no big stories right now.  A few comments though:

• Longer, painful labor and longer delivery than with Jack.  But recovery is better this time.  Less tearing, experience, and expectations are helping.  
• Sam was 9 pounds 8 ounces and 20 1/2 inches.  For comparison, Jack was 9 pounds 1 ounce and 21 1/2 inches.
• He has light brown short hair, almost reddish in color.  
• He's perfectly healthy.  A little yellow-eyed today so we got some sunshine.
• Baby heads = better cheek rubbing than the most luxurious yarn.  I can't get enough.  
•  Jack is a total dear.  He is super helpful and loves Sam.  He can tell the house routine is kind of a mess, but he's coping well.

How about some pictures?  These are from my second day postpartum, going home on Sunday, and a few from today.

It's amazing what a little sleep can do for your mood.  Sam blessed me with several hours of sleep last night.  Broken up into 60 minute or less chunks throughout the night, but enough power to give me dreams and rest my brain.  You know you are feeling better when you start cleaning the house.  A toy here, some laundry there, nothing much but it represents a lot.  Now if I can get over engorgement, I'll be in fairly awesome shape considering I gave birth a few days ago. 

Extra snuggling all in bed this morning.


Sam had his follow-up appointment at the pediatrician.  "I can't find anything wrong with him," she summed up.  He's a healthy, chunky baby.  Maybe a little yellow, but otherwise in tip top shape.

(Yup, this boy is rocking the hand-me-downs.  Here's Jack in this outfit when he was almost 1 month old.)

Feeling bold, I had Ben drive us all to lunch next.  Our first outing with Sam was fittingly to Chick-Fil-A.  I don't get many pregnancy cravings.  But with Sam I wanted to eat at Chick-Fil-A a couple times a week.  We didn't go quite that often, but I definitely put a lot of fried chicken sandwiches into making that kid.



The rest of the day was spent in a normal cycle of eating, pooping, and sleeping.  Ben mustered through our mountains of laundry.  Side note, the storms made all our water taste and smell muddy.  We called the water company and they say everything is safe to use.  It made laundry a bit swampy, showers smell like camping in the woods, and Ben is sticking to prepackaged beverages.  A weird result from all the rain this week.


By the way, Sam was given the middle name Storm for the rains that started Monday and didn't let up until we were discharged on Sunday.  We had another middle name in mind, but it wasn't clicking completely for me.  While laboring Friday morning I suggested Storm and Ben loved it.  Kind of superhero sounding, and meaningful to his week.  I kind of miss the other name we were going to give him, but Storm is so great I wouldn't go back.

Sam is one week old today!

He's a good eater.  His cheeks and feet are starting to chub out a little.  I'm not nearly as worried about ounces consumed and latch technique as I was the first time around.

He has sleepy smiles and gassy smiles that I love.

He spends a few times a day being quietly alert, just looking around at the lights and sounds.

He hates diaper changes with a fiery passion.   We've been fighting a diaper rash since his first day home and are just now starting to see some healing.  He also had some burns from the numbing cream used in circumcision, and of course the loveliness of circumcision and drying umbilical cord, all make for an ugly picture in the diaper area.  Can't say I blame him for donkey braying every time we change him. 

He sleeps easily, for 1.5 to 2.5 hour stretches.  At night he easily wakes to eat, then swaddles back to sleep rather quickly.  I can't remember if Jack slept this well right from the start.  Maybe the struggle will come later.  So I'm trying to enjoy the relative ease of the nightly feedings at this point. 

I can't get enough of that warm, fuzzy head under my nose and cheek.

Every morning Jack jumps into bed with us and we lazily snooze a little extra before starting the day. 

Jack loves his brother, although he wishes Sam would interact a little more.  In a few months they will start really having fun. 









This morning Ben invited Jack to the zoo.  I was going to stay home for some rest and quiet, but Jack easily swayed me to join them.  Obviously we split into two groups, but I think Jack was excited that the whole family went out together. 



Sam was not impressed with the animals.  We walked around a little, then settled on the grass near the mountain rams. 





If you want to see more photos, just click on my flickr link on the right side of my blog.  I put a lot of pictures there that I don't write about here.

"Babies know when it's time to get out."
"Don't rush your baby, he will come when he's ready."
"Savor those little kicks and your last chance to sleep all night."

This is the kind of advice I read as I entered my 40th week of pregnancy with no strong signs of impending labor.  So when I scheduled an induction for later that week I felt all kinds of guilty over it.  Why can't my body just figure it out?

Fast forward to another healthy, robust boy of larger than average size, after a safe and pitocin-free induction the next day.  My midwife Norine said "I'm so glad you got him out when you did.  It was the right time. You made a good choice."  Relief and validation flooded me.  Those were the exact words I needed to hear.

Thursday afternoon was the slowest day ever.  Minutes crawled by as I waited for 5 pm to confirm my spot for that night at the hospital.  Once confirmed, I gave Amanda the call to come over to Jack sit for the next 24 hours.  Anxiously I watched the clock crawl to 7:10- time to head to the hospital.

Once checked into my LD suite I got the usual IV and they started penicillin.  This being my second baby, they anticipated a quick labor.  I ended up getting several (6?) rounds of antibiotics before the birth, since they give them every 4 hours for GBS+ mothers.  They put me on the fetal monitors and saw the same old Braxton Hicks contractions I've been having for months.  I was also still 3 cm dilated, no change from the last two weeks.  This meant I could still benefit from misoprostol as a first step.  The hospital was running a study of the medication.  I happily agreed to participate in their double blind trial to see which route of medication is most effective.  Just like with Jack, I had a night time dose, then an early AM dose.  Unlike with Jack, not much happened.

Ben and I didn't sleep much that night.  Between the anxiety, uncomfortable beds, and frequent monitoring and medication checks, we each scored about 2 hours of sleep.  In the morning I was 4 cm.  It was disheartening.  Obviously this wouldn't be a quick induction, and again I worried that I was rushing Sam.
 
The midwife broke my water at 10 AM.  They monitored me for an hour in bed and contractions definitely started for real.  At 11 AM I got up to walk around the unit.  I waddled in circles for the next hour until they had to put me on the monitor again.  Contractions were coming every 3 to 7 minutes and were getting hard to talk through.

After monitoring I tried the jacuzzi tub, remembering how nice it was with my first labor.  Not very nice this time.  Not sure why it didn't help the pain.  I quickly washed my hair and got out.

Back in bed I was emotionally at a low point.  My midwife came in and we talked about starting an epidural.  I was worried it would stall labor, since now I was only up to 5 cm.  But the pain was getting intense and I was exhausted, so we called anesthesiology.

That's when I hit my physical low point.  It took 3 tries for him to get the epidural placed.  The first attempt drew back blood.  The second adjustment was incorrect.  The third try in a new vertebral space finally worked.  And dang, those pricks and tests HURT.  During that, my contractions were 1 minute apart or less, lasting 1 minute each.  Relief couldn't come fast enough.  I'm hazy of the details, but I would guess it took at least 30 minutes to place the catheter.  Finally I dropped back into bed and tried to doze without much success.

At 3:45 I jumped to 7 cm.  I couldn't help but compare this to Jacks birth, because at this point in the day we did 5 minutes of pushing and he was born.  I still had a ways to go.  I didn't believe them when they said the last few cm go fast, because everything so far has been slow.  I was also bummed that my midwife would have a shift change soon, so I'd have someone else for delivery.

More waiting and waiting.

My folks arrived in Denver and we gave the family an update.  I told them to come visit if they want, since I was bored and needing distraction.

But at 6 pm the nurse checked me and I was "9.9 cm."  She and the new midwife decided to let me "labor down" for another 30 minutes and then start pushing.  So when Amanda, Jack, and my parents arrived it was just a quick hello.  They went out for ice cream to wait.

By this point the epidural was not doing a whole lot.  I was pushing the extra dose button as much as I could.  I mentioned this to the delivery team.  They felt like it would all be over soon and I would do better not to get the dose adjusted, but to just power through.  I wish I had argued in hindsight because I felt EVERYTHING.

My day midwife wanted to labor him down a lot, then get him out in one easy push.  My new midwife had a different plan.  We went slow and steady, pushing for half an hour.  Like I said, if I had known it would go on that long I would have insisted on more pain med.  But it was too late to go back so I mustered on.

Sam was born at 7:02 pm.  He came out purple as a grape and covered in vernix.  Despite his alarming color, his Apgars were 8 and 9, quite excellent.  He quickly pinked up.

I made them small in case you are squeamish.  Nothing gross, but still kind of raw looking.  Click it if you want to see Sam the Grape larger.


I had warned the team that with my first delivery I had a bad time immediately after.  Bad shakes, vomiting, low blood pressure, and needing oxygen.  They were cautious with me this time and it paid off.  I still had terrible shakes, but they piled on warm blankets and that seemed to help.  They let me stabilize before trying to nurse Sam.  They didn't force me to eat any food until I felt ready to and was keeping liquids down.

By 8 pm things were chill in my LD room and we invited my family to come meet Sam.



The next two days in the postpartum unit were uneventful.  I took full advantage of the nursery at night so I could sleep between feedings.  Feeding Sam was easier because at least I knew what I was doing this time.  So only one of us had to figure things out.

We had our checks by the various doctors and nurses and went home on Sunday.
 
 

Recovery has been great.  Sam has been sleeping well since my last post.  He wakes to eat, poop, then goes back to sleep for a couple hours.  I also try to get a nap in every day.  Usually while Jack naps and Ben plays GTA 5 while watching Sam (he wears headphones of course).

My tearing is so. much. better. than with Jack.  Seriously.  I didn't use half the medications and ice and ointments needed last time.  Engorgement came and went.  My feet were super swollen but they have gone down.  I have the icky bread dough stomach and uneasy appetite, but they are fairly mild.  I had a migraine for 24 hours that just recently subsided.  I get the weepies every day, but that's also normal.  The emotional highs and lows aren't as crazy as last time.  Mostly I have very low stamina.  I think another week and I'll be in pretty good shape.  Whether I can take care of two children at once by myself, we shall see.

My brain has been so foggy, but I feel like it's starting to clear.  I'm slowly getting back in my groove of home care.  Laundry, dishes, making PB&J's, this is my life's work now :-)  Ben has until Monday of paternity leave still.  I think I'll be ready.  Until then, I'm having him do as many diapers as I can before I'm the solo poopsmith.  I gave Sam a sponge bath today (which he hated with a fury!) to get rid of the boy stink.  So fresh and clean now!  He slept heavily afterward. 

Some favorite photos from the last few days:











(toes!)


(Post bath burrowing)


(Socks I made for him the last week before he was born)

Sam weighed exactly 10 pounds today.

Yay, milk! This kid is packing on the chub in record time.

(Warm pack on his foot for routine blood draw)

Jack was watching So You Think You Can Dance with me.  During this number:

He comments, "Those are girls.  (pause)  Those are their daddies.  They are helping them exercise."

 I wish today had been a better day.  Sam was up at night screaming, trying to poop.  I stayed home with him in my PJs while Ben and Jack went to the science museum on this rainy day.  I didn't do much but feed Sam, try unsuccessfully to nap, and finish all of How I Met Your Mother on Netflix. 

Also, a lot of postpartum symptoms came raging back unexpectedly.  This is disappointing, because I've been feeling really good the last few days and thought I was well on the path to health.  Fingers crossed that Sam sleeps better tomorrow and I can be in a better mood.

He's still pretty stinkin' cute though.

Ben went back to work today.  It's hard handling the two kids by myself, but refreshing in a way.  A return to normalcy.

Poor Jack is learning he has to share me now.  Trouble came when I was feeding Sam and Jack whacked his hip into a table, bursting in tears.  Hard to comfort when my lap was full.  Then he went upstairs to go #2, and had to wait while I finished feeding Sam.  Then Sam had to sit in a dirty diaper while I took care of Jack.  Taking turns is for more than just toys. 

Sam's cord came off this morning!  I'm glad, because sponge baths are terrible.  This stinky boy needs a gentle soak.  Maybe tomorrow.  My to do list is full for today:
-Jack's Laundry
-Sam's Laundry
-Take a shower
-Slow cooker dinner
-Story Time
-Make lunches
-Dishes
-Pay bills
-Work from home stuff

I'm proud to say things are right on schedule, with only the last two items undone.  The shower was probably the hardest to accomplish, but I got it done.  Even dried my hair afterward!  But I might crash and take a nap during Jack's quiet time.  Sam had trouble getting back to sleep last night, so I only got an hour at a time, maybe 4 hour total.

Here's pictures from story time today.

Returning books


Checking the frog box for today's theme


Waiting to start


OMG SCARVES!!

And bonus picture of smiling brothers from yesterday

Sam seemed in a good mood after I put Jack to nap.  I took advantage of the moment to give him his first real bath.  It was a total success!  He didn't even get close to tears.  I think he might have enjoyed it even.  Now he smells deliciously of clean baby and chamomile.  I gave him a small meal and he fell into a deep sleep - two hours ago.  Rock on.

Lots of baby photos here.  

Sam surprised me by sleeping through the morning!  He usually wakes up every hour after 4 AM.  Instead last night he went from 4:30 to 7:15!  So I was able to sleep in three segments - 3, 2, and 3 hours.

I don't have much else to say.  Here's some photos!

Baby details

Jack having fun at the Apex Center jungle gym





Miranda sent us a care package with adorable booties, moccasins, and returned this toy rack for his bouncer that Cedar had borrowed. 



He's actually batting it a little this morning!

I remarked to Ben that Sam was three weeks old today.  Overhearing us from the backseat, Jack piped up "Sam is three?  He is the same age me was!"  We explained weeks versus years, but he was still tickled that they were both three.

Sam is growing heartily.  (Why do all romper-makers think babies have stumpy legs?  I know my boys are long, but the body fits!  Why are the legs all capri length?)

He really is a good baby too.  He has a nightly fuss starting at 7:30.  But I can manage it easily and it doesn't last the hours that I recall it lasting with Jack.  In general he behaves better than I expect a newborn to behave.  Sam is awake for about an hour at a time, then he naps for 1-2 hours.  At night he goes back to sleep rather quickly with a swaddle and a couple minutes of rocking.


Sam can turn himself from his back to his side.  He hasn't flipped all the way back to front yet, but there have been times I thought he would.  He can hold his head up while sitting for several seconds.  Even longer if he's having a gassy fit ;-)  He already lifts his head a little during tummy time.  (Jack LOVES "tummy time."  I think he likes anything "time."  He gets down on the blanket with Sam and mimics him, or pretends to swim, or does what he thinks are exercise moves.)


Today was a nice day.  Ben worked from home, so I got to see him periodically.  I signed up Jack for some dance and art classes.   That will be fun when they start in a couple weeks.

Today we had our first snow!  I like to make Belgian waffles on the first snow of every year.


Jack was sad the snow wasn't enough to make snowballs, and was melted by 10 AM.


But it was still a lovely October day.  We went for a walk around the neighborhood before going out to lunch with Ben.  (He's trying to make a funny face.  Most of my photos are some variation of this now.) 


During quiet time I cleaned dishes and gave Sam a bath.  After Ben and I finished work and Jack woke up we went to Cherry Creek mall.  Sadly, the play area was torn up for renovations.  So Ben and Jack went to a toy store and bought hoodies at H&M while Sam and I browsed the Janie and Jack store.  I indulged in a cute romper for Sam to wear for his blessing.  We all met up for pizza then went home for a quiet evening. 

Two more Samigrams, just because of the cuteness.  

Amanda generously offered her babysitting services for us today and I was quick to accept.  I've been clinging to this date all week.  A couple hours out of the house, just me and Ben, with no kids' meals, no car seats, no whining, no wiping bottoms, no crying, no pacifying - sign me up!

We had lunch at a relatively new bar in the Baker neighborhood called Punch Bowl Social.  I hear it's crazy nuts to get in during the popular times.  Lunch was deserted.  We had great service and enjoyed the food, despite piddly reviews online.   (A review of the Portland location called it "Applebee's-esque."  Dude, what kind of Applebee's do you have in Oregon?)  I'm a sucker for the hipster design PBS subscribes to: lots of antlers, exposed brick, bare bulbs, chandeliers, rich upholstery, and mason jar cups.  The red curtains made me think of the Alamo wistfully (can't wait to go back there). 

The food wasn't amazing - we suspect the tomatoes were not truly heirloom.  But I enjoyed everything thoroughly.*   I would definitely go back there so long as it's not crowded.  The whole place is cool, with bowling, darts, shuffleboard, and an array of arcade cabinets and pinball.  Ben dropped a few quarters :-)

A quick call to Amanda let us know the boys were ok and we could stay out a little longer.  We popped in Fancy Tiger to browse and chat with Jaime.  There's extra spin nights every night next week.  Maybe I can make it to one.  I haven't spun yarn in ages!  There were no less than three items I wanted to buy, but I resisted temptation.  Between Halloween and Christmas I must stay focused on already planned projects!

Then we wandered up and down Broadway, killing time until the ice cream shop opened. 


Thank you so much, Amanda!  We had a fabulous date!


*Things I love about not being pregnant:

• Eating deli sandwiches
• Eating bacon
• Sleeping on my back
• Sleeping on my side
• Sleeping on my stomach
• Picking things off the ground
• Fitting in my shower
• Holding my pee for hours

Not much to say.  Just some photos and captions.  I'm trying to nap and sleep more.  Sam regularly gets a 3 hour stretch each night.  Last night he even went 4 hours!  He still has a fierce diaper rash that is starting to get sores.  We went on a mini-hunt last night for the heavy duty butt paste. 

Jack seems happy enough, although I feel guilty about how much less attention I can give him now.  Maybe he sees the increase in TV and game time as a fair trade.  I did manage to go on a playdate with some friends yesterday.  Erin has a girl, Nora, who is Jack's age, and her Henry was born the same weekend as Sam.  We were pretty proud of ourselves for getting out.  Stupid Jumpstreet had seasonal hours and were closed when we got there.  But we had fun at the Apex jungle gym instead. 

Besides that: a lot of errands, rocking the bouncer, chocolate milk, and breast milk. 

Onto photos!

This weekend my parents came to visit the kids.  Andy and Jenn came too, to get a break from Salt Lake, meet Sam and the new house, and celebrate Andy's birthday.  Sadly Amanda had to spend most of the weekend on a speech meet.  But she was able to join us today for Sam's blessing and to open birthday presents as her day is next Saturday.

I gladly welcomed the help holding, soothing, burping, and changing Sam and entertaining Jack.  My folks also babysat so we could go to a movie at the Alamo.  Once again, I didn't really want to see it (Gravity) but the allure of the theater pulls me there.

My baby is one month old today. 



I've been writing about him a lot, so I don't have much more to add.  He's beautiful.  He's a good baby.  He went 4.5 hours of sleeping last night.  He's a big guy and has outgrown several outfits already.  He takes a bottle just fine.  He likes his pacifier but doesn't need to keep it in while sleeping.  He smiles at us more every day. 














I love you, Sam.  Welcome to the family! 

(Jack photo-bombed this one and insisted I take his picture before I could resume)

Jack demonstrates head lifting. 

We went to Allendale park again.  It's about a 20 minute walk from our house: ambitious, but not crazy long.  The first time I had Sam in the stroller and had Jack walk.



Jack was worn out by the walk home and had some trouble with scraped knees.  He really wanted me to carry him the last two blocks, which of course I couldn't do.

This time I took Sam on my carrier and pushed Jack in his stroller.


He was thrilled about this arrangement.  I'm on the fence.  On the one hand, I could control our speed and not worry about him wandering off the path.  On the other hand, that's a lot of boy for me to push and carry! 

Both ways, we had a lot of fun.

I'm finding a rhythm to the day and it's nice.  Sam is surprisingly regular about his feedings.  I even got the boys to take naps up in their rooms at the same time, three times this week!  It's so liberating to have them safely snoozing away from me. 

Our trees are not disappointing in the leaf department.  It's actually fun to help with the yard work. 

After feeding Sam, potty helping Jack, changing diapers, and grabbing my robe, I ambled downstairs to start breakfast.  We had leftover bacon from last weekend and I excitedly turned on my oven.  The display briefly turned on, then went dead.  Well, crud.  The range top worked, and so did the oven light.  Grumbling to myself, I pulled out an iron skillet to cook bacon the inferior way, and reported to Ben that I broke the oven. 

We had a repair man here within two hours.  He just banged on the display and informed me what I already knew.  For $70 we got the obvious diagnosis that the electrical panel was dead and an outrageous estimate for $547 to replace it.  Apparently the part is $400+.  Ben dismissed him and we decided to replace the whole thing.  Until we found out that ranges like ours are $1200 and up.  Cheaper models won't work in our space.  Hurrah for the internet - I found the part we needed for just $250!  I took apart the oven to explore and it seems like an easy fix.  I've upgraded both our car stereos, so I figure this can't be much harder.  Until Monday or Tuesday when the new panel comes, we will have to rely on the stovetop and slow cookers for meals.  I hope my DIY works.  I'm sick of appliances breaking. 

Today was Jack's first of four art classes.  I dropped him off at the rec center and felt a little weird leaving the building.  It's the first time I've left him with strangers while I went away.  Sunday nursery and babysitting don't count for that.  Any twinges of maternal sadness melted away when I entered Target.  Armed with a sleeping baby and a hot chocolate, I slowly browsed ONLY the sections I wanted (no toy aisles!).  It was strangely therapeutic.  I came away with a few practical purchases and a few unplanned, cheap, splurges - typical Target experience. 



I picked up a very happy kid after one hour and we all went out to lunch with Ben, taking a break from his work at home day. 

Tomorrow I look forward to help with the diaper changes (I HATE changing diapers) and a birthday dinner out with Amanda and her friends.

Came back on suddenly. Bonkers.

Birthday dinner for Amanda!

Today Jack called me a stinker when I told him to eat a carrot.  It was the first time he has called me a name.  (I call him stinker all the time when we play, it's our friendly insult.)

A couple days ago he trash-talked for the first time.  While playing Lego Star Wars with Ben, he called out "You want to fall?  Do you want to fall down, Darth Vader?"  So cruel ;-)

We have good days and bad.
Yesterday = nursing every 45 minutes, 10 minute naps, constant fussing.
Today = nursing every 1.5-3 hours, naps for hours, smiles on demand.

I like good days.

There's no lack of fall foliage at our house.  Thanks to three mature trees in our yard we have an abundance of leaves to rake this Fall.   I should have taken a "before" photo so you could see the thick carpet of leaves on our patio.  This is one of four piles I made. Do you remember when you were this small?





















I'm leaving the bagging for Ben ;-)

What a weekend we have ahead of us!  Today is Jack's Messy Art Class and my 6 week postpartum check-up.  Then we have a Halloween party at church tonight, and Ben told Jack they could have a camp-out together in his room.  Then, most exciting of all, Betty and Rick are coming to visit!  They get to meet Sam and play with Jack all weekend long.

What better way to kick off all the fun than with pumpkin pancakes?

Jack read this book to Sam this morning while waiting to leave.  So cute!



Fall is the best.

I can't wait to show you our adorable costumes this year, so here they are!  As I said earlier, tonight was the Halloween party for our church.  It was carnival games and trick-or-treating.  Jack had a blast!  Sam was agog at all the lights and people and noise, in a good way.  Our costumes turned out perfect.

Ever since April Jack has been saying he wants to be a dragon for Halloween.  I couldn't find the time to make his costume this year, but my mom rescued me!  Look at this amazing job she did.

Ben is a wizard, using costume parts we already had, plus a Gandalf hat from Amazon.  We were surprised at how few adults dressed up, but we got a ton of compliments for doing so. 

Sam is a spider and I'm his web.  I only had to buy the black socks and red tape for him, and a $5 piece of fabric for me.  That's the kind of DIY I can handle this year. 






Jack loved the games, but got extra excited when the trick-or-treating was announced.  Even Sam got candy.
















Can't wait for more celebrations!  I hope to take nice pictures on the actual holiday, so stay tuned.

Betty and Richard came all the way to Colorado from Maine to meet their new grandson!  There was much baby-holding and coo-watching.  There was also much older brother spoiling ;-)  Jack loves visiting with them and was "so very very very sad" that they had to leave.

Meeting the grandson


Reading Jack a book while Sam snoozes


Walking around Cherry Creek shopping district


I snapped this Sweet Action photo right as Jack spilled his water.


Mason family get-together


Donning appropriate napkin placement for spaghetti slurping at Virgilio's



Sam and I opted for a warm visit to the library for "baby time" (story time for less than 1 year olds) instead of joining the group at the Denver Zoo.  He's already been twice and it was quite drizzly and cold.  I hear that they had the zoo to themselves and Jack had a ton of fun. 


Watching Toy Story Terror in our theater room with popcorn (yeah, I really need to get proper black-out curtains rather than blankets to block the light.  Oy, that looks bad).  Jack is showing how he uses one hand to hold Sam's body, and one hand to hold his head.  Not *quite* the technique I demonstrated to him, but close enough.


Sam cooing at Grandma


What fun!  They boys can't wait for the next visit.

On Tuesday me and the boys met Jack's friend Adam at story time for a special Halloween edition.  After an abbreviated group session, the kids made a parade and went trick-or-treating. 



That's my dragon boy and his friend Harry Potter up front. 


Here at the Help Desk a flock of dragons (3) help themselves to candy. 


Down the administration hall were many more bowls of candy.  The employees told me that they look forward to this day all year. 


Outside I had them show off their haul.  What cuties!  Thanks for letting Adam join us, April!

We loaded up the kids so we could walk at a brisk pace in the brisk air.

After so many pre-Halloween activities, I had to do some work to make the day festive for Jack. Why not start with orange colored milk and a cupcake?


Sam needed to be pictured in this "My first Halloween" bib, even though he has no use for a bib at this point.

Jack loved the little Google game they posted on their home search page. 


Here's a great series of our pumpkin carving experience.

"Yay, Mom!  Pumpkins!"


"What am I going to do with these spoons?"


"Ehhh, it's yucky.  I don't like it."


"No! No! No!  You do it for me."


I wouldn't force him to scoop, but he kept asking what he could do to help.  I came up with the idea to have him design the pumpkin faces for me to copy.  He happily agreed (lucky for me) and I pulled out these cut-outs I made earlier this month.  






Then there was napping by both boys.


An early dinner of Mummy Hot Dogs and Hulk Juice.


Then Wolfie and his family met us to go trick-or-treating. 




It was blustery and chilly tonight.  The boys were done long before Ben would have liked, but plenty long for three year olds.  They came back to play games and watch Toy Story Terror at the house while eating gobs of candy.  A pretty good Halloween if I may say so myself.

Amanda requested further commentary on Jack's Messy Art class.  It's a 4 session class offered at the Wheat Ridge rec center, for an hour each Friday.  It was really strange the first time I dropped him off and left the building.  It was the first time I've ever left him unattended, not counting babysitters or when I'm in the same building, like nursery at church.  I double checked with the teacher, really?  I can go?  I can leave him here and go to Target or whatever?  Sweeeeeeet. 

He seems to love the class and had no problem being left with strange kids and Coach Robin (who also does youth athletics, so she uses that moniker). 

Coach Robin puts the plan on the board each day, so parents can see what they did and cue conversation, since 3-4 year olds are not the best historians.  Usually there's a snack, one or two books, and three projects based on those books.  This was last week's:



And the results:


As you can see, the messy part refers to finger paints, shaving cream, and other sloppy things.  They have a rather simple and brilliant clean-up area.  Just a big tub of mildly soapy water on the floor where the kids can dip and splash to wash off messes. 

Next week is the last Friday art class, but also his first dance class on Wednesday.  I admit, I'm super excited for that one.  It's at the Arvada Center, where I took classes in the years between college and nursing school. 

This image makes me giddy:


After donning the shoes he ran in circles around our house about 17 times.  I'd say he's excited too.

Today I took my little guy to the Arvada Center for his first ballet class.  It was taught by Miss Jen, who I knew from our classes together when I took ballet there 6 years ago.  A lot has changed since then; a career change, two home purchases, and two kids.  I had waves of nostalgia going through the building.  Maybe when the dudes are older I can return to take Tap classes like I've always wanted.   Enough about me, you want to see Jack! 


Let me say that his little dance outfit is adorable in it's simplicity.  Amongst all the tutus and pink and lavender was my sweet boy.  It was kind of a hassle getting the outfit together.  I got his Capezio shoes on Amazon.  The shorts are actually pants from Target that I cut short.  All their shorts were too big for him and I couldn't find any in his size anywhere else. 

After Miss Jen reviewed the rules for class with them (No hanging on barres, no picking at floor tape, no playing the piano, no touching each others tutus or hair, etc) they were released to the room.  Jack made a beeline for the giant mirror and took some coaxing to join the others. 



In general, he was more of a spaz than the other girls.  Jen said that's normal for boys that she teaches.  But he loved it and returned to task fairly well.  I'm glad the teacher understands that this is the first time these kids have ever had structure, turn taking, and direction following to this degree.  I think it will be so good for him. 




In this part she was teaching them stage right/left, up/down stage directions.  She would call out a direction and they ran to the matching side of the room.


Some basics.  Jack took a while to catch onto the copying part.  He wanted to show her his "twirls and "funny moves."




There we go. 




Videos! First some center work, learning plies, releves, and sautes.  They covered first position, but I think Jack will need to do some remedial work with me at home to master it. 

Then I think this game was to teach them cues.  (We couldn't hear anything from outside.)  She gave them moves to do around the room, then the music stopped and they needed to return to their places in the hula hoops. 



I tried to catch his happy face afterwards, but he was a total blur :-)



After class I showed him the dragon they have outside the building.  The foliage was gorgeous so I snapped more pictures. 

After nap, snack, and diaper change.

(Yes, I plan on doing a photo-heavy post for my baby every month of his first year, just like I did with Jack.  Deal with it)

Has it really only been two months?  Then why does he look like a 4 month old? 



Seriously, this kid is a chunk.  Tomorrow is his doctor visit and we will get an official weight.  But yesterday on my bathroom scale it said 14 pounds!  He's outgrown so many hand-me-downs already, a lot of which we couldn't use because he was born in a different season than Jack.  



The upside of a big boy is how strong he is already.  He holds his head up when you hold him, looking around.  He presses to stand on his feet when upright.  He smiles, he laughs, he gurgles, he coos. 



He is getting curiouser and curiouser.



Here he is struggling to flail his arms at his wooden play rack.  This is new this week, that he has purposefully toyed with the beads. 



"Damn you hands, get the blue one!"


This smile is for his brother.  He just lights up when Jack is around. 



Below, Jack was giving him a rendition of the Good Morning song we learned in Story Time. 



And here I am singing it to him earlier today. 

He's a kicker!

What else can I say?  He absolutely, adorably sweet.  Remember all the worry we had about a second child?  Because Jack was so great, it must be downhill from here? 

I hesitate to say it, but Sam is just as good a baby, and even sometimes better.  He falls back asleep easily.  He can take or leave a pacifier.  He reliably sleeps in the car.  He loves to cuddle. 

Nobody's perfect though, and Sam is a terrible eater.  His latch is shallow and he clicks often, the sound of losing suction.  I'm going to see if the doctor agrees he is tongue tied and can do anything about it. 

Even so, I wouldn't trade him for anything.  He's my lovely baby boy. 




Bonus brother picture.  What a difference 3 years makes! (Forgive the groggy morning expressions. We are not morning people in this house.)

QI, pumpkin cookies, and crafting.

What a week it has been.  Last Wednesday Ben woke up quite sick.  Sore throat, sudden vomiting, general yucks.  I banished him to the basement and after a couple days he started to feel better.  That same week Jack had disgusting diarrhea, but no other symptoms.  Add in a couple wet beds, daily blow-outs from Sam, and I felt like I was living in a cesspool.

(Going for a walk, waiting for Dad to come home from work Tuesday)


Thursday Sam got shots and did not recover as well as Jack used to.  For the rest of the day he was shrieking whenever awake, refusing to eat too.  Ugh.  He was sleepy immediately after the appointment, allowing me to take the boys to a play group organized by a girl at church.  It was so fun to be around others with young kids.


 
These three were all born within a couple weeks.

By the way, Sam was 14 pounds 12 ounces, which is 91st percentile.  He was 25 inches long, which was literally off the chart, beyond 100%.  The girl on the right was born the day after Sam and had her appointment that morning too.  She was 8 pounds 6 ounces, and weighing less than 30th percentile.  Funny to have them next to each other. 


By Friday things were looking up. We gladly accepted our friends' offer to babysit - Sam's first time being left with non-family members.  Ben and I had a thoroughly enjoyable couple hours watching the new Thor movie.  Saturday night we had the Arcands over for dinner.  Thai take-out for grown-ups, mac and cheese for the kids.  As I think I mentioned, Nora and Jack are just a month apart in age, and Henry and Sam were born the same weekend.  So fun!  Nora and Jack are fantastic playmates.



Sunday felt kind of normal.  Ben was mostly healthy.  We went to church.  I made cookies.  It looked like we managed to quarantine the illness.

(I like Miranda's term for photos taken during church: Irreverantgrams)

But overnight I heard Jack coughing while I was nursing Sam next door at 3 AM.  Monday morning Jack said he felt fine, even though he overslept by an hour (and thoroughly wet the bed again).  He was rubbing his eyes during story time, but still played.  He was stoked about the excavator that the guest reader, the county commissioner, brought for the kids to explore.  He coughed once more on the drive home, but said he was fine.



After story time we high tailed it to the pediatric dentist, where Sam had an appointment for a frenectomy.  He did great.  The dentists agreed he was mildly tongue tied (same as his pediatrician, who referred us) and poo poohed the risks raised by my mom.  She and my dad had teamed up to dissuade me from "mutilating our grandson."  Sorry folks, but I went through with it.  Sam got righteously angry after the clipping, as expected.  He hardly bled, "tis but a flesh wound" said the dentist.  I nursed him right away and by the time we left the office he was smiling.  Feedings since then have gotten easier and easier, as he lets go of those bad habits.  The pain I had is gone, and he's less gassy.  This morning he was downright jolly.

Back to Jack.  I had plans to bring the family to dinner with Amanda.  Ben got home exhausted, and offered to stay home with Jack so I could have an easier meal out with Amanda.  Sam came, and I enjoyed a delicious, healthy sandwich and soup at ModMarket, followed by a holiday milkshake from Chick-fil-A.  During our meal, I received a series of text from Ben:
"Something ain't right with Jack"
"He seems sick"
"Just so tired"
And he's suddenly gotten very quiet and whispery"
"Full on barfing"

Splendid.

I was so glad Ben kept him home instead of having that scene in a restaurant.  Poor guy was shivering with a fever when I got home.  I just wanted to cuddle him, but I desperately want to keep Sam and me healthy so I kept my distance.  Jack went to bed early last night and slept well.  Today he is super emotional - cried three times before 9 AM.  But the toast and juice were happily eaten and his fever is gone.  We have plans to watch Despicable Me and Cinderella, a long nap, and if all goes well, a trip to the grocery store.

Knowing my luck I'll get this cold/flu/whatever right in time for Thanksgiving.  I'm washing my hands obsessively to try to keep that from happening.

Jack is still sick.  Sam and I are not.  For now.  I'm handwashing like an ID nurse.  I have separate hoodies to wear while caring for each boy.  I have a mysterious dry cough and slight stuffiness, but otherwise feel fine.  I'm choosing to blame the weather on my innocuous symptoms.  We had a cold snap today with a couple inches of snow.  Ben said we can light a fire tonight and I can't wait.  Even with the thermostat in normal range, I'm freezing!

Last night I was up every 1 1/2 to 2 hours with the boys:
I went to bed at 9 (early, but not sleepy), asleep at 10
Sam at 12, eat and change
Jack at 2, vomiting
Sam at 3:30, eat and change
Sam at 5:00, eat and change
Sam at 6:30, pacifier given
Sam at 7:15, poop and peed through diaper, eat, change
Jack at 7:15 crying and retching 

And keep in mind that at each waking I'm up for about 20 minutes, and then it takes me another 15-30 minutes to fall back asleep.  Also, I could hear Jack's hacking cough whenever I was awake, making me tense and gauge if he needs me.

Luckily Ben stayed home to work rather than face the blowing snow across I-25.  He came up to soothe Jack while I cleaned and fed Sam.  Of course, he peed the outfit again after his 9 am nap.

Some outfits are cursed.  I've been trying to get him to wear this four times, and it never makes it past his morning nap.

This is our agenda today:

Also, trying to get him to drink and eat a little something.  This is day three of his hunger strike and his bones are poking out with alarming detail.  I offer him everything he loves, from french fries to Halloween candy.  He nibbles and occasionally eats a saltine cracker.  He does ok with juice too.  We've watched about half that pile of movies and I put him down for an early nap.  With any luck he will stay down for a few hours more.  Anything I can do to kick this cold in the butt I'm willing to try.  Get it out of my house!

Sam woke from his afternoon nap and we had a little chat.

I love baby coos. 

Wish me some sleep tonight.

Through hand washing and prayer I made it to Saturday without getting myself or Sam sick. Why does this thrill me? Because I'm currently sitting in a salon, giving my hair some much needed attention. Ben gave me a break from the boys to go take care of myself for a change.

But the fun doesn't stop there. Tonight he's letting me go to the Alamo with Amanda and her friends to see the new Hunger Games movie. Can you believe it? A long, uninterrupted break from the poop and the boogers and the whines and the cries. Now, I love my boys, but you've been reading what a week it's been in our house.

Yesterday Jack seemed worse rather than better. He woke with his eyes crusted shut. After cleaning them we could see that they were red and swollen, with purple rings under his eyes. I'll spare you the picture I took of green pus oozing out. Later that morning he complained that his ear hurt. He also continues to vomit every day. I took him to see the doctor in the afternoon. (This was the first time I had to take him in for being sick). The rapid strep was negative (yay!) but he was diagnosed with secondary eye and ear infections, as I suspected. We started him on oral antibiotics last night.

I'm sorry Ben has to handle a sick boy, but so so grateful for this break. Ben, you rock and I love you.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Grand Junction, despite half the family being sick.  I haven't uploaded photos yet.  Instead I got out our Christmas decorations and made marshmallows and attended to a cranky baby.  This is just a quick note to say hi and to report that Sam rolled over twice today!  At 2 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days he accomplished this, and fits best in size 9 month clothing.  He continues to impress. 

This week is auditions for the musical, so the busy-ness continues!

What better way to start December than with a screaming baby in the grocery store with a declined credit card, which apparently was stolen?  Let's add a snowstorm to thwart your mother's attempts to visit, so you have no babysitter during auditions week.  Fingers crossed the snow is underwhelming, and no further colds plague our house.

Wow, a lot of pictures of Sam being held.  I guess it was so remarkable to me that he was out of my arms and happy at the same time.

Play dough for Jack



A new rattle for Sam (loves it)


Cooking the feast






Assisting Andy via phone with the family recipe known simply as "rolls."


Admiring our rolls


We had an amazing feast, and Jack ate leftover pizza for Thanksgiving.  >:-P


It wouldn't be a grandparent visit without a bath.


Amanda, Ben, and I went to see Frozen with Jack.  He LOVED it.  Seeing a movie with him is an experience all on its own.  He's crazy about Olaf and got super excited to see Carmike theater's amateur artwork.


Bedtime prep




Sam is crazy for these "infant stim" pictures that go on a mobile.  I brought some for his entertainment while away from home.




Thank you for hosting, Mom and Dad!

Jack must have a mixed up understanding of holidays.  On top of Thanksgiving, we started our Hanukkah sock opening per Mason family tradition (Thank you Betty and Rick, we love them!).

Then the Hanukkah socks have overlapped with Christmas decorating.  Every day Jack asks me if it's Christmas yet.  I forgot to get a chocolate advent calendar, and my embroidered one is not ready for use yet.  Poor kid.  Time is abstract for a three year old who can't tell when a new day starts or ends, give or take a nap, and changing daylight hours.  But it doesn't bother him too much.  All he cares about is that Santa brings him Skylanders Swapforce.  He tells everyone we meet who mentions Christmas to him.


Oh, and check out this glorious marshmallow I made.  My folks gave me a recipe book as an early Christmas present.  I took the hint.  These are marvelous, and I have plans for two more radical ones.  This one is just a plain vanilla bean, to be sure I understood the basic recipe - it's quite different from my usual one, and much better too.


Bonus picture of Sam's first rollover, as previous mentioned.

Miranda asked for more information about my new book, so here it is, Marshmallow Madness by Shauna Sever.  She has a baking blog too.  The book is adorable, with a puffy cover to match the candy.  What I love is how exact her recipes are: she uses common ingredients (Knox powdered gelatin instead of sheets) and tells you exactly how long to whip at what speed for each recipe.  She also tells you how to calibrate your thermometer for different altitudes.  My previous recipes all required a lot of guesswork on my part, but these are practically scientific.  The recipe itself gave me denser yet bouncy smooth marshmallows.  She has me prep the gelatin a different way (melting it smooth before adding) and splitting the corn syrup . . . I forget why, but it works.

I definitely recommend it!  I would feel bad about sharing her recipe secrets with the public, but she posted her classic vanilla recipe on her blog, so have at it!

Amanda's school was cancelled again today.  That means no auditions yet.   Instead I get to spend a homey day trying to stay warm in the below 0 weather.

Pictures from dance class yesterday:

 
 


Jack has been helping me in the kitchen, mostly by snacking and snitching.  Here we are making marshmallows.

Here we are today making Peanut Butter Reindeer cookies





Jack also plays with his dino-robots, watches Despicable Me ("Speekbell Men") on a continuous loop, and talks about how excited he is for Christmas.

Auditions have been pushed back AGAIN.  Friday school was cancelled due to cold temperatures.  I guess -23 wind chill is pretty cold.  Whatever.

In a way it was nice, because I had tons of time to clean my house and put out goodies for Babypalooza!  Our friends Trevor and Cate were visiting from Boston with their new girl Maggie.  She was born within a few weeks of Sam, like many babies I'm finding out.  They wanted to get together with all their old friends who had young ones and we volunteered to host.  It was wild with all the creepers and cooers, but so fun.  Bonus about having parties with friends who are parents - everyone left by 9:45 and they all cleaned up after themselves!  It was the easiest party I've ever had.

We dedicated one moment to taking pictures, and it was no small feat.

The mommies:

 The daddies:
Neil and McKayla, Josh and Petra, Trevor and Maggie, Ben and Sam and Jack, Brian and Xavier, Stephen and Wyatt.


Saturday was crazy fun and busy.  Ben took Jack to the Apex jungle gym after breakfast so I had time cuddle and play with Sam.  Then we went downtown to visit with Trev and Cate some more.  Amanda watched the boys while we had a wonderful date at Bonefish, then I stayed up too late to make an appearance at another holiday party.  How I miss my friends!  I'm trying to host another one this coming weekend so I can spend more time catching up with everyone.

Before our date we made a stop at the mall for an important task.  Can you guess who Jack spied coming back from break?




He was bounded up to Santa with a springing skip so fast I didn't have my camera focused.  But you can see him tick off his wish list right away.








I think here he was asked whether he had been a good boy.  That was a real thinker. 







He told Santa "Happy Christmas" then bounded back to Dad.  So adorable.




We had such a fun couple days I thought it was all sugarplums and jolly and ho ho ho for the season.  But Jack woke up this morning with a stomach virus.  Egads. Give. Me. A. Break.

I think he's better.  He went from 9 vomits in the morning to only 2 after nap.  He was keeping water down, a popsicle, some crackers, and asking for more food when we put him to bed.  I told him no, to not push his stomach.  I hope he feels better tomorrow.  It makes babysitting difficult.  Auditions are now pushed to Monday/Tuesday.  It will be a Christmas miracle if they happen and everyone stays healthy for one solid week.

We made it through auditions and turned out a stellar cast.  We are really excited about this show and group of kids. 

Jack was well enough for me to leave with sitters on Monday and Tuesday.  Still uneasy, still coughing from the November cold, but well enough that I would have sent him to school were he in school.  Tuesday night he had another bout of stomach flu, complete with fever and nightmares and hacking cough.  I think I slept 3 hours that night, between him and the usual Sam needs.  So Wednesday and Thursday were spent in our never-ending convalescence.  Sam and I are still healthy, and I don't think Ben cough the stomach bug (though he suffers from lingering cough too). 

I remember thinking, if we could just get well by Thanksgiving, I'll be happy.  Now I'm repeating that mantra but for Christmas. 

Oh, and my hormones have changed and I'm losing my hair like crazy.  And Sam had a weird rash this morning. 

I'm so glad I don't have to go back to a full time RN job now that Sam is 3 months.  Being a mom is work enough.

Well I'll be, it's another Friday the 13th!  I wonder how often those happen so close together?

  
He had this rash on his belly and back this morning.  He doesn't seem bothered by it, so I'll just keep an eye on it. 



Nope, not bothered at all :-)

Sam gets bigger and bigger.  I have no idea what his weight or clothing size is.  He fits Gerber, Circo, Gymboree and Carter brands size 9 months, some 6 month things still fit but are quite snug.  This outfit from Tea is 12-18 month sized.



He loves peering into faces and laughing at toys.



Everything gets swept into his mouth now.  He's been trying to suck his thumb by using the other hand to push it into his mouth.  Moderate success with profuse drool.



He still hates tummy time.  This was the best face I could coax from him.







Sam still eats every couple hours during the day.  For the last week he has been going down to bed at 7:30 pm, staying asleep until 5 am, then up again at 7 for the day.  Of course, last night he got up three times and broke the pattern.  That's babies - always changing :-) 



I love you, big guy.

Last night I became the latest victim of the stomach bug.  Luckily I think tomorrow I'll be good.  Ben stayed home with me today and I was able to actually sleep and heal. 

Too much sick.  If you will recall, this streak started on November 18th with a flu-like virus for Jack (and a week of diarrhea for him prior to that).  Almost a full month later and we are still dealing with illness.  Blech blech blech.

I made a quick recovery and now the whole family is HEALTHY!  Jack has sprung back to life.  His imagination and his appetite are both in full swing.  With all the presents bought, parties done, and errands run, we are in spontaneous jolly mode.  Pics below. (kind of wonky, I realized part way through that flickr changed my default code, and I'm too lazy to fix them all. :-P )

Adorable Sunday outfits:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelsmason/11457543725/player/

Self-wrapped present to send to Maine:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelsmason/11457648456/player/

We delivered on foot to the UPS store:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelsmason/11457586044/player/

Which had cookies!  and toys! and a tree!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelsmason/11457645436/player/

Devouring cupcakes from Amanda
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelsmason/11457537305/player/

Sharing toys with brother
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelsmason/11457536105/player/

Showing me his "Shield attack upgrade"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelsmason/11457636816/player/

From today, Jack practice wrapping more presents.



We made BOTH tree ornaments and cookies today.

Feeling jealous of Ben's Christmas party at work, I took the kids to Chick-fil-A.  Sam was sleepy.  Jack was ecstatic.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelsmason/11457631316/player/

I had to buy a peppermint chocolate chip milkshake to share with Jack, because he lost so much weight.  It was for his heath, guys.  I HAD to.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelsmason/11457523695/player/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelsmason/11457695083/player/





 Waiting for Ben to come, I let Jack play Skylanders while I sat with Sam.  Ahh, knitting and ballet.  I found a new-to-me Nutcracker on youtube!  It opens in a kitchen with sausages and carcasses, Drosselmeier looks like Nosferatu with a mustache, and the family is like the Thenardiers in Act 3 of Les Miserables.  Can't wait to see the rest of this.  It's from the Mariinsky Ballet.  Those crazy Russians.

For fun, I put Sam in the same outfit Jack wore in this 3 month photo.  Can you tell who is who?

Ok, the extra hand going "Boop!" gives it away. 


JACK:



SAM:





(Boop!)

They actually aren't that different.  I know Sam is humungous for his age, but Jack was big too.  And the difference is just an inch or so.  I think Jack had more limbs, and Sam more belly.  But both boys are big and perfect!

Brian is coming over to eat pizza and play munchkin with us after bedtime. Sam and I are cuddling by the cedar fire.  It's softly snowing outside.  We are watching the Lady Gaga and the Muppets Holiday Spectacular.   It's. . . weird.  But jolly, and Jack likes the Muppets.