Keep it Together

Newborn days

2012-02-01T07:45:00.001-05:00

Every time I sit down to type out a blog post or edit pictures, my little one's sucking on her hands stops me. Its time to nurse, again, and I am more than happy to stop what I am doing to accommodate. All she knows how to do is to nurse, sleep, and poop. And the second one usually happens in my arms more often than not. I know when she gets older, I'll probably want to put her down while she sleeps independently of me, but that's not happening any time soon.

Life goes on, despite a new face in our house. Jaina has a dentist appointment today. We had a baby shower to attend yesterday and have Superbowl plans this weekend. Jocelyn has already been to two basketball games, one practice, and lunch at Chick-fil-a.

Third children are like that :)

I am thankful that she is a champ at nursing, despite how frequently she nurses. Believe me, I've been stuck on the other end with a newborn that didn't know how to latch on and didn't want to nurse more than 7 minutes every 4 hours. The stress he gave me during that phase has burned a place in my brain. So, even though I'm going through the obligatory sore nipple phase, I am so thankful that she loves to nurse and is obviously gaining weight just fine.

Shaggy, our dog, is having the hardest time adjusting to Jocelyn's arrival. He just gets a little too excited around her. My husband commented that it was the same excitement that he shows whenever he is about to chase a bunny in our back yard. I am really hoping that Shaggy does not see our newborn as a baby bunny!

Well, little miss is hungry again... let me check really quick to see if there is a picture of her re-sized on my laptop to post....

Welcome to the World

2012-01-28T08:10:00.000-05:00

Jocelyn Claire Walker

8 pounds, 1 ounce

20.5 inches long

born at 9:11 PM

on Thursday, January 26th

3 AM update

2012-01-25T03:55:00.000-05:00

Oh, pregnancy insomnia.... how I truly hate you. You are robbing me of my last few days (and I mean DAYS, not weeks!) of my ability to sleep all the way through the night uninterrupted.

Tonight, however, its probably not all baby's fault. I have a lot on my mind. A dear friend of mine was taken to the hospital yesterday to be induced. This is her first baby. (I'm also trying to ignore the fact that she was due after me, but whatever. So far every single one of my friends who was "due after me" have already had their babies. What's one more?)

You know I'm all for natural birth when it can happen. But its still sobering to realize that there are just some things completely out of your control. There is a reason that doctors and hospitals can sometimes be a better choice than a midwife and a birth center. There is a reason that Cesarean sections have to take place. Not every birth goes smoothly without complications.

And my heart breaks for these women, my friends, who have dreamed of the "perfect birth" surrounded by supportive family and friends, letting nature do its thing. When the dream is etched in your mind, that's all you are prepared for. Its inconceivable that another scenario might actually take place instead.

If you are the praying type, please send some prayers to lift up my friend. She needs all the positive birth vibes you can muster.
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As for me, nothing new. I was checked by my midwife on Monday morning. I was still at 2 cm, 40% effaced. Not the kind of progress I was hoping. I have had inconsistent cramping, braxton hicks, and real contractions pretty much since last week. Stripping my membranes sure stirred things up, too. Yet, active labor still hasn't kicked in. I go back to see my midwife for another check on Friday.

Baby's heart rate is excellent. Lots of movement and variability. (A little TOO much movement, if you ask me! Even fetal hiccups make my whole belly shake by this point!) When doing kick counts, it takes about 5 seconds to track 10 movements. I joked with a friend that the baby was already up to 100 kicks by 9 AM yesterday... and that's not even the baby's most active time of day!

My blood pressure rocks. My urine is always negative. I'm not measuring too big. There is literally just no reason to try to make this baby come before he/she is ready.

I just wish it would hurry up and decide that its ready. Cause *I* am ready!

Thanks for hanging in there with me :)

I Heart Faces: By the Book

2012-01-23T05:41:00.004-05:00

As soon as I saw the challenge theme, I had just the picture I wanted to share.

It was one of our first soccer games of the season and we were running out the door so we wouldn't be late to the fields. And where was Jayce? Reading "Are You My Mother?" by PD Eastman to himself in his room. In full soccer gear :) This picture makes me smile every time I see it.

Go check out all the rest of the great By The Book entries over at I Heart Faces!

My Terrific Kid

2012-01-22T17:51:00.002-05:00

Jaina loves school and always has.

She loves meeting new friends, art class, recess, socializing at lunch, playing sports during PE and Health and Fitness, loves it when she gets to wear new clothes to class, and loves class parties.

The academics?

Eh, not so much.

I think she takes after my side of the family when it comes to Math, Reading, and Science :)

So it comes as no surprise that she has to work extra hard both in school and at home to keep her grades up to par. This is the first year I can say that she's enjoyed reading. Math continues to be a thorn in her side. She could totally live without Science and Social Studies.

At the last Awards Day at her school, she was upset that she missed out on all the awards that her peers received. No A/B Honor roll, no perfect attendance, no 100 book challenge award, no highest score in any subject award. She did receive the "Sunshine Award" but its just a made-up fluff award by her teacher to give to kids that don't earn any of the "real" awards.

This past Thursday, the day before 2nd Quarter Awards, she says to me, "I don't even care about awards day tomorrow. I never get anything. You don't even have to come."

She had no idea that her teacher had emailed me specifically requesting that Brian and I attend on Friday :) And I didn't say a word!

With my pregnant brain not fully functioning, I almost did forget about her program the next morning. I dropped both kids off at school in my PJ's and sauntered back to the house by 8 AM only to find Brian completely ready to go. Ack! I didn't have time to shower! I threw clothes on, brushed my teeth, ran a brush through my hair, and we barely made it up to her school by 8:15.

I think she was secretly happy that we came :)

One of the first awards handed out was for outstanding work in Technology Class.

and it went to Jaina! We were as surprised as she was! That's not the award her teacher had told us about. Brian was especially proud, you know, being a computer geek and all :)

The next award that was given went to Jaina's best friend Eva for creative writing. Their teacher asked Eva to come up and share her story that helped her to win the award.

The story was entitled, "My Best Friend Jaina" and went on to describe the qualities Jaina has that makes her such a great friend. It was so sweet!!! Jaina's ears turned bright red!

After all the academic awards and "fluff" awards were given out, it was time for the most important award: Terrific Kid.

Only 8 children a year are picked for Terrific Kid in each class. Normally its one girl and one boy, but since Jaina is in a single gender class, her teacher got to pick two girls.

Jaina was SO surprised!!!! Terrific Kids are chosen based on many different merits... hard work, kindness, respect, character, etc. Its a very big honor. This is the third time Jaina's been chosen since 1st grade :)

Jaina just happened to be the classroom's Pink Princess this week as well. This means she was the teacher's right hand helper. She got to deliver messages to the office, be the line leader, act as the bathroom monitor, and water the plants :)

It was a very uplifting morning for Jaina. Sometimes she struggles with feeling special in our home. 9 years old is such an awkward age. She wants to be independent, but still my baby. She wants to be grown up, but still play with toys. She craves the attention that Jayce receives from both Brian and me and his team of therapists.

I'm so proud of my baby :)

365: Third week of January

2012-01-22T10:15:00.004-05:00

Update...

2012-01-21T06:57:00.002-05:00

My best friend Farell, who is currently residing outside of Nuremberg, Germany, just came up yesterday to visit with me. She is only here for the weekend, then will be heading back to Atlanta to catch her flight out on Wednesday to return home to Germany.

She was only here a few hours before my contractions started last night. I was very quick to remind myself that it was probably not the start of real labor. They didn't have a pattern and they weren't increasing with strength or lasting very long. But still... I thought in the back of my head that this baby was waiting for his/her aunt Farrell to arrive and maybe, just maybe, she would be present for the birth.

See, she missed Jaina's birth by TWO days. She had her plane ticket to Seattle booked for May 21st, 2002. I was due on May 12th, 2002 with my first baby and I just *knew* I'd have the baby by the time she left. Nope. Miss Jaina was ll days overdue. Talk about frustrating. I had used Certified Nurse Midwives at our local hospital and they assured me that babies come when they are ready. And most of my friends assured me that if I had been using a "real" OB/GYN, I would have been induced at least by 39 weeks. It was definitely a lesson in patience!

Still, I wouldn't have changed my birth experience with her for the world. Okay, maybe I would have gone back in time to take a Bradley birth class and I definitely would have skipped the epidural (that I got during transition and had no idea that I was so close to delivering!). But, I still think my non-induced vaginal birth was lovely and well worth the wait. She was 7 lbs, 10 oz of beautiful pink skin. She didn't look "overdue" whatsoever and my placenta showed no signs of being old or calcified. She came when she was ready. She got excellent APGAR scores and we had no trouble with breathing or latching issues. There is no doubt in my mind that she needed those 11 "extra" days to develop. And it also taught me that I could trust my body to do its job.

On my due date with Jayce, I had a different set of friends. These friends were more like me... used midwives, breastfed, co-slept, practiced attachment parenting. They were a wonderful support system when my due date with him came and went. I was honestly expecting another almost-two-week overdue baby like his sister, so wasn't I pleasantly surprised when he came just 4 days after his documented due date?

Even past term, he was only 6 lbs, 13 oz. He looked so tiny compared to Jaina. A pound can make a huge difference! Because of some meconium in his fluid, he did have a slight respiratory issue when he first came out. But NICU docs checked him out and all was well. I had him with the same Certified Nurse Midwives by my side and also had a doula for the first time. With this support, I was able to give birth completely drug free. It was a beautiful labor and I felt so confident when I was able to relax through contractions and just ride the wave. It only got intense during transition and by then, I knew he was going to be coming soon.

With those two wonderful, but different, experiences, I can only guess what this next baby's birth will be like. I am sad that I had to transfer from the CNM's practice due to their new policies. I would have loved to have the same wonderful women surround me at the birth of all my children. But it wasn't meant to be. If I stayed with the CNM's practice that they are affiliated with, I would have a 95% chance that my baby would be delivered by an intern completing his round of obstetrics for his residency.

No offense to any residents out there who read my blog (or is married to one!). I know they have to learn somewhere. I just don't want to have to fight with someone who is trained in birth complications to let me labor naturally. Our residents have a hard time believing that birth is not a problem. Believe me, my CNM's are trying desperately hard to change their view. Their main function at the hospital now is to educate the residents in natural birth. If I cared more about my view of natural labor than my baby, I might even be willing to help out in this education. But I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Too many interventions may be suggested and a laboring woman can be very distracted by all of the options.

I have chosen this time to give birth with a South Carolina licensed midwife team at a local birth center. The only difference between this and a home birth is that its not at my house :) The birth center offers birthing suites with full sized birthing tubs in them. I can labor on the bed, in the tub, on a birthing ball or birthing stool, or any way I need to. I'll be permitted to wear my own clothes (believe me, I will not miss the hospital gowns required!) and even my contacts if I want. I will have access to drinks and snacks for energy. I will not have an IV or a catheter. I will not be confined to a bed on my back. I will not have constant external monitoring. I will be free to move around the entire birth center, or even go outside, if I choose. My children are welcome to stay as long as they'd like and even witness the birth. I am allowed a birth photographer and a doula and anyone else that I'd like present. There is no 48 minimum required stay. Instead, the midwives will let me go home when baby and I are comfortable with it. They will then come to my house at 24 and 48 hours after the birth to do both maternal and newborn monitoring.

My husband can be as active or inactive as he'd like (His plan right now is to update FB until the baby is actually crowning, then he wants to help guide the baby out and cut the non-pulsating cord). There is no pressure on him since I'll be surrounded by the wonderful women I've chosen to support me during my labor.

I feel very ready. I want to get this show on the road and meet my new baby :)

Because of liability, I will not allowed to go over 42 weeks gestation. And yes, before you ask, I know exactly the day I ovulated due to charting my cycle, so I am very confident of how long this baby has actually been gestating.

Tomorrow I'll be 41 weeks. I have an appt at the birth center on Monday to check for any dilation or effacement. She will also strip my membranes. If the baby does not come that week, I'll be transferred to my old OB/GYN practice for monitoring with ultrasound and non-stress tests. An induction at the hospital will be scheduled. I have no idea if I could arrange to have my CNM there with me or not. I don't know what her delivery schedule is like. Most likely I'd have a supervising doctor admit me and a resident deliver when its time.

Induction means pitocin. I've never had it, but I've heard its horror stories from women who have had both pitocin inductions and labors on their own. I think the consensus is that pitocin contractions hurt about 10 times worse than your own natural oxytocin contractions. Most women I know on pitocin opt for an epidural early in labor. I will be one of them! And I have to be honest.... epidurals scare me. Yes, I know that I had one with Jaina and everything was fine, but the possibility that something could go wrong (like leaky spinal fluid that results in a spinal head ache and consequent spinal patch) has me terrified. The research is pretty darn clear. Failed induction and use of epidural are directly correlated in the c-section rate.

I cannot have a c-section. I just can't.

I have an intestinal condition that required multiple surgeries when I was just 24 hours old. My 33 years of scar tissue that has resulted from that surgery has left my abdomen a mess. Cutting into that mess would not be fun. And the doctors can pretty much guarantee that I would have massive amounts of scar tissue from any other kind of surgery, especially a c-section. This would make having any subsequent children extremely risky from a medical standpoint.

Although this baby #3 is possibly our last anyway, *I* want to be the one to make that decision, not a doctor. My heart breaks for women who are told, "Sorry... you really should get your tubes tied because our practice won't do more than 3 c-sections on any given mom. So this is your last kid..." To have that choice taken away from you? I never want that.

Sorry this is so long and rambly. Possibly my readers can forgive me since I'm suffering, yet again, from pregnancy insomnia. I would much rather lose sleep over a nursing newborn than be awake for absolutely no reason.

Today I will watch my children play basketball, tell anyone that sees me there "Nope, STILL haven't had that baby!", eat lunch at Chick-fil-a, vote for Herman Cain in the SC Republican primaries ("Because a vote for Herman Cain is really a vote for me!"- Stephen Colbert) and enjoy my best friend Farrell's company. And try not to think about when I'll go into labor.

Feel free to add me as a friend on FB if you would like birth updates. That is the first place that information will be posted :) If you don't think I know your name, please add in a message that you are a blog reader :)

Thanks so much for all the kind, supportive words you've shared with me in the comments section. They mean a lot!

40 weeks 4 days

2012-01-19T17:30:00.000-05:00

Um, yeah.

This baby is now officially more overdue that Jayce was.

But luckily, still not as overdue as Jaina was.

But I'm even more impatient this go 'round.

Come on, baby... please! Mommy does not want to have a hospital induction, okay?

A new stim

2012-01-17T21:31:00.002-05:00

Everyone knows what a stim is, right? In the Autism World, its short for "self-stimulatory behavior". Way too big of a mouthful to say every time you see your kid hand flapping. "Hey, Jayce! Let's use your words to show how excited you are instead of using a self-stimulatory behavior!"

Honestly, stims aren't a huge problem in the grand scheme of things. I read on a SN forum one time, "No one has ever been injured by a stim" or something like that. When you have a child that is non-verbal or one that engages in self-injurious behavior (where's the abbreviation for that?), a little hand flapping gets ranked pretty low on things to work on.

Before I had Jayce, I was not very knowledgeable about stims. I only thought there were three: hand flapping, toe walking, and rocking back and forth. Ha! Now I know there are verbal stims, visual stims, and that physical stims can be very subtle or seen as a tic.

I also had no idea what caused them. Or why the person felt the need/compulsion to do the behavior. From what I understand, most stimming is related to sensory input some how.

Jayce has had many stims over the last 4 years. Most of them I just ignore. It will pass. The hand flapping does get a verbal correction because it seems to help him in the long run with communication. He pretty much only hand flaps now if he's super excited about something or else sees things in motion. With the excitement thing, if he uses his words to TELL us how excited he is, most often he forgets to use his hands to tell us. With the motion thing, there doesn't seem to be anything we can do about that.

His newest stim, though, bothers me. Its not so much that he looks weird doing it (and I do worry about teasing the older he gets), but its that he's told me that he is very uncomfortable. Its this crazy little shoulder shrug while pulling on his shirt. It looks like he is very uncomfortable in his skin. When I ask him about it, he tells me that nothing hurts, but he can't stop moving his shoulders that way because they are uncomfortable unless he does the motion. It was just an occasional thing a couple of weeks ago. Now he does it all the time.

I don't want him to be uncomfortable :(

His OT suggested that we give him a lot more proprioceptive input. We haven't had to visit a sensory diet in what seems like forever! But as I'm reading this website to re-familiarize myself with appropriate sensory activities, I am realizing that Jayce is having a lot of sensory issues again. Its affecting his ability to focus, his gross motor skills, and his inability to sit still.

We're going to try some sensory activities before moving to a weighted vest or a pressure vest. I know he's only in 1st grade, but I worry about him needing a vest at school and looking different. I know I shouldn't.... just being honest here.

On a completely different topic, the kids received report cards today. I asked Jayce to tell me what his grades were.

"Well, I got a 64 in Math. That's an "F" mom."

I quickly open up his report card to see for myself.

He had straight A's, which is what I was expecting.

"Jayce! You have an A in math! Why did you think you failed?"

Then I see his one fast facts test (sums up to 14) in his blue folder with a 64 on it. It looks like he just ran out of time. The 64 he completed out of 100 were correct. The rest were unfinished due to time constraints. I then had to explain to him what an "average" was and how one little fast facts score wasn't enough to mess his A average up :) Silly boy!

Oh, and no... still no baby. Jayce is determined for me to have a c-section and he can't fathom why this baby does not know that its 40 weeks are up!

365: Second Week of January

2012-01-15T07:09:00.000-05:00

My Blessingway

2012-01-13T08:56:00.002-05:00

The Blessingway ceremony comes from Navajo tradition, but has been embraced by many communities. A Blessingway can be offered to celebrate, support and honor many life changes--healing, the beginning of menstruation, marriage, birth, life transition, even a journey or a move.

My dear friends from our local La Leche League chapter honored my upcoming labor and birth with a Blessingway. It was a beautiful celebration with my lovely friends.

Each guest had a turn in lighting a candle. These candles will be re-lit during my labor.

Amy painted the above picture and felt inspired to include a nighttime scene due to my pregnancy insomnia. It will hang in our master bedroom above the bassinet where the baby will sleep.

Angie decorated my growing belly with henna. We hope it to last, unfaded, until I give birth.

Mary and Kathy pampered me with a foot massage. It was heavenly.

While we were enjoying each others' company, each guest passed around a bound journal in which they could write a poem, letter, or draw a picture that will help me through the birthing process.

I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends lift me up in spirit these last few days of my pregnancy.

All About Me Meme

2012-01-12T17:02:00.003-05:00

My friend Allie over at Baby Fields Blog tagged me in an "All about Me" blog meme. Its been so long since I've participated in one! I appreciate having something to do while I wait for my real labor to start :) Thanks so much Allie!

There are four rules to this meme....

Thank the person who gave you the award.
Link back to the Blogger (or Bloggers) who awarded you.
Answer the following questions, down below.
Pass the award out and ~~victimize~~ recognize other Bloggers letting them know, of course, that you've ~~nailed~~ love them.

Now on to the questions:

-Favorite color:
My favorite color has always been purple. I even used to have purple keds when I was in 6th and 7th grade. I still love it.

-Favorite animal:
Let's see... my dog Shaggy would probably win out as my favorite animal. I wish I could say that I'm a huge animal lover, but I'm not. Only special ones make it into my heart. Shaggy is definitely special :)

-Favorite Number:
Its always been 53. It might have been because of a certain hot looking basketball player with the same number in HS. Or maybe not? :)

-Favorite drink:
Hands down, an ice-cold fountain coca-cola. I love me some coke :)

Facebook or Twitter?:
I don't own a twitter account, so I'll have to pick FB. Which I spend way too much time on.

-Passion?
Probably breastfeeding and attachment parenting. Autism advocacy will always be a passion, too, but its not at the forefront of our lives as much as it once was.

-Getting or Giving presents?
I'm going to say that I actually prefer receiving presents. Why? Because I'm easy to please and I pretty much like everything. However, shopping for others stresses me out greatly and I always wonder if I picked the right thing, spent the right amount of money, and if my friend appreciated it. I put way too much thought in the process. For example, I love candles and can't have too many. But do I give candles as presents? Typically not because I always feel like its an impersonal gift. See the catch-22?

-Favorite Day:
Friday. I love the anticipation for the weekend and the end of the busy week.

-Favorite Flower:
Tulips

So, now you all know a little bit more about me :) And on to the tagging....

My friend Dodi over at Memorable Times is probably looking for something to do as she waits out the last 8 weeks of her pregnancy :)

My friend Julie at Growing Days has a lot on her plate, but I know she's always up for something fun :)

Thanks for playing ladies :)

False Labor

2012-01-12T06:26:00.001-05:00

This is one post I really wish I wasn't writing.

Yes, my dear blog readers, I was all set to have the baby today. Why did I think that? Well, maybe it was the contractions that I had from 1:30 PM until 10:00 PM? They might have been irregular, but they weren't going away.

Then around 10:00 PM, Brian wakes me up to ask me how my contractions were. Well, if I was sleeping, obviously they were not that bad!

But when I got up to go to the bathroom, a contraction ripped through me and held on.

I never thought it was going to end. Changing position did nothing. Then I had this horrible feeling like I was going to throw up, while I was still having this gripping contraction. It was all I could do to communicate to Brian that I needed something to throw up in. Since I was laying on my bed on all fours at the time and he did not want to wash a comforter in the middle of the night, he was pretty darn quick at getting me a bowl :)

I started having hot flashes during this contraction (that honestly felt like it was 5 minutes long!) so I took off my shirt.

Finally, the pain started to ease. Then I got freezing cold and started shaking. I had another bad contraction after that, but this one wasn't as long.

I called my doula Angie to update her and could barely talk. She told me to call my midwife.

I called my midwife and could barely talk because of the contractions. And the shaking. Now I couldn't get warm! Brian walks in and calmly says, "You should put your shirt back on, silly!"

Midwife knew I had been having off and on contractions for almost 12 hours, so she told me to go ahead and come on in. I called my mom as soon as that last contraction stopped to come over and watch the kids. She arrived at our house by 10:45 PM.

As soon as I got in the van, I felt better. So good, in fact, that a little doubt crept into my head that we should even be heading to the birth center.

By the time we got there, I had only had 3 mild contractions that were no big deal.

Then came the discouraging news.... 2 cm. Ouch. Not really effaced. Double ouch.

So, we came back home. I rolled into bed at midnight and now am up for the day.

And haven't had a single contraction in the last 30 minutes that I've been up.

So, if you could, please send me some "go into labor" vibes because false labor absolutely sucks and I'd really like it to be real!

I'll keep y'all updated....

Basketball

2012-01-11T13:49:00.001-05:00

After playing soccer for the last 4 Fall seasons, my kids decided that they would try their hand(s) at a new sport: Basketball.

I briefly played basketball for a short time during my adolescence. I was on a church league in 6th and 7th grade. This gave me the confidence to go out for the Jr. High 8th grade team at my high school. I was thrilled when I made the team!

(And the only reason I made the team was due to the fact that there were enough uniforms for everyone that tried out!)

I sucked royally at basketball. I wasn't fast, I wasn't aggressive, I spent the whole time unsure of what position I was actually playing. I probably only made about 1/2 of the shots that I tried to put up.

It was not a surprise when I didn't make the team when trying out again in 9th grade. And there ended my glorious basketball career :)

But I'm trying hard not to transfer my less than stellar skills onto my children. You never know... they might actually be good at this sport.

Jayce learned how to properly shoot the ball, but has yet to make one in the basket yet. But he's got dribbling down pat!

And, more importantly, he had a blast at his first game :)

Jaina?

She had fun.... but fully admits that she likes soccer much better.

Both their first games were a success! I hope the rest of the season goes just as well.

Ten on 10: January 2012

2012-01-10T21:43:00.001-05:00

Well, really its Nine on 10. Tuesdays are extremely busy days and I went lots of places that weren't conducive to taking pictures.

Getting Ready

2012-01-09T21:16:00.000-05:00

I think baby is getting ready to make his/her appearance. Not only am I only 6 days away from my due date but I can also feel my body start to prepare for the upcoming birth.

So, am I ready?

For the most part, sure! Bring it on!

We've got the beautiful handmade blanket and hat courtesy of my stepmom Kim.

We've got the gender neutral turquoise and yellow flannel receiving blanket made by my friend Miranda.

Thanks to my friend Michelle, we are equipped with a gorgeous yellow, gray, and lime green bassinet.

I've got enough yellow, gray, off-white, and turquoise newborn sized clothes to last for a good week or so.

We have our names picked out :) And we actually agree!

Bags are packed. Childcare is arranged. Midwife, doula, and photographer are all waiting for my signal.

We just need a baby :)

Off to bed just in case tomorrow is the day! Coincidentally, tomorrow is the 10th. I am supposed to do my Ten on 10 photography challenge tomorrow. Its also one of our busiest days of the week. So maybe I'm *not* quite so ready....

Oh, and if you look to the right of my blog up near the top, I've added a poll option to the side bar.

Boy or girl?

What do you think?

I Heart Faces: Best Face of 2011

2012-01-09T03:41:00.002-05:00

Okay, this was hard. Really hard.

2011 was an amazing year for me as a photographer. And it had nothing to do with me, but everything to do with the wonderful clients I had. Such beautiful people, families, and kids... all with amazing personalities.

I'm choosing to enter this photo of this sweet baby:

He belongs to one of my friends from college. This little one was born several months premature and has amazed us all with how resilient he is.

Its those eyes and smile... they get me every time!

Go check out all the other gorgeous "Best Faces of 2011" over at I Heart Faces

365: First week of January

2012-01-08T18:25:00.002-05:00

The first week was a success. So far I'm enjoying the challenge of taking at least one picture a day.

Every Sunday night I'm going to try to post the pictures from the previous week :)

Its Spring!

2012-01-06T20:31:00.002-05:00

The "high", in terms of temperature, this past Tuesday was 39 degrees. I made my kids actually wear coats instead of jackets to school for the first time this season.

Today? The "high" was 68.

It must be Spring!!!

Wait.... its just January? The very beginning of Winter and usually our coldest month on record?

Its days like today when I actually believe a little bit of the global warming hype.

38 weeks

2012-01-04T18:41:00.000-05:00

Nothing new to report...

(except that I'm down to just a few pairs of pants that fit and obviously I need to stop wearing medium sized shirts!)

Blood pressure is awesome, no signs of pre-eclampsia, no swelling, baby's head is down, baby's active, lots of braxton hicks contractions, only gained 30 lbs!!

Its crazy to me that two ladies I know, both due a few days after me, have already had their babies via c-section. One was medically necessary, the other one was questionable.

As much as I'd like to meet my baby, I also realize that he/she is not quite ready to come out just yet. I'm thankful every day for the excellent care, advice, and treatment I've received from my midwives at the birth center.

All of my gender neutral yellow and gray clothes, hats, socks, and blankets are ready for Baby J.

I'm no longer anticipating the upcoming birth with any trepidation as I was a few weeks ago. I'm ready!

Last Day of Christmas Break

2012-01-02T18:55:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry to report that I spent the day trying to find a doctor's office that was actually open. Who knew that the day after New Year's was also considered a holiday?

I finally trekked over to CVS and went to their Minute Clinic. I was mostly concerned about my sinus pressure and aching ears and the fact that my head feels like its going to explode. The Nurse Practitioner was concerned about my throat. She's 99% positive I have strep, despite the rapid test being negative. As soon as my cultured test comes back, she'll put me on an antibiotic. The reason she didn't go ahead and give me one is that I was *just* on one for my UTI/Kidney stones. I finished it 6 days ago. Instead, I got a decongestant nasal spray to use every 8 hours. Too bad it only worked on my congestion for about 60 minutes instead.

Jaina had the most fun out of all of us today. She and my mom ran all over town. They took down Christmas decorations at the preschool where my mom teaches. They went to Michael's craft store and bought some cardstock. They ate lunch at Ryan's (my daughter goes nuts over a buffet!) Steak House. Then they went back to my mom's house to craft the rest of the afternoon away.

As for Jayce and Brian?

They alternated the day with The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on our Wii, watching TV on the couch, and playing Zelda on Jayce's DS. Do you see how Jayce is wearing his PJ's? This shot was taken at 4:00 PM this afternoon. I honestly can't remember the last time that boy had a bath or got dressed.

That's what vacation is for :)

Tomorrow we start back to the grind. Early bedtimes, dragging kids out of bed in the morning, making lunches, packing backpacks, carpool, ABA therapy, OT at the hospital, piano practice, basketball practice, etc.

I'm tired just thinking about it. I think I'm off to bed :)

Brand New Accomplishment

2012-01-02T08:46:00.002-05:00

Its no secret that Jayce has a some coordination issues. All you have to do is watch him play sports with other kids or run at Field Day. My baby sticks out like a sore thumb :( But never you fear... we continually tackle his motor coordination and low muscle tone with both Occupational Therapy and normal every day activities around the house.

Santa knew Jayce needed a little help and motivation, so he brought Jayce a brand new Razor Scooter, just like his big sister received a few years ago.

His first attempts at riding left the scars of bruised knees and ripped pants.

But just a week later?

My ~~baby~~ big boy's got it down.

Jaina has been patient and kind teaching him how to ride, balance, and turn without falling off.

She also taught him how to "tiny tim", whatever that means.

(the date on this above picture is something new I'm trying out. Project 365 is a photography challenge that many of my friends participate in. The basic premise is simple... select one picture each day and post it somewhere to document how your year progresses. Just a warning, I'm going to fail miserably at this! But I thought I'd try to keep it up as long as possible)

Anyway, back to the scooters....

It has proven to be a great activity that the kids can enjoy together. Having siblings three years apart and different sexes can be tricky sometimes. I'm lucky that both of mine enjoy lots of activities together: legos, swinging on our playset, jumping on our trampoline, playing Wii together....

After Jayce just saw these pictures he said, "That looks like fun. Bye mom! I'm off to go ride!"

:)

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T18:26:00.003-05:00

This may be one of the last pictures of our current family of four! :)

Happy New Year from the Walker Family!

May your 2012 bring loads of health and happiness!

Christmas in Tucker

2011-12-31T07:03:00.000-05:00

The kids barely had time to play with their toys before we started packing up for the 2.5 hour drive to my Dad and Stepmom's house.

I know some might think it a bit crazy to drive yourself out of town at 37 weeks pregnant, but I wasn't worried. First of all, both Jaina and Jayce were born past 40 weeks gestation. Secondly, my labors were 24 hours with both of them. If I *did* happen to go into labor, I was just going to ask one of my relatives to drive me and the kids back home as soon as contractions started. All the worrying and planning was irrelevant, though :)

As soon as we got to town, Kim had a huge Christmas dinner spread for us. My brother Jeff and his girlfriend Pam came over a few minutes later. Unexpectedly, my brother Jason and his girlfriend Cristina made the nasty 10-12 hour drive from Southern Florida to be with us as well. My sister Jami lives in the area, so she was already at my parent's house.

I have to give the kids a lot of credit. Even though they had JUST eaten turkey, stuffing, greenbeans, mac and cheese, and bread at our house for lunch, they turned right back around and ate it again at my parent's house for dinner. No one complained or asked when they could open presents. It might have been a Christmas miracle :P

The next morning we all trekked over to my sister Jami's new-to-her house. Its adorable! The lighting was completely different in each room and I never did get my white balance settings right, so I took the easy way out and processed in black and white.

Breakfast was delicious! Thanks so much Jami! (And I'm sorry I spilled OJ all over your table!)

My stepmom is a potter by hobby and is lucky enough to have her own kiln. My kids had shaped some clay into bowls and cups and trays last time we were there. Now it was time to paint.

Pottery glaze is pretty awesome stuff! It goes on one color and when fired, turns another. Can you guess what color the burnt orangy/red color turns into when fired? I'll post pictures of their finished pottery tomorrow!

Christmas Day 2011

2011-12-30T03:33:00.001-05:00

When Brian and I tucked the kids into bed, we reminded them that they needed to stay in bed the next morning until at least 7 AM. No repeats of last year, thankyouverymuch. I'm happy to report that we did not get woken up until a few minutes after 7 this year :) This made for a well-rested mommy and daddy!

I was so afraid the kids would be very disappointed this year. Jaina's BIG gift from us was not something to play with but toy storage instead. And Jayce really wanted an Xbox 360, which is something my husband will NEVER spend his money on, nor let Santa's elves bring into our home. (Brian's a bit anti-microsoft. And honestly, with the way my Windows laptop has been crashing lately, yet my Linux desktop NEVER crashes, I kinda can't blame him).

But the kids were not disappointed.

Jaina received:
-The Zoo stuffed animal toy storage from us
-A remote control barbie convertible from Santa
-A Wappy Dog DSi toy and game from Santa
-A Boom Box/CD/MP3 player from Santa
-Spy Gear from Grandma Gray
-Littlest Pet shop stuff from Gray
-Ninjago Legos from Uncle Jason
-Hex bugs from Aunt Jami
-Pop up Tent from Grandma Kim
-Project Runway fashion kit from Uncle Jeff
-A purple jewelry box from Danielle and Thad

Jayce received:
-A wooden train table from us
-A razor scooter from Santa
-A real (non-electronic) tetris game from Santa
-A remote control helicopter from Santa
-Spy gear from Gray
-Spongebob Legos from Gray
-Ninjago Legos from Uncle Jason
-A box of free play Legos from Danielle and Thad
-An Angry Birds game (non-electronic) from Uncle Jeff
-Hex bugs from Aunt Jami
-Pop up tent from Grandma Kim

I think Jayce's favorite was the helicopter:

Its only been a few days and Jaina's already finished the entire Wappy Dog game. Her dog reached 10 years old, learned all its tricks, and acquired 32 items.

All in all, it was a great Christmas :) Brian received a Professional Liftaway Shark Steam Mop. And I got a Canon Speedlight EX 270 external flash for my camera!

Christmas Eve and 37 weeks

2011-12-29T06:52:00.000-05:00

We have a long standing tradition on Christmas Eve. We've been spending it together with Brian's best friend Thad's family for as long as I've known Brian. FT and Nancy, Thad's parents, are the closest thing Brian has to local family and it just seems natural to spend holidays with them.

They ~~treat~~ spoil our children like their own grandchildren.

Before we left to celebrate Christmas Eve, I let the kids open their new pajamas from Gymboree. This the first year that they were not a surprise. The kids were actually with me when I was at the mall and picked them out themselves. I was disappointed that Jaina went with a non-Christmasy theme for hers, but she's really into the hot chocolate line that Gymboree carried a few months ago.

Then we were off!

Oh my goodness... someone actually bought my husband a chain saw!!! What was Nancy thinking????

Danielle and I took belly shots :)

She's 35 weeks:

I was about to turn 37 weeks the next day:

It has been awesome having a pregnancy buddy to share my complaints with!

It was a very merry Christmas eve!

Still alive and no baby yet :)

2011-12-28T20:06:00.001-05:00

My internet friends are having a 6th sense about when I'll go into labor. Even some of my "in real life" friends are thinking that this baby will come in 2011. Who knows? I keep telling everyone not to get their hopes up! Jaina was 11 days past due and Jayce was 4. I'm a firm believer in letting babies come when they are ready!

Now that Christmas is over, I'd really be okay with a baby any time.

I was supposed to go see my midwife for my 37 week appointment (3 days late), but got a horrible case of stomach cramping this afternoon and ended up canceling. I feel as though a plague is upon my town. Every time I check Face Book, all I see is my friends saying, "Oh no... its strep" or "All three of my kids have RSV!" or "Stomach bug strikes again".

Even the little 14 month old I keep has not been to my house in two weeks. She had 8 whole days of throwing up and required IV fluids. Although she is feeling better now, we agreed that I would just start watching her again when my kids go back to school. You know, if I don't have a newborn by then :)

I'll be back soon with pictures... Christmas Eve at our friends' house, Christmas morning excitement, and our Staska Family Christmas in Tucker.

But for now, I'm going to go read a book and go to bed. Because you never know if I'll wake up to contractions one of these days :)

EdVenture

2011-12-24T11:37:00.000-05:00

We travel down to Columbia twice a year to visit EdVenture Children's museum. this year we were bummed because the Snow Land exhibit was closed :( But the kids really liked the new Wags and Whiskers vet exhibit :)

Getting our Bake On.

2011-12-24T05:02:00.001-05:00

I'm a firm believer that if you can read, you can cook.

Please note that I said, "Cook" and not "bake".

Baking is a whole nother concept. There's science and methods involved. If you don't get one aspect right (for example, cutting up your butter or shorting into correctly sized pieces), your entire product fails.

I am a pretty decent cook when I feel like it :) I know how to use fresh ingredients and seasoning. I rarely over or under-cook something anymore. I know which sides go best with some main dishes.

Baking, on the other hand, is not my forte at all. I pretty much suck at it. It took me an entire year (of people showing me what to do) to learn how to bake a loaf of bread. And I STILL can't bake biscuits from scratch. I've watched my stepmom a million times, but my biscuits still turn out like hard discs. I tried my hand at pie crust a few months ago and Jaina tentatively ate some of it and said, "Um, this doesn't taste like anything." I had to convince her the next time I made cinnamon squares that I really did use the Pillsbury pre-made refrigerated dough and it was okay to eat this time.

So, I usually bake for the holiday. We have 8 wonderful neighbors in our 'hood that we like to give things to. Plus our dog groomer: we can't forget her!

This year I was going to make the following:
-cheese cake brownies
-gingerbread men
-two kinds of cupcakes
-buckeyes
-peanut butter cookies
-chocolate chip cookies
-chocolate crinkles
-decorated sugar cookies

Then I realized two things.
A. When the hell was I going to have time to do all this? The chocolate crinkle dough alone takes 3 hours including prep and chill time.
B. The canisters I bought wouldn't hold more than a handful of items.

So I scrapped the brownies, the chocolate cupcakes, and the chocolate chip cookies. Oh, and the sugar cookies, too. I just added some frosting to the gingerbread trees (not men) and called it a day.

Last year, I used "whipped" peanut butter for my buckeyes. And what a puddly goopy mess they were! I learned the hard way that it really does matter what kind of peanut butter you use! They still tasted good, but looked so awful I couldn't give them away. This year, I loved how they turned out :) I forgot to take a picture, though.

Now, I've never made Chocolate Crinkles before. I remembered how my stepmom would make them each year. I called her for the recipe (thinking it was some sort of Gunnels-family secret that's been passed down for generations) and she told me to look in my Betty Crocker Spiral cookbook. Oh, there they are. On page 122. With a picture and everything!

The first thing I noticed about my cookie dough is that it wasn't very dark. I can't remember what kind of chocolate the recipe called for, but I was trying to use up my ghiradelli baking squares so I just melted some of that to put in.

They should be a lot darker than those in the picture. They taste "okay", but really don't have the same chocolate flavor that I remember. That's what I get for not following the recipe to the letter!

We also baked Gingerbread men for us to eat and trees for our neighbors to receive.

I'm happy to report that all of our Gingerbread men made it from cookie sheet to table without any casualties. It is rare that I don't brake a few in transport.

Cookie decorating is always more fun with friends, so we invited Allie and Caleb over to join us. Why I didn't get a picture of Allie and Jayce together is beyond me!

We also decorated a Gingerbread house the other day when Jaina had her sleepover. I did NOT bake this. If I had, it would have been a disaster.

So, despite being almost 37 weeks pregnant, I was determined to still keep our family baking and decorating traditions. All I can say is "Thank goodness this baby is easier to take care of on the inside!" I couldn't imagine doing this with a newborn! I have a feeling our January is going to entail lots of fast food, take out, lunchables, and cereal :)

Holiday Lights

2011-12-23T06:46:00.000-05:00

I am never reminded how much I need a new camera body until I try to take photos at night without flash, just using the available light. Most photographers are able to set their ISO to 6400, open up their apertures as wide as possible, use a tripod with a slow shutter speed and VOILA! Photos that are crisp, clear, and looks like you had lots of fancy off-camera lighting equipment.

My maximum ISO capability is 1600. And I don't own an external flash or filters even to help out. So my photos turned out pretty darn crappy.

But since this wasn't a shoot and just a fun evening with my family and my daughter's friends, I'm posting them anyway, crappiness and all :)

(spell checker says "crappiness" is not a word. I disagree!)

I put the photos in collages to make them easier to post.

Jaina had her very first multiple guest sleep over the other night. None of the guests had met each other before and everyone got along beautifully!

The lights were beautiful as always. I wish I had captured them a bit better.

Originally my mom was going to keep Jayce at her house as not to bother the girls, but we wanted him to be a part of our fun.

The balloon sculptures were a huge hit as always :)

Thank you Roper Mountain for always being a great family tradition!

Festivas for the Rest of Us

2011-12-21T07:22:00.000-05:00

Just in case no one has any idea about what I'm talking about.... (because I certainly did not. I've been one of those people that just doesn't "get" Seinfeld.)
Let's see if that works...

So, my friend Patty decided to throw a Festivas party. Now, this is a big deal for my friend, who's name could also be the "Reluctant Hostess". She does NOT like having people over to her house, ever. I've known her for 5 years now and I've only been to her house a handful of times. And she's one of my best friends that I talk to on a daily basis!

Way to go, Patty, for overcoming your fears!

It was a huge success :)

Everyone had to bring a side dish that related to a Seinfeld episode. We brought Lobster Bisque (from the Soup Nazi episode which I've actually seen!), Junior Mints (haven't seen that one), and Muffin Stumps ("that even the homeless wouldn't eat").

We exchanged random ~~gifts~~ junk that was just laying around our house. Here is my friend Jessica posing with a piece of pottery my stepmom made years ago when she first got into pottery. My friend Jeanne originally opened it and was very confused about what to do with it! She ended up pawning it off on our friends Jennifer and David, who were late arriving guests. They are now the proud owners of an original piece of Staska artwork.

The kids saw my husband and Jessica engage in a "Feat of Strength" (sorry, no picture to use for blackmail later) and had to participate, too.

Jaina thumb wrestled with Jessica's husband Rob.

My husband had a very good time!

So good, in fact, that Jayce walked up to him and said, "Hey dad, give me some money from your wallet."

And he did!

Hmmm... wonder how that $5 ended up in my wallet? :)

Did I mention that he had a really good time? Yeah, shots of super good tequila will do that to you. I was a little jealous. I haven't had tequila since Cinco De Mayo! Being pregnant will kinda do that to you.

Yes, we had our unadorned aluminum pole. We didn't really air our grievances with each other. I think we are too good of friends! I kept saying that I had just "brought my grievance" with me... my husband :)

And here are us girls! Everyone but Jeanne :( She and her husband had to leave at 10 PM :( The rest of us stayed until 1:30 in the morning.

It was a great time and we can hardly wait until next year!!

Jayce's Class Christmas Party

2011-12-19T07:33:00.001-05:00

One of the best things about being a Stay-at-home mom is the ease in which I can attend activities at my children's schools without worrying about what my boss would say or how it would reflect on my dedication to my job :)

Jaina's at a new school this year and they do NOT have an open door policy. Parents are not welcome to volunteer in the classroom, attend field trips, or class parties. Believe me when I tell you that if there was another option for her to attend a different school, she'd be there in a heartbeat. Its not a district policy whatsoever, just this one principal's rules. I am happy to report that my husband has been a great big pain in her ass about many of the policies at this new school and we frequently let her know about our displeasure. Whether or not that will lead to any change in procedure is still unknown.

But I was quite welcome to attend Jayce's party :) And bring stuff in! I brought cookies and pineapple. The pineapple was slightly a weird request, but I had told the teacher that I would prefer to bring something more "healthy" instead of just the typical cookies, cupcakes, and chips that you normally find at parties. Cheese cubes are also usually a hit with the kids, as are grapes.

Jayce is always a bit apprehensive when I come visit his class. He's having a hard time right now (at home) with change in routine. He handled me being there very well this time, only getting antsy in his seat a few times. (Last year in Kindergarten, he couldn't sit down at all while I was there!)

I got to meet Jayce's best friend in class this year for the first time. He's a very quiet, very shy, sweet boy. Jayce keeps insisting that he is NOT shy at all, but I got a very different impression!

Jayce's teacher gave all the kids in the class a new book for Christmas. Jayce read it to me :)

Jayce didn't really eat much during his party, which is typical for him. I'm actually surprised that he eats his lunch in the lunch room surrounded by classmates every day. Last year, his teacher had to only let him get one thing out of his lunch box at a time so he'd not get overwhelmed by too many food choices.

The cookies were GOOD! (yeah, so not watching what I'm eating these last 4 weeks of pregnancy!)

The kids then performed "The Twelve Days of Christmas" with a Southern South Carolina twist :) For example, it was a "wren in a palmetto tree" instead of the regular old partridge.

Jayce sang his little heart out :) That answered another question that his therapists had about school behavior. We've noticed at home that he has a hard time with "choral response" (which is fancy talk for speaking or singing in unison with a group). Again, this just seems to be an issue at home or in public, not in school at all.

And lastly, a picture with his teacher. We are so lucky to have her in our lives!

And now Christmas Break from school has started. I'm loving not having an alarm clock or packing lunches. I'm not loving the fact that my kids are fighting over a Wii Lego Batman game behind me as I type this, but I'm not ready to send them back to school... yet :)

Ten on 10: December Edition

2011-12-15T06:30:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I might be 5 days late in posting these, but at least I remembered to take 10 photos last Saturday! :) I love it when the 10th of the month falls on the weekend. Then my kids can actually be in the photos, too!

First thing we have to do is look for Murray in the morning.

I had a ton of photo editing to do upstairs, so Jaina came up and crafted next to me. I think she was making a scrapbook.

Shaggy likes to be where we are, so he came up an hour later, too.

Then it was time for us to find our spot for the local Christmas parade.

One of the kids took this picture at the end of the parade. I didn't feel like standing up, so I let the kids take turn with my camera since I couldn't see with all the people in front of me.

After the parade, we had to stop at a country feed store to get dog food. We feed our dog (formally plural) something called "Taste of the Wild" which was recommended by our groomer. It can only be found at specialty stores. The store also has a kids' toy section and Brian usually gets suckered into buying them something from there. This time it was chaps and a vest.

Then it was time for our typical Saturday lunch. We've been going to McDonald's for lunch on the weekend since Jaina was born. Its our one un-healthy indulgence a week. I promise we cook a healthy dinner almost every other day!

When we got home, we realized our dishwasher was clogged up and wasn't draining. Brian suspected a problem between the disposal and the dishwasher. So he had to take everything out from under the sink. I'm happy to report that he fixed it!

One of my very last photography sessions was scheduled that day as well. I had the pleasure of taking pictures of my "pregnancy buddy" who is due just a few weeks after me.

Its crazy how fast the light changes during this time of year. When I first got to their house, the sun was low, but still full out. Then, an hour later, it had almost set.

When I got home an hour later, it was already pitch black even though it wasn't very late at all.

I can't wait for summer to come back already and give me many more hours of sunshine!

Christmas Bokeh

2011-12-11T07:38:00.001-05:00

Its finally beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here :)

The Park

2011-12-10T07:51:00.001-05:00

Um, I can't remember the last time I took pictures of my kids at a park. Actually, I can't remember the last time I took my kids to a park at all. With our ABA schedule, piano lessons, dog training, homework, babysitting, basketball practice, and other random activities, there just isn't time in the afternoons anymore :(

Last week, we took the entire week of from ABA services. Originally, we were supposed to go to Universal Studios in Orlando, FL. It was never an idea that seemed like it was going to pan out, so my 8 months pregnant self scrapped it and told my kids to get over it. I told them that it might be possible to do Disney later this Spring and all was forgiven.

I never told ABA schedules that we didn't need therapy canceled anymore. Instead, we took a much needed mental break.

And went to the park on a whim one afternoon :)

Okay, so the last picture might need a bit of explanation....

Jayce learned the lyrics to the National Anthem in school. Now whenever he sees an American Flag, he stops what he is doing to put his hand over his heart and starts signing. He does not move until the song is done.

Our therapist got a great video of him singing at a friend's house the other week. I'll have to see if I can post it here :) Its quite amusing!

And lastly, Jaina took this picture to document my ever-growing baby belly...

Thanksgiving Part Two

2011-12-07T10:15:00.001-05:00

(you can read Part One Here)

The kids were looking forward to ONE thing and one thing only at Thanksgiving this year...

Deviled eggs.

All I can say is "yuck". I can't stand them. And I won't make them. Why my kids love them is beyond me.

Jayce asked our hostess every 5 minutes (for 90 minutes) when the deviled eggs would be ready.

This is his plate after he was "done" eating.

I think he ate a bit of ham, three green beans, and one bite of his deviled egg.

His "tummy wasn't hungry" for food, he claimed. That's Jayce speak for either "I'm overwhelmed right now and can't sit down to eat" or "I just don't like it but I don't know how to tell you this."

He ate some of these instead:

Oh, well. Its was a holiday, right?

We did some good damage to the turkey. I normally don't care for turkey, but this one was especially moist and juicy. YUM!

Then we all went outside for a bit. It was a beautiful day. Warm enough not to need a jacket, but cool enough to not be hot.

Nancy thought it would be a good idea to tell Jayce how to start a fire with sticks. He worked very hard at it for a good 15 minutes. Um, thanks Nancy.

I had Jaina take some pictures of me and Danielle.

And no, the photo hasn't been cropped post processing by me. This is how she composed it. I guess she thought our pregnant bellies were more important than our cute faces.

Then we got some pics with our lovely host and hostess. As much time as we spend with FT and Nancy, we seldom take pictures with them.

It was a great Thanksgiving :)

Thanksgiving 2011- Part One

2011-12-06T05:46:00.001-05:00

I think I'd better get this post up before Christmas comes, right?

This year, Thanksgiving was very different. My big huge family spent Thanksgiving in 5 different locations.

-My mom went to my brother Jeff's house.
-My dad and stepmom went to my sister Jami's house.
-My brother Jason went to my Aunt Diane's house.
-I have no idea where my brother Jeremy went... I can assume he just stayed home with his family?
-And then there was us.... with no Staska family around, we decided to crash Thanksgiving dinner at Brian's best friend's parent's house.

I hope you caught all that :)

Just know that Brian and Thad have been friends for years and years. Thad's parents are like Brian's parents, only more Southern :)

Thad has recently married Danielle, who is now MY friend, and just happens to be due with their first baby 2 weeks after me.

Jaina decided to make place cards for everyone.

Its kinda slim pickins' around here in terms of Thanksgiving decorations. So I hung up the kids' artwork from previous years of school.

Jayce was SO thrilled to bring home his Turkey Placemat that he made in 1st grade this year.

He exclaimed, "And my teacher lemonaded it!!"

"Um, what's lemonaded mean, Mommy?"

"It means she LAMINATED it, sweetie. She ran it through a machine that put plastic on it so it won't get ruined."

Jayce now "lemonades" all of his art work with my mom's swiffer sweeper. I love watching his imagination take shape :)

Anyway, back to Thanksgiving....

We had a gift card to Wade's, so we picked up some mac n' cheese, cornbread dressing, and gravy from the restaurant to bring with us. I had no idea that this concept was so popular. We waited in line a long time to pick up our frozen pre-made food until the owner saw us and grabbed us out of line. The owner and his son kinda like Brian for some strange reason, so we were treated with VIP status that day. Some of the other people in line were telling us that they've been serving Wade's food at their Thanksgiving table for 10 years or more!

The only things I had to make were a squash casserole:

and a chocolate pudding pie:

Call me un-American, but I don't do pumpkin pie. Or apple pie. Or really, any kind of baked pie. My pudding pie was a big hit, too :)

Yum, now I want some.

More from Thad's parent's house later!

A Dollop of Profiles

2011-12-03T06:38:00.001-05:00

I've been reading my friend Lindsey's blog "A Dollop of my Life" for way over a year now. I think I ran across it one day on either a photo challenge from I Heart Faces or else from the McMama Community Forum on Blog Frog. Her cute header drew me in. People follow blogs for all sorts of strange reasons. For me, its blog headers. If you have a cute blog header, then I'm more apt to read what you've written :)

Anyway, Lindsey started asking her readers to submit profiles via email to her so she could post them on her blog each Friday. This is a great way for her to get to know her readers AND for her other readers to explore new blogs.

It was very fun to do! I hope you guys will hop on over to Lindsey's blog and check it out!

33

2011-12-01T11:16:00.001-05:00

Lots to catch up on...

I turned 33 the other day.

Thanks to my friend Becca, I had a cake to celebrate with. And a cheesecake at that! YUM! Normally my husband gets me an ice cream cake from Bruster's, but he thinks that taking me to Vegas in September relieved him of any birthday celebration duties.

Unfortunately, the weather was super crappy out all day. If you know me, you know how much I love the sun. I need the sun to motivate me and keep my mood happy.

Although the sun did not make an appearance on Monday, Jayce and I *did* see this on the way to his school. We actually saw a double rainbow at one point, but I didn't stop and pull over to grab a picture like I should have.

And I'm now in my 33rd week of pregnancy.

Thanks so much for taking a great picture, Monica! I enjoyed a birthday lunch with my dear friend the other day. It was definitely the highlight of my week!

My pregnancy continues to go well, despite major aches and pains thanks to baby's position. I think I complained a little too much about baby J being so low and engaged in my pelvis already. He/she decided to perform some fetal gymnastics the other day and I now have a breech presentation baby. On one hand, I can pee with a normal feeling bladder again, but I traded that comfort for rib pain, which the baby's head is rubbing against.

On a positive note, however, my blood pressure, weight gain, uterus measurement, and blood sugar are all awesome. Now if I can only keep this great weight gain for 7 more weeks :P

Keeping with the theme of this blog post, I could talk about the 33 reasons why we decided that Jackson was just not a good fit for our family, but I'm just done. His behavior last Monday and Tuesday were his third strike in his "three strikes and you're out" score.

I will tell you that this decision was not made lightly. We are not dog owners that shirk our responsibilities as soon as times get tough. We recognize that Jackson needs a lot of one-on-one attention, more training, and to live in a home without other pets or kids.

Everyone is happy with our decision except for Brian. He had just started getting attached to Jackson and wanted to give him another chance. I do sympathize with my husband and he *almost* talked me into keeping Jackson, but I reminded him that HE wouldn't be the one to give Jackson another chance. That responsibility would essentially fall to me every time. I'm the one home all day. I'm the one that's been crate training, walking the dog in the rain, supervising him in our house, saving Jaina's stuffed animals from his mouth, taking him to his behavior classes, taking him to the vet, cleaning up his numerous accidents, listening to him whine and bark, making sure he is getting proper exercise, keeping Jackson away from Shaggy at all times, etc. It has been an exhausting 6 weeks.

Yes, there is guilt that we failed Jackson. But just a smidge. Mostly I feel relief. The kids are happier. Shaggy is most definitely happier. And I hope, in time, Jackson will be happier in his new home.

And last, but not least, look who's back to visit us for the holidays?

Does your elf need some creative ideas for resting spots? My friend Allyson found this website. Awesome!

The Cobbler's children are barefoot

2011-11-22T20:16:00.001-05:00

You've heard of the saying, "The Cobbler's children have no shoes", right? It stems from the idea that the shoemaker himself was so busy making shoes for his costumers that he never had time to make any for his family.

The same could be said around here with our computers. My husband is a brilliant programmer. His knowledge on new technology is up to date. However, we're both working on ancient desktops right this minute and half the programs on my computer need to be updated. And I know this may be shocking, but....

we don't have flat screen monitors.

I'd like to rectify that situation at some point, but buying new computer equipment is just not a priority in this house.

Lately I've been a photographer and not a "momtog" which is a cute way of saying "a mom that loves to take pictures of her kids".

I am ashamed to say that I have ONE picture of my children that was taken in the entire month of November. And it was for my Ten on Ten project, so it doesn't even really count.

Well, that makes blogging kind of hard. I don't really like to mix this personal blog with my photography business stuff and lately, that's where all my free time has gone.

I will leave you with some Fall photos I took at one of my shoots at the last covered bridge in South Carolina. You know, just to document that I actually took pictures during this month!

Our Family, right now

2011-11-19T07:02:00.001-05:00

One of the reasons I love photography so much is because it captures a moment in time.

Jaina will never be 9.5 years old again. Or probably ever wear that shirt again. The lollipop was scratchy to her on the inside.

Jayce will never been 6.5 years old again and I can already tell you that his grass stains did indeed come out in the wash. The grass stains that he got on his brand new jeans before our photographer even arrived.

Although this particular moment of tenderness has already passed, I am hoping to see lots more of them in the future. They really do love each other.

See how it can all change in just a moment?

I will never be 28 weeks pregnant with my third child ever again. I am okay with this, believe me!

I can't wait to see how our relationships with our children will change as they grow.

I can't believe he's not going to be my last baby any more. His new title will be "middle child". Honestly, he's already got that role down pat.

As for Brian and me... well, I think its safe to say he'll still be a goof in the future. Possibly just as much as he is now. But its also safe to say that I'll probably still love that goof, maybe even a little more than I do right now.

Jeslyn, thank you SO much for capturing our family as we are right now.

In all our goofiness.

and in all our love.

Our portrait photography journey

2011-11-17T04:56:00.001-05:00

I used to work at The Picture People at our local mall. I first discovered this gem of a portrait studio when Jaina was but 6 weeks old. I think I remember spending close to $300 on prints of her portraits. I didn't want to leave without a single one. And that black and white that they put in a frame? Its still hanging up in my hallway, now with one of Jayce at the same age with the same pose right next to it.

I had so much fun working there. What started out as a Holiday Sales job turned into an actual photography job. There I learned the art of posing, making kids smile, focusing, and composing a shot. What I did *not* learn, however, was how to work a camera, what its settings meant, and lighting. All of that was already set up for you.

(excuse the quality, these are film prints scanned using a low quality scanner)

After our local store closed, I searched high and low for a portrait studio that captured my kids' personalities. I have never been a "looking at the camera and smiling" kind of gal. Which is a good thing, because Jayce's autism and sensory issues were in full swing by this point and he screamed any time we walked into a studio to have photos made.

Then when my kids were two, I found out that a local mom was trying to start a photography business. If you met her at a park, she'd follow your kids around taking pictures of them. A whole cd of digital images were yours for $50.

Wow, pictures of Jayce not screaming? I was sold. I vowed never to get my children's portraits made in a studio again. And to this day, 4 years later, I have kept my word.

I still use Gena Murphy Photography all these years later. She has grown beautifully as a photographer and editor. She most recently invited me into her home to capture this maternity photo:

I also have her booked for this little one's newborn portraits in January. She is amazing with newborns! As a photographer myself, I know just how hard it is to have the patience to work with babies less than 10 days old. Getting them to sleep, posing, exposing the image properly, then editing out baby acne and red blotchy skin tones, jaundice... its a LOT of work! I am so excited to see what Gena comes up with for our new baby!

Using an on-location photographer that isn't bound by a studio, props, or fixed lighting really changed the way I started thinking about portrait photography. I love the fact that you can capture a family being so natural if they are in an environment that is comfortable to them.

I also discovered photography blogs at the same time. I started following the work of Little Moon Photography, Aria Photography, Drew B Photography, Jessica Claire, Jasmine Star, and my personal favorite inspiration... Kamee June Photography

With the exception of Amber from Little Moon, all of the above photographers are from out West. But even Little Moon's studio is too far away for us to travel to.

So, how do I find a photographer here in the South that captures the style of those California photographers? My kids are not "wear smoked boutique dresses and john-johns with hair bows as huge as their head" kind of kids. I don't want them posed down by a lake, smiling serenely into the camera. That's not them.

One day I was on Facebook and happened to stumble upon some new photos that my friend Julie (who used to blog, but I can't find her link!) posted. They were of her son Ian being totally two! They were amazing. The photographer had captured their family interacting at a local plaza, just being themselves.

I immediately emailed my friend Julie and said, "Who did your pictures???"

And booked our own shoot with the fabulous Jeslyn Lanier.

My kids were horrible. You can read about it here.

Despite my kids' behavior, Jeslyn rocked the shoot. I have prints from that session hanging all over my house.

I couldn't wait to book her again for this Fall. I was crushed to learn that her and her husband had moved to Louisiana!! NO!!!

But she comes back to visit :)

And since this blog post is long enough already, I'll share the rest of our photos from our shoot another day. My kids' behavior wasn't any better this time around (they did NOT get their Krispy Kreme donut bribe, much to pregnant mommy's dismay), but Jeslyn delivered again.

'Til next time....

Sneak Peek: Walker Family Photos

2011-11-15T12:41:00.001-05:00

I think this family portrait says it all.

Christmas card material?

More to come from our awesomely crazy family shoot with the fabulous Jeslyn Lanier.

I will not be surprised if she's "all booked up" next year just so she doesn't have to deal with my family again!

10 on Ten: November

2011-11-11T12:52:00.001-05:00

November Ten on 10: Beauty Collective

Just a warning:

The next 10 images will be of kids and dogs. And one trip to McDonald's. That is all my day entailed yesterday!

8:00 AM:

9:00 AM

10:00 AM:

11:00 AM:

Noon:

1:00 PM (believe me, this was a thing of beauty to a starving pregnant woman!)

2:00 PM:

3:00 PM: (look who is back home from the vet!)

4:00 PM:

5:00 PM:

I Heart Faces: Black

2011-11-07T21:21:00.002-05:00

This week's challenge theme left very little for me to choose from in my library of photos. Black tends to be a more sophisticated color, rarely seen on children. I also love color in my photos and try to stay away from plain black backdrops.

I finally picked this photo for the challenge:

Her black and white custom made hair bow and black railed crib in the background will just have to do :)

Go check out all the other awesome entries over at I Heart Faces that managed to interpret the theme better than I :)

Jackson Update

2011-11-05T09:26:00.001-04:00

I've been meaning to write about our new addition every day for the past two weeks. But every time I sit down to upload pictures or write something, our update changes.

To say that Jackson has been a challenge is an understatement.

Don't let his sweet expression fool you. Or the fact that he is happily chewing on an appropriate dog toy.

We've found that he also likes to chew on:
-baby dolls
-plastic action figures
-stuffed animals
-socks

He also likes to lift his leg to mark his territory, even after being rewarded for peeing outside. So far he's peed (or attempted to pee, but was caught in the act) on:
-the doll stroller
-the play food shopping cart
-Brian's jacket
-the barstool legs
-the refridgerator
-both my house plants
-a bag of baby clothes

He's also pooped on our door mats, both our inside and outside ones.

Don't let his size fool you, either. He may only be 13 lbs, but he can do the following:
-climb into toy boxes
-jump on the coffee table
-get food off the kitchen table
-reach the edge of the kitchen countertops
-jump off the back of the couch

Supposedly his previous owners stated that he can also climb a chain link fence. I don't doubt this for a minute!

Obviously Jackson needs to learn some manners! We have enrolled him in a behavioral training class that starts Tuesday. We are currently treating him like a puppy and crate training him again.

He's also very destructive with his "cone of shame" that he's needed to wear the last two weeks so his incisions will heal. We are currently boarding him at the vet so he can try to destroy his cone on THEIR watch :)

This was a picture of his cone the first day he had it on. I really should have taken a picture after it became muddy and beat up.

I'd like to say that Jackson and Shaggy are best friends, but so far, that is not the case. In fact, Jackson has not brought Shaggy out of the depression he's been in since Alli passed. He no longer whines when he comes in at night like he started doing the night Alli died, so that is a positive.

However, ever since I took Jackson to the vet to board yesterday, Shaggy has had a renewed energy. I can almost hear his thoughts, "YAY! That stupid dog is gone! I have my owners back to myself! Let's play! Its MY turn with that ball! Let's go!" His tail has not stopped wagging.

Let's hope that our two dogs learn to tolerate each other. I'll keep you updated!

Trunk or Treat

2011-11-03T21:50:00.000-04:00

Now, I don't know how they "do" Halloween up North or out West, but I do know how the holiday goes down around these parts.

You can divide the population down here in several different groups:

1. People that celebrate Halloween with decorations, costumes, and trick-or-treating on the actual night of Halloween.

2. People that think dressing up is fun, but that trick-or-treating isn't very safe anymore and would prefer to attend a church based or community based event.

3. People that choose not to celebrate the holiday because of various reasons that range from not wanting their kids to OD on candy to thinking that Halloween is a pointless holiday.

4. People that think Halloween is Satan's holiday and purely the work of the devil.

What I've noticed, through talking with friends and through experience, that the vast majority of people have no earthly clue why Halloween is even a holiday. They've never heard of Samhain or All Hallow's Eve, or Dia de Muertos, or All Saint's Day. Or the historical significance of why we carve pumpkins.

So, what group does our family fall into?

Why, number 1, of course!

Halloween is one of our most favorite holidays. We do it all. We all dress up. We buy the good candy. We attend parties, make cookies, decorate our house, go trunk or treating at a local church, and go trick-or-treating on the actual night. We make the most of our Halloween holiday :)

And I not-so-secretly roll my eyes at all the people I encounter that say, "I'm a better Christian than you because I'm teaching my kids to avoid all things having to do with Satan's holiday."

That's okay, more candy for my kids :) Which ultimately means more candy for me!

And because we spread out our Halloween festivities, I have a TON of pictures to post. I'd better snap to it!

I'm happy to report that fun was had by all.

The reece's peanut butter cups are almost gone.

(not admitting any guilt here, mind you!)

We lost Jaina's leopard tail but later found it.

Jayce lost his hat and bullwhip but my mom found new ones on the internet for less than I paid for the originals.

I have all the halloween blankets washed and folded and ready to be put away.

Now I just have to work on the rest of the decorations!

Indiana Jones and the Leopard

2011-10-31T04:54:00.002-04:00

A lone leopard quietly awaits her prey...

She hears someone approach. Quickly, she takes cover in the tall grasses.

Her stalker appears a moment later.

He's come to tame the wild beast.

Little Indy is no stranger to adventure and wild animals.

Happy Halloween from our family to yours. We hope you enjoy the costumes, candy, and fun as much as we do!

Meet Jackson

2011-10-25T21:39:00.001-04:00

The newest member of our family.

More on his story and how we came to adopt him later :)

Life is crazy...

2011-10-21T23:15:00.001-04:00

Its a vicious cycle.

I get busy and leave my camera at home in its case.

Then I feel like I can't blog because I don't have any photos.

So I get my camera out and take some.

Then they sit on my camera card for a week until I don't even remember what I was going to blog about.

Meanwhile, life happens all around us and I realize I'm not documenting it anywhere. Not with words OR pictures.

Then I feel guilty.

Then I wonder why anyone even reads my blog.

That's when I remind myself that I don't blog for my readers (as much as I do love you all).

This blog serves as my journal. One day it might even get made into a book. (when I have a million dollars to add all the pages I want in it!)

So, even though I've been a slacker in the photo department, here's what we've been up to lately.

1. We celebrated the country of Germany by attending Oktoberfest at Jayce's school.
2. Jayce got diagnosed with allergy induced asthma.
3. Which promptly turned into bronchitis
4. Immediately before leaving for Charlotte, NC where we went to visit friends.
5. We had to wait 3 hours for all five prescriptions and his new nebulizer arrived.
6. Upon arriving at our former neighbor's house in Ft. Mill, SC, we all settle into bed. Four hours later, Jaina is throwing up all over the place.
7. We miss the Mitochondrial Foundation Walk in Charlotte the next morning due to lack of sleep.
8. My broken foot decides to start hurting in a NEW place. The old place seems healed just fine :)
9. I spend 2 hours photographing this beautiful family

10. Meanwhile, my kids were back at the hotel in Charlotte staying with our awesome friends from the NC coast.
11. I brought my camera up to the hotel and proceeded to not take a single picture. Fail!
12. We drive home and decide to stop by the outlet mall on the way. We got there at 12:30 PM and thought they opened at noon. Nope, 1:30. Luckily, they had a playground.
13. I bought the baby an outfit that I think I'll be bringing him/her home in. I'm still undecided. I found it at Carter's. Both Jaina and Jayce wore Gymboree home. Should I keep with the tradition?
14. We arrived home just in time for another photo shoot.

15. I bought a $45 diaper bag on sale for $22. And it matches my bassinet pattern perfectly :)
16. I've decided I don't hate yellow as much as I thought, as long as its paired with another color. Like gray.
17. This baby will be here in 12 weeks.
18. We're getting a new addition before that, though.
19. Today we met a Lakeland Terrier named Jackson who will be coming to live with us after his neutering on Tuesday.
20. Cause our life wasn't crazy enough :)

Wordless Wednesday: Just Busy

2011-10-19T10:11:00.001-04:00

It doesn't need to be Spring to fly a kite

2011-10-12T21:00:00.000-04:00

All you need are some kites....

(cheaply purchased for just a few dollars, I might add)

Some willing children....

A devoted dad...

And some wind.

Pregnant mom isn't necessary, but nice to have around anyway.

How about Eight on 10?

2011-10-10T21:00:00.001-04:00

Another month, another 10th day of the month, another Epic Fail on my part for today's Ten on 10.

I always have good intentions. I always start off taking the first photo around 7 or 8 AM.

In this case, it was only 6:45. Jaina always logs her reading books from the night before after breakfast.

At quarter til 8:00 AM, I was back home from doing the whole drop off and pick up thing. These adorable zebra legs belong to the 11th month old I watch 3 days a week.

Then here's where it gets dicey. At 8:45, I was on the phone with my kids' doctor's office. I managed to snag a 10:45 appt for Jayce. He had woken up complaining of chest pain with a horrible cough.

Before leaving for the long drive to the doctor's office, I give baby H some breakfast.

After that, we'll need to fast forward a few hours. I had to throw a doctor's visit (diagnosis: Allergy induced Asthma), a trip to the pharmacy, a quick lunch, a short rest, then off to the carpool line to pick up Jaina and her friend Sarah, then back home before therapy starts.

Jayce snuck in a little moon dough time before our therapist arrived.

Baby H tried to put on Brian's big orange crocs. It was hilarious to watch!

Fast forward many more hours after therapy is over, homework is done, Baby H is picked up, piano is practiced, dinner is cooked, kids are bathed, and ready for bed.

So, I managed 8 pictures today. They weren't spaced out an hour apart, but I think they are a good representation of how this particular Monday was spent. Maybe next month will be my month!

Soccer Game Number Five

2011-10-09T07:34:00.002-04:00

Did you know that if you wanted a pregnancy to fly by in the blink of an eye, all you had to do was schedule many weekly activities and commitments?

Its like each day takes me by surprise. "Oh, its Tuesday already? Off to Regional for OT."

or "How did it get to be Soccer Practice night already again? Where is your clean soccer socks? Oh, still in the laundry from where I washed them from your game a few days ago."

"What? My calendar says that today is Piano day? Goodness, have the kids even practiced this week?"

You get the picture.

There are only 8 games total in the soccer season. We just played game number 5.

We'll be out of town to North Carolina and have to miss next week's game number 6.

Its hard to imagine that when we'll come back, we'll only have two games left. And, according to my calendar, our family has signed up to bring snack for Jaina's team for game number 7.

Immediately following game # 8 is their end of the season ceremony.

Followed two days later by Halloween!

Then comes Jaina's field trip, then our friends' annual Chilli cook-off, then Thanksgiving, a possible trip to Orlando, then all the December madness culminating at Christmas Day, a NYE Party, and then our baby will be here.

And that just made "26 weeks pregnant" feel like the baby's due next week.

Festifall at Walnut Grove

2011-10-06T05:24:00.001-04:00

The first weekend in October will always find our family at Walnut Grove Plantation.

This plantation house has been preserved by an historical society because of its history with a battle from the Revolutionary war.

There is always a battle re-enactment which is Jayce's favorite part. Then the house and grounds are open for tours. Many volunteers help recreate the scene from the 1760's and show visitors the way of life back then.

And now for some pictures of my cute kids. :)

Thursday in Vegas

2011-10-04T12:47:00.000-04:00

I have to admit that my broken foot was hurting pretty badly by the time I got back to the hotel on Wednesday night. Of course, I didn't know my foot was broken, so I thought I was just being a wimp. I actually think I blamed it on pregnancy. :)

Thursday morning at 5 AM (8 AM EST), I got a call from Jaina's teacher at school. She had left her lunch at home and told her teacher she "wasn't allowed" to eat school lunch. My mom was already at work so there was no one to drive home and rescue her lunch bag like I've done so many times in the past. I told Jaina's teacher that she was being a drama queen and this would be a good lesson in remembrance for her.

As for me, I went to the pool :)

Armed with my Nook (and all the Pretty Little Liars books) and the MP3 player I swiped from Jaina, I could bask in the glorious non-humid sun and pretend that I didn't care what my daughter was eating for lunch.

That afternoon I decided to play tourist by myself and finally take some pictures without worrying if it was going to rain on my camera.

My friend Julie and her husband offered to take Brian and I out to dinner that night. The food was SO delicious! Afterwards, we parked at the top of a parking garage to see the lights of the strip.

I never did end up adjusting to time on the West coast. I was up between 5 and 6 AM every morning and pretty much dead on my feet by the time sunset hit.

We left the next morning for our all day travels. By this time we were definitely ready to get home. My mom had called to tell us that both Jaina and our dog Alli was sick. I had realized that mommies never really get breaks and sometimes you just needed to suck it up because you do it best anyway. :)

As much fun as I did end up having in Las Vegas, I think I'll stick to my monthly book club as a way to get in my "ME" time :)

Vegas!!

2011-10-03T21:19:00.001-04:00

Geez, has it already been 3 weeks since we first left on our trip? Time is certainly flying by at warp speed. Its already been over two weeks since we got home and since our dog Alli passed away. And already one week since Jayce broke his arm.

Okay, enough talking. I've got pictures!

We arrived in Las Vegas around 5 PM their time on a Monday evening. It took us two hours to get our bags and take the shuttle to our hotel. By that time, we were exhausted and starving. I wanted a Subway sandwich more than anything else in the world so Brian looked up the closest one on his black berry. He tried to warn me that there were casinos everywhere, but I don't think I understood the concept fully until we had to walk through a casino to get to the Subway. Wow.

We had our dinner and fell exhausted into our king sized bed in our "luxury" suite, which was like 700 sq feet. It was also the cheapest room the hotel had to offer. I certainly was not complaining :)

Brian had to be downstairs at his conference at 7:30 AM, so I decided to be brave and go grab some breakfast. I knew I had seen a Starbucks near our hotel. Unfortunately, I went out a different hotel exit, got completely turned around, and ended up on the wrong side of the hotel from the place I needed to be. But lo and behold, there was another Starbucks there, too!

Starbucks didn't have a bottle of coke, so I bought one at the hotel bagel shop. It was $3. It was only 8 oz.

I had just barely made it back to our room before the skies opened up and it rained. Hard.

Now, the funny thing about rain in Vegas is that it usually doesn't. My friend said it hadn't rained more than an inch all year. I said, "all summer?" and she corrected me, "No, all year." I guess Mother Nature decided that it was time to get more rain. Because it rained ALL DAY on Tuesday and most of the morning on Wednesday. I was quickly watching my dream of laying by the pool with my Nook slipping away.

Luckily, my friend Julie just waited until the rain stopped on Wednesday before picking me up :)

She took me on a great adventure all around the strip. I can't even remember all the hotels we visited :) I do know that we visited The Mirage and went to Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden.

The bottle nosed dolphins were amazing. They loved showing off for all the visitors on their own.

The panthers, lions, and Siberian tigers were pretty cool, too. Most of them were sleeping, but there was this one that kept pacing his fenced in area. I didn't get any good shots because he wouldn't stop moving and I was trying to use the widest aperture possible to blur the fence. Oh well!

More to come from Thursday!

Good news for a change!

2011-09-30T21:33:00.005-04:00

When Jayce and I arrived at his Orthopedic appointment Tuesday morning, we were prepared to get a full plaster cast that extended above his elbow.

Instead, we got one of these:

No, not the Dr. Evil-finger-to-the-mouth smile. That comes free with Jayce. :)

The doctor said that buckle fractures were no big deal. And that in the past 30 years of him practicing bone healing, he'd never seen one that needed a cast. He even told Jayce he could still play soccer! :)

Was Jayce happy? No, he was not!

Jayce wanted a plaster cast. One that all his friends could sign. He ordered the doctor to go get him one.

He finally convinced Jayce that plaster casts were heavy and smelly and he would only like it for one day. Then he showed Jayce how to do all the velcro straps on his brace.

"I can take it off whenever I feel like it?" Jayce asked, amazed.

I was worried that he wouldn't keep it on. I was worried for nothing. Jayce doesn't even like to take it off during his bath. He never complains about his arm hurting him unless his brace is off. Then he holds his wrist in his other hand and asks me to hurry with his bath.

Hopefully he'll only have to wear it about 3 weeks or so.

Me, on the other hand?

Not such good news.

I probably didn't mention it weeks ago, but around 19 weeks pregnant or so, I hurt my left foot. I have no idea how I did it. One morning I woke up and it hurt. It was about the time when my morning sickness stopped and I started walking in my neighborhood again. Coincidentally, I also got shin splints the exact same time. My body sure showed me what would happen if I took an 18 week break from exercising!

So, I just ignored the pain in my foot. I mean, seriously... even if it was broken, what is a doctor going to do about it?

I was in Vegas (pictures to come soon, I promise!) when I realized that I was going to have to take this foot thing more seriously. Every night it was swollen and throbbing.

Finally, I get in to see my family doctor. She thinks, "Stress fracture", takes x-rays, and tells me to keep my foot iced and elevated for a week. I just laughed at her. Then I asked her if she was married with kids. She said, "No." Figures. Only an unmarried woman would assume that a husband would clean, cook dinner, and take care of the kids for a week. My own husband would clean, but that's about it!

So, I leave the office and go on my merry way. Honestly, the pain is only bad at night now. I tell myself that I'm going to try to rest a little more and at least stop playing baseball with Jayce outside. I can't tell you how many times I've been in pain after running bases!

A few days later, my doctor calls. "Um... its not a stress fracture. The hospital radiologist says you have several fractures that showed up on your x-ray. You are going to need a cast."

A cast, with crutches? Not gonna happen. I keep an almost 11 month old in my house. Not to mention run a photography side business that is booked up for the month of October.

We compromised with a walking boot.

When I came home with it Thursday afternoon, I told Jayce, "Look! We match!"

He looks at my seriously and says, "No, mom. You broke your foot. I broke my arm. That does not match."

Okay, fine.

Now Jaina just needs to break something! :)

just kidding!!

Before and After Blog Hop: Newborn

2011-09-29T11:09:00.001-04:00

I'm so sad to hear that one of my favorite Blog Hops on the internet is going to be closing down. I can't say that I was a faithful participant, but I certainly did enjoy it when I found the time to link up! Thank you, Monica, so much for hosting this for the past 18 months.

This is my Straight Out of Camera Shot (SOOC):

What an adorable baby! I appreciate my friend trusting me to do her newborn's portraits.

But here's what's wrong with this picture....
- I broke the cardinal rule in Newborn Photography. I did not over expose this image. Overexposing is crucial to minimize the red splotchy newborn look that so many babies have. As an added challenge, this newborn was also jaundiced. See all the yellow and red skin tones in her face?

-But I loved the fact that this super tiny newborn (I believe she was only 5 days old?) was staring straight into my camera. Open eye shots of newborns is always hit or miss. Newborns tend to look cross eyed or unfocused when their eyes are open. And there's no telling what they'll be doing with their mouths :) Its too early for smiles at this age, too, which is why 95% of newborn portraits are taken while baby is fast asleep.

At first, I tried to fix skin tones by adjusting exposure in Curves. Then I adjusted color balance by adding blue and cyan and green to compensate for all the red and yellow. Then I adjusted saturation and lowered the yellow and red.

I still wasn't happy. Maybe it was just my eyes or my monitor, but I couldn't get the yellow cast to go completely away. So, when all else fails.... Black and White baby!

After:

Its a Greek Tragedy

2011-09-27T08:07:00.002-04:00

It must really be Fall now in our town since the Annual Greek Fest was this past weekend!

The Festival was rained out last year, but the kids remembered how much fun they had the year before and they were very excited to go again!

It started to rain immediately after we had spent all our tickets at the Bouncy Houses, so we hightailed it into the dining room to eat some excellent greek food! As an added bonus, we even got to sit with our good friends, Dodi and Vince :)

The rain had stopped by the time we'd finished and we were all set to go see the Greek dancers. The kids saw the church's new playground and wanted to stop there instead for a minute.

The kids started playing a game that involved jumping off of those "rock" steps. I was watching them do it the whole time and didn't think anything of it.

Then Jaina decided to jump off the very top step. She landed just fine.

Then Jayce decided to copy her. Um, his didn't end up as well.

3 hours later, we were home from the ER with a temporary soft cast/splint, prescription for tylenol with codeine, and copies of x-rays that showed a buckle fracture in his left arm.

Jaina made him a get well soon pumpkin :) With bandaids and everything!

We're just headed out here in a bit to see the Orthopedic doctor to get a more permanent cast and some new instructions. Not quite sure what this means for piano lessons, soccer games (there's only 5 weeks left!), or our big Universal Studios Trip scheduled for November.

Only time will tell :)

Checkers

2011-09-24T21:47:00.000-04:00

It pretty much rained here all week.

Blah.

I'm the first to admit that I can't stand stormy weather. I like my sunshine, thankyouverymuch. I know we need the rain and all, but I could honestly do without it.

Gotta hand it to the teachers at school, though. They thought of creative ways to do "recess" indoors. Jaina told me she learned how to play "Heads Up, 7 Up". I used to love that game when I was in elementary school!

Jayce came home and said, "I played CHECKERS today, mom! I loved it!"

I responded, "I didn't know you knew how to play checkers, Jayce! That's great!"

He said, "I don't know how to play! Can you teach me?"

Well, actually, I can't. I never learned how to play checkers. We don't even own a checkers board in this house.

But I do love me some chess :)

My brother Jeff taught me when I was 7. I bought a board for Brian when we were still dating and kidless and we'd spend many nights playing a game or two. He always won, though!

So, I convinced Jayce that chess was SO much cooler than checkers.

We started out learning about pawns and what direction they can move in. And why they can only take another piece out diagonally.

He kept saying, "This is easy, mom! Why do people say chess is hard?"

Then he learned how all the other pieces move.

It took some careful thought to figure out what to move next.

He quickly learned that the Queen was the most powerful player on the board. And he loved the idea of "Check" and "Check Mate".

We've played every day since then. I think I've created a monster :)

I Heart Faces: A Touch of Sun

2011-09-20T18:50:00.002-04:00

I seldom have a recent photo that meets the requirements for the weekly theme. Normally, I scramble to find inspiration during the busy weekend right before entries are open to the public on Monday. This time I'm glad I didn't have to scramble because there was not a scrap of sun at all this weekend!

This photo was taken last weekend of one of my favorite families. Those of you who know me in real life will recognize the baby immediately, but in the interest of privacy, I won't be posting her name :)

She certainly is a "touch of sunshine" :) I am so lucky to know this wonderful family!

Check out all the other entries (there were 700 last time I checked!) over at I Heart Faces.

Its so hard to say goodbye

2011-09-18T21:04:00.001-04:00

It was hard to do, but sometimes things in life just aren't easy.

When the vet talked to us at 6:30, she said Alli had not moved on her own for hours, barely even lifting her head when someone walked in the room.

For the entire hour we were with her, she kept her head held high and seemed to enjoy the petting and attention we gave her.

This new activity gave Jaina a renewed sense of hope, which honestly made it harder for her to accept that we had to put her down. Even though Alli put on a brave face the last hour of her life, lab work showed that she was just not going to get better.

Today has been hard. Shaggy, our other dog, does not know quite what to do. Brian tried to encourage Shaggy to stay on the couch with him to watch TV, but that's just not Shaggy's personality. It was Alli's. When Jaina went to feed the dogs tonight, there was only one cup of food needed in the bowls.

She's sleeping with Alli's collar in bed with her right now. I know its going to take some time.

Jayce is processing this completely different than Jaina. I have to be honest and say that I've never been as embarrassed about his autism as I was yesterday at the Vet's office. He was being SO inappropriate. He berated Jaina for crying. He said he wasn't going to miss Alli at all and he'd only cry if she got her leg chopped off. He was completely fascinated by the medicine they would use to put her to sleep. He kept asking when her heart would stop and when would she be dead? When the time came, he was way too excited about watching. The worst part? We thought he wanted to pet her one last time, but all he wanted to do was to lift her head up and watch it flop back on the exam table, lifeless. I think he managed to do that 3 times before Brian and I dragged him from the room.

Sigh. Luckily Brian and I had taken separate cars and he took Jayce home with him so Jaina could cry in peace in my van.

This morning, Jayce kept reminding Jaina that Alli was dead now. I've already emailed his therapists about creating a social understanding story about a pet's death. He has been working in an Emotions workbook for a year now. He does great with it.... at our kitchen table. Generalizing into every day life? Not so much.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who has been so wonderful and supportive both here on my blog and on my FB account. Your kind words mean so much.

In the mean time, Jaina and I are making a photo book of our favorite photos of Alli. If I can share the link when we are done, I will do so.

Bittersweet homecoming

2011-09-17T22:28:00.000-04:00

We returned last night safely from our week long trip to Las Vegas. When we arrived home, we found a sick child and a sick dog.

The sick child ended up with a sore throat and a fever. Just a virus, the doctor said. She was better this morning and even played in her soccer game.

Our sick dog didn't have the same prognosis. Alli has long since suffered from chronic pancreantitis. She must have gotten in the trash at some point this week and had another flare up. In the past, this has been easily treated by limiting her food and giving her some extra fluid via IV.

This time, she went downhill fast. By the time we rushed her to the weekend vet, she was already in kidney and liver failure. 6 hours of IV fluid did nothing to replenish her electrolytes.

We had talked about transferring her to the big Emergency Animal Hospital in Greenville so she could continue to receive treatment. But by the time we got to the vet's office, she was showing signs of nerve damage. Our vet cautioned us that she would probably not make it through the night. Or not even the ride to the next town over.

We chose to put her down, much to our 9 year old's dismay. Jaina still doesn't understand why we made this decision. As soon as I heard that Alli wouldn't make it, I drove the kids up to the vet to see her one last time. It was very very hard on all of us.

I have pictures, but haven't uploaded them tonight. I'll post them later this week. For now, here's how we'll remember her:

Leaving

2011-09-12T02:45:00.003-04:00

I'm leaving my babies for five straight days. I'm leaving my friends, too. I'm leaving my blog, email, and Facebook world. I'm leaving laundry, dishes, and alarm clocks. I'm leaving car pool lines, packing school lunches, soccer practice, and piano lessons. I'm leaving my van. I'm leaving my dogs.

I'm leaving my life, as I know it, for the better part of a week. I won't be leaving my husband, though, since he's the one taking me!

We are off to Las Vegas, Nevada this morning. I'll be leaving my life in the care of my mom. She's raised four kids; she knows what she is doing. (at least, I think we all turned out okay!).

Jaina cried tonight when I put her to bed. Jayce claimed that he wasn't going to miss me at all.

I found out today that our posh hotel does not have free internet access. That kinda blew my mind! I mean, you can go down the street here to the nearest motel and have free Wi-fi. I'll be taking my laptop just in case, but chances are I won't get online during our trip.

This is my first trip West of the midwest. Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa are as far as I've been across the country. I'm excited to see a new place and experience this so-called "dry heat" that is supposedly very different than our southern humidity.

I am more excited than anything. The excitement has eaten away at the nervousness and guilt I've felt at leaving my kids. I think the truth of this matter is, "Mommy needs a break". And I recognize this. I wouldn't be leaving my children if I didn't think it would do us both a world of good. My kids could do a week without my constantly nagging them. "Did you practice piano yet? No, you may not have a snack 30 minutes before dinner! Go feed the dogs, NOW, like I asked you to three times already!"

This new baby coming in January will change everything. It will change my marriage, my relationship with Jaina and Jayce, our family dynamic as a whole. It will change even my role of Mommy. I will not just have my two independent school aged kids to think about. I will welcome the newborn stage of sleepless nights and constant nursing, but I also realize the deeper commitment I am making to this new son or daughter for the next 2 years. Or, really, 18 years. Being a mommy to a baby is completely different than being a mommy to older kids.

And that is why we are taking this opportunity to sneak away from our every day life. Because soon, I won't be able to. Honestly, I won't want to. I will relish in the fact that my new baby will only want me. Will only be fed by me. Will only drift off to sleep in my arms. I am anticipating that bond with my third child.

But until then, I'm going to take this opportunity to refresh my stores. Hopefully when I come back, Jaina and Jayce will have a refreshed mommy, a less impatient mommy, a less tired mommy, a mommy that doesn't nag quite so much.

Have a wonderful week, my blogging friends! And know that I'll be doing the same!

Ten on 10: September

2011-09-11T08:07:00.001-04:00

I remembered!!!!Thanks to my Google Calendar Reminder on my computer! Now why haven't I thought of doing that before?

The project has since grown to be a fun and interactive way for blogger's from all around the globe to document a snap shot of their lives too, once a month on the tenth taking a photo an hour for ten consecutive hours. Finding much life and beauty among the ordinary things of our day!

(yes, the pregnant woman ate a leftover Subway sandwich for breakfast. Don't ask.)

Anyone else super excited about SMG's return? I was reading EW instead of cleaning the bathroom like I should have been doing!

Getting ready for soccer while reading "I Wish That I Had Duck Feet".

Let the first game of the season begin! The kids played at exactly the same time on different fields.

Both Jaina and Jayce received stickers for Best Effort.

We always head to McD's on Saturday for lunch!

Its hard to find the "beauty" in a messy playroom that is about to be cleaned, but I tried!

Amazingly, the kids played together quietly all afternoon while we cleaned.

There are two things wrong with this picture. First, my husband the beer snob, is drinking a Coors Light. Secondly, he's watching the UGA vs. USC college football game. Neither thing has ever been done on a Saturday afternoon before at our house.

My mailbox flowers are all but dead. Except for these hardy impatiens.

Want to do your own Ten on Ten next month? Link up at A Bit of Sunshine! Don't forget to put October 10th on your calendar!

And It's A.....

2011-09-08T09:47:00.000-04:00

Healthy Baby :)

Sorry for the "picture of a picture" quality, but we don't own a scanner. Hubby has one at work and that's good enough for him. Honestly, my HS and College friends are probably glad I don't own one at home :)

Anyway, we got to see "Baby J #3" yesterday. Everything looks great! The maternal/fetal specialist had no concerns whatsoever. I don't even have to go back for the rest of my pregnancy! That's how awesome things looked.

My first thought when I saw the baby's profile on screen was, "I really hope that's a boy in there. That's a big nose! I think it would look funny on a girl!" When comparing u/s pictures to that of my other two....

Jayce:

And Jaina:

I realized that the noses weren't that different between kids. But I'm still thinking BOY. What about you??

The tech just had us close our eyes any time she scanned the lower part of the baby. As soon as a leg or foot would be on the screen, she'd tell us it was safe to look. I asked her if SHE was able to see the gender and know what we were having and she said, "Not gonna say."

As soon as the doctor walked in for the consult, the first thing he said was, "And no, I don't know what your baby is. Its not even written down in your chart."

With Jaina, I expected a boy. Girls are a rarity in both Brian and my families. I was very surprised when she was a girl at her 18 week u/s. With Jayce, I knew from the first trimester that he was a boy. I just knew. Not surprised at all when that was confirmed at 19 weeks.

I am feeling boy on this one, but not 100% like I was with Jayce. Here's the thing that's messing me up.... with Jayce, I couldn't eat anything sweet. No cake, no ice cream, no cocoa pebbles in the morning. With Jaina, I craved sweet stuff, especially fruit. Well, if I went on my cravings alone this time, I'd be so quick to think "Girl". But I'm just not sure.

All I can tell you is that I'll be driving myself (and my blog readers and friends IRL) crazy for another 19 weeks. I don't know if I can do this!!! But what choice do I have? If I was going to find out, it would have been yesterday. I think I missed my chance!

So, based on the profile picture alone.... what are you guys thinking? Boy or Girl?

Happy Adoption Anniversary Shaggy!

2011-09-06T10:51:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I know I'm late with this, but I didn't want to just skip over this very important anniversary. It was just a little over a year ago when we first found Shaggy in our yard after coming back from our neighbor's Fantasy Football draft.

(If you want, you can read about our first day with him here and read about his broken leg here. )

Shaggy has definitely found a place in our family.

Even Alli has benefited from Shaggy's presence. The vet claims that Shaggy's youthfulness has helped keep up Alli's exercise.

We all love Shaggy, however, Jaina continues to have a special relationship with him.

I have to say that without ever being professionally trained, Shaggy's a pretty good dog. He's eager to please and has thankfully stopped chewing on all of our shoes.

He got a clean bill of health at the vet's office last week. His leg has healed nicely.

We love you Shaggy!

Girlfriend

2011-09-05T20:42:00.003-04:00

Not quite sure who this "Shayla" character is, but I've got my eye on the situation. She obviously only likes my son for his shirt and shoes.

20 Weeks

2011-09-01T21:31:00.000-04:00

Okay, I promise this won't be another bitch fest. :) Instead, let's focus on the positives of this pregnancy, shall we?

First of all, I've gained a total of 5 pounds. This, my friends, is truly something to celebrate. Granted, I was about 10 pounds over what I normally am to start with, but it was a good weight for me to be at. I've struggled keeping weight on my entire life due to my intestinal condition which does not absorb nutrients from food properly. I even got down to some scary anorexic weights when I was breastfeeding both my other kids. Now that I'm over 30 and my metabolism has slowed a bit, I seem to have lost the "underweight" label that has followed me around my entire life. That's fine by me!

But that doesn't mean I need to gain 60 pounds like I did with Jayce. Don't believe me? Just look:

Um, yeah. I was huge. I think I was only at 36 weeks here. Wait... I think the date on this picture was March 3rd. Jayce wasn't born until April 28th. That's more like 32 weeks!! EEK!

(on a side, note, wasn't 2.5 year old Jaina super cute? And yes, my husband is still a goof)

So, I'm aiming for a nice happy medium. I'd like to gain no more than 30 pounds this time. And since my gestating baby weighs no more than like 8 ounces right now, I'll take the 5 pound weight gain at 20 weeks as a success!

I loathe self-portraits but want to document my pregnancy as best I can. And since my kids tend to cut my head off and my husband tends to zoom in on my boobs, I've learned to use my remote timer :)

I have my target ultra sound next Wednesday afternoon. It will be SO hard to ask the technician to turn the screen. I wonder if I will be able to tell based on profile alone? I can't wait to see our baby :) I was going to let the kids go, but its at a really bad time after school. I will have another u/s at 36 weeks to give me the green light for my birth center birth. They can come with me then.

Most evenings after a long day I can feel the baby move once I lay still. Just a poke here and a flutter there, but reassuring just the same.

20 more weeks, ya'll :) 1/2 way there!!

Pregnancy induced insomnia

2011-08-31T02:03:00.000-04:00

Or, this post could be alternatively titled, "In which I complain heavily about being pregnant".

Yes, I know I wanted this pregnancy. Yes, I know that we tried for almost a year to conceive. Yes, I am excited about being a mom to three kids and am looking forward to the birth of our baby.

But in the meantime? This just sucks. I totally don't remember being this uncomfortable with my other two. I must have a wonderful selective memory :)

Let's start with the morning sickness. You know, the stuff that lasted 18 weeks? Granted, I am glad it didn't last 9 months, I know it could have been worse. I could have been one of those moms that had to be hospitalized with a zofran pump inserted. I know it could always be worse. But that doesn't discount the misery I felt anyway, you know?

I am now over halfway through my pregnancy. Can someone please tell me when this baby is going to get off my bladder? The frequent trips to the bathroom are killing me. I've actually thought that maybe I've had a UTI or something, anything, that would account for all this. But nope.... its always just pregnancy.

Typically when I'm not pregnant, I sleep 10-6 AM without waking up for anything. Now I'm lucky if I get two hours before I wake up and my bladder is screaming at me. Exhausted, I haul myself out of bed and waddle/drag myself to the bathroom. The amount I pee is no where near in relation to the pressure I feel, so I know I'll just be doing this again in two more hours.

Then I drag myself back to bed. Brian has stolen the covers and spread out so his elbow is on my pillow while I've been gone. I am not nice about getting him to move out of my spot. Then I try to get comfortable. And toss and turn and try again. Then look at the clock. Then toss and turn again. Then kick the covers off. Then realize I'm cold. And thirsty. But drinking more water would require me to get up again and then pee even more. I concentrate on thinking of anything that will allow me to go back to sleep. Just as I'm drifting off, I hear Brian get up to go to the bathroom. (He's not pregnant, just a small bladder) Now I'm really awake. I look at the clock again and its been over an hour since I've tried to go back to sleep. Might as well get up and pee again and get something to drink.

Now, if this was an isolated incident, I might be able to deal. But this is about 5 nights out of 7 that this scenario happens. Its now 1:54 AM and I've been awake since 12:45. I've caught up on all my blog reading. I've read the current statuses of all 984 friends I have on Facebook. I've talked myself out of getting a snack from the fridge. I've flipped through all the stations on the TV. I'm about to re-read another Nicholas Sparks novel because I've read everything downloaded on my NOOK.

And in 4 hours, when I'm finally able to drift off, my husband's alarm will be going off. I will have to pack lunches and backpacks and cook breakfast and supervise teeth brushing and drag sleepy kids out the door by 6:55 AM. I'll spend the next hour in car pool lines trying to get the kids to both their schools by the 7:40 tardy bell. Then I'll pick up that darling 10 month old I keep during the day, who does not ever nap well at my house, and try to make it through the day coherently without the aid of too much caffeine.

Sigh. And to think, in just 20 more weeks, I'll be doing all this with a newborn.

I Heart Faces: White

2011-08-29T21:14:00.000-04:00

I know its been forever since I've entered a challenge. Unfortunately, I am just not motivated with photography when I'm not feeling well. As much as I'd like to enter a very recent photo, I'm digging back into my photo albums from early May.

I can't claim this sweet angel as my own, but I'm privileged to be her caregiver during the week while her mom is at work.

Don't forget to check out all the other "White" entries at http://www.iheartfaces.com/

Its been a crazy week!

2011-08-26T09:58:00.000-04:00

For the most part, we've all adjusted being back into a school routine. I still have to drag my son out of bed at 6:30 every morning (he sleeps until after 8 on the weekends) despite getting into bed by 8 PM every night. Jaina is much easier and will wake up before 6:30 on her own.

I think school is going well for Jayce. I've had a bit of communication with his teacher and she reports that he is very cooperative and eager to please. When he gets home, though, its been a completely different story. He refuses to do his homework and it usually takes him an hour (with tantruming in between) to complete something that would take him no more than 10 minutes if he wasn't upset. I do give him a break, most of the time 45-60 minutes long, where he can eat a snack, watch TV or play Wii before starting on his homework with his ABA therapist. I think it just boils down to the fact that he is tired of keeping his talkativeness and behavior together during school and it just comes bursting out when he gets home. This is normal for Jayce, so we aren't worried. It should get better in a week or so :)

Jaina absolutely ADORES her teachers this year. Despite her school being run like a prison, her individual classes are very fun and relaxed. She is actually reading chapter books for 100 Book Challenge without prompting or complaint!

And my brag?? Jaina was selected for Gifted and Talented ART!!! I am so proud of my girl :) She definitely gets her art genes from my mom, not me! I can't draw a stick figure without looking like a preschooler did it! So, she'll have gifted art on Monday afternoons, then both kids go to piano across the street at 5:00 PM. We don't know yet when soccer practice is, we'll find out tomorrow. That is definitely enough extracurricular activities!

As for me, I've been sick :( Not morning sickness, thank goodness! But some nasty virus that made me run a fever, have nasal and chest congestion, and basically just ache all over. Not fun! I managed to also get the baby I watch sick as well :( Jayce has a cough, but no fever.

I'll be 20 weeks pregnant on Sunday. Wow, I kinda can't believe it. After my morning sickness went away, this pregnancy just started to fly by! I took a belly shot the other day (I can't remember if I was 18 weeks or 19) but haven't gotten it off my camera yet. I've only gained 5 lbs so far. YAY!!! Believe me, I'm not one of those women that work out religiously during pregnancy so they can stay in their regular clothes as long as possible. But when you gain 60 lbs with a previous pregnancy, you kinda don't want to repeat that :P

I'm writing this on my laptop downstairs so I can't post pictures right this second, but may come back and add some :)

First Day of School

2011-08-22T21:38:00.000-04:00

The first day of school was actually last Monday, but I'm going to give myself props for posting these only a week late. If my fellow readers recall, I still haven't even posted all of my Beach Trip pictures yet. Won't those be fun to look at in December?

So, I now have a 4th grader:

A Justice-skirt-wearing-class-changing-locker-combination girl. Yeah, I'm not ready for all that. And have I mentioned that I really dislike the store Justice? Overpriced and their quality sucks. That skirt was on sale and I still about had a heart attack when I found out the price.

And then I have a first grader, too :)

On his first week of class, he reports:

-His teacher is nice
-Dimitri is his new best friend
-Jacob gets in trouble a lot
-Shayla loves him

Not bad for a first week!

Take Me Out To the Ball Game

2011-08-21T09:56:00.001-04:00

Take me out to the ball game,

Take me out with the crowd. (Hi Sara!)

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks (or ice cream or a push pop)

I don't care if I never get back
Cause its "Root, root, root!" for the home team

If they don't win, its a shame! (and they didn't.)

For its ONE

TWO

THREE

Strikes you're out in the old ball game!

And now for some random photos:

And now you know why Jayce's hair was wet in most pictures :)

And my fav picture of the evening?

for once, this post wasn't as Jayce picture heavy as usual! See, I do love my daughter :)

Bad News; Good News

2011-08-16T21:31:00.001-04:00

Last week, I almost had a nervous breakdown.

First, our refrigerator decided to have a broken compressor. Since it cost the same as replacing a cheap fridge, we just decided to get a new one.

It served our family 12 long years. Two years longer than I've even known it! I still don't know why Brian bought that fridge to begin with. He didn't want kids and didn't care if he got married. Yet he bought a family sized fridge. Hmm... I think his subconcious was telling him something!

Brian went to HH Greg on his lunch hour. And found the perfect replacement. The bad news? It couldn't be delivered until Friday.

Going without a fridge and freezer is NOT fun, mind you. I never want to do that again.

Thanks to two neighbors and a dear friend, we were able to save 75% of our food.

The same dear friend invited us over for dinner one night.

Where someone in her neighborhood backed into my van.

Don't you just love hit and runs? We waited a long time for the police to come to file the report. Jayce was disappointed that they didn't pull up with sirens and flashing lights.

The next day, I realized that Jaina's "bug bite" looked more like a spider bite. And it was getting worse. Since she was starting a brand new Intermediate school a few days later, I thought maybe I'd take her to the doctor for some magic cortisone cream that would diminish its appearance.

The doctor took one look at it and said, "That's an abscess. It will have to be lanced and drained." Poor Jaina. She tried to be super brave, but her abscess hurt her very badly and even the numbing medicine didn't help her through the procedure. The amount of infected pus that came out of there is something I'll never ever forget in my life.

Then he drops the bombshell, "I think its MRSA. Sending this culture to the lab. We'll know what other medications to add on Monday. Keep it covered, disinfect your house, and keep Jaina away from people until she's had her antibiotic in her system."

Geez... really? A broken fridge, a dented van, and now MRSA? Thank goodness her antibiotic didn't need to be kept cold!

The next day, the area looked 100x better.

I didn't even think to take a picture of it on Thursday before her procedure. Honestly, you probably wouldn't have wanted to see it!

On Friday, our new fridge was delivered:

And the water hook up wouldn't allow our fridge to go in the space it needed to be in. I thought Brian was going to have a nervous breakdown at this point!

But he went to Lowe's and bought a new water hose and all was well.

SO.....

bad news: our fridge broke
good news: we love our awesome new one!!! It has the coolest water dispenser!

bad news: my van was involved in a hit-and-run
good news: Our deductible is very low and insurance will pay for my rental car. AND we got the tag number on the SUV that we suspect hit it in the first place!

bad news: Jaina's "bug bite" turned out to be an infected abscess.
good news: culture came back and its NOT MRSA!! Just a staph infection, which is being treated with the appropriate medicine.

I guess its true that things happen in 3's, right?

Green Lantern

2011-08-11T02:31:00.000-04:00

In honor of the recent film, Brian bought himself a new Green Lantern shirt.

Jayce, of course, had to have one, too.

They didn't have any kid sizes so we went with an Adult Small. I have a feeling he'll own this shirt in his possession for a very long time :)

Jayce's chameleon eyes changed to green as soon as he put this shirt on. And no, I didn't alter anything in photoshop. I used Picasa to sharpen and adjust exposure a bit, that's all.

My brother Jeremy has chameleon eyes, too. If they wear blue, their eyes look blue. If they wear green, their eyes look green. If they wear brown... well, you get the picture. Any other color and their eyes look hazel. This can be kinda confusing for a kid in Kindergarten who is asked to describe his eye color. He gives a different answer every time!

Jayce also found something at the store that would match his shirt.

And what do we say to people that proclaim that nail polish "isn't for boys?"

That's right, buddy.

The Conclusion of Carowinds

2011-08-08T07:31:00.000-04:00

I usually take my point and shoot camera with us to Carowinds and don't freak out if I take it near water. This time, though, I put my DSLR in the lockers at the water park and just used Jaina's disposable underwater camera. I got the pictures developed yesterday and will be adding them to another post soon :)

The only time my kids fought the entire day was over the shared bowl of dippin' dots.

We were there for 9 hours in 101 degree heat. I'd say that's pretty good!

One of the last rides we went to was the Ricochet. Its one of the kids' absolute favorites. Our therapist looked at it and decided it didn't look TOO bad, so she agreed to go on it with them.

I don't think she quite enjoyed it as much as she had hoped! Sorry sweetie! Thank goodness it was a short ride!

We can't wait for next year... already!!

Carowinds Continued...

2011-08-07T07:07:00.000-04:00

You can start by reading part one here

Where was I?

Oh, the rides. This was the first year that both kids could pretty much ride whatever they wanted to. Except for one mine train rollercoaster that you had to be 48" to ride, so Brian had to take Jaina by herself.

As for me, I could barely ride anything in my condition. Since I wasn't 9 months pregnant and due to go into labor any day, I pretty much decided I could ride anything that was a Thrill Level of 2 or below. That's okay, this was the first opportunity that I had to take my Canon Rebel with me (and my 85 f/1.8) and try to get some shots of my kids actually on the rides themselves. This is really hard to do when you are actually riding, too!

Did I mention that we took our ABA therapist with us? We had so much fun with her! She came along to help Jayce work out any sensory overload he had, to help keep a watchful eye on a potentially wandering kid, to help remind him to be patient in line, and to reinforce the fact that he cannot go up to strangers at the park and start conversations. Oh, and it also helped to have a 4th person who could actually ride all the stuff :)

And here is where I just post a lot of pictures.

We also attended the Peanut's show "Lucy's Hoedown" at the pavilion. Both kids got to be volunteers on stage.

No more time to post, more pictures tomorrow!

Carowinds Part One

2011-08-06T08:17:00.000-04:00

Our family takes an annual trip to Carowinds Amusement Park every year during the summer. Yes, we know its hot then (super hot!) but that's when the Boomerang Bay is open as well. And we can't miss the water park!

Let's trip down memory lane a bit...

This was taken in 2006. Jayce had just turned a year old, Jaina was really close to turning 4.

The next year, however, didn't go so well. Jaina, 5, loved it!

Jayce? Uh, not so much. Two years old was a really rough year for him. He had severe sensory overload at Carowinds.

The next year is when we got our autism diagnosis. So, we got a sitter for Jayce the year he was 3 and Jaina was 6.

I know that might sound cruel to some people, but honestly, it would have been worse to bring him. Jayce could only handle outings for small periods of time as we worked on his sensory issues. Although our life didn't stop for Jayce, we did have to think about how he'd handle each situation carefully before leaving the house with him. It took a while for him to tolerate and then actually enjoy places like McDonald's and Chuck E. Cheese and Monkey Joe's.

But when Jayce was 4 and Jaina was 7, we were able to go again as a family.

The same for 2010:

Which then brings us to our current summer!

Isn't it crazy to see Jayce have hair in the summer? He says he never wants to buzz it again. That's fine by me!

We knew Jaina was over 48" and therefore able to ride everything she wanted to. But was Jayce 46"? If you are over 46", you can't ride all the roller coasters, but you can have a few more options than if you are under 46".

Whew, just barely!!! :)

When Carowinds was owned by Paramont Pictures, they used to have a Nickelodeon theme. Before that, it was Hannah Barbara (think Scooby Doo). Now its the Peanuts Gang!

The above ride used to be called "The Runaway Reptar!" from the Rugrat's Movie on Nickelodeon. Now its called "Snoopy's Flying Ace", but my kids never call it that. It will always be the "Reptar Rollercoaster" to them! Jayce was thrilled to be able to go on it!

More pictures to come tomorrow :)

Back to the Fountain

2011-08-04T17:38:00.000-04:00

To soak up a little more summer before school starts...

School starts in just 11 days! I can't believe our summer is quickly slipping away!

Summer Ice Cream

2011-08-02T19:24:00.000-04:00

Call me crazy, but I don't like to eat ice cream in the summer.

With our record high heat and our 100% humidity levels, you just can't eat it fast enough.

Hence, why I've taken to consuming my ice cream in a cup instead of a cone. I love cones, but I reserve them for Fall and Spring temperatures instead.

(btw, my favorite flavor of Bruster's ice cream is chocolate oreo. But since they only make it about 4 times a year, I usually have to settle for getting regular chocolate with an oreo topping. Not quite the same, but still pretty good.)

Jayce *almost* got a Brain Freeze. He really just likes the name of it!

Instead, he got his own Reece's Pieces Blast. Its what Brian usually gets.

Its not a surprise that Brian made him share :)

And here's the real reason we've decided to have a third baby....

My kids are way too tall.

I mean, I just can't NOT have a child that's not under 40".

Baby definitely approved of the ice cream. I'm happy to report that my morning sickness seems to be dwindling completely... even without the medicine!

Hey, if you don't mind....

Several of my friends have told me recently that they can't leave comments at all. I've done everything I can think of to my comment settings and it still won't work for some people. So, I've decided to switch to Disqus for a trial run.

Can you leave me a comment below and tell me what your favorite flavor of ice cream is? And either the brand or the ice cream shop that you buy from the most?

THANKS!

Master Pizza Chef

2011-07-27T06:28:00.000-04:00

When Jayce grows up, he wants to have the following occupations:

-Meterologist
-Powerline worker
-HVAC installation and repair
-Charter cable installer
-Teacher
-Football player
-Computer Programmer

Yeah, pretty much whenever we have to call someone out to our house for repairs or installation, Jayce decides that a new occupation can be added to his list.

Well, we can go ahead and add "Master Pizza Chef" to that list.

Luckily for us, our summer ABA therapist has some good connections. As in, she's married to the manager of a Pizza eatery. It was no problem to arrange a little lesson for our sequencing program!

Jayce was so excited!

Jaina, of course, made one too.

And then there were salads.

The baby I keep during the day was not impressed with the food. Her sippy cup filled with water was much more interesting.

The best part was eating. No, actually, wait. The best part was eating pizza just 10 minutes before the store even opened and watching the line of people at the window just staring at us and wondering how we got in the restaurant before the door was unlocked. It was pretty amusing.

Cake Pops and neighbors

2011-07-24T08:14:00.000-04:00

I live on a street with absolutely wonderful neighbors. It has been such a great experience getting to know them over the past 4 years of living in this house.

Our across the street neighbors have been a true blessing. The mom is my children's piano teacher and one of their favorite babysitters. The dad works at a local home improvement store. Need I say more? If we need a tool, he most likely has it. If we need some advice, he most likely has it :)

Their youngest daughter is a therapist at the same ABA provider we use for Jayce's therapy services. We keep trying to get her on our team (how awesome would it be to just walk across the street to work?) but there's some kind of policy about conflict of interest. Boo!

Their middle two sons just rock. One of them is a tattoo artist. As soon as I get some money and time (ha!) and am not pregnant or nursing anymore, I want him to do my Little Bobby tattoo to commemorate my Jump, Little Children days.

The other son and his wife have two adorable little girls. They happen to live across the street from one of my best friends, so we see each other a lot!

And their eldest daughter? Well, she's turning out to be the most fun of all! Not only did Brian buy his motorcycle from her, but she also has just started a new baking endeavor and we get to sample it!

And totally off the subject, all seems to be well in Pregnancy # 3 land. Nothing much to update. My MS seems to be under control with the 8 mg of zofran. My uterus is a "good size", whatever that means, and I've only gained two pounds!

Now if only it would start to cool off, I could go back to walking again!

I'm really really behind on blogging. I don't even know where to start. This summer has been crazy, but good. Either I've been sick as a dog and not taking any photos, or else we've been running around town having as much fun as we can cram in one day. Those are the activities that have made me behind!

A beach post is definitely in the future, though! Almost done with all wedding images!

Where's your smile, Jayce?

2011-07-19T07:52:00.000-04:00

"Right here, mom!"

Its just a phase.

I hope.

14 Week Belly

2011-07-16T08:29:00.000-04:00

I think this post needs a little disclaimer in order to resolve my guilt.

The above photo is a true life example of what my bedroom looks like in its current state.

Normally, this would embarrass me to no end and would not be posted on my blog. But morning sickness will do strange things to a person. I just don't care. Or, at least, I didn't, when this picture was taken a few days ago.

Its on my list of "things to do today", believe me. I am FINALLY feeling better. Nope, my morning sickness hasn't decided to pack up its bags and leave. Nope, instead, my CNM (who I will be seeing for my 14 week visit on Tuesday, but not delivering with) wrote me a prescription for 8 mg of zofran a day.

Bless her.

Who knew that 8 was so much better than the measly 4 mg I had been taking? And who knew that it would last most of the day in my system and therefore be much cheaper to purchase in that quantity?

The most important thing is that I can take care of my kids again. I can leave the house with them and not worry about public vomiting. I can cook again! I have the desire to eat again!! (to this date, I have not gained a single pound during my pregnancy, which is pretty much unheard of for me. I gained 12-15 pounds with both Jaina and Jayce by the end of the first trimester). And I also am starting to have the motivation to clean again.

Anyway, so, I could either take pictures of my 14 week belly now with a messy house or wait until next week when I find the time to tackle each room with a deep cleaning vengeance.

What the hell :)

As you can see in the background, I *do* own a vacuum and will be using it today, I promise!

Soon I won't be able to see my feet from this view!

And here's the total package. I certainly feel bigger than I look in this photo, though!

And there you have it. Expect a much bigger belly next time! But hopefully my face, arms, and thighs will stay the same. Highly doubtful, but hopeful, nonetheless!

Just one...

2011-07-14T22:43:00.000-04:00

Okay, I can't help it.

I know I promised myself that I wouldn't even upload my beach pictures to my computer, but frankly, I had to get all 935 images off my compact flash cards in order to reformat them and use them for my upcoming shoot on Saturday. So, you see, I had to.

And to reward myself for plugging along with all the wedding edits, I can post just one picture, right?

This is the very first image I took once we got down to Pawley's.

That was one happy boy who loves the ocean :)