Our pretty gorgeous---but almost dated!---family photos

Not only did our friend Lisa from New York invite us to join them in the Outer Banks at a fantastic beach house this summer. She also suggested we do a beachy photo shoot while we were there. We kindly obliged her :). 

If you're near Rochester, New York or if you vacation at the Outer Banks in May, contact Lisa for amazing family photos.

I think these are my favorite family pictures we've ever taken. That pier at Avon, the boys, the playful authenticness, color scheme, and, vainly, my longer hair.

 With this new kiddo on the way, I had to post and appreciate these before they were outdated. (Three kids, what?!)

 Thankfully, this one will never be dated. I love this picture and this amazing guy!

A threatened induction

So, I've been induced twice. Once because I was postdates, and the other electively so Ben wouldn't miss it. (He had a national, big deal, non-remakeupable test for med school right after my due date.) Both times it didn't go so well.

Baby #1: I got Cervidel for effacement to prep and it kicked me into tetanic contractions. No early labor, just relentless hard labor, baby went into fetal distress so had to give me something to slow contractions down and almost had to c-section. Unexpected, fast, crazy and kinda scary.

Baby #2: I got Misoprostal to prep, but after, what, 14 hours of being strapped to the bed it didn't do a darn thing.
  Mistake 1- I wasn't dilated, but they started Pitocin.
               2- I wasn't dilated, so they broke my water.
               3- Some man behind the curtain thought things weren't progressing, because the nurse kept religiously pumping up the Pitocin, but without checking for progression.
               4- I waited to get an epidural, until I was about to gouge my eyes out and my body was seemingly ripping in half.
               5- Anesthesiologist came in, but was slow and, the staff thought I was still at about a 1. In fact, I was in transition and he was crowning while I was having to sit up on the side of the bed. There was a dramatic moment.

Thankfully, it all ended in a healthy baby via vaginal delivery both times, so the inductions did accomplish the ultimate goal.

And yet I've had to ask myself, wow, isn't there a better way?? 

I'm obviously not an anti-medicine person. (Good thing, married to an internal medicine physician and all.) But even still, I've swore for 10 months I would not be induced. "Let nature take its course!"

But at my last appointment the OB informed me that there are risks of going postdates with a baby with a single umbilical artery (SUA). She strongly suggests I am induced by my due date. (In 8 days for the record.)

Do you think I have a chance of going into labor on my own before my due date? Not on your life.
Do you think I can, in good conscience, go against medical advice for this baby and go ahead with my original plans? Not a chance.
Do you think I am feeling really horrible about having to go against my long hope of "letting nature take its course"? You better believe it.

I'm feeling pretty sick about the idea of being induced again. For my own sake. But I'm not about to let this little human suffer adverse consequences to meet my emotional and psychological "needs" for this labor and delivery.

So I'm praying that by some miracle, my body gets with the program and goes into labor before October 2. But I'm also praying that if that doesn't happen, that I'll be reassured it's for the best. And also that the Duke Hospital labor and delivery staff are more in my court than the staff at the other hospital in times past.

So we're praying here. Mostly, that we'll be ready to welcome this healthy new boy soon!

Standin' Tall

This series of character building stories and music from Brite Music is making a major comeback in our household. And I kind of love it.

Set:

1--Obedience

2--Honesty

3--Forgiveness

4--Work*

5--Courage*

6--Happiness

7--Gratitude

8--Love

9--Service*

10--Cleanliness

11--Self-Esteem

12--Dependability*

*=boys' favs

My parents' graciously handed off the set I had growing up. Seth and Noah both request these as they go to bed and are driving in the car. It is oh so fun to see the boys developing the same little schema I had as a kid. 

Though, admittedly, "Cleanliness" was my favorite tape and I can't say I was cleaner than any other kid. So maybe the messages don't always hit a homerun...

I do think Seth, for one, is getting the idea though. At least about what procrastinating is and that it's no good. This message was brought to us by the "Dependability" CD, a favorite. (A no brainer, the setting is outer space and there's a bad guy.)  Recently he was pushing the limit on bedtime and coming out of his room again. 

"Mommy, can I listen to 'Dependability'?"
"No Seth, it's in the car and it's time for bed."
"Can you go get it?"
"No, shut your door."
"Mommy, are you procrastinating? I think you're procrastinating getting the CD."
"Hm, no, I think you're actually procrastinating going to bed. Is that right? "

Seth gives a knowing you-got-me smirk and eventually, sheepishly shuts the door and goes to sleep.

If trying to peg others' procrastinating is the start of his character education, so be it. We're starting somewhere.

The Maraca Photo

Probably my #1 baby pic fav of Seth.
6 weeks old.
Shot by fabulous cousin Hannah Galli. Check out her work.

Learning Time

About 3 months ago I started looking online for lists of subjects that parents could teach their two-year-old. I got lucky and came across an entire 26-week teaching curriculum! And it was free! 

Since finding this website, Seth and I have added a daily "Learning Time" to our morning routine. 

The gist of it:

Mondays--   theme introduced; corresponding book(s) read, song(s) sung; these revisited each day

Tuesdays--  shape or color

Wednesdays-- letter

Thursdays-- number

Fridays-- nursery rhyme and fine-motor activity to celebrate week's theme

She suggests keeping a poster of what you do each week. When the weeks done, we've been taping each part up in the stairwell to our basement. It's awesome to see the ground we've covered. It's also a great visual reminder of the fun we've had together.

I love the structure and her ideas. Her ideas also spark my creativity. It usually ends feeling liked structured play time together. 

Some of my favorite things we've done so far:

 -   made up a "Cow Dance" to Copland's Rodeo
 -   learning shapes with play-doh (also love her idea of using cookie dough and baking it, need to try it)
 -   keeping track of numbers in his sticker counting book
 -   watercoloring drawn eyes for theme celebration
-    scavenger hunts of letters, colors and numbers throughout the house
-    playing letter games on starfall.com
-    him loving songs on youtube that follow the theme: "lighthouse song" (Brazzle Dazzle Day), "rainbow song" ("Somewhere Over the Rainbow"), "cat song" ("The Cat Came Back" by Laurie Berkner)
-   "tape the eyes on the face" version of "pin tale on the donkey".
-    listening and dancing to "jungle songs": Saint Saens' "Carnival of the Animals"
-    building our own lighthouse with Duplo blocks
-    reading new books together I might not have checked out otherwise

(said lighthouse)

It's also rewarding to be driving down the freeway and he suddenly identifies "letter E!" on the side of the trailer truck. Or to be in the grocery store and have him point out that the box full of oranges is an octagon. And it's rewarding, not just because he's actually retaining something, but because it wasn't Caillou or Sesame Street that taught it to him: it's something he learned from me. 

So consensus: fun, educational. Recommended.

P.S. She has lesson plans for older kids and several other subjects on the same website that I haven't looked into myself, but I'd bet are good.

Prepping Myself

I have about 6 weeks until this baby boy is born. With this in mind, I'm scrambling to complete the projects I've been putting off until "sometime": typing new family cookbook, creating family blog book, cleaning gross window tracks, assembling photo albums, etc.

During my photo scavenge, I came to Seth as a newborn. I had to stop, remember, appreciate; seeing him so little also has me anticipating the new life and joys coming into our family so soon. 

First day of Spring

Frienemy

Captured: every two-year-old's playtime challenge of being both friend and foe.

First Prayer

Yesterday Seth saw Daddy's scriptures out and wanted to read them. He climbed up on the couch. He opened them up. I asked him what he was reading about:

"The sci-shures."
"Are you reading about Heavenly Father and Jesus?"
"Hevly Father, Jesus."
"Are you reading, 'love one another'?"
"Love one anuder."
"Are you reading, 'Pray always'?"
"Pray alwees," followed by an incessant, "Pray, pray."
"You want to pray?"
"Uh, yes."
"Okay."

"Heavly Father, thank-thank-thank.....Mommy. Thankee Daddy. Thankee Mommy.........Amen."

Pay day!

Tractor Dreaming

Can't get over the composition of this photo; the shapes, balance, leading lines, lighting. It's just kind of brilliant.

Serious Slider

A Mirror Image

Thousand Steps

The only picture we took at this little secret beach near/in Laguna Beach. Not secret to the locals though. 

It's a gorgeous alcove surrounded by tall rock cliffs topped with trendy beach houses on stilts. The sand is light and clean, the water is bright blue, there are tidepools and a cave. It's a Californian version of Oregon's own Oswald West. Speaking of which have I posted about that...no?!

Pictures at yelp and on this girl's photography site here (where the pics are a sadly a little too sharpened and enhanced for my complete enjoyment, but obviously a gorgeous place!). We'll definitely go back to Thousand Steps Beach.

Baby to Boy

Seth's first major haircut at 14 months:

Swinging II

64 degrees

A California-style October 26.

So we played in the leaves.

Seth

I can't wait any longer. I've been holding out until the right words come. But I'm no wordsmith. I don't think any words I could think of would be quite sufficient. But these photos capture much of my feeling about Seth.

He is so beautiful.

He's so pleasant.

So funny.

So inquisitive.

So expressive.

So individual.

So sweet.

As I hold him, especially as I sing him his lullabies in the rocking chair, I often catch myself.

He is mine.

He is ours.

We will always have him.

There is nothing sweeter, and no better news than this.

Pure Love

It's easy to feel pure love when the person you love is completely pure. And completely loving. It is a privilege to care for him. It is a privilege to help him learn about the world and about who he is.

Normal Life

I was washing a wooden spoon a few minutes ago. Something about it pulled my heart. I've washed that spoon many times. I'll wash it many more times. Just that I can plan on that fact made me happy.

Like in this picture.

You look at it and it doesn't seem special, it's just a snapshot. But it is special. It's everyday. It's Seth grabbing and sucking on something I'm carefully trying to pry away from him. It's Ben unlocking the car door because we don't have automatic locks. I know Seth won't always chew on paper, and I'm sure we won't have this car forever. But these things are now. And it's part of us being together.

These little things remind me that I'm happy. And after wooden spoons break and our old car dies and our little boy grows up we'll still be together. I can plan on that, and I love it.