12 weeks.....and some days.

I'm 12 weeks pregnant.

That means that twelve weeks ago, a miracle happened when a piece of me, and a piece of my amazing husband found each other and made Someone enitirely new. ( I don't figure my dates the same way Doctors do, because I'm a unique individual. If I did, then I would be 14 weeks and some days).

I figured that by now I'd have more energy, I'd be more "glowy" and NOT so pregnant looking.
Seriously. I look like I'm five months pregnant.
I'm having a hard time with it, because I feel like I never really got back to my pre-pregnancy weight after Emery, so, I feel really big, and I'm already wearing Maternity clothes which are almost never very flattering unless you're super tiny and just have a baby bump and no extra padding, like me. 

I have no idea wether there is a girl or a boy growing in me either.  With Emery I had dreams. Dreams of a little boy....
This time around....nothing.
I don't really want to know either.

I want to be surprised. 

Owen wants to find out.

Emery hasn't really grasped the idea yet either.

I'm worried that he'll be jealous, that he won't like the baby, that things will be really rough for quite a while. I 'm not sure how to get past that.

I'm also worried abot going back to work after the baby.  With Emery I didnt work for a while, and then when I didgo back to work I was nannying so he got to come with me. I didn't have to worry about pumping breastmilk for him because he was with me.  Its a good thing I didn't have to either because I never could get more than an ounce or two to actually pump. 

I have a full time job. I have a lot of responsibilty. I can't take the baby to work with me. We can't really afford to put a baby in daycare, and honestly, 6 weeks is too young in my opinion to be in the care of someone other than me for a large chunk of the day, I'm just not comfortable with it.

I'm not sure where I had planned on going with this post, but that's okay because I didn't really realize I felt this way about some things.  Typing it all out is sort of therapeutic. 

I guess this pregnancy is becoming more real to me, not that it wasn't real, I just hadn't really envisioned what the future looks like as a family of four.

Interesting.

And so very Exciting!

I can't wait to see how this all plays out!

Thanks for reading. :)




  

CARS!

We took Emery to see Cars 2 in 3D last night.  He was such a trooper. He wore his kid size glasses the whole time. He sat quietly on mine or daddy's lap, and he didn't make a peep ( unless it was something like "Go Mater!" or "Lightening McQueen is so fast!". He even mastered the art of finding the bag of popcorn in the dark and shoving handfuls in his mouth without taking his eyes of the screen.  When it was all done, he didn't want to leave.

Wordless Wednesday

Old picture of my big boy at the dentist!

Austin

We made it! We're here!

There is still a lot of unpacking, organizing and situating to do. Nearly all of our belongings have been in storage for the past three years so we're also doing a lot of sorting and sifting as well.

Emery loves his new bedroom and is settling nicely into his new chaotic schedule. He sleeps in his own twin size bed, in his own room, and allllllll of his toys -trampoline included.

With both Owen and I working full time, our poor little guy is spending about 8-11 hours a day in daycare. :( I'm not happy about that at all. so, that doesn't give us much family time, and our weekends blaze past in a blur, and finding weekend childcare hasn't been the easiest.

All that aside, we're happy here! we'll be sure to keep you posted on all thats going on......if I can find time to update the blog!

Pictures are worth a thousand words......

......or so they say. Here is what happened in October, as told by pictures.

My heart has a skinned knee

I got a new job. That will pay me m re and I'll be working the same hours, if not more, and it's a lot closer to the house, like blocks away. It's working in the healthy living department of a grocery store. I'm familiar with this stuff cause I did it for two years at Ozark Natural Foods. I'm excited! Bring on the healthy stuff!

Emery turned 17 months old on the 15th. Technically speaking I don't think he's considered a toddler until he's 18 months old. PSHAW! Have you seen my son? Have you had a conversation with him? He's a genius, and so very advanced for his age. He's been doing very toddler like things.

First, he went to the park today with Grandma. She said he went down the really big tall twisty slide all by himself. He rode on the merry-go-round and climbed the rock wall. She said she was really impressed with all the things he could do. She said it was like he had grown up a bit since last time at the park.

Then, the other day he put a roll-on bottle of pain-relieving capsacin in his mouth.......without the cap. I called poison control and they told me to give him yogurt and milk. His lips and mouth turned bright red and they swelled. He only cried for a few seconds and then he was fine. I felt so awful! I literally had just taken a mascara tube from him (that he had taken the lid off and was trying to put it in his mouth) seconds before.

Finally, he also fell and scraped his knee. It was one of the scrapes that break the skin, but only slightly. Just enough for the blood to peek through but not really go anywhere. It's like the top layer of skin gets removed. It hurts. I remember. It hurts even more when it's your baby, and they've never experienced anything like that before. He didn't cry. He whimpered and whined and grabbed his leg and said "Knee! Knee!" over and over again. I kissed it.
Owen says he's tough. I think so too. I guess I need to get tough too. He truly is "a piece of my heart walking around in the world."

Two Days of Grace, and an update

Yesterday (Day 16)
1. Making Scrambled eggs, I haven't forgotten how to cook completely
2. Owen coming home early because he finished his mid-terms
3. Going to Splash Town with Owen and Emery
4. I got to take a looooooooooooooong shower!
5. Early bedtime for all


Today (Day 17)
1. Early chillax time with Emery cause he was soooo fussy this morning (the molars are almost through!)
2. Getting prettied up cause today...
3. I had an interview!!!!
4. Mother in-law watched E for me while I went to be questioned.
5. Emery napping with Owen so I can blog.


After typing all this out, I realized that I haven't been updating regularly about Emery and what he's been up to lately.

He's a walking machine! He's practically running, and he can climb like nobody's business.
He signs more, eat, flower, dog and bath. He says: hello, no-no, mama, apo(apple), da(dad), guh(grandma), guh-da(grandad), kee(kitty), bah(ball), dah(dog), wah(water), shoe, go, bee-buh(bellybutton), and up. He also blows kisses and waves to anyone he sees when we leave a place, or a room. Very cute, yet unnerving when he's waving and blowing kisses to strangers. I love every minute of it! Wow. 15 words, that's impressive!
He's also showing interest in potty training. He almost never poops in his diaper, and most of the time we catch him before he pees in his diaper. As far as breastfeedign goes..... he nurses a lot in the morning, and when he falls asleep at night. Sometimes he'll wake up to nurse around 4 in the am. His daytime nursing is down to naps, and ouchies. I think he's well on his way to weaning. :(

Finding My Graces...Day 1

Yeah. So, blogging by phone is a good idea in theory. Unfortunately I'm allowed only 160 characters on my outgoing massages on my phone, so they have to be short posts. This one is going to be a bit longer.

I've decided to try something new.

You see, lately I've been feeling a bit out of sorts. I've been grumpy, and bitter and on occasion just down right mean.

I think I'm gonna try something new to change my outlook on life. On a blog that I read quite frequently(Baby makes Three), Katie Baskins has been taking part in the "Grace in Small Things Movement". The ways in which she finds grace inspire me.
I'm gonna give it a shot people. If your interested in taking part yourself, click on the badge at the top of the page to read all the details.

My 5 graces for today are:

1) Emery waking me up this morning by crawling over on top of me, and grabbing my face with his hands.
2) Having a delicious breakfast made by my amazing, handsome husband
3) Enjoying said breakfast with my amazing, handsome husband
4) Emery going to the potty with Grandma instead of Mommy or Daddy (he's growing up so fast, and becoming so independant!)
5) The cool draft that has hit Spring, TX (it feels like Oregon!)

Two weeks to go...

It's March so we are officially out of here in two weeks. Oops. Two weeks? We have soooo much to do! Has anyone seen Emery? I know he's around here somewhere.....

February has come and gone. I love February. I guess it's because it's my Birthday month, and it's the shortest month so that makes it unique. Alot happened in February. Emery turned 10 months old. The next day he took two steps, that hasn't happened since, but I know he can do it. He outgrew all of his 9 month clothes and the majority of his 12 month clothes. He learned how to say kitty, and cat. He also learned how to wave bye-bye, sign "more" (but he doesn't always use it), drink from a straw, climb (and he climbs quickly and well!), and make the Indian noise (I'll post a video later).

Valentine's Day was wonderful! Owen made Duck ala L'orange for the main course, and for dessert, flambeed strawberries and cherries over melted cheesecake. Yum!

I had a great Birthday. I got to sleep in, and I had a luxuriously long shower, and I soaked my feet in some amazing mineral salts. I took a long nap. It was a good day!
Owen made me a triple layer fudge cake with buttercream icing with chocolate ganache glaze.

We went out to dinner at Red Robin with friends. I was embarrassed royally when they made me where balloons around my head while they serenaded me.

So, yeah, if all this happened in the shortest month of the year, what will happen in the next two weeks?!

So, I've been terrible about updating lately.....

So this update will be a long one.....sorry.

Our trip was lovely, but not long enough.

It was also challenging. It was difficult to keep up with EC while on the go so much. We resorted to using eco friendly disposables for most of the trip. G-diapers were so useful! Then, while in Houston we found some diapers made out of corn! We still have some of those ledt over and are using them at night time. AP style parenting was the same, maybe even more convenient.

I bet you're just dying to know how the second leg of the journey went huh?
We flew into Tulsa and were met by Nana. Emery slept all the way to West Siloam/Watts/Flint Ridge. We stopped and he met aunt Amy while she was working. We arrived at Nana's just in time for the extended family to start arriving. There was a houseful! We had food and paseed babies around. Barrick (one of the nephews) showed up (from Texas) and had his own little belated Christmas. Finally everyone filtered out and we settled in for the night. The next morning we rushed around trying to get breakfast and have all the little ones ready for pictures. Mass confusion followed with musical carseats (not as fun as musical chairs), and shuffling around of who is riding with who. We all met up at Wal-Mart and orceeded to cram all 10 (yes ten!) of the grandkids into a portrait. (Poor camera man) The rest of the day was a bit more relaxing. Tasha and I tried for hours to get the photo printer to work, only to realize that ...hmmmm. the USB wasn't connected. Sheesh. What a genius am I?!

Sunday night Owen, Emery and I headed over to Fayetteville to spend some time with the Lingelbach's. Owen and I were there when Zoe was born, and then we moved away.....now she's a walking, talking, little sweetie!
It was great to get to spend some time with my best friend! We opted to stay the night which was awesome! :) The next day we went out to breakfast at the Rolling Pin cafe. I had hoped to get some chocolate gravy.....but I was out of luck. After breakfast we headed over to Ozark Natural Foods and made our rounds saying hello to old co-workers and showing off our handsome little dude.
Then, it started to rain, and then it started to freeze. We headed back to Dawn's in hopes of seeing a few more old friends. The weather had other plans so we went back over to my mom's house earlier than expected and started checking on our flight's back home.
The next day we left my mom's hours before we should have just in order to make it in time to catch our flight which was still scheduled to leave.
We arrived safely at the airport, and then the waiting began.
First the flight before ours was cancelled, then our flight was delayed, then, finally we were sitting on the TARMAC waiting for a break in the weather to get us airborn. We waited, and we waited, and we waited.
Then we were taxiig down the runway. Then we were airborn.
We arrived in Houston with 15 minutes before our connecting flight was leaving.
We ran. With Emery strapped to me in the Ergo. I ran.
We made it, and Emery stayed awake for the entire 5 hour flight!!!!! We touched down in Portland. Grabbed our bags, and were in our car headed home by 12:30 am our time.

It was so nice to be sleeping in our own bed.
It's so nice to be back in Gresham, but I still wish we had had more time.

Owen really liked the Culinary school.
We're beginning the transition process right now.
We're looking for an affordable storage unit. Most of our earthly possessions will be placed there. Everything else is coming with us to Spring, TX. Once Owen finishes school and we are confident enough to make the move across country again, we'll be coming back to the Great Northwest. Next time around we'll more than likely be closer to Portland, and closer to Birthingway. Maybe we'll even buy a house. Maybe. :)

I would post some pictures, but I can't seem to find the camera cord. Grrrr.

It's almost my birthday. Usually I have so many ideas of what I want, but his year, I'm void. I can't really think of anything I want, well within reason. I mean who wouldn't want a new Electra Amsterdam bicycle (that's way too expensive and just something else for us to move), or a cabinet table just perfect for sewing on. My needs are met as well, so what do I ask for?

More time with my family? Who can give that to me?

November

Cheesy Thanksgiving smile!


Watching Lord of the Rings with Daddy.



Daddy kisses.

Playing in the carseat box.

Having a good time at Karis' birthday party!

Yay for balloons!!!

"Helping" with laundry.

Standing all alone.

Nakey butt nap time.

I uploaded pictures from the camera today, and these were some of my favorites.

November is almost gone. Man it's gone by fast too! It seems like time just starts going by faster and faster each day.

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house for the first ime this year. I won't divulge too much information because Owen should be the one to blog about it. He did all of the cooking, and man it was delicious! Emery loves turkey!

It's been a pretty busy month. Emery learned to crawl, pull up, and climb. We went to a birthday party, and got Emery a new carseat. Owen got laid off, so he's been home the past couple of weeks. It's been nice having him around, but we both are really looking forward to him finding a job ASAP!

Wanna know what I'm thankful for? My family (both near and far), my friends, my church. We have a place to call home, food in our fridge, and clothes on our backs. What more could we ask for really? :)

The army crawl

Pretty cute huh? Please ignore the mess my house is in. Cleaning isn't my top priority. Emery is. :) That mountainous pile of what appears to be laundry is actually my sewing fabric stash. I', trying to thin it out.

Yeah, so I didn't make a "Frost on the Pumpkin" cake. I made pumpkin cheesecake brownies instead. Which, by the way, aren't really brownies...they don't contain any chocolate. How misleading, but they're still good I guess.

Until next time....

Six months just flew by....

Can you believe it? Emery is Six months old! His fifth tooth broke through two days after the last one. FIVE teeth! Wow. Three on bottom, and the two front teeth.
We went to his six month well baby check up this morning. Just as I suspected, he's very tall (surprise, surprise). The nurse had to measure him twice to make sure she got it right, the first time she said he was off the charts. He's 28 inches long and weighs 20 pounds 8 ounces. He still has 2 pounds and 2 inches to go before he's too big for his car seat. Dr. Toledo seems to think that his weight gain will level off now and he'll continue to keep getting taller. She also mentioned that he may be a walker before he crawls since he enjoys pulling and standing so much.

I guess that being an 'Attachment Parent' isn't very common at The East County Health clinic. I walked in wearing Emery in a sling on my hip and everyone just stared at me. I guess they were trying to figure out how the thing worked, I don't know. Then when they asked if I brought his shot records their eyes conveyed disbelief when I said we weren't doing shots. Finally, after the nurse had finished the weigh in she told me I could put his diaper back on. I proceeded to put one of my homemade wool diaper covers on Emery and she said, "No, no don't get him dressed!" I responded with, "This is just a diaper a cover."
Are we just completely alone in the way that we're parenting Emery? I don't get it. All of these things make perfect sense to me, it's like second nature, so the fact that I come into contact with people who have no clue as to why or how we do the things we do, it baffles me.

Now that Emery has reached the 'magical' six month marker, I feel like I just need to give him as much food as possible. He enjoys eating very much. Dr. Toledo suggested that since he has a mouthful of teeth that he could 'do more' than other little ones his age. I agree. He shocks me sometimes. Yesterday he grabbed lettuce from Owen's plate, I gave him a slice of cucumber and he sucked a hole in the middle of it so at dinner, we gave him a few asparagus spears which he loved!

I don't like giving him food when Owen isn't home because I'm terrified that when he does that gagging thing that he's really choking. Owen is really calm about it and is so good at scooping whatever it is out of Emery's mouth (I'm afraid I'll shove it in further). I guess I just need to get over it.

I would just stick with the jarred baby food that we have but there doesn't seem to be enough texture for him. I hesitate to thicken it with rice cereal because I read somewhere that the iron fortified cereal hinders the absorption of the naturally occurring iron in breast milk. Can anyone confirm this for me?

We got Emery's Halloween costume yesterday. His Grandmommy Young made it for him, and it is sooooo stinkin' adorable. I would post some pictures but we haven't had a chance to put it on him yet, and I can't find the USB cord for the camera. I still need to make my costume, but Owen's cowboy costume is good to go. I'm excited!