School bells

Now that Addison is 2, and has a baby sister around all the time, we decided that it's almost time for her to start preschool. So we signed her up to start in August. She'll go twice a week for a few hours and I know she will love every minute; she already gets so incredibly excited to meet and play with any kid within a 5 year span of her age.

Addison playing with the big girls at the pool

Derek, on the other hand, hasn't had as many opportunities to see Addison playing with other kids to know just how much she will enjoy preschool. So the other evening while sitting around after dinner, he turned to Addison and asked, "Addison, are you going to like going to school in the Fall?" Her response was "I go to school?" We confirmed that yes, she would be going to preschool in the Fall.

 Unfortunately, our precocious 2yr old doesn't quite grasp the concept of future-tense yet, so she jumped up from her seat, very quickly got her shoes on, put her backpack on (upside down as it often is), and proceeded to walk out the front door. When we asked her what she was doing, she said, "I hear the school bell. I have to go right now!"

Baby Emma just soaking it all in

Whoops. When I realized she was so excited to go to school that she was trying to leave immediately, I felt terrible. I didn't realize we had gotten her hopes up so much so fast. How do you explain to a toddler that they have to wait for something and it isn't going to happen for a few months yet? You let Daddy do it. At least he is now reassured that she'll enjoy going to school when the time finally comes.

Time flies when you don't sleep

Wow, Emma is almost 2 weeks old, and I still feel like it's early April. Somewhere I lost 2 weeks in there... Perhaps it has something to do with having a baby? Or now having 2 kids? It must be something like that.

Anyways, Derek went back to work today. It's been amazing having him home. It certainly is a big adjustment. When Addison was born we were so caught up in becoming parents and adjusting to being responsible for a tiny fragile life that we thought it was such a huge amount of work. Boy were we wrong! Now it seems that Emma takes very little work and attention compared to Addison.

Addison has been bouncing off the walls and constantly screeching or singing or running and spinning. Thank goodness newborns can sleep through anything. It's mostly positive energy, but to a couple of exhausted parents, dealing with a 2yr old is quite taxing; she doesn't care how much sleep we get at night (she has figured out how to sleep through any midnight feedings and diaper changes), all she expects is that we are up and ready to play when she is.

So, having Derek around for a week helped ease the adjustment. I'm not entirely caught up on sleep yet (nor will I be for a few months yet), but at least I've started to adjust to getting my sleep in 1 - 2hr intervals. I even felt energized enough yesterday to spend some time outside planting flowers while Addison ran around the yard and Emma dozed in the shade. Let's hope I have as much energy now that Derek is off to work again. Of course, my mom is coming in a few days, and I'm counting on getting some naps in while she's here to run fence on Addison.

Baby has arrived!

Baby has arrived! Rather unexpectedly, she showed up 5 weeks early and with a speed that surprised everyone (including me and my OB). I had written a blog post that day, but never had a chance to post it before we rushed off to the hospital - it is up now despite it seeming boring already. Did I mention that we made it to the hospital 24 minutes before Emma was born? Yea, that's what I mean by fast; in fact, the nurses nicknamed her 'Speedy'.

For those who haven't heard the craziness that was Emma birthday, I'll do an attempt at a brief recap here...

I woke up Tuesday (April 9th) with some mild cramping, but nothing that suggested labor pains. At my OB check up that morning they ran a battery of tests to see if I was close to labor and determined that I probably had a few weeks left; this was pretty much what I was assuming as well. So, Addison and I went off to story time at the library, and then home for lunch and playing in the backyard. I was a bit more tired and uncomfortable than usual, so we didn't venture out on any walks or to the playground, but otherwise spent it as any other normal day.

Then at about 4pm my labor started; however, I didn't realize that's what it was. I thought I was just having strong Braxton Hicks. It wasn't until after dinner, around 6:30 that they became painful, over very quickly went from 10 minute intervals to 2 minute intervals. That's when I knew it was time to go to the hospital. But I will caveat that I didn't have time between contractions to really think about how this meant we were going to have a baby soon! I guess pain will do that to anyone.

So at 7pm we piled into the car, dropped Addison off at our wonderful friends house, and sped our way to the hospital. Just like you've seen in the movies, I was the pregnant lady in the wheel chair screaming for an epidural while being told it was too late. Thankfully Emma quickly entered the world so I wasn't in pain for very long. And now I know what natural childbirth is like. I think if there ever is a next time, I'll strive to make it to the hospital with enough time so I can actually decide whether or not to get the epidural.

All in bloom

It is so exciting that the weather is warming up! Even the plants seem happy, as our yard is blooming. No, I don't mean the garden; although there are shoots of green popping out of the ground. No, when I say that the yard is blooming, I mean the lawn. There are beautiful little white, purple and yellow flowers all over! Granted I realize this means our lawn is more violets, dandelions, and wood strawberries than it is grass. That's ok - Addison and I enjoy the color even if it makes Derek a bit frustrated.

People certainly take pride in their outdoor areas around here. We do too, it's just a lot of work! This transition from winter (brown) to Spring (green) seems to happen overnight and always leaves us reeling for a few weeks. This year I feel like we are doing well - we've weeded the garden beds, mulched, and even mowed a few times already. So although it may not look that impressive compared to the neighbors, we do care and work hard on our yard.

Hopefully when baby comes it will make it even easier to maintain. How, you might ask? Mostly because I hope to be able to squat down and bend over to work in the dirt... Right now I'm lucky if I can pick up the things Addison drops on the ground, let alone pulling up weeds.  

The missing blue egg

Saturday night after dinner, our little family of 3 (soon to be 4) sat down at the table to dye some Easter eggs. I'm not sure if this was a tradition that you had as a child, but every single year my family colored at least a dozen eggs; usually each kid got their own dozen. Good thing we all like hard boiled eggs.

So Derek and I have continued this tradition with Addison. Derek had prepped the table, laying down butcher paper and colorful bowls for each of the colored dyes; Addison has a collection of colorful plastic bowls, so each color had its corresponding color bowl. When Addison decided to join the operation, Derek was just beginning to pour water on the dye tablets... that's when the fun started.

The very blue tongue

As I don't remember dying eggs when I was 2, I can't tell you what it looks like from Addison's perspective. I have learned though, that the dye tablets look a little bit like sweet-tart candies. You might wonder how I learned this... well, the hard way of course. In the 2 seconds that Derek and I were looking at the table and not watching Addison with eagle eyes, she apparently snatched up one of the dye tablets that hadn't been covered in water and vinegar yet, and popped it into her mouth. I can only assume she thought it was a candy (she had been to an Easter egg hunt earlier in the day so is well aware of what candy looks like).

Well, we didn't realize she had done it until she said,
"eww! yuck!" and started to spit it back out. We looked up to see her drooling royal blue from her mouth down her chin onto her shirt and the table. Panic set in - Derek scooped her up and held her over the sink so as to contain the spreading blue mess and hopefully reduce the amount she ingested; I ran to the egg dye package to confirm that the dyes are nothing but concentrated food coloring and not poisonous at all. Thankfully they are harmless and the only warning on the package is to watch out for choking if ingested.

Addison coloring a green egg

In our haste to wash her off, we did not stop to grab the camera, so the only pictures we have of the truly deep dark blue pouring out of her mouth are mental pictures. The others came after the panic and don't go very far to show quite how vivid the colors were; you'll have to use your imagination. But even after numerous rinses with water and some scrubbing of her chin and neck, she continued to have a very blue mouth and a rather blue-ish tinge to her face for the rest of the night. Thankfully that was the extent to the concern, and we did get back to dying eggs pretty quickly, which Addison really enjoyed (once she figured out it wasn't for eating).

Needless to say, we don't have any blue Easter eggs this year.

Happy Easter!

The young and very restless

I am definitely slowing down; today it seems that I'm out of breath and I'm sitting in a chair doing nothing. Not sure how that is possible, but it is. Ugh. And of course, Addison seems to be more and more active and full of energy the slower I get. So thankfully we have places nearby like the Early Works museum.

Addison focused on fish at the Early Works

Located right downtown, it's full of old timey store fronts depicting centuries old Alabama, a riverboat so kids can pretend they are on the water, and a couple of places for toddlers to play pretend or splash around with the duckies. Addison absolutely loved trying to fish for the plastic ducks... And thankfully she never fell in the tank! The whole museum is geared towards kids, and is great since I can saunter slowly around or sit and watch as she gallops her way from one thing to the next at hyper speed.

I'm sure there were places like this when I was growing up, I just don't remember them well. The old timey storefronts remind me of the High Desert Museum in Bend, OR, but that museum certainly didn't have a duck pond we could fish in. I guess that makes sense as there are more fishing lakes around here than in Central Oregon. Hmmm. And I remember places where we could do crafts like spinning paint art or giant light up walls that kept your shadow after you walked away, but I don't think my memory goes back far enough to remember the places I enjoyed as a toddler. I wonder what Addison will remember.

Our friendly neighborhood dinosaur

It's likely that she will remember very little from this time. Perhaps she'll only have memories that include a little sibling; what a strange thought. It seems the past 2 years have had so many memorable moments for me, it's odd to think that she won't have those same memories. Although I'm sure they'll be buried in there somewhere, and I know they have helped shape who she is already, so they're not entirely lost.

Man, having a kid makes me feel so old sometimes!

Nesting has struck!

 I never realized how strong the nesting urge was when I had Addison, which could be for a number of reasons. Maybe it really wasn't as strong last time (after all, pregnancies are different each time). Or perhaps it was the fact that we packed up and moved our entire house from California to Alabama right around this time in that pregnancy. So although I was in the mood to rearrange, the timing was perfect because we had rooms full of boxes that needed to be unpacked and furniture that needed to be set out. I think it masked the nesting so that neither I or Derek realized it for what it was. This time is not so subtle.

It seems not a day goes by where I don't find myself looking at some chair or table or dresser and ask "wouldn't that look better over there?" Or perhaps I go as far as considering that it really would look better painted a different color or recovered in a new fabric. Poor Addison; I think I rearranged the furniture in her nursery every day last week. Thankfully it doesn't seem to disrupt her sleep that her crib is in a different spot every night.

Now at first I tried to focus my nesting urges towards an old creaky rocking chair we had (that could really use a major face-lift). Unfortunately the thing creaks so loudly that I'm pretty sure the neighbors can hear it down the street. It's not as inspiring to paint and recover a chair that you have no real intention of ever using. So that project hasn't gone anywhere, yet.

Then today I had a girlfriend over who always has such great ideas. Of course as soon as she left I started looking at fabric to recover a pair of chairs I hadn't thought to touch before. And then there is the dining room table and chairs that could really use some updating. But I can't forget that the wardrobe in Addison's room would look good if it were painted, or that awful orange recliner that I've been planning to toss but now am contemplating recovering instead.

So basically I've decided that all of our furniture is in need of paint, or recovering, or both. This shouldn't be confused with me hating all of our furniture; I don't mind most of it, but for some reason at the current moment I know it would just look that much better if it had something done to it. And it's making Derek's head spin. So far I haven't actually done anything aside from moving things around and looking at fabric swatches online, but maybe one of these days I'll take that next step.

One of those days

I love my daughter, but there are days where it takes an amazing amount of patience not to scream. Like this morning - it is just after 8am, and yet Addison has already managed to spill a full cup of coffee all over the counter top in the kitchen (which was covered with clutter, of course). She then proceeded to slosh bubble solution on the carpet (yes, I'm still a bit hyper sensitive to spills on the new carpet). Her current reaction to situations like this is to whine-cry in a rather annoying pitch that does nothing to calm any of us, unfortunately. I think it's a 2yr-old thing.

Once we calmed down from the spills, she asked for an apple. About halfway through slicing and peeling an apple for her, she begins demanding toast. Now I know what my parents meant when they said "I'm not a short order chef!" It really never made as much sense to me as it does now.

And despite all of this, she is adorable. She smiles and giggles and it's amazing to watch her grasp more and more complex concepts, and hear as her vocabulary struggles to catch up. I just wish that my patience for the little ups and downs were stronger; that I was able to always see the joy and wonder in her eyes as she correctly spells out the letters on the laundry basket rather than the poop stain in the middle of the hallway where she stopped to spell.

I admit I'm a bit worried that after having baby #2 this will only become more difficult. The ability to take that deep breath and see the world through her eyes, or at least appreciate in the moment how awesome it is that she's my daughter, is an ability that takes constant attention and focus. Perhaps with two kids it will give me twice as many opportunities, although I have a feeling it will also give me double the challenges.

So in the next few weeks I am challenging myself to enjoy as many moments as I can; to slow down (as my body is urging me to anyways) and smile when she wants to work on that same puzzle for the 30th time today; to calmly explain why it isn't a good thing to spill coffee or how the puddle it makes is not ok to stomp in. And maybe, just maybe, I won't feel the urge to growl next time she misses the potty and finds the hallway instead.

Babymoon beach trip

As baby #2's arrival draws nearer, we have been warned by many that things are much easier with one kid than with two in tow. Therefore, we've started a bit of a baby bucket list - things we want to see, places we want to go before baby #2 shows up. Topping that list was finally making it to the Gulf.


So this weekend we drove down to Destin, Florida. It's a little under 7 hours from Huntsville, and Addison wowed us with her tolerance of long car rides. On both the way down Friday and coming back Sunday, she was great! She slept, read her books, and listened to songs; but never once got antsy or upset about being stuck in her seat for hours. It was a great start to a wonderful weekend.

Of course the weather didn't always cooperate with us. It rained most of the way down, and was still raining cats and dogs all through breakfast Saturday morning. So instead of running straight to the beach, we drove around town for a bit first to see the sights while waiting for a break in the clouds. Thankfully we found one, and got a couple of hours at the beach before the rains came back.

Playing on the beach with Addison was a blast. The sand is so different than any other beaches we've been to - they really are white and as soft as sugar. And even wet from the rains, the sand was so powdery that it made excellent sand castles. Since Addison wasn't so sure about the water, we spent most of Saturday's beach time making sand castles.

 Once the rains returned, we headed indoors and found a great happy hour at a restaurant right on the sand. The Back Porch had a view that can't be beat, even if it's pouring out. It's right on the sand in Destin, and was a perfect spot to wait out the weather. Not to mention that the oysters and fish and chips were pretty tasty.

After an early night (due partly to the weather and partly to a very tired toddler), we beat the rush to breakfast the next morning. I highly recommend the Donut Hole if you are ever in Destin; we ate there both Saturday and Sunday morning. Then one last trip to the beach before heading home. Because the sun was out, we hung out for a few hours playing in the sand and surf. And boy was the water pretty - crystal clear and a gorgeous turquoise color, it complements the sand perfectly.  We even managed to get Addison's toes in the water despite some protests.

Thanks to an energetic morning on the beach, we had a peaceful drive home. Although I should mention that Addison asked to go back to the beach numerous times on the drive home. Overall the trip was a little shorter than any of us wanted, but a wonderful way to spend a weekend. I can't wait until we find a chance to go back, and I'm pretty sure Addison feels the same way.

Put your lips on

Today I bought lipstick for the first time in I can't remember. Perhaps it is the first time I ever purchased lipstick. That's not to say I've never worn it; but for most of my life it's been rather easy to get by with the sample from a Clinique counter. Especially since I didn't live in the South.

Unfortunately for me, my staple lipstick was in my purse that was lost/stolen over the holidays. So I have been going with nothing other than chapstick for a couple of months, and therefore learned the hard way that it's not possible around here. People wear lipstick. Granted, I only wear it if I'm going out, or to church on Sunday's, but I noticed that I now feel a bit naked without it on those occasions. And some of my friends have said that they grew up with the expectation that you always put on lipstick before leaving the house.

Yes, while I was always expected to wear a belt before being considered "put together," apparently my southern counterparts were taught to "put your lips on" before heading out for the day. Now, I'm not saying that all 8 year old girls are walking around looking like they should be on Toddlers & Tiaras, but more that adult women consider putting makeup on and styling their hair as a routine part of going anywhere (I discovered that the big hair stereotype comes from the necessity to use a lot of hair product to combat humidity). And now that I have lived here for a while, it's starting to rub off on me too.

So while at the grocery store today, I purchased some lipstick. Wow, maybe I'll become a pseudo southern belle one of these days...  

The Burgeoning Belly

I guess it's about time that I talk a bit about being pregnant. Yes, coming up later this Spring, our family will increase to 4. And although the first time I was obsessive about tracking my progress (and the baby's) week by week and taking the growing belly photos every month, this time I haven't felt the urge to be as clued in. The first belly shot I've taken was for the benefit of this blog, and I'm at 28 weeks (versus starting at 8 weeks last time).

Here's the long awaited belly shot.
Why did I take so many of these the first time?

Now, everyone says that each pregnancy is different. I will agree that it isn't exactly the same as last time, but perhaps that is due to the fact that I'm currently chasing a 2yr old around, rather than spending my days sitting at a desk. Trust me, it will make anyone tired, especially a pregnant woman.

Other than being a bit more tired than I remember being last time (after all, last time Derek and I moved when I was only 3 months from my due date), this pregnancy has been pretty uneventful to date. And I can't believe how fast it's going! I've just started my 3rd trimester, and it feels like it was just a little while ago that I was telling everyone we were pregnant. I imagine I can thank Addison for that as well.

So I am now in the home stretch, I guess. Which should mean smooth sailing from here on out; especially now that I've completed my glucose test. For those of you who aren't familiar with the glucose test, it is a routine blood sugar test given to every pregnant woman around 27 weeks. One of the more unpleasant tests, in my opinion. First, I had to fast overnight, arriving at the blood lab having eaten nothing but water. Then, they took my blood and proceeded to have me drink 16oz of a highly sugar form of flat orange soda as fast as I could. Yuck! Then I had the joy of sitting around in the waiting room so they could take my blood again an hour after ingesting the sugar syrup... And then again an hour after that.

 The whole time, I couldn't eat or drink anything other than water (not even gum), or risk it interfering with the test results. And trust me - being awake for several hours without eating anything is not an easy feat for a woman who is pregnant. Once I got home after the test, I had the biggest breakfast I've had in a very long time. And it was sooooo delicious! Thank goodness I only have to take that test once.

Yes, she might be the reason I'm worn out

Why...why...why...how?

Yes, our little toddler has finally hit the "why" stage. She constantly and continuously asks why to everything. Whether it is in response to "time to get ready to go" or to "we can't drive until the light turns green," she is always asking why. Sometimes it is easy to answer - although she just asks why again, and sometimes it's a bit trickier to give her a good answer.

For example, she doesn't like when the car stops moving, so is constantly saying "drive momma, drive!" When we pull up to a stop sign or stop light, she starts in with "drive momma, drive!" almost immediately. So when Derek or I try to explain that we cannot drive forward when the light is red, she wants to know why.  And trying to explain traffic laws to a 2yr old is not easy. Although I learned last night that a complete and detailed answer is better than a simplified one.

Every night when we tuck Addison into bed, we turn on her mobile -  it plays music and projects a rotating jungle scene on the ceiling. So last night when the mobile came on, instead of asking why the jungle animals were rotating around, she asked how (her second favorite question). I was about to respond with something generic like "with batteries" when Derek goes into a rather complicated explanation including lenses, light projection, and a motor creating the rotation. 

And it worked! Instead of asking why or how again, Addison just said "oh!" and that was that. Amazing. It kinda reaffirms my thought that she may end up an engineer just like her daddy. And I'm definitely going to have to remember this and work to embellish my explanations; maybe I'll get an "oh" next time.  

What's in a name

Someone once told me that one of the toughest things to do is to name a child. There are many difficult things in life, so I'm not sure I agree entirely, but will say that there's a lot of pressure to pick a good name. Kids are brutal with nicknames, initials can accidentally spell out bad things, and everyone has opinions on names of people they already know that can positively or negatively impact the decision. Even with Addison we still struggle with the dilemma of whether she should be known as "Addison" or "Addie" (or as my mother likes to say "Addie Mae"). There's a lot to consider.

So here we are, a few months before baby #2 arrives, and playing the name game. We have no idea if peanut will be a boy or a girl, which just adds to the fun. Now there are some general rules that we've been trying to hold to, such as no living relatives, no close friends or their children, and no celebrity names. Essentially we don't want to put pressure on anyone that we are naming our child after them.

In general I've learned that I like pretty names, so choosing girls names is much easier for me; boys names seem to be much more difficult for me. I even find myself liking a lot of boys-names-for-girls but not for boys. Example, I like "Kyle" for a girl but not for a boy, although I'm not sure if it is on either list at the moment. Derek tends to veto a lot of my suggestions, which is thankfully keeping the list to a manageable length.

I'm sorry to say that at the moment the list is in so much flux that I don't want to share any possibilities here yet, but perhaps as we get closer and start narrowing down the names list, I'll share it with y'all. But for now I'll continue to toss ideas around in my head while pushing Addison around on her new tricycle.

That new carpet smell

It seems that home projects always take at least twice as long as we expect them to, but I'm so happy that we've finally gotten around to replacing the carpets. I can't believe what a difference it makes!

I wanted to post some before and after pics so you could see. These are the before (although I grabbed the downstairs den shot after Derek had ripped up the old carpet, so it's a nice shot of the ancient linoleum we found underneath).

And then here are the after photos. Granted the color isn't that different, so I have to say that the pictures don't portray the true impact of the change, but trust me - it is an amazing difference.

Something we hadn't considered when scheduling this (we had the carpets replaced one week before Christmas), was that we needed to paint the walls before the new carpets went in. And since it was mandatory on my list that we paint - I really hate the creamy-avocado-beige that the walls were, we added a lot of painting to our to-do list at the last minute.
Thanks to some nap time and late night painting sessions, we got it done. And now the living room is a cape-cod blue, and our foyer and hallway are a nice sage green. And the carpets are beautiful!!

Yes, I realize that the joy I get out of new carpet secures my position in adulthood and potentially is pushing me towards middle age quickly, but I don't care. The carpets are just that nice; especially after living with stained, dog pee covered ancient carpets for over a year. Merry Christmas to us!  

Birthday Monster

Now that most people know that we are expecting another little one in May, I guess I can start blogging again. And just in time - Addison turned 2 on Monday.  I haven't a clue why, but most toddlers seem absolutely enamored with Elmo, and Addison is no exception. So, for her birthday party I decided to make her Elmo cupcakes. I think they turned out pretty good for a first try.

Since red frosting is next to impossible to make, I made homemade buttercream frosting and with a lot of red food coloring managed to get it to a dark pink. To make him look furry, I topped each cupcake with red sugar sprinkles. The eyes are marshmallows I cut in half, and stuck a chocolate chip to the sticky side. The nose is half of a marshmallow that I had previously rolled in yellow food coloring and let dry. To make sure everything stuck to the cupcake, I put the eyes, nose, and chocolate chip mouth on before the frosting had time to set, and then applied the sprinkles last.

Although there were a lot of steps, none of them were too difficult, and the finished products were a hit. Addison had a great time playing with her friends, although she got a bit shy when everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

And now the holidays are over, birthday was a success, and we can relax into the normal routine again. Ha, whatever that means.