Weekend Mirths: Rockin' at the River

 

Pictures to say a thousand words:

 

{just give the boy a beat and he's heading down to shake it up front}

19 weeks

       

That's a pretty legit baby bump right there.

We had a small scare this week when I started feeling irregular contractions one night and the following day as well.  As the day progressed, the contractions came closer together and got more intense. They weren't really painful, just annoyingly noticeable and uncomfortable, and alarmingly, wouldn't go away.  So I called the midwives and they said since it was too early to be admitted to labor and delivery (you have to be at least 24 weeks) I'd just have to come in to the clinic right away.  It was rather unsettling because I knew nothing like this had happened with my first pregnancy and I was worried that it could be a complication resulting from "too much toddler chasing"- then I'd have to go on bed rest, and then my ankles would swell from lack of exercise, and then I'd get preeclampsia, and then, and then, and then......

Good thing I could get in to see a midwife before my mind went really wild.  In the office they performed the usual appointment/check up and asked me lots of questions about the contractions, my activities, and how I was feeling, then ran some tests. Thankfully, everything came back normal and the baby was kicking like crazy and its little heart was beating steadily.  The final diagnosis: an active uterus, or as I affectionately know it, an over-active uterus.  Apparently I could be dealing with frequent, irregular, non-labor progressing contractions throughout this entire pregnancy.  All I have to say about that is this uterus had better be super-over-achiever active when it comes time to get the babe out.  No more excuses for  34-hour labor. Not with all this practice.

The Joy of a Garden

  

Some of my earliest childhood memories revolve around summer gardens.  I loved following my Mama around, "helping" her weed and tend the plants.  And of course, I always enjoyed the harvest.  I can remember eating apricots right off the trees in Logan, our family's first home, and pulling plump carrots out of the ground and eating them dirt and all in Jackson Milton.  Of course, following the harvest came home canning. Tomatoes and tomato sauce and peaches and applesauce, cooked up, canned up, then lined up in cold storage in the basement. 

 

I'm pretty sure we always planted our family garden around Memorial Day, which I remember mumbling about sometimes because it was everyone's day of and therefore, technically a vacation day, not a rototill-horse-manure and stick-seeds-in-the-ground-and-be-happy-about-it day.  But helping plant the garden taught me to work hard.  My Dad believes strongly in the Little Red Hen principle, and working in the garden brought the lessons of "reaping what you sow" and "being an active contributor" to life.

I've always looked forward to caring for my own family garden, and one of the things I was most excited about for the summer in Wisconsin was showing Sawyer where our food comes from, how we can grow and harvest it ourselves, and how it really is best with the dirt and bugs still on.  He's pretty "Blueberries for Sal" when it comes to picking raspberries (one for the bucket, two for me, one for the bucket, a whole handful for me....) but I don't mind one bit.  Someday I'll teach him about the importance of learning both to work hard for yourself and how to work to help your family, but for now, we'll just run through corn rows.

 

This is Summer

Scarfing marshmallows on the run-

 

 

Catching baby frogs-



Picking dandelions; one for him, one to share- 

Weekend Mirths: Bob's Bday

 

We celebrated Papa Bob's birthday yesterday with Uncle Steve and Auntie Ashley,

some good old comfort food, and a Coldstone cake.

 

Thanks for letting Sawyer blow out the candles!

 

Merry Christmas to All!

And you all had better wish me a good night! Starting sometime around December 24th, the creatures will start stirring and sleep deprivation will start all over again, but I couldn't possibly be more excited about losing sleep. 

Our second baby is well on the way, I'm already at 18 weeks and feeling like someone is most unkindly over-inflating my belly.  I think I've already started to waddle and I know that my belly button popped out WAY early...it showed itself like 6 weeks ago.  I've got all the usual symptoms: heartburn, nausea, exhaustion, trouble sleeping....and a few new ones too.  It's a bit rougher the second time around since I'm chasing after an active toddler, but Jeff has been really helpful and steps in to take over as soon as he gets home.

We're overjoyed about our newest little bundle of joy.  I'm so excited to be having another baby with my midwife team at the birth center since it was such a beautiful and perfect experience with Sawyer.  I really love midwives, I think they deliver very personal and detailed care, focused on doing exactly what I want within the safest, most healthy bounds for me and our baby.  So I'm glad we squeezed that in, because Jeff will be kaput with school in mid-December and then we'll be going wherever we decide is the best job/place for our family.  It will be a quick turn around but it guarantees me a Christmas at our adorable little home!  Everything is going according to my plans....

But more importantly than that, we know that this baby is another special one, and a few months ago we were both overwhelmed by the feeling that we needed to have another baby, and have one very soon.  So here we are, 2 weeks away from finding out if we'll be a family of 3 boys and 1 girl, or even out our ratios to 2 boys and 2 girls.  Care to take a guess at what's coming our way?

Steve and Ashley's Wedding

Jeff's brother Steve got married this weekend and somehow the only pictures I managed to take were during our potty break while Sawyer was playing with Great Grandpa Bob's hat.  He wore a suit practically all day long but this is all I got.  Oopsie.  That's probably because we were too busy chasing this mad man around-seriously, he took party to a whole new level.  Thankfully, he behaved during the ceremony, which was beautiful and took place in the DoubleTree Hotel in Bloomington, MN.  Ashley was beautiful in her dress and Steve was the sweetest, most sincere groom. 

Jeff was the best man and also the best dad, wrangling our little maniac while managing not to lose the rings and delivering a smashing good toast to the newly weds. We were all exhausted after a long weekend of festivities but we're so happy for Steve and Ashley!

Sawyer Boy at 18 months

Sawyer is amazing.  He's growing like a weed and eating like a hog, and every day he leaves a little bit of his baby self behind and picks up bits of little boy.  I'm going to miss his rubber band wrists and breadstick arms, and his Bernstein-bear chub feet, and his ever-happy, all is well attitude.  He's starting to grow up instead of out, and he's figuring out what he wants and letting me have it.   On the rough days, I remind myself that I need to watch old home videos, and when I do I love seeing that Sawyer exhibits some of the same mannerisms, squeals, and fire that I did. 

I love that he likes to be sneaky, and that he shushes everybody from the dog to his dad when he's sneaking about. He loves sticks and sand and hoses and puddles and rocks.  He knows how to catch a frog all by himself. Nary a bug has ever scared him.

When we go out, he likes to see his Mama at all times, unless he's running away in a fit of laughter, daring me to chase after him.  He runs with his little arms pulled up tight by his rib cage, and flops his feet up and down with remarkable speed-eliciting an "oh my he's fast" comment from onlookers nearly every time he takes off.

He loves people, especially his Mama and Dada.  He also loves animals and nearly anything with a motor: trucks, tractors, boats, motorcycles.

He is a master escape artist.  He's most elusive at church, when he doesn't want to sit still for an entire hour in someone's lap.  To aid in his escape he employs many different departure tactics: the alligator roll, the limp noodle, the chute, the flip and slide, the crawl-away, the sneak flight, the backbend, etc. It's a workout for everyone, and just as we're all about to pack up, he'll fold his arms or sing along with a hymn and melt all of our fast-beating hearts.

He's a sweetie.  A lover and a fighter.  A hand holder and a toy-snatcher.  A cuddler and a run away.  He's pretty fabulous, and he's already a year and a half.