What fills our day

Pics & Videos

2009-03-25T12:46:00.000-07:00

Cedric was so excited to see this rainbow.

Cool Cedric wearing Daddy's hat.

This is just plain cute.

And so is this.

Alright, and one more. :)

Update

2009-03-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

All is going well for us. It is wonderful having Tim back on days. He is all “there” on the weekends, and he’s there to help get the kids in bed and then we can wind down together for the evening. It’s wonderful, so life changing.

Cienna is on my back in the sling as I write this. She could ride in this thing all day if my back would hold out. Cedric didn’t like me moving and stretching as I did house work but Cienna doesn’t mind at all and doesn’t need a toy to keep herself occupied. She just sits and watches the world go by.

I am also watching out the window as Cedric plays in the back yard. He’s wearing a coat that used to be Josh’s when he was little. It’s totally in style right now with it’s retro look. I’ll attach a picture of him in it.

Several nights ago we moved Cienna into the crib in Cedric’s room at night. The time has gone by so much faster with Cienna than it did with Cedric so I wasn’t really ready for the move, but Cienna was outgrowing the co-sleeper and not sleeping well in it anymore. The first night didn’t make much of a difference in her restless sleep but now she sleeps peacefully with her arms stretched way out to the sides. She loves it. On average she wakes up twice a night to nurse.

We are making great progress on the adoption paperwork. Our adoption study (aka homestudy) interview is scheduled for 11:30 on Saturday the 28th. The gal will be here for a 3-4 hour interview. I’m so curious about it! I’m not too nervous…. Though I am nervous because I really don’t know what to expect. I think I may enjoy it somewhat… you know, talking to someone who wants to know everything about you. J I really don’t know. We would really appreciate your prayers!

On Monday morning I started going to a women’s Bible study that is doing The Truth Project. So far it sounds great. Every week we will watch an hour long DVD and then have a chance to discuss it. It focuses on developing a Biblical worldview. I don’t have a car on Monday mornings because Tim takes our only running vehicle to work, so an older gal, Linda Fowler who is a long-time friend of Tim’s, picks me and the kids up. Cedric really enjoys the chance to play with several other kids his own age.

Well that’s enough for now. Here are some pictures of the kids:

Cedric put Daddy's beanie cap on Cienna. She thought that was great. :)

Here is Cedric in Josh's old coat! The hat totally makes the outfit. :P

Cedric and Cienna soaking up some daily sun.

Cedric used this basket as his "superhero mask" the other day.

Cienna & More

2009-02-25T18:47:00.000-08:00

Here are Cienna's 5 month pictures. We have copies of the one with her on her belly for some of you! We can always get more copies if you'd like, though I think it's $10 a page. 8-/ Anyway, didn't they turn out great???

There is also a video at the end of her first solid food, which she had this evening. It was organic homemade yams. Enjoy!

Here is a picture I took of Cedric and I the other day.

A couple weeks ago Cienna fell asleep like this. I had to get a picture. :)

Last night Cedric got ahold of Cienna's binki and "clipped" it to himself. :D And he wanted me to take a picture of his hands.

Here is my favorite picture from Mom's birthday weekend. It's of Brooke and Dad. (I have more pictures from that weekend, I'll send them through Shutterfly I think!)

This was a few weeks ago. Cedric eating pancakes.

THE END. :)

Cienna's Ear Piercing

2009-02-02T17:07:00.000-08:00

We got Cienna's ears pierced today. Mom, Cedric and I took her down to Wal-Mart today to have it done. Tim didn't want to be there. :) She was asleep as they did it which helped a lot but, of course, she was not too happy afterwards for about 5 minutes. She's done pretty well since then too. The earings are small, round white crystals. I love them. :) Here are some pictures:

Here she is at home. I can't get a shot of both earings at the same time so here's one at a time. :)

These are some sweet pictures of her and Tim today too. You can kind of see the earing.

Young Soul

2009-01-12T20:26:00.000-08:00

While I was changing Cedric’s diaper yesterday, he said, “This is God’s house. God loves me. God always with me. Jesus carry my owies.” I had never described Jesus as “carrying his owies”…. Isn’t it amazing what he comes up with? I have prayed that God would plant seeds of truth in his young and receptive soul. I bet some of these amazing statements of truth are direct answers to my prayers.

Today Cedric told me that he “can’t find Jesus.” I tried to explain to him why we can’t see Jesus but that he truly is always beside us. How the heck do you explain that to a 2-year-old? I just pray that the Holy Spirit will make it clear to him. I have to keep reminding myself that children are prone to faith and don't need the in depth explanations more mature people need for it to make sense. In other words, believing that Jesus is always with him even though he can’t see Him may not really be questioned, at least not like an adult would when confronted with that mystery for the first time. Cedric then told me that “God make me sad.” because he can’t see Him. He said that he wants to drive to Jesus’ house to see Him and hug Him. Oh, what sweetness.

Pictures & Videos!

2009-01-09T21:03:00.000-08:00

Well, I got the camera to download so here are a bunch of pictures and a few videos. They are not necessarily in order but I don't think that's really important. Enjoy!

Here is Cedric and Macy (Tim's cousin's little girl) laying under Cienna's toy arch thingy. It's at the end of an evening of dinner and games so they both were in need of binkies. :)

Same thing. :)

This is Janis, a good friend from church. Tim's known her since the 5th or 6th grade. We had her over for dinner while she was in town for the holidays. Cienna fell asleep in her arms like this. :)

Here is that half-eaten butter picture I promised in my last blog entry. :P

Daddy and Cedric built Ced's first snowman this week.

Those are cranberries for the eyes, a carrot nib for the nose, and a hand-carved smile.

Cedric and "Cran" (cranberries... get it?) the snowman.

Daddy & Ced & "Cran"

Here are some Christmas morning pics. Cedric's dinasaur.

Daddy helping unwrap....

Cedric is showing Cienna her rattle. He's saying, "Look, Cienna, it's for youuuuu!"

This is Cienna's snow globe that I referenced in the last blog. It plays "Younger Than Springtime"a song from The Sound of Music. Can you see the sparkles "kissing" the butterfly? :)

Cienna

Cedric & Cienna playing in Cienna's toy arch that she got from Great Grammy for Christmas.

Aren't they cute under there?!

Here is a picture of a blue Quaker parrot (mentioned in the last blog as well), which is the kind of bird we'd like to have sometime in the future. They say it's "a lot of parrot in a little package."

This is a video of Cedric's first time on the trampoline that Papa & Grammy got Cedric for Christmas. He loves it! And it has been wearing him out which I love. :)

Here is a video of Cedric sledding down a hill that Daddy made for him in our front yard. It's awesome! He took his stuffed tiger sledding with him today.

Here is a video of Cienna blowing bubbles today. Look at all that foam! It doesn't show it here, but she's been into making weird noises. This past week she has been doing this little growl in the back of her throat. She sounds like an evil munchkin when she does it! It's hilarious. There are several other noises she's been experiementing with as well but none as funny as the "munchkin growl". :P I'll try to get it on video for you all.

Well, that's it for pictures today.

We've decided to get Cienna's ears pierced. We'll probably do it at the beginning of February so that Mom can be there (she special requested it :). We discovered that thanks to the large Hispanic community around here, Wal-Mart has done a fair number of very young infant ear piercings, so we're going to have it done there. I'll post pictures!

We're going to be doing professional pictures of at least Cienna here in the next month so I'll be sending those out to people as well.

Good night to you all.

2009

2009-01-08T20:26:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've had a chance to write, but I have been keeping a list of things that would be interesting things to write about as they happened. Hopefully I can keep this blog from getting too long... :)

Cedric has been doing some cute things lately. We had gotten a snow globe with a butterfly in it for Cienna for Christmas, and Cedric loves it. One of the first times he watched the sparkles swirl around inside the globe, he caught his breath and said, "Sparkles kissing butterfly!" So now officially the sparkles are "kissing" the butterfly, and when they settle on the bottom they have gone "nigh-nigh". :)

A week or so ago as I was getting Cedric dressed for they day and he told me, "Momma, God loves Santa Clause." We had never said anything close to this, so it surprised me and did my heart good that he was putting those pieces together himself.

We've also had to keep an eye on Cedric and the refrigerator. He is a butter-lover. I found a still wrapped cube of butter with large bites taken out of it put back in it's proper place in the frig. It was probably a third gone. I have pictures but I'm having trouble downloading pics. I'll post it some other blog. :)

Ced likes to watch his daddy shave, and the other day as we sat patiently in the car while Tim scraped the snow and ice from the windows, Cedric commented that daddy was "shaving" the car. He keeps me giggling, I tell you.

Oh, this is cute too!: We were teaching him how to summersault and Tim would help gently push him over by poking his rear. Well Cedric thought that you had to poke your rear to tip over, so he would put his head on the floor and reach between his legs and poke his own rear before tipping over and completing his summersault. We tried desperately not to laugh too hard. :D He's got it figured out now though. Finger-free. :)

Cedric has also really gotten into pretending. The other day he had Cienna and I sitting on the couch and he pretended that it was a car and that we were stuck in the snow. (It helps that we've had some adventures on Mom and Dad's driveway already this year.) He put chains on the "tires" and dug snow from beneath the "car". He even got a couple Hot Wheel cars to try to pull us out. He really got into it, and we had a great time for at least 15 minutes. I seriously could picture this little boy when he's a grown man getting the same kick out of the challenge of being stuck in the snow. He loved the problem solving. I tell you, I am SO thankful that we have little boys who grow up to be men who love to get us out of tough spots. :)

Ok, that is the last of the cute Cedric stories I think... for now anyway.

Recently Tim and I were talking and we both would LOVE to get a blue Quaker Parrot. It's a mid-sized bird (12 inches beak to tail) and is known for talking exceptionally well and being a playful birth who loves his "flock". I think it's the kind of bird we'd really enjoy. Luckily they are not too spendy, just between $100-250. I insist on getting a very young bird that was handfed. Actually, ideally I would love to handfeed it myself if we can find one close enough to transport safely that young. I was teasing Tim that with his shaved head, mustache and gotee, he would look just like a pirate with a parrot on his shoulder. So anyway, we'll probably have to wait until after the adoption, but I'm so looking forward to it. I really miss having a lot of animals around.

I've decided to do some childcare. Just one or two kids between the ages of 1 and 4. I'm looking forward to being productive in contributing to our finances, but I am nervous about the division of my attentions. We're praying for just the right child(ren). I'm kind of looking at this as also a ministry to these children. And I pray they are a good influence on Cedric. We'll see what God brings our way.

Well, this is getting long, so I will sign off for now.

A thought on Motherhood

2008-12-26T21:17:00.000-08:00

"I cannot forget my mother.
She is my bridge.
When I needed to get
across, she steadied herself
long enough for me
to run across safely."

I don’t know who wrote this quote but it has become significant to me. Our children need countless bridges throughout their lives. It is up to us, as parents, to be that bridge for we alone have the commitment, insight, and strength needed by our individual children. Unfortunately, far too many mothers refuse to be a bridge. Being a bridge is not easy; have you ever tried to physically be a bridge for someone? The effort is the same to be a “bridge mother”, though mothers do not only play the role of a physical bridge (pregnancy, childbirth, etc.) but also mental, emotional, and spiritual bridges. Though some women honestly do not know the desperate need for or how to be a bridge mother, sadly, many other women choose not to be a bridge mother.

"The commonest fallacy among women
is that simply having children makes them a mother –
which is as absurd as believing that having a piano
makes one a musician."

Most all of what we do as mothers is being a bridge for our children. Pregnancy and childbirth are the first bridges. They are not easy in any way. Perhaps we should see this time as training for motherhood, for to be the mother our children need, that “suffering”, that marathon effort and patience must never end.

Motherhood is not for the faint of heart. We are career warriors. Our battles are no less difficult than those fought on the battlefield, and we fight these battles for a lifetime. I think that you may think that this sounds somewhat cliché… but if you doubt the truth of this, try daily to make a hundred times the choice to do what is best for your children instead of what would be comfortable or even best for yourself. You will quickly find that one’s own self-focus and self-righteousness, self-indulgence and laziness, fear and insecurities, discomfort and pain are some of the most wearisome, relentless and powerful foes ever faced on earth. Attempt to die tiny deaths dozens of times a day, every day, every month, every year for decades and you will not suppose to call motherhood insignificant or dishonorable or second-rate.

I hope that more women will choose to seize the strength God has given them (He offers all the needed strength to every woman) and begin a new legacy of mothering in their own families.

As my mother did for me,

I will steady myself and be a

Bridge Mother.

----------------------
“She has a more influential and powerful role than any political, military, religious or educational figure. Her words are never fully forgotten. For good or for ill, a mother’s impact is permanent. A child’s mother is arguably the most influential figure in his or her life, giving credence to the old adage: the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.”

----------------------

"Mother—in this consists the glory and
the most precious ornament of woman."
-Martin Luther.

----------------------

"I cannot name myself as one
Who never goes astray,
Who never stumbles on the road,
Or leaves the hallowed way.
But when I know that baby feet
Will follow where I’ve trod,
I walk with care that they too may walk
That road that leads to God."
-Margaret Fishback Powers
-----------------------

"The Sweetest sounds to mortals given are heard in
Mother, Home, and Heaven."
-W.G. Brown
-----------------------
Motherhood

The bravest battle that ever was fought!

Shall I tell you where and when?

On the maps of the world you will find it not;

'Twas fought by the mothers of men.

Nay not with the cannon of battle-shot,

With a sword or noble pen;

Nay, not with eloquent words or thought

From mouth of wonderful men!

But deep in a walled-up woman's heart -

Of a woman that would not yield,

But bravely, silently bore her part -

Lo, there is the battlefield!

No marshalling troops, no bivouac song,

No banner to gleam and wave;

But oh! those battles, they last so long -

From babyhood to the grave.

Yet, faithful still as a bridge of stars,

She fights in her walled-up town -

Fights on and on in her endless wars,

Then silent, unseen, goes down.

Oh, ye with banners and battle-shot,

And soldiers to shout and praise!

I tell you the kingliest victories fought

Were fought in those silent ways.

O spotless woman in a world of shame,

With splendid and silent scorn,

Go back to God as white as you came -

The Kingliest warrior born!

- Joaquin Miller (1839-1913)

December Day

2008-12-15T07:51:00.000-08:00

It has been 10 degrees or less for the last few days, and we have about 8 inches of snow now with drifts. When Winter decided to come, it really came. I'm not looking forward to seeing htis month's heating bill....

Hemi has been staying inside most of the time now because of the cold. He had been banished outside this summer because he kept going potty in the house, but luckily (for him) he hasn't had any accidents so far....

About a week or so ago, Cienna began rolling over from her tummy to her back. She also loves to blow bubbles. She often ends up with a little foam goatee. This new past time combined with teething has got us going through bibs like crazy. She's not happy leaning back on things anymore, she's got to be sitting up. And she's discovered rattles and her toes. Poor girl has been really teething hard this week. She's not a happy camper.

I looked around online for ideas of things to do with Cedric to keep him busy this winter, and I found this web page that has a bunch of great "Rainy Day Activites for Toddlers" that just use things around the house and that you can do with only 1 toddler (my situation).(http://fun.familyeducation.com/hobbies-and-interests/games/33380.html I've been trying to do at least one a day with him. He has a tendency to get pretty destructive (not breaking, just moving and emptying everything) when he's bored.

Here is a picture I took just today. I love it....

Cedric and Cienna took a bath together for the first time a few days ago.

This is my favorite.

Watching the rubber ducky.

Look at all those rolls on that chubby baby!

He wasn't actually sticking out his tongue.... I caught it at the perfect second!

Lots of snow!

2008-12-13T12:29:00.000-08:00

Six inches of snow has fallen here since yesterday morning. Cedric is having a great time playing out there. He spent a half hour out there this morning playing while Tim shoveled snow and came in with some slight frostbite on his cheeks. He didn't complain about it though and it cleared up within an hour.

Cienna is majorly teething this last week. There have been some days that I ended up using at least a dozen bibs on her. Poor girl.

I really like the idea of sharing my to-do list for the day so here is mine. I hardly ever get to complete the list every day and often complete just half a task at a time... My list is usually extra long because I never know which tasks will actually fit into the day. That has been one of the biggest adjustments of being a mom. My mind has to change subjects and tasks very quickly, which has been rather annoying. Anyway here it is (doesn't include any of the child tasks of course :):

Clean bathroom
Change bed sheets
2nd draft of Christmas letter
Balance checkbook
Wrap some more Christmas gifts
Exercise
Pet Hemi for at least 5 minutes (I have to schedule this :)
Sweep kitchen
Dishes

We decorated for Christmas last weekend. Here are a couple pictures of the kids decorating:

Cienna reaching for an ornament that she later got to put on the tree (with Daddy's help of course).

Cedric holding a 50-year-old ornament that came from my Dad's side of the family.

Cienna and Daddy admiring the tree.

Cedric and his "camera smile". He's not very good at making it look natural yet. :)

Here's a better smile!

Here are a series of pictures that we took of Cienna last week in her church dress. I love the pictures so I posted all of them.

We are gathering information for our adoption application, which we will be sending out next week. We have heard the call to adopt for over 2 years and feel God prompting us to begin now. For sure, this is a "stepping out of the boat" experience. We don't have any sort of "floatation device", but we are confident of God's call and will trust His provision. One of my favorite qutoes is, "God will often call you to do something that without Him you can not and without you He will not." We are going to be adopting an infant from Ethiopia through Holt International.

Day Before Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T19:41:00.000-08:00

Cedric is sleeping in his toddler bed now. It wasn’t too hard to switch him over really. But it’s pretty neat that he’s had another “graduation”. Now the crib is freed up for Cienna. I think it’ll be a while until we switch her over though. There’s really no hurry to move her out of the co-sleeper by our bed as long as she’s happy in it.

I’ve long enjoyed to crochet but never got to do much of it; however, I recently found a ministry that ships homemade afgans to orphanages in 20 different countries. They send you a pattern to follow and you get to pick the colors. When I finish the afgan(s), I’ll send it to the ministry headquarters and they’ll ship it off in a backpack filled also with a teddy bear and school supplies. I’ve begun my first afgan, and it’s really satisfying knowing that I’m creating something that will bring comfort to an orphan. For more info about it, check out this blog about the Jabez Blanket Ministry: http://week2week.wordpress.com/2008/10/17/what-can-one-person-do/ I'll post a picture of the afgan when I'm finished.

Cienna has not been sleeping well during the day since she’s begun teething. I’m having a hard time getting anything done. She does well in the sling but it’s difficult to bend over with her strapped to my front, and she doesn’t do well on my back yet because she keeps losing her binki. It’s surprising how much work around the house includes bending over….

Cedric is such a goof.

I love this picture of them together. Cedric really does love his little sister. He loves to lean in to coo and smile at her, calling her "baby girl" and "sweetie" and in a sing song voice.

This first video is of Cienna “talking”. She is really reactive to someone looking in her face and talking, she’ll start talking right back.

This next one show’s a quick smile and more “talking” from Cienna and a big one from Cedric.

Pics & Videos

2008-11-19T20:40:00.000-08:00

Cienna has begun teething for sure this past week. She's drooling like crazy, and her fussiness usually responds well to Hylands Teething Tablets. She has become so smiley this past week as well. Finally! :) I'll try to get a video of it sometime. I've been meaning to post more recent pictures of her as well, so there'll be more picture blogs soon.

In the mean time, here are some misc. pictures taken recently. The first is of Mom, Cienna, Cedric & Cian on the 8th. That's Cedric's camera smile. He always squints his eyes, thinking that he's actually smiling. :)

Cian and Cienna napping together. They actually stayed like that for a while.

Another nap.

Daddy and Cedric late one night at Josh & Amber's.

Cedric & Cienna at our house.

While we were at Josh and Amber's they got to play their Rock Band game. Cedric was the star singer for a while.

Here is a video of Cedric "sharing" Cienna's binky. Silly goose.

Just tonight I had both Cedric and Cienna on my lap, heads leaning on my shoulders and facing eachother, and then Cedric swapped binkys with Cienna. She had his and he had hers. It was rather precious.

November Musings

2008-11-04T16:04:00.000-08:00

Cienna had her 2-month checkup a couple weeks ago and she was in the upper 90% for everything: her height, weight, and head. She was 13 lbs. 14 oz.! :) I guess I was always in the 90% as an infant too, so it's not surprising for Cienna.

I think Cienna is going to keep her dark grey-blue eyes, just like mine. They're definitely not as ambiguous as Cedric's were at this age. Cedric's finally turned light brown (some call it hazel or greenish brown) at 12 months. I think it's neat that Cedric has my hair and Tim's eyes, while Cienna has Tim's hair and my eyes. :)

Here is Cienna's first camera-captured smiles:

This picture was taken a few nights ago. Cedric got out these casserole dishes and fed his "friends" dinner:

Here is a picture of Tim in his LaFou getup. It looked great on stage!:

Well, I am bummed that Obama won. Not surprised but bummed. I am concerned about the drift away from freedom in healthcare and education choices, as well as having a militarily inexperienced Commander-In-Chief who is more concerned with the popular vote than military strategy and integrity. What bothers me the most however is his plan to sign the FOCA (Freedom of Choice Act) which will wipe away all restrictions and safe-guards on abortion including parental notification, partial birth abortion, and the ability of individual states of regulating abortion within their borders. I am all for women's rights; however, there is never a time when it is appropriate to take another person's life simply because they are a huge and painful inconvenience or embarassment to you. This is human life we are talking about, people. There is no other honest way of looking at it. Abortion is not the best choice.

Reality Check:

Partial Birth Abortion

Update

2008-10-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

I’m not sure how to start this blog so I’ll just right in with the newsy stuff:

Tim’s last Beauty and The Beast performance was last Saturday night. He did awesome! I really enjoyed watching him. I was able to see it both Saturday night performances. I’m so thankful Mom and I went that first Saturday because Cienna was not feeling well the second Saturday and I spent 2/3 of the play with her in the lobby. Cedric went to the 2nd Saturday and was enthralled. I wasn’t sure he would be interested for the entire 2-1/2 hour play but he was. Whenever Tim left the stage he would ask, “Daddy go?” During intermission, Grammy took him down to look in the orchestra pit and the first thing he saw was a plate of cookies on the piano. He pointed and said, “Cookies, cookie,” and the musicians handed him up one. It was cute. I had fun being introduced to several of Tim’s fellow cast members. Tim made such a good impression on them. They kept telling, “Your husband is the nicest guy!”, etc. *proud to be his wife* Tim is so talented and loves doing this sort of thing. It was really tough with all the play practices but it was worth it so that Tim could enjoy himself doing this. He’ll probably do another one in a couple years. He’s hoping for the King and I and to play the king or Aladin in which he’d want to be the jeanie. :)

We have gotten serious about potty training Cedric this past week. He’s only wearing diapers when he sleeps and we’re not confident enough yet to go in public without them. We’re almost there though! He is doing great! He was definitely ready. He was showing signs of being ready and I had to admit to myself that the only reason he wasn’t potty trained was because I wasn’t putting the effort into it. We had consciously decided to wait to get serious about potty training until after Cienna arrived, and since she’s been here two months now, we figured it was high time to do it. He’s having a bit of trouble forgetting he doesn’t have a diaper on when he wears just pants and undies, but he is totally accident free when he goes pant-less around the house. He’s even gone #2 in the potty chair, which can be a big deal for toddlers. He’s growing so fast!

Cienna is doing great. She is still a very content baby which I’m SOOOO thankful for. We’ve switched to cloth diapers except when we go in public and at night. I’m really enjoying it. It’s just very satisfying knowing that I’m reducing garbage, saving money, and reducing her exposure to chemicals in paper diapers.

I am doing well. Working on losing the pregnancy weight. I’m also in real need of a hobby or time of my own or something. I think I may try to go tanning and drink a mocha with a good book once a week by myself. That sounds nice….

Here are some pictures I’ve accumulated. I’ll post a couple of Tim in the play when I get some online.

Cedric asked me to put "Baby Doll" on his back so he could be like Momma and Cienna. :)

Isn't comparison so cute? Cedric is 9 months in the first picture and 2 years old in the second.

October

2008-10-01T11:17:00.000-07:00

I still have a bit of a cough, but we are basically over our cold. Cienna never showed the classic symptoms, though she was pretty fussy for a few days. Tim ended up taking a few days off work to take care of us. I was so thankful!

We are down to that last few weeks before opening night of Beauty and The Beast. Unfortunately, practices are scheduled 6 days a week until then. As long as we don't get another cold the kids and I will hang in there, but we really miss seeing daddy like we're used to. Tim's having a blast! I really look forward to seeing the play. I hope that Cedric will be able to recognize his daddy up there on stage. Though I hear, as LaFou, he gets beat up and pushed around a lot... I hope it doesn't upset or confuse Cedric! Hmmm....

This is my favorite time of year. I dislike that it means Winter is right around the corner, but I really love Fall. The colors are the best, and it's just the right temperature. Things get back down to a routine, and it just gets cozier (sp?).

Both Cienna and Cedric are doing really well. Cedric is very ready for potty training, so we're working more on that. Cienna fits really well into a routine, that is, it's not impossible to keep somewhat of a schedule. We're getting better at this 2-child thing, I think. :) I am so thankful that she is a good sleeper!

It has been tough getting used to a different level of disorder around the house. I knew that this would bug me, but it doesn't make it any easier when it's actually happening. I need to thoroughly shift my concept of a "successful" day to simply meeting the physical and emotional needs of my kids. Lindy, it's okay just to sit and cuddle with your babies amidst a torn apart house.... And it's okay for Ced to stay up until 9pm because Cienna needs you to rock her to sleep instead.... It's okay if he never got a bath tonight.... Cedric can play by himself for the afternoon.... It's okay to plug in the cartoons more than once today............................ *sigh*

Anyway.... :) Here are a couple pictures. I thought the video was kind of cute, nothing spectacular, just cute. But maybe only to a mother's eyes. :)

Update

2008-09-12T10:51:00.000-07:00

Cienna had her 2-week appointment on Wednesday and all is well. She had grown an inch and gained nearly 2 pounds to weigh 9 pounds 8 ounces! She was 7 pounds 12 ounces at birth. She's a great nurser, needless to say. :)

Monday evening was momentous for us. Tim helped Cedric go potty in his potty chair for the first time, while I was changing Cienna and discovered her umbilical cord had fallen off. Such milestones. Tim and I have such fun with these things. :)

Here are some of my favorite pictures we've taken recently:

It has been tough adjusting to 2 children. I feel bad not being able to give 100% of my attention to either of them. Oh, sometimes I can, but not like I want to. I know it's how God designed the family and that it teaches children that they are not the center of the universe (a valuable lesson). But it hurts to see Cedric struggling with it and to have to leave Cienna to cry once in a while. I don't want either of them to be lonely and feel insecure. I guess pain is what causes growth, and I need to let Cedric feel it. Change is never easy but it is good. Especially this kind of change.

Picure comparisons

2008-08-30T14:05:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple picture comparisons with Cienna. It's fun to see who she looks like. I think she looks most like Tim but with a feminine flare. :) First comparison is of Cedric and Cienna and the second shows what I think is a resemblence to Tim's mom whose middle name is also "Yvonne". Check it out:

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Cedric - 4 days old

Cienna - 3 days old

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Cienna - 18 hours old

Diane - Tim's Mom

Cienna Yvonne Vassar's Birth Story

2008-08-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

August 24, 2008 Sunday

Around 1:20am on Sunday morning I woke up with stong contractions that kept coming every 5 minutes or so and lasting 45 to 50 seconds each despite a shower, drinking lots of water, and pacing around the house. Earlier that evening I had thought there was a possibility that my water had broken, but it turned out later not to be so. After an hour, I decided to call Tim home from work. He was so excited! He had guessed that I was going to have the little one on Sunday. A little later I went ahead and called Mom and Dad as well, and they headed down the hill.

The contractions continued and by the time Mom and Dad got there around 4am, I had been having 45-50 second contractions about every 3 minutes for over an hour. They continued that way until 5am when I went to bed to lie down for a while. At that point they slowed down to one contractions every 15 to 20 minutes. I slept until 7am while everyone else snoozed on the couches or worked on the computer. After getting up the contractions continued to stall so Mom, Tim and I went for an energetic walk while Dad stayed with Cedric. That 20+ minute walk didn’t do much at all for the contractions so we decided to go out to breakfast at Whistlers. I ate light and the contractions continued to come only every 15 or 20 minutes.

After coming home we decided to go ahead and call our doctor to let her know what had been going on. She was doing rounds at the hospital so she had us come in to get checked. So while Dad watched Cedric again, Mom, Tim and I went to the hospital. She confirmed that my water had in fact not broken yet but that I was dilated to 3 cm. She really did not expect the contractions to continue to stall much longer and sent us home with orders to call her on her cell phone if we wanted her to come by our house to check me or when we were heading to the hospital. Since things had slowed down so much, Mom and Dad went home to get some things done. We were to call them if anything changed.

The contractions began to pick up a bit around noon and were stronger. Cedric, Tim and I took a nap, and around 1:30pm or so the contractions started waking me up and sped up to about every 10 minutes and were definitely more intense. That carried on for a while before I called Mom and Dad again. They arrived around 4pm. They all sat outside and watched me pace. The contractions were pretty reactive to rest. Every time I sat down on the birth ball they would slow way down, so I did a lot of walking. We timed contractions between 4:30 and 5:30 and they averaged between 2 to 3 minutes apart, lasing for 50+ seconds, and were strong enough to need to lean on something and stop talking through them. Somewhere in that length of time I lost my mucus plug. About 5:30am I had several contractions only a minute apart so we finally decided to go to the hospital.

We met Dr. Bolz there, and after I changed she checked dilation and I was only at a 6. At that point I really started considering having her break my water since I was already getting tired. After she returned after a half hour (6:30pm) I had jumped up to 8 cm. We went ahead and had her break the water anyway with the hope it would get things really rolling, but it didn’t work out that way. The contractions definitely became more intense at that point, but we still had a couple hours to go.

The best position for me was sitting on the ball with Tim holding my head against his stomach while I rocked my hips. I had more back labor this time than with Cedric, and I had to work harder with breathing through each contraction. Around 8:30 we moved up onto the bed, but I still wasn’t fully dilated. That was so dissapointing! I stayed on the bed at that point. There may have been a better position but I really didn’t want to move to find out. It wasn’t particularly obvious, but I believe I hit transition while on the bed.

Finally around 9pm I had the urge to push. It’s amazing how out-of-the-blue it comes. Tim and the nurse were the only ones there, and the nurse was very calm and encouraging, but Tim let her know that last time I only pushed for 10 minutes. Hearing that, she went for the doctor right away. After she returned, Tim went to get Mom and Grammy. Dad sat with Cedric right outside the curtain. Mom and Tim held my legs.

I didn’t get much break between pushing contractions. They were long and hard. I spent most of the time with my eyes closed. I even declined feeling the head as it crowned which I was able to do with Cedric.

Dr. Bolz came in and checked me and announced that I was indeed fully dilated and gave me the go ahead to push. So I did. She turned around to get set up and when she turned back around Cienna was crowning. She was like “Whoa!” and Tim said her apron was only half on and she whipped her gloves on superhero-fast. Not much else was set up. Cienna was born after only 3 pushes. I believe it was around 7 minutes or so from the first urge to push. It was such a relief when she finally slipped out, and it was so sweet to hear the words “It’s a girl!”. She was 7 pounds 12 ounces and 20 inches long, born at 9:06pm.

As Dr. Bolz checked her breathing, I slipped off my shirt so that I could really hold and feel my little girl when she was soon handed up to me. I cannot say how sweet it was to finally hold her and see her. We couldn’t believe all that dark hair! She didn’t cry at all at the beginning. Tim and I were concerned that she wasn’t crying or visibly breathing while we held her, but she was turning pink so all was well. She finally cried when they suctioned her nose again. She has been a pretty laid back baby, never getting all worked up over the normal things baby’s do, like diaper or clothes changes.

After a little while we had Dad come in with Cedric. Cedric watched Cienna from his grammy’s arms as Dad cut the cord. Mom cutting Cedric’s cord and Dad cutting Cienna’s cord has had such special symbolism of their support and the role they play in our children’s lives. Cedric soon needed to take a closer look, so he cuddled in on my left side. He was so affectionate to Cienna, repeatedly asking to give hugs and kisses. He had a good time listening to her heartbeat with a stethoscope that Dr. Bolz gave him. The first time he said her name he called her “Ceena”. It was so special to have Grammy there last minute and being able to join us in the delivery room.

We left the hospital at 4am and were home when Cedric woke up. Mom had stayed with him at our place. Recovery has gone really well. I thought for sure I had ripped but it turned out I hadn’t at all. Nursing contractions have been worse this time around, several rivaling transition contractions, but they are nearly gone now by day 4. Cienna is a great nurser and has been sleeping well.

This birth went so differently than I was expecting. And very different from Cedric’s. But it was as good and precious and will always be one of my most treasured memories. There may be only one or two other experiences in life where the outcome is as significant as giving birth to a new life. And even fewer are as difficult. To me, that combo makes giving birth possibly the most valuable experience a woman could have.

A few pictures

2008-08-25T15:31:00.000-07:00

I'll write the birth story later and there's more pictures to go through as well. I'll send them out as I can!

Cienna Yvonne at 18 hours old.

Born at 9:06pm on August 24, 2008
20" long, 7.12 pounds

Look at all that dark hair! So different from the nearly bald, blonde Cedric.

Kisses for "Ceena"

Listening to Cienna's heart.

A family of four.

Cian's arrival and other things...

2008-08-12T17:52:00.000-07:00

It was so wonderful being there when Cian Timothy Nelson was born. I will treasure that experience always. Cian is such a handsome, healthy boy! I think he has Holly's eyes and Tim's nose and mouth, and it's great to finally have a dark-haired baby among the "Hollenbeck" cousins. Four boys (so far)... what adventures they (and we) will have! :)

I loved watching a midwife at work. She was so calm, respectful, confident, and encouraging, and you could tell that her heart is in what she does. It was empowering to watch Holly successfully fulfill her dream of laboring and birthing peacefully and naturally.

My favorite moment after Cian was born was when, as Holly held him, Cian looked up and stared wide-eyed and intently at Holly's face for a good long minute, just absorbing his mama, this woman who's voice he knows so well. It was beautiful.

Of course, I am now more anxious than ever to have this baby. I feel so much bigger and heavier with this one than I did with Cedric. Everything is a big effort. There are so many things that I want to get cleaned or accomplished before this little one arrives, but my belly and swelling ankles won't allow it. I guess it's just time to take it easy and wait. Probably just another week or two.

Tim finished another refinishing project. Here is the "before" picture (without the drawers):

And here are the "after" pictures. Light green is the main color for our nursery:

Isn't that a great paint job, especially for a child's room??? I love it. Tim plans to eventually refinish that little 3-drawer dresser next to the big one. He'll stain it the same shade as the first dresser and use the same hardware. We'll eventually have a whole set of matching furniture for the kids' room!

Birth Plan

2008-07-31T10:39:00.000-07:00

Below is our completed birth plan, thoroughly discussed with and signed by our doctor today.

She's an awesome doctor. I think she's as close as you can come to having a homebirth without actually staying home and being attended by a midwife. She lives only a couple blocks away and has given us her cell #. We're to call her when we go into labor for sure and she'll likely head over and check me at home. If it's at night she said she'll just snooze on our couch for a while. Then we'll head to the hospital (3 minutes away) to deliver the baby and head home within a few hours. Since labor was only 8 hours for Cedric with 10 minutes of pushing, she's expecting this one to come pretty fast. She warned not to stay home too long or we may seriously end up with a homebirth after all. I just really do not want to end up having the baby in the car!

Anyway, here is the birth plan:

Tim & Lindy Vassar's Birth Plan

Our goal is to deliver our 2nd child as naturally and safely as possible. We view childbirth as an inherently normal and safe process and as a profound rite of passage, even if medical care must be a part of the birth.

We ask that no procedure, large or small, be performed without our full knowledge and consent. Please provide us with information on all available options with adequate time to ask questions and to make our decision.

Lindy's mother and two sisters may be present at the birth. We ask that during labor family and friends may come and go as we see fit.

Thank you for all your hard work and support in making this special time as peaceful and intimate as possible!

First Stage:
· Keep vaginal exams to a minimum.
· Intermittent external fetal monitoring.
· No IV unless mother becomes dehydrated, will accept heparin lock if necessary.
· Please do not offer chemical pain relief.

Induction and Augmentation:
· We prefer to use natural methods. No labor stimulants or the artificial rupture of membranes unless absolutely necessary. Under normal circumstances there is no hurry.

Second Stage:
· Prefer a natural tear to an episiotomy. Please use compresses, massage, and support to help avoid a tear.
· Mother to push at her own pace. Under normal circumstances there is no hurry.
· Use of delivery aids such as manually spinning or pulling the baby only with parents’ full consent.

Third Stage:
· Spontaneous placenta separation and delivery encouraged by nursing and fundus massage only. Please no cord traction, use of pitocin, or scraping of uterus. Under normal circumstances there is no hurry.
· We would like to view the placenta before it is discarded.
· Ideally, we would prefer to be discharged home within a few hours of birth.
· If baby is Rh positive, we will return within 72 hours for the Rho (D) immune globulin injection.

Baby Care:
· Baby held and nursed by mother immediately.
· One of parents to stay with baby at all times.
· Delay clamping of cord until cord stops pulsing. Grandfather to cut the cord after mother is draped.
· Delay routine examining until parents and 2-year-old brother have had sufficient time alone with baby.
· Breastfeeding only please.
· Baby will receive its first bath at home.
· We refuse the erythromycin/prophylactic eye treatment.
· We refuse the vitamin K injection. If abnormal circumstances exist, we may choose to administer oral vitamin K ourselves, which we will have with us.
· We refuse the hepatitis B vaccine.
· We refuse the newborn screening routinely done before discharge. We will return to have it done when baby is 1 week of age.

Tim's project

2008-07-23T19:09:00.000-07:00

We have been using this decrepid old dresser that Tim had gotten for $5 several years ago as a changing table. The drawers were falling apart, the knobs were loose and at least one was missing. It was quite ugly with scratches and nicks, so Tim decided to refinish it and fix the drawers before this new baby arrives. Here are the before and after pictures.

Cedric spent some time helping his daddy sand. Tim would sand and then blow off the dust, and Cedric copied his every move. It was fun to watch.

Here is the finished product. It's beautiful and as good as new! I am so pleased to have it in the nursery now. :)

We have another, larger dresser that needs refinishing as well. Tim plans to start that project this week. I'll send the before and after pictures when he finishes that one.

Parking Pics

2008-06-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

It has been soooo long since I've blogged. I've got a long list of things to mention and pictures to share, but I rarely have much time so I'll just start posting short blogs as I can.

Here are a series of pictures taken back in June of Cedric. He likes to "park" his toys throughout the yard, and I thought I'd take a picture of him with his then latest location, however he was having a hard time giving me an actual smile. Here is the series of tries until he finally gave me a good one.

Take #1

Take #2

Take #3

Final Take

Here are a couple more parking locations I caught on camera. It is such a cute thing for him to do that I had to record it:

Cedric also likes to "park" the tools. They've made their way around the yard several times as well:

Various news

2008-06-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had our big adoption fundraising yard sale, and we made $1155! That is so much more than we anticipated. A few families had donated stuff, including Mom and Dad, so the sale was quite good-sized. We weren't completely done setting things out and pricing until Sunday afternoon! Thank you to Mom and Dad for the huge amount of work that they put into this with us! On Saturday I don't think there was a time when somebody was not there browsing until around 2pm. It was nearly the same on Sunday. I had been secretly hoping and praying that we would at least reach $1000 and God beat it by $155. :) It was great weather (I got a bit of a sunburn that first morning).

We ended up donating some of the left over items to a garage sale that the youth group at the Oroville Free Methodist Church was going to be having and then boxing a good deal of it up for another adoption fundraising yard sale some time in the future. There are more people lined up who say they are collecting items to donate to another sale, so I'm thinking it should be good-sized again even if we do it as soon as this Fall.

We're going to be putting the money from this sale into a CD so we can make some interest off it until we're ready to start the adoption paperwork, which will hopefully be mid to late next year.

After almost 2 years of praying and educating ourselves, we finally have a strong feeling about where to adopt from. Our plan is to adopt from Ethiopia, Africa. That's the direction we'll head until God changes the plans. The agency we are most interested in going with is Holt International based in Oregon (http://www.holtintl.org/ethiopia/).

Oh, by the way, we have decided on names for the soon-to-arrive Vassar baby. If a boy, it will be Creedence Dean. If a girl, it will be Cienna Yvonne. The meanings of names are important to me so for those who are also interested, Creedence Dean means "power in faith" and "prosperous". Cienna Yvonne means "the Lord is gracious" and "shielded". Here are a couple pictures of little Creedence or Cienna at 29 weeks:

Cedric has so nearly weaned himself. Until this afternoon, he hadn't even asked to nurse since Sunday morning. It's good. He's ready and it hasn't been traumatic for him or I. :) Very sweet and satisfying.

We're to the stage of having prenatal checkups every 2 weeks now. I can't believe it's already that time. I am so anxious to meet this new baby!

Last Saturday of May

2008-05-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

I am at work today. Today is Founder’s Day in Tonasket, and their having their annual Founder’s Day Parade. I am so jealous! It’s beautiful weather outside. I’m so glad that Tim and Cedric will be enjoying it. They’ll have fun.

Cedric has taken to saying “hi” in the sweetest voice to almost anything. He’ll cock his head and wave and croon “hiiiii” in a high-pitched voice, sometimes accompanied by a hug and kiss. Some of the funniest things he’s said hi to has been my armpit (Seriously, he’d ask me to raise my arm and after he’d waved and said ‘hi’ he’d tickle me. It was adorable.), some calking he pulled off the bathtub (This got a hug and a kiss too), and his own pee. Yes, pee. He was playing naked in our yard the other day, and he wee’d in the grass, after which he waved and said “hiiii!” I tell ya, there’s not much cuter than that. : )

Every time Cedric gets an owy, or “bonk”, he needs a kiss, of course. He’s such a sweet boy (or else confused…) that, after he’s gotten his own kiss from me or daddy, he’ll return to the object on which he bonked himself and kiss it. That’s included things like the dryer vent and his trike and Hemi, our dog. He keeps me giggling all day.

Cedric has a love-hate relationship with our riding lawn mower. He adores sitting on it when it’s parked but is terrified of it when it’s running. He asks his daddy to get the keys and turn on the “mow-loan” every day (with a sweet voice, cocked head, and a “pease?”), but the moment Tim brings out the keys and head for the lawn mower while Ced’s out there with the lawn mower, he gets so worked up! He’s done well riding on Tim’s lap before and riding in the trailer with his papa, but he must have been traumatized by it. So we’re warming up to it from inside the living room window or while in someone’s arms. Silly guy. He’ll get there. He’s just a tiny guy still. I love how he calls it “mow-loan”.

While playing with Hemi the other day Cedric got his first nose bleed. Hemi had been racing around the house and must have jumped off the couch right into Cedric’s nose. It was just a tiny bleed, but it was a milestone. : )

Sorry all you’re getting are stories about Cedric lately. Not much else has been going on. Pretty average days for both Tim and I waiting while this new baby grows. : )

Cedric stories

2008-05-23T17:03:00.000-07:00

Cedric had his first (as far as we know :) taste of a bug this week. He was out on the porch, I was in the kitchen and had just given him a piece of cheese. I heard him yelling at something and in a minute or two he came in pointing to his mouth and saying "eat" over and over and gesturing for me to follow him. So I did and there on the porch was a half chewed piece of cheese right next to a half squashed beetle with a little bit of cheese stuck to it. The beetle was still alive but it's abdomen was not in the best shape. It was just gross. Every time Cedric eats cheese now he talks about beetles. :)

Cedric can be pretty emotionally responsive to music (runs in both sides of the family). King of the Road used to make him burst into tears but now it is Rock-a-bye Baby. I was reading him a nursery rhyme book earlier this week (singing all the ones that have tunes I know), and the very last one was Rock-a-bye Baby. About 30 seconds after I had finished, Cedric burst into tears. He was soooo sad! He kept saying, "Baby. Tree. Baby. Tree." He apparently understood the words enough to be very concerned for the baby up there in the tree (I've always been confused about the purpose of that song too...), and adding the melody to it was just too much. The silliest thing was that he kept asking me to sing it over and over again. I tried to get him distracted with something else, but no, he wanted the "baby" song. Every time I'd sing he'd burst into the saddest set of sobbing and tears you've ever heard. After singing it a few times, I started just reading it, hoping that it would help him process it without so much emotion. He'd make it through a few read-throughs before he'd start crying again. :) Silly guy. We finally wrapped it up and went to bed. No bad dreams luckily. :)

I thought these two pictures as comparisons were just adorable. The first is of Cedric at 4 days old. The second is of Cedric at 22 months.

Cedric has grown 1-1/2 inches in the past 4 months and gained almost 1 pound.

Update

2008-05-17T08:54:00.000-07:00

Baby has been really active this week. A few nights ago I felt it hiccuping for the first time. I am getting so big. 8-) I'm feeling good though. Just 15 weeks or so to go.

There are some big black beetles around our place that Cedric has found fascinating. One of the first ones he found, he got down on his tummy and forearms with the beetle right below his nose and leaned down as close as he could to "hug" it. It was so sweet. Here are a series of pictures of him chasing and capturing one:

It has been hot the last couple days. It got up to 92 degrees yesterday. I finally had to turn on the AC for a bit last night.

There has been two recent nights that Cedric actually declined nursing to go to sleep. He just wanted to lay on the couch with me for a while and then accepted when I offered to bring him to his crib where he fell sleep. He's getting big enough where I think it's more comfortable for him to fall sleep in the crib than in my arms, so he's been doing that frequently, though he often needs to cuddle for a while first. It's so satisfying to see him naturally weaning himself away from not only nursing but also the need to be in our arms to fall asleep.

Blog

2008-04-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

Tim's night schedule has been working out well for all of us. He comes home around 8am and goes to bed around noon or 1pm and sleeps till 8:30pm. It seems to make my days go by faster somehow and it's nice to sleep through the entire time he's gone (well, it's not a solid sleep with a toddler around of course :). It almost seems like we're seeing more of him. Definitely isn't as hard as I thought it was going to be.

Last night we went for dinner over at Tim's Aunt Kim and Uncle Danny's (Vassar Electric & Havillah Road Printing owners) house. We were invited over by Tim's cousin Rich and his wife Erika who are living there temporarily since their move from Kansas. Remember me mentioning them before? They are the parent's of Macy, the little girl I babysat a couple days a few weeks ago. They are such fun people! Erika and I always have things to talk about. We had a great time and got to meet another young couple with a 2-1/2-old son whom Cedric loved. They played so hard. :)

Cedric has been making friends with a first grade girl named Olivia who lives next door. They interact over the wooden fence. She often throws pine cones (which he loves :) or, even better, baggies of crackers over to him. She finally asked to come over today and spent an hour over here playing. They seemed to really enjoy each other despite the age difference. She's a nice girl.

We are planning to have a garage sale on Memorial Day weekend. The profits are going to be entirely saved toward our first adoption. We've got a good stash of things to sell already, and Mom and Dad have contributed a lot. I'm hoping to do some extensive advertising for it. This will be our first garage sale and I'm really looking forward to it, especially since it should significantly increase our adoption savings. :)

Isn't this an intriguing picture? So much symbolism.... All good? Some bad?... Simply intriguing.

Grampa

2008-04-21T09:50:00.000-07:00

Something that I’ve asked myself over this past year is if I could bring him back, would I? I’ve decided that, no, I wouldn’t. For my sake, yes, but not for his. Knowing what I know of Heaven, I would not wish him back.

I remember his memorial… there were so many people there. I kept hearing over and over that Grampa meant so much to them because he was so kind. He made them feel special. He cared. He really saw them and gave them his time and his complete attention. He cared about people and things that mattered to them just because they mattered to them. This is how he made me, too, feel always throughout my life.

Grampa’s cared for people. People and relationship were what was most important to him. Grampa’s entire life substantiated and demonstrated Christ’s promise that through His sanctifying power people can and do change.

I have learned from Grampa that people may forget what you did, people may forget what you said, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

People are what matter to the heart of God, and Grampa new that and lived it.

I want to be like Grampa by also learning and living out that highest of virtues which is love and compassion for people. Grampa, you are my inspiration.

When you are in the final days of your life, what will you want?...
Will you hug that college degree in the walnut frame?
Will you ask to be carried to the garage so you can sit in your car?
Will you find comfort in rereading your financial statement?
Of course not. What will matter then will be people.
If relationships will matter most then, shouldn't they matter most now?
-- Max Lucado

Tim as "Le Fou"

2008-04-20T16:45:00.000-07:00

Tim is going to be in another play! It’s going to be put on by the same group that did The Seussical in which he played a Wickersham Brother (monkey) back in 2005. This time it is going to be Beauty and the Beast, and Tim is going to be Le Fou who is the pathetic sidekick of Gaston, the story’s arrogant bad guy.

Tim went for auditions on Friday and read for a few different characters. I guess for a while they were talking about offering him the part of the Beast! Tim, however, made everyone nearly cry with laughter with his rendition of Le Fou (“the fool” in French, by the way :). Tim would have LOVED to play the part of the Beast (and would have done an absolutely awesome job!) but by Saturday, when he got called back, he had decided that the demands of being one of the major lead characters would not fit in with first being the husband of a pregnant wife and the father of a toddler and then a newborn (the play is going to be performed in October so the rehearsals will go right through late pregnancy and baby’s arrival), not to mention a full time job, so he went prepared to turn them down if they indeed offered him the Beast. They ended up offering him the role Le Fou, and he’s thrilled about it. Le Fou has his own song!

Here’s a picture of Le Fou and Gaston:

We are going to have to get the movie because it has been years since I've seen it. Tim used to watch it frequently with his niece when he lived with his parents and has some of the songs memorized, so his heart is really in this play. :) When the times comes closer, I'll keep you all informed on performance dates if anyone is interested in coming over. I'm so looking forward to seeing him peform again. He loves it and is so talented!

Things that have been going on lately....

2008-04-08T08:54:00.000-07:00

The 2nd was Tim's and my 3rd anniversary. It's crazy to think that we've been together for more than 6 years now. It doesn't seem that long.

To celebrate we went out to dinner this last Sunday night at Diamond's Steakhouse in Osoyoos, BC. It's my favorite restaurant by far and the nicest one I've ever been to besides Benihana's (at least that I can remember). Very gourmet and expensive. :) I had the chicken peppercorn (a tradition since we ate there the night Tim proposed) and Tim had a 10 oz. filet mignon steak. Delicious and so romantic. Tim had bought me a dress to wear, which looked great. It fell just below the knee and tied right above my growing belly, showing it off nicely. It was sleeveless with a black and white floral pattern. I wish we had gotten a picture of us together! Tim dressed to match so I thought we looked pretty spiffy. :) Afterwards we went to Dairy Queen for dessert. That's another tradition whenever we eat at Diamonds since the night Tim proposed. :) It was a fun evening.

Thank you again to Mom for watching Cedric! :X

I have been pretty nauseous the last few days, which has been corresponding with an increase in feeling the baby move and kick. Something hormonal is going on. My stretching belly is starting to itch too. :)

Cedric is nearly weaning himself. I was kind of expecting this drop in nursing frequency because of the switch to colostrum. I guess toddlers often don't like the taste so pull back drastically from nursing while their mama is pregnant. It's not unheard of for the toddler to stop nursing altogether but then to start back up again after the real milk comes in once more after the new baby arrives. Cedric can go all day now without nursing but still requests "nani" a couple times a night. His new favorite drink is apple juice (watered down, but he doesn't know that :). He can say "apple juice" so well! One of his several newly acquired double words. :)

A thought for the day:

Update

2008-04-05T09:07:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday we had Tim's cousin, Rich Vassar (Tim's Best Man), and his wife, Erika, and baby girl, Macy (8 months), over for a BBQ. They have just recently moved back into the area from Kansas. It was really good to see them. I had met Erika only once before so it was nice to get to know her better. They are both really fun and relaxed people to hang with. I'm excited to have another couple to get together with!

Erika works a couple days a week down at Havillah Road Printing and her daycare wasn't going to be able to babysit this last week, so she had asked if I would be willing. I thought it would be a good opportunity so we planned on it. It was good to have them over beforehand so that mom and baby could see where Macy would be spending 2 days.

Here are a couple pictures of Cedric and Macy together. Cedric did really well with her and enjoyed giving her hugs and kisses and showing her his toys.

This first picture is a late afternoon "nap time" in front of a classic Looney Toons DVD. They were both very tired and getting cranky.

Cedric is waving to Macy in this picture. She was such an easy baby to watch. Very quiet and sweet.

And here's a better picture of her. She and Cedric do have a similar "Vassar" look. :) We all thought they had the same big, round head.

Here's a pic of Tim and Cedric taking a much-needed nap the next day. Tim just got home from his overnight shift.

Oh, and this was so cute today! Tim was working with Hemi, teaching him to sit and "dance" and the like. Well, Cedric did better than Hemi half the time and sat every time Tim told Hemi to "sit". It was adorable! We had to have them show off for the camera. Note: They are not both getting doggy treats. :)

Our first ultrasound

2008-03-31T18:59:00.000-07:00

We had our first ultrasound today. We're almost 19 weeks along; almost halfway! It was so sweet to see this baby. With Cedric, I don't think I fully comprehended everything this early in the pregnancy. This time I am a lot more emotional seeing the baby and having these pictures to cherish. I am so thankful to see that the baby is doing well and developing normally as far as we can tell. This first 3D pictures is my favorite:

Week after Easter

2008-03-28T16:25:00.000-07:00

I started feeling the baby kick the day after Easter. :) Not much yet, but definitely feeling it. This one is sitting differently in my tummy than Cedric was. Cedric's heartbeat was always very easy to find and very loud, but this one is quiet and takes the doctor a while to find it. I love noticing the differences between this child and Cedric.

Cedric and I caught that cold going around. Cedric has only had 1 bad night and is pretty much over it, but I'm still suffering from stuffy nose, sore throat, and headache. My nausea is much worse as well. Colds just don't go well with my bout of morning sickness. 8-/

Last night we went out to dinner with Aaron and Leann (our friends and youth pastor at church) at Hometown Pizza in Oroville. It was a lot of fun. I was feeling a lot better than I expected to, but on our way home I started to get nauseous. By the time we got home, I went straight from the car to the toilet and threw up all my delicious (well, formerly delicious :) dinner. At least I don't have to worry about the calories from the cheesecake slice Leann and I shared. :)

After we got Cedric in bed, Aaron came over to watch I Am Legend with Tim. Leann didn't want to see it, and I was planning on going to bed on time anyway, but I ended staying up and watching it with the guys. It's a good movie though they could have done so much more with it! Fun to fill in the blanks though.

Tim's first day at his new position starts tonight at 10pm. He's trying to sleep right now (4:30) and I think he's succeeding. He's looking forward to starting and knows all his co-workers already. Well, he basically knows everybody who works at Wal-Mart. I'm glad that this job change won't be as stressful as job changes usually are when switching to a whole new environment.

I am so excited for Josh and Amber and the new little one on the way! What a wonderful surprise! Surprises are so great. :D It's so neat to think that all 3 junior "Hollenbeck" families are having babies this year. Holy smokes!

Here is a series of pictures I took of Cedric the other day. You can see remnants of a nasty "bonk" he got on his forhead last week.

Cedric is officially attached to "baby". She must sleep in the crib with him, ride in the car, and cuddle under his arm while he nurses. It's rather cute he's chosen a baby doll, and in pink at that. "Baby" may need stay in the car when we go in public as he gets older. :)

Cedric has a little corner of the yard for a dirt pit. Here's a view of it from the front porch. See him back there behind the shed?

He digs with his little shovel filling up his Tonka truck, plays with his matchbox cars, and sits in the dirt for hours. I am so thankful that we have this space for him. He looks so happy when he's dirty. :)

Tim's new position

2008-03-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

Next Friday Tim is going to be switching departments at Wal-Mart. He has tried many times to transfer out of Produce, even being willing to transfer to a lower level, but at one point he was straight up told that he would not be allowed to transfer because he was too valuable in Produce. Finally, however, he was offerred an overnight position (10pm - 7am, same days off) on the GM (general merchandise) side of the store. He'll be unloading trucks and stocking shelves, which is very similar to what he did at Target (a job that he really enjoyed). He won't be getting a large raise, but it is a raise. That combined with less stress (besides the deli, Produce has the next highest expectations and pressures due to the perishables); fewer "bosses"; getting out of the produce rut, which means he will likely be able to transfer to departments and shifts that he prefers much easier; and just changing scenery, I think will make the night shifts worth it.

Tim is still going to be looking for another job in Spokane or here and plans to stick with night shifts for no longer than 6 months. I am a bit nervous about the changes this will bring to our schedules, but Cedric and I are really pretty flexible. A change needed to be made for Tim's sake, and therefore I'm sure it will benefit the rest of us as well. It's just never fun making changes at first. :)

We had a water scare last week. I had thought I noticed the tap water was a bit yellow/brown but wasn't sure if it was just my eyes, so I had Tim bring home a bottle purified water to compare it with and our tap water was indeed not right. I kept a couple samples and at one point it was so murky that by the next day the sludge had settled on the bottom of the cup. It thoroughly freaked me out. I still don't know if it was just good clean dirt or if there were any toxins in it. I left a message with the landlord but they have not returned our call. Luckily the water has been clear since those 2 days, but I refuse to drink it straight again so we now have a brand new Brita water pitcher. Both Tim and I can really taste the difference in flavor. I just really hope that murky water was not harmful.

My birthday day randomness

2008-03-18T14:42:00.000-07:00

The other night Cedric had the best night he's ever had. He slept 10 hour straight before nursing and then fell asleep again to sleep 45 minutes beyond his normal rising time. And I slept well too. It was heavenly. I think he was extra tired from playing hard at Papa and Nammy's house the 3 days and 2 nights before. :)

We had Hemi neutered yesterday. Tim is picking him up this afternoon. We had noticed that Hemi had weird teeth, apparently having 2 fangs instead 1 at each of the 4 points. The vet noticed and said that it was a bad case of his baby teeth not falling and and his adult teeth coming through anyway. I guess THAT could explain why his breath smells so bad despite our best efforts. Double the tartar and yucky stuff, so we had them also remove his extra baby teeth. I really hope that helps the bad breath. Poor Hemi must be so sore today!

The neighbor-dog drama has petered out. We did need to call Brenna, the landlord, again several days later because there were 3 new piles of poo on our back patio and porch. We never see the dog out, so thought perhaps they were letting him out early in the morning, which doesn't bother us because we're never out that early, but they DO need to clean up his poo. Anyway, Brenna said that they claimed that ever since the first phone call from her that they have been walking him on a leash in the alley to go to the bathroom. They and Brenna thought perhaps it was a cat.... Quite a odd cat to choose to poo on cement and lumber as opposed to the many gardens just feet away.... but anyway, we talked about using my BB gun on the psychotic cat if we ever cought it in the act. :) Luckily, since that day there hasn't been any more poo. So either it was indeed Rowdy, the neighbor dog, or the cat heard the BB gun talk and decided to move along somewhere else. :) No pun intended.

Baby Names

2008-03-14T13:52:00.001-07:00

To help in your name-choosing decision, here are the meanings of the names or at least as close as I could come with similar names.

The boy's middle name will be Dean, which means "Valley" or 'Presiding official'.

Corbin - 'Raven'
Elijah - 'Priceless friend'
Banner - 'God's soldier'
Willam - 'Resolute protector' [That's not a typo, it's 'Willam' not 'William' :)]

Here are the girls names:

Chelan Lael - 'Deep Waters' and 'of God'. [Lael is pronounced lay-EL]
Calisi Kaye - 'Most beautiful' and 'Rejoice'. [Calisi is pronounced khal-EE-see]
Jaili Carolin - 'Bird of light' and 'Joy'. [Jaili is pronounced JAY-lee]

Mid March Update

2008-03-12T09:59:00.000-07:00

We cut Cedric's hair for the first time last week. I kept a lock for his baby book, of course. :) It took Tim about 2 hours of coaxing before Cedric allowed us to use the hair clippers on him. When he was ready, he sat on my lap and played with some Q-tips and didn't squirm or fuss at all while Daddy buzzed it all off. Here are the before-and-after pictures:

Here is another picture of Kadin sharing his cake and ice cream with Cedric this last weekend. Kadin is such a patient and loving oldest cousin.

The next two videos are of Papa wrestling with the boys. They both had such cute moments in them that I had to share them both. :)

Drama update

2008-03-06T08:19:00.000-08:00

Well, after seeking advice from Mom, we decided to go ahead and contact the landlord lastnight and to not go over to the neighbor's again without the landlord or police as witnesses since the daughter is obviously into making up stories. Brenna (our landlord) was very nice when I called her and said that she'd call them right away and seemed to empathize, agreeing that we shouldn't have to put up with that from the dog and that it was "bull****". Brenna doesn't usually swear so I think she's onboard. Once off the phone we prayed again, especially about what story Brenna was likely to hear when she called them. I think I'll call her tonight to make sure she got a hold of them and if it's safe for us to go play in the communal backyard again. Luckily, Brenna said that the daughter and son-in-law (and dog) are supposed to move out April 1st. So we shouldn't have to be worrying about this all summer.

Drama

2008-03-05T17:18:00.000-08:00

I had an interesting episode with our neighbor on the far end. It's a really nice elderly lady who has her daughter and son-in-law from Texas living with her. The daughter is not so nice as I found out today. She has a Pomeranian dog named "Rowdy" (approprately names) who loves to bark. They let him run free almost every day in the big shared back yard. Anyway, last week the weather was warm enough for Cedric and I to play in our private yard, and Rowdy had taken to barking at us through the fence. Oh yeah, and we also realized he had been pooping on our back patio all winter but that's another story. Anyway, the barking was upsetting Cedric, sometimes making him cry, not to mention totally disrupting the peace and scaring all the birds away. I had tried yelling at the dog and even carefully (so as not to hit him) throwing sticks at him but the dog would hardly flinch. So one afternoon I noticed that their back door was open so I walked over to let them know there was a problem. The dog was barking at me the whole way over and the whole time I was talking to the older lady. She was really nice though.. So was I. I just let her know what was happening and if they could keep him on this side of the yard if he's going to bark. So I tried walking back home but the dog kept rushing me every time I turned my back. It was totally freaking me out! The dog was being very aggressive but the lady (Linda) kept telling me that "he won't bite you!" Yeah right. Prove it. There's always a first time. I finally inch my way back to my door. And that's that until today.

Same thing happened. We were playing in our private yard and the dog came barking. Tim was home this time but I went ahead and trucked over there myself with the dog barking all the way. Linda wasn't home this time so the daughter met me at the door. She had heard us coming because the back door was open. Well, I explained to her what the dog has a habit of doing and that it makes my 18-month-old cry. I asked if they'd thought of getting something like a baby-gate fence thing to put the dog in when he's out going potty, and she explained that the landlord said that the dog could run free in the yard. I said that I understand and that I really wouldn't mind the dog running free if the dog was friendlier and didn't bark at us but that Cedric and I come out to play in the communal backyard every day in the summer and that it was not okay for the dog to be free while we're out there. She did not concede or agree or apologize. I was really proud of myself because I wasn't even flustered when I spoke with her and, of course, I always try to be polite and diplomatic. So anyway, I tried walking back home and the dog kept rushing me again so I stopped and told her with a laugh that I'm just going to wait here until you come and get him. After a minute of standing there she finally admits that if she comes out there the dog is going to run from her. So she can't control her aggressive dog. That reason alone says that the dog should not be running free. She assures me again that he has never bitten anybody even when he's barking at them like this. Well, since she can't come and get him, I venture to turn my back. The dog barks, rushes and jumps at me. About half way back to my door he rushes, barking, within 6 inches of my heals and I've had enough so I turn around and kick at him, yelling and scowling. He immediately backed off about 2 feet and stayed at that distance, though still barking relentlessly, until I was safely in my back door.

Now the funny part. About an hour later, I was sitting in my car in the parking lot trying to do devotions. My window was open and apparently she didn't know I was in there. Linda comes home and while the door to the house is still open the daughter starts loudly telling the "story" of what happened. I didn't get to hear all of it, but of what I did hear apparently, I came raging over "pounding on the back door" (remember, the back door was open and she met me there, I never touched her door). She told Linda that I said Cedric was crying (which of course was true) but that he was actually laughing and squealing (how would she know when she couldn't even tell her dog was barking at us?). She ranted about how "I was like, oh my gosh, your son is behind a fence!" (As if that makes it okay for your dog to bark at him endlessly.) I think she conveniently left out the important point I made that we play every day in the back communal yard when the weather is nice. It faded at that point until she loudly accused me of having "kicked the crap out of my dog!!!" *sigh* I kicked at her dog, yes. Made contact? NO, though the dog would have deserved it completely. So according to the gal I'm an animal-abusing bitch.

Oh, goodness, I just hope that Linda knows that her daughter lies and exagerates and takes the story with a grain of salt. If this happens again when Tim is home, he's going over and including the fact that we're going to be talking with our landlord. If he's not home.... *sigh* I guess I'll have to go be a "bitch" again. I'm really tempted to take my broom with me next time and warning her that unless she gets her dog in the house, I might just hit him on my way back to my door. *sigh* I didn't ask for this, and I was extremely nice about it! We just can not be harassed in our own yard or communal backyard by a dog who's owner admittedly can not control him. If she won't control her dog, I will. Cedric and I were out in the communal backyard today for an hour and a half. I'm really concerned that they might not notice us out there next time and let the dog out. That will really piss me off. Don't mess with the mother-bear, things are liable to get ugly. :)

Pictures

2008-03-01T16:20:00.000-08:00

I have been feeling much better this past week. I really hope that my severe morning sickness is at an end. I have finally been able to eat again.

Here are some random pictures that have been taken over the last couple months. I don't have any more of my tummy. Those will come later, I promise. :)

I thought this was cute. Cedric trying to squeeze into a tiny box.

This is a picture of Tim with all his brothers at a wedding the end of January.

Daddy showing Cedric how to strum.

He looks so serious. :)

Cedric pushing his baby doll in a stroller.

Hugging "baby" doll.

Cedric finally fell asleep for a nap when Daddy set him up with a cartoon.

This is a video of Cedric playing in the yard with "Baby" and Hemi.

I like this one. He's dancing and then at the end he realizes he has to go potty so runs for the bathroom. He almost made it to the toilet! :)

8-)

2008-02-19T09:16:00.001-08:00

I am feeling good enough this morning to write a short blog. It has been way too long. These past 3 weeks have been a blur. I can't believe February is almost over. I pretty much missed it all. This nasty cold/flu is definitely on it's way out. Today is my 9th day with it. Cedric and I had a stomach diarrhea thing for at least 10 days before that began. My nausea is doing well today. Mornings are always the best. Cedric is doing very well. Still has a bit of a cough but his diarrhea is going away and he's been sleeping well at night finally. Tim is doing really well too. He was able to go back to work after his 4th day with this cold/flu. He still has a good cough but he has energy. He has done an amazing amount of work caring for Cedric and I during this time. I have been pretty useless. Now if my morning sickness would just go away for good. I've lost 2 pounds since I've been pregnant. I'm not sure how much I lost over this past month but I think it was a fair amount because I thought I had actually gained too much weight already. I hope things even out now. I haven't been able to keep down my prenatal vitamins or any other supplements besides the vitamin B6, which sure hasn't helped with the duration of this cold/flu. Yesterday and today I have been able to take some vitamin C though and my intestines have calmed down enough that I've been able to start eating fruit again. Maybe things will start getting better. I have started taking acidophilus as well because I think my digestive tract flora was pretty much shot after vomiting and diarrhea for so long. That should help too. I've been able to keep down enough water these past 5 days as well which has brought my milk supply up to normal again. What a relief. That was not good timing with the worst of Cedric's cold/flu. Man, what a month this has been.

Long time no blog

2008-02-06T09:10:00.000-08:00

It has been so long since I've blogged because I've just not been feeling up to sitting at the computer. It seems to increase my nausea a bit; not only sitting at the computer but also trying to think of what to say. :)

Things are going well with us. Cedric and I have been slowly getting over a stomach virus these past 8 days. For Cedric it has just been diarrhea, but for me it has been causing me to vomit most evenings and nights. Ugh.

I've been spending most of this last week lying on the couch listening to book 3 (A Storm of Swords) of the A Song of Ice and Fire series. It's a really good fantasy story for adults. There are some "fast-forward parts" (if you know what I mean) so I wouldn't recommend it for the younger crowd.

I really like this prolife picture.

My first prenatal appointment

2008-01-10T19:56:00.000-08:00

My first prenatal appointment went really well today. The doctor said my due date is August 30, as opposed to August 28 like most of the internet sites say. At least I'm still due at the "end of August." :)

We spent a lot of the time visiting. I really do like her as a person and a doctor. We talked about midwives, and she said that she would really like to do that someday. She has talked to the midwife I've heard of in the area, and she said she believes that she is a good one because they've never had any emergencies with her clients. She commented that it's a good midwife if the hospital doesn't know much about her. :)

I think if we are still in the area when the baby comes, that I will stay with Dr. Bolz. The reason is she said that we'll make it as close to a homebirth as possible. She'll give me her cell phone #, and I can call her when I feel like pushing and she'll meet us at the hospital. She only lives a couple blocks away and we're within 5 minutes of the hospital. She even offered to stop by to check in on us while we're laboring at home. Then she said that since I'm not a new mom that she wouldn't mind if we leave the hospital whenever we want, even within a couple hours a birth. Yes! This is exactly what I want! Besides a full homebirth, that is. :) But at least I already know Dr. Bolz and she knows me. Plus it'll put Tim's mind at ease and we wouldn't have to worry about insurance.

Sunday

2008-01-06T19:05:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling crappy tonight. I feel like I just want to cuddle up into a mountain of blankets and zone out watching a movie. I get so tired. For some reason I don't remember being sooo tired with Cedric.

Tim spent a couple hours this afternoon with Cory Hailey. He went over to his house watched some football. It had been a while since they'd gotten together. It sounded like they had a pleasant time, even though Tim doesn't particularly like watching football. :)

Right after church today we went out to lunch with Mom and Dad at Whistlers. It was so nice. Cedric usually does well at restaurants.

Cedric has been sleeping a lot lately and has been preferring me over Tim. Usually he does just as well with Tim unless he wants to nurse. I wonder what's going on with him.

Here's a pic for Tim and Josh and Michael. The sword reminds of the sword of the Spirit. Makes me thing of the offering and ministry of worship.

Saturday

2008-01-05T20:48:00.000-08:00

Tim is working 1 to 10pm today, and I spent several hours this afternoon up at Mom and Dad's house. I usually stay until Cedric's bedtime, 8pm, so that he'll fall asleep on the way, but the weather has been weird lately with melting and then freezing so Tim preferred that we make our way home in daylight. Thus we left for home around 4pm. It was good to see Mom and Dad. Dad even made an early dinner for us of roast, potatoes and carrots and onions, and gravy. It hit the spot. I always enjoy spending a Saturday up there. Man, so does Cedric. :) He was talking the whole time. We spent some time at the table visiting, and Cedric kept asking to pray. He liked to get up on an adult-sized chair and sit on the edge like a big boy and then he would grab his hands together, bow his head, though still looking at us, and say "pay, pay, pay." Well we said more than a few extra prayers this afternoon, that's for sure. :)

I am off to bed now though. I didn't get a nap today, and I am pretty pooped.

I have a fair collection of cool pictures I've found over the last couple years, and I thought I'd start sharing them one by one here on my blog. So here is another. It's a thought provoker. The artist could have intended several different messages. What do you think?

Friday

2008-01-04T15:00:00.000-08:00

It was so cute, or rather funny, the other day. I had just finished laundry and had my folded laundry in a bin waiting to be put away in the bedroom. Well, after a while Cedric came out with 3 pairs of my colorful thong panties and a bra strung around his neck. What a picture that would have made! I couldn't get myself to take that mean of a blackmail picture though. It could have been used against me too, anyway. LOL :D

Cedric doesn't get to watch TV very often, but Tim has been watching White Christmas at least several evenings a week and Cedric has been joining him. I am feeling lazy this afternoon so when Cedric asked for "dance, dance" and pointed to the DVD case, I set him up with the movie. He sure has been dancing a lot more since watching that thing. :)

We are discovering that both Tim and I really enjoy old musicals. We'll have to slowly build a collection.

Here is a picture that I found that I really like. It's meant to be a nativity picture but it reminded me of me. So it's extra special. :)

Couple favorite pictures

2008-01-03T10:50:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Cedric taken over the last month:

Oooooo! His Christmas Tonka Truck.

Trying on Daddy's new suit jacket. :)

This is his "Evil Baby Einstein" impression.

I have not been feeling well today. Nauseous and a headache. I am so thankful that I am not working this time. I can actually sit down and zone-out for a while if I need to. And I can bundle up as much as I want to stay warm! Much more comfortable this time around. :)

New Years Eve

2007-12-31T20:57:00.000-08:00

I am home with Cedric tonight, and Tim is at Pete's house (a late 30s, co-leader with Tim at the youth group) and his family, Aaron (youth pastor), and who knows who else to celebrate New Years. It didn't bother me at all staying home this year. Due to the circumstances, I'd rather sleep anyway, no matter how much fun it would have been to go. :)

Today I had my first brush with morning sickness. Of course it wasn't sickness in the morning. I felt queasy throughout the day, and tonight I was making sirloin steak for a special dinner, but it just did not sound good. Steak rarely sounded good when I was pregnant with Cedric either. Other times, though, I always love steak! So it begins. I have a much better attitude about it this time, and thank God I am not working full time in a cold working environment. For the record, being nauseous and cold at the same time for long periods of time is the worst.

Tim got me a treadmill for Christmas! I have been wanting one for a long time, and now I can stay in great shape for this pregnancy. Because I was working full time during the last pregnancy, I rarely felt up to working out when I got home. Since my current occupation is not as physically intense as working at Havillah Road or an espresso stand was, I plan to be in good shape throughout this pregnancy. I gained 70 pounds with Cedric, and I am determined not to do that again!

Well, I'm off to read a good book and be asleep by midnight. :) Now if those darned fireworks will not wake Cedric up everything will be just dandy.

Bear with me

2007-12-29T10:24:00.000-08:00

I am enjoying being pregnant again. That is probably because I have not hit the morning-sickness stage yet. :) I had much more cramping during implantation than I did with Cedric. No spotting though. I will soon need to switch to maternity pants as I already need to unbutton my pants when I sit for long periods of time. I am enjoying noticing all the differences between this pregnancy and Cedric's. I just can't wait to know this little one personally. What fun it's uniqueness will be!

I am going to do what I can to have a homebirth, but that depends on insurances, Tim's comfort levels, an uncomplicated pregnancy, and if I can find a midwife I like in this sparsley-populated area.

If I must have another hospital birth, I have a list of things I would like to be different. For one, I will insist on using the commode in the delivery room when the contractions get stong rather than waddling 30 feet through the hall (hoping you won't have a knee-weakening contraction on the way) to get to a bathroom with a toilet that has rails on either side so close together that you must put your knees together to even get your bum on the toilet. Yes, sitting with your knees together is a great way to start a very painful contraction(s). 8-/ I will also refuse to go another 18 hours after delivery before taking a shower. What a lovely, quaint hospital that offers you no shower (not even a sponge bath) and expects you to sit waiting for 2 extra hours while people get off lunch to sign discharge papers. It may freak them out, but I am going to leave with or without their discharge papers when we've gotten a clean bill of health. I'll sign a waver if it'll make them feel better.

This may be TMI (too much info), but another reason that I do not trust this hospital and staff is because after Cedric was born, the doctor told me to have a nurse with me the first time I used the bathroom after giving birth, probably because I was light-headed. Well, when I called a nurse, she acted confused and not sure why she should be there. I had dripped several drops of blood on the bathroom floor and toilet seat in the process of getting on and off the toilet. The nurse saw and I assumed she would clean it up because that's her job and I was light-headed and weak. Well, the next time I went to use the bathroom, the floor and seat were still messy. What's really disgusting and scary is that we were sharing the bathroom with the lady next door! Thank goodness I don't think she had used it yet! 8-o This hospital has been known for a large share of staph infections, and I'm not surprised with those kinds of health hazards going on. I'm thinking that this hospital is not an ideal place for a newborn.

I am much more inclined to trust a licensed midwife to deal with emergencies during delivery than my doctor because my doctor is a Family Practioner (there is only 1 OB/GYN this side of Wenatchee). She deals with everything from ulcers, asthma, eczema, ear infections, arthritis, parasites, and newborns to the oldest aged. There is no way, unless perhaps she is a genious (though I didn't get that feeling about her), that she could do all that and also know all she needs to know about delivering babies. I think this is perhaps why the Okanogan County has one of the highest c-section rates in the PNW. The doctors don't know what to do with complicated deliveries so they quickly opt for c-sections. There is so much you can do to help a complicated delivery along, but these overworked doctors don't have the time or mental space to learn these techniques. Perhaps if I need to have another hospital birth, I will at least find an experienced doula. They know a lot of these techniques and could mediate between us and the nurses.

It's rather annoying also how you spend 9 months developing a relationship with your doctor but you only see her for delivery. Throughout all those other hours, you are checked up on by a strange nurse who you've never met before, who doesn't know your philosophy, doesn't know what you know, doesn't know you from the neurotic kook she had to deal with last week. Another reason why I like the midwife idea.

Oh, man, there are just so many reasons I want to be at home to give birth. Home = Comfort, intimacy, rest, trust, a beautiful beginning. Hospital = Stress, defensiveness, bright and stiff, sleeplessness, dirty, inconvenient, still a beautiful beginning but one that could be so much sweeter!

Ok, enough ranting. Thanks for listening, I feel better now. :)

Chrismas Gift

2007-12-24T18:30:00.000-08:00

Guess what we got for Christmas this year? Here's a hint:

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We're pregnant!!!!!

Our due date is August 28, 2008. Just 2 weeks after Baby Nelson! :D How awesome is that?

New baby niece or nephew :)

2007-12-21T19:24:00.000-08:00

I am so excited about Holly being pregnant! I don't know if it has really hit me yet that my little sister is going to have a baby. I can't wait until Tim and Holly are here and I can hug them and pat her belly and watch it grow. :) I can't wait to hold this little baby in my arms... *sigh* A Nelson baby. It's just unspeakably wonderful. :)

Newsy stuff

2007-12-20T14:24:00.000-08:00

Two days ago it snowed all day and we got about 6 inches of wet snow. The best kind for snowmen and snowball fights. Today it is 37 degrees though so it is quickly melting. It's still got a ways to go though. Hopefully it'll be around for Christmas.

Just a half hour ago our neighbor, Gene (a nurse at the hospital), came over with 2 plates of hot Christmas cookies. They are delicious, and I found the gesture so sweet since he's a middle-aged bachelor. Not really the baking type you'd think. :)

It was so funny the other day.... I've given Hemi a bath while I was taking a shower before, it seems the easiest way and I don't end up needing a shower when I'm done. :) Well, I was taking a shower and Cedric and Hemi were hanging out in the bathroom with me, and Hemi jumps in the shower and works his way to the middle of the downpour and stays there, licking his lips and obviously enjoying himself. He eventually jumped out again, but only after he was completely soaked. It was so silly! I've never known a dog who likes the shower so much that he actually chooses to get in on his own accord.

I found the most delicious and natural/non-candle way to make the whole house smell like Christmas!

2 juicy oranges
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves

Quarter the oranges and place all ingredients in a saucepan and covered with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. When the water runs out, just add more. They say this mixture can last about 2 days. Enjoy!

1:15am

2007-12-15T01:14:00.000-08:00

Cedric has been up for the past hour and a half. He woke up pretty upset asking for Daddy and Hemi. He is in his crib right now playing. He just won't go back to sleep! I've tried all our tricks. Of course, I am very tired. I just hope that he sleeps in to make up for it. But then, that won't be good either because an early day and nap would work better for tomorrow's schedule since we're going shopping around lunch time. And we have so much shopping to do! Ah well. I just hope he can get through it alright without that nap. Well, he is staying surprisingly quiet in there. I wonder if he has put himself back to sleep. I think I'll wait a while longer though before I check on him. *sigh* My warm bed sounds so good right now.

Poem he likes

2007-12-11T20:04:00.000-08:00

Well, this is Lindy again. That was Tim with the last blog. I rarely get in that goofy of a mood. :)

Here is a poem that Cedric really seems to like. He usually sticks with a poem for only about 4 lines and then is ready to turn the page, but he'll sit through this one every time and will often ask to have it read "'gain" and "'gain." :)

Windy Nights
by Robert Louis Stevenson

Whenever the moon and stars are set,
Whenever the wind is high,
All night long in the dark and wet,
A man goes riding by.
Late in the night when the fires are out,
Why does he gallop and gallop about?

Whenever the trees are crying aloud,
And ships are tossed at sea,
By, on the highway, low and loud,
By at the gallop goes he.
By at the gallop he goes, and then
By he comes back at the gallop again.

Alone with Cedric

2007-12-10T17:27:00.000-08:00

Well it was a good day today. Cedric and I had a lot of fun. We did a bunch of manly things, like mining for green ore, defied the law of gravity, assaulted the Ozone with methain, and even explored the deep lakes in the bathroom. We also trudged through the waste lands of the kitchen trash can. :) After that we travle to far off fields of Chocolate, in the city Chi, of the land Tea. Then we dropped off a movie we rented last night.

No one was hurt. :) At least that I am aware of. I would have pictures, but I don't do pictures. I love Cedric, and today I had him all to myself. :) Don't get use to me righting though. I just can't take the time to time the amount of time it would take to time the amount of time to time myself timing to write enough times to make my time worth time.

Stuff

2007-12-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

I am at work right now. It’s been slow for the past half hour, though this morning was pretty busy. Nothing I couldn’t handle on my own though.

Well our snow is still gone for the most part. It has been very cold and windy these last few days. It’s too cold to play outside for longer than 10 minutes at a time.

We have been keeping Cedric’s car seat turned around facing backward even though he’s over 1 year old. We were thinking of waiting until he was the 30 pounds allowed by the car seat, but since we’ve discovered that even Kadin is only 9 pounds beyond that, we’ll turn Cedric around in January. By then he’ll be 18 months. Goodness, he could be 3 years old before he’s 30 pounds! : P It’ll be nice to have him turned around. He’ll seem such a big boy then. : )

Tim and I are just not really Christmas people, at least the last several years. I used to be when I was a kid, but since then the Christmas spirit hasn’t been coming naturally. I will make myself decorate though, for the sake of tradition which nurtures a sense of family. I feel it’s part of my job description as home-maker. A home needs Christmas, needs celebration, especially of Christ and love and family. I bet I’ll get more into Christmas when Cedric is old enough to get excited over it. Tim feels that way too. We were discussing the other night how we want to celebrate Christmas in our new family. It’s so meaningful and awe-inspiring to plan and build traditions that will so affect our children and grandchildren. The Christmas pebbles we drop in the pond will send ripples throughout their lives.

Where'd it go?

2007-12-04T09:28:00.000-08:00

Our 3+ inches of snow are pretty much gone already! That sure came and went fast for this area. It's supposed to snow again tomorrow, so I think I'll make the trip to Wal-Mart for shopping today while the roads are just wet. Boy, I'm so tired though. I've been getting over a bit of a flu. I've been nauseated for 3 days now and just extremely tired. Blah.

Short cute video

2007-12-03T21:16:00.000-08:00

Dad was getting a quick haircut on Sunday morning, and Tim wanted to help out. :) This was just too funny, I had to post it.

It's been a while!

2007-12-03T20:55:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving with Mom, Dad, Amber, Josh, Kadin, and Easton! The dinner was delicious and we had such a good time. It was so special to have a bunch of little ones to slow us down and make it hard to carry a conversation. : ) Forget about annoyance, it lasts for such a short amount of time, and their presence is absolutely something to thank God for. Last Thanksgiving, Cedric was only 4 months old, so this was really the first that he could participate in.

I also enjoyed having Amber, Kadin, and Easton up this week. I spent the afternoons up on the hill with them on Wednesday and Thursday, and then they came and spent the afternoon with me on Friday. Amber and I have been able to get a lot of visiting in, and I’ve had lots of fun playing and bonding with the boys.

Cedric did the most disgusting thing the other day. I was holding him on my hip while talking with Mom, and he picked his nose and reached over to put it in MY MOUTH! It totally took me by surprise! Where the heck did he get that idea?! That was my first truly shocking and disgusting "mother moment." : )

We now have our quarter beef safely in our chest freezer. It is so weird, I never expected it would effect me this way, but somehow it makes me feel like I truly have my own, complete household now. It’s a sense of permanence and provision. I am now a grown-up woman; I have a chest freezer full of home-grown beef. : )

When Cedric is full and done eating, he has taken to putting his food down the front of his shirt. This usually happens at dinner when he sits longer in the high chair than usual while Tim and I talk and eat. It’s so funny and cute, but I know we must get serious about putting our foots down about it. Oh, but I will remember and savor the cuteness of such acts because I know that it won’t be cute for long!

Here are some pictures of the boys playing in the snow at our house. : )

Healthy stuff ideas

2007-11-21T21:12:00.000-08:00

I've been immersing myself in all things "healthy" beginning in earnest when Cedric was born. I get so excited over it and find a lot of satisfaction in making those life changes one by one. Of course, that means I like to talk about it, too. :) I know it can be a boring, if not annoying, subject to some, but since this is my blog, it's probably one of the best places to talk all I want about it. :)

I wanted to share an easy recipe for a breakfast drink that Aunt Margaret gave me. I've begun making it daily for myself over the past few weeks. Fruit is mostly digested in the intestines, so it's best to eat fruit first thing in the morning when your stomach is empty so that there's nothing to impede it's journey straight through to where it can do the most good. Here's the recipe:

10 almonds
1 TB flax seeds
3 to 5 kinds of fruit
A bit of water

I guess soaking the almonds in water overnight in the frig is beneficial, also. I've also begun adding 2 TB of wheat germ. I'll soon be getting my order of brewer's yeast from Azure Standard, so will most likely begin adding some of that as well. I'll have to use another posting to list all of the benefits of wheat germ and brewer's yeast. Or you can look them up yourself. They're amazing! :)

I don't so much like eating fruit, so I find this is a great way to get all my fruit servings for the day taken care of first thing, which also just happens to be the healthiest time to eat fruit anyway. Very convenient and so easy!

I've recently learned and been impressed with the healing power of another "superfood": cod liver oil. Check out some of the benefits:

Improves brain function, memory, learning disorders.
Healthy nervous system.
Prevention and improvement of depression and other mood disorders, including bipolar syndrome and manic-depression.
Protective against childhood leukemia.
Improves stress response.
Improves immune response.
Allergies.
Asthma.
Healthy joints, strong bones and teeth.
Arthritis.
Preventing and reversing rickets in children.
Improvement of muscle pain and muscle strength.
Healthy skin, minimize wrinkles.
Improves heart function. Treats heart disease even in advanced stages.
Healthy lining for your digestive tract.
Stroke prevention.
Prevents infections.
Lowers childhood risk of juvenile type 1 diabetes and onset of adult diabetes.
Protective against cancer.

Cod liver oil and fish oil have very quality omega-3 fats and are high in vitamin A & D. It's recommended to take cod liver oil throughout the winter and begin taking regular fish oil in the summer if you get a lot of sun. This is because regular fish oil is lower in vitamin D than cod liver oil, and since the sun is another natural source of vitamin D, switching to fish oil in the high-sun exposure months will keep you from getting too much vitamin D. Be aware that wearing sunscreen blocks your absorption of vitamin D from the sun. If you always have to wear sunscreen, you should probably stick with cod liver oil all year.

I found a liquid orange-flavored cod liver oil at Wal-Mart that I give to Cedric. He get's a teaspoon a day and he loves it! Nevertheless, Tim and I stick with the caplets. :)

Ok, enough. It's getting late. Off to a shower and bed.

Various things

2007-11-21T20:40:00.000-08:00

I'm on the tail end of a cold. Luckily, Cedric has not caught it yet. Tim has it bad though. Colds usually hit me worse than him, but this time he's still in the thick of it while I'm coming out. Poor guy.

Tim has shaved his head again. He had let it grow out a bit because it was getting cold, but he decided that he just didn't like the look so he went back to skin. No more simple baseball caps though. He now wears only beanies to prevent brain freeze. :)

The other night Cedric was using his fork to eat broccoli. Every time he'd get a piece in his mouth, he'd set the fork down with a big smile and clap. He did it the whole dinner! Of course, we couldn't resist clapping along with him. :)

Oh, here's one more cute thing that Cedric did a while back: I was gathering stuff to go somewhere and mentioning that we were going to go bye-bye. Once Cedric had his jacket on, he found his set of keys (which are some of our old keys) and said "car". As we headed out to the parking lot, he chose 1 key on the ring and tried to unlock the car. I hadn't realized he knew that much!

Random thoughts and happenings

2007-11-15T17:30:00.000-08:00

Man, belly dancing is hard! Now, I’m good at patting my head and rubbing my tummy at the same time but try shaking your shoulders at a rate of about 2 beats per second while making your hips go in a big circle at a rate of about 1 every 2 seconds! Oh my goodness, I cannot describe how rediculous I look! I dare you to try it sometime. :P

I’ve finally gotten Tim hooked on going to espresso stands! He’s moved beyond flavored steamers and now loves chocolate Chai tea. Yay! : ) He is now much more likely to splurge when we’re running errands or just surprise me with a drink on his way home from work. It’s great.

Cedric realized yesterday that he had trucks on his shirt. Out of no where he was looking down at his shirt and saying “kuck, kuck”, which of course means “truck”. Here’s a couple pics of his discovery:

Oh! And on Tuesday he went potty in the toilet for the first time!!! Over the last five days or so he’ll grab his diaper and say something, and I’d ask him if he needed to go potty. That would send him off running to get his stool and he’d set it in front of the toilet. I’d take down his pants and just let him stand there for a couple minutes. Nothing ever happened until Tim was helping him on Tuesday night and he went! We were so proud. : ) I’m sure he’s a long way off from being potty trained but it’s a great start.

Tim must have a magic touch with Cedric because he was the one to teach Cedric to crawl, to walk, and now to go in the toilet. : ) I love it. Absolutely love it.

Here is Cedric playing in his first pile of leaves today:

I've been waiting for this day. Cedric can now sing! On our closet doors we have a poster of the Dukes of Hazzard's General Lee and also a poster of a guitar. Every morning Cedric must be picked up to see the posters, saying "caaarrr" (with a growly voice) and "daddy", pointing to both posters. Tim often plays his guitar at least a couple times a week for Cedric, and I commented this morning when Cedric was admiring the guitar poster about singing and dancing when Daddy plays. Well he started belting out "Doooh, dooooh, DOOOOHHH, whoa, wow, wooow, wob, dooohh, doooooooohhh!" He sang like that for a minute and has been doing the same off and on all day whenever we bring up singing. This is one of the sweetest landmarks to me. Yes, better than going potty in the toilet. It's the most precious thing.

Tuesday night

2007-11-13T10:10:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of the bump Cedric got the day before yesterday. He did well posing somberly to show it off. :) It's healing well and doesn't ever seem to bother him. He had had a scratch on his hand earlier in the week that is nearly healed now, and he still seems more concerned about that. He keeps asking for a band aide for it. Why do little kids always seem to be addicted to band aides?

As you can see, he is really doing just fine. :)

He's been teething this past week or two as well but that seems to bother him more at night.

I'm sorry if you get tired of hearing about Cedric, but he is what fills my day. He's the most entertaining part of the day really, he even rivals Tim in that department, and I figured you would be more interested in Cedric's antics than Tim's anyway. So you'll just have to bear with me. :)

It was so cute, I wish I had gotten a picture of it, but this late afternoon when I was changing Cedric's diaper, he brought a book with him up onto the changing table and looked through it while I changed his diaper. It was a big book (8.5 x 11) and paperback, so he had it resting on his tummy while he flipped through the pages calling all the cows (it was a book about flying cows) "horses". It was just such a cute thing.

I forgot to mention that when Tim came home from his weekend away, he brought me a bag of Starbucks decaf Sumatra coffee! That is my all time favorite kind of coffee and he found it in decaf for me. What a sweetie! Gave me those warm and fuzzy feelings. :)

Cedric is a good little helper when it comes to cleaning up after Hemi. Hemi does not like to stay out in the cold long enough to go #2, so he tends to go inside on the hardwood floor in Cedric's room. Luckily, somehow, Cedric knew from the beginning that those cute little logs were gross. Any time he finds a pile, he comes and tells me that he's found some, saying "bock", meaning "bocki", our word for poo/gross. If I'm distracted, he is insistent until I follow him and take a look and clean it up. I rather appreciate his help.

Blog with a video

2007-11-12T20:46:00.000-08:00

Do you remember that monster of a black widow that I had found on the outside of our front-door jam a while back? Well, yesterday I found what has been the 4th black widow outside our door. All of them have been huge. It is just so weird that those huge spiders who are supposed to like dark, quiet places choose to setup by a busy door that is always bright because of the porch light. It's just freaky. And nasty.

Yesterday, Cedric bonked his himself right above his right eye on Mom and Dad's coffee table. He hit hard enough that is split a little. Luckily, it didn't really bleed much, but it is swollen and a little blue today. I hope it doesn't turn into a black eye.

Tim had a really good time going to the Warm Beach Convention Center for a Christian highschool retreat. He and Aaron, our youth pastor, brought 5 boys. I guess it was a great 'guy' time. :) Tim really likes Aaron's approach to teaching. He is more about serious discipleship and not so much about numbers. As expected, since they've been here, the youth group has shrunk a bit but has brought out the seriously dedicated kids. They're able to go deeper and are passionate. Tim said that he likes the smaller youth group because he can get to know each kid individually. I think the leaders have to do a lot of crowd control in a really big youth group and are not able to really forge influential relationships. There is a place for those youth groups that strive to at least get the kids off the street and into a safe, positive environment, but I think the higher expectation-approach is the right thing for our church at this time.

Most days when Tim comes home from work I show Cedric how to take his daddy's shoes off, and then Cedric picks up the shoes and puts them in the closet. We didn't even have to coax him into doing it, he just watched me do it a couple times and then hopped right to it himself. It's so precious and a tradition I think we'll keep going until he outgrows it. :)

Heater problems

2007-11-08T20:17:00.000-08:00

Our heater has been having trouble since last winter. We had to manually control the temperature by turning off the heater when it got too hot and turning it on when it was too cold. The thermostat never kept an even room temperature. This did a number on our power bill, as you can imagine (no pun intended :). Well, our landlord finally came out to look at it and replaced it while he was here and it seemed to click on and off at the correct place so we hoped it was fixed. Well, a half hour after he left we realized that the heater was not on even though the thermostat had clicked on. Tim fiddled around with it to no avail. So we don't have a heater in the living room anymore and that's our main heater! :( We have another message into the landlord so hopefully they are able to come out again right away. We aren't freezing though because we've got heaters in the bedrooms and a small spaceheater to use out here. It's just frustrating, especially when it's messing with our power bill.

Silly

2007-11-07T18:52:00.000-08:00

Today Cedric came up to me with a concerned look, making his "I'm stuck" sound, and holding a carboard book. He was holding it closed with his left hand and had his right thumb stuck between the pages. It's precious how much he doesn't know about this world. :)

Pics and their stories

2007-11-06T13:39:00.000-08:00

Last night Cedric wanted to try on our headphones, not for the first time, but he got a kick out of it, and I like the pictures. :)

Cedric found a new, hidden (though I can see it from the kitchen sink window) place to play in our front yard. It's behind this pine tree that is planted up close to a corner in the fence. It's a neat place for him to crawl around. He likes to play with the needles. He'll stay back there for a good long time.

Earlier this weak Cedric and I were playing around and we put these rings on his ears. He had fun showing his daddy when he got home. :P

Tim and I are listening to the audio book of "Eragon". The movie got us interested, though I must say that the book is waayyy better than the movie. I can't stand the voice they chose for the dragon, Saphira. It's way too wimpy for a dragon, unless, say, it's name is Puff the Magic Dragon. We are really enjoying the book! I would definitely recommend it to all you Lord of the Rings and fantasy fans. "Eragon" is book 1 in the Inheritence Trilogy. "Eldest" is the 2nd, and book 3 is soon to come out. Did you know that it's written by a 24-year-old in Alaska? http://www.alagaesia.com/

Lately, whenever Cedric bumps his head on something he'll announce it by patting his head and saying "bonk" over and over until you comment on it. And sometimes he goes and bumps his head against whatever he had originally ran into to show us what happened. It's so adorable. :)

Boring day

2007-11-02T19:59:00.000-07:00

Today was an especially long and boring day for some reason. We took a walk today but since it's been down in the 30's all week, we had to pile on the layers. No snow yet, though. I'm glad for that.

I baked the pumpkin seeds today after soaking them in salt water for a couple days. I split the batch in half and seasoned one batch with Tapatio (hot sauce) and the other with Worchestershire sauce. They both turned out well I think. Tim likes the spicy ones, of course. :)

Don't laugh, but I got myself a belly dancing workout DVD. :) Of course, I'm not going to watch it when Tim is home, but it's really fun! Man, it's hard though. So beautiful and so feminine.... I love anything Middle Eastern anyway, so this is perfect.

There are these whole wheat crackers that Cedric enjoys snacking on, and I found him with the whole box today. :) Notice Hemi in the lower left waiting for crumbs:

We usually have to keep the books up because Cedric can be tough on them, but often times when they are down, I'll find him sitting and looking through them, just like this:

He really enjoys being read to. When he says "book", it sounds like "buck". Very cute. :)

Happy cross-quarter day!

2007-10-31T20:26:00.000-07:00

Explanation: "Halloween's origin is ancient and astronomical. Since the fifth century BC, Halloween has been celebrated as a cross-quarter day, a day halfway between an equinox (equal day / equal night) and a solstice (minimum day / maximum night in the northern hemisphere). With our modern calendar, however, the real cross-quarter day will occur next week. Another cross-quarter day is Groundhog's Day."

I got that little bit of trivia from a site that gives a different astronomical picture and explanation every day (Astronomy Picture of the Day). It's awesome! You should really check it out. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html I check it every day along with all the blogs. :)

Well, we have only had 1 trick-or-treater tonight and it was Cory Hailey and his step-daughter, Jadin. :) It was good to see them. I am disappointed though that the pumpkins didn't advertise sufficiently that we were open for trick-or-treating business! Oh well, next year we'll have to try decorating the other side of the house. Maybe that'll work.

I took some cute pictures of Cedric yesterday chasing Hemi. It was his after-dinner-right-before-bed hyperness. :) He was getting ready to take a shower with Daddy is why he's nakey.

We got Cedric his first pair of slippers the other day. Daddy picked out Spiderman. :) Here is Hemi and Cedric checking out his new look:

Today Cedric learned to say "horse". :) I've been letting him play with one of my old Bryer horses who's leg broke off. Here is a video of him saying "horse"; he was saying it all afternoon and pointing out my several other horse statues around the house. It really sounds more like "oot" but he definitely means "horse". :)

It's been so strange.... We have a music box that plays "King of the Road" and beginning yesterday it makes Cedric cry. I mean, like his heart is breaking, with big crocodile tears and everything. He's been asking us to play it, but it usually takes about 2 minutes before he'll break down crying, pointing at the music box. We have to go put it in the other room until it's done playing and then Cedric needs a few minutes of cuddling before he's okay to play again. And later in the day he might just ask us to play it again. Grammy was commenting that it must be the German blood in him because music has always really moved the men on the Hollenbeck side of the family, but I guess that's on the Likkel side as well. :) There is one song that has always made me cry and still can and it's "You Are My Sunshine". It's just so sad! I used to ask Mom to sing it to me even though it made me cry. Isn't music an amazing thing? Have you thought about the fact that music originated in heaven? It's one of those things that God has shared with us straight from heaven.

Pumpkins

2007-10-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

It has been YEARS since I've spent any amount of time carving a pumpkin, so last night Tim, Cedric, and I sat down and carved 3 pumpkins. They turned out great! I'm used to doing the basic jack-o-lantern face that is all you can really do with a standard kitchen knife. Tim, though, had gotten a pumpkin carving set a couple years ago that we have never used which made it 100% easier!

That's my pumpkin! I'm going to roast the pumpkin seeds this year.

Cedric and remnants of peas from dinner and pumkin slime that kept

him occupied for a good portion of the carving.

The finished products:

By me.

Tim's first creation.

Tim's second creation, my favorite!

We had so much fun. We need to do more creative stuff like that together. Cedric was so impressed with them in the dark. :) We're going to set them out on Hallowean and open our gate in hopes of attracting some trick-or-treaters. We didn't have any last year, but we figure it was because our doors are hard to get to and we weren't decorated at all. We'll be more welcoming this year. :)

I see a generation....

2007-10-27T08:27:00.000-07:00

This is beautiful. It brings tear to my eyes. Vanessa wrote it and posted it on her MySpace blog. I wanted to share it with you in case you didn't see it.

~Lindy

I see a generation.
Of young people
Passionate about the things of God
Rising boldly for their King
Standing on a foundation of love
The Spirit flowing in and through them daily, in each moment
Allowing the principles of God to come forth,
Pave the way in business, in culture, in media
A message of purity and righteousness comes from their lips
A fire burns within them to bubble up
To come forth
To stand.
Apathy is no longer constraining them
No longer does despair rule their hearts
No longer does selfish ambition point them toward costly goals of enterprise
Their hearts break for the lost ones
The curious ones
The only death they know is the one before a re-birth
In which they find themselves once again,
In the arms, in the heart, in the purpose of their God
Truth is their craving,
And the very Word of God their substance.
To Him alone they bow
They submit.
They devote.
They lead the way for those seemingly left behind,
Encouraging them to keep moving
Keep going.
Follow the light they see gleaming
It truly holds all the answers to every question
All the hope to every deferred dream
All the love to every love lost
They passionately point out the Savior
They prove devotion by staying true,
Regardless of trial, temptation or circumstance.
They are world changers
I see a generation.

Dentist visit

2007-10-26T08:05:00.000-07:00

My dentist appointment went really well yesterday. It was initially just going to be a new patient exam and we would do the cleaning next week, but someone canceled so they were able to do my cleaning right after the new patient exam.

I had no cavities and everything else looked really good. Even after 4+ years since a professional cleaning, I had very little buildup. I thank God for good teeth and saliva genes. :)

As it stands now, I don't think I'll get my wisdom teeth removed. My two concerns about them was the possibility of them someday fusing with my jaw and being nearly impossible to remove if bad cavities develop and also if they would speed and increase the forward migration of my teeth that happens with age and thus making them very crooked. The dentist didn't think it necessary to have them removed since I don't have a cavity-prone mouth and said that it's very rare for teeth to fuse with your jaw even if I were to develop cavities. He also explained that the wisdom teeth really don't have anything to do with the forward migration of the teeth. So I think I'll keep them. I'm relieved. :)

Did you know that cavities can basically be contagious? The hygienist was telling a story about a couple who came in. The woman took really good care of her teeth but the guy had nasty teeth. The hygienist warned the gal that by kissing a mouth full of bad bacteria, it was spreading to her mouth and could make it easier for her to develop cavities and gum problems. 8-0 Nobody ever talks about that. Tim takes really good care of his teeth, but he didn't really when I first met him, which is why I found this interesting in the first place. I think that should be good motivation for all those reluctant brushers and their partners; it's not just gross, it's dangerous. :)

So glad we avoided the flu....

2007-10-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

Well, Tim and I both avoided the flu. *sigh of relief* Cedric is doing well too.

Not a whole lot has been going on here. Kind of boring actually. I have been listening to online audio books from our library. That's the only way I find I can actually read books. This way I can be playing with Cedric AND listening to a book at the same time. :) It's been great. I just finished one by Nicholas Sparks called "Dear John". It was good. I'd definitely recommend it.

So far we're not planning to do anything for Halloween this year. If we had a group of kids to go trick-or-treating with, we would probably go, but as it is, Cedric is too young to care whether we do it or not and walking around in the freezing cold isn't fun to do without a group of people.

Cloth diapering has been going well. I haven't started doing cloth at night yet. I may not ever. I was initially waiting until he got over his cold and was sleeping better at night. We'll see. When we go in public I've been using disposables still too. It's satisfying to me to be using cloth.

Exhausted on Monday

2007-10-22T11:26:00.000-07:00

Goodness, it was another long night. Around midnight Cedric woke up obviously not feeling well. He was up off and on for a cumulative total of about 4 hours, often crying inconsolably. We thought perhaps it was his teeth because he has 4 coming in all at the same time or maybe he had a tummy ache because of how he was moving or maybe growing pains, but finally at around 5am he threw up everything in his stomach. He felt sooo much better! After we got him and I changed, he quickly fell asleep and slept contentedly until 8:30.

It was so nice to have Tim here for this episode of sickness. He helped so much, even getting in the bathtub with Cedric for a while. He was as big a support for me as he was a help with Cedric. :) Tim got up with Cedric this morning and let me sleep in. Cedric is doing great this morning, playing and dancing with Daddy. He is sleepy still but in much better spirits. I think he must have gotten this flu in church nursery yesterday.... that puts the incubation period for Tim and I sometime from now through the afternoon. 8-/ We'll see.

Tim and I are enjoy our comfy new mattress. It is longer than our old one too, so our toes aren't hanging over the edge so bad anymore.

I was going to work a 6-hour shift at Havillah Road today to brush up on various new things going on there, but that's been postponed until next Monday due to Cedric's flu. I think I might work several Mondays, in addition to the regular Saturdays, over this holiday season. They need the extra help and we could use the extra paycheck.

When Mom starts her new reduced-hours work schedule sometime this next month, she has agreed to come down 1 day a week to watch Cedric while I work on school. I am a ways behind still, and the 1-1/2 to 2 hour bits of time I get to work on it when Tim gets home from work is not enough. I should be able to catch up easily with an added 4 to 6 hour study time once a week.

I have a dentist appointment coming up this week. I hate to admit that it has been at least 3 years since I've been to the dentist. Luckily, none of my teeth are bothering me. And amazingly, I have all 4 wisdom teeth fully in with no pain. I think someday I would like to have them out anyway.... just so they don't end up making my teeth all crooked in the front, but that might have to wait for better dental insurance.

Cedric was fascinated by Mom's fake nails. I like how they look, if I had an extra $40 a month I would love to have my nails done all the time. :)

New mattress!

2007-10-15T17:33:00.000-07:00

We have finally gotten a new mattress! We were given an ancient one when we got married and it has sufficed, but we have gotten mighty tired of the sagging middle and feeling various metal coils through an eggshell foam pad. :-/ Being pregnant on a bed like that was especially no fun.

Here is the old mattress now up at Mom's and Dad's. This picture really doesn't do the dilapidation justice.

And here is our new pillowtop mattress. :D

We are both really looking forward to going to bed tonight. :)

The fall colors are so beautiful around here. This is the view out our living room window.

Finally, another blog...

2007-10-11T15:46:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since I've found time to blog. Mostly the cause has been this stubborn cold. Instead of blogging during Cedric's 1-hour nap, I find I must nap, too, or my already sketchy patience level becomes almost nonexistent. Tim and I have arranged for me to have an hour all to myself to do whatever I want with little to no interruptions on Thursday afternoons. So on this first afternoon, I have decided to finally blog again.

First off, I wanted to share a picture of our little Autumn elf, Cedric.

Here is Cedric and Daddy having some dangerous boy fun. Cedric seriously loves doing this.

Hemi and his boy having a blast in the front yard.

And I really love this one....

What a goof. :)

I so want to be over this cold! It has been nearly 2-1/2 weeks now. I really would like to be getting in better shape, but everything is on hold. I'm very frustrated.

I am going to be working at Havillah Road again this Saturday. So maybe you'll get another blog then. :)

I think the fever that started out Cedric's cold rewired his brain or something, because before his cold he was very afraid of the vacuum cleaner and needed to be held while I vacuumed. Now, however, he still needs to be held but only because I can't get any vacuuming done due to his trying to hug the silly machine! He seriously really likes the vacuum now! I have no idea how that happened. The fever is the only thing I can think of. :)

Garlic sounds really good right now. But Tim always can tell when I've even eaten only one clove earlier in the day and he doesn't really like the smell, so I choose to ration my garlic intake. Well, he'll be gone during the 2nd weekend of November with his youth group at a retreat at Warm Beach, so I'll get my chance enjoy some roasted garlic that first day or so he's gone. :)

Saturday musings

2007-09-29T13:19:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am at work again. This morning we had our first frost down here in the valley. The leaves are starting to turn colors and my fingers are cold most of the time. Soon they will be "always" cold. :-/ Winter is not much fun. Oh, for about 2 months it's fun. But we get at least 4 months of the white stuff.

Aunt Margaret stopped by at our place on her way up to Mom and Dad's. She arrived around 2:30 and stayed, waiting for Mom to finish work, until 6:30. We had a good time visiting. We talked a lot about our shared interest in nutrition, natural personal care products, and alternative medicine. She shared a great recipe for a breakfast drink that I am going to give a try.

I am about over my cold and thanks, I think, to Cedric's 3-hour nap yesterday, he is over his. At least as far as I can tell. Tim has yet to catch it. I doubt he will. He seems to avoid most colds that go around.

My tattoo is on the tail-end of the "itchy" stage. Man, was that annoying! I'll tell ya, the length of the "sunburn" feel and itching during the healing process is almost as bad as the needle itself, which lasts a much shorter amount of time! I'll have to keep my eye out for tank tops that will show off my tattoo for next summer. I don't like the spaghetti-strap tanks but they have to be low in the back.... It'll take some searching I think.

Sleepless night & cloth diapers

2007-09-27T10:05:00.000-07:00

Two nights ago we had our first truly "sleepless" night. We as in Cedric and I. Or maybe just I. Until 6am I wasn't able to snooze longer than 15-minute stretches. At 6am we got about 30 minutes straight. The reason: Cedric had a pretty good fever and refused to sleep unless he was in my arms and sitting up. Poor guy. He would wake every 15 to 20 minutes and then cry until I got him comfortable again and he would fall back asleep. I was alone (Tim was still absent on his trip) and extremely tired, the thermometer broke, and I wasn't sure Cedric should be crying and refusing to be comforted as much as he was, so I called Mom at 5:45 and, bless her, she volunteered to come help me. She arrived around 7am and took Cedric so I was able to get a few hours of sleep. Thank you, Momma!!!

Tim came home as soon as he could that next day and Cedric's fever broke late the next night. He had a much better night, only having one spell of an hour and a half of wakefulness. He had a normal night last night and is doing very well today, though he does have a case of diarrhea. His runny nose is clearing up and he's playing and eating much better. I, however, am coming down with the cold. Stuffy head and sore throat and headaches. Nothing too terrible, but I am soooo thankful that I didn't get this the same time Cedric did.

Has anyone had the experience of Dimetapp keeping babies awake? The last two nights Cedric would be very tired right before bed until we gave him a dose of Dimetapp and he would become very wriggly and awake for another two hours.

It was so cute last night. It was a milestone for me. Tim and I started a movie (after the dose of Dimetapp. I think we're going to be extra stingy with it from now on.) while Cedric played and climbed up and down, up and down from our laps. He wouldn't sit still for very long but he liked to lay on the floor and roll around. Eventually, an hour and a half after bedtime, he finally fell asleep, on the floor at our feet. :) It was so adorable! That was the first time he fell asleep somewhere other than in our arms, carseat, or swing. He fell asleep all by himself. He's growing up so much. It reminds of the milestone when he first crawled out of sight of me and out of the room by himself. Such big changes. :)

Well, we have finally gotten cloth diapers for Cedric! I know it's really a funny thing to be excited over, but I really am! We figured out that it is cheaper to do cloth diapers if you end up using them for more than one child. We plan to use cloth diapers on any future children so we are going ahead and starting with Cedric. I am just finishing up washing them and then I'll start using them. It'll take me and Cedric some getting used to, but I'm looking forward to it.

Yuck!!!!!!!!!

2007-09-24T18:25:00.000-07:00

This evening, after Mom had just left after stopping by after work, the corner of the screen we have hanging over our front door was loose, so I reached up to hook it back and I saw this huge black widow in the door jam!!!!! We had been walking under it for who knows how long!

I do not like the fact that it was so close to Cedric.... *major case of goosebumps*

Well, Hemi hasn't been out to see us for several hours, ever since Cedric wacked him real good with a stick. :( Don't worry, Hemi wasn't really injured, I think he's just a little scared to venture forth. :) Boy, was Cedric upset after making Hemi yelp like that.

This weekend

2007-09-23T21:43:00.001-07:00

I had a really good time spending the evening, night, and day at Mom and Dad’s with Amber, Easton, Kadin, and Mom! We got in lots of visiting, and it was so fun watching the kids playing together. Kadin is so caring, gentle, and patient with Cedric, and he really seems to enjoy him. It’s so great to see. : ) Cedric has a definite interest in Easton as well. It sure won’t be long until they’re having a blast together, too. Here are a couple pictures of Cedric and Easton at the beginning of our trip back up the hill this morning after breaskfast at Fat Boys and at the end of the trip. : )

================================

Hemi has really come out of his shell since hanging out at Mom and Dad’s. Kadin spent a lot of time holding him, which Hemi seemed to really enjoy. Since we’ve been home, Hemi hasn’t been hiding in his kennel like he had been and has been running around playing with Cedric’s toys. Grammy, you were wondering how much Hemi weighs. He is 3 pounds. This is a pic of him snoozing on Mom's couch.

We have been missing Tim these last couple days that he has been gone while hiking/camping/caving with Dad and Josh. Two more nights to go.

At work

2007-09-22T11:59:00.000-07:00

I am at work right now, down at Havillah Road Printing. It is usually pretty slow on Saturdays, so I have time to catch up on some internet time.

Things are going well with Hemi. He is catching onto paper training fairly quickly. I am going to start kennel training at nights probably tomorrow night. He has been sleeping on Tim's and my bed. :) I just didn't want his move to a new home to be so shocking. Leaving the only home he's known and a life with several other dogs always around is hard enough without suddenly sleeping all alone all night. A little at a time. :) Cedric is doing better every day with treating him gently.

Tim's mom, Diane, called the other day. I don't think we've talked on the phone since they were out in June. They seem to be doing well. I do wish that they were a little closer. It would be nice to spend enough time with them that it is no longer uncomfortable. For the first few years of Tim's and my relationship, it seemed that every contact we had with them was drama-filled. It's no longer that way and I can really enjoy being with them (they are so nice and so funny!), but it's hard rewriting that first-impression emotional response.

Our puppy!

2007-09-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

We finally have a dog of our own. :) He's an 8-week-old Rat-Cha (chihuahua/rat terrier mix). He won't get any bigger than 10 pounds. We found an ad in the paper for him and his brother and it so happened they were in Wenatchee, so while we were down there we took a look and fell in love with this little guy. His name is "Hemi", as in the engine. :)

Just arrived home.

First nap of his first day home.

He is such a cuddly guy. He's pretty nervous right now and is usually only happy when I'm holding him, so I'm going to rig some sort of sling for him, I think. He's just so tiny! It'll be so fun to get Hemi, Kip, Bentley, and Kim Chi all together. :)

My tattoo

2007-09-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

Here it is, folks!

Can you see the "T" and "L" in green?

I absolutely LOVE it! It's totally a Tim & I tattoo. Tim designed it (though the tattoo artist did get creative with the outline a bit), our initials are in the wings, and it has our wedding colors red and green. The brown could even correlate to the gold in our wedding. :) The placement is awesome because it's almost like they are my wings. See what I mean? More meaning behind that too.

When we first got there, the artist, Brett, laid out a couple ideas he had and helped us figure where to put the colors. He's been tattooing for 15 years. It took him an hour and a half to finish my tattoo. Yes, it did hurt. Similar to a bee sting, like Holly described it.

Tim took Cedric for a walk and later drove over to a park for a while until we were finished. I was relieved when it was done but it wasn't unbearable. You kind of tune it out after a while. You just got to remember to breath and keep your muscles relaxed. The artist said I "sat like a pro". :P Now it often feels like a bad sunburn.

The explanation...

2007-09-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago Tim was approached by an Omak city police officer (I believe he is a sergeant) who goes to our church if he had ever thought about being a police officer. He told him that there was a few openings at the Omak department and that he should really think about applying. Tim really did get to thinking about it over the next month and was able to talk with a couple retired and former cops and became familiar with what it’s all about and about the different branches of law enforcement. To make a long story short, after a lot of prayer by both of us (believe you me!) and weighing of the costs, he decided to apply. He also found that there is an opening in the Tonasket department as well. That test date is on the 20th.

I don’t think Tim’s totally made up his mind if he wants to pursue any law enforcement job anywhere in the state or if he wants to be picky about the ‘where’ and ‘what’. I told him he should keep the option open of working with troubled youth, such as as a corrections or juvenile probation officer. We’ve been told that it’s rare to get hired off the street very quickly but that persistence will eventually get you in. So, we begin the process. We’re open to God’s guidance along the way. Who knows where this will lead us in the end.

Tim got home late last night from his testing in Mill Creek for the Omak application. He didn’t pass the test this time but he can reapply to Omak in 3 months. He now knows what to expect and what he needs to brush up on. He was tired so I wasn’t able to get much more out of him, but I’ll let you know if there is anything else interesting to mention. : )

I am nervous about what life as a cop’s wife would be like, but I am also excited about the idea. We need more Christian men on the force. Their light can truly shine bright in a realm of so much darkness. As a Christian, Tim has the tools needed to stay grounded, humble, and not bitter or disillusioned. Tim has always been interested in the military but that wasn’t the route for him. He has a genuine desire to help and protect people and to make a difference. I have always seen that in him. I think that is the right reason to pursue a career/ministry as a policeman. He has the raw material to make a great police officer, now begins the putting together of the pieces. We would really appreciate your prayers and support!

Our schedule is toast today

2007-09-15T17:55:00.000-07:00

Cedric woke up today at 8am and refused to take a nap until 5:30pm. 8-( Not a good thing. I am going to have to wake him up now after only 30 minutes of sleep or he won't go to bed for the night until 9 or 10pm. It has already been such a LONG day. I've been wanting to take a nap myself since noon. I do not want to stay up that late entertaining him. But these next couple hours are not going to be fun. He's going to be SO grumpy. And Tim won't be home until 9pm or so. So he won't be here to help. :( Ok, enough complaining... :) I just needed to vent. I've only talked with one other adult ALL day. Tomorrow should be better.

Prayer and garlic

2007-09-14T13:42:00.000-07:00

Well, tonight Tim is heading over to the coast to take the preliminary testing tomorrow required as part of his application to the Omak Police Department. He'll be coming home tomorrow evening. I am so excited/nervous for him! We're aware that chances are he won't get hired this first time around since we've been told it usually takes an average of 2 years of trying before getting hired as a policeman. Tim's prepared though and he's going in with an attitude that he will learn as much as he can so he'll know what to expect next time and what he may need to brush up on to get higher scores. We would so appreciate your prayers! He'll be taking another of the same test next weekend. That will take place here in Tonasket however and it's for the Tonasket Police Department.

Have you guys ever had baked garlic cloves? They are delicious! I had this for the first time a couple years ago at Tonasket's annual garlic festival. They are much more mild when baked vs. raw. I like to spread them on wheat crackers! Yum! You can also use them for garlic bread, season mashed potatoes, pep up mayonnaise, or stirred into sauces.

Baked Garlic Cloves

Large garlic bulbs, unpeeled
Olive oil

Trim the roots, but keep the bulbs unpeeled. Coat each bulb with 1 TB oil, wrap in foil, and bake at 300 degrees for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, or until cloves are easily pierced.

Cool, and separate cloves, Squeeze uplp out of skin, and store in a glass container. Cover with olive oil. Stored in the refrigerator, it will keep for several weeks.

Well, I am off to meet Dawndie and Alex at the Tonasket park!

Tattoo!

2007-09-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

Cool, I'm going to get this tattoo sooner than I thought! Since the guy estimated that it shouldn't take longer than 2 hours tops to finish the tattoo, Tim and I decided just to take Cedric with us and Tim can take him on a walk or something when he gets wriggly. So, I have a 4 o'clock appointment on the 19th! Whoohoo, just a week! :) I'll definitely be posting pictures as soon as I can.

Lawn mowing

2007-09-10T17:51:00.000-07:00

Cedric is understandably nervous about the lawn mower, running to me or the door whenever Tim comes around our side of the yard, but he loves watching Daddy mow. : ) Tim was mowing today, and at one point, Tim stopped and called Cedric to join him. The lawn mower was still runnning but Cedric made his way to his daddy, hestitating a couple times, but he kept going! His reward for his bravery and trust was a good ride in daddy’s arm while he mowed. Good manly bonding. :)

The last few weeks, Cedric has taken to sticking his fingers in his ears and yelling. :D It’s pretty darn cute. Watching his discoveries is so much fun.

Eggplant and tattoos

2007-09-08T21:19:00.001-07:00

It is getting late but I wanted to share the link to a recipe that I really like and one that Cedric enjoys, too. It's Baked Eggplant Balls. I made them into patties instead of balls. They don't have a strong taste. I personally think they could be addictive. : ) They have eggplant, cheese, eggs, garlic, finely chopped broccoli substituted for parsley..... instead of bread crums I substituted some wheat germ. It's really good and really healthy. Smells good cookin, too. : )

Well, I am finally going to be getting a tattoo! Yay! I have been wanting one since I was 16. Tim designed me a butterfly with our initials hidden amidst the pattern of the wings. It'll be about 3 x 5 inches and placed in the center of my upper back. It'll probably be a combo of brown, red, and black ink. Perhaps a little green or blue. I e-mailed a scan of the butterfly to the artist I'm going to, and he is putting together a few different color ideas and then we can tweak it when we get there. I'm going to a place in Wenatchee that was recommended to me called Tatta-Rama . It's a well-known place with a good reputation. Unfortunately, the soonest we could get a babysitter and Tim's day off will be the beginning of October, but I'm so looking forward to it! *self-coaching: pain is in the mind, pain is all in the mind....* : P

Friday

2007-09-07T14:13:00.000-07:00

Well, Cedric did have a good night last night. He went to bed on time, woke up only twice, and was up for good at 8:00 instead of the recent usual time of 6:30. I feel better today. : )

I don't think I ever mentioned that the 2nd batch of my vanilla peach jam did set better than the first try. Not as solid as I'd like but it'll do. : ) Mom brought about 6 of the jars with her to the bank to decorate in honor of the county fair going on this week. She said that she had an older man offer to pay $5 for a jar. I told her that next time he's in and if he's still interested, she should take the $5. : )

I have a slightly split bottom lip this afternoon. No good reason, just opened a cupboard into my face. : P Such a dork....

I'm looking forward to seeing Grammy when she stops by on her way to Mom and Dad's! She should be here around 4:00 or so. Looking forward to meeting Kip as well. : )

Doing better

2007-09-06T20:10:00.000-07:00

Cedric is doing better today. He's more content, and he has eaten like a horse for both lunch and dinner! That did my heart good because he hasn't been eating much for almost a week. I hope that means he'll have a good night. : )

Thrush

2007-09-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

Cedric has thrush! Poor boy. I noticed yesterday some white film along the inside of his cheek that would not rub off. That also explained his odd diaper rash that began developing 2 days ago. And also a 1-day-old sore nipple (mine). We took him to the doctor and got a prescription for Lotrimin cream (for his bum) and nystatin drops. Luckily the drops are not the kind that would turn his mouth purple. If it was purple we basically couldn't go in public for 2 weeks. 8-)

I really considered doing a home remedy, but since he's nursing we would be passing it back and forth between us, so I decided that "quickly" wiping it out with the heavy duty stuff would be the better way to go. He's getting a daily dose of yogurt though.

Who knows how he got it. He's not nursing very often anymore and the binki is not used often either.... I hate to think what he chewed on to get it. :-/ Yuck!

Saturday thoughts

2007-08-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday Cedric and I made our second trip to the nursing home. We got to visit with Ruth Larsen again and her roommate also, Erma Greentree. Erma was able to hold a conversation, so it put me a little more at ease. Yes, I'm American, sitting in silence is not usually comfortable. : ) Cedric was a little shy at first but soon warmed up and had a good time fiddling with their wheelchairs. Ruth has the sweetest smile and really seemed to enjoy Cedric. After 15 minutes or so, Cedric and I said good-bye and slowly made our way down the hall. The various ladies sitting in the hall were delighted to see Cedric. Every nurse, including the men, seemed to enjoy seeing him as well. I think they need more children around that place. That's why nursing homes seem so sad to me... Rarely do you ever see a visiting child. I think the very old and the very young belong together. The very old need the very young, even if some don't know it. : )

Today I am at work, covering the Satuday shift at Havillah Road Printing & Graphics, the same place where I worked full-time the year before Cedric was born. I normally work only 1 Saturday a month for 4-1/2 hours, but this month I'm working 2 Saturdays. Cedric is with Nammy at her house. Every time I leave Cedric, even with Nammy & Grandpa (with whom he is happy to go), my heart aches a little. That feeling has diminished quite a bit from when Cedric was very little, but it's still noticable. That invisible rubberband between us is stretching uncomfortably. : )

I thank God for the opportunity and a husband who is willing to allow me to stay home and tend to my top ministries, my son and husband. Sometimes I consider the possibility of something happening to Tim, either debilitation or death, that would require me to work ouside the home. I realize how much my dreams rely on Tim. Without him and his capabilities, my dreams for my life would completely fall apart. Though my dreams seem suspended by a single strand, they are in fact supported by God Himself. If that strand should break, hope is not lost, for this life isn't what it's all about anyway. The hope of what is to come for us as believers makes the suffering here on earth, no matter how unfathomable and horrendous, manageable. The losses experienced here will be made up for in the Beyond. Whatever cup God gives to me to drink, I will drink.

Food

2007-08-23T16:58:00.000-07:00

I’ve been using a color chart to help in choosing fruits and veggies for Cedric’s menu. There are 5 colors on the chart, and I make sure that he gets at least 1 serving from each category every day. Here’s the chart:

Blue/Purple: Plums, Grapes, Blueberries, Prunes, etc.
Red: Tomatoes, Beets, Red Apples, Cherries, Strawberries, etc.
Yellow/Orange: Sweet Potatoes, Squash, Carrots, Oranges, Mangoes, etc.
White: Potatoes, Bananas, Pears, Cauliflower, etc.
Green: Spinach, Broccoli, Green Beans, Peas, Zucchini, etc.

I make all his food at home and my little manual food grinder is getting tiresome. I need a good food processor. What’s the difference between the results of a blender and a food processor? I do have a blender. Hmm.

I have just finished making the 2nd batch of my first try at making jam on my own. We have a peach tree in the front yeard that provided the fruit. I found a delicious recipe for Vanilla Peach Jam on www.recipezaar.com. The first batch, made a week ago, has not yet set, so this batch was boiled a bit longer. I’m keeping the first batch as Vanilla Peach Syrup. : ) It’s fantastic on pancakes and icecream. A little chocolate also drizzled over the icecream and it’s nearly gourmet. : ) Here’s the recipe link:
Vanilla Peach Jam

A typical day at our house

2007-08-22T12:26:00.000-07:00

Here is a typical day and routine at our house when we aren’t going anywhere:

On a typical day, Tim works 6am-3pm. Cedric wakes up at about 7:30, which wakes me up, and we usually first sit on the futon in his room and nurse and take a few minutes to really wake up. Then it’s time to change his diaper and get him out of his PJs and into some real clothes. We head next to Tim’s and my room so I can get dressed and make the bed. While I’m doing that, Cedric just plays in his room or ours. The bathroom is next where we brush our teeth and I freshen up. We both head out to the living room to “wake up the house” and open the shades. I usually check the e-mail and news for a few minutes and then it’s time for breakfast. After breakfast, Cedric always heads outside to play in our little fenced yard while I clean up the kitchen listening to the Christian radio programs. I like to spend a little more time on the computer when the kitchen is clean and then we usually fill the time with things such as laundry, various house cleaning, and playing. I almost always have the Christian radio playing in the background. Cedric usually will play by himself very well for a fair amount of time but he does need periodic check-ins and pit stops as well as to have somebody else to play with for a while. Around 10:30 he is usually getting tired so I tie him on my back with my Storchenweige wrap and we go for a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood. He usually falls asleep during the last 10 minutes of the walk and doesn’t wake up as I put him down when we get home. Sometimes I’ll do 20 minutes of pilates while he sleeps. Every other day instead of going for a walk and doing pilates I usually nurse him to sleep and then do 45 minutes of Tae Bo during his nap. Of course, this exercise routine happens on good days (which are the majority) but other days I’ll nap while he naps. : ) Cedric sleeps for about an hour and we have lunch very soon after he wakes. The rest of the afternoon is spent doing more of the chore/play combo. We like to spend as much time outside as possible. Tim usually works an hour overtime (until 4pm) and then calls to say he’s heading home. That phone call is nice because the 30 minutes it takes him to get home gives me time to straighten the house and clean Cedric and I up. I like to look nice when Tim comes home and I know a clean baby and house are very welcoming to him as well. It's got to help encourage Tim's appreciation for what I do, too. I am a "homemaker", so I make a home. I am a "family manager", so I do my best at managing. : ) Cedric is always very excited to see his daddy when he gets home. We usually sit for 10 minutes or so sharing anything interesting about our days and then I usually begin school work. Tim plays with Cedric and often takes him for a walk in the stoller. I get in about 1-1/2 to 2 hours of work in before 6 or 6:30 and then I stop to make dinner. Cedric usually eats right before our dinner is ready and then sits with us while we eat, nibbling from our plates. At about 7:15 Tim takes a shower with Cedric (he hardly takes baths anymore) and I dry him and get him in his PJs. Tim helps Cedric gather his blanket, binkie, and to pick out a book and then reads to him. When they are finished, I take Cedric to nurse him to sleep. He’s usually asleep by 8 or 8:30. Sometimes Tim and I watch a movie together after Ced’s in bed but other times Tim plays World of Warcraft while I make his lunch for the next day (if I hadn’t already made it while also making dinner), take a shower myself, and read a book in bed. I can usually count on Cedric waking up at least twice during the night.

So there is a typical stay-at-home day for us. I try to keep a schedule for Cedric's sake since I've heard it's especially beneficial for little boys to have a predictable schedule.

Daycare playdates

2007-08-17T15:04:00.000-07:00

Every Thursday for the last 4 weeks Cedric and I have been spending an hour or so playing at a small daycare. It is a little ways out of Tonasket and run by Linda Fowler, an older lady who goes to our church (she was at our wedding). She is the mother of Tim’s long-time friend Janis. I think they’ve known each other for something like 14 years and went to school and youth group together. Janis was going to the same bible study where I met Tim, so I met Linda not long after. Linda was a confidant to Tim and gave him good coaching and advice through that first year after we met when I kept rejecting his offers to take me out. : ) Tim has called Linda “Mom” for years and she’s a real prayer warrior who “adopts” many kids. I remember seeing my picture up on her prayer wall. : )

There are usually 5 or 6 kids there. One is a 10-month-old boy who just learned to walk and then there is a 18-month-old girl. The rest are 4- to 7-year-old girls, I think. The 18-month-old girl is a little pushy (or pull-y :), she likes to try to drag Cedric around by the arm, so he hasn’t really hit it off with her. He hasn’t hooked up with the newly-walking 10-month-old either because they’re just at different stages. The older girls, however, really have fun with him and Cedric enjoys himself too. It’s good for Cedric to watch how older kids behave.

Linda is just tickled to have Tim’s baby there. : ) Tim used to be at their house all the time during high school and she has claimed him as “one of her kids”, so I think Cedric is kind of like a grandchild to her (she doesn’t have any biological ones yet).

We haven’t returned to the nursing home yet. I have intended to every week since that first visit but I only like doing 1 outing a day and something else important always comes up. I hope they don’t think I was scared away or something. : )

I think Tim is hooked on shaving his head. He really likes how it looks and so do I. He looks very macho. :P Also, I think he likes not having to be conscious of his receding hairline. That always bugged him a bit, though I couldn’t have cared less.

Weekend at the Hollenbecks

2007-08-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

We had a good time this last weekend. On Friday night Cedric and I drove with Mom to Josh & Amber’s new house. It was a good drive. Cedric slept the whole way for the first time. That was a relief. : )

I really love the neighborhood that they are in now. What a cool world it is there on base. You wouldn’t ever have to leave the base if you didn’t want to. Most everything you need is right there. Nothing seems cramped and there are plenty of lawns and trees everywhere. I think it would be so nice to have basically every house in the neighborhood the home to someone who would be in your social group, whether young marrieds or young parents. Very cool. Their house is beautiful too. I love the setup.

Kadin does so well with Cedric. Much more patient than I would expect from a young boy. : ) He was so good about keeping a protective eye out for Cedric, even whisking him away from potential dangers before we had a chance. Thank you, Kadin!

Easton is so cute. I love his little halfmoon smile. It’s not often that a baby will smile at me every time but this little guy does. I love it. : )

Tim joined us on Sunday morning and Mom left later that afternoon. It was so fun to stay up late that night with Josh and Amber talking and laughing. Just like old times. : )

Next day we shopped at Wal-Mart, using our 10% employee discount, and ate out at McDonalds where Cedric got his first Happy Meal. McNuggets, milk, and apple dippers, plus a super hero toy. It was so weird to say with our order, “…and a Happy Meal.” : )

Then, because I had been wanting to for so long, we stopped by Starbucks. Yummy! I got a iced caramel machiato. Very, very good. I can’t wait for the Starbucks to go in in Omak.

Tim and I left Monday afternoon. We took Cedric along with us too of course. : ) It was a very good drive. We made it home with only one 60-second stop for me to find the sippy cup and switch to the back seat. Cedric did so well! I think we’re over the hump of the long-drives-with-Cedric-whoas. I guess we need another one to keep things exciting. : )

Here is a short video I took of Easton and Cedric with Nammy. I thought it was cute enough to send along.

http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o121/fighterflyy/Ced%20Video/?action=view&current=CedricEastonNammy8-07.flv

What a great weekend.

A new friend for Cedric

2007-08-09T10:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Dawndie and her son, Alex, came over to play. Dawndie is TimN’s cousin so Alex and Cedric are something like second cousins-in-law. : ) Alex is 1 day older than Cedric. Here is a picture of them together at the Okanogan County Fair when they were 2 months old.

See their difference in size?! : ) They’ve evened out a bit now.

They stayed for 1-1/2 hours and we all had a good time. Alex doesn’t have any kids his age to play with so this was great for both of them. The boys enjoyed sharing crackers and juice cups with eachother. Sharing those important germs, ya know. : ) Periodic hugs and balls bounced off of heads and we had a great afternoon.

I really enjoyed Dawndie as well. She’s my age, I believe, and graduated from Tonasket. She “supposedly” had a crush on Tim in highschool. : ) Her and her long-time boyfriend are living with her grandparents right now about 10 minutes south of Oroville. We’re going to try to get together every week or so. Maybe next time we’ll meet at the park or at her place. I'm looking forward to it.

Recent cuteness

2007-08-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

Cedric suddenly started dancing last week. Tim turned on “Way Down South” by Josh Turner and Cedric started bouncing and then stomping and flailing his arms. : ) He seems to like all Josh Turner songs. Follow this link to see a video of him dancing with Daddy last night.

http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o121/fighterflyy/Cedric/?action=view&current=100_4103.flv

Cedric has also recently discovered backing up. He gets this glazed, concentrating type look on his face and starts shuffling backwards. It’s so cute. He looks very proud of himself when he’s backed up all the way across the room.

Just one more cuteness including pictures. : ) Cedric after he found and put on one of my tanktops. He’s such a ham.

Admiring himself in the mirror.