BOY, oh BOY

We found out today that Herman baby #3 will be a BOY! We are thrilled, and shocked! We both thought for sure we only made girls! :) I was actually nervous about telling Lily because of how much she wanted another sister, but she came around and laughed that we had a picture of the baby's "pee-pee". Actually laughed very very very hard at that.

The baby was practically squatting on the ultrasound as soon as she gelled me up! And we saw it. And it looks A LOT different than a girl when they show you these three little dots and tell you that this is the "girl" part. With a boy, you can tell.

I was feeling quite nervous about the health of the baby, and everything measuring properly. It all looked good. 3 vessel's in the cord, 4 chambers in the heart, proper sized brain and fluid, 10 toes, etc, etc. I feel so relieved.

He was an active little guy too. He would not sit still for the tech. Now...it COULD have been that vanilla latte I had this morning, or it COULD have been that I already have a busy body boy on my hands.

Either way, we are still in shock and so happy.
Wow! A son! Back to the drawing board for names...

Today's funny

Lily: "Addie you be the dad because you are kind of bald".

Those of you on FB already saw this. It's one of those things that makes me LOL for real every single time I read it.

Last night both girls were asleep at 8:15 after some yelling from both of us I will admit. Addie ruined a picture frame of Lily's, pooped, and pulled a phone outlet and related cords out of the wall.

Still 1.25 hrs...we are getting there...

I woke up this morning to Addie shaking their door back and forth since she cannot open it yet, yelling "I yuh you mama, I yuh you YiYi". over and over an over. I guess she thought if she kept repeating it, someone would let her out prior to 7am. No, no takers? Oh good a messy poop AGAIN! for mama to wake up to. She's actually storing up her bodily functins and using them against me. Stupid fruit. Sigh.

Quick update - Mom's weekend

I'm home from my 24 hour dash to Boise for my friend from High School's wedding (Melinda Lathrop). It was wonderful. I had a blast day with Jeanine and was so glad she could come to the wedding with me. Friday night I went to the Indigo girls concert, also SO.MUCH.FUN. A concert with good friends, a feel good girl band, complete with acoustic guitar and amazing harmony, on a warm summer night, at the Oregon Zoo. So incredible. Came home BURSTING with happy.

The room sharing saga continues, but I was able to handle it well tonight after 2 nights of bed time off. Thank you to the BEST dad out there, Lawrence. It wasn't an easy time to leave him alone and he did awesome. Two nights of 2 hr bed time battle = no fun.

I left for the concert at 3:45pm on Friday and got home around midnight, got up at 4:30am for my 6:20am flight (thank you frequent flier miles and $5 plane ticket for my crappy flying times). Got to Boise, made bfast with Jeanine, had coffee, she treated me to a pedicure, I took a nap, got ready for the wedding, fun HOT wedding, and nice reception. Got to visit with her and her family, haven't seen them since HS graduation.

Got to bed last night at around 1am, up at 7am for my 9am flight. Got home, played with the girls, Addie for a nap, cleaned house (while pretending to play "library" with Lily! - I was one BUSY librarian, but she didn't notice as I sorted toys, organized books, and put things back where they go, all while making her lunch to eat at the library! :)), was going to paint a dresser, but fell asleep on the couch, got up with Addie and played in the back yard kiddie pool and cleaned up out there, family water fight in the back yard, grocery shopping, dinner, clean kitchen, bed time, Lawrence time, bed time, email catch up, bed time, Weeds episode, bed time...aw finally they are asleep (LESS THAN 2 HRS and no yelling from me, YAY!) . What a difference some me time makes to feel like a whole new mama. I didn't know that I needed it, wasn't really trying to take it, and even though I'm not rested, I feel refreshed. I was so excited to get home to the girls and Lawrence today. I couldn't wait to answer 50,000 "why?" questions, I was happy to take the poopy diaper, and take Addie grocery shopping. I guess I did need a little time of taking care of no one but myself.

I have pictures to upload, I have details to give about the room sharing, and I have a few weekends worth of fun to document. But for now. I'm going to get into bed by 10pm for the first night in several, and enjoy that I enjoy being home. And safe and sound. Really. Welcome back, rambly-me! :)

no proofread, I'm posting this!

Room sharing

We finally took the jump and put the girls in their same room. Lily in her bed, Addie in her crib.

Friday night the girls were in bed by 7:30 asleep by 9:30 - they were SO loud and excited, especially Addie, we actually heard Lily telling Addie to quiet down. So surprising. Lawrence got Addie up and changed her (BM) at 11pm or so. So the room sort of stunk. PE - U. They were up and yelling at 6am and Addie was out of her crib but can't open her door. She of course wakes up and can't leave Lily alone. When she was in her own room she just falls back asleep...There wasn't much in there besides beds. So we just laughed and finally got them out. We were proud of Lily for knowing not to open the door.

We reorganized the whole play room and threw out about 4 bags of garbage/recycling of Lily's old "projects" and supplies. We made a craft corner with a baby gate so Addie can't get back there and Lily can have a quiet time area while Addie naps. Lily LOVES it and they both loved the new set up of the play room.

Both girls rooms are still full of stuff, but we made so much progress in the play room for Lily to work during quiet time and for her to have a place for all of her things that Addie can't get into . It feels like every bedroom in the house is in shambles, but I guess we'll get it all cleaned up and organized eventually!

I'm tired, but mostly from laundry and organizing and staying up too late as usual.

Yesterday we got to meet some Au Pair families at a picnic and it was awesome. Especially one family who also has a new German Au Pair and lives less than a mile away. They were so nice and couldn't say enough good things about the program, their families live in St Louis and Georgia so love all the help it provides. It was neat to hear about it.

Today we went to Church to Baby Grace Chappelle's dedication and then my cousin, Judah and his fiancee Noel came over. It was a surprise that they were in Portland. I hadn't met Noel yet, and they are getting married in November, so it was fun. I didn't work my tail off during naptime, so it was a good thing they made me sit down.

Judah was surprised by my big belly, apparently he had not heard the news that we had a baby on the way! Lily acted like a total weirdo 4 year old rolling around on the floor while they were here. Judah still totally loved seeing them, and Addie was her shy self when she woke from her nap.

Last night Addie got to sleep before Lily so that made bedtime easier, and when she woke up at 6 Lawrence ran in and got her so Lily could sleep. Both girls are more tired than usual because of the sharing, but it is going okay so far. I know that when Sabine gets here and the baby comes we'll be glad we did this so far in advance and didn't wait until we had additional transition.

I was nerdy and sentimental on Friday about putting them together. Their last times in the "own room" type of nerdy. Oh well that's me, and I'm nerdy about stuff.

I'm also so tired I can barely type and I still need to go do the dishes. I'm sure the girls will be up EXTRA early again. Sigh. Did I sign up for this? On Purpose? Something tells me that isn't the last time I will ask my self that question in all this.

Good night!

Success

Tonight we went to Music in the Park in Lake Oswego, spontaneously. It meant me not finishing a few things at work, Lawrence switching around a few errands, and making us all picnic dinner. I'm so glad we did. We had such fun, saw 3 couples of friends and met one of their babies, got home about 9:30, and both girls were asleep within 10 minutes.

Lawrence and I cleaned up the kitchen, started some laundry and got in to bed.

Good day.

As I finish this I hear Lily crying...haha...I jinxed myself... :)

Today

Today I will practice being a better mother than I was yesterday. I will have more patience and more love. I will use a kinder tone and I won't get irritated.

I love these girls more than anything, and yet, in the moment I sometimes lose it and I feel ashamed of that. Then I worry how I will possibly get any better when I am spread thinner and have another baby to share my attention and time with.

And each day, I can only vow to do better, consciously make the effort and then follow through. Practice makes perfect, and practicing a joyful heart, a patient heart, and a kind heart, will give me a heart that is joyful, patient, and kind as second nature. Every day.

And don't forget to Breath.

Painting Progress

Way way way before...I think this picture was taken when we had just bought the house...

I was planning to wait until I could post more of an "Reveal" photo for the room, but too many of you have been asking to see pictures since I'm guessing you are just wondering how in the heck a DARK chocolate brown room is going to work for two little girls. Well I tell you it is going to be wonderful. Someday. I'm also not sure that we'll be able to get it completed in a reveal style way before we have to move them in (i.e. all furniture purchased, bedding, perfect accessories found, etc) before moving them.

There are still a lot of things for us to consider. Do we move Addie in the crib or just suck it up and move her in her toddler bed and make the change one big change? She goes to bed SOOOOO well in a crib and sleeps so well there, we are scared to mess with success. Do we buy her a toddler bed or just use a twin mattress on the floor for a while like we did with Lily so we don't have to worry about bedding size. Although we HAD the bed for Lily already so it was a no brainer. Do we move one of them first and then get that one used to it then add another, or just plunge in?

Well first things first...we need to hang curtains because this is the lightest and brightest room in the house, especially at 4:30am. We bought curtains and liner, vs having someone make them and hope we've figured a way to hang them. Lawrence got stuck on the first two brackets out of 8 last night, so I guess we'll see. He doesn't want me that high on the ladder so we are at a standstill on curtain progress. I was happy he didn't throw the drill thru the window causing the expense of having to buy a new window. Haha. But that is really the last step before starting to move things. And I already have an offer of a friend to come help him finish hanging the curtain rod. So likely by this weekend we can start the move...

Here is after the brown and pink was painted but before stripes. We thought that looked good.

Here is after the stripes were finished completely.

This will be the curtain material, pink and brown and yellow and blue with butterflies. Brown black out / energy efficient shades underneath.

This was "during", that is my friend Carrie touching up before we pulled some of the tape off. We used a different sheen for the white so we had to wait an extra day for that. Thank you so much to Carrie for all her help in figuring out the stripe pattern and teaching me how to tape it. Then taping it! :) She also has THE coolest trick for sealing the tape lines. It worked pretty well and there is only about an hour worth of touch up.

We are so happy with how it is turning out. Lawrence was very skeptical of the stripes, but he loves them, I mean how could you not, they look awesome.

Update: Butterfly curtains are up, now for the dark brown roman shades, energy efficient and dark room causing during the wee hours! Progress is made. Friday is move in day.

The perfect and unconventional gift

My mom asked me what she could get Addie for her birthday. I could not think of anything. ANYTHING. We do not need more toys. I mean we thought of a few little things that she would love, but nothing big. Except a bike.

The problem is we have a PERFECT trike for her, that is still Lily's. It is a Radio Flyer in great shape and it has a handle to push and steer when needed which is perfect for coming back up our steep hills. Lawrence's parents got it for Lily when Addie was born and while Lily still rides it, she has FAR outgrown it. I know, I know, I'm a crappy mom for not getting her a new bike a while ago. I've been looking on Craigslist because a new one wasn't in the budget, but with my broken foot and the winter, I just never got to it. Her birthday is the perfect time of year NOT to get a bike in Portland. Still with a coordinated and muscular girl like herself, 4.5+ is much to late to still be riding a miniture trike...most of her friends are starting to get their training wheels off. Sigh. I'm trying...

So I said to my mom that the perfect gift for Addie's bday would be to get Lily a new bike. I know it is unconventional and Addie will probably hate it some day when she hears the story. But we brought Lily's old bike to Joseph, we got Addie a Helmet (me oh my finding a helmet that fit her 5 percentile head!), and we had a bike unveiling for them both.

It. Was. Perfect.

Both girls loved their "New" bikes so much. And eventually Addie will get this bike from Lily, when she gets bigger, but for now, they both have a bike that works. YAY. I realize this is the last year we will be able to pass off one of Lily's old things as Addie's new thing. So we made the most of it.

Thanks mom for going along with the suggestion, I know it is not your style...but it is what we needed and as far as Addie knows she finally got a bike, and wouldn't you know it, it is the one she has been eying and dying to ride each time her sister is on it. Perfect. Just Perfect.

4th of July

We drove to Joseph, about 6 hrs away on July 3rd to celebrate the 4th in my home town. It was a great trip. On the way there Addie slept for only about 30 minutes (Elgin to Wallowa!) not long enough, but we got to stop and see my friend Will in Wallowa for his birthday. Once we got to my moms, there were bday gifts for Addie to unwrap, though Lily was way more interested in getting them unwrapped than Addie. I think the favorite was an Addie sized camping chair from my brother Matt. That night after bedtime we were able to go up to the lake and see Jocelyn and her family for a bit, sans the kiddos.

On Saturday Addie woke at 5am and Lawrence got up with her, letting me sleep. YAY! He was doing the Lostine River Run and leaving at 7:30. I got ready and my mom gave Addie/Lily her big bday gift (another post on that) and I picked up our friends 2 kids in Enterprise and headed to Lostine to meet the racers. Lawrence did great, finished 4th place in his age bracket! After a few minutes of browsing the junk, er, flea market and manging to get out with only $1 spent and a used my little pony, we were off to the parade in Wallowa.

The kids looked so cute in their little 4th of July outfits. Everyone who saw Addie running along the sidewalk did a double take at her cuteness, while I overflowed with pride. It was HOT. In Wallowa county you don't see 80 degrees at 9am very often! The girls got more Candy than they did for Halloween I think at the parade. They listened well, and waited patiently in their chairs for candy to be thrown and then they had a line not to cross in the road. Since kids on floats were throwing some of the candy under horse foot, Lawrence went in to the street to throw candy out of harms way between "floats". Addie picked up quickly on scooping up her bucket, stepping off the curb, and gathering candy. Lily helped her and it was a lot of fun to watch. They both filled their buckets to the brim. I hate to admit it, but on the way home, I was starving, and filled up and a bunch of junk that had milk in it which Addie couldn't eat. Lily could hear me behind her opening wrappers and I assured her that I was only going through Addie's bucket. haha. Needless to say I wasn't feeling fantastic by lunch time! :)

Addie and I took a nap when we got home, and Lily didn't (actually my mom and Lawr did too, everyone but Lily, surprise surprise!). We told her she had to in order to stay up until 11 to watch fireworks. Then I had to decide to break my word or not. I decided to let her go (bad mommy going against my word!) because she had her heart SET on going up to the Hays and seeing Jordan and I wasn't sure she'd have another time to see him. She's been planning for it for weeks. I was getting emotional over not having her there, so I got Lawrence a few more beers and convinced him that letting her come was the right move! :) We had a nice BBQ at Mandy & Joe's house before hand, and headed up to the lake after getting Addie down with both white noise machines on full blast. My mom stayed behind with sleeping Addie.

Sunday was biking riding, bfast with Mom, Jocelyn, Peter, & Isabella at the Old Town Cafe (aka best food and slowest service on the planet!). Lawrence and I got ice cream during nap time and walked around Joseph a bit. We played at the lake with the kids and Nelson's after, which was fun. I also cleaned out my closet at home, hoping to make a little more room, since next time we visit, we'll have another little one. I condensed it all into one box and one file folder thingy to bring back. Mandy and I laughed at the pictures, there were boxes and boxes of old ones. I threw away a ton of stuff, which I could tell made my mom VERY nervous. I know there is more stuff stored in her room and the shed for me to go through, but for now my closet is EMPTY, just a few games and a baby bath tub!

Monday we drove home, another good drive, easy with the kids.

A common thought along the way both directions is how the heck are we going to do this with a new baby and Sabine? Though Lawrence suggests it, we are NOT buying a trailer to pull along behind our giant SUV (with roof rack)! We just have to find a way to bring less stuff...

So I'm tempted to post this with no pictures. I know, GASP! But the pics are on the laptop and there are almost 400 of them (MOM!) and Lawrence is sleeping in our room. Separate post to come with a few of the pics and with the unconventional bday present story! Okay, OBVIOUSLY I came back and added a few pics because really, how boring without...and okay, I posted more than a few. But now no need to come back to it...

Ballet

Lily has been wanting to take ballet for a long time now. I finally started to get on it when a friend asked if I wanted Lily to take it with her daughter. As it turned out we couldn't find a time that worked for us both, but we still decided to get in for the summer session.

Yesterday was her first class, she did great, she listened well, and she looked so cute. I am seriously amazed every time I see these leg muscles at work. She is so so strong. Thanks dad for the great legs!

Addie watched the entire time in awe!

Not so terrible TWO!

Today Addie is two years old. It has been a wonderful and fun day. Katy and I took the kids downtown on the MAX and I went to the office while they played in the fountain across the street, then we had a picnic lunch together. It was Katy's idea, and I was so happy to get to spend more of Addie's birthday with her even though I had to work.

Here are some of my favorite things that Addie says at 2 years old:

Oh Maaaaaan (When she drops something, breaks something, or gets messy)
I yuh you (I love you)
Ka-Ka (Katy)
Milk Me (I want milk)
Light Me (I'm in the bathroom and I want the light on)
Out Me (I want out of my carseat/booster/stroller)
Mint Me (I want a mint)

She has her favorite books before bedtime - Goodnight Sh'ma, Doggies, Pajama Time, Mommy hugs, Daddy Kisses, The Going to Bed Book

She has been potty training for a few months now. I would say she goes about 5 times a day, and she usually asks to go. She rarely asks to go anymore when she doesn't actually go. She still seems to like to poop in her diaper about 50% of the time. She says "I did it" and "Yay, Addie" when she goes. She also gets out to Lily "Lil Lil, I did it" because Lily always shows so much enthusiasm and excitement for her "Good job Addie". Lily made her a potty chart and she gets stickers to stick on a page when she is done going.

Addie speaks a lot, but compared to Lily she is much less verbal. I would say Lily could speak this well at 18 or 20 months. She was full sentences by now, and Addie is just starting to put more than 2 words together. As for potty training, Lily didn't show any interest until she was 26 months, so Addie is about 8 months ahead on that. It is interesting to compare and contrast, and we marvel at how much more like a baby we feel Addie is now than we felt like Lily was at this age. I think most of it is due to verbal and size. Addie is still small and as you can see in the pictures and videos, her hair is filling it but Lily had this much hair by 4 months old! :)

Sleep schedule 7-7 then 2-3 hrs of a nap at around noon. She's easy and flexible, and likes to go to sleep. She takes two "bear=bears" to bed with her, and sleeps with a princess blankie, a sleep sack, and some books. This is a new thing, she reads to her bears. Sometimes she says "no nigh nigh" but once you get in there she is always ready, and happy to get in her crib. About once every two or three weeks she has a bad night and is up half the night crying for no apparent reason. Then she is fine the next day, fine for another two or three weeks. It is slightly annoying, but since she is such a great sleeper and bedtime girl, I can hardly complain for a fight once every few weeks.

Favorite things : Elmo, Monkeys, and Mickey Mouse "Mick Mouse" (Minnie is Min Mouse")

Everything is Lello (Yellow) - She sort of knows her color but would prefer to call everything "lello". She got a fanta color game for her birthday which she likes and is quite good at, so at least I know she isn't color blind. Again, Lily knew her colors at 18 months, so I wasn't sure what was going on. Now I realize Addie just loves saying "Lello". :)

Addie love MANY random things like getting the mail, going outside, getting into the car, pretending driving (frisbee is usually a steering wheel).

Loves playing with cars and saying "Vroom vroom", she especially likes putting people in her cars and making them go, taking them in and out.

Says "shh" with a crazy back of the throat growl that sounds like she is choking on her own spit. I know what she is doing only because she puts her finger over her lips. This is when you are talking to another adult and she wants your attention. It's odd and funny.

Here are some pics of Addie on her FIRST BDAY:







And on the day she was born. She didn't cry, she just looked at me calmly. Oh, I was instantly in love again.


To see a bunch of pics from last years photo shoot and newborn pics of Addie, check out christina's blog: Click HERE
OR
http://www.christinagilchrist.blogspot.com/

I can't put in to words the joy that Addie has added to my life and my heart. I never imagined I could love another the way I loved Lily and in many ways, I loved her more, because I was already such a competent mom and I was able to just relax and enjoy (and it helped that she was a much easier baby!).

Now, again, I can't imagine loving another as much as I love Lily and Addie, but that's just part of the miracle of motherhood, I know that I will, and I can't wait to be even more filled with love.

Birthday Videos

2 years ago tonight, I wrote...

7/1/2007 - (5 days after Addie's due date)

I guess we aren't having a June baby. Today is Addie's last chance to come on her own, otherwise we're giving her some help tomorrow starting at 6am!

I didn't sleep much at all last night, maybe from 2-5am, then Lawrence and my mom tried to let me sleep this morning, but I couldn't. So I finally got up. Last night I was having a lot of pain and movement, but no contractions, this morning I woke up with contractions that are pretty strong. So this is my bodies last try to get Addie out all on it's own.

Today my mom is leaving and we are going on a picnic at a new park with Lily, something special for the three of us, enjoying our last day of this family of three. That's another thing I have been so emotional about, in gaining everything that comes with adding Addie to our family, we are also losing something that has been very dear to us for the last three years. Again, it's not a bad loss, it's a happy loss. But it's still okay to mourn it a little. Especially for a hormonal, sleep deprived, crazy pregnant lady with a misbehaving terrible two running amok!

Of course we didn't finish everything we wanted to yesterday, so there are a bunch of minor errands to do today, and lists to make to do in the next few weeks so things like bills and license plates and credit card adjustments don't slip through the cracks. If anything does, it won't be the end of the world, but it made me uneasy and unsleepy last night thinking of it all, so at least if I have it written down somewhere to come back to when I can, it will help me relax I think.

I will write more later, but for now, if I'm not sleeping, I want to go down to have bfast with my family, and spend a little more time with my mom.

We will take Lily to Josh and Shawna's around 5, BBQ there, and then leave early enough to wrap things up and home and get to bed early. We have to be at the hospital at 5am, leaving here around 4:40am, so I need to make sure and get some rest. I'm mad at my brain for not letting my body take advantage of my last morning to sleep in for months. I'm not surprised tho, that's just the way it is. I'll get a good nap today though. More later...

***********************************

8:57pm

Thank you all for your warm wishes and prayers. I can't tell you how much it means to us. Everything is done and ready to go. I'm getting ready for bed and hoping to get a good night of sleep. Lily was so excited to spend the night at Rachel's she didn't care when we left. I cried like a baby as I said good bye to my only child. She just looked at me with her big beautiful brown eyes and made me weep. I love her so deeply I can't imagine being a whole person if she wasn't born into my life. I am so blessed. While praying for/with me tonight, my friend Jeanine thanked God that He trusts us with the gifts that children are. I wept thinking of how truly thankful I am. Thank you God for trusting me to be a mother, it is an honor, and I can't believe I am about to be able to do it again. When you look at this miracle in that light, nothing else matters, no fears, no disappointments, no selfish worries. I get to be a mom again tomorrow and I can't wait.

Again, my heart is overflowing with love for all of the amazing people in my life. Thank you. Please continue to keep my family in your prayers tomorrow, and be thankful for your own family.

I'd also like to thank my mom, who had to leave today, without meeting Addie. Thank you, mom, for putting up with my moodiness, and for doing so much around our house to help out, inside and out, while also giving us our space, and for making Lily's week so enjoyable. She had a blast with you. We love you so much!

We love you all!

Jenny, Lawrence, Lily, & Addie