A Harvest Halloween

Last night was our ward's trunk or treat party, so the Halloween festivities have already gotten off to a start. So...since we got back from Idaho in August, Tyler has said that he wanted to be a farmer for Halloween (surprise, surprise). So, a farmer he was.
And he made a pretty dang cute farmer, if I do say so myself. So, when the older brother wants to be a farmer, what do you dress up the baby brother as to make for a dynamic duo???
Yes, that's right... None other than a cob of corn. We brought a touch of our dear Iowa to Louisiana last night with our farmer and his ear of corn and had there been a prize for Duo of the Year, I'm pretty sure they would have gone home with it (says the proud mom of the members of said Duo).
And since you have to have something to haul your crops in, we had to pack him around in a John Deere wagon, otherwise known as the farmer's tractor. Although, the farmer much preferred riding in his 'tractor' than pulling it around. So, here is the farmer and his prize crop of the year. He was so proud of his crop!
And you know I love me a yummy cob of corn, but I'm pretty dang sure I've never seen a corn cob with such delicious cheeks as these!
And I have to thank ebay for being a place where I can find all sorts of random things to put together these costumes. Yes, every item my kids were wearing last night came from ebay! And even better for me, I didn't have to pack them around to stores all over town looking for costumes. :)

Baseball in the Park

Some days big brothers just need the opportunity to head outside and do something only big brothers can do, right? Tyler had been asking for days if we could go out and play baseball and we finally headed to the park to do just that.

Unfortunately, batting practice ended a little early for Tyler with frustrated cries of "I can't do it!" and tears that stung his little cheeks. (you can kind of see 'the look' in the picture above) For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what he meant. I mean, he was hitting the ball just fine off the tee. But every time he would hit it, he would hang his head and get frustrated and insist that he couldn't do it. Finally I asked him what it was he couldn't do. And he said "I can't hit far clear over there." And he pointed clear to the far end of the field. You know, the place you would hit the ball if you were to hit a home run. It dawned on me that, as we have spent many an evening watching the Major League Baseball playoffs recently, he wanted to hit the ball like "those guys". I tried to ensure him that he was doing a great job, was doing just fine, was the best baseball player I'd ever seen, etc. But to no avail, he didn't believe me and threw down his bat and said he was done. This was one of those strange moments for me. I of course think it's great to see my child want to strive for greatness and dream big, but I also want him to have fun along the way. I made a mental note that somehow I'll have to teach this kid that base hits are just as great as home runs...that consistent 'base hit' hitters are just as desireable (if not more) on a baseball team as are home run hitters...that sometimes we might strike out and it's okay--everybody does it sometimes, and sometimes we might reach first base from a walk, but at least we reached first base. And of course, he'll have to know that without walks and base hits, there'd rarely be RBI's and there'd definitely not ever be grand slams. So it looks like I've got some teaching to do with my big dreamer.
But for this day, we moved away from the plate and practiced playing catch. And as you can see, this was a much better option for Tyler. And we'll work on batting another day, I suppose.


And don't be fooled...these pictures were not taken yesterday or even this week for that matter. This was last week and our weather has changed much since then. On Monday we were pretty much home bound due to a blizzard--New Orleans style. We received something like 8 inches of rain in 12 hours (or thereabouts--I never got the official number) and there were flash flood warnings and schools getting out early and businesses shutting down. Garrett's firm even told their employees to head home early--I think that's a first! They said all day on the news to not go out unless you absolutely have to. It totally reminded me of the big snow storms we would get in Idaho, Utah, and Iowa. But lucky for us, we are not shoveling it out of the driveway and trudging through it in our snow boots today. And hopefully it's all out of Mother Nature's system now since we have family arriving starting tomorrow and we hope to part-ay for the next two weeks!

Just for Fun

I was just playing around with my camera yesterday so I thought I'd post some new pictures.

Not the first (and definitely not the last) time these boys have had a photo snapped of them together. I look at these and just hope they'll be great buddies in a couple years!

Play Group at the Patch

Pumpkin patches and kids are just meant to go together, aren't they?

If for nothing else, it's so their parents can take pictures of them, right?! Yesterday we went to a local pumpkin patch for play group. The idea was that the kids would come dressed up in their Halloween costumes and we'd pick out some pumpkins, have some treats, take some pictures, etc. But I'm the mommy who forgot to dress up my kids. And they would have been DARN cute in their costumes at the patch. Oh well! We had a great time anyways, despite a little rain. And on our agenda was having Tyler pick out a pumpkin for him and one for Sam, since the farm (see my previous post) was out of decent looking smaller ones on Saturday. We were successful in that endeavor and had a fun morning at the pumpkin patch.

Here are some of the little munchkins...

The one shot of the whole group.
And here is my pick of the patch!

A Great Day at the Farm

Saturday, October 13, 2007

On Saturday, we loaded up the boys (yes, that is plural now, kind of weird to say!) and headed North across the Causeway (a 24-mile long bridge across Lake Pontchartrain) and ended up in Folsom, Louisiana at Red Bluff Farm. Pumpkin Festival was the event for the day and it provided us as parents a chance to redeem ourselves. You see, last year, we headed out on the same excursion with Tyler, not realizing that the festival ended at 4:00 pm. We pulled into the parking lot at 3:50 in a slight drizzle as everyone was leaving, only to be told that the place was shutting down in ten minutes. We got out of the car and walked across the creek and asked if we could at least pick out a pumpkin while we were there and they said yes. Tyler had no idea that we would then head straight back to the car. So, needless to say, after we picked out our pumpkin and went to get in the car, one of the saddest moments ever occurred. I still could get a little teary thinking about it. He could see all the animals, tractors, etc, and we were just wisking him away into the car for another hour long car ride. He was SAD to say the least. So the only thing we could do was stop at Chick-fil-A in Mandeville on the way home and let him play in their playland since we felt SO bad. The day ended up being quite a downer.

So, this year, I was saying little prayers all morning that nothing would come in our way of getting to Pumpkin Festival this year. Honestly, I prayed that the car would run well, that the weather would cooperate, etc. We not only needed to get a second chance after last year, we also needed a day out to spend together as a family, since it seems like it has been forever since we have had one. So, it was a relief to pull into the parking lot on a beautiful day and be able to spend the day on the farm. Pumpkin Festival at Red Bluff Farm provided Tyler (and the rest of us, I suppose) the opportunity to go on a tractor ride, a hay ride, shell and shuck corn, bottle feed a calf, pet the baby chicks, watch a cow being milked and sheep getting a 'haircut', pick a perfect pumpkin, go fishing, and see all the farm animals. And we ate brisket and jambalaya for lunch and snacked on a freshly made bag of Kettle Korn throughout our day. We had a great time! It was a bit of a reality check for me to realize that I now have two kids and with one of them being an infant, that meant I was not able to spend my day snapping picture after picture like I normally would. So, I didn't get every little activity captured on camera, but that was okay, because we spent the day as a family and had a great time. And that's all that mattered! Here we are awaiting to depart on our tractor pulled hayride. When we finished, Tyler said: "that was a great trip on the tractor!"
A freshly shelled ear of corn
Picking the perfect pumpkin. Tyler was just sure he was strong enough to pick it up by himself...



And we were lucky enough to run into our good friends the Thompsons, which meant we had the rare chance of getting all four of us in a picture. This was our first picture with all of us since we added Sam to the bunch.
And as you can see the above picture from last year, I would say our mission was accomplished--we redeemed ourselves and had a much better experience this year (see below!)! Tyler definitely had a great time and is still talking about it constantly.

Saved by Smiles

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Well, yesterday just happened to be one of those days... You know, it was 9 pm and I had just gotten Tyler bathed and to bed and I sat down preparing to get Sam ready for bed too. I smelled like spit up. Garrett was still at work (ended up leaving the office around 10 pm...). I had spent the day getting puked on, pooped on, whined at, cried to--all by two little people who are not even half my size. My conversations for this long day were primarily between myself and an almost-3-year-old and a one month old (which can be quite enlightening as I'm sure you can imagine). And I was tired. And then low and behold, I got this delightful smiling session from Sam and suddenly, I didn't care about all that other stuff. My day was saved by smiles, and really seemed to be a great day after all. How can I complain when I have this little guy telling me that everything is all right?! Have I mentioned that we just adore him?

And now today I look at these pictures, and while they are ever so cute, they also remind me that he is growing and changing a little faster than I think I'm ready for. I am reminded once again to enjoy every moment because these little squirts grow up in the blink of an eye!

One Month Ago...

One Month Old

It was a month ago today that one of my life's greatest miracles took place. This little angel entered the world, our family, and my heart and I can't imagine life without him! To celebrate the day, we went back to church for the first time. And I'll just say we survived. I was exhausted, but we survived! I felt like more of a circus act during Sacrament Meeting, but hey, we were there and that's what matters, right?!

And since I haven't taken the chance to post about his arrival story, I'll celebrate Sam's one month birthday by getting it down. I wrote it all down when I had Tyler and have had it whirling in my mind since I had Sam, so it's time to be recorded. I never want to forget the experiences of having my babies! So bare with me, this may be a long post. Here's how it all happened.

So, Thursday morning (the 13th), I woke up and went to my regularly scheduled dr's appointment at 11:00. The doc told me I was dilated to a 3 and she checked me "agressively" (yeah, that was fun), and sent me on my way and said we'd see what would happen. We also scheduled for induction the following Monday if nothing had happened by then. So it was looking like either way, we were going to be having a baby before long. We left the doctor's office and went to Subway for lunch (Tyler's favorite lunch spot). I was feeling fine, just thinking I better get a plan in place to have someone watch Tyler at the drop of a hat when this baby decides to arrive. We left Subway, went home, put Tyler down for a nap and I got on the phone and made some plans. I called my friend Melissa and went through the various scenarios that could happen between now and Monday and she was a sweetheart to agree to take Tyler at any moment, day or night. What a relief that was! I truly had stressed long and hard and even lost sleep worrying about how all of that was going to work out. But I felt good about things and it was such a load off.

And I guess that's all it took because I started having contractions within an hour or two of the phone call. So the contractions were coming, but I wasn't keeping track of them yet because I didn't want to get all concerned about things if they were just going to go away. But it did seem that they were already coming pretty close together. At 6:00, Garrett called on his way home from work and I told him I thought we might be having a baby tonight, but of course I wasn't positive. :) So we grabbed some dinner and even went and bought Garrett a new pair of shoes, and yes, all the while I was having contractions that were coming harder and closer together. We left the shoe store (which is very close to our house, by the way), with the plans of heading home and getting all our bags packed and ready to go to the hospital. This was at about 8:00. We then left our house again at 8:30, all the bags in the car, Tyler in his pj's ready to spend the night at his friend Anna's house, which he was excited about because it meant he got to sleep in a sleeping bag. Yippee! We called Melissa from the car to let her know we were on our way over and dropped Tyler off around 9:00. I gave him a hug and a kiss with a tear or two running down my cheek as I told him good bye because I knew that our lives would be changing a whole lot before I saw him again. But he was so big and so great to march right up to their door and stay--no problems whatsoever. And once again, what a relief! I was comforted to know that the situation was all going to be okay.

We made it to the desk at the hospital at about 9:30 and were told to wait in the waiting room because they didn't have a room clean for me. Not really what I was wanting to hear upon arriving at the hospital. OK, this is where the longest four hours of my life started. So we waited in the waiting room for somewhere in the neighborhood of 45 minutes--45 LONG minutes, if I do say so myself. I was sitting there worrying that my water is going to break and all I could think about was wanting an epidural ASAP. These contractions were really starting to give me some grief.

So we finally made it into the room, they checked me and told me I was still only dilated to a 3, but I was 90% effaced. But since I was only at a 3, they decided they needed to monitor me for an hour before they would admit me. OK, once again, this was not what I wanted to hear, since not being admitted means no epidural yet. I was thinking 'okay people, my contractions are only coming harder and faster and closer together, I am in labor here. I promise!'. But we wait again for an hour just to be sure. Again, may I mention this was perhaps the longest hour I have ever experienced (except for the two hours that were to follow this hour...). I sat there and looked at the clock for the entire hour as each contraction came about 4 minutes apart, like clock work. So they came in, checked me again, said they'd call the doctor and see what she wanted to do. It seemed as if every little thing they were trying to do took an eternity. I don't even remember when they came back in and said they were indeed going to admit me, so they started doing all of that business, again seeming to take forever. And all I was concerned about was 'now when can I get that epidural????'. Two hours later, I had finally been completely 'admitted', had all the IV's in, and FINALLY had an epidural. The last hour before I got the epidural was especially ugly as I sat in the hospital bed in a most uncomfortable position as all the contractions were in my lower back and I couldn't do anything to make them any better. At this point, I figured we'd be done having kids with two since I didn't want to go through this again. So the anesthesiologist was a lovely sight and the epidural a beautiful thing. I was a happy camper at this point. So I got checked once again right after the epidural and they were surprised to see that I was at a 7 already. And then my water broke and from there, things went pretty darn fast.

About an hour later, I was ready to push. I gave one practice push and the nurse said, 'okay, don't push anymore because I don't want to catch the baby. We have to call your doctor and tell her to get on her way.' OK, so the doctor wasn't even on the way yet??? But luckily, she hopped in her car and only lives about 4 minutes away (especially at 3 am) and was there relatively quickly. She walked in the room and put on her gloves and said 'push'. So, that is what I did. I pushed one time and and at 3:27 am, out he came, with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck twice (but luckily didn't give us the grief it gave us when I delivered Tyler). So she clipped the cord and told me to push again. I pushed once more and there he was, all in one piece, as perfect as a baby Sam could possibly be. They placed him on me and he had the most beautiful soft cry I have ever heard and a head full of gorgeous black hair and he was just perfect. And I cried. I cried with overwhelming gratitude for this little miracle that had just entered my life forever. I remember crying 9 months prior to this moment when I took a positive pregnancy test. I cried that day with a whirlwind of emotions. Of course I was excited, nervous, overwhelmed, a little scared, and I looked at Tyler that day and truthfully, I wondered if it was possible to feel the same amount of love for your second child as you do for your first. Because back then, I didn't know it was humanly possible to have that much love. But on September 14, 2007, I cried a completely different set of tears. Tears that came with a realization that miraculously you can be filled with just as much love for a second baby as a first and that they instantaneously enter a spot in your heart you never knew was there.

The nurse quickly scooped him up and took him to the warming table and got him all taken care of. A few minutes later, I was told that they needed to take him to the nursery since he was breathing pretty rapidly and he was pretty pale. So I held him for just about one minute before the nurse took him away to the nursery to monitor him for a while. As I held him, his eyes were wide open and he just looked around unsure of what this whole thing was all about, but he had such a cute little face and looked so peaceful. It was about two hours from this point before I saw him again. It was a really strange two hours. I still had adrenaline pumping and the nurses got me all taken care of and told me to get some rest. I sat there in a very quiet and empty room thinking, "how am I supposed to get some rest?". Of course I wanted to see my baby, but at the same time, I enjoyed the opportunity to reflect upon the miracle that just took place without having various staff members in and out of my room. It was a nice, quiet, spiritual moment that I am grateful for. So when they brought Sam back in at 5:45, I was more than ready to hold him and study every little piece of him.

After a peaceful morning spent with Sam, I was getting more ansy than ever for Tyler to get there to see him. Garrett had left the hospital after calls to family had been made and picked up Tyler and brought him back in mid-morning. I remember hearing Tyler talking to one of the nurses as he and Garrett were walking down the hall. Hearing his voice brought a smile to my face and I about jumped out of my hospital bed to run out and get him. And finally they were there, and we were all together as a family of four for the first time. I remember thinking that Tyler honestly looked like he had grown a foot since I had seen him the night before. He just looked so big! And Tyler was SO excited to see Sam and it warmed my heart. To sit with two of my most prized possessions was one of my life's greatest moments. And Tyler liked him and then about five minutes later, he was quite fascinated with all the buttons and things you could play with in a hospital room, so his attention was diverted, but that was okay. I had had my moment, so I was happy. :)

My hospital stay was funny and unique to me for a few reasons. It was a sure realization that I am living in New Orleans. :) A few things that caught my attention were the meals I was fed while I was there. I was served grits with each breakfast, gumbo for lunch, and catfish for dinner. And I was referred to as "baby", "darlin", and "honey" by the nurses just as much as Baby Sam was. Especially by one of the sweet CNA's named Trenise. She was on shift every day that I was there and she was just a cute little Southern gal. And the last thing was when I was getting wheeled out to the car by a hospital staff member, the man told me I better cover up my baby's face because it was 'kind of chilly out'. I remember thinking, 'okay, I know it's been three days since I've been outside, but could the weather have changed that much?'. And the answer is no, it hadn't. It was hardly chilly outside. No need to cover up a baby's face, but it did give me a good chuckle. These things will always make me smile when I think about them and think about the fact that I had a baby in the Big Easy. :)

Oh yes, and I think it's worth noting that a friend of mine had mentioned a week or two earlier than this that she had heard that a good pedicure is supposed to be a trick for putting you into labor. It was quite ironic since I had a pedicure already scheduled for the evening of Wednesday, the 12th. I was actually finally using my gift certificate from Mother's Day (from my dear hubby) for a Mom-to-be pedicure at Belladonna Day Spa. I had been holding out so I could use it in the bitter end. So, I went to my appointment, enjoyed every minute of the pedicure (believe it or not, this was my first pedicure ever--I do believe I'll be having more of them!). And I just happened to go into labor the following day, so maybe it does work, eh? So, the icing on the cake is that I had the best looking feet of my life AND a beautiful baby to hold. How great is that?!

So, four weeks ago today we brought Sam home and it was been a whirlwind four weeks. It's already flying by and it's been an adjustment, but all in all, things have been great. I can't imagine not having him here. He is a sweet baby and so far, he seems just as passionate about his sleep as I am, so how can I not like him? He has given me quite a few 8 hour (even one 9 hour) nights. And as I reflect on the last month, I can't help but just be so grateful for everything we have been blessed with. I am thankful for a healthy & perfect baby, good nurses, good doctors, heaven sent epidurals, eternal families, and miracles named Sam.

I love these fresh from heaven faces from one month ago today.

We Have a Ghost

And she's really not even all that spooky.

And yes, the ghost is a she and she's quite good looking (strangely enough she resembles me quite a bit...). And I guess I'm the only one who has seen her, so I don't have back up on that one. Ok, I digress. Anyways, this spooky little ghost sneaks into Tyler's room while he's lost in dreamland and leaves a special surprise in a pumpkin that sits atop his dresser. And we are always excited to see what the ghost has left when we wake up in the morning. And from what the ghost has told me, it sounds like she will be appearing every night until Halloween. I love to hear the great ideas that Tyler comes up with as possibilities of what the ghost might deposit next. He is generally never right. His ideas are usually a little bit more grand and more expensive than what the ghost had budgeted for her nightly visits. But regardless, he seems to be just as excited over whatever little trinket he finds in the morning. We love Halloween!
I love Halloween. I love it because it means it's really Fall. I love the colors for Halloween and all the decor. And I especially love it because it's a holiday solely for FUN. Nothin' wrong with that. And I love it so much more now that I have kids. It's almost like I'm reliving my childhood through them I think.
And I do believe my mom is one who may actually love Halloween even more than I do. Some day I hope to be able to go all out and decorate for it like she does. We were surprised with a package in the mail with these cute little ghost pj's and mummy outfit for Sam that she just couldn't resist. Can't say I blame her. Love them!

And Sam must love them too. He's becoming quite a smiley little guy these days and I love it!
Tyler was lovin' Sam's "cuuuuuute ghost jammies". He was definitely "lookin' good".
And here is sleepy Sam in his cute little mummy outfit from Old Navy.
Yes, it does indeed say "mummy loves me" on it. Smart kid, eh?
And the outfit was complete with a little side tab that says "Scary". OK, it doesn't get much funner than that. Did I mention I love Halloween??? And I am down right GIDDY to get my kids dressed up this year. Their costumes are going to ROCK your socks off. hee hee! At least they are going to rock mine off, I'm quite sure! I can't wait!!!