Gifted

My mom makes amazing afghans, and has been busy crocheting away for her grandkids' benefit. She gifted Claire with the darling ladybug blanket, and Mason with the alphabet block blanket. Claire's only method of expression right now is for disapproval. Since she hasn't shown any, I'm going to assume she likes hers.

Mason on the other hand, loves his. He spreads it out on the floor or wraps it around him and sings the alphabet song as loud as he can. While I was feeding Claire yesterday, I heard Mason and his dad singing. I rushed out of the baby's room with camera in hand and this is the "above" view of them in the living room. I'm still not sure Alan knows I took it, much less that I'm posting it. But hey, it's not a video with him singing right? I'm still going to try filming Mason so I can post it, though.

Cheese

So what does an active three year old do without Mom to entertain him while she's feeding the new baby? He runs wild with the camera. Here are some of the results:

Why I love will call... and more from Mason's big "Day Out" surprise

Sorry for the long post and obscene number of pictures without a slide show or something; going to Day Out With Thomas at the Heber Valley Railroad was a huge day for us!

So, I'm a mean mom and I didn't ever tell Mason where we were going. The night before, I told him that me and his dad had a very special surprise for him in the morning, but he would have to wait until Dad was home from work so he could ask where we were going. Alan also opted out of telling him, instead waiting until we arrived for that first look of surprise as he realized we were going to see Thomas in person.

Mom's first stop was the main ticket counter (more on that in a minute). Afterward, with our train ride secured and everything settled, we headed over to temporarily tattoo our kid. It was his choice to get them on his cheeks. And since each person with a wristband got a tattoo, Alan generously donated his to Mason's cause so Mason didn't have to choose between Rosie and Henry. If Mason had three cheeks, I would've donated mine too so he could have had another. Also, he loves them so much that he is pretty dedicated to the idea of not showering so that they won't go down the drain.

Legotown. I was very nice and didn't post the clear picture I have of the person who obviously built it standing guard. He took it very seriously for something that was on display for a million little kids. I'm sure if I worked that hard on something I would guard it with my life as well, but Legos have never been my thing. In fact, just ask Mason-- I even hate picking them up.

Mason loved the hay maze and took off at full speed with Alan hot on his heels. He only made two wrong turns. I think Mason could find his way through anything if there was a train on the other side.

This is how he spent the majority of our train ride. He pointed out to me later that he hung out the window and didn't fall on the tracks. We were grateful for that.

Claire handled the outing like a champ. She enjoyed a rather long nap in her comfy stroller, other than one lunch break. I must say I was glad they provided a nursing spot. I just wish it hadn't been downwind from the petting zoo, in a dirty tent in the parking lot, with fold up metal chairs to sit on. I guess nothing will beat the set up I have at home with my rocking chair (Shani, that link is for you if you ever have the chance to read this again! You said you wanted a chair like mine).

We were too cheap and hot to pay for the pictures with the front of Thomas because we let Mason pick a souvenir instead. So we opted for pictures next to the famous #1 before the train took off.


Mason and Dad walking down the tracks back toward the car.

This is what happens when you get a boy to bed late, get him up early, and give him more excitement than he can possibly handle in one morning. He slept like that all the way home from Heber.

Now, for the adult side of the recounting. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I LOVE Will Call. I'm not organized enough to keep track of something as small as tickets, and definitely not for the time period that is often required. Well, apparently if you order your tickets for Day Out with Thomas more than three weeks in advance, will call is not an option and you must receive them in the mail. I hated that. I hated that I received them days before I had Claire (an event which in many ways reconstituted what brain I had left into mush). I hate that I put them "somewhere safe", which in my world means they will never be found again. I also hate that everything on Ticket Web says "no exchanges, no refunds, basically don't lose these or you will have just paid an obscene amount of money for nothing".

I love that Heber Valley Railroad was so nice and reprinted our tickets and let us switch to a different time for the train ride when my failure to cope well with getting two small children out of the house led to us arriving for our train ride only right on time (which would have been fine if could find the tickets). If we go again, I'm waiting to order tickets until less than three weeks before and I'm picking them up at Will Call.

Overall, as parents, we loved Day Out with Thomas for our train-lovin' boy. We commited to go (and arranged with grandma to be a backup if necessary since the day out was so close to my due date) so that Mason could have an activity a little more centered around him in this post-Claire world where he is no longer the center of attention. I think it was an outing he benefitted from in many more than just the obvious ways, and it's something special we did together as a family that he will remember for a long time.

Our Girl

Claire Alanna

born May 17, 2009 at 1854 hrs

weighing 8 lbs, 1 oz. and measuring 22 inches long

And in case you're wondering if she looks like Mason, here you go:



Thanks for all the support, love, and well wishes! Our family is doing well and our new baby is sweet, cuddly, and healthy.

Room For One Little Ladybug

For those of you who have been waiting, here are some pictures of the (mostly) completed room for the baby. I've been taking my time getting it ready because I've had some pretty specific ideas, but most of them have come together quite nicely thanks to the effort of my parents, Alan and Mason (especially with their surprise paint job while I was at work-- how many husbands would remember the exact name of the paint color their wife had selected?!), and Alan's mom.

I had thought about doing beadboard and painting the top part of the room green. However, as I evaluated the expense and effort involved I decided that I was both too cheap and too lazy, even though I really like the look of beadboard. As it stands, I may not do a chair rail again, either. These kinds of projects are not my forte, and come out looking good only thanks to my husband's patience with me.


Her crib is most of the way put together. I just have to put the teething rail on it. The green blanket hanging on the narrow side of the crib is a really cute car seat cover that my mother-in-law made. I haven't put it in the car seat yet because I've heard the weather is supposed to get fairly hot soon.

Also, I fell in love with the vinyl lettering. If you are interested in doing vinyl lettering in your house and don't know someone who does it, I recommend ordering from Words Anywhere. Their shipping was prompt, you can custom design your vinyl, and they had lots of cute fonts to choose from.


The view from the doorway. I've got a set of wall art to put up here, I'm just trying to decide if I'm going to do with with a decorative rod or if I'm going to find some other way. Also, I will probably get a couple of picture frames or something else to put on the wall directly behind the rocking chair. The walls are still looking a little bare in here to me! I'm also planning to pick out curtains (most likely they will be black in some form) because this window is an eastern exposure and even with the blinds the sun gets bright and hot on this side of our house very early in the morning.

Also, you can see the swivel glider/recliner my parents bought for me. I'm so spoiled! This was the biggest splurge in the room, and I have already slept in this chair a few times. It's so comfy. The arms are a little higher so it will be comfortable to feed the baby in. The seat is also wide enough that Mason and I can sit in it (even while I'm big and pregnant) to read stories at night comfortably. I'm looking forward to logging some quality hours here with our new little girl and I'm not sure I can thank my parents enough for the gift.

A close up of the crib bedding, and also the best view of the green color we painted under the chair rail. It's all fairly bright green, but I had to shut the blinds for the pictures to turn out so it doesn't look true to color.

Some of the wall art that matches the bedding, and the view from the corner to the closet. At least half the clothes in there are hand-me-downs from my friend, Heather. She was so nice to share her daughter's cute clothes with us, and has greatly upped the pink quotient in our house! Although I had purchased a layette already and (don't be too shocked) it contained lots of dresses, I had stayed away from much that was pink. Now the baby has a rainbow of clothes.

This is the one cool idea I had for the room. I love the walk in closet and the potential for all that space. The bedrooms in our house aren't huge, and I don't have much room for a proper dresser. However, as I washed and hung up clothes, I realized that shelves and hangers don't leave much space for things like little teeny hats and socks. Plus there is something about hanging onesies that feels weird to me. So we attached some shelving with removable canvas drawers. The shelves are adjustable to help with future needs, too. As you can tell from even this small view, the one shelf that was originally built into the closet is full of things like blankets, diaper bags, and diapers.

I think we're basically ready for this girl to make her appearance. If I stumble across a changing table, I will use one, but I never had one for Mason and we managed just fine. Also, coming soon I will post pictures of a cute burp cloth idea my mother-in-law made for us and some pictures of the cute vinyl lettering in Mason's room.

Somebody Wishes You a Happy Mother's Day

Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you've had a baby..... somebody doesn't know that once you're a mother, 'normal' is history.

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Somebody said you learn how to be a mother by instinct ... somebody never took a three-year-old shopping.

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Somebody said being a mother is boring .... somebody never rode in a car driven by a teenager with a driver's permit.

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Somebody said if you're a'good' mother, your child will 'turn out good'.... somebody thinks a child comes with directions and a guarantee.

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Somebody said you don't need an education to be a mother.... somebody never helped a fourth grader with his math.

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Somebody said you can't love the second child as much as you love the first .... somebody doesn't have two children.

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Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and delivery..... somebody never watched her 'baby' get on the bus for the first day of kindergarten ... or on a plane headed for military 'boot camp.'

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Somebody said a mother can stop worrying after her child gets married....somebody doesn't know that marriage adds a new son or daughter-in-law to a mother's heartstrings.

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Somebody said a mother's job is done when her last child leaves home....
somebody never had grandchildren.

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Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don't need to tell her.... somebody isn't a mother.

Many thanks to all the mothers who help me be a mother every day, especially our two grandmas (the best we could ever ask for).

The Monkey Goes to the Jungle

I've been so remiss in blogging lately, please forgive me. We took a trip to Jungle Jim's with some good friends of ours a couple of weeks ago. Mason had a really fun time. He especially loves to play with her son, Ethan. Not to mention, she is a total coupon/bargain shopper and I love that she always finds economical things for us to do, which is no small feat when we have four children between the two of us. Also, I'm still giggling that she got in the airplane ride with her youngest son; I'm not calling her short by any means, but I have been too tall to ride stuff like that for a long time and sometimes it makes me not a very fun mom!

Taking every excuse for a holiday....

... no, we aren't Mexican. But we're celebrating Cinco de Mayo (and trying to clear out mom's sinus infection) anyway!

We're cooking Fire Station Chile Verde. It's a great recipe and may be the last time we do it before warm weather hits, so check it out if you want a good chile verde recipe in your file.

Sugar Bugs

I have not been a very timely blogger lately. I'm getting my butt kicked by a sinus infections; being nine months pregnant means there is virtually nothing I can do but suffer, so it's been great fun. I've been really excellent company and I'm sure Mason is totally sick of me.

Well, last Tuesday was Mason's first trip to the dentist. We love our family dentist's office (as much as is possible, anyway) so if you need a referral let me know. The hygenist was great with Mason, and explained that they had to clean all the "sugar bugs" out of his teeth. He tolerated the panoramic x-ray machine well, and was almost as fascinated with that as he was with watching Alan get his teeth cleaned. I opted out, but promised Mason that he could watch me get my teeth cleaned when I don't have to breathe through my mouth because my nose is so stuffed up.

In the end, he got a new toothbrush (trains), and new toothpaste (to everyone's surprise, he picked mint flavored over the more kid-friendly ones. He loves Altoids, what can I say?), and he picked some tiger striped sunglasses from the treasure chest. I would say the dentist was a hit, since he keeps reminding me that we have to get rid of sugar bugs by brushing and flossing our teeth.