Memorial Weekend

We have had an absolutely beautiful weekend here in Cincinnati. The temperature has been warm, but not too warm and the skies have been clear, providing lots of sunshine. The kids on our street have been outside almost non-stop (as have most of the parents). We've bbq-ed at two different friends' houses and enjoyed some great hang-time. We are so thankful for the friends that God has brought into our lives here in Cincinnati. They open their homes to us and invite us to hang out with them and their extended families on weekends like this when family time is the norm.

Speaking of family, Memorial Weekend will always remind me of my family. Since my mother's birthday is May 24th, it falls on or near the holiday weekend every year. So, I hope you had a wonderful birthday mom! I love you so much and can't wait to see you in August. My grandfather's birthday is just a few days later, so Papa, I hope you have a great birthday too! I'll call you on Tuesday. I love you both so much! Happy Birthdays!!!

Simply Flirty

OK, SIMPLE has done it again. Today they have a review up for Flirty Aprons. So CUTE! I have to say wearing one of these must make doing the dishes a little bit more fun. Although, now that I think of it an apron would probably be most useful when I'm baking. I'm more apt to enjoy baking rather than doing dishes anyway. Oh well, it is worth a try - anything to make dishes more exciting! I am particularly fond of the Blue Chocolate design - very fun color combination. So, if you are even remotely domestically inclined head over to Simple to see the review and then head to Flirty Aprons to see their selection!

Blog Posts After Midnight?

Now I remember why my mom said she would name her book "Letters After Midnight." At about the two week mark in Jack's short life he decided that sleep in the middle of the night was overrated. In all fairness to him, I think he is exhibiting most of the signs of colic or as Dr. Sears puts it, he sounds like a "hurting baby." Poor guy is pretty gassy. I can't tell if it is something in my diet. Even with burping him after feedings (and sometimes during) he has bouts of what appears to be pain. He draws his legs up like a frog, then straightens his entire body out rigid as a board, then jerks his legs up again.

I think I may need to try cutting many of the usual suspects out of my diet to see if it helps his distress. Unfortunately that may mean not eating much of the great food that people have been generous enough to bring for us in the two weeks we've been home with Jack. Oh well, James and Katherine will still benefit from these offerings!

On another note, I seem to have failed miserably at keeping up with project 365. I can't imagine why (ha ha), I've only just brought home baby #2 and James has gone back to work full-time (including traveling). I just can't seem to keep up with taking a picture EVERY day. I still pledge to have the camera out more and take more pictures of the kiddos than I had been taking before. I just don't think I'll be able to take a picture every day. Oh well, it is a great idea!

Cool Site

I just found a really cool mom blog (thanks Farrah!). It is called SIMPLE and it is full of reviews and giveaways. One of their latest review/givaways is for a really cool Growth Graph. It is like a poster-sized baby book and scrapbook all in one.

I am super excited about the blog though. It looks like there are regular reviews and giveaways, not to mention great links and a ton of coupon codes for other mom-oriented sites/stores. Yet another great blog to add to my RSS/Atom feed!

Beautiful Spring Day

Today has been one of the most beautiful days we have seen this spring. Cincinnati weather is pretty fickle this time of year (well...most of the year) so we have had wide variations in the temperature and precipitation. But, today has been beautiful. Temp in the 70's, sunny, and just a tad breezy.

I took my camera out to get some shots of Katherine and the flowers and leaves on the plants/trees in our yard. I can't tell you how much I love the way that the sunlight filters through the big tree in our front yard. Seeing the occasional ray of sunshine that has fallen on a colorful flower and catching it on film is a happy occurrence.

My one complaint about this time of year (although I'm sure I could think of more, but it is too pretty today) is the impending onslaught of caterpillars. The first few have shown themselves over the last week. Give it a couple of days/weeks and we will have hundreds of them in various stages of development (including the dead ones) clinging to every surface (eating my small tree by the front porch, plastered to the sides of the house, etc). The only invasion worse is that of the 17 year cicadas which I got my first exposure to four years ago - yuck.

Katherine is hysterical when she comes across one of the caterpillars (or any bug for that matter). She squeals with absolute delight, calling anyone within earshot over to look at whatever creature she has found. She will even let some things crawl on her hands - although if they get too close to her arms/sleeves she gets a little panicked. Maybe she has some of her mama's curiosity in her (which led me to major in biology in college). I hope she doesn't develop an irrational fear of things like bugs, lizards, frogs, etc. I would hate for those squeals of delight to turn into shrieks of revulsion (although she doesn't have to love EVERY bug, I certainly don't). Oh well, we'll see.

So far other than a passing interest in princesses, crowns, and dress-up she isn't an extreme girly-girl. I rather like the rough-and-tumble version of my daughter. I am sure my mother finds this dynamic rather comical since she had to force me to wear skirts or dresses when I was in junior high and high school. I swore I would wear pants in my wedding (luckily I relented on that by the time I actually had a wedding) and I have never been much for jewelry, makeup or high-maintenance hair.

I am still not a fan of skirts or dresses other than for special occasions (and if there is a suitable pants outfit for those I would still prefer that) and it takes something pretty formal for me to do more than blow-dry my hair or put on more than chapstick or lip gloss. It will be interesting to see how Katherine's tastes develop. I will try to be reasonably supportive in whatever direction she goes!

Two weeks of pictures for my 365

Sleepy boy! 5/10/08

As a friend once said: Real men wear pink! 5/9/08

Snug as a bug... 5/8/08

Who's wide awake in the middle of the night? 5/7/08

Awesome day at the park 5/6/08

Future babysitters 5/5/08

Playing on our very own playground 5/4/08

Multitasking 5/3/08

In my nursing throne 5/2/08

Proud Big Sister 5/1/08

Prou Mama and Daddy 4/30/08

Welcome to the world sweet boy! 4/29/08

Lots To Catch Up On

Wow, this has been a crazy week! When last we "spoke" it was my anniversary, I was looking forward to an actual date with my husband, and I really wished I could welcome our baby sooner rather than later. Well, we had a wonderful date. We went to my favorite pizza place in the world, ordered the best meatball pizza around, and followed it up with some of Cincinnati's best ice cream. For those who know about Cincinnati ice cream - we prefer Aglamesis to Graeter's. We were still home early enough to watch a movie with Katherine before heading to bed. It was a great anniversary!
Monday was relatively uneventful other than an increase in the number and intensity of the Braxton-Hicks contractions (which just put me in a bad mood). Katherine and I ran some errands, stopped at the Servati bakery for a cookie, and made our way home. We both napped for a while and I woke up ravenous for a good gyro. I told James that the baby needed a gyro so we packed up and went to a great local place that has apparently been there for over 40 years. It was AWESOME and the family that runs it the nicest people! Our waitress and I talked kids, pregnancies, etc. and she told me that a friend of hers came in for a gyro and was in labor 4 hours later - a thought which made me happy.
Well, by the time we attempted to go to bed I was having contractions 7-10 minutes apart. By 2:30am they were between 3 and 6 minutes apart and getting fairly uncomfortable. I called the doctor a little before 4am and she told us to go ahead to the hospital triage to see if I was actually in labor or not. We got there by 5:30 or so (after waking up our wonderful neighbors and getting someone to come down and be at the house while Katherine was still asleep). They monitored me for a while, told us to walk around that floor of the hospital for an hour, monitored me again, and were prepared to send me home.
God was with us because when we came back from our walk there had been a shift change for both the nurses at the hospital and the doctor on-call from my ob/gyn practice. Before sending us home the new nurse noted to the doctor that there were some slight decelerations in the baby's heart rate recorded. The doctor decided to play it safe and said that although that could be a result of absolutely nothing, he would admit me and break my water in an effort to get my contractions into a better pattern and get things moving with the birth. The doctor broke my water around 9:30am and at 3:59pm we welcomed Jack into the world!
We had a wonderful experience: great doctors, amazing nurses, just excellent care in general. James' parents came down to be with Katherine while we were in the hospital, arriving about 30 minutes after Jack was born. They took great care of Katherine, helping to make her transition a little easier. We came home Thursday around lunch to big hugs from Katherine. She is really excited to be a big sister!
We have enjoyed settling in as a brand new family of four. Friends and family have been absolutely wonderful wishing us well, visiting, bringing gifts, and bringing us food. We are so amazingly blessed! We are thankful for all of the gestures of love and friendship we have received. God bless you guys!
On another note, I created a family blog to post updates and pictures. So, if you are interested head over to http://thekanarynest.blogspot.com. Also, my version of project 365 officially began the day Jack was born (ha ha, taking the easy way out - who doesn't take pictures of a new baby?) so I will be posting a bunch from the last few days!