Joy of Love: Day 2

The theme for day 2 is "How they look".  Ashlin gets the spotlight for this post.  There's not a whole lot to say about this.  Ashlin does one of two things when I get my camera out.  She gives me silly faces or moves so much that the pictures are blurry (I can't have my shutter speed high enough in my apartment because the light isn't great).  I can take 65 pictures and only get 2 usable ones and they usually look like this:

Or this (she won't smile unless I beg and happen to capture it lightning quick) :

But it's ok cause that's true lifestyle, right?!  She's super sweet and totally adorable even without smiles (and I'm not just saying that cause I'm her mom),

Joy of Love: Day 1

I'm participating in a 28 day online "class" called the Joy of Love.  I forgot about it til yesterday so I played catch up and took day one's pictures yesterday...shhhh, don't tell anyone ;o).  (I'll put day two in another post.)  Ok, so the theme for day one is "What they do", meaning what does your loved one do (any of your loved ones...you don't have to photograph the same loved one each day).  I picked Jace for this.  I picked him for a very specific reason.  He has a pattern down pat.  And I mean he does this every. single. time.  Every time!  What does he do, you ask?  Well, it's simple really.  If I put him down, he cries.  I didn't take just one picture because I wanted you to see what it looks like as it happens.  Think of it as a storyboard, but not combined into one picture like they normally are.

1.  I lay him down and he looks at me:

 2.  He smiles:

3.  Oh wait!  He realizes I'm not holding him! :

4.  So he cries:

5.  And cries...:

6.  And cries...oh my word, isn't he pitiful...do you see that little tear that breaks my heart into a million pieces?! :

Don't worry.  I stopped being mean to this poor little thing and picked him up after this picture when he promptly stopped crying.  I'm serious...I literally only have to pick him up and he stops like he was never crying in the first place.  *Sigh*  I wonder how I ever get anything done around here?

busy busy bee

That's what I've been since the 1st.  I decided on the 1st that since we were turning in our 60 day notice to move that I wanted to start packing the things we wouldn't need in the next couple of months.  Along with that, I decided to get rid of everything that we haven't used in a year (and some things that it hasn't even been a year, but I deemed weren't necessary to have cluttering up the place).  So far I've gotten rid of like 10 trash bags full of stuff (some of that to goodwill, some to a friend, and some was just garbage).  It feels SO good to have that stuff out of here.  I finished packing the bedroom as much as can be packed for now.  I need a few more boxes before I can pack anything else, though.  So even though we turned in our notice, we don't actually have anywhere to move to yet.  We started our house hunt today.  I found 12 places so far that could be in the running, but hopefully I can find more.  We'd like to compromise as little as possible :o).  Along with the house hunting and packing, I've also been doing more laundry than I thought was humanly possible.  I really slacked on that over the holidays plus the kids all got clothes for Christmas that got added to the pile.  Ok, enough about my boring ol' life for now.  Laters!

Update!

          Well I totally suck at blogging...lol.  I haven't updated in so long, so here we go.  
          Jace is 7 weeks old now.  I can't believe how fast these past 7 weeks have gone!  He was 12lbs 8oz at his one month appointment.  He's such a porker!  He's got to be close to 13lbs by now...maybe more.  He's outgrowing some of his 0-3 month clothes already.  He smiles more and he's even laughed a few times.  He also talks a little bit.  Jace has thrush at the moment and if it were gone 2 minutes from now, it wouldn't be soon enough.
          Kelsie and Ashlin are doing well.  They still fight all the time, but I guess that's a sibling thing.  They'll fight, but turn around and hug each other.  It's really sweet (or "weet" as Ashlin says) to see them playing nicely together and hugging each other.  Christmas was 3 days ago and the kids had a great time!  I loved seeing their faces when they first saw what was under the tree.  Kelsie saw the presents and then ran straight for the plate Santa's cookies were on to make sure he ate them.  I love how into the festivities Kelsie was this year.  Since she's four, she's old enough to understand so it was tons of fun.  We made a gingerbread house this year and also baked and decorated Santa cookies, made applesauce ornaments, went to the mall to ride the Christmas train, and we went to visit Santa, but he wasn't there, unfortunately.  The girls also had a Christmas program at church and it was so darn cute!!!  Kelsie even sung Joy to the World all by herself!!!  I was "that mom" with the video camera...lol.
            So, 2011 is just days away.  I seriously can't believe how fast 2010 went by!  It's that time of year when we talk new years resolutions.  I wasn't planning on having one this year since I always make them and never keep a single one.  I think I will, though.  I have a few things I really want to do, so why not call it a resolution.  First, we plan on moving when our lease is up here.  When we move, I want to keep my house organized.  We have like zero storage where we live now so nothing really has a home and it's driving me batty.  That HAS to change!  Second, I want to lose weight.  Yep, the good ol' losing weight resolution.  The one that millions of people make and no one keeps.  It's going to be really hard to get myself in a habit to go to the gym, especially having 3 kids, but it has to happen.  I have a lot to lose, so I just need to buckle down and do it.  My final one is to learn my camera more.  I need to find some "me" time to practice with my camera and get better at photography.  I have so much to learn, so there's no better time than now.
          Well that's all, folks.  See ya again in a month (sooner if I actually sit down and do it)...lol.

Hurry!

There's not much time left!  Paint the Moon photography has a huge...and I mean HUGE giveaway going on but it ends at midnight tonight.  Better go enter!!!


http://paintthemoon.net/blog/2010/11/the-be-inspired-giveaway-photoshop-actions-for-photographers-create-fresh-inspire/

Mr. McSnorty

That's right.  I called my son Mr. McSnorty.  Why?  Cause he snorts...a lot!  It seriously has to be the cutest sound ever!  If he's up on my shoulder, he'll start rooting on my cheek and snorting away.  I really have to get a video of that so I don't forget it years from now.  So Jace is 10 days old today.  He lost his umbilical cord stump 2 days ago (Nov 15th) so he got his first bath in the tub last night.  He definitely hated that...lol.  He doesn't like being cold one tiny bit so the second his clothes are off, he's mad.  We got through it, though, and he survived.  Kelsie loves him to pieces.  She likes holding him on her lap.  She can sit there and hold him for hours sometimes.  Ashlin likes him, too, but she's content to play by herself and then come say hi to him for a minute and go back and play.  That's really all there is to update on him for now.  He's so little that he doesn't do a whole lot other than eat, sleep, and poop...lol.  Here are a couple pictures of this little man.

He's here!

My due date was November 12th, but I was scheduled to come in Monday, November 8th to have the doctor (Dr. Traver) break my water.  I was 3cm dilated at my last pre-natal appointment but I wasn't thinned much.  Dr. Traver said there was a chance I could go into labor over the weekend, but that she thought I'd make it til Monday.  I went to bed Saturday night, but I couldn't fall asleep.  I was very uncomfortable and sore.  Not too long after I laid down, I got a contraction.  I'd gotten in the habit of timing contractions since they were becoming more frequent over the last couple of weeks.  I had another one 13 minutes after the first and then another at 9 minutes, 6 minutes, 6 minutes, 4 minutes, 4 minutes, 5 minutes, 5 minutes, 3 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes.  After the first 4 or so, I got up to walk around and take a shower to see if they'd go away, but obviously they didn't.  After timing them for about an hour, I decided they were close enough to call Daniel at work and have him meet me at the hospital.  My mother-in-law came over to stay with the girls and a friend of mine drove me to the hospital.  We went to L&D and they monitored me in triage for a few hours.  I would have been sent home since the contractions weren't all that strong or regular, but since I have very fast labors and my last daughter was born in the car on the way to the hospital, they didn't want me leaving (even though I was only dilated to a loose 3cm).  They got me in a room and I got my IV (took two tries for that since the nurse hit a valve the first time and blew a vein...that hurt).  By the time all the paper work was finished it was 5am and I could finally sleep.  Except I couldn't fall asleep for an hour.  Of course.  A few hours before I'd told Daniel he could go back to work since he was 10 minutes away and we knew at that point that my contractions weren't going to get closer until the doctor could break my water.  The nurse came in at 7:30 Sunday morning to check me and, surprising, I was 5-6cm.  They called Dr. Traver and she finally arrived and broke my water at 9:36am.  My contractions got regular and stronger, but they were about 5 minutes apart and I knew I couldn't have a baby without them getting closer.  I wanted to get up and walk around, but they wouldn't let me for fear I would progress too fast and have the baby on the floor.  You have one baby in the car and you're branded for life...lol!  I agreed to have a low dose of pitocin to get the contractions closer together.  I had pitocin with Kelsie so I knew the stuff was horrible, but it was worse than I remember.  The contractions definitely got closer and stronger.  My nurse, Shelly, was awesome.  Daniel had to step out of the room to go get something from a friend outside of L&D (he stepped out right as she was starting the pitocin) and MAYBE 5 minutes after the pitocin was started, I was throwing up (seriously...pitocin is evil).  Shelly was right there holding my bangs back for me.  From that point on, she didn't leave the room.  She left everything up to me as far as when to check for dilation and completely trusted my judgment.  She checked me 3 times.  The first time, I was still 5-6, but he was getting much lower.  The next time I was 7-8cm and had a small urge to push with the previous contraction which is why I had her check me.  The 3rd, I was 100% effaced, but still 7-8cm.  I spent most of my time on my side cause it helped relieve the pain a bit, but after the 3rd time she checked me, I got a contraction before I could roll back over.  With that contraction I NEEDED to push.  I was afraid to since I was only 7-8cm and I was afraid I would tear, but I couldn't help it and pushed anyway.  Shelly called everyone to come running.  He was born just a couple of minutes later.  He was born 30 minutes after the pitocin was started and an hour and 58 minutes after the doctor broke my water.  Dr. Traver barely made it in the room on time and didn't even have time to break down the bed.  Before the pitocin, my labor was cake, so I lucked out and only had half an hour of hard labor...NICE!  So, without farther ado, introducing:

Jace David
9lbs 5.3oz
20 in. long
born at 11:34am
on November 7, 2010 (which happens to be my birthday)

Here's a link to my flickr album if you'd like to see the pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jessie7813/sets/72157625343156332/