all in good time...so they tell me.

Perhaps this picture says it all. I took another dosage of the ol' castor oil today and twice as much as before. While it was more gentle than the last time (you'd prefer that I not expand here--you're welcome), it seemed to be "working" in terms of bringing on labor. I was ecstatic. Starting around two, contractions became regular though not painful enough to constitute real labor. I called the birth center around 6:30 to inform them of the potential Miss Aves appearance. I was told to take a walk for an hour. We did. Contractions lengthened, accelerated, strengthened. YIIPPPYYY!!! Called midwife back. She said to come in for a check around 8:00. Did. I was lectured on taking the castor oil, told not to do it again, and sent on my merry way. And Adam sat there with a lovely told-ya-so-neurofreakazoid-smirk on his face. Since being home, they have weakened even more, and I am conceding. I give up. I will try no more (I don't think) to force this baby out. I know she has her own schedule and I should respect that.
And these two cheeseballs have been living it up while I pout around the house, seeking new ways of making the universe bend to my desires (and also take multiple naps). I think tomorrow, I'm just gonna play with them.

An Update from the Expectant Mother...finally...

Hi. 'Member me? I've been very anti-puter these days. I have been reading your blogs, even if I haven't commented. I think about commenting, I ponder and plan, and then I fall asleep. The napping has increased even more with my mother taking up residence here for a few weeks while we wait for Miss Avery and while her husband is traveling about Nigeria for the month. I really will reemerge full force in a few weeks. Promise.

Some big things have been happening these days. Babies seem to be emerging all over, and I couldn't be more excited. (Actually, I could be more excited if I could be depregnatized immediately, but we'll get to that frustration in a moment.) Bloggerfriend Becky and her husband welcomed lil' Ellen MeKay April 12th. She's a doll, and I can't believe she's already so BIG!!!! One of my first great friends from college, Shannon, and her husband Wes welcomed their daughter, Abbie Grace, on May 13th. She's as pretty as her Mama, and I'm so glad things went so well for you guys!


We'd like to congratulate my sister Jenny and her husband Andy on the birth of their daughter, Briahna Mei Blessing, on May 16th. This pretty little lady is truly a blessing after a tough year for them and the family after the loss of sweet Jade Lynne. We welcome you to the family and are so happy for all that you've brought to your Mama and Daddy (and the rest of us). Hopefully you'll have a new little cousin (within the next 12 hours, preferably) to come play with you!!



We'd also like to congratulate our dear friends and neighbors, Amy, Tommy and Walker, on the birth of little Miss Aubrey Rose. Gracen and Walker got to have their first sleepover last Friday night when we got the call that sweet thing was on her way. They wanted to share a bed, but we decided (G's father, especially) that perhaps sleeping might be better accomplished if separated. Lil' A made her appearance about 1:18 AM, May 17th at their home. One of my midwives said that smelling a newborn baby's pheromones can help induce labor. Needless to say, I'm going to rub all the hair off of poor Aubrey's head from sniffing her to death. Thank you, Amy, for letting me borrow her:)

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And on to the bitterness...

I am 3-4 cm dilated, completely effaced, have had my membranes swept, have taken castor oil (ouch), have eaten cups full of parsley, have pumped ounces of colostrum, have taken homeopathic tinctures, have jumped up and down on an exercise ball, have walked for miles, have drunk gallons of red raspberry tea, have taken evening Primrose oil every way possible, etc. And I'm still pregnant. Yes, I realize that I'm not technically to my due date yet and that my obnoxious behavior is complete overkill to the process and my sanity. The only thing I can rationalize, is that doing "something" at least helps me to feel in control, as obviously ineffective as my trying is. I know that she can't stay in there forever, but I NEED FOR HER TO COME OUT NOW!!!!! If ever I was even slightly graceful or composed during this pregnancy, which I'm pretty sure I wasn't, I have lost it all. I'm having contractions, sometimes regular and even uncomfortable (if fact, I just had a big one--SWEET!!), but none that seem to want to hang around. I find it odd that I'm craving the pain so badly. I need to go write a note to myself to read while in the midst of labor when I'm screaming like a monkey and certain I can't go on that reminds me of how I desired to be in this place and what will be there at the end.

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If I'm still pregnant tomorrow, I'll update on Gracen and her new twoness.

The Deuce

First, no baby yet, but Shanna is showing all the signs...maybe G will have a sister by Memorial Day!!! I'll keep you all up to date as things develop (or maybe Jessica will).

OK, the G-Unit turned 2 almost a month ago, and I'm finally getting around to blogging the affair. I'm sure that says something about us as parents.

I guess this is the point that requires some emotional reflection about how enriched our lives are because of Gracie. Those of you that know me, know that I'm not exactly what you would call "sensitive", so here's my best effort at it....

Gracen has been the center of our lives for the last two plus years. She has been the reason behind ALL of our major decisions in life: what job to accept, what house to buy, what car to drive, our diets, our exercise routines, our sleep schedules, etc. Raising a child, as most of you know, is no small task. It requires tremendous sacrifice--most of which has been borne by Shanna--and it's an 80 hour a week job without a vacation package. As a scientist, it's been fascinating to experience altruism firsthand. I mean, sleep is a precious part of my daily routine, yet the demands of parenthood have required me to frequently forgo my right to a "good night's sleep". (Again, I have to add the Shanna disclaimer...she sleeps much less than I do.) Anyway, we as parents throw our personal interests out with the dirty diapers in exchange for what's best for our children. And why do we do it? Mostly because we can't imagine doing it any other way, but the reason I do it is to see just how happy the kid can be. Yeah, for me, it's all about that smile.

While the point of the 2nd B-Day party was to maximize the kid's happiness, the camera failed to capture even the slightest hint of a smile from the birthday girl. She isn't quite as receptive to the camera's presence these days. That's OK, she's still cute whether she smiles or not.

Our custom party banner set the tone for the night's festivities. Thanks to Katie Kate, an unparalleled artistic genius when it comes to the textile medium!

Gracie fights for her safety as she recognizes the danger posed by two flaming birthday candles.

The party continued thanks to Shanna's impressive work as the back-up candle-blower-outer. (And yes, that's Matt Jessee with a girl in the background. Her name's Tess and we're big fans.)

Nevin and Zachary are kickin' it at the party. Notice Melanie in the background (Nev's wife) pining over the thought of Nevin as a daddy.

Walker Blue after his favorite pastime, competitive eating. I'm pretty sure he out-competed Gracen and the dogs. Here he's preparing for the next big competition, present opening.

Walker assists the G with her birthday booty. Get your minds out of the gutter; I don't mean it the way the hip-hop community uses it!

Lily Grey takes it all in with those beautifully wide eyes.

Phillip Thomas came all the way from Hawaii to meet Zachary. He also made a cameo at G's party. Good to see you Phillip.

I couldn't think of a better pic to end it on. Believe it or not, this was the closest the camera got to capturing G's delight during the soiree.

Bein' Preggers Ain't Easy....

Why hellllooo, Ladies!

Shanna hasn't dropped off the face of the earth, she's just really busy being pregnant. So on the weekends, we've been giving Mommy some much deserved breaks....

For the last three weeks Gracie's been talking incessantly about three things (besides Froggy): Smokey Bear, talking trees, and boats. To calm the child's anxiety, we've cruised over to Smokey's place for the last few Saturdays to literally say, "Hi Smokey". As you might guess, Smokey lives in the forest, so we usually pay a visit to the talking trees that live near by. (Sorry they're not pictured. As glamorous as they may sound, talking trees don't photograph well).

Note: Froggy is also a huge fan of Smokey's

And if the weather's nice like it was this Saturday, we head out in the boat. Gracen's favorite past time in the boat is saying,"Hi", to: the rocks, the water, the river, the lake, the birds, the turtles, the froggies, and to the occasional jumping fish.

Little G rockin' the hat on Lake Jordan

Saturday's destination: White Oak Creek Wetlands.

Well, there's a brief post for you. One of us will write more in the coming days. We have to post something commemorating G's 2nd birthday. I'll leave you with a picture from the festivities......

Gracie opening the now infamous, "Ruff Ruff Bubbles"--it's the gift that keeps on giving, Ryan!

Countdown...

Seeing as how Miss Avery will be considered "full term" in less than a week, we've been in a mad panic to accomplish things around the home. While I have taken over internal abode organization, Adam has attacked the yard. Unfortunately, we don't have a good before picture of our entrance to the house without cars in the way, so it's difficult to compare all that he has done. Basic before: sparse grass, lots of clay. Basic after: new gravel rock-lined paths to front and back doors (we don't know which is which--if you come over, just come to a door, and we'll let you in), new shade garden which included tilling, weeding, spreading turkey poop, tilling, spreading more turkey poop, tilling again, mulching, planting and a fun new willow hedge. The border was intended to keep the pups out. It did not. Adam put some white flags from the invisible fence in there, and they've stayed far away. If only the deer could be so trainable.

I forgot how long minutes become in the final weeks of pregnancy. I'm going to try not to complain here, as I've probably hit my quota thanks to Amy, Adam and Laura's willing ears. Let us just say that I'm less than a pleasant or even tolerable version of myself. I'm getting on my own nerves; I can't imagine having to live with me. I do, however, have to say that comparably, I am much better off than I was at this point when pregnant with Gracen. You can still see the bones in my feet and ankles on most days, and my knees are still distinguishable between my lower thighs and calves. Before, it was one long, solid, ugly trunk of pitting edema. All I can say is that ALFALFA ROCKS!!

The closer we get to Avery's arrival, the more confident I feel in our decision to have an out of hospital birth. While I am disappointed that we won't be able to have a home birth (Adam is not), I am happy to know labor will be allowed to occur as naturally as possible with little to no interventions. And it's nice to know that we'll be able to leave within a few hours afterwards, assuming all goes well. There's a piece of me that is even looking forward to the familiar pain again. This time, I know the intensity of it, but also know that I am capable of accepting the pain and my animalistic instincts and bringing a baby through it. Please don't imagine that I "accepted" the pain gracefully. I was moaning and screaming like a crazy person, and if I could have remembered how to talk I would have had someone drive me down the road to the hospital and begged for some general anesthesia. My goal is to go into the process a little more composed and relaxed. And if the crazy monkey me returns, that'll have to be okie-dokie too.

I'm sorry for no pics of the princess. The batteries have died in the camera. I have batteries, but in my "organization" I seem to have forgotten what I've done with them. Okay, she's begging for some stwawbees and huwus (strawberries and hummus), so I should go assist...

pics...

Cutie-patuties go to the zoo (looking at elephants)...Dinner for two...Cuteness crawling over the couch for the 87th time that day...

Ouchie.

I appear to be top heavy. And not in the very fun oh-my-goodness-check-out-what's-happened-to-the-'girls' sort of way; rather, my big ole belly seems to have altered my center of balance, and I fall down, go boom. Gracen and I were feeding the dogs the other morning on the porch. I was being lazy and didn't feel like opening up the baby/dog gate (though it is a very simple thing to do). Instead, I opted to lean over the gate and put the food on the top step, which I have never done. I also didn't take the time to reason that this was probably an unkind and awkward place for the pups to eat. Harley's food went down to the step just fine. Athena's, however, turned into a bit of a calamity. The gate, which my belly was apparently resting upon, crumbled under the weighted pressure and fell forward onto the dogs. They quickly bolted, and the gate continued it's decent down the stairs with me upon it. The belly was safe all the while--don't worry Mother. The most difficult part was trying to figure out how to actually get up from gate upon stairs, which was left on an incline from stoppage from the landing while my head was hanging down and my legs were still four steps above me. After getting it together and becoming vertical again, I turned around to Gracen staring at me, saying "Mama fall ('faw'), Mama hurt ('huwt')." And then she cried for me. I love her.

I think I'm going to put myself on bed rest for the next five (or TWO) weeks.

Blogger is being stupid and won't let me add pictures. Sorry. I'll try again later...

hiya!

I find it rather sad that I seem to only be capable of blogging once a month. Life with an almost two-year-old is all consuming, and if I ever have a moment to myself, I find I collapse and fall into an immediate slumber. I would like to promise to do better. I’ll not.

The following will just be some randomness from this past month. My brain is a big ol’ pile of mush, and my word retrieval is _______(I can’t think of the word).

A few minutes ago, Gracen tried to feed Avery a plantain chip through my belly button. She’s showing some wonderful big sister qualities these days. Please refer to our Picasa photo site for April to see her in action with lil’ cuz Zachary. Also, I have recently learned that I can upload my videos directly to Picasa, so I’m going to give up on my YouTube video site. Simplify.

Gracen has become rather obsessed with the joy of water these days. It began with Walker and her playing with soapy water on the patio and has somehow morphed into bathroom and kitchen sink bubble baths for her toys. Everyday. Froggy got a bath today in the bathroom sink while I was busy changing sheets (sidenote: it is not easy to change sheets 8 ½ months pregnant). It turned into 45 minutes of severe crying and depression as he hung over the tub to dry. I even brought out Froggy #2 (he had been recently washed but more recently peed upon and was in the launder lineup again) as an attempt to calm her spirits, but he was too bright, too green, too smelly of pee. Actually, the funky smell is probably the only thing she found comforting about him.

On another Froggy note, we have been very careful not to have both Froggies accessible at the same time. A few weeks ago, however, she discovered #1 in the laundry as she was holding #2. We really thought this would be catastrophic and that her little universe of toddler reality and order would just collapse around her. Not the case. She fell into the floor laughing and has since demanded that both Froggies accompany us everywhere we go. I’ve been trying to break the cycle of Double Dodgy (G-word for Froggy) over the past few days, which is perhaps why today’s event was so “emotional.”

(It is now “tomorrow” and I still haven’t finished this damn post.)

I’m just going to quit writing and leave you with some pictures. Perhaps my eloquence will return tomorrow…

In training...

We spent some time in Asheville recently. It was wonderful, as always. Gracen loved being with her Ghi-ghi and Pops (G-word: Pots). And we got to see our favorite Colorado family!!

Hello handsome...

I can NEVER get them to look at the camera!! Too, too busy to be bothered with such trivial things as documenting their toddlerhood...

We received a letter from our niece Katelyn. Her 2nd grade class had been reading Flat Stanley, and she sent us a Flat Katelyn to have an adventure. Gracen wanted to take her boating (I refused), took her for a drive (in park), and then had to bandage her up (she ripped in two). We love you Katie Lady!!

Baby Avery

locked up.

Hi. I missed you. It's late, and I'm sleepy, so this will be brief.

This has been a fast and interesting month. Gracen is talking nonstop these days in words that we tend to understand. She's starting to put words into sentences, which is so cute. Our most common sentences today were "Dada working" or "Go Walker's house" or "More George please" or "Ghi-ghi bye-bye house." It really is cuteness overload. With Gracen's only-child time quickly coming to a close, I'm trying to soak up as much as possible and not wish this time away in pining for Avery's arrival. She's sleeping well again through the night, and I've started taking daily naps with her. This began as an attempt to get her to stay in her bed rather than playing during nap time, but has turned into a luxurious highlight of my day. I'm getting absolutely nothing accomplished, but I seem to be okay with it. Life now is simple, rested and good.

Pics for AnnieBelle...

Gracen is enjoying her first milkshake. I think she likes it when Mama has cravings.

Somebody was very excited to be eating pasta for dinner (and lunch and then dinner again). It was spaghetti with meat(soy)balls. She seems to think balls are meant for throwing. I guess they are.

This is the very early stage of baby Avery's room. It is now filled with much more stuff that has been moved out from storage. I think we're ready!

This is Gracen's very lived in big girl room. She loves it. She locked herself into this room during nap time today. And it should be noted that I do not handle panic situations with any amount of grace whatsoever. She was on the opposite side saying, "Mama door. No sleepy," and I was on the other side crying hysterically. I finally got it together after a few minutes and called Amy, my neighbor and hero. She calmly pointed out that I could stick something long and pointy in there, and it should open up. It did.

So this bad boy is my latest big purchase: Tike Tech ATX All Terrain Double Stroller. I have been researching double jogging strollers for a while now (I blame this on you Sunday). I really wanted the BOB double, but was unwilling to drop the money on it. This one is comparable to the BOB line, but is much more affordable, according to the hundreds of reviews I've sifted through. And baby A can go in it at six weeks of age without the need for a car seat attachment. And because it came with a slight and fixable defect, they're sending me a free infant seat insert. Yippy for flawed Velcro!!

Perhaps you're wondering why I made such a purchase. Adam was wondering as well, especially since I didn't tell him about the investment until some days later. I seem to have gotten it in my head that I'll be running the Kiawah Island half Marathon next December. For those of you who know me well, go ahead and get your giggles out. I'm not a runner. Athletic, maybe, but certainly not a runner. I don't like running. I may have run four miles at some point in my life over a decade ago. Somehow, I seem to think my post-prego unrunnable self will be able to get it in gear for 13.1 miles by December 6th. Adam's going to run it as well. He, on the other hand, is a runner and actually enjoys it. I think maybe pregnancy hormones are making me insane.