go duck

last night at bridgeport village there was a civil war pep rally featuring benny the beaver and puddles the duck. kellen is a BIG fan of the duck, so we couldn't miss it! it was cold and a little drizzly, but my boy was in awe! couldn't wait to see the duck "being funny". we were there for close to two hours and only pulled him away by convincing him that the duck and everyone else was going home to go eat dinner and go to bed, too. the marching band starting up again as we walked off didn't help.

maya looks up and realizes something is not quite right!

kellen was a big hit too...little did we know when we put on our colors to head out the door that one of us would be crowned best dressed little duck fan! yep...kellen won the fan vote of best dressed. it was pretty funny - in the final round (yes, it went from about 10 kids down to top 4, to top 2 based upon crowd applause!) he was up against a kid dressed up in a full duck costume and it was deemed a tie. kellen was clueless about what was going on, but happy to walk away with a little duck football that plays the fight song.


kellen is a bigger fan of the duck from a distance!

afterwards we walked over to whole foods for dinner. kellen couldn't stop slamming the football on the table to make it plays the fight song and maya was quite happy to dance to the music! fun night.

miss one and mister two

for six weeks and three days we officially have a one and two year old in our house. crazy.



maya has been gaining mad skills over the last few weeks! one of her favorites is to shake her head back and forth - NO! she doesn't say it...just gets this spunky look on her face and shakes her head fiercely. like today at gymboree when all she wanted to do was ride on the rocking horse! she's just starting to stand up on her own for brief moments and loves to walk around holding onto our hands. she's climbing up on things - chairs, tables, the couch, etc. she's not so good at getting down, but starting to catch on that feet first is the way to go! the other day i found her standing on one of the little chairs reaching up to grab something on the kitchen table. yikes! she loves her big brother - thinks he's the funniest. likes to pat his hair and basically do whatever he is doing. she loves to crawl into his room and wake him if he's napping. she's becoming much more vocal...but mostly yelling and squawking but she has a few "words". she says more to go along with the sign. signs all done, eat and more. says mama and dada. she's quite a stubborn girl. hates to be fed...wants to do things on her own! she's very sweet though and we love her more and more each day!



kellen is no longer our baby or toddler - he's turning into a little boy. the things he says just make us laugh! like the other day when talking about food. "it goes into my mouth and into my belly, then into my poop!" he has no interest in potty training...even after picking out his own potty chair (pink!). he for sure knows when he is pooping because he runs to his spot behind the curtain and says i'm going to poop. when i ask if he'd like to go on the potty he says no, i'm already going. yesterday he even went so far as to get a book to read while he did his business. seriously kid...i think it's time to get out of these dipes! when he's not knocking her down, squeezing her out of the way or putting something over her head...he's the sweetest big brother! anytime she cries (even if it's because of something he did) he runs to get her a toy that he thinks she'll like. he call her my or my-my. in the last month or so he's gotten very into rough housing and wresting around. he loves watching football with aaron, but is concerned when players get hurt - who did that? he'll say. he and aaron have a game they play with the ball - basically rolling around on the floor trying to snatch the ball from each other and he loves it. let's play funny, he'll say. he'll yell out - bubba, bubba (which actually means fumble!). he's our "big boy" as he likes to remind us daily but will always be my baby!

trick or treat!

it's official...halloween is a million times more fun with kids!


cookie monster! *made by me! easiest costume...ping pong "googly eye" balls sewed onto blue hooded sweatshirt. felt cookies stiched onto body of sweatshirt. after halloween...snip the thread and it's a blue sweatsuit!


chocolate chip cookie! *made by me! even easier...felt chocolate chip cookie safety pinned onto brown shirt w/ brown pants and brown socks!


cookie monster and cookie!


maya and her buddy torsten, stuck in the strollers while their olders sibs trick or treat!


chocolate chip cookie has had enough!


cookie monster, pinkalicious, pilot and robot fairy!


earlier in the week we had some friends over to paint pumpkins. these are all of my nike mom friends who are all now staying home with their kiddos. so fun to "work" together again!


very proud of his pumpkin!

big boy bed!

we waited for so long...but finally last week, we decided to take the side off of k's crib to turn it into a "big boy" bed or "big boy" crib as he likes to call it!

the transition has been relatively easy, although he did fall out of the bed the first night. i heard the thud and waited for a cry or for him to call for us, but nothing. i woke aa up and he went in to find a dazed and confused kellen. aa helped him into bed and that was that! in the morning i asked him how he liked his bed - good he said! i asked him if he had fallen out and he said nope, but my ba (what he calls his pacifier...yes, he still sleeps with a pacifier. that or potty training is next!) fell out!

he has been waking up more often in the night - usually asking for his teddy who has fallen out of the bed. surprisingly he does not get out of bed in the morning or at nap by himself. he still calls for one of us to come and get him and still greets us with a smile and says "i woke up!". so cute.

a new favorite pastime of the kids - jumping on the bed. probably shouldn't let them do this...but they have so much fun!

my sweet maya girl's birth day

i sit here 24 hours before my girl turns officially turns 1 and i'm finally taking the time to document her birth story (bear with me!)! what a day that was...my very first day of maternity leave from nike. i had actually hoped to be off the previous friday, but of course, there was so much left for me to do, that i decided to work monday and tuesday and would have wednesday, the 21st...MY birthday be my first day of leave.



since aa and i have very few moments to ourselves, we decided to drop k off at school and set out to celebrate my birthday all day long! a couple of things happened that morning...1. my mucus plug (sorry, tmi...i know!) was lost and 2. i heard "i gotta feeling" by the black eyed peas and it ran through my head all day.



after we dropped off k, we went to starbucks to decide how we would spend our day together. i decided to splurge on a chocolate old fashioned donut since it was my b-day! :) we decided to go see a movie, since we rarely had the opportunity and knew that it would be even harder with "rolo" on the way in 10 days (give or take). we headed to bridgeport to see the informant (with matt damon...i recall it being pretty good). before we went into the movie, we stopped by the at&t store because i had been wanting to get a memory card for my blackberry so that i could take pics of rolo when he or she was born.



as we watched the movie, i started paying attention to the tightening in my stomach...but wasn't entirely sure that i was experiencing contractions. i really had convinced myself that i would not go into labor, since i was two weeks overdue, on pitocin for 25 hours and then c-section with kellen. but...there was a small part of me that thought, hmmm...this is interesting. we finished the movie and decided to go enjoy a nice lunch at meriwether's before my doctor's appt at 3pm. lunch was yummy. saint cupcakes was conveniently nearby and since it was my birthday, we picked up some cupcakes for after dinner! toasted coconut cream for me of course.



we were set to discuss our plan for this baby at the doctor's appointment. we had been trying to figure out if we just wait to go into labor and try for a vbac, induce in hopes of a vbac or schedule a c-section. just like with kellen, i really struggled with picking the birth date by scheduling something - i SO wanted it to just happen. the good news is that i had progressed from 1 cm to 3cm at that appt. i told her about the plug and about the tightening/contractions and she was hopeful that my body was showing signs of going into labor on it's own and thought that a vbac was a strong possiblity. with that, we decided to just let my body do it's work and if nothing happened by monday, november 2 (2 days past my due date of october 31), we would go in that day to either induce (if things had progressed and with the option to call it at any time to go for a c-section) or just go for a c-section. feeling great about our plan, she gave me a hug and said she'd either see us at the next appt or hopefully sooner!



immediately after we left that appt, the contractions started stepping it up...but i was still unsure about what i was actually experiencing. not wanting the day to end, aa and i headed to hall street grill for happy hour. aa had a beer or two and i had tempura green beans. we finalized our a girl middle name, should we have a girl and confirmed the spelling. we started timing the contractions. they were 2-3 min. apart and started to become uncomfortable. i still didn't believe i was in labor and we continued on to new seasons to buy groceries for my birthday dinner. as i walked into new seasons, i actually had to stop and catch my breath with each contraction - i still did not believe i was in labor. but, we decided we should hustle, get kellen at school and get home. just. in. case.



aa made dinner - halibut parmesean. i checked my facebook and at 6:11 posted his status update: "feels VERY loved by all her friends and family! Thanks for the bday wishes...had a great day...movie, lunch and happy hour with my hubby. now my boys are making me dinner and st. cupcake for dessert. it doesn't get much better!" if only i knew! the contractions continued still around every 2-3 minutes and quite painful - but i still thought this can't be the real deal. so i ate the whole dinner and the cupcake. we put kellen to bed and i called my sister to tell her she might need to be prepared to come over. i then called my friend andi and described the situation - plug gone, contracting through the day, in pain now...could i be in labor? yes!



it was about 8pm. from here, we decided to get serious about timing the contractions. i laid on the couch and for about 45 min we timed them...they were anywhere from 1-2 min. apart and this is where i realized i might be in labor. for real. i had aaron call the hospital to describe my situation. they made me talk despite my having to breathe though each contraction every minute or so and after describing my situation they said that i better hurry up and get to the hospital because we were having a baby! ah!!!!!!!!



my sister was called. i took a shower. packed a bag and waited for my sister to arrive. she showed up. took some pictures of us and we hit the road. time is about 9:45pm. about 2 minutes away from our house, i realize i forgot the special paper that i had intended to bring for the baby's footprints. i insist we turn around and get it. back on our way and aaron is driving in the right hand lane on 217 with cars passing us. i am clinging to the handle and ask him why tonight he decides to follow the speed limit. all i remember thinking/saying is that i wonder how quickly i can get an epidural and that i can't think clearly to decide if i really want to go for that vbac until i get an epidural!! we arrive in the ER parking lot and i go in and am immediately placed in a wheel chair. aaron comes along toting our 50 pounds of crap - but forgets the paper!!!



we arrive in labor and delivery around 10:15-30pm. they confirm just by my demeanor that yes i am in labor and i ask for an epidural immediately. they start doing their business of setting me up, prepping for epidural. dr barrett arrives and she is excited. the anethesiologist arrives and begins putting in the epi. dr. barrett sits and watches the monitor. once the epidural is in she tells us she wants to do an exam because she saw the babies heartrate go up quite a bit and she wants to make sure everything is good. instantly she says something is not right - she feels something and believes it is a tear on my cervix. she continues to check it out and within minutes she says the vbac is off and that we need to get the contractions stopped and baby out. (by the way...only dilated to four - seriously...was so painful and only to four!!!) we could tell that things were quite serious, but i was never worried. i was given a shot to stop the contractions and things were pretty frenzied. i was watching the clock very closely now because it was approximately 11:30pm. i ask if she thought the baby would be out before midnight and she said absolutely. hmm...selfishly i think to myself...i don't want to share my birthday! i also have doubts that it will happen because the second doctor had not even been called at that point and he would still need to arrive!



by 11:40 i was being wheeled to the OR, aa had his scrubs on and i was all prepped and just waiting for the oncall dr (dr davis) to arrive. he flew in and true to her word...our baby was delivered at 11:57pm on wednesday, october 21, 2009. SHE was beautiful!!! she weighed 6 pounds 13 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. i could hardly believe it...she was a she! what fun it was to not find out. tonight was a good night. even though the vbac was not accomplished...i couldn't be happier with the way things happened. it was thrilling to experience going into labor and it was meant to be because it just happened. my baby girl was meant to share a birthday with me (by the way...i share my birthday with my uncle who is 9 years older than me. so that means my grandma, my mom and i have all delivered a baby on oct. 21st! crazy!).



while baby girl was being measured and cleaned...i was being examined and then the tear was confirmed and repaired (so thankful for my wonderful doctor...disaster averted!). aaron and i enjoyed our baby girl in the wee hours of the morning. aa finally needed to get some sleep, but i was on pure adrenaline and couldn't take my eyes off of her. she ate right away and slept peacefully in my arms. pure bliss. {oh and it was a good thing that i stopped and got the memory card for the blackberry! text and picture announcing her birth was sent out!!}



we had a very quiet hospital stay due to h1n1. i was only allowed two support people - aaron and jan (who was wonderful to skip a family wedding and stay with our boy!). i missed my boy terribly and felt awful that he couldn't come to the hospital to see his baby sister. i was able to see him one time during the stay - we met in the cafeteria and i couldn't believe how big he had suddenly become! four days later we arrived home as a family of four. what a ride this last year has been! i couldn't be more thankful for my sweet baby girl.





happy birthday to our maya girl! we love you baby girl!

the patch

one of the nice things about me being at home and aa having a weekday off every other week is that we can do some of our family activities during the week sans the weekend crowds! yesterday we enjoyed one of our favorite family traditions - the pumpkin patch. in fact...we've been going for around ten years - we started years ago when my nephew, tylre, was kellen's age! crazy. it was the perfect day - so warm and sunny!

this was actually maya's first strip to the pumpking patch. last year we went three days before she was born! miss no nap was a trooper and enjoyed the hayride out to the pumpkin field. but her favorite, was just sitting on a pumpkin! we sat her there for a photo op and she just continued to sit there like it was a chair. k and aa hunted around for the perfect pumpkins and finally ended up with a tall, skinny one and a short, round one - bert and ernie is what we've been calling them around here! carving will commence this weekend (hopefully!).

oh and the one downside to going during the week - no corn on the cob or elephant ears!

dairy-free, gluten-free {almost!}

as i mentioned below, we are having major issues with maya and food. because of a persistant rash on her face from about the time she was four months old, we suspect she has some food intolerances, gut issues and possibly (but hopefully not!) food allergies. because i am still a food source for her, my diet can have a major impact on her, so that makes it even more challenging to figure out what triggers the rash. she has been seeing a naturopath for the last several months and i believe we are making strides. one thing that i believe has helped is eliminating dairy from
our diet. truth be told, we/i haven't completely eliminated, but we've greatly reduced and aren't eating anything straight dairy. where i haven't been so good is looking at every ingredient on things like bread. i've also tried to reduce the amount of gluten in my diet and maya has been completely gluten free.

this can be challenging. every time i am weak and eat a bit of dairy, i feel terrible if it results in her face breaking out. talk about major mama guilt! anyway...i stumbled upon a delicious and healthy, gluten and dairy free salad that i thought i'd share. i tasted it at new seasons and then happened to find the exact recipe on marthastewart.com.

{marthas stewart}

Quinoa and Apple Curry Salad

1/4 cup raw almonds

1 cup whole grain or white quinoa

1 tsp honey

1 Tbsp finely chopped shallot

1 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp coarse salt

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Freshly ground pepper

2 Tbsp EVOO

2 Tbsp dried currants

1 small McIntosh apple, diced

1/4 c. loosely packed fresh mint leaves chopped

Directions:

1. Toast almonds on a sheet pan in a 375 degree oven. Cool and coarsly chop.

2. Rinse Quinoa thoroughly in a fine sieve; drain. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add quinoa; return to a boil. Stir, cover and reduce heat. Simmer until quinoa is tender, but still chewy, about 15 min. Fluff with a fork and let cool.

3. Whisk together honey, shallot, curry powser, salt and lemon juice in a large bowl. Season with pepper. Whisking constantly, pour in oil in a slow, steady stream. Whisk until dressing is emulsified. Add Quinoa, currants, apple, mint and nuts;. toss well. Garnish with mint.

of course, i had to make a few adjustments. i didn't have shallots, so instead of adding them to the dressing, i sauteed a little bit of onion and garlic in a pan and just added them into the salad. i also could not find currants, so replaced them with dried cranberries and didn't have mint so i left it out! you can also use any type of apple you might have in your house. i used one off of our tree! this salad is delish and the quinoa packs a healthly punch of protein, so it can make a complete meal!