One Plus One Equals Two

Adjusting to caring for two kids hasn’t been easy, but in ways it hasn’t been as hard as I envisioned it may be. If it weren’t for my lack of sleep I might actually consider these early weeks “fun”. Alas, waking up every three hours has left me a bit exhausted and with a bit of a short fuse at times.

Noah, at one month, and Nathaniel, now 19 months seem to decide that screaming at the same time is music to mommy’s ears, particularly at bed time. It seems to be getting better but for the first 2 ½ weeks of Noah’s little life he was suffering from colic and was gassy and painful many hours of the day. Nathaniel on the other hand has begun to develop feelings of frustration and anger, emotions I hadn’t previously seen from him in the days I could tend to his needs every second of the day. It has been an adjustment for everyone.

Things are good though. Noah’s bout with colic seems to have subsided and Nathaniel, while he continues to express frustration at points throughout the day, is for the most part very sweet and loving to Noah. He tries to hug and kiss him and loves to get right in his face (sleeping or not sleeping) and pronounce “HI!!!” loudly to his little brother. He is what I describe as “toddler gentle” or as gentle as a toddler knows how to be with him.

The boys with daddy

Nathaniel loves holding Noah

So, I continue to adjust, and learn, and love on two boys instead of just one. The ride has begun!

Welcome baby Noah: A birth story

While I’ve been learning first hand that no two children are the same, the same seems to be true of giving birth. When our first son, Nathaniel, was born, I had labored for nearly 30 hours, finally getting the chance to meet him after more than three hours of pushing. I was so exhausted my entire body was shaking and I could barely keep my eyes open. I now fall into the category of women whose second labors are much, much easier (thank goodness!).

Due on my dad’s birthday, February 1, Noah decided he would prefer to have his own special day, and in doing so also avoided his cousin’s birthday on the second. I went to see my doctor the morning of the second and was dilated to a “stretchy 3” with no contractions. It wasn’t until shortly after 9 p.m. on the second that the first contraction hit. I knew labor could take a long time to progress, so I laid quietly in bed for a bit wondering if I was actually going in to labor or if it would stop altogether. When the next two contractions seemed to come quickly I decided perhaps it would be wise to time them in order to get a feel for whether they were consistent. They were seven minutes apart.

39 weeks pregnant

At about 9:45 p.m. I put a call into Matt to let him know I didn’t think he needed to come home right away but that I was pretty sure labor had begun. He insisted he would come home. At around 10 p.m. I called my mom and we decided she would drive from their place to ours to spend the night with Nathaniel in the event we ended up going to the hospital, which we did around midnight.

Walking down the long hallway towards the labor and delivery unit labor didn’t feel real. This pregnancy had been so miserable physically. As we walked I remember thinking the contractions were painful, but they didn’t seem nearly as bad as I had remembered. I thought for sure they were going to send us back home. We were checked in at about 12:15, monitored for about an hour to see if I was progressing, then admitted shortly after. We were going to have a baby!

Shortly after being admitted I received an epidural, still feeling like the pain wasn’t as bad as I had remembered. Following that, labor was a piece of cake! I wasn’t feeling any contractions after the epidural and remember the nurses telling us to “get some rest”. I was so excited I couldn’t sleep and within a couple of hours asked Matt to get up because I thought I had felt my water break. Sure enough it had. The nurse came in to check my dilation and informed me I was a “10” and told me we could “push this baby out” as soon as the doctor was finished delivering the baby next door.

The doctor came in and a few pushes later (literally about four pushes later), I watched, still having full strength, as Noah, all 7 lbs 2 oz and 20 ½ inches of him, was born.

In the recovery room shortly thereafter I was delighted to have him in my arms and to feel better physically than I did even several days after Nathaniel had been born. Then I hemorrhaged. I wouldn’t call the experience dramatic for me but apparently I gave a nice scare to the staff and of course to Matt. I had a nurse in the room with me at the time it happened, doing a regular check of vitals, etc when all of a sudden I started loosing my vision. Within seconds of me telling her I couldn’t see anything suddenly couldn’t hear anything but muffled voices. The doctor ended up removing handfuls of blood-clots that had formed in my uterus, placing them on a baby scale to estimate the levels of blood loss. When the emergency was over I was thankful the labor and delivery had gone so smoothly and with ease because I was left feeling incredibly weak from the loss of blood, something that would take nearly two weeks to rebuild.

So, Noah is healthy, happy, and growing like mad and I’m nearly completely recovered. I’m so thankful my baby boy is here!

It's ON when this boy comes out!

One of the hardest things to deal with being pregnant with a toddler (that is not being physically pregnant with a toddler inside, but being pregnant and chasing a toddler around the house at the same time!) is my absolute lack of ability and energy to take on things that sound outright fun. You know, like the crazy projects I take on throughout most of the year.

I have to lend props to my hubby this pregnancy who has helped maintain my sanity by doing projects for me that normally he wouldn’t be given the chance to do. I tend to get bright ideas, bounce them off him, and get to working on them before he contributes. While he is great about doing the things I ask him to do, they typically get done in his timing, not my rush-rush get it done so I can enjoy it in a jiffy type of timing! And, I might add, I think he finds it entertaining to let me do all the work while he rolls his eyes (then is pleasantly pleased I might add, at the outcome of my labor) at my crazy ideas. It's part of why he loves me :)

Take for example, Nathaniel’s new dresser! Matt’s oldest brother Pete and his wife Ashley had an old dresser sitting in their garage that they offered to give us when I shared with Ashley that I was hunting for an inexpensive solution for Nathaniel so we could put his old dresser (low, with changing pad) in baby Noah’s room. I saw that thing and wanted to get my paws on it that day so I could start sanding and painting!

To Matt’s benefit, he did go and get the dresser within a week or so…but then it sat in the garage for quite a while. He sanded it, then began painting it weeks later (the first coat anyhow). Then he waited a couple of more weeks and did another coat (you see how this is going). Meanwhile, I can’t just go into the garage and start fuming my lungs with spray-paint and lacquer being pregnant (however tempting it was).

That said, as soon as that last coat of paint was dry I begged him to bring the drawers inside along with some sandpaper so I could lightly distress his masterpiece. Painfully he did, then took the "destoyed paint job" back out to the garage for a coat of lacquer. He hauled the piece upstairs to Nathaniel's room a few days later and I have to say, I la-la-love how the piece turned out! I’m so inspired by this makeover that I’m looking forward to garage sale season to see what kind of treasures I can buy on the cheap and refinish (totally doable with a newborn and toddler, right?!). Right now, I'm not sure if our existing furniture is safe! (I'm thinking dining room set makeover soon)

Without further adieu, here is my new baby:

 Okay...this is my "real" baby. I think he likes his new dresser!

Another project Matt has worked on by himself, for the most part, this pregnancy is our chicken coop! It seems ridiculous, even to me, to say out loud how excited I am about getting chickens this spring. Ask me again a few months after we get them but for now I’m elated! Our future chicks have even been subject of crazy pregnancy dreams (okay, that sounds even stranger out loud). Nonetheless I’m so grateful Matt worked on this for us! I was able to help with some of the fencing but mostly acted as general contractor when it came to brainstorming things like how it should look and to help troubleshoot how we should incorporate things like an antique window from his grandmother’s house, where the egg collection access should be, how the doors should swing, etc.

We (Matt) still have a little bit of work to do before this project is wrapped up but I’m so pleased with his craftsmanship. A bit of the cedar siding to add yet, a roost to construct for the inside, a bit of soil to add under the gate to reduce a gap, and a planter to add for additional aesthetics and we’ll be in business. Chicks begin to be delivered to the feed store the last week of February so I’m hopeful we’ll be able to get the breeds we want by the time spring rolls around.

It’s snowy today but I wanted to get a picture up of the coop from the outside so far. We added the coop to the side of our shed so it has solid walls the chickens can be locked into at night, along with a good sized run for them to be let out into during the day.

Here is my sweet hubby working on the access doors we (he) built in this fall (they're on the far side, inside the run, that you can't see from the photo above).

So, a newborn is joining our clan very soon and while I'm delighted and excited to meet the little guy, my mind is racing with all the things I want to do but have had to put off. Seriously, can I handle planting a garden this year? I'm not sure yet, but I have been browsing seed catalogs and have been trying to figure out things like whether it would be beneficial for me to rip out a stretch of rose bushes I have to make room for an asparagus patch. I'd also love to spend some time and energy working on decorating our house too. To be honest, it's quite bland..and Pinterest has been more than inspiring for a few projects I'd like to take on inside. 

All my ideas are probably just dreams to take on right now, but they're keeping me occupied while I wait for Noah, and mostly, energy, so I'll keep dreaming on!

The Holiday Whirlwind

Maybe it's because I'm in my last trimester of pregnancy, or the fact that we've been super busy, or maybe I've just been too lazy, but I'm beginning to think I really stink at this blogging stuff! Funny thing is, I actually enjoy getting to tell friends what we've been up to and share the ups and downs in life through this platform, and yet, I suppose I just need to make time to do so.

Now that Christmas is over and baby Noah is scheduled to arrive in just over 4 1/2 weeks I suppose I'd better get in at least a short update on our family happenings!

The most exciting thing that has happened for us in the past few months has been Matt's promotion. He has been working for Old Dominion Freight Line for a few years now, first as a dock worker, then driver (around the time Nathaniel was born), and was recently promoted to Operations Manager. Any promotion of course is exciting, but I'm super proud of him for taking the initiative a few years back when he let the terminal manager know he was interested in promotion. In November the terminal manager (top guy at the Seattle terminal) approached him asking if he would be interested in the job. For those that aren't aware, drivers with the freight line report to their dispatchers, who report to their operations managers, so this was a significant jump to take all at once. I'm happy to report the new job is going well! He has been approached by several people, including the terminal manger to let him know what a great job he has been doing and that they have been able to see a significant difference in the performance of the team Matt is now overseeing. Go Matt!

So, back to holiday bliss...or was it more like a blizzard?! We hosted Christmas Day at our house this year so, being as neurotic as I can be sometimes, I set a cleaning and baking schedule for myself, being sure to work in as many fun activities for Nathaniel along the way. We had a lot of fun, but in the end, I had to remind myself that if everything didn't get done it was okay. The focus of Christmas wasn't on the completion of Crystal's ideal celebration, but on Christ's birthday after all (insert "duh!" here). 

In any case, here are a few photos from the fun we had (at least what we remembered to capture on film)!

 Lots of new bread recipes, including tasty cinnamon rolls and these bagels!

 We pulled out the Christmas Classics DVD collection to watch in the morning while breakfast was being made!

 The dogs relaxed.....a lot!

 Nathaniel met Santa last year but was so young to really understand he was sitting on some fat guy's lap. He was nervous but his pictures turned out adorable!

 Nathaniel had fun helping me make cinnamon ornaments, which we hung on the tree and around the house. He recently learned how to "smell" and was so cute going up to the tree, sticking his little nose in a scrunch and sniffing the ones that hung low enough (without touching, of course!).

 Santa hat brownies turned out okay for the Clark Family Christmas party. There were only a few casualties on the way to the event after I so delicately dumped some off the plate onto the floorboard of the car. Perfecto!

 Stole this idea from a friend and Pinterest...turned out lovely, though next year maybe I'll laminate each piece and attach a magnet to the back for re-use...and play (frosty's buttons didn't fair too well with curious N).

 Who needs new when you can get used?! One of Nathaniel's favorite gifts this year was the slide we got for....free, compliments of a good friend who passed it down. We stowed it in the garage for about a month and pulled it out on Christmas morning!

 Grandma bought Nathaniel the Charlie Brown Christmas book, which we kept on the dining room table all month. Nathaniel insisted it be read to him at each meal!

Finally, our gingerbread houses were a success! It took me quite a while to shop for good deals (some free!) on candy. I bought the last available gingerbread house cookie cutter set at Michael's crafts with a 40% off coupon, did some recipe test runs, and was able to construct houses for the kids to decorate on Christmas day. Nathaniel's house, while not covered in candy, was perfectly decorated by his little hands (on one side of the roof only...and that's the way it stayed!).

Life's Expansions

It’s about due time I update our family blog! I keep reminding myself to do so and am just now, in the fall, finding the time to sit down and document the whirlwind of a spring/summer we had.

Our latest news started back in May when Matt and I had the opportunity to take a vacation away from home for the first time in the seven and a half years since we were married. For our honeymoon we had taken a trip down to Mexico, staying at an all-inclusive resort where there was food, drink, warm ocean water, and even a swim-up bar on the property. Our taste of the tropics led us to embark on a 7-day Caribbean cruise, without then 9-month old Nathaniel (he stayed with Grandma and Grandpa for the first time).

We had a wonderful time visiting St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and a private island in the Bahamas. Our adventures included a treetop adventure on St. Maarten where we went zip-lining and a sea-turtle snorkel trip off the coast of St. Thomas. The water was incredibly warm and beautiful!!

It’s no surprise we had a wonderful time. When we got back we realized we brought home an extra souvenir....

Baby #2 is due to arrive February 1, 2012! We decided to keep it to ourselves for a couple of months and have the "big reveal" during Nathaniel's first birthday party in late July. It sure was hard waiting so long to tell our family but having Nathaniel open a framed ultrasound picture was a fun surprise!

The pregnancy has, well, frankly, it has been draining. Granted, I’m comparing this round to when I was pregnant with Nathaniel, not nauseous and full of energy. That hasn’t been the case this time around. While I never did physically throw up I was nauseous for the first 3 1/2 – 4 months during my waking hours. The tiredness hasn’t really gone away but at least I’m not feeling sick as much anymore (always a good thing!).

Because of being tired and “sick” while pregnant, the garden, once again, suffered this year. Eh….at least there is always next year. We successfully grew blueberries, raspberries, carrots, tomatoes, rhubarb, snap peas, pole beans, (a total of 2 ½ cucumbers  - lame!), and a few hot peppers, but not nearly as much as we planted. I like to blame this on the late spring we had, which I’m sure had a lot to do with it, but frankly, I could have done a much better job with the watering and care. Oh well…I’ve let it go, and I have a new walk-in bean/pea trellis, which I la-la-la-love (thanks Matt!).

So, it’s officially fall, and we’re planning our next adventure. The plan? We’re getting chicks in the spring! Operation chicken coop build has commenced and is making steady progress. Making great use of the add-on I built when I installed our shed almost five years ago now, we’ve begun closing it in and have plans (and the materials) to fence off a good-sized run in addition to the coop itself. I’m really excited about the potential of fresh eggs….I’m just hoping I can manage an active toddler, newborn, and household while I get those chicky babies up and growing! Wish me luck!

Last but not least, while we go full-speed ahead towards our 8^th wedding anniversary on the 18^th of this month, and the beginning of the holiday season, Nathaniel is growing so fast! He’s nearly walking…up to three-to-four steps at a time now (insert proud mama smile here) and is quite the gibber-gabber. His latest word attempts include “shoes”, “socks”, “Z” (for “Zieto, our shepherd…which comes out more like a spitting sound), and “night-night” (complete with a clicking of his tongue like some tribal African language). Ahh…I love watching this boy grow and learn!

Contract work is going well also. I’m back at World Vision until mid-November working on a stellar Media team and as usual when I work alongside of them, learning a ton! While I know I made the right decision to stay home with N (and the new baby) and have learned to love “not working” I still love “the work”. I can’t think of a better way to spend working time than to be contributing towards something I’m passionate about (and the extra money is great to have too!).

Last but not least:

Best purchase this year: My soy milk maker! This thing has paid itself off this month and I’ve come to really enjoy the fresh soymilk without extra junk (like sugar and other chemicals) that commercial soy milk includes. Bad news is my milk sensitivity has seemed to worsen a bit…but that’s probably because it’s out of my system now and I can tell a huge difference when I consume something I’ve made/baked/cooked with milk.

Looking forward to: The arrival of our new bread machine. This was a huge splurge for us and we went for the home bakery system by Zojirushi. I’ve heard nothing but great things about this machine after researching and price quoting it for a few months now. I’m happy to report we were able to get an awesome deal on one and should have it in a few weeks. So…if my house smells of freshly baked bread every week, you’ll know you can come grab a slice!

Have a safe fall, enjoy your families, and I’ll try to keep updated more often as to avoid the subject-skipping extended posts in the future!

Homespun

Okay, so I guess I've been a little granola, or crafty these past two weeks. While I've been waiting on more contract work to be ready I've really enjoyed trying a few new things I thought I'd share. 

1. Making baby food

I don’t have ice cube trays yet to store large amounts of food but I’ve been starting to make more of Nathaniel’s food. While I could probably set all those glass Earth’s Best Organics baby food jars aside and take them to a recycling facility I end up just throwing them in the garbage since our waste management doesn’t accept glass off the curb. I hate throwing away so many baby food jars….and spending nearly $1 for each jar when I know I can make the same thing for pennies on the dollar. He has been enjoyed mixtures like pear, plum, mango and sweet potato carrot.

2. Dryer balls

I’ve been wanting to get my hands on a set of these balls ever since a friend told me about them after I started cloth diapering since dryer sheets shouldn’t be used. Dryer balls don’t cause any buildup on the material, cut static, and speed up drying time. Since so many people sell them on sites like etsy (something I’m thinking about) I knew I could figure out how to make them myself. I contacted a wool mill in Pennsylvania and had a couple pounds shipped. I just finished them up and am putting them to good use!

Wool balls inserted into a nylon stocking and ready for the felting process

Completed wool dryer balls!

3. Homemade pasta

I’m guilty of having a pasta making tool for a few years and NEVER opening the box….until now. As a side to the filet minion and mashed cauliflower with cheese, I decided to do a garlic and olive oil tossed pasta side. I’m happy to report that not only was it much easier than I thought it would be, it was also delicious!

4. Wetbag

This project has been on my to-do list for a couple of months now. To avoid dragging plastic sacks everywhere we go I have now equipped the diaper bag with an adorable wetbag to store dirty diapers (or anything else wet) until we get back home. I found a cute pattern at the fabric store at a fabulous price and picked up a brand new zipper for .10 at the thrift store (hurrah me!).

Completed wetbag

5. Cucumber/pea/bean trellis

I’m hoping this project is wrapped up within the next few weeks so we’ll be ready to plant once the frost date passes. I’m in the process of digging up the sod where we’re going to place the trellis and the last four pieces of lumber are waiting for their last coat of stain (I’m planning on doing that today).

6. Making soy milk

I’ve been drinking soy milk ever since I found out I have an allergy to dairy a few years ago. I really enjoy soy milk but it is SO darn expensive! When I learned there is a way to make soy milk from the comfort of home I just had to give it a try. From beans to milk the process took a bit of time but I did it! I understand they have soy milk making machines….one might just end up on my Christmas list this year!

Dry soy beans

Soak overnight

Blend with water

Simmer for 20 minutes

Strain through cheesecloth

From start to finish

And…as I stay busy with projects around the house I’m getting ready to take on another contract job and go on our cruise. I’m more excited for the cruise!

Ready, set, spring!

Spring is finally here!

I’ve been waiting ever so patiently for the sun to come out and the past couple of days couldn’t be more beautiful! Spring around the Clark household means one delightful thing….Crystal gets to play in the garden again!

While this may prove to be much more challenging than in years past because of our little bundle of joy, I was able to pull out a blanket, a few toys, and have my little man accompany me out in the backyard today to play. Toys were fun for a while but then we decided to play in the dirt and plant our first four rows of seeds in hopes that some of the early veggies will be able to outlast any additional frosts (our last frost date in Puyallup is not until May this year – ugh!).

Nathaniel inspects a handful of dirt before planting seeds.

Today we put one row each of radishes, beets, Swiss chard, and cauliflower into one of our raised beds. In addition, our hot peppers are begiining to flourish in the garden window. We tried these last year as well with not much luck but wanted to give them a go again since we've had huge success with jalapenos and serrano chilies in the past.

 The rhubarb starter I picked up at the Puyallup farmer's market last summer is taking off this year.

My next project is a 8X4 bean/cucumber/pea trellis. Matt took me to the hardware store this weekend to pick up the materials (2x2x8 boards and wire fencing material). I stained the boards with an oil based stain to protect the wood from the weather and insects and will hopefully be working on the construction soon!