Maisie Turns Two!

Maisie Josephine came into the world with a little bit of drama on September 27th, 2005. It was a Tuesday, and I had gone to my midwife for my 39th week appt. To my shock, we found out she was breech. That was around 10am and by 5pm I was undergoing a procedure called a version, which involves turning the baby with a good amount of delicate pressure to the outside of your belly - all the while an ultrasound tech is helping the doctor see what position the baby is in. Maisie turned - a 50% chance. We were ready to be induced and have this baby. But then her heartrate dipped really low, 2 times in a short period. Luckily the ER team and room was all ready for me (a formality with the version procedure). And you probably guess the rest of the story - Maisie was born cesarean section. A perfect, 7 lb 11 ounce little girl:)

I can't believe two years have passed...For those that have known her since her birth, isn't she looking like such a big girl?

Maisie's is my yellow girl, so when I came up blank for birthday party themes, I just went with YELLOW!

The kids were invited to wear yellow and most of the little ones must of had stuff in their closet to fit the bill, because here they are looking cute!




This is another "Pam cake". She will be horrified that I included it in this post, as she hated the way it turned out. But, you will agree with me, that it was whimsical and feminine and perfect!

The highlight of the party, for Maisie, was definitely the singing and blowing out candles. She sang along and tasted the frosting and loved every minute of it.

The "big kids", slipped into typical gender roles - girls in dress up clothes the entire night and the boys racing around and giving Maisie tips on how to ride (or how they would like to ride) her new hotwheel.




This intimate gathering turned out exactly how I envisioned it weeks ago...just family celebrating Maisie. The only thing that didn't quite turn out as planned, were the miniature carmel apples. Any suggestions here?




And finally, because I know my readers will like this, I am sharing that instead of giving out party favors to the kids, I decided on coffee candies and Starbucks giftcards for the MOMS at the party!

**This post is dedicated to my husband, who stopped his office work to hang new shelves, and jumped in helping with the girls off and on through out the day, and my mom who came over three and a half hours before the party to help with the girls. Without them, I never would have been able to pull this one off!

Note to self: Always Stick to Bedtime Routines

I have been loving this blogging so much, that it has been taking me away from some of my regular chores or sleep rather...both important. So this week I was going to stick to two posts.

But last night in the middle of the night, I was already writting this one after an interesting "mom moment".

You see usually, our bedtime routines, go something like this: we start by brushing teeth, then Mike takes one girl to her room, and I take the other to hers, and separately we change diapers/ put on the night time pull-up, pajamas, books, prayers and our exciting exit.

Well, last night, Mike was gone for the entire night and I decided to put them both on my bed for storytime. (we skipped teeth brushing - if my dentist is reading, sorry Amy!" Then I took Maisie to her room, new diaper, pjs on, got her tucked in and went back to take Daphne. Well, she was already nodding off in my bed and I thought, "why not just let her fall asleep here and I'll move her when I go to bed?". So then, I went about my nighttime fun minus Mike: checking your blogs, watching my dvr'd Friends reruns, and eating way too many graham crackers, just because I had the munchies.

When I retired to bed, I decided I would just let Daphne sleep with me. I love that anyway.

Here's where I see if you were paying attention above...what bedtime ritual did I miss with Daphne?

It wasn't until after midnight sometime, when Daphne crawled out of bed and preceeded to pee right on my floor. It was then that I realized we had never put a pull-up on. I think she was confused where she was, trying to make it to bathroom? and didn't.

Good or bad, I am not sure, but she peed all over my comforter that had fallen on the floor on her side, and all over my body pillow. Missed the carpet that way, but now I have some dry cleaning bills?

Needless to say, I tossed all that stinky bedding in my shower, cleaned her up, put on a pull-up and we went back to sleep!

But not before I made the mental note to "always stick to bedtime routines!"

The Perfect Apple Slice

Did you ever have a moment, when you realized you had truly become a mom?

And I am not talking about the moment your first baby was born, or even the first year of your child's life when everything was miraculous, and exciting and scary...but somewhere in the ordinary moments of your life, when you stepped back and went, "Okay, now is the moment!"

I had a moment like that not too long ago. Like I said, it was a very ordinary activity in my day. I was preparing a very usual lunch for my hungry girls. I had already put the main staple on their plates - something exciting like turkey dogs or pb sandwiches. Then I went over to the cutting board to slice up an apple. I went chop, chop, chop and then took each wedge and did a quick and easy slicing movement to remove the core left on it. I looked down to my cutting board and went,

"WOW, just look at that! Okay, I genuinely have reached MOM STATUS."

Why you ask? Well, I remember eating lots of lunches as a kid that consisted of a sandwich, apple or orange slices and chips. No biggee right? I thought so too at the time. Then I started babysitting A LOT as a teenager and I would go to do the apple slices and they came out all mangled and ugly. The kids didn't care, but I always wondered how my mom always made them look so pretty.

Well, the other day, I realized that I had become like my mom, a Master Apple Slicer. And since that moment, I have been looking at my apple slices as a piece of art. Not because I really think apples are very pleasing to the eye, but because I had performed a very usual motherly task so many times for my kids now, that I became really good at it.

So, today, September 25th, is my mom's birthday. And I dedicate this blog to her. Thanks for all the apple slices over the years Mom, and of course, for all the other great things you did and DO for us too!

And she's beautiful too...Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Summer in Review Unfinished...

It's just a blog, I know, but I am still an over-achiever student at heart, and it bugs me that I can't finish my idea for last week.

Reason being - I have two disks of pictures that have "errors" and I can't get them up on my computer. You may never see them, but one was full of more Idaho pics and the other a disk full of memories from the beach trip that I took with my brother, sister and mom and their families this August.

The beach pics were going to be my last post in that "series" and this boring post takes its place, but like I said I had to have some closure! Someday if you see the title Beach Trip, you'll know that I finally got my pictures taken care of and that I couldn't let it go...

Memories to Remember (This is always for my own sake folks, so feel free to STOP reading)

1. Fabulous girls weekends - one with Jill, and one with Rori, Leah, Tara, Amy and Candice. I ate a lot and laughed a lot and enjoyed what other Godly women are teaching me a lot.

2. Our backyard FINALLY being landscaped.

3. Grandpa Mike building a really awesome playground structure for the girls.

4. The summer Daphne only wanted to wear dresses. And purses, purses, purses.

5. Maisie really starting to talk and becoming more a little girl than a baby. And her favorite person being Jabe! Oh, and her favorite pasttime - buckets and sand.

6. Daphne's first VBS experience with cousin Max and neighbor, Gabby.

7. First house with air conditioning and first pregnancy in air conditioned home to boot.

8. Mike's and my trip to Bellevue - all alone.

9. Poor, Lesley's summer of stress, but getting to see her a lot more!

10. Dad's 5 week and counting stay in at OHSU - and God's grace to begin healing.

11. Karen Kingsbury's First Born Series - Great books!

PLEASE VOTE - To make or to buy????

This post is completely ruining the flow I had going with my "summer theme" chosen for this week. But, tonight I am avoiding cleaning up my kitchen, by instead, posing an interesting question for you readers.

So here goes...Last hunting season, while Mike was gone for 9 days, I decided to make my own version of a Thanksgiving banner I had seen in the Pottery Barn Kids catalogue. It actually turned out really good, but did take a bit of work. I was hating my choice during the cutting, gluing and sewing late at night, but loving my decision after... I'm quite the romantic, envisioning all the Thanksgivings to come, when the kids and I pull the banner out and I explain how I made it during one of Dad's hunting trips years ago.

So tonight, I saw this advent calendar at PBK online...I love it, but it is $69.00. I am really thinking about diving into this project again this year. Any seamstresses out there know how hard this project would be?? And am I crazy to try this when I barely get my normal chores done with my current, pregnant, energy level?

Just for fun....would you make it or buy it? I'm curious!!

All you have to do to comment, is create yourself a FREE and harmless Google acct. It should be easy...

Our Family Vacation

We had the best time this summer, vacationing just the four of us, at our family vacation home in Idaho. The town is located up in the mountains, right next to the most fabulous lake! It was unusually hot, even for July, and the girls had a blast swimming and playing in the sand everyday. Mike got in a little golf and I read one or two books!! It truly defined what vacation with kids is supposed to look like.

A Summer in Review

Some of you may be thinking that summer is way over, but actually I have all week to complete my review. My internet source says that the Autumn Equinox happens around the 22nd of September. So, my goal will be to post my best pics of Summer 2007 in the days to come.

Let's start with one of the first really hot days we had - none other than July 4th!

The parade was really fun, except for the heat!

And one side note, is that I have since cut around 6+ inches off Daphne's hair, and NOW she wants to be Pocahontas for Halloween. If I had only known, I would have waited...OH WELL! ENJOY!