Meet Ethan!

Ethan Henry

2:20pm, October 28th, 2011

7 lbs, 13 oz, 21 in

I'll spare you the jumbled rambling of a sleep-deprived brain and just let lots of pictures do the talking:

Introductions:

The doctor said I was really bruised, but
Mommy and Daddy said I was just perfect.

Grandma arrived just in time!

Discovering the family:

Leaving the hospital

What kind of crazy contraption did you guys stick me in?!?

At home for the first time

Already found that thumb...

More to come...in the mean time, we're loving every crazy moment of falling in love with our new little miracle man!

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real} - Almost There!

Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life!
Every Thursday over at Like Mother, Like Daughter


{Pretty}

Pretty Kitty!

...and one curious monkey

When Marie decided that she wanted to be a "kitty" for Halloween this year (a pink and white one, to boot), I decided I was motivated enough to attempt a home-made costume. So after a few trips to Michael's and a little ingenuity with the needle, thread, and glue gun, I pieced together something that remotely resembled a cat. Thankfully she loves it! And hopefully, (if a certain son-in-waiting actually waits),  I'll be able go trick-or-treating with both my Pretty Kitty and Goofy Monkey for the first time (since I had to miss out on it last year because of silly Army training).
Bring on the candy!

{Happy}

Our anniversary is next week, but we didn’t plan anything...precisely because planning any event at 40 weeks pregnant is just, well, laughable. Luckily I married the most thoughtful man ever, because Monday night he surprised me with an early anniversary date/game night. Mind you, game night for us entails a knock-down, drag-out fight for the title of “Winner of [insert game]” followed by prolonged bragging rights. (We can't play Scrabble together anymore for the sake of sustaining our marriage). Anyway, I'd apparently mentioned my nostalgia for a certain childhood game--Battleship--during our last game night, and he remembered. (Go ahead, call me a dork).  So, to my delight, after dinner on Monday he unveiled a romantic spread of pumpkin-shaped Reese's, along with a shiny new box containing Battleship. And after the best two out of three games, I proudly waddled sauntered away as the Winner of Battleship, leaving a defeated Peter brooding on the couch. Until next time, my dear…

{Funny}

My husband made a rather astute observation this past week as I turned sideways and tried to squeeze between a dining room chair and the wall. “Why don’t you just face forwards instead of turning sideways? You’d fit better.” This had never occurred to me before. And brought me to the realization that I’m indeed much wider sideways than I am from the front. (Four inches wider, by exact measurement). Holy ballooning belly, Batman!

{Real}

Tomorrow is October 28th. Yep. That would be my due date. 

eek!

Our Friend Jack

O'Lantern, that is.

A few weeks ago we had a blast picking out pumpkins from the patch:
Marie wanted a "big big one," Erik liked a green-tinted one, Peter picked a nice plump one,
as did I, and we also picked the perfect mini for little Ethan man.

(I think the "big big one" weighs more than she does!)

Even more fun than picking them? Carving them! Although Halloween is still more than a week away, we decided that this weekend was a good time embark on our pumpkin carving adventure, lest the early arrival of a certain someone preclude us from doing so in next week.
These kids sure didn't mind!

Jack O'Lanterns all aglow!

From left to right: 

The Rocky Mountain Skier, the Monstrous Goofball, the Bitty Baby, 

the Happy Mom, and the Fierce Green Growler

39 weeks and counting! As for whether or not this guy

will be meeting his pumpkin face to face?
That's anyone's best guess...

The best part about having a pumpkin family of five? Five gorgeous gourds full of my favorite treat ever! It may look like a ton, but once roasted, these scrumptious seeds will not last long. Trust me. It's been a long year's wait for these babies, and they will even make the trip to the hospital with me if need be!

Happy (Early!) Halloween!

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real} - Sew Stylish!

"capturing the context
of contentment in
everyday life"

Watch out, world--domesticity has got ahold of me! When my friend Julie offered to share her skills and give my bumbling fingers a sewing lesson or two a few months ago, I was beyond excited...but quite skeptical of my abilities since I hadn't so much as touched a sewing machine since 6th grade Home Economics. Yet under the expert instruction of such an amazing seamstress, and with the help of her beautiful vintage sewing machine, I was able to not only have fun but create something cute and wearable! It was far easier than I'd anticipated (apparently I did develop a few fine motor skills in the past 15 years) and gave me great hope--and motivation--for the future! The best part? I'll get to test it out soon! (hint, hint...)

{Pretty}



Pretty in Purple

Julie told me to find a pattern I liked for my first project (me? pick a pattern? when I don't even know how to thread the machine???) and assured me that we'd get through it together. We then went to JoAnn's to choose the fabric and other essentials for my 'project.' Of course, after perusing the entire store, I ended up with...none other than my old staple: pretty purple. (Some things never change)! I also picked up some lovely ribbon to pretty it up even more.

{Happy} 



Front view of my oh-so-stylish hospital garb!

Facebook knows me so well! I was a bit intimidated searching for a pattern for my lessons until the fateful day Facebook flashed an ad proclaiming I could get a designer maternity hospital gown and give birth in style! After a few clicks, though, I discovered that said 'designer style' would set me back about $60-80, on average. (No thank you!). So after consulting Google and weaving my way through the ever-winding blogyrinth, I happily stumbled upon this FREE PATTERN from Lazy Girl Designs, which I found through This Blog! When all was said and done, with the help of some sales and cupons, I got all of the materials for under $20. Talk about a sweet deal!

{Funny}



Back view--snaps and ties and ribbons galore!

Funny how I always seem to strike big on beginner's luck! It only took me two lessons before we were able to finish the gown...with a few alterations adjusting it more to my liking, of course! It comes complete with ribbon ties and snaps in the back (instead of just ties), and we added snaps to the shoulder seams so they can open for easy nursing access. Julie's patient instructions, help, and watchful eye made it quite easy...and stoked my confidence enough to get more fabric for a second gown! Not that I plan on going into business right away or anything (but hey, I just might if you twist my arm enough...)

{Real} 



Ain't she a beauty?

Unbeknownst to me, as I (not-so) secretly salivated over sewing machines online, Julie's watchful eye was scouring antique shops and flee markets for the real thing--a vintage one like hers (you know, the kind that once upon a time was made to last?). Well, lucky for me, she found one! A real, live, Singer sewing machine circa 1952, which she generously presented to me last week so I can feed my new addiction! Oh the excitement...now all I have to do is decide what my first creation will be!

Thank Heaven for Beautiful Souls

My friend Caroline is a fabulous mother who has been through so much in the past few years. She is a role model for so many, and we were honored tonight to remember her beautiful son, Cale Harrison Hidalgo, in a special way. Cale passed away just prior to his birth on June 28th, 2010, and Caroline has done an amazing job of honoring his short life in so many ways since he was born. This year, as part of October's National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month, Caroline and other families who have lost their children invited friends to light a candle at 7pm on October 15th in memory of Cale and babies like him who are with God.

So at 7pm we lit the candle with our children, said a prayer and sang a special song for Cale and all the little souls who have gone straight to heaven. Thanks to Caroline, we also took the opportunity to honor the lives of our own two children whom we never had the chance to meet.

I am reminded in times like this how important it is to to acknowledge all beautiful souls not just for their existence on earth, but for their eternal life in heaven. Though the ache that comes with no longer getting the chance to see or hold the ones we love remains very real, the love we have for them is not in vain. They are more than just memories; they still exist as living souls who serve as powerful advocates for us in heaven until we can join them. And when we do, it will be forever with a God who loves each of us--unborn babies, energetic children, and disgruntled adults--more than we can fathom. What a beautiful thing that is!

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real} - Grandparents edition!



"capturing the context of
contentment in everyday life"



What could be better than a four-day weekend?  A four-day weekend with granparents! We had the pleasure of houseguests again this past weekend when Peter's parents flew in from Denver. As excited as we were to see them, I think the kids had us beat (by a lot!) with their delight that Gran and Grandad were around! It was a fun-filled weekend with lots of adventures, to include dinner at the local Japanese Hibachi steakhouse, a trip to the pumpkin patch and corn maze, the playground, and strolling around the island in the river near our house.

{Pretty}

It's probably cheating to use the beauty of fall for this category for a second week in a row, but I can't resist. Especially since it involves pumpkins and darling girls with sparkling sunglasses [emphasis on the darling girl].

{Happy}

Playgrounds + gorgeous fall days = happy kids.
Playgrounds + grandparents + gorgeous fall days = elated kids. And parents!

 {Funny}

Also happy was the fact that Gran and Grandad let us sleep in and got up with the kids in the morning! Especially funny was the fact that Grandad became Erik's new best friend after Grandad rewarded him with the Goldfish he requested for breakfast one morning. Possibly the new breakfast of champions?

{Real}

Maybe we're lucky, but it seems that with grandparents always come good tidings (like awesome weather!). This time they brought with them sun and 70 degree days and another stroke of luck--a call from Denver University saying Peter was accepted into their MBA program! Plus the backing to go with it: a generous financial aid offer that would allow us to live off of slightly more than beans and rice for the next few years. Still waiting on decisions from the other four schools (Rochester, Dartmouth, Wharton, and Harvard) which should be rolling in over the next few months. But the fact that we have at least one option for our quickly-nearing future transition--and can actually picture ourselves somewhere for real--is fabulous!

Hyp Mama: Lesson 3--Blissfully Numb

Many of you have seen these posts and expressed interest in finding out more about Hypnobirthing. You can find all the posts I've written about it here:

My Discovery of Hypnobirthing: 

Hypno-What?!

The Hypnobabies Lessons I've blogged through:

Hyp-Mama: Zero Day 

Hyp-Mama: Lesson 1 - The Power of Words

Hyp-Mama: Lesson 2 - Out Like a Light!

Hyp-Mama: Lesson 3 - Blissfully Numb

Hyp-Mama: Lessons 4&5 - Push it to the Limit

Hyp-Mama: The Grand Finale - Ethan's Birth Story! 

And also be sure visit the Hypnobabies website, www.hypnobabies.com, for more great information. (Some of the Hypnobabies links embedded in my posts may be outdated since Hypnobabies has updated their website). If you have any questions or want more details, please feel free to send me a message and ask away!

---              ---              ---

Lesson 3 is a short but crucial one: how to create the all-important "anesthesia" that will make the birthing process peaceful instead of traumatic for both mom and baby. It's a simple concept that builds on Lesson 2: once turning off your "lightswitch" and relaxing every muscle completely, you're instructed to imagine anesthesia flowing through your body, making it blissfully numb.

When creating anesthesia in the Hypnobabies program, a woman has two options (can you tell I'm an artist?):

1. Staying "off" in the completely relaxed hypnotic state while keeping your entire body under "general anesthesia," though your mind is still totally alert and aware of everything that's going on:

Full-body anesthesia

2. Move from "off" to "center" (eyes-open hypnosis) and essentially create an anesthetic "block," meaning that you can open your eyes, walk, talk, and move around, but still maintain that blissful numbness in specific areas. This type of technique has actually been used in modern medicine for things like surgery, and dental procedures for patients who are allergic to other anesthesia (crazy, huh?).   In the case of birthing, the block occurs from your upper arms, through your midsection to the mid-thighs, allowing you to maintain complete faculty of your arms and legs but still feel no pain as the birthing muscles contract.

Partial block anesthesia

Why these options? Because women need respond to whatever their body needs at any given time during the birthing process. Option one allows a woman to remain calm, restful, and comfortable as the pressure waves build on their own, or if she needs to take a break and re-gain some energy. Option two allows her to remain comfortable while taking a more active role to participate in techniques that help with the baby's descent (also useful if the process seems to have stalled a bit), using things like walking, squatting, changing position, or the belly lift to help move things along.

This anesthesia--especially in the "center" or eyes open stage--is the meat and potatoes of the Hypnobabies approach, the specific technique that helps a woman alter interpret the concept of pain as simply pressure. This definitely sounded too good to be true when I first read about hypnobirthing--that it was possible to 'imagine' the pain away--but I truly experienced it working to my full benefit with my last birth. When I remained relaxed as the self-hypnosis taught, I was able to envision a cool blue anesthesia flowing to wear my pain was, changing my perception of what I thought was "pain" to just strong pressure. It was still hard work and took all of my concentration to remain relaxed, but when I did, I was able to marvel at the absolute power and significance in my body's ability to bring our child into the world--pain free!

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}

I've decided to jump on the bandwagon and join the Thursday link-up over at Like Mother, Like Daughter (although my not-so-techno-savvy brain is still figuring out the actual concept of a link-up)! Here's my first installment of {pretty, happy, funny, real}; the tagline is "Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life," so here's my attempt to do just that!

{pretty}

Fall, gorgeous fall! Blazing leaves and spice and everything nice (except possibly the harsh winter to follow). When the temperatures started to drop, I dug out the wreath I made last year and decided to glitz up and add a block letter for this season. A nice little update, and perfect for our phonics-enraptured toddlers!

{happy}

It's a potty party!

I'm not sure if anything can make the mom of toddlers feel more triumphantly happy than the words "potty-training breakthrough." Especially when it involves not one, but two of said toddlers. Lest I jinx us into a relapse, I'll just say that since last week, we seem to be on our way (so far). Incessant thanks to our nanny dearest, whose halo is getting quite shiny from having her patience tested so!

{funny} 

Dads and their warped sense of humor. Seriously, what is it with them? I was totally confused the other day when my daughter exclaimed (seemingly out of the blue), "Bless you, Yabba!" as we sat at the dinner table. Yabba is our kids' grandfatherly title for my dad, in case you're wondering. My husband snickered while I tried to figure out why my daughter said "bless you" to her Yabba, who lives a few hundred miles away. A few moments later I heard the sound of the automatic air freshener sensor clicking, followed by another "Bless you, Yabba!" from my daughter. Turns out that Peter told our darling girl that the sound of the air freshener (which sits on our wine cabinet behind a picture of my dad and I) was actually her Yabba--from the picture--sneezing. To which she naturally responded, "Bless you, Yabba!" every time she heard the sensor thereafter, thinking that he was in the photo sneezing. Thankfully once I explained that her daddy was just being silly, she was able to call his bluff. But he's still making a valiant effort in getting our son to believe his tall tale...

{real} 

Marie hugging an almost-full-term Ethan!

Tomorrow I officially hit 37 weeks. 37 weeks = Full Term in the big wide world (pun intended) of pregnancy. Oh, baby...can anyone say reality check?!?

Pumpkin and Spice!

I'm officially obsessed.

Maybe it's that fall chill in the air, maybe it's 3rd trimester cravings, or maybe it's the irresistibly delicious pictures that keep popping up on my Pinterest, (probably a combination) but I must confess that pumpkin's got a hold on me.

It also helped that my devoted husband grabbed a 29 oz. can of pumpkin while doing the grocery shopping  (yes I'm bragging), which happened to be the largest on the shelf. So after only using 1 cup for my original intent--delicious pumpkin bread--I was left mulling over more recipes that would use up the 3 remaining cups of canned pumpkin. But thanks to all the pretty pretty Pinterest pictures and my cravings, I was left with no shortage of great pumpkin-y ideas. Here's what I made this past week:

1. Pumpkin Bread

I was originally inspired by a Pinterest image from Cooking Light, but I'm not exactly a cooking 'light' kind of gal, so after looking at the recipe, I ended up going with This Amazing Recipe from our Joy of Cooking Cookbook instead. (Which was one of the best wedding gifts we got, by the way!) I chose not to top it with any nuts or use the raisins/dates--though I was tempted to throw in some chocolate chips but held off this time in the interest of analyzing the basic recipe. Next time I'll probably add them, or whip up a nice cream cheese frosting to top it off. 

Analysis: Delish. Unfortunately it was demolished before I thought to snap a photo or two, but just know that it was just that good.

 2. Pumpkin Pie Shakes

Yep, you heard me right. As in milkshakes. Once again inspired by a Pinterest image, but this time I went with the recipe that matched it from Cooking Light. Well, for the most part. Once again, I'm all for all-natural, but not 'light,' so I wasn't about to use fat-free ice cream or cool whip--I used regular vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. And I didn't exactly have "pumpkin pie spice" lying around (??) so I used a combination of nutmeg and cinnamon, assuming that this was the intent. 

Analysis: Good but needs some tweaking. 2/3c pumpkin was way too much. I ended up adding about twice as much ice cream in an attempt to balance the flavor, which helped, but the pumpkin flavor was still a bit overwhelming and made it pretty rich. Hubby finished all of his but there was no way I could. Next time I'd probably go with 1/3c at most. And yes, there will be a next time.  

3. Pumpkin Soup

So I really just wanted to make more pumpkin bread since the first batch was gone, but we were out of sugar and eggs and other essential ingredients...and I was not about to throw out all that leftover pumpkin. So I decided I could use the rest by making soup...but didn't want the sweet flavors that a lot of recipes I saw incorporated (like cinnamon, nutmeg, or cloves). So I looked at a few basic recipes, then kind of made up my own concoction. Of note, I use powdered garlic and onion only because I'm allergic to the real thing. Bummer.

Analysis: I loved it. Hubby thought it was fine (but he's not as partial to pumpkin as me, either). In the end I wouldn't change anything, and I've decided my 'recipe' is a keeper, hands-down. 

Disclaimer: Unless I'm baking, I only use recipes as a "guideline." I do not measure, I don't time, I just kind of play it by ear and usually make it up as I go. So if you like to go by the book, then sorry, but my approximations will probably drive you crazy. 

Main Ingredients:

-2 cups (16 oz.) Chicken (or vegetable) Broth

-1 block cream cheese, softened

-2 cups canned or mashed pumpkin

-Olive Oil

-White Wine (to taste, about 2/3c)

Spices: (all used to taste)
-Sea Salt

-Pepper

-Garlic (1 clove or powdered)

-Onion (diced or powdered)

-Thyme 

-Oregano

-Sage

-Dash Cumin

-Dash Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

Directions:

Cover the bottom of a saucepan/soup pan with olive oil. Saute onion and garlic on high heat. 

Turn heat to low, and add remaining spices to taste. 

Add chicken broth, pumpkin, and white wine, stirring slowly and mixing thoroughly. 

Add block of cream cheese, mixing slowly until melted. Increase heat if needed, then decrease to low once thoroughly melted.

Add any other spices to taste. 

Et Voila! Serve hot and enjoy!

Now the only thing I'm waiting for is the day we get real pumpkins for carving and I can finally make my all-time favorite snack ever: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds!