Sunday, August 16, 2009
No SURPRISE... It's a(nother) boy!
As my good friend Stephenie would say, I'm "boy trapped". Aaaagh! Yes, we were hoping for a little pink around here to, hopefully, mellow things out a bit...but it looks like no such luck! Wild banchee boys for us, all around. It's a good thing we like boys around here!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Hangin out at "Lake of the Pines"
Our favorite place to spend the 4th of July and one of our favorite places, ever! They have a fun carnival with games for the kids and lots of good food to eat right down by the lake and then at night they have a great fireworks display that they shoot off over the lake. We love it! And, of course, we love to spend time with the Wright's and the rest of my side of the family.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Surprise, It's a...BABY!
So, we were starting to talk about talking about trying to get pregnant at the end of the summer when...SURPRISE, our minds were made up for us. I'm officially 3 months pregnant, due at the end of January. I haven't been feeling very well lately, but we're very excited for the upcoming addition to our family.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
Fun at the beach with friends...
We had so much fun at the beach on Saturday (over Memorial Day weekend) with our good friends Tanner, Kate, Lizzie and Shad. We played in the sand, swam in the warm water and ate yummy food. They used to live right across the street from us, so the boys (and Kate) have pretty much "grown up" together and are very close little buddies. Thanks for letting us tag along guys!
Friday, May 15, 2009
My big boys as babies... A (belated) Mother's Day retrospective- It's a long one!
I realize it's cliche but the many mother's that warn you how time flies by when watching your children grow, do nothing to prepare you for the actual experience of seeing it happen so quickly. I really do feel like it was just yesterday that I had two babies tugging at my ankles, crying for their turn to be picked up...having to learn that mommy could only (safely) hold one of them at a time. So much of their little years were spent with me in "survival mode" always feeling a bit harried and wondering if I was ruining my children because I couldn't always provide for both sets of needs at the same time. To be totally honest, we all spent a lot of time crying. Them because they didn't yet understand their lot in life was to have to share, almost, everything. And me because, like I said, I struggled trying to feel like I could provide for both of their needs without going crazy. You'd think I had a zillion kids, but no there are just the two of them, though I have said many times that I count each one of them as two...because they both have very intense personalities, lol, each in their own way.
How it all started... We struggled for years to get pregnant. Four years to be exact, and that was with many attempts at fertility treatments. Never an explanation, we just never got pregnant. Then one day we just decided that it was time that we look into adoption, and from there it all happened pretty quickly. It took a while to get all the paperwork filled out but after we had everything submitted, the wait began. We both say that it felt like forever, but really it was only four short months later that we got "the call" from our social worker telling us that a mother had chosen us. As I listened to the details I was in shock that it was really happening, but as he told me that she was having a boy and that he was half Caucasian and half Cambodian... I was a little surprised. Surprised first because we had never talked about the possibility of our son being Asian, although we expected the probability of a baby of combined ethnicity, we had never considered that combination. The reason why I'm even explaining any of this, is that the main reason for my surprise was at how natural and right everything felt from the moment he started telling us about OUR baby boy. We had known for a long time that we wanted to name our first son Benjamin... and here he was, FINALLY coming to us. Our Benjamin! Or Benji-Dave as we would soon come to know him by.
So there we were just enjoying being parents to this BEAUTIFUL baby boy when all of a sudden I started noticing that I was having quite a bit of lower back pain and I was taking a lot of Ibuprofen with none of the typical "results" that would usually follow "that" lower back pain, so after a few days of this it occurred to me that maybe I should take a pregnancy test. So I picked one up at the grocery store and casually took it, sure that it would be negative...like all the many others, and to my huge surprise it was positive. Off to a barbecue to meet David with this big secret that I had to keep until later when we could be alone. The funniest part about telling him was that he didn't believe me. He had the same reaction that I'd had earlier when I saw the positive test results... dugh, I didn't know you could get a false-positive? We had waited for so long and taken countless pregnancy tests, all coming back negative and all of a sudden and out-of-the-blue it was positive. We were in a bit of shock, to say the least! And very excited! Me for the short term, sadly, because I got very sick very quickly and there's nothing fun about feeling like you have the flu for nine months. Let's just say I was excited about the baby, but not the pregnancy, which was difficult emotionally because all I'd ever wanted was to be pregnant and, at times, I worried I was being a bit ungrateful for the great blessing that was coming our way. Hormones can be tricky things, especially for the women in my family!! Luckily, Ben was an exceptionally easy baby and was, mostly, content to just lay on the ground next to me playing with toys and talking and singing with me. We had a lot of nice bonding time laying there on the carpet or in my bed suggling and coohing at eachother.
As the time got closer to Will's birth I remember feeling very protective of our family time and my one on one time with Ben because I knew that it was going to be short lived and I wanted to enjoy it to it's fullest. In fact the night Will was born, we were sitting on the couch snuggling as a family and I remember thinking that it might be one of the last times we spent together just the three of us and I really soaked it up. I had no idea how right on those thoughts were because soon after putting Ben to bed, my water broke and Will was born 3 weeks early, to the day. I hate to admit this, but I called my little sister crying because I wasn't ready to have him... I still had projects that I hadn't finished anticipating that I would at least go full term, if not over since this was my first pregnancy. I got over the sadness quickly and was just excited that Our William Evan was coming. The excitement was farely short lived because the contractions came on quickly and strongly and were every 3 minutes for the next 12 hours and I wasn't even dilating...aaagh!!! They wanted to give me pitosin but wouldn't give me an epidural, because I wasn't dilating, so I said "no thanks"! Then finally in the last hour I dilated from a 2 to a ten and he was born very quickly. So quickly, in fact, that I was yelling for them to get the doctor because I felt like I couldn't keep him in...tmi? (I was born with NO ONE, but my mother, there because of the same scenerio. My dad left to get the nurse, who'd gone to get the Dr. and they all came back to my mom snuggling me on her chest...what a woman!) Anyway, I do have to say that I was shocked to see this beautiful baby boy with the most RED/COPPER hair I'd ever seen. He was soooo cute, and still is to this day!!!
It was amazing to see Ben's sweet reaction to his new brother when his auntie brought him to the hospital for the first time. He was so curious and tender, and while the tenderness wore off pretty quickly, to be replaced by more normal brotherly affection, he has always been Will's ultimate protector. Just like any older sibling, Will is pretty much his possession to do with what he wants and Will is, almost always, game. As Will has grown, they have become equals in many ways and are buddies, wrestling partners, boxing mates, trouble maker companions, and best friends. I try very hard to let them be boys (sometimes contrary to David's opinion) but I also want to always instill in them a kindness and respect towards the other person so that they grow up being true friends, not just the other persons punching bag. I also don't want there to be a "bully/victim" relationship which I'm finding could easily happen if we're not very careful.
Being a mother is both INCREDIBLY rewarding and INCREDIBLY challenging! You never anticipate something like one of your children being diagnosed with autism or for other's having a sick child...or worse yet, losing a child. But I have learned, and continue to learn, that with Heavenly Father as my companion in this whole process, everything is possible...not easy, just possible. And a lot more fun! I love being a mother! It's very different than what I'd always anticipated. All the "typical" things that worked with all my nanny kids, don't seem to work with my kids...but that's OK, because I do have the guidance of the Spirit, and trial and error. I'm also learning to be more forgiving of myself. That's been one of the biggest lessons that I never knew I'd have to learn as a mother...to forgive myself for not being more of the "ideal" mother that I'd envisioned myself being, and I continue to learn it everyday. I know that sounds a little pathetic. (To be completely honest... with all those years as a nanny, I kinda thought I had it down) I'm just so grateful to know that my Savior will make up for my weaknesses and that Heavenly Father will multiply my efforts and help my kids to not end up being total "whack jobs" because of me! LOL! I'm also so grateful to the many amazing mother's that I have as examples! I couldn't do it without you!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE my two boys! And look forward to all the crazy (FUN) years to come!!!
How it all started... We struggled for years to get pregnant. Four years to be exact, and that was with many attempts at fertility treatments. Never an explanation, we just never got pregnant. Then one day we just decided that it was time that we look into adoption, and from there it all happened pretty quickly. It took a while to get all the paperwork filled out but after we had everything submitted, the wait began. We both say that it felt like forever, but really it was only four short months later that we got "the call" from our social worker telling us that a mother had chosen us. As I listened to the details I was in shock that it was really happening, but as he told me that she was having a boy and that he was half Caucasian and half Cambodian... I was a little surprised. Surprised first because we had never talked about the possibility of our son being Asian, although we expected the probability of a baby of combined ethnicity, we had never considered that combination. The reason why I'm even explaining any of this, is that the main reason for my surprise was at how natural and right everything felt from the moment he started telling us about OUR baby boy. We had known for a long time that we wanted to name our first son Benjamin... and here he was, FINALLY coming to us. Our Benjamin! Or Benji-Dave as we would soon come to know him by.
So there we were just enjoying being parents to this BEAUTIFUL baby boy when all of a sudden I started noticing that I was having quite a bit of lower back pain and I was taking a lot of Ibuprofen with none of the typical "results" that would usually follow "that" lower back pain, so after a few days of this it occurred to me that maybe I should take a pregnancy test. So I picked one up at the grocery store and casually took it, sure that it would be negative...like all the many others, and to my huge surprise it was positive. Off to a barbecue to meet David with this big secret that I had to keep until later when we could be alone. The funniest part about telling him was that he didn't believe me. He had the same reaction that I'd had earlier when I saw the positive test results... dugh, I didn't know you could get a false-positive? We had waited for so long and taken countless pregnancy tests, all coming back negative and all of a sudden and out-of-the-blue it was positive. We were in a bit of shock, to say the least! And very excited! Me for the short term, sadly, because I got very sick very quickly and there's nothing fun about feeling like you have the flu for nine months. Let's just say I was excited about the baby, but not the pregnancy, which was difficult emotionally because all I'd ever wanted was to be pregnant and, at times, I worried I was being a bit ungrateful for the great blessing that was coming our way. Hormones can be tricky things, especially for the women in my family!! Luckily, Ben was an exceptionally easy baby and was, mostly, content to just lay on the ground next to me playing with toys and talking and singing with me. We had a lot of nice bonding time laying there on the carpet or in my bed suggling and coohing at eachother.
As the time got closer to Will's birth I remember feeling very protective of our family time and my one on one time with Ben because I knew that it was going to be short lived and I wanted to enjoy it to it's fullest. In fact the night Will was born, we were sitting on the couch snuggling as a family and I remember thinking that it might be one of the last times we spent together just the three of us and I really soaked it up. I had no idea how right on those thoughts were because soon after putting Ben to bed, my water broke and Will was born 3 weeks early, to the day. I hate to admit this, but I called my little sister crying because I wasn't ready to have him... I still had projects that I hadn't finished anticipating that I would at least go full term, if not over since this was my first pregnancy. I got over the sadness quickly and was just excited that Our William Evan was coming. The excitement was farely short lived because the contractions came on quickly and strongly and were every 3 minutes for the next 12 hours and I wasn't even dilating...aaagh!!! They wanted to give me pitosin but wouldn't give me an epidural, because I wasn't dilating, so I said "no thanks"! Then finally in the last hour I dilated from a 2 to a ten and he was born very quickly. So quickly, in fact, that I was yelling for them to get the doctor because I felt like I couldn't keep him in...tmi? (I was born with NO ONE, but my mother, there because of the same scenerio. My dad left to get the nurse, who'd gone to get the Dr. and they all came back to my mom snuggling me on her chest...what a woman!) Anyway, I do have to say that I was shocked to see this beautiful baby boy with the most RED/COPPER hair I'd ever seen. He was soooo cute, and still is to this day!!!
It was amazing to see Ben's sweet reaction to his new brother when his auntie brought him to the hospital for the first time. He was so curious and tender, and while the tenderness wore off pretty quickly, to be replaced by more normal brotherly affection, he has always been Will's ultimate protector. Just like any older sibling, Will is pretty much his possession to do with what he wants and Will is, almost always, game. As Will has grown, they have become equals in many ways and are buddies, wrestling partners, boxing mates, trouble maker companions, and best friends. I try very hard to let them be boys (sometimes contrary to David's opinion) but I also want to always instill in them a kindness and respect towards the other person so that they grow up being true friends, not just the other persons punching bag. I also don't want there to be a "bully/victim" relationship which I'm finding could easily happen if we're not very careful.
Being a mother is both INCREDIBLY rewarding and INCREDIBLY challenging! You never anticipate something like one of your children being diagnosed with autism or for other's having a sick child...or worse yet, losing a child. But I have learned, and continue to learn, that with Heavenly Father as my companion in this whole process, everything is possible...not easy, just possible. And a lot more fun! I love being a mother! It's very different than what I'd always anticipated. All the "typical" things that worked with all my nanny kids, don't seem to work with my kids...but that's OK, because I do have the guidance of the Spirit, and trial and error. I'm also learning to be more forgiving of myself. That's been one of the biggest lessons that I never knew I'd have to learn as a mother...to forgive myself for not being more of the "ideal" mother that I'd envisioned myself being, and I continue to learn it everyday. I know that sounds a little pathetic. (To be completely honest... with all those years as a nanny, I kinda thought I had it down) I'm just so grateful to know that my Savior will make up for my weaknesses and that Heavenly Father will multiply my efforts and help my kids to not end up being total "whack jobs" because of me! LOL! I'm also so grateful to the many amazing mother's that I have as examples! I couldn't do it without you!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE my two boys! And look forward to all the crazy (FUN) years to come!!!
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
I know this is kind of silly, but I was mesmorized...
This bird sat there for so long that I had time to get my camera out of my bag, change the lens and then take this picture. Like I said, silly, but it was super cool to watch!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
It's a miracle...a picture of all of us, together!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Some dang cute pictures of Benjamin...taken by Lillie
I love these pictures! I've always thought he was super cute, you should see baby pictures, but he's seeming so much older lately and it was fun to see these great photos, taken by my friend Lillie... who happens to be an amazing photographer, because they really capture his "big-boyness"! BTW, if you happen to live anywhere near us and are interested in having family or kid photos taken, you should check out the link to her photo website on my blog list. lilliebphotography.com
Friday, April 17, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Will's silly photo shoot...
I had my camera out for a little while this morning and my usually uncooperative subject, Will, was eager and even demanding to have his picture taken. He wouldn't let up, so I have many more, but here are some cute ones. Where he looks relaxed, he was actually yelling at me to take a picture of him... as I must have taken my focus off of him for a moment. Shame on me!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Happy Easter to all!
Easter morning... 2009
First time boys are wearing "daddy-clothes", white shirt/ties. They were actually pretty excited, to my surprise!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
So..."the boys" are all out running errands and just being gone so that I could clean and get a head start on Easter dinner preparations, and I sat down to upload some fun pics from today's egg hunt and to just sit for a moment. This is so silly, but I'm feeling really good right now! This is the first time, in I don't know how long, that I've cooked by myself and I'm reminded that I actually really enjoy it. That it's sort of nurturing to my soul in a way that I can't really explain. I'm sure there's a variety of obvious reasons why being able to take my time doing something that I enjoy, and used to be fairly good at, and not having little people demanding my attention at the same time... causing me to rush through "the process" that have made this afternoon fulfilling in a way that I rarely experience anymore.
BTW- I am very grateful for those little, demanding hands... I just feel like writing about these rare moments that I get to myself.
For posterity's sake, I need to be better at not just documenting with pictures but with words... our lives together. Lots of craziness, but lots of love and happiness too!
BTW- I am very grateful for those little, demanding hands... I just feel like writing about these rare moments that I get to myself.
For posterity's sake, I need to be better at not just documenting with pictures but with words... our lives together. Lots of craziness, but lots of love and happiness too!
A few pics at the plethora of Easter egg hunts this year!
There's also one of Will at our in-home preschool's little Easter party. No...there was no egg hunt there, but they did get to take home a goody bag full of stuffed eggs and look how dang cute he is (they all were) in Easter bunny ears!!!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
A beautiful spring day at the beach...
It was made even better because we were with family! David's sister, Liza, and her family were staying at the beach for her husband's, Justin, triathlon so we decided (last minute) to join them for the day. It was so much fun to see Ben and Will hanging out with their cousins especially because these are the cousins that can easily rival them in rowdiness and so they are a great match in energy, which makes for lots of wrestling and me realizing that maybe my boys really are just being typical boys, most of the time, instead of the wild banchees that I so frequently see them as. David's other sister, Anne and her husband Paul (and handsome baby Cohen) were also there, so it was some fun family time which we don't get a lot of being several hours from most everyone. Good times were definitely had, even if it was just for a few hours!
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