Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Me and My Baby
This little girl is just too sweet for words! She's been a little sick with a cold the last couple of days, but she still laughs and smiles so much.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Hi!
We went to a birthday party the other day, and Cami just grabbed a hold of these balloons! It was so cute, I just had to take a picture (or two, or three).
The next day, Grant was holding Cami on his shoulders, and Kendall climbed up in the chair with them and said, "Picture, Mama!" Look how she's posing.
Speaking of posing...a couple of weeks ago I took these pictures, and just never got around to posting them. I was making something...I can't even remember what it was now....seriously, what was it?...
Anyways, I told Kendall she could lick the batter, which she loved (who wouldn't). I told her to smile, and this is what she did.
Then I told her to smile for real, and this is what she did.
All I could think of was on the show, America's Next Top Model, when Tyra Banks always go into her speech about smiling with the eyes. Kendall's totally doing that.
The next day, Grant was holding Cami on his shoulders, and Kendall climbed up in the chair with them and said, "Picture, Mama!" Look how she's posing.
Speaking of posing...a couple of weeks ago I took these pictures, and just never got around to posting them. I was making something...I can't even remember what it was now....seriously, what was it?...
Anyways, I told Kendall she could lick the batter, which she loved (who wouldn't). I told her to smile, and this is what she did.
Then I told her to smile for real, and this is what she did.
All I could think of was on the show, America's Next Top Model, when Tyra Banks always go into her speech about smiling with the eyes. Kendall's totally doing that.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Six Months Later...
Here's the story of Cameron's Birth!
I had an appointment on my due date which was October 17. My doctor decided to tell me the fantastic news that she would be out of town from the 20-24. Awesome, I said sarcastically, I would for sure be having this baby during that time. She said she already had all of her other patient's that were due around that time set up for being induced. But I was her only patient that wanted to go natural, but she asked me anyway if I wanted to be induced. I told her no, and that I would just hope to go into labor either before she left or after she got back. The thing is, even though my doctor was "natural childbirth friendly," as I like to call it, she's not a midwife, and I was already nervous that she would pressure me into something I didn't want. So, the fact that there was a good possibility that another doctor would be delivering me, who might not be so naturally-inclined scared me.
She checked to see how dilated I was, and I was dilated to 3.
Absolutely nothing of consequence happened until...
I had my first real contraction around 9:15 pm Friday, October 23. I had been having contractions very, very infrequently ever since that last appointment. One would come, and then nothing for another day or so. So when that one hit at 9:15, and then another one came about 10 minutes after that, I had a strong feeling that this was it...I was in labor. For a while, they were coming anywhere between 2 - 10 minutes, and not really hurting. Then they started getting closer together, and of course, hurting more.
Just before 1 am, we woke my mom up to tell her that we were going to the hospital, because my contractions were getting really painful by this time - during this whole time, my mom had been sleeping, so she had no idea that I had been in labor for the last few hours. I leaned on her for a few of my contractions while Grant got a few pictures and shot some video.
I drank a bit of juice just before we left, to get something in my system. I ended up throwing that up in the hospital parking lot. Once I got to the hospital, they checked me and I was dilated to 5. I was so relieved to hear that, because as any woman who has given childbirth will tell you, there is nothing more depressing than hearing you haven't progressed, or you've progressed very little after you've been laboring for a few hours.
Julie, a lady from my church acted as my doula, and she got there right after we did. I had her blow up a birthing ball for me, which I never ended up using, because...
Apparently, my water didn't want to break. Anytime I would sit down, I had unbelievable pressure! Even walking was difficult. So, I mainly just stood and swayed my hips from side to side. This was completely opposite from Kendall's birth. Even though with hers, my water didn't break until near the end, I felt more comfortable sitting than standing.
Because of all this pressure from the bag of waters, I was in WAY more pain during my contractions than I was during Kendall's birth. I kept telling Grant, "I can't do this...I can't do this..." And in my head I was thinking, "just get the blankety-blank epidural!" But he kept me calm, and Julie was very encouraging. She would just randomly start praying out loud or quoting scriptures, and I so appreciated that. And Grant was always encouraging me to just get through this next contraction.
I kept feeling the need to push...again, I think that was because of the water not breaking. But the nurse kept telling me not to push. That was the hardest thing in the world to do - go against what my body was telling me to do. When the nurse would leave the room, Julie would tell me to just go ahead and push if I felt the need. So I pushed a few times, but tried not to other times. They checked me a couple more times...one time I was 6, and shortly after that I was 8. Finally, I couldn't stop myself from pushing anymore, so the nurse told me to get on the bed so she could check me again. She started getting everything set up, and I said I had to push. Another nurse that was in the room looked at me and said, "She's crowning!" and she ran out to get the doctor.
Cameron came maybe 10 minutes (at the very most) after that. I only pushed a few times.
Julie held a mirror for me so I could see everything. When they said I was crowning, it really was the bag of water. So I saw the bag come out intact, and then pop at the very end. Cameron's head was right behind it. It was incredible to be able to see everything.
As miserable as I was during the labor, as soon as she was out, I was laughing and happy and energetic. I even yelled out, "Yay! No vacuum!" I was on such a high - I'd never felt like that before.
So she was born at 3:43 am, and she was 9 lbs 12 oz and 21 1/2 inches long. Since I'm not around newborns alot, she seemed really tiny to me. In fact, when she came out I said, "She's so tiny!" All the nurses laughed and said, "NO she's NOT!" Then they started trying to guess how big she was - the closest guess was 9 lbs 2 oz.
I did have 2nd degree tearing, but considering the amount of tearing I had with Kendall, it wasn't too bad.
Unfortunately, the hospital had just set up a policy - thanks to the swine flu - that no visitors under 18 could come. So that meant Kendall wasn't able to come visit, and I was totally bummed about that.
But we were able to go home the following day, so it was just a short stay in the hospital, and Kendall met her new baby sister soon enough.
So as I had jokingly predicted, my doctor did not deliver Cameron. She came back in town about 10 hours after Cameron was born. But the doctor that did deliver her literally walked in the door, delivered her, fixed my tearing, and left. He was there maybe a total of 20 minutes. I will say this, though, Cameron's birth made me never want to deliver in a hospital again - if we have more kids. Unless I can find a hospital that works well with midwives, like we had for Kendall's birth. The nurse that I had was not at all sticking to my birth plan, even though my doctor, and the nurses signed off on it about a week before I came in. We kept having to put our foot down with the way we wanted things, and she wasn't too happy about it. All I have to say is, don't mess with a woman in pain! You will not win!! It was just frustrating to have to do that, when I'm trying to focus and concentrate on what I'm supposed to do. So I'm really leaning towards a birthing center for the next one - if there is a next one.
So that's it! I feel like I scare people out of natural childbirth, because I'm not happy and smiley during labor. But I wouldn't have it any other way.
I had an appointment on my due date which was October 17. My doctor decided to tell me the fantastic news that she would be out of town from the 20-24. Awesome, I said sarcastically, I would for sure be having this baby during that time. She said she already had all of her other patient's that were due around that time set up for being induced. But I was her only patient that wanted to go natural, but she asked me anyway if I wanted to be induced. I told her no, and that I would just hope to go into labor either before she left or after she got back. The thing is, even though my doctor was "natural childbirth friendly," as I like to call it, she's not a midwife, and I was already nervous that she would pressure me into something I didn't want. So, the fact that there was a good possibility that another doctor would be delivering me, who might not be so naturally-inclined scared me.
She checked to see how dilated I was, and I was dilated to 3.
Absolutely nothing of consequence happened until...
I had my first real contraction around 9:15 pm Friday, October 23. I had been having contractions very, very infrequently ever since that last appointment. One would come, and then nothing for another day or so. So when that one hit at 9:15, and then another one came about 10 minutes after that, I had a strong feeling that this was it...I was in labor. For a while, they were coming anywhere between 2 - 10 minutes, and not really hurting. Then they started getting closer together, and of course, hurting more.
Just before 1 am, we woke my mom up to tell her that we were going to the hospital, because my contractions were getting really painful by this time - during this whole time, my mom had been sleeping, so she had no idea that I had been in labor for the last few hours. I leaned on her for a few of my contractions while Grant got a few pictures and shot some video.
I drank a bit of juice just before we left, to get something in my system. I ended up throwing that up in the hospital parking lot. Once I got to the hospital, they checked me and I was dilated to 5. I was so relieved to hear that, because as any woman who has given childbirth will tell you, there is nothing more depressing than hearing you haven't progressed, or you've progressed very little after you've been laboring for a few hours.
Julie, a lady from my church acted as my doula, and she got there right after we did. I had her blow up a birthing ball for me, which I never ended up using, because...
Apparently, my water didn't want to break. Anytime I would sit down, I had unbelievable pressure! Even walking was difficult. So, I mainly just stood and swayed my hips from side to side. This was completely opposite from Kendall's birth. Even though with hers, my water didn't break until near the end, I felt more comfortable sitting than standing.
Because of all this pressure from the bag of waters, I was in WAY more pain during my contractions than I was during Kendall's birth. I kept telling Grant, "I can't do this...I can't do this..." And in my head I was thinking, "just get the blankety-blank epidural!" But he kept me calm, and Julie was very encouraging. She would just randomly start praying out loud or quoting scriptures, and I so appreciated that. And Grant was always encouraging me to just get through this next contraction.
I kept feeling the need to push...again, I think that was because of the water not breaking. But the nurse kept telling me not to push. That was the hardest thing in the world to do - go against what my body was telling me to do. When the nurse would leave the room, Julie would tell me to just go ahead and push if I felt the need. So I pushed a few times, but tried not to other times. They checked me a couple more times...one time I was 6, and shortly after that I was 8. Finally, I couldn't stop myself from pushing anymore, so the nurse told me to get on the bed so she could check me again. She started getting everything set up, and I said I had to push. Another nurse that was in the room looked at me and said, "She's crowning!" and she ran out to get the doctor.
Cameron came maybe 10 minutes (at the very most) after that. I only pushed a few times.
Julie held a mirror for me so I could see everything. When they said I was crowning, it really was the bag of water. So I saw the bag come out intact, and then pop at the very end. Cameron's head was right behind it. It was incredible to be able to see everything.
As miserable as I was during the labor, as soon as she was out, I was laughing and happy and energetic. I even yelled out, "Yay! No vacuum!" I was on such a high - I'd never felt like that before.
So she was born at 3:43 am, and she was 9 lbs 12 oz and 21 1/2 inches long. Since I'm not around newborns alot, she seemed really tiny to me. In fact, when she came out I said, "She's so tiny!" All the nurses laughed and said, "NO she's NOT!" Then they started trying to guess how big she was - the closest guess was 9 lbs 2 oz.
I did have 2nd degree tearing, but considering the amount of tearing I had with Kendall, it wasn't too bad.
Unfortunately, the hospital had just set up a policy - thanks to the swine flu - that no visitors under 18 could come. So that meant Kendall wasn't able to come visit, and I was totally bummed about that.
But we were able to go home the following day, so it was just a short stay in the hospital, and Kendall met her new baby sister soon enough.
So as I had jokingly predicted, my doctor did not deliver Cameron. She came back in town about 10 hours after Cameron was born. But the doctor that did deliver her literally walked in the door, delivered her, fixed my tearing, and left. He was there maybe a total of 20 minutes. I will say this, though, Cameron's birth made me never want to deliver in a hospital again - if we have more kids. Unless I can find a hospital that works well with midwives, like we had for Kendall's birth. The nurse that I had was not at all sticking to my birth plan, even though my doctor, and the nurses signed off on it about a week before I came in. We kept having to put our foot down with the way we wanted things, and she wasn't too happy about it. All I have to say is, don't mess with a woman in pain! You will not win!! It was just frustrating to have to do that, when I'm trying to focus and concentrate on what I'm supposed to do. So I'm really leaning towards a birthing center for the next one - if there is a next one.
So that's it! I feel like I scare people out of natural childbirth, because I'm not happy and smiley during labor. But I wouldn't have it any other way.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Didja See Us?
Many of you already know, but Grant and I were in the audience of American Idol this past Tuesday! I signed up during the last season, and kind of forgot about it. I guess if you sign up, you stay in the system until they get to you, no matter what season it is.
We had a LOT of fun! When we got there, we were told that we would be standing. Since we watch the show, we realized that meant we'd be in the pit near the stage. As they were placing us, they put us right next to where Simon sits at the judge's table. We were stoked.
Then something I've always wanted happened. They said I was tall! All my life, I've wanted to be tall! Well, I'm really not...I'm only about 5'5"...but I guess compared to girls that are 5'0", I am tall. Which meant they kept putting these five footers in my awesome spot! I'd never wanted so badly to go back to being short. I got moved back about 5 feet from where I originally was. It's okay, though, it was still cool. Adam Lambert - the guy who was the runner-up from last season - was the mentor for that week, so he was there, and was sitting right behind where we were standing. Grant kept telling me to say something to him during the commercial breaks (I was going to tell him I liked his boots...they were leopard print cowboy boots), but I never did.
When we came home, we watched the show, and realized that you could see us all throughout - if you knew exactly where we were. Otherwise, it was all just a blur of people. So, I thought I'd take a picture of the recorded show, so you all could see where we were.
After the show was over, we shook Simon's hand, and he and Grant had a little exchange of words. Grant basically shouted out that we didn't want Simon to leave the show, and they had a little mini-conversation. It was cool.
We got done alot earlier than we thought, so we took advantage of that time and went to the Cheesecake Factory at the Grove, since that's where we were parked, anyway. It was an absolutely awesome night!
We had a LOT of fun! When we got there, we were told that we would be standing. Since we watch the show, we realized that meant we'd be in the pit near the stage. As they were placing us, they put us right next to where Simon sits at the judge's table. We were stoked.
Then something I've always wanted happened. They said I was tall! All my life, I've wanted to be tall! Well, I'm really not...I'm only about 5'5"...but I guess compared to girls that are 5'0", I am tall. Which meant they kept putting these five footers in my awesome spot! I'd never wanted so badly to go back to being short. I got moved back about 5 feet from where I originally was. It's okay, though, it was still cool. Adam Lambert - the guy who was the runner-up from last season - was the mentor for that week, so he was there, and was sitting right behind where we were standing. Grant kept telling me to say something to him during the commercial breaks (I was going to tell him I liked his boots...they were leopard print cowboy boots), but I never did.
When we came home, we watched the show, and realized that you could see us all throughout - if you knew exactly where we were. Otherwise, it was all just a blur of people. So, I thought I'd take a picture of the recorded show, so you all could see where we were.
After the show was over, we shook Simon's hand, and he and Grant had a little exchange of words. Grant basically shouted out that we didn't want Simon to leave the show, and they had a little mini-conversation. It was cool.
We got done alot earlier than we thought, so we took advantage of that time and went to the Cheesecake Factory at the Grove, since that's where we were parked, anyway. It was an absolutely awesome night!
Friday, April 16, 2010
Craft-Along 2010: Project 2...COMPLETE!
I can't even believe I finished this thing so quickly (more than a month before the deadline). But I did, and I love it! Seriously, there's not one thing I don't love about this apron. It's different than the one Tink posted, but this one is more my style. I found it at Sew4Home.
When I saw the instructions for it, I told myself I couldn't do it. But I did!! It really wasn't hard at all. I even put in pleats...PLEATS! I still can't believe it. I already have an order for one. Okay, it's from my mom. But still - I'm excited to get to make another one!
When I saw the instructions for it, I told myself I couldn't do it. But I did!! It really wasn't hard at all. I even put in pleats...PLEATS! I still can't believe it. I already have an order for one. Okay, it's from my mom. But still - I'm excited to get to make another one!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Another one for the grandma's
This is a long one, but I am never able to get Kendall to do all this stuff for the camera. So I figured I should get it all while I can. She was definitely performing. Towards the end, she does my favorite thing - she sings "Ring Around the Rosies" fast.
Untitled from Kelly Spear on Vimeo.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Mookielicious
Isn't it fun adding "-licious" to the ends of words? I think so.
These were taken last week while I watched Mookie for a bit. Kendall was so excited to have her over. Right after Mookie got here, I had to change Kendall's diaper, so I told Kendall that she should show Mookie her room. When we got up there Kendall was like, "Look...Kendall's room...Look, Bear-Bear, Baby, Horsey..." She was introducing Mookie to everything in her room. It was so cute.
They had a great time playing with each other, and Cameron really enjoyed watching them. She just can't wait to be able to goof around with her big sis!
These were taken last week while I watched Mookie for a bit. Kendall was so excited to have her over. Right after Mookie got here, I had to change Kendall's diaper, so I told Kendall that she should show Mookie her room. When we got up there Kendall was like, "Look...Kendall's room...Look, Bear-Bear, Baby, Horsey..." She was introducing Mookie to everything in her room. It was so cute.
They had a great time playing with each other, and Cameron really enjoyed watching them. She just can't wait to be able to goof around with her big sis!
Friday, April 09, 2010
Does this mean I'm cool?
I've never been a coffee drink. Actually, I hate it. I've never understood why people drink it.
Then I found this blog the other day..."Like A Warm Cup of Coffee." I watched her video introducing herself, and she said something that struck me. She said she only started drinking coffee a couple of years ago, then she realized that all these years, she wasn't lazy, she was just tired! A lightbulb went off in my head, and I thought that maybe that was the solution for me, too.
But my problem is that I hate the taste.
So, I went to my favorite place - allrecipes.com. Did a search for hot chocolate and coffee in the ingredients search, and found this recipe.
Gunline Coffee
Ingredients
2 cups powdered non-dairy coffee creamer
1 1/2 cups instant hot chocolate mix
1 1/2 cups instant coffee granules
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Directions
1.In a large bowl, stir together the coffee creamer, hot chocolate mix, instant coffee, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
2.To make 1 cup, spoon 2 heaping tablespoons of the mix into a coffee mug, and add 1 cup of boiling water. Stir until dissolved.
So I went to Target yesterday, got all the ingredients and made my mix (I got Italian sweet cream flavored creamer and Dulce de Leche flavored hot chocolate). It's really good! There's still a coffee flavor to it, but the sugar, chocolate and spices cover it pretty well.
So, I'm on my way to see if this experiment works. I've had my cup this morning, and I'm feeling the caffeine course through my veins as we speak.
Then I found this blog the other day..."Like A Warm Cup of Coffee." I watched her video introducing herself, and she said something that struck me. She said she only started drinking coffee a couple of years ago, then she realized that all these years, she wasn't lazy, she was just tired! A lightbulb went off in my head, and I thought that maybe that was the solution for me, too.
But my problem is that I hate the taste.
So, I went to my favorite place - allrecipes.com. Did a search for hot chocolate and coffee in the ingredients search, and found this recipe.
Gunline Coffee
Ingredients
2 cups powdered non-dairy coffee creamer
1 1/2 cups instant hot chocolate mix
1 1/2 cups instant coffee granules
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Directions
1.In a large bowl, stir together the coffee creamer, hot chocolate mix, instant coffee, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
2.To make 1 cup, spoon 2 heaping tablespoons of the mix into a coffee mug, and add 1 cup of boiling water. Stir until dissolved.
So I went to Target yesterday, got all the ingredients and made my mix (I got Italian sweet cream flavored creamer and Dulce de Leche flavored hot chocolate). It's really good! There's still a coffee flavor to it, but the sugar, chocolate and spices cover it pretty well.
So, I'm on my way to see if this experiment works. I've had my cup this morning, and I'm feeling the caffeine course through my veins as we speak.
Monday, April 05, 2010
Easter
Okay, I have this new fancy camera, so I thought I could pull off a "real" photo shoot.
Not so much.
It made me realize that I don't know enough about my camera, so I really need to learn more.
Also, Cameron is the smiley-est baby ever, but I chose the time where she absolutely was not about to smile whatsoever.
So, even though I'm sure the grandparents will swoon over these pictures, I can't help but thinking I could've done a better job! Funnily enough, I think my favorite picture is the one of Kendall holding both baskets, with her back facing the camera. Hold on - I was indecisive, so just uploaded a whole boat-load of pictures.
We had a great day, though. We went to the early service at church so the girls could come home and take a nap before we went to "Tuna's" house (see the previous post for the story on that one), which actually wasn't Tuna's house, but his grandpa's house. Our pastor's wife so graciously invited us to her side of the family's Easter get-together, and we had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, when I got there, I realized I left the memory card to my camera in the computer, so I didn't get any pictures there. But they had an easter egg hunt, followed by eating tons of sugar that was found inside the easter eggs, followed by a lot of little kids playing together, followed by an earthquake, followed by delicious food, followed by great company. It was an eventful day, for sure.
Not so much.
It made me realize that I don't know enough about my camera, so I really need to learn more.
Also, Cameron is the smiley-est baby ever, but I chose the time where she absolutely was not about to smile whatsoever.
So, even though I'm sure the grandparents will swoon over these pictures, I can't help but thinking I could've done a better job! Funnily enough, I think my favorite picture is the one of Kendall holding both baskets, with her back facing the camera. Hold on - I was indecisive, so just uploaded a whole boat-load of pictures.
We had a great day, though. We went to the early service at church so the girls could come home and take a nap before we went to "Tuna's" house (see the previous post for the story on that one), which actually wasn't Tuna's house, but his grandpa's house. Our pastor's wife so graciously invited us to her side of the family's Easter get-together, and we had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, when I got there, I realized I left the memory card to my camera in the computer, so I didn't get any pictures there. But they had an easter egg hunt, followed by eating tons of sugar that was found inside the easter eggs, followed by a lot of little kids playing together, followed by an earthquake, followed by delicious food, followed by great company. It was an eventful day, for sure.
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