Thanksgiving

This was our first Thanksgiving in Texas and in our new house.  It was a good and laid back day.  I forgot to set an alarm so we didn't start the turkey and meal until later than we were planning, but since we were the only ones eating, it didn't matter.  It was nice enough outside that we had the windows open and the boys ran around having fun.  The meal was done by 2:30pm and we had lots to eat.  I took these pictures while the turkey was cooking.  I have given up on getting the "perfect" family pictures - everyone looking and smiling at the same time, perfect lighting and background - and instead find joy and happiness in the real shots.  I love the personality in these photos.  I love my kids.  Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Smile!

Finally, I got Calla's smile recorded for posterity!  Although it's not her first smile, it still melts my heart.  She's such a sweet baby and we've gotten really lucky with her so far.  All the pictures I've been taking of her, while cute and adorable, haven't really shown what personality she has until now.  I'm really glad I got this series of shots.  Even though she's only three weeks old, Calla's her own girl and knows what she wants.  I love the wisdom in her eyes and that her whole face lights up when she smiles.  I'm thankful everyday that we were blessed with her and look forward to watching her grow.

Tree Lighting Ceremony

Last week Friday, Fort Bliss had their annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at the Freedom Crossings Mall on base.  Since this is our first year here, we had no idea what to expect!  There is a huge tree outside next to the movie theater that was fully decorated and ready to be lit.  We got there about an hour early and headed to Starbucks to kill some time.

Gabe was not too happy about hanging out in Starbucks.  He kept a close eye out the window, afraid that we'd miss the lighting, despite telling him we had plenty of time.  Calla was happy to be wrapped up and snuggled herself to sleep.  Zander was perfectly content, as long as he could run around and get into everything.  Since we were there at dinner time, Matt decided to let them have dessert and Gabe perked up when he saw the vanilla milk and double chocolate brownie.

Here are the pictures from the ceremony.  Click on the picture to make it bigger.  The 1-AD band were set up in front of the tree to provide entertainment before the lighting.  Zander danced along.  As it got close to 8:00, we all counted down and the street lights turned off and the tree turned on.  The tree lights were set to music and changed color and had stars that flashed along with the beat of the Christmas music.  They played three or four songs in a row and it was great fun for the boys.

Santa made a surprise appearance and sat with children for pictures for a couple hours.  Unfortunately for the boys, as we reached the end of the line, Santa had to leave and we missed out.  He will be making return visits as it gets closer to Christmas and we plan on seeing him then.

All in all, it was a great night.  

The boys had fun and we spent great family time together.

Calla's bath time

Moving lessons learned

Things I've learned during this crazy moving process:

1.  Take advantage of green grassy areas and run kids, run!

2.  Pack at least one spare set of clothes for the whole family apart from your suitcase.  You never know when a juice box or diaper will explode everywhere and you don't really want to unpack everything to dig through the suitcase.

3.  Take and Toss cups and bowls, a travel container of wipes, hand sanitizer and chap stick are life savers.

4.  A crock pot is the best kitchen appliance you can have while waiting for your pots and pans to arrive.

5.  A microwave is a close second.

6.  While travelling through Texas and/or New Mexico, fill up at the closest gas station regardless the price per gallon.  It could be 100 miles to the next pump.

7.  Make sure to have spare batteries packed with the electronic toys.

8.  Have a back-up navigation plan (like app on your phone or atlas) when your Garmin loses signal as you approach what you think is your exit.

9.  Leave your camera out and accessible to take beautiful scenery or crazy cabin-fever kid pictures.

10.  Color Wonder markers are perfect time wasters.

11.  All restaurants and hotels should offer free WiFi.  Internet access really is a necessity.

12.  La Quinta Inn hotels are fantastically cheap and super kid and pet friendly.

13.  You can spread butter, peanut butter and nutella with the back of a spoon.

14.  Kid's safety scissors can cut through cardboard, it just takes a little muscle.

15.  A plastic cup is a perfectly acceptable ladle.

16.  Don't wear a black shirt while riding in the car with a yellow lab mix.

Birth of Baby Calla

As you know by now, Calla was born into our family on Wednesday, October 26th at 2:44pm.  She is undoubtedly the fastest baby born in this family at a speedy six hours from pitocin IV to first scream. 

I went into Saint Luke's South on Wednesday at 7am for a planned induction.  Apparently, my body is opposed to dialating on it's own.  While contractions can come and stay for hours on end, I get to a three and stop.  So rather than wait this one out, we scheduled an induction.  

Thank goodness for pitocin!  After a couple hours, I was still at a 3 1/2 but contractions were growing pretty intense both pain wise and frequency.  I decided, to my chagrin, that I would get an epidural.  

While giving birth to Gabe, I had an epidural that was ineffective.  It numbed only the left side and was in my legs instead of abdomen, doing nothing for the birthing pain.  Zander, when he finally made his appearance, came out so speedily there was no time for the epidural.  

This time around, my reasoning was that after SO many hours of such little progression that this was going to take a long time.  Gabe was born after 22 hours and Zander was 20 hours, I was anticipating something similar and didn't want to be in pain for that amount of time.  While I was worried that it might go hay-wire again, I figured that by inserting it early enough there would be enough time to fix it prior to birth.  Also, since the pitocin already had me bed-ridden, the downside of the catheter was  moot.  Thankfully everything worked perfectly, the epidural was heavenly.  I felt no pain and was able to get a couple hours of sleep and much needed rest.

Shortly after the epidural, I started making phone calls to friends and family.  It was past 1:00pm and we had all hoped for a quick birth instead of a long drawn out labor, like with the boys, but with only being dialated to a four, it was looking dismal.  

After getting off the phone, the nurse came in to check me again.  The contractions were around a minute apart and steady.  I, thankfully, felt nothing.  In about an hour, I had dialated to five.  She had me roll over, suggesting that a switch in position might help shift the baby lower.  I was explaining my dread to her and my fear of being bed-ridden for 20 some hours, and mostly my boredom (you can't really do much when you can't move).  We were commiserating about the fear of sibling rivalries and cost of diapers when I got a really bad pain that wasn't going away.  It was weird because I hadn't felt any of the contractions up to this point and this was a sharp knife pain that wasn't going away.  The nurse went to check me and I was fully dialated and baby girl's head was slightly visible.  All this occurred during our five minute conversation.

From the time I got off the phone, telling everyone we were hoping for the birth to be before 5:00pm, to the time she was resting on my chest was less than an hour.  Craziness.

Here are some of our favorite pictures from the last three weeks:

Back to real life

Oh desktop, how I've missed you!  Let me count the ways.

But seriously, I could count the ways.  It has been a long four months without you.  I've missed your vast memory, the 22 inch screen and multiple USB and memory card ports.  Don't get me started on your iTunes library or Adobe Photoshop upgrades.

You're like coming home.  With a keyboard and all.  Sorry, got a little sidetracked.

As you know, we've had a lot going on in the last four months - what with the boys and I leaving South Korea. vacationing in Michigan and moving and starting school in Kansas.  While it's been almost a month since I've updated the blog, we've had two (three according to Gabe) very big events happen in that time:  The birth of our baby girl, Calla Jane, Halloween (that's the big one to Gabe) and the move to Texas.

Now that we are in Texas, it feels good to finally settle in.

For at least a year.  Please, Army, give me a year.  At least.

Gabe and Matt have re-entered the school/work routine.  Zander, Calla and I are figuring out a daily routine, peppered with cleaning, organizing and daily walks.  Charlotte is quickly re-learning not to sleep on the furniture.  Adjustments all around.

We are still waiting for the big household goods shipment - the one with furniture, pots and pans and other items you take for granted until you don't have them.  Our fingers are crossed for delivery before Thanksgiving.

For now, I'm just thankful for the delivery of our desktop.

Oh, and our Keurig.  Did I forget to mention that?  No more instant or gas station coffee for me!

It's the small things.