March 30, 2011

poor noah

noah was using a stool to get in the bath
with hazel today and slipped and fell
he hit his bum really hard just above the crack
i was on the phone with my sister
when it happened
and he heard me explaining to her what happened
and he yelled, "i cracked my bum???"
apparently i'd never taught him that our bums have a crack
one awkward lesson down
several to go

March 28, 2011

fancy


i gave olive fancy bobby pin hair today
it was darling
until she played..
oh to be an 8 month old
with obscene amounts of hair
and a hairstylist mom

March 26, 2011

best. outfit. ever.

nearly a year ago
i made noah and hazel matching outfits 
i also started making one for olive
but i didn't finish it
until this week
i put it on her today
and it was hilarious! 
i think it's a one time use outfit
she barely fit into it




either way, she's really cute
now i want to go make her more silly one pieces

church on a saturday

today was the preparedness fair 
at our church
and besides the regular booths
with good information about food storage
and safety
there was an ambulance, firetruck and a....
helicopter!!!
we got there just in time to see it land



 we got to sit in it, too
 hazel didn't want to sit in it
but olive didn't mind

March 24, 2011

out to dinner


we went out to dinner without kids
(except olive)
with our friends, the livelys
it was so nice
the kids are happier
and we are happier
sometimes ya just need a break
am i right?

March 20, 2011

spring break

 michael and olive at the pacific science center
 grandpa olson with hazel and olive
at the science center
noah playing in the water
 olive with grandma olson, great grandma marge, and great grandma shirley
grandma and grandpa olson took us to a park in sequim
 i learned how to ride my parents' tractor 
it was so much fun!
 olive driving the van
my mom and dad kissing me

Our whole family was so sick last weekend when we were supposed to go see our families for spring break so we postponed the trip a bit and went from Thursday until Sunday. First we drove to Bellevue and ate at Chipotle (mmmm) and picked Michael's Dad up from work. Then we went to the Pacific Science center and rode the ferry over the Puget Sound. We dropped Laif off at home and went on to my parent's house to spend the night. Friday we spent the day with Michael's parents and had a fun day with them at their house with some extra visitors. Michael's Grandma Shirley lives there so we love seeing her when we visit, Michael's uncle Darrell was visiting and his Grandma Marge stopped by to see us and that was so nice. Saturday we spent with my parents and I learned how to ride their tractor. I loved it. Normally Michael takes the kids on tractor rides but this time I got to. My mom helped me rummage through her fabric and we spent some time downtown. It was so nice to see our parents and Michael's aunt Debbie was gracious and let us spend the night at her house last night. The only person (family) we missed was my sister Monica but we'll be back up again soon. We're so glad we felt better so we could make the trip. We're looking forward to a day when we don't live so far away so we can see our families more and drive a lot less!!

March 16, 2011

motherhood

me and noah sept. 2006
You know what's disappointing? Motherhood. I don't mean that being a mother is disappointing. It's not. All the little failures we set ourselves up for, are. Luckily, things with Noah went almost perfect. I gained an "ok" amount of weight, I delivered him completely naturally and was told I was a trooper for doing so without grimacing. Noah hit all of his milestones right on track, and I knew that because I was paying attention and waiting for him to do so. I felt so proud. As he hit a milestone, it confirmed I was a good mother. This was especially important at that time as I was a single mom, which to me, felt like an automatic disadvantage so I was trying to make up for it by being perfect in every other way. I felt like everyone else was doing an inferior job parenting compared to me. I did everything great. I was always prepared, always an extra outfit in my cute diaper bag, never a long fingernail, a messy outfit or a special moment not photographed. The only way I felt like I was lacking was breastfeeding. For the first 5 months or so, Noah gained right on track, 50th percentile (perfect). Then he started to drop more and more until he was 9 months old or so and hit a low between the 5th and 10th percentile for weight. The doctor suggested that my breast milk didn't contain enough calories. I hated it. I worried so much and just wanted him to gain weight but by this time it was too late to supplement with formula, the poison I had opted out of for my perfect baby. The doctor suggested formula but Noah didn't want it because he hadn't had it previously. I nursed him for 12 solid months and then two days after his birthday we stopped and he didn't mind at all. Once he drank whole milk from a sippy and ate more solid food he gained more weight and it's been all fine and normal since then.
Hazel came into this world via emergency c-section and then as far as eating habits, she followed Noah's suit. She gained fine for the first 5 months. Then she decided to stop nursing around 9 or 10 months. I thought with Noah maybe I was too extreme losing weight so with Hazel I made sure not to try too hard to lose weight so she could be healthy and breastfed for as long as she wanted. But she didn't want to nurse as long as I wanted her to. It never seemed to satisfy. Every nursing she and Noah did was so short and I knew they must not be getting enough. What do you do when something so "natural" isn't coming naturally. My super easy second birth was supposed to be short, sweet and all natural. The emergency c-section was not that. Then to not be able to meet all of Hazel's needs with breast milk hurt, too. After nine or ten months of nursing she moved straight over to a bottle of whole milk, no formula for her either. She preferred it and I couldn't blame her. I don't want to have a hungry baby.
So this leads me to Olive who also came to this world via c-section and who also seems hungry. Olive's whole life I've been open to supplementing with formula. I told her pediatrician my concerns and he agreed it could be good to supplement. I've had a time consuming calling at church Olive's whole life so when I go to meetings she gets formula from Michael. I never have much milk when I'm pumping so I figured this was a good plan. Ever since her first feeding she has been a way better nurser than the other two. It's so disappointing to not be able to give her everything she needs. In my heart I am a cloth diapering, natural birthing, too long nursing mother but it just isn't so. Cloth diapers made the girls rash, I've had two c-sections instead of three natural births, and my babies are not getting everything they need from my breast milk. Why is motherhood so disappointing? This last week we have had such terrible colds and since I'm breastfeeding (almost exclusively) I didn't want to take much but I did take sudafed a couple of times to make things more bearable. The side effect can be that it dries your milk up some. I don't know if it was that it did that or I worried that it might but I started to give Olive formula more this week and she seems so much more satisfied. I was surprised as I gave one of my children a bottle of formula for the first time, it was perfectly natural. It was like a really good nursing session. Ever since, I've given her formula every day in between nursing and she is so much more satisfied. I'm so happy for her. Why am I sad for me? I don't know if I should even try to nurse her anymore. She'll probably be happy not to, just like her siblings.

Writing this all out makes me feel better. And worse, a little. I'm not sure if anyone will want to read this whole thing. Maybe you've already heard it. If you haven't, you may not want to. Any advice?

March 15, 2011

i have super kids

no really, i do

ps: do you love that noah's costume is like 5 sizes too big and hazel's is almost too small
they just couldn't resist getting out the costumes when they saw that i framed a picture from last halloween

March 14, 2011

i really should have had michael take these pictures

but when i took this one
in our super dirty bathroom mirror
he didn't know that i was about to chop my hair
should i have cleaned our mirror before i took this
since i knew how terrible it looked in the previous photo?
yes
but...you get what you get
the best photo of the bunch
taken by noah

March 13, 2011

this week..

we all got sick with a super gross cold. we're still not over it. i am positive this has been the worst cold i've ever had in my whole life.

i hurt my hip running and couldn't make it through my 3 mile run without wanting to cry. and i don't usually cry. it started hurting after my 4 mile run on tuesday but it killed during my 3 mile thursday run. i'm taking this next week off. good thing i started the training program a week early! if it doesn't heal up right away i'll probably forget about the marathon. i don't want to hurt myself unnecessarily.

i cut my hair off is it rude not to post a picture? i have had red eyes and felt so sick all week that i haven't wanted to take a picture yet. i couldn't stand having it pulled constantly any longer! olive is such a hair puller. i feel a little weird having my normal bob again after so long but i'm happy to have the change.

March 11, 2011

so impressive...

I heard Hazel and Olive playing in the bathroom.
They were both very happy.
For a while, Olive was playing with the door stop.
Then after a little bit
Noah went in and sounding impressed asked Hazel,
"How did you get her in there?"
Hazel replied, "I carried her". 
I thought...."Oh dear." I got a little worried.
Noah felt differently.
He said, "I'm so proud of you".
I grabbed my camera and went in.
Here is what I found...
Blurry but you can tell she's pleased with herself.
Olive under the sink.
Noah in the sink.
Yep.
Hazel lifted her into the cupboard under the sink.
And Olive didn't mind.
Noah was on top of the sink.
Not sure why his tongue was out. 
I think Olive was happy to be included.
I know that feeling.
I was always following everyone around,
trying to be included.
That's the life of the youngest.


March 9, 2011

nap time

For the last month or two, naps have been pretty optional for Hazel. She usually gets pretty grumpy by 6:00pm or so the days she doesn't nap but she sleeps well at night. Lately she is taking a nap every day but not in the usual me-help-her-into-her-bed-with-a-sippy and close her door fashion. She is taking a nap either on the couch or on my bed every day because she's so exhausted and falls asleep randomly. Poor girl. She has always needed sleep. Lots of it. Like me. She just can't let her two year old self surrender to me putting her down for a nap every day. This way it's on her terms. I love that she fell asleep with her baby doll today. Don't worry, I covered her with a blanket after I took this picture.

March 7, 2011

new pillow covers


i finally made some new covers for our pillows today
remember the bird dress i made a year ago?
i haven't worn it
and wanted to use the fabric
so i took the dress apart
and used it to cover one of the pillows
and i do love stripes
seeing them in the living room
is making me very happy

March 5, 2011

marathon training: week 1

monday: 3 miles
wednesday: 4 miles
friday: 3 miles
saturday: 5 miles

i just finished week 1 (of 16-17)
of marathon training
i am not completely committed to the full marathon
i figured i would start training and see how i feel
i will at least be doing the half if not the full

every week i am supposed to run monday (short), tuesday (medium), thursday (short), saturday (long)
but the weather was crazy this last week
so i improvised a little
though i do typically run on the treadmill at a gym
i didn't feel like shoveling my car out to go
after we had like 21 inches of snow

running felt good
i don't love the thought of being away from the fam on saturdays
so we went on the trail between pullman and moscow
as a family
and michael and i took turns pushing the stroller
it was a little chaotic with the kids
getting in and out
crying
michael wore olive for part of it
etc
but it was fun to be active as a family
and i think we'll try it again next week

March 3, 2011

eight months old

cheesy smile
worried eyebrows
crossing her feet
cute little tongue
concentrating on standing at her toy

this girl melts our hearts

March 1, 2011

taking the joke too far

hazel loves clothes
but lately
she wants to be naked
unless she can match me or olive
so today she and i both wore
black leggings and black shirts
(we don't have many matching outfits)
and i was wearing red lipstick
so i put a little on her, too
she loved it
but apparently i didn't put hers on
bold enough...
so she took matters into her own hands
 don't mind that she's crying
she does not like being in trouble
 here's where she stashed my red lipstick
and a towel
and here she is
still crying
after i wiped her face clean
and now she's fallen asleep
right in this spot
on my bed
exhausted from causing mischief

so precious

michael needed some pants hemmed yesterday
so he held olive 
while i worked on the pants
and she fell asleep on him!
don't worry,
i took the picture of the top of michael
making sure not to show his pantslessness