Creative Memories

I have had creative memories stuff (scrapbooking supplies) since I was a senior in high school. My mom and I started because we wanted to get stuff together for my high school graduation. Like a baby book. I started a book about high school and never finished it. I wish it was done, but someday...

Mom became a consultant. I kept thinking how many albums and pictures I have to scrapbook. It does make sense, it is fun and I love to look at picture albums that she had made of some family vacations. Then I had Sage.

I had always vowed that I wouldn't be like my mom. That I would finish all my kids' baby books. We bought a great digital camara and my husband was picture happy. We have a bazillion gazillion pictures of Sage as a baby. And I have barely started that album. Pictures are printed, too many to fit in one album and I always feel overwhelmed.

Then Kolby was born. I haven't finished Sage's one year baby book and now I have two kids! And he was born with club foot. Of course, right away I wanted to make a special scrapbook of Kolby's feet. When I was home in July, I picked out an album, 8 x 10, denim, with natural pages. I was excited and my scrapbooking sense was renewed! I went through the pictures and printed them off at Sam's club.

I have started and am not up to date yet, but close on Kolby's Foot Book. It is really cool. I am a plain scrapbooker. Pictures, paper and a lot of writing. Every page is with a different primary color. Red, green and blue to start. And of course, the pen matches the paper.

When I put it away today after nap time. I was overcome with thankfullness to my mom. She has given me something that I can pass down to my kids. Something special. Something that only I can give them. And I now have a scrapbooking passion! For now, it will remain in my dining room and someday I will have a scrapbooking room.

Thanks mom!

Breastfeeding

I breastfeed. In public. In my house. In my car. Where ever we happen to be, I breastfeed Kolby. I am not ashamed or embarassed. I discreetly whip it out. I rarely use a blanket. I wear an Isabelly cover. It looks like a tank top that stops right under the bra leaving your nursing bra available. I wear one almost everyday. It makes nursing anywhere easier. I don't use a blanket because my back and side are not exposed to the world. And Kolbys head is large enough to cover everything else!

I am not embarrassed when other women breastfeed. It is normal, natural and a lot easier than bottles. I nursed Sage until he was 9 months old and then weaned him to formula and a bottle. I had to think about how long I would be gone and take the appropriate bottles and formula. I probably should have been taking water too. When I nurse, it doesn't matter how long I am going to be gone. I just take a couple diapers. And when Kolbs is hungry, I feed him. It is easy. I know not everyone has an easy time of breastfeeding, but I do.

Now, I am not saying this is all roses. Because every rose has thorns. Kolby is with me all the time. I am the only one who can feed him. Sometimes, comfort him. And sometimes, that feels suffocating. He does take a bottle veeerrryyy slowly, but he will take it and I am blessed to have a patient husband to feed him, about once a week when I leave the house without the kids.

And, right on time, Kolby cries because he is hungry and I will go nurse him!

Andrea Yates

Andrea Yates got a not guilty verdict by reason of insanity. It seems obvious that she is/was insane. Is that an excuse? Does that mean she is less guilty? Wrong is wrong. Murder is murder. It shouldn't matter what her state of mind was. It is so sad and will continue to be so sad for the rest of her life. And she is the one who has to live with the guilt the rest of her life. Would you feel more guilty for "getting away" with it rather than being punished? Or is living in her torment punishment enough?

My Favorite

Do you ever play the my favorite game with your spouse? We played yesterday. It is amazing how much we learn about each other just asking what our favorite things are.

Favorite State: His- Minnesota Mine- Colorado (so I have only been there once, but in my mind it is the perfect state)

Favorite Color: His- Black Mine- Green, pink, blue or black (not all together, one at a time, except black, black goes with everything and can be worn all the time)

Favorite Book: the duh factor- Bible for both, non-Bible His: Three Muskateers (who knew?!) Mine: No idea

Favorite Movie: His- the second Lord of the Rings Mine: again, no idea

Favorite Candy: His- 3 Muskateeers Mine- M&M's plain

And as an add on to yesterday's post, Mia Hamm and Kristi Yamaguchi, both born with club foot!

Boyz II Men

We saw them in concert last night. It was the boys first concert! It was free, like we would actually pay to see them! We forgot the camara, of course. We got there and sat in the rain for almost an hour. They are great singers, not so great entertainers. After an hour of sitting in the rain, we had to tell ourselves it was fun!

Troy Aikman, who knew?

Did you know that Troy Aikman had club foot? "Troy Aikman was born with what doctors call "Thrid Club Foot", Troy was in plaster till he was 8 months old, then he wore speical shoes till he was 3 years old, since then he has not suffered from any form of Club Foot." Quote taken from clubfeet.net. An interesting web site that I stumbled upon after googling club foot. So maybe Kolby is going to be like Troy Aikman. He is big enough to be a football player!

Kolby giggles now. He is such a happy baby! I remember not too long ago writing about how much he cries! He still cries but not nearly as much. It is much better for my sanity!

Drew is at work today, for the 11th day in a row. Basically, we got back from vacation and he has been working everyday since. I did get to go out the other night. It was so nice to have a break from the boys and talk to grown ups. And Drew said the boys were angels. And it took him until 9:30 to get the dishes done and have time for himself after getting the boys to bed and he didn't have to give anyone a bath!

2 Year Old Check Up

Sage is 2! And along with a birthday comes a trip to the pediatrician. He weighs 32lbs putting him in the 95th percentile for weight and is 35 in. tall which is the 75th percentile for height. He gained 4 lbs in the last 6 months! She said that is a big jump, has there been an increase in appetite? Ya think?! Since he eats a kids meal at restaurants and can eat as much as me? And then she looked at porker Kolby and just smiled.

Sage is so sweet. At the mall the other day (escaping the heat of our apartment), I got him out of the stroller and had him stand next to me while I got the high chair ready. He was supposed to hold my leg so I knew where he was and he wouldn't run off. I felt him let go and turned around to see what he was doing. He was leaning over Kolby, kissing his head. Precious. His new word yesterday was "Hollllbbbeeee". I interpret that as Kolby, finally Baby has a name! And Sage is very protective of Kolby. As we had driven to the mall, Sage had falled asleep. I got the stroller out, set it up, put Kolby in and Sage slept on. I got Sage out of the car and as I lifted him into the stroller he said, "Baby?" Making sure that I remembered to get Kolby too. I have yet to forget but he always makes sure that I get him.

The boys took their first bath together. I put Kolby's baby bath in the big tub and filled both up. Sage thought it was pretty cool to bathe with Kolby.

Sage also says cool, sounds like cooohh. And dude, duuuu. He is talking a lot and always asks for daddddyyy in the morning. When I tell him that daddy is at work, he says "Bike?" "Yes, daddy rode his bike." "Hat?" "Yes, daddy wore his bike hat." And then he says "Baby?"

The neighbors across the street bought Sage a kiddie pool for his birthday. We have been enjoying it a lot! Last night, Sage spent about an hour in it. We squirt water guns at each other and he will splash and even try to stick his head in the water. How do we teach him to close his mouth?

Sweet Sage. Sweet Kolby. My two favorite boys.

Today we went to my friends house, had lunch and played in the kiddie pool. Sage thought it was great fun. At first, the water was cold and I made him sit down and he cried and then quickly got over it. Of course, I left the camara at home! These are my best friends in the state that I live in, which you probably know but ahem anyway. They are moving. To Texas. I am so sad. I am happy for them because they will be much closer to family and have a wonderful job opportunity but am selfishly sad. I have only known them a year, but it seems like much longer. She is goofy and always makes me laugh and brings a smile to my face. I will miss them a lot. A lot. Tears are now in my eyes threating to spill. And they will move soon. By September 1. And they have 2 vacations to take before then. Time is precious to spend with them. I hope we get to see them often in the next month and a half.

Uh, hello. I forgot to tell you the exciting events that occurred for Sage's 2nd birthday! We went to Friendly's as a family. Sage cried as they sang Happy Birthday and Kolby screamed after they were done! Kolbs was tired though, not sad that they were done. But all was good when he realized they brought him ice-cream (Sage not Kolby, do you really think I would feed my 4 month old ice-cream). Then we came home and sang again, no crying this time and ate cupcakes. He blew out the candle perfectly. I can't get him to say two though. The icing had melted because it was about 8000 degrees in our house. It did that last year too. Someday, we will have central air and the icing on Sage's birthday whatever will not melt. We had considered taking him to Chuckee Cheese and then thought, why start that madness? We had considered having a party for him and again thought, why start that madness? He wouldn't know and would probably be rude to all invited.

Have I told you how rude he can be? It is amazing. And of course only to people we know. At the store, he says hi and bye to everyone. At church, no one and gives them an evil look and turns his face away from them. I talk to him a lot about being kind to everyone. It hasn't worked so far.

Vacation etc.

So, we went on vacation, to the midwest. We saw family and friends. Blah, blah blah. Seriously, it was really great and we loved every minute. Now we are home sufferring in the humidity with air conditioning only in our bedrooms.

As we left for vacation, Drew pulls the back door shut, CLICK, and asks
"Do you have your keys?"
"Nope, do you?"
"No, we just locked ourselves out."
"At least we have both kids!"

I look at Drew about to explode and say "We have to laugh and keep going."

The taxi honks out front waiting to take us to the train station. Drew starts walking down the driveway, Kolby is in the Baby Bjorn and Sage runs after his dada. And trips. And scrapes his knee. And cries. Drew doesn't look back. I scoop up Sage and continue rolling suitcase to the taxi.

The taxi and train ride are uneventful. The flight was pretty uneventful except that we sat on the runway for 2 hours. When we got to MN at 10pm that night, I said to Drew "Do you realize we were on the plane long enough to fly internationally? And the kids did great!"

Coming home, took 14.5 hours. Flight, bus, train, taxi. What some people will do for free airline tickets. Airtran.

Breastfeeding. There is your warning. I have been nursing Kolby for 4 months. We have had some problems, reflux but have overcome. Tonight, it seemed like he couldn't get enough. He nursed for a long time on both sides, long time for Kolbs is like 7 minutes per side, pulled off the second and cried. Normally, he would lay down and put himself to sleep. Tonight, he kept cried even after I gave him the pacifier. I picked him up to rock and and give him his passy. He stopped and then realized it was just the pacifier and SCREAMED. I fixed a bottle, he drank 2 ounces and fell asleep. Normally, I would have tried nursing him again, but it had been half an hour. And I have been really sore lately. Also, yesterday since we were travelling, he nursed whenever he made a peep because seriously no one likes a crying baby. I thought today I would be huge and uncomfortable and haven't been at all. Very strange. Thoughts?

Sage turns 2 tomorrow. 2. 2. Let me type it again, 2. Hopefully I can post how sweet he is. The sweetest. 2!