Dinosaur cookies

Carter found a box of dinosaur cookie cutters when we were unpacking boxes a few weeks ago.  He's been  begging to make cookies since then.  There was no preschool today because of Presidents' Day, so I decide it was the perfect day to make cookies.  

 I pre-made the dough last night after the boys went to bed using this recipe.  I knew they wouldn't be patient enough to wait for it to chill.  I would highly recommend this recipe because it wasn't a sticky mess like some sugar cookie recipes tend to be.  The boys took turns helping me roll out the dough and cutting out the cookies.  While the cookies baked, the boys took a break to go play.
After lunch we decorated the cookies.  I adapted my frosting from this recipe, using butter instead of corn oil and doubling the milk to make the frosting easier to spread.  The only thing I would do differently next time is to give Jack his own small frosting bowls because the knives kept ending up in his mouth.  The boys loved it!

Recap

We moved out of our townhouse a week and a half ago.  Tim and I were a lot more emotional about it than we expected to be.  It was the first place we lived in together.  The place where we brought our babies home from the hospital.  The place where we remodel together.  Even though we had outgrown the space, it was still hard to say goodbye.
We are currently living in my parents until we can close on a house.  (Which has it's own set of challenges that I'll write about another day.)  The house we put an offer on over a month ago is back to negotiations.  It's any one's guess whether this will ever end up as our home because we still have many hurdles to jump in the negotiations.  If all goes well, we could be moving in December.  The market is really slowing down for the holidays, so if this deal doesn't work out, we may have to come up with a different short term plan.
The boys are handling it about as well as a 2 and 4 year old can.  Carter is very moody these days.  Pretty much anything can cause a meltdown.  (A bad cold is also contributing to this, too.)  Jack has almost completely stopped napping and is up 3-4 times a night screaming.  They're trying to be so good, but living at my parents' house screwed up pretty much all routines in their lives.  I am thankful Carter has school three mornings and week and Jack has ECFE one morning, so we have at least one thing that has stayed constant for them both.  

Birthday Party Planning

The boys' birthdays are coming up in the begining of July.  We're planning on doing another combined birthday party since Carter and Jack's birthday's are only 5 days apart.  Life is going to be pretty busy around here in May and June with Mother's Day, Father's Day, quite a few birthdays, SIL's college graduation, a bachlorette party, bridal shower, and a wedding that I am in.  So I'm trying to get a start on things early this year, so I'm not stressed at the last minute trying to throw something together. 
We playing around with a couple different themes.  Carter, of course, would love to do another Cars party.  I'm pushing more towards a Shaun the Sheep/Farm/John Deere party, which Jack and Carter both love.  There are tons of fun farm themed parties on pinterest to inspire me since there are no actual Shaun the Sheep party supplies made. 
So far I'm thinking crayon rolls and farm themed coloring books for party favors.  It'll be a big undertaking to make for the 12 or so kids that will be coming, but such a fun detail. 

Kids Craft Week Challenge: Day 3

Not the greatest picture of my day 3 project.  21 month olds aren't the most cooperative models.  Upcycling is really not as scary as I thought and my first knit project went much better than I expected it to.  The material for the shorts was from an old pair of my work-out pants.  I cut the pieces for the shorts from the top sides, so I could keep the cute white stripes and that I didn't have to mess with the waist band.  They're definitely not my best work, but they're wearable and look pretty darn cute on Jack.  Maybe I'll try to make some pants from the leftover pieces of the pants. 

KCWC: Day 2

My productivity was high again today.  I was able to make dinosaur pajama pants and cute Hawaiian shorts for Jack, both using the same tutorial used yesterday.  The Hawaiian material is from a men's shirt someone gave me.  Ugly as a men's shirt, adorable on little boys.  I'm hoping to get some picture of my little guys modeling their new clothes tomorrow. 
Up next some clothes for the little girls in our lives (and maybe some tops to go with all these bottoms).

Jack is 6 months old !!!!

Okay, not until tomorrow at 11:55pm, but still. The past 6 months have gone by way too fast. Whoever said "The days are long, but the years are short," was so right. We've definately had our challenges in the past 6 months, including reflux, the stomach flu, and a cold that was starting to become croup. Jack's smiles have made them all worth it.
My favorite recent development is the relationship between Jack and Carter. Carter adores Jack (sometimes not gentlely enough) and Jack think Carter is hilarious. I am so excited to see their friendship grow as they get older. Jack just started sharing a room with Carter. Tim and I love to listen to them talk to each other on the baby moniter.
Jack is not quite sitting up on his own yet, but I think it will happen pretty soon. He's able to balance for a little while if we prop him up with his arms. He loves to roll. Front to back is easy, but back to front happens less often. Jack uses his legs to rotate himself on the floor, usually to get closer to toys or Carter.

Happy 6 month Birthday to my handsome little guy!

Jackson: One month old

It's hard to believe Jackson's been in our lives for a month already. He's grown so much already (no exact stats yet until our appointment on Friday).

At one month you are:

• Just starting to grow out of your newborn clothes. Anything footed is too small, but most of the onesies still fit.
• Are breast and bottle feeding. You like to eat every two hours during the day and on a rare occasion will go as long as 6 hours at night.
• Just starting to smile when you hear your mommy and daddy's voices
• Starting to get more on a schedule. You usually take a morning, afternoon, and after dinner nap. Bedtime is usually sometime between 10 to 11pm. You're awake and ready to start the day by 7am.
• Refuse to sleep in your cradle. Your best sleep gets done in your bouncer or on mommy.
• Have already taken a road trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa Ballman, Great Grandma Ballman, Aunties Steph, Stacey, and Heather, Uncle Jeff and cousins Ben and Lauren.
• Hate bath time and having your diaper changed.

Jackson, you have brought so much joy to your family already. We love you so much!

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My much belated birth story

Things have been a little crazy lately since baby Jack has been born, but I finally posted his birth story.

In the afternoon of Saturday, July 10th I was having contractions between 7-10 minutes apart. I was leery of getting too excited about them after going into the hospital the week before and being told that I was having “false labor”. As the evening progressed they were getting closer together and I was getting much more uncomfortable. Tim was working until 11pm and I was determined to not make him come home early unless I was for sure going to have the baby that night. Around 10:45 my contractions were between 4-5 minutes apart. I decided to call my parents to come over to spend the night with Carter because I was pretty sure it was the real thing this time around. I called Tim at 11:01 and he got home as fast as he could.
We made it to the hospital a little after midnight and got settled into our room. It happened to be the same room that we stayed in when Carter was born. They got me hooked up to the monitors and saw that my contractions were between 3-4 minutes apart. The nurse then did an internal. I was only 1cm dilated and 70%. I was extremely disappointed that I had made pretty much no progress in a week. They decided to have us stay to see if I progressed any further. When they checked me two hours later, I had progressed to 2cm, enough to let us stay to continue being monitored. I was given something to help me get some sleep. They checked me again at the 6am shift change. I had made no progress. I was still having contractions every 3-4 minutes. The nurse was not sure what my doctor would decide to do. She mentioned that I could possibly be sent home. Exhausted and frustrated, I asked what would happen if I changed my mind about trying for a VBAC. She said she wasn’t sure and would ask my doctor.
At 9am, they gave me the option of starting pitocin. At that point anything that would make the baby come quicker was a welcome thought. Because I really hadn’t slept more than a few hours in the last week, they offered a pain meds so I’d be able to get some rest before I was ready to push. I slowly started to make some progress, and spent most of the day napping. During one of the internal checks, my daytime nurse, who was not at all gentle, accidentally broke my water. At 3pm I decided that I would most definitely be getting an epidural because the pain was getting unbearable. Around 8pm, my labor and delivery nurse decided I was ready to push. Things were going well, but very slowly. After the 2nd hour, they were becoming more concerned about how the contractions were affecting the baby’s heart rate. The potential need for a c/s or use of the vacuum was brought up. At this point the on-call doctor for my clinic switched (the other doctor had been on-call for the whole weekend and got called into do a c/s.) She was willing to let me go for a little while longer as long as conditions didn’t change. At 11pm, after three hours of pushing, my body had pretty much stopped reacting to the pitocin and my contractions started to lose strength and slow down. As much as I didn’t want to use the vacuum, my choices were pretty much being narrowed down to that or a c/s (which I really didn’t want after this much work!) Around 11:45pm, the doctor prepped everything for the vacuum and had extra nurses on hand in case we needed them for the baby. After two more pushes with the vacuum, Jackson Curtis was born at 11:55pm. He weight 7lbs 10oz and was 22 inches long.
Overall things are going well for our family. Jack is a sweet and mellow baby and big brother Carter loves him so much. The adjustment to having two kids really has gone fairly smoothly for us so far. The real test will be when Tim goes back to work next week.

The first few days of recovery were just as bad as or worse than my c/s recovery. Now, over a week later, I feel almost back to normal, which has made the VBAC experience completely worth it. There was no way I could have done it without the encouragement of my nurses and the doctor who ended up delivering Jack.