Photo Friday!

New feature for my blog begins today - "Photo Friday". Every Friday I'll try to add a little visual interest to the collection. Here is the first one:

Art in Progress

Notice how Ashton is thinking hard and focused (you can tell by his tongue) and Kate is carefully contemplation her art and gaining perspective. My little Rembrandts!

And here is my 2nd entry:

Cat Up a Tree
This was so odd to us, seeing Candy Cane climbing a tree and being so far up. You see, Buddy Cat is not very cat-like and Candy Cane is all-cat. Buddy's never climbed a tree (and after his broken leg I don't blame him) and so the children found it odd to be told cats do this all the time.

Second Born - KER

Second Born Share: Here are my answers to a different kind of survey for a change - it's all about my second born! Let's see how much I remember!

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? yes, we knew we wanted someone for Ashton to play with



2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? yes



3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? Wow, that was fast. We only tried for a month! (Ashton & Kate are 22 months apart - we were going for more like 24-30 months)



4. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 24



5. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? Pregnancy Test



6. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? Paul, then Paul's mom this time



7. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? Absolutely



8. DUE DATE? September 2 I think, Kate was two weeks late!



9. 9. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? Yes, all the time for the 1st 4 months



10. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? Milkshakes and spicy food (Mexican, Thai, Cajun, etc)!



11. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? Morning sickness and maternity clothes and Kate coming two weeks late in the dog days of a hot NC summer!



12. WHAT WAS YOUR SECOND CHILD'S SEX? girl



13. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING?no



14. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? 20 on top of the 20 I still needed to loose from my first pregnancy.



15. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER?Yes, two



16. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? I knew



17. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS? She was two weeks late. Also, when Kate came out she had her umbilical cord wrapped around her throat in what the doctor could only describe as a knot he'd never seen before. She almost was a stillborn baby. Thank God she came when she did!



18. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Presbyterian Uptown in the same birthing center



19. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? 3 hours. Pushed for 5 minutes.



20. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Paul



21. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Paul, she came so fast there was no time for anyone to get there!



22. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? Natural



23. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? yes, an epidural and I regret it



24. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 8 lbs 4 oz



25. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ? September 15



26. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Katherine Elizabeth (Kate)

Grandmas, Grandmas, Grandmas Everywhere!

Some people may not be aware that my mother has been suffering from a mystery illness that has caused doctor after doctor to run inconclusive test after test. Seeming to have come to the end of the road with treatment options, her last resort was seek out help from an traditional Chinese doctor. While she did not believe, not even for a second, that this was what she needed, she never the less decided to give it a try since there was nothing really left. And...amazingly...the treatments seem to be working!
For the past 12 months I have seen my mother become less and less active and unable to be the grandmother she longed to be to her growing grandchildren. And, suddenly, she seems to be making a comeback! Today she stopped by and played "Hi-Ho Cherry-O" with Kate and "Candyland" with Ashton. One month ago she would not have been able to bend down to play. Woohoo! I hope this treatment stays on track and I get my mother back. (And FYI - Kate absolutely LOVED Hi-Ho Cherry-O, she thoroughly enjoys sorting colors and counting the little pieces.)
Also, more good grandparent news! Paul's parents will be arriving in a few short days to spend Halloween with us! Ashton couldn't be more excited and filled with anticipation, while I'm sure Kate will be thrilled when she realizes what is going on. We are very happy they will be coming and, by the frost warning posted for later this week, know they are on their way! ;) (Coming from Detroit they ALWAYS seem bring the cold with them, be it Spring or Fall.) My one wish while they are here is to make sure we get plenty of good photos of everyone together for Darlene's scrapbooks. Either she or I are always behind the camera and never in any of the shots together. HINT HINT Paul.

Holy Gasoline Batman!

For those of you NOT in Charlotte, thank your lucky gas gauges! There is a gas crisis in NC and people are now manic over the shortages. It is surreal to see lines of cars waiting to get gas at gas stations that don't EVEN HAVE GAS, people are simply camping out overnight, sleeping in their cars and hoping a tanker comes. Costco has been out of gas for 10 days now and there's not much of a supply anywhere else. At preschool everyone was talking about it, the library random strangers asked me if I had gas and where I got it from, Wal-Mart was dead due to lack of shoppers that chose to wait in line instead...it's everywhere! People are cussing at each other and cutting each other off to get to pumps that do have gas and police are being asked to patrol stations as the tankers arrive. Crazy crazy crazy!

**SPECIAL NOTE: We had to miss Ashton's OT appointment Wed. due to lack of
gas (we are in Matthews and they are in Pineville) and they want to charge us a $140 no show fee. What the heck is that??!!!?? So, we need a
new pediatric OT if anyone knows of any.

Happy Birthday...Just try not to drown.

For my birthday Paul surprised me with a whitewater kayaking lesson and a romantic dinner by the river! He must have heard me talking about the time I went whitewater rafting with my church's youth group and how fun it was, so he took the time to look into lessons, pre-paid it, found a sitter and made sure to have the time off from work.

The best parts were beyond the lesson itself. I loved that fact we went on a date! I loved that it wasn't the old standby of dinner and a movie. I loved that we were being active AND outdoors. I loved that we learned something new together. I loved that we are so supportive as a couple, never making fun of the other or getting frustrated. I love the patience we both have for each other. I loved the long leasuirly stroll around the park, watching everyone navigate the rapids. I love that I can say we kayaked the largest Whitewater center in the world. I loved that I made it down the last rapid and didn't tip over at the end! I loved that Paul found a babysitter that Ashton and Kate had fun with, Dallas and Regan's family. I loved that he kept the whole thing a secret until the last moment. I just LOVED the day and I love Paul for making it happen!

Ol' Sad-Eyed Kate

Kate always seems to have such a sad or worried look on her face, that is unless she's smiling that famous - yet elusive - sunshine smile of hers, I've come to refer to her as "Old Sad-Eyed Kate". So when I saw the Puss In Boots in Shrek 2 make this face, I saw something so familiar I had to share. And maybe it's just me...but you be the judge of the resemblance.

"Old Sad-Eyed Kate"...humm...sounds like an Irish drinking song or an Appalachain folk tale. :)

Just a Little Off the Top Please!

Why oh why did I choose the morning of school picture day to attempt my 1st home haircut on Ashton? Maybe it was exhaustion taking the wheel for the little hour between getting them to school and going back to sleep...who knows? Sadly, it was Ashton's bangs that paid the hefty price of an attempt at saving some dough. (See photo)

I will say that I think the short bangs makes him look like photos I've seen of my mother at a young age.

The good of the disastrous attempt at saving money is during the emergency trip to Supercuts where Kate was able to get her 1st hair cut! She is a born "girl", trying out all the products while we waited, sitting very still during the cut, being into the whole experience! While not much did come off, her style is a bit evened out now and most of the flips are gone (can't quite call them curls, as they really didn't make it past the first bend).

It's a good thing that we immediately when on to get their photos snapped at school, as when we returned home the first thing Kate did after getting out of the car is fall flat on her face, giving herself a really horrible looking scrape/bump about a golfball size. The tough part was that today she took her class picture and will forever be immortalized as the rough and tumble girl of Room 1.

Also, Ashton has developed a GREAT friendship with Richard, our 4-year-old rough and tumble neighbor. Yesterday Ashton headed off to Richard's backyard to play while I made dinner and through the opened window I heard two bumpy sounding "Woah woah woah woah woah -- HAHAHAH!"s. When I walked quickly over to see what was going on, I witnessed the naked happiness that riding a big wheels down a bumpy hill only a 3 year old could share with his best bud.

Ashton further cemented their BFF status by insisting I buy for him not the blue croc-like shoes I thought would match most of his clothes, but the fire-engine red Lighting McQueen shoes that Richard also was the proud owner of. (See photo below)

I am so happy Richard and his family moved on to our street, they are going to have such a great summer together! Now...if only a little girl would move in!