I'm not sure it is a good excuse or not, but I just cannot manage to find a chunk of time in the evenings after the kids are in bed that I shouldn't be doing school work, laundry, washing bottles, or going on to bed myself to actually sit down and keep up with this blog.
Over Christmas break I plan on updating it as much as possible.
Funny things Lily said this week:
"And it shook when he laughed like a bowl filled with jelly and peanut butter and bananas..."
When describing the changes that Ms. Jessica had made at her house over the weekend (decorated for Christmas) she told us that there were "stockings hung with care"...
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Jimmy's Photo Blog: Born on May 24th, Hannah and I celebrate day one o...
Jimmy's Photo Blog: Born on May 24th, Hannah and I celebrate day one o...: "Born on May 24th, Hannah and I celebrate day one of the new arrival with her sister Amanda (Baby momma), Daddy Michael, and new big sister L..."
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Jump on in....
We got Lily one of the "puddle jumpers" that were recommended by Carrie. This thing is great! She jumped right in...
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Welcome Will!
*Awesome photos of Will: courtesy of my brother in law, photographer, Jimmy Clemmons.
Monday, May 24th our family welcomed baby William Tate Evans... "Will". Since we have been asked a few times about the name, both of us have great grandfathers who were William. "Tate" we both just liked the sound of.
Things were a lot easier in some ways with this labor/delivery. I can say that I would rather go into labor on my own than to be induced as I was with Lily. I started having contractions around 7:00 or so that morning and he was born at 6:32pm. Not too bad.
The only issue of concern was my blood pressure. Usually if a woman is going to have bp problems it will be right after the epidural. I was fine afterwards. About an hour or so later though my bp crashed and stayed there. They pushed 5-6 bags of fluid into my IV in hopes of bringing it up and even gave me a shot of ephedrine. Nothing worked. The L&D nurse did not leave the room for a long long time because she kept expecting me to pass out I think. She certainly asked me a lot. The lowest it got was about 87/38 which I admit is pretty dang low. The highest she managed to get it was 101/53 I think. The baby's vitals never waivered though... they kept saying he was the "happiest" baby they'd seen.
Anyway, jump to the end... About 40 minutes before he was born they decided it was necessary to turn my epidural OFF. Yes, off. They think I had a reaction to something that is mixed in with the epidural medicine which is what caused the bp problem. Since they could not get it up, they decided to turn it off. They also assured me that it would not wear off before he was born. Well, that was partially true. I felt more than I would have liked to.
Immediately after be was born the LD nurse and the LD tech starting making bets on how heavy he was. I knew he had to be bigger than Lily was. Turns out the Tech won. He was over 9 lbs and thats what she was betting on. 9lbs 6 oz. 21 inches long.
He was a big boy.
I felt immediate relief after he was born. I knew my guts were squashed and I was right!
Because he was over 9 lbs they had to monitor his blood sugar level for a certain amount of time. Every 3 hours he had to have a blood sugar test. That made for a long night. Every time we would finally get to sleep they'd come in and retest him. Lily came by to say goodnight but because he was in the nursery for his first round of testing she did not get to see him till the next morning. He also had a good portion of his face bruised during his birth so they also had to watch him for jaundice (bruising evidently tends to increase the odds of it happening). So, his first 24 hours were full of being poked unfortunately.
He is a really sweet baby and very cuddly. We are holding our breath to see if maybe we managed to have a second baby that is as good as the first one was. Of course, its still early.
This past Tuesday we went for his 1 week check and he was not under his birth weight. He was 9 lbs 7.3 oz so we don't have to go back till his 1 month appt.
The video that we took of Lily meeting her brother is precious. Enjoy...
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Puerto Rico...better late than never.
I will start this post with a disclaimer.
This narrative is from my point of view. That means it may include some pregnancy influenced perceptions. Hannah and/or Jimmy (or anyone else for that matter) may not tell the same story.
Sunday, December 27th
It was freezing. Not just chilly, freezing. We packed up the Explorer with what seemed like an awful lot of stuff for 3 days, put our sleepy pj-clad daughter in her carseat, and headed south to the airport.
Once there, we had to figure out how to get everything inside with the number of hands that we had. My mom's joint problems prevented her from being able to take too heavy of a load, my pregnancy prevented me from taking too heavy of a load, Lily had to be carried since we were acres away from the terminal... which left Michael as the pack-mule. I did however find an abandoned "smartcart" in the lot so we were able to haul everything in without too much trouble after that. Did I mention it was freezing? We did not want to take our coats into 80 degree weather though so we toughed it out.
Once inside and on our way to check in it became clear that the "taking the carseat with us" idea was going to be a challenge. The FAA/TSA says kids who would normally be in a carseat are required to be in one on a plane. *They lied by the way. So, after checking in and dropping off our large bags we proceeded to haul the stroller (with Lily in it), her large diaper bag, my purse, a large LLBean tote (toys, books, cooler clothes for L., etc) her carseat (a Britax- probably the heaviest one made), Michael's backpack, mom's carry on, and...that may be it. A guard very nicely let us cut through the stupid strap maze to go to the "family security check area". Every single thing had to go on that belt... including the stroller and carseat. Shoes off, all M's pockety stuff, everything. Then... the diaper bag search... Again...TSA's website says that you can take breastmilk, formula, water, or other liquid in limited quantities for small children- whatever is necessary to get them through their flying experience. I (in true Amanda fashion) had packed enough for a preschool to fly. That is an exaggeration. I packed 3 little 6 oz? bottles of water and 3 little 6-8 oz bottles of white grape juice. Enough. First, they confiscated 2 waters and 2 juices. Evidently the TSA website was kidding. He told me that technically I was not allowed the juice at all, but he would let me take one. $3.89 for 6 of those bottles... anyway... he still tested them for ? fumes? He used what I assume is litmus paper and tested the contents of all 6 containers and then sent us on our way. So, we had to reassemble our caravan of people, totes, bags, stoller, etc and proceed on to the "train". Hurdle #1- getting down to the stupid train....elevator or escalator? I picked Lily up, folded the stroller, and took the escalator. There was a line for the elevator. Hurdle #2- waiting for a train that was empty enough that we could fit on without hitting anyone with stroller, carseat, bags on shoulders, etc. Hurdle #3- moving fast enough to get everything and everyone in the train before the doors closed because as we all know "the doors will not reopen". Lily was watchful of everything but did not seem that interested until we got to the train. She liked that a lot. We figured she would.
We got to the gate with, of course, tons of time to kill- with a 2 year old. We took turns taking walks with her down the strip of gates, looking at planes through the windows and generally trying not to piss off sleeping people at empty gates.
We also went though...probably 3 diaper changes before we left. Note* ATL airport does not have a changing table thing. Seriously?!? So I had to change her on the floor of the busiest airport in the USA's bathroom. Gross.
Eventually, we gave up finding things to do and took her to Paschals to eat something more than a banana and graham crackers. The only snag in this plan is that we had to balance any trips away from our seats and stuff with who could stay and watch them. Mom stayed behind while we went to eat.
By the time we got back, Jimmy's mom had joined mom at the gate. We waited and waited and waited... if I remember correctly the flight ended up leaving about an hour later than what it was supposed to. Oh, they have also done away with the one perk I was really looking forward to using.... NO MORE EARLY BOARDING for passengers with mobility problems or with very young children. Thats right, we had to get in line with the rest of the lemmings to file onto the plane with all that crap and Lily. So, eventually we were able to gather everything up and file onto the plane, hitting who knows how many people with our bags.
Again, I will mention that Lily was the ONLY child on that plane that was in a carseat. You could tell we got bonus pts with the attendants for having her in one, but still. We also sat in the last row of seats. I THOUGHT that was a good idea. No. Those are narrower than even the row in front of it. So, Lily got to sit by the window- required to actually, then Michael, then me. Mom was across the aisle with no one beside her. Of course.
The only 2 parts of the trip that we were really concerned for Lily was going to be take off and landing. We talked on and on about how it was going to be loud and might sound scary but it was ok. We taxied to the runway and went barreling down the strip... Lily: "wheeeee". No problems there. The only real behavioral problem was her kicking the seat in front of her. After about 45 minutes though, she fell asleep and slept till about a half hour or so before landing. Not too bad...
I prayed pretty much the entire time we were flying. The thought of taking my child on a plane 35,000+ ft. in the air was really causing me some anxiety.
Landing was pretty much as uneventful for Lily as taking off. She was definitely ready to get out of her seat though. Of course being the last freaking seats meant we were also the last off the plane. Wonderful planning on my part...
First thing, we grabbed the stroller and loaded it down with stuff and headed to the bathrooms to change clothes. Or at least Lily's clothes.
to be continued...
This narrative is from my point of view. That means it may include some pregnancy influenced perceptions. Hannah and/or Jimmy (or anyone else for that matter) may not tell the same story.
Sunday, December 27th
It was freezing. Not just chilly, freezing. We packed up the Explorer with what seemed like an awful lot of stuff for 3 days, put our sleepy pj-clad daughter in her carseat, and headed south to the airport.
Once there, we had to figure out how to get everything inside with the number of hands that we had. My mom's joint problems prevented her from being able to take too heavy of a load, my pregnancy prevented me from taking too heavy of a load, Lily had to be carried since we were acres away from the terminal... which left Michael as the pack-mule. I did however find an abandoned "smartcart" in the lot so we were able to haul everything in without too much trouble after that. Did I mention it was freezing? We did not want to take our coats into 80 degree weather though so we toughed it out.
Once inside and on our way to check in it became clear that the "taking the carseat with us" idea was going to be a challenge. The FAA/TSA says kids who would normally be in a carseat are required to be in one on a plane. *They lied by the way. So, after checking in and dropping off our large bags we proceeded to haul the stroller (with Lily in it), her large diaper bag, my purse, a large LLBean tote (toys, books, cooler clothes for L., etc) her carseat (a Britax- probably the heaviest one made), Michael's backpack, mom's carry on, and...that may be it. A guard very nicely let us cut through the stupid strap maze to go to the "family security check area". Every single thing had to go on that belt... including the stroller and carseat. Shoes off, all M's pockety stuff, everything. Then... the diaper bag search... Again...TSA's website says that you can take breastmilk, formula, water, or other liquid in limited quantities for small children- whatever is necessary to get them through their flying experience. I (in true Amanda fashion) had packed enough for a preschool to fly. That is an exaggeration. I packed 3 little 6 oz? bottles of water and 3 little 6-8 oz bottles of white grape juice. Enough. First, they confiscated 2 waters and 2 juices. Evidently the TSA website was kidding. He told me that technically I was not allowed the juice at all, but he would let me take one. $3.89 for 6 of those bottles... anyway... he still tested them for ? fumes? He used what I assume is litmus paper and tested the contents of all 6 containers and then sent us on our way. So, we had to reassemble our caravan of people, totes, bags, stoller, etc and proceed on to the "train". Hurdle #1- getting down to the stupid train....elevator or escalator? I picked Lily up, folded the stroller, and took the escalator. There was a line for the elevator. Hurdle #2- waiting for a train that was empty enough that we could fit on without hitting anyone with stroller, carseat, bags on shoulders, etc. Hurdle #3- moving fast enough to get everything and everyone in the train before the doors closed because as we all know "the doors will not reopen". Lily was watchful of everything but did not seem that interested until we got to the train. She liked that a lot. We figured she would.
We got to the gate with, of course, tons of time to kill- with a 2 year old. We took turns taking walks with her down the strip of gates, looking at planes through the windows and generally trying not to piss off sleeping people at empty gates.
We also went though...probably 3 diaper changes before we left. Note* ATL airport does not have a changing table thing. Seriously?!? So I had to change her on the floor of the busiest airport in the USA's bathroom. Gross.
Eventually, we gave up finding things to do and took her to Paschals to eat something more than a banana and graham crackers. The only snag in this plan is that we had to balance any trips away from our seats and stuff with who could stay and watch them. Mom stayed behind while we went to eat.
By the time we got back, Jimmy's mom had joined mom at the gate. We waited and waited and waited... if I remember correctly the flight ended up leaving about an hour later than what it was supposed to. Oh, they have also done away with the one perk I was really looking forward to using.... NO MORE EARLY BOARDING for passengers with mobility problems or with very young children. Thats right, we had to get in line with the rest of the lemmings to file onto the plane with all that crap and Lily. So, eventually we were able to gather everything up and file onto the plane, hitting who knows how many people with our bags.
Again, I will mention that Lily was the ONLY child on that plane that was in a carseat. You could tell we got bonus pts with the attendants for having her in one, but still. We also sat in the last row of seats. I THOUGHT that was a good idea. No. Those are narrower than even the row in front of it. So, Lily got to sit by the window- required to actually, then Michael, then me. Mom was across the aisle with no one beside her. Of course.
The only 2 parts of the trip that we were really concerned for Lily was going to be take off and landing. We talked on and on about how it was going to be loud and might sound scary but it was ok. We taxied to the runway and went barreling down the strip... Lily: "wheeeee". No problems there. The only real behavioral problem was her kicking the seat in front of her. After about 45 minutes though, she fell asleep and slept till about a half hour or so before landing. Not too bad...
I prayed pretty much the entire time we were flying. The thought of taking my child on a plane 35,000+ ft. in the air was really causing me some anxiety.
Landing was pretty much as uneventful for Lily as taking off. She was definitely ready to get out of her seat though. Of course being the last freaking seats meant we were also the last off the plane. Wonderful planning on my part...
First thing, we grabbed the stroller and loaded it down with stuff and headed to the bathrooms to change clothes. Or at least Lily's clothes.
to be continued...
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Waaayyy behind.....Christmas and Puerto Rico
Wow. I can't believe I don't have anything up from Christmas or Hannah's wedding/the Puerto Rico trip. Time has gotten away from me I guess.
I suppose we will start with Christmas and go from there. This will probably take me the rest of the week, so keep checking back.
Christmas was both a low key and big day at our house this year. Lily "got it" a little more this year so she had a really good time with looking at Christmas lights around town and in yards, listening to music, and messing with the Christmas tree. We did discover that she has a low tolerance for frustration when it comes to decorating the tree. The little hooks and ribbons just about sent her off the deep end. She did get some ornaments to stay on finally but it took quite a few tears and hissy fits.
The weekend before Christmas we joined up with Jennifer and her family and the Evans' and went to Stone Mountain Christmas. It was so so so cold - but warmer than the previous weekend. Lily enjoyed the lights and such but the biggest thing for her was the train ride around the base of the mountain. When the train was pulling up to the loading station I caught her expression of joy at hearing the train coming. She had a fabulous time riding it.
On Christmas Eve we had Hannah, Jimmy, and my mom over for a chicken parmagsian (sp) dinner. A little unusual I know, but since we were all heading out of the state in a few short days we could not go off an leave lots of leftovers to ruin in the fridge. Plus, its cheaper. Anyway, Lily got a "digger" that moves on its' own which kinda freaked her out for a few minutes. She LOVES construction equipment. They are all "diggers" though. So other than her digger she also received a turtleneck with "Lily loves Diggers" embroidered on it from Gwema and an art easel. Hannah and Jimmy gave her a Doctor's Kit which she has really enjoyed using to poke plastic rod like objects into everyone's ears, regardless of whether it is the ear checker or not. The stethoscope is the other big deal from that gift. It makes a "thump thump" noise when you hold it against something so she looves that.
This year her presents from Santa actually caused a tearful moment, which was pitiful Christmas morning. Santa left her a train table and she was immediately sucked in to playing with that...to the point she did not want to open anything else. So, we tried to cover it up with its' art table top thing and she boohoo'd. Way to go mom. Eventually we moved on to open her other larger items: baby doll bed, highchair, stroller, and other dolls items. She had a good day and pretty much played herself out.
Later in the morning we went over to the Evans' house for brunch and presents. Lily really enjoyed opening things this year so it once she got in the zone, she was set. Again, she did not want to move on after a gift, which actually is not a bad thing. I'd rather she show genuine enjoyment from a gift than open it, throw it aside, and rip another one open.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Christmas Trees and Horses
Today we went to Ellijay to get our Christmas tree. After we picked our tree Lily and I walked down the road to a fence where 2 horses were being kept. They were way on the other side of the field but when I whistled they came right over. I was pretty surprised since they had a full roll of hay and we had nothing for them. But, Lily was so tickled when they started heading our way. I really really wasn't expecting one of the horses to canter across the field at us! I ripped up some long grass to feed them and Lily really enjoyed watching their mouths/lips move. She did not want to touch them though, and I was fine with that. They did not seem to be the most affectionate of horses so I did not want her touching them anyway. (Turns out- I found out later that one of them bit some man's finger off.) Fortunately I have more experience with horses than the average joe so I knew what NOT to do. But anyway, Lily had so much fun with them coming up to see her and sniff her clothes and such. Not that you are able to tell from the video.... :)
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