Getting to know Beck

Beck Merritt Knoles

Well now that Beck is 8 weeks old I figured it was time to update the blog. I'm not sure why it took me so long. Apparently I've been a little busy!

On April 12th, a month before my due date, I woke up around 3:00am. I thought maybe my water had broke and when I got up I was sure of it. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, after my water broke with Tully and Tessa I had them quickly so I thought that would be the case with Beck. I woke up Matt and he drove to Ventura  to make sub plans. Jenn came over to keep me company while Matt was gone. Nothing was happening so we watched the Office and twiddled our thumbs. BORING!! When the kids got up we made them breakfast and then we walked Tully to school to try to get the contractions going. No luck. Matt made it home around 9:30 with Starbucks in hand and we felt for the hospital. I will spare you all of the details but lets just say it was a long, boring day of waiting for the pitocin to start. My Mom, Matt and Jenn kept themselves entertained and I watched hours of the cooking channel. Things finally picked up that night and our friend Dr. Keating came over and gave me my first epidural. It was wonderful!!! Things went really quickly after that and Beck Merritt was born around 9:30pm. He was 6 pounds 2oz. 18 inches long. The exact same size as Tully! He had a little issue with breathing after he was born so he spent his first 3 days in the NICU. Bummer, but not the end of the world. He got to come home with us when we were released and that's what I really cared about!

Spring Break - Day 5

Today was the last day of spring break. We decided to try a new recipe for German Pop Up Pancakes that I got off of http://www.makeandtakes.com/

These are really fun because they come out of the oven huge and puffy and then they sink down and make perfect little cups to put toppings on.

We had a really relaxing morning and stayed in our jammies until 9:00, relaxing, eating and watching a cartoon. 

My friend Jill offered to let me use her Vitamix again for awhile, so after we got ready we went and picked it up from her house. Then we had to go to Costco and stock up on some good veggies and fruit. We came home and made green smoothies and I was in heaven! It is amazing how different I have felt in the last week while I didn't have the Vitamix to make smoothies. I have found that when I start my day off with the veg/fruit smoothie I don't crave carbs nearly as much, I crave healthy fresh foods all day long and I have more energy. LOVE IT! 

We went over to Megan's around lunch time to play with our friends. There is little I can say about this as it is our friend Angela's 40th birthday party tomorrow. You will just have to wait and see...

When Matt got home we decided to celebrate the beginning of his spring break with a trip to Yo Yum Yum. 

After that it was home for some crafting...

Then dinner, playtime, showers and bed! 

I would say that we had a successful spring break! 

I am a little sad that it's over, knowing that this is the last big chunk of time that I will have with just Tully and Tessa. I have had lot's of fun just focusing on them. They are so easy and funny to be with. I have a real sense that things will be changing in the next couple of weeks which is both exciting and scary! Stay tuned....

Spring Break - Day 4

I somehow just erased all of todays pictures from my camera as I was trying to upload them. This does NOT make me happy and is also a clear indicator as to why I should not stay up past 9 pm when pregnant. The very few pictures that I have left from today are from my phone. Bummer.

We woke up this morning to hot weather and swollen ankles. Well not all of us had swollen ankles, I'll let you figure that one out. We went over to the McCarters around 9:30 and my kids stayed and played over there while I went and did errands. By myself. It was somewhat glorious to not have to drag them with me from store to store in the 80 degree heat. I was on a mission to find slippers but I was only semi successful. After I picked up the kids from Megan's we decided to go and get a piece of pizza from Costco for lunch. As I was pulling into the parking lot, Curt pulled in next to me. He had the boys and they were getting lunch also. So much to my kids delight we had a impromptu lunch with all the Crawshaw Boys. I'm sure we looked really funny with 5 kids, 6 and under, and me extremely pregnant.

After lunch I seriously considered being one of those people who goes to the movies on beautiful days, just because it's air conditioned, but I knew I would never hear the end of it form my Dad. (Actually it might have been because there wasn't anything appropriate playing.) So I took the kids to Kmart to look for some water toys. We ended up with 2 water guns and a sprinkler thing.

The kids had a blast playing outside once we got home and I enjoyed using the bucket that was supposed to be for refilling their water guns. 

Tonight I went to Opal for dinner with some friends to celebrate the upcoming birth of baby boy. It was so nice to eat a relaxing meal that none of us had to cook OR clean up. I had a great time and felt very spoiled. I would show you the cute picture I have of all of us there, but it's been erased. So sad. Here is my food though, I know you were dying to see that!

Spring Break - Day 3

Today felt like a normal school day when it started. The kids got up at their normal time, got dressed and ate their cereal. We had the normal amount of 'rushing' around trying to get out of the house, with me reminding them to put their PJ's in the laundry, Tully asking where his glasses were and Tessa telling me she's still hungry right as we walk out the door. I took them over to the Hislops house where Tully was excited to find that Zack and Matthew were laying on the couch watching cartoons. I headed off to my doctors appointment with the promise to be back soon. Ha!! Of course it took forever to be seen today, when normally they run pretty true to schedule. Dr. Nomeland checked me and declared 'Nothing happening' and that everything looks good. I thought about pleading with him to induce me, or break my water or something really dramatic but I decided that since I am only 35 weeks I might want to save my begging and pleading for when it might actually matter. Like if I go past my due date. So I left, still pregnant, and went to pick up my two very happy kids. It was time to hit the zoo.

We met Chrystal and Julie and checked out the animals before we headed over to eat lunch. What much can you say about the zoo? Lot's of people there during spring break, animals, little boys who climb every pole and railing as they wrestle with one another, and little girls who climb in and out of strollers and want to look at every animal. 

Luckily a lot of fun was had by all. 

We rushed home in the afternoon in time to make it to Tully's piano lesson. Tessa wanted to play house while Tully was doing his lesson. I got to 'pretend' I was the Mom. Enough said. 

After a trip to Trader Joes and the Bank we came home again and next thing I knew Tessa had jumped on Tully's bike and was riding around the cul-de-sac. Go figure. Apparently she can ride a two wheeler all by herself now. 

What a big girl!!! I guess all of us can finally ride bikes to Kindergarten together!

I tried out a new recipe tonight for homemade veggie burgers. They were pretty good, I would make them again. Tully was the only one who didn't like them, but then again, he could survive off of oatmeal. 

I forgot to mention that yesterday I accidentally flushed my new, fake wedding ring down the toilet. So a trip to Claire's is on tomorrow agenda.

Baby boy

I've have not been able to find anything I like to hang over the baby's crib. I finally decided to make something that would fit both the baby and Tully. This is what I came up with.

Now the question is how to mount it on the wall. Any ideas?

Spring Break - Day 2

I woke up this morning to Tully saying excitedly "Mommy, I slept in!" I asked him what time it was, expecting to hear something great like eight o'clock. His reply? It's SEVEN TEN!!! Wow, he slept 10 minutes later than he normally does. I had to fake my excitement because he was obviously so proud of himself!
A couple of weeks ago for our Anniversary, Matt's mom sent us a waffle maker. We have never had one and this one is awesome. It makes perfect waffles and it makes 2 at once! We decided to start the morning offvwith waffles, which helped it to feel like vacation even if we were just at home.

Later in the morning we met my friend Sirica at the park. The kids played, and we got to talk recipes, vitamix, kids and all sorts of other things. 

Later after we ran a few errands we finally got down to what Tully had been waiting to do all day - make a volcano. We rolled out our play-doh and decorated our mountain and then we watched it explode over and over (and over and over) again. Lot's of fun!

Other than that we mostly just played around the house all afternoon. Now the kids are cuddled up in their pj's watching a movie and I'm about to start thinking of plans for day 3.