Birthday and Blessing

Happy Birthday to my smart, sweet, determined, curious and relentless 5 year old bundle of perfection. We love our sweet little Megan!

Our blessing for Joseph didn't quite go as planned, but it was very sweet and intimate. We are so thrilled to have him in our home and family. These mighty men came to our hospital room and had traveled from far away to perform this ordinance. We were able to unhook him from the monitors for a few minutes to dress him in this beautiful outfit made by my talented Aunt Jodi. When we get home and his cheeks heal up from the tape, I will take some pictures of him in it. Thanks to all who were able to make this possible for us. We love you.

 

Happy Birthday Kiddo

Adam turned 11 this year. He had a fun birthday, even though it was just family. He requested pumpkin pie over cake this year, which was great. He even helped me make it. We gave him a huge wall map, knowing there was more coming for Christmas. He had fun playing games with his sister, and she was eager to help him open gifts. We also took him out to dinner and to the National Comedy Theater. He laughed so hard I was worried about him breathing for a while.We knew he would enjoy it.  I can't believe how fast time has gone sometimes. He's turning into such a young man with compassion for others and a great sense of integrity. I can't wait to see what the coming years will bring.

A Happy Birthday Part 3

After staying out late the night before with my darling hubsand at the community theater, I headed out bright and early the next morning for a day of shopping and girl talk in LA at the Fashion and Garment district. That was tons of fun.

At the Michael Levine's loft, where you dig through bins and buy your fabric not by the yard, but by the pound, I found some yummy white and bright yellow fabric I have a skirt in mind for.

Some of it was good, some was not, but mostly it was a grown-up treasure hunt.

We choose a day that was not ideal. It was a Jewish holiday and most shops were closed. Even with that, we found enough open to keep us walking from 10:30-3:30 that day. There's no place to sit and rest, so if you go, be prepared for that. We saw shops with $1.00/spool serger and embroidery threads, and notions of all types and sizes. Elastic for 15 cents/yard. Flannel, cotton, fleece, knits, rayon, blended fabric, lace of all kinds and everything in between. Some shops were organized and pretty.



Some were not. They kind of reminded me of my Grandmother's basement at one time. Seriously. Grandma knitted, crocheted, sewed, serged and did all manner of needle crafts. She could have had her own shop. All of her grand kids had the pretties to prove it.

Trims anyone? If you can't find it here, it isn't out there.



On the way home at the request of some hungry husbands who had a taste of being Mom for a day, we stopped at Randy's doughnuts. One of the better doughnut shops on the West Coast, so they told me.

We all had a great time. We didn't get home until late and we were tired. We also had all added at least 10 things to our project list. We also can't wait to go back. Thanks Mary, Michelle, and Angela for wonderful day and a great birthday weekend adventure. And thanks to my Hunky Husband, who held down the fort while I played a little.

A Birthday Surprise

Any time my Dearest Husband plans something without my input it's a gamble for him. After all this time, I think I am still a bit of a mystery to him. I think that's a good thing, right?

So, for my birthday this year he planned a surprise. He snuck around all week trying to get things accomplished. He erased his browsing history on the computer and cleared the cache every night. (Why do you think I am so hard to surprise?) There are only two times in the past he's managed to surprise me completely and he was aiming to do it again. My one request was that we go to a good Mexican restaurant for dinner. He nailed that one. Miguel's was perfect.

After dinner we strolled down the boardwalk next to the community center, enjoying the sunset and taking a few snapshots. We watched a wedding reception for a while went down to a park. We came back up the boardwalk and this is what I saw on the reader board at the Community Playhouse.

That's right folks. It says G-Force in the park at sunset. On the beach. With 200 other people and their loud, darling children throwing things and having a great time. Guinea Pigs who save the world. Gotta love my guy!

Stay tuned.... It gets better!

Happy Happy Birthday Baby

It's Meg's 3rd birthday and she was so looking forward to a Dora Party. She informed me of that the Sunday before her birthday. What does a Dora party entail? A cute Dora outfit, of course. Do you think you can just walk into any old store and find orange pants? Wrong. A purple backpack and a map. She tried hard to talk me into making Swiper too, but it didn't work.  It can't be a birthday party without some sewing, right? 

She was a cute Dora. She was a little dissapointed that the backpack didn't actually talk. (Those were her words, "It doesn't acutally talk, Mom.")

We had playgroup today with friends from church, so we took cupcakes and goodie bags and called it a party. She had a blast. I can't believe she's already 3 and I can't wait to see what the next 20 years hold for her.

2 Years Ago Today

I don't think I ever posted Meg's birth story. Today is a great day to do that.

Two years ago today, my beautiful Meg was born late at night to a Dad who was nervous about leaving for sea and a Mom who was tired of being on bed rest.

It was the day before Justin was supposed to leave for sea. His first run as a new chief and there was a lot going on. I had been off of bedrest for about 3 days, after having been there for almost 8 weeks. I was 36 weeks pregnant. Mom was visiting, so Justin and I went to get some patrol things completed. We walked around the NEX and ran other errands for a couple of hours and I was tired when we got home. I washed baby clothes, loaded the dishwasher and counted contractions. I always had contractions, so I didn't think anything of them. About 2 in the afternoon I went to lay down for a nap and by 4, woke up having serious contractions. I walked around the house for a while, and then put my feet up wondering if they would go away with some rest. It wasn't to be.

Everyone was having dinner, except me, I couldn't eat and my back was killing me, when I decided I should go and get checked out. Contractions every 4 minutes and back pain that was to distracting to talk through were pushing me towards pain killers, however I could get them. We left for the hospital at 5:30, arrived at 6:00 and by 7 mom had arrived and they were administering and epidural. That was amazing. I didn't get one with Adam and the difference was night and day. I stopped yelling, stopped crying and decided to settle down and have a baby. There was some talk of trying to send me to Madigan because I was less than 37 weeks and had gestational diabetes. There just wasn't time. I was moving too fast.

We knew the boat was leaving the next morning and so Justin had made some calls to let people know where he was. At some point the Engineer for the boat came into my hospital room to talk to him. Nice of him to visit, but a call would have been fine. Especially since I didn't know the man at all and the first time he meets me in is labor. Not cool.

They asked if I thought I could wait until a pediatric specialist could be there before I started pushing and I was feeling no pain, so didn't think it was a problem. At 10:45 I was done waiting. The nurses were called and I pushed once before she freaked out, asked my not to push, breathe or move and called the team in. Within about 10 minutes I was ready to go and at 11:15 I had a beautiful baby girl, healthy and happy. She was 6 lbs and 1/2 an ounce and 19 inches long. Her APGAR's were great and she cried right away. No complications at all.

Justin stayed with me that night and she really did want some daddy time.She stayed up all night talking to dad. She grunted and groaned and cooed. He held her all night. I had to ask for her to feed her. He left for sea at about 7 the next morning and came home again when she was almost 3 months old. She was thrilled to see him then too and they have always had a special bond.

It took years of prayer, faith and fertility treatments to get Meg here. She is such a blessing in our lives, we wouldn't be the same without her. Happy Birthday Baby.

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy Happy Birthday to my Mom. Our top favorite things about her:

1. She bakes the best bread ever! She kept us going on bread and fruit in years when there wasn't much of anything else. We never felt deprived.

2. She's the hardest worker ever.

3. She believes in magic. She tells her grandchildren that the traffic lights are changed by magic and that electricity fairies run the lights in her house.

4. She's always looking for new and different ways to do something. Sometimes she has to re-invent the wheel, but it's always more interesting when she gets done.

5. She makes tuna sandwiches for her poor grandson when his mama won't even open the can. That's love.

6. She's weathered some real storms in life. Although she's gotten wet and battered, she's always serene in the aftermath.

7. She loves the Lord and teaches her children and grandchildren to do the same.

8. She can rock even the crankiest grand baby to sleep. It's the most amazing thing.

9. She's truly happy to help others when she can. It's never a burden, never a bother and always a joy.

10. She has an attitude of gratitude. I love that she's grateful for the small things even when all of the big things are going downhill fast.

Happy Birthday Mom. We love you.