Fair Play!

I just have to pause in the middle of my house tour here to show you some adorable adorable-ness.  This week is our county fair and it is just down the road from our house and Scott and I thought the girls might enjoy seeing some animals and just going through the whole fair experience.  I hadn't been to a fair since college and it had been a while for Scott too so we were really looking forward to it as well. 

I'm not sure who had a better time:  them or us witnessing them.

We got to see some animals and go walk through a little farm tour and eat fair food and ride rides and oh-my-goodness it was just a wonderful time!  Please enjoy these pictures.  I think Scott and I will never be able to erase the look of joy on their faces when they rode on the rides for the first time.  What a blessing this parenthood thing is!!

Brushing the sheep...it doesn't really matter which side of the comb I use, does it Dad?

At the cow milking station

So, let me get this straight...you want me to do WHAT with these things??

Family photo opp in front of the Hee Haw sign...too bad Rachel was too distracted with her basket!  This could have been the Christmas card!

Ok, Mama, I got it...walk behind, look through the hole...woah...

Seriously, Elizabeth...you've gotta try this.  Mom gets all excited when you do.

CHEEEEESE!!

Elizabeth took the first solo ride.  Scott and I didn't realize that Rachel was tall enough until a couple minutes later.

Oh, and did we ever feel horrible for little sister on that first, long ride.

Luckily, the second ride was manned by a gentleman who kindly pointed out that Rachel WAS tall enough and off she bounded to join big sis.  Can you hear her squeal of joy from this picture?  This moment is on my heart forever.

I cannot believe they did this ride, but they loved it as well.

Hi Mama!!  Can you see that little face peering down? 

Open House!

My parents used to send me care packages every weekend for the first few years in college.  Most of the time, my mom would wrap freshly baked cinnamon rolls in foil as they came out of the oven so you could almost smell them as I walked down the hallway with the box...or maybe you COULD smell them, as my friends always seemed to drift to the doorway when it was being opened.  Anyway, many times, my dad would stick a CD in the box for me and it was always classic rock.  The Eagles, America, CSNY...these were my favorites.

So just enjoy this one for a second...it's ok, I'll wait...maybe grab a cinnamon roll while you listen and take yourself back to 1997 with me...

I realize that we haven't posted pictures of the house yet, except for the request for help with the front windows, and that's pretty much due to my own vanity.  I just hate putting out unfinished documentation...I've always hated people to read my writings before they were unedited or see a project before it was finished...I would just rather wait until it is all done.

But, my friends, this house is FAR from being all done.

I told myself that I would post pictures after I had curtains hung.  Now, what may sound silly to you used to be a quite simple formality for me. 

In fact, I remember moving from Indianapolis to North Carolina with my mom and Robin and Danny (you know true friends when they help you move across several states!).  This was the last of many legs because I was too poor to be able to afford a U-Haul so we had to move over the course of a couple weekends.  On this last stretch, my mom and I spent the night at my new, little apartment and stayed up pretty late putting things away and hanging pictures and curtains.

The next morning, we met Robin and Danny for breakfast and I will never forget her face when we told her how late we stayed up the night before.  "You hung curtains already??" she said. 

I can recall similar events at pretty much every house we've lived in...until now.

Now, I am still curtain-less.

But my children and clothed and fed and the house is relatively clean, so I can't count myself a total loss - but this is what has been holding me back from posting pictures.  I know, I know...give it up, Annie.  I am.

So anyway...on to the house.  I was thinking of posting a different room every day so that you can see the whole shootin' match.   But first, let us prepare you just a little for what you are about to see...

The couple who lived here before us kept the house immaculate, albeit out of date...which we didn't mind because I think everyone moves into a house hoping to put his or her stamp on it (and I consider myself a little bit of an expert simply because we have watched every episode of House Hunters known to man). 

So we have made small improvement here and there when we moved in, but mostly, our plan is to live in it for about 6 months to realize what changes we truly want.  Plus, I think my husband would shoot me to ask him to make a change only to change it back to the original way later.  I'm not a furniture mover or repainter every year, so I kind of like to make permanent decisions.

And really, the only truly permanent change we've made to this house is hand and feet prints on the wall...

Oh yes, I said feet prints...

So your first peek is at Scott's pride and joy...the garage.  His goal over the first month was to get our mountain of junk and boxes stored away so that we could park at least one vehicle in the garage...and I am so thankful that he did.  Our life is so much easier, getting in and out of the car this way.  We have tons of storage and access to the attic is here as well.  He even moved the shelves over so we could tuck the deep freezer out of the way.

My hero, assembling shelves

Sorry for the blurriness...but there's the deep freezer and the shelves.  You get the idea.

We still don't have everything exactly the way that we want it and have a couple more trips to go to Goodwill, but this is certainly better than what it was. 

The girls' favorite feature would have to be the cat door.

Oh yes, I said cat door.

The owners before us had a cat and the litter box was in the garage - which is great for us, because there's really no lingering cat smell in the house.  But what it left was a kitty door in the door leading to the garage and also one in the garage door itself.  The girls love this little peek through to be able to call for Daddy when he's working outside or watch mama as she runs to get something out of the freezer.

Seriously, Rachel... I think you can fit.  Just try it!

Dada!!!  Are you out there??

Of course, I've also come home to find Butch's big doofus snout trying to push it's way through the door to see what's going on in the garage as well.  I think he can get through about to his eyes. 

And I will leave you with that image as I go back to emptying the dishwasher...

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Birthday Hangover

We're all moving a bit slow today in this house.  Maybe it was the carbo-loading at Mellow Mushroom last night, where we watched our youngest eat an entire piece of pizza and 3 pieces of cheese bread.  Maybe it was the insulin spike of birthday cake at 8 p.m.  Maybe it was the buzz kill of waking up and not having presents two days in a row.

Or maybe this is just life with a 3 year old??  I know...keep dreaming, mama.

So forgive me if I just share pictures with you today.  I am in dire need of a snooze...and I found 99 cent strawberries at Aldi today that need chopped and frozen for smoothies.  Oh, and I need to do the laundry and clean the house...and throw a chicken in the Crockpot...and I promised Elizabeth that we'd watch Sleeping Beauty (a present from Grandma) after naps.  So I need to get crackin'...enjoy the pictures!

Daddy surprised us with balloons at lunch time.  He even brought an Elmo balloon home for Rachel!  Everyone was extremely excited, except for the dogs, who growled and barked at them continuously...sketchy colorful, floaty things that they are...

Just to give you a glimpse of what I cook around...I am always stepping on these cookie cutters that they like to scatter and yelping in pain.  A smart person would put them some other place, but I continually put them back in the same drawer...I swear, children suck your brain right out of your head.

Enjoying the princess cake!  I think this was her only bite...then it was on to presents.  The appeal of wrapping paper was just too much for our curious little girl!

Rachel decided to nibble on a princess rather than her cake.  And no, the princesses weren't edible...

New books from Aunt Allison!

Our friends Julie and Mark joined us for the birthday celebration...Scott and I figured this was the last birthday we could really get away with inviting OUR friends.

A new baby doll from Grammy and Grampy.  Can you see Rachel's excitement too?  She really did so well with Elizabeth getting all the gifts.

Ah...the Juno Baby shirt from the Williams'.  Elizabeth actually opened this up and said, "Oh my goodness!"

Of course, someone else now wants a Juno shirt...I'll add that to my to-do list today. 

But the big winner of the evening?  The electric piano that Julie and Mark brought. 

With a microphone...and I thought we were friends!!  It plays different instruments, drum beats, and pre-set tunes.  Today, I fixed lunch to some mambo they had left on repeat.

Today?  We're back to our routine and life is getting somewhat close to normal and out of birthday mode.  Here is Rachel, scavenging for any leftover pieces of cheese sandwich that may have gone overboard during lunch.  Why yes, those ARE strawberries that also obviously made a run for it.

However, we still have some remnants of yesterday...the beautiful roses my husband brought me, the ever-popular balloons and the party hats that my daughter refused to wear because the elastic band freaked her out...happy birthday!

On this night, three years ago...

Maybe I should back up before I get to night time.

We were thrilled to become parents to Elizabeth Rose and even more scared to death thrilled when an exam before the July 4th weekend showed me already at 3 cm, more than 75% effaced, and several weeks ahead of our August 7 due date.

The doctor told us to just get ready and to expect her any time.  So get ready, we did.  And proceeded to wait an entire month for our baby girl to decide she was ready.

In case any of you haven't been 9 months pregnant in South Carolina in the heat of summer, it was a looooong month.

So, when I woke up the morning of July 31 with stomach cramps, I thought...maybe this is it!  I called in sick to work and we promptly went to the doctor's office since we had an appointment later that day anyway.  Hooked up to the monitors, we were contracting every 20 minutes.  

The nurses patted me on the back, told me to go home and put my feet up and assured me that she would indeed one day come out.

I could have died.  The mental anguish of waiting for "any time" for an entire month had taken it's toll on me.  I had stopped working out, for fear of having my water break on the treadmill.  I was still working, but between moonlighting as a librarian, enduring Braxton Hicks, and rushing to the bathroom at the end of every class period, it was getting trying.

So I called my friend Kelli, who was also my chiropractor and close friend and told her (in tears) about how they had sent me home.  Now, Kelli is a superb mom to seven kids so she's been around the block once or twice, and after hearing my voice, gave me the best advice I ever heard:

"If you want to have this baby, DO NOT sit down or put your feet up.  You better keep moving."

Don't you love just straight-to-the-point friends?

Now, let me just back up once again and say that I was very active with this pregnancy and coached and gave lessons for 8 months, rode on a golf cart with Dana Jenkins driving during a full week of softball camp, and made Tammy walk miles upon miles with me around the neighborhood after work each evening.  So I knew that I couldn't just walk around to get things going here.

We went home and I set to work.  After much haggling with my husband, he agreed to let me mow the grass (we had almost an acre...and a push mower)...and weed the front flower bed...and clean the house top to bottom.  We ended up getting take out from Copper River (which I still miss to the point of tears today...honey butter croissants...mmmm...did I mention that I gained 60 lbs with this pregnancy??) and watching Chocolate, which I had never seen and he hadn't seen in a long time.  

The day was so great that we had almost forgotten the disappointment of being sent home from the doctor's office earlier with no labor and no baby. 

At 12:30 a.m., I woke up to pee for the 20th time that night and my water broke.  Freaking out displaced any excitement I was feeling earlier, so I went about the task of waking up the daddy-to-be.  

"Scott,"  I whispered, gently rocking his shoulder.

Why was I whispering?  He didn't move.

"Babe!"  I said louder.  "Wake up."

Nothing.

What felt like an eternity later, I got my husband awake and let him know that my water had broken that we definitely needed to go to the hospital right away.  He nodded in agreement and then said, "I'm going to get in the shower."

I could have died.  The shower??  I was convinced that I was going to have this baby within the hour.  Never mind that I really wasn't have significant contractions or that I was feeling zero pressure in the nether regions.

So I did what any sane, first time mother who's water had broken and already had her bags packed would do at (then) 1 a.m...  I vacuumed the floor. 

What felt like an eternity, but in reality was 15 minutes, we were in the car and off to the hospital.  I was a bundle of nerves and all I wanted to do was GET there.  So I began to relax just a little when we checked in and successfully made it to the maternity ward.

Scott and I looked at each other and smiled.  This was it!  Maybe we would get to meet our baby soon!

The nurse on call came in and greeted us and said those little words every laboring mother loves to hear, "Well, let's check you and see how far along you are..."

I held my breath and said my please-please-please-please-pleases in my mind...

"Well, my dear," the nurse said, "Congrats!  You're at a three already!"

I could have died.  Still at a three...after a full stinkin' month and water breaking and mowing the grass... (In case you're not up on the birth process, you have to get to 10 cm until they're ready to go.)

So, we had a long night ahead of us...full of cheesy 80's movies and a drowsy, freezing hubby and a laboring mama...and around 12:15 p.m., we were blessed with our Elizabeth Rose. 

She was little and vocal and beautiful and the most perfect little baby we had ever seen.

Today, she remains on her own agenda but is still beautiful and one of the two loves of our lives.  Elizabeth is energetic and loves gymnastics.  She is quick to smile and gives great hugs and kisses.  She loves pizza and grilled cheese and all things princess and baby doll.  She is a great big sister and loves playing with her little side kick and helping mommy in the kitchen.  

We can't believe how fast three years went...even though you all warned us.

So happy birthday, Elizabeth Rose.  We love you so much.  Waiting for you was well worth the wait!

My husband's thoughts: Crossfit, Journaling and the Week

By Scott
 

I was pressed for time on Wednesday morning because of an early breakfast meeting (I AM in sales,  you know) so I decided to hit a short Crossfit workout that was mentioned as a challenge in last month's  Muscle and Fitness Magazine.  If you have never tried a Crossfit style workout or program, please do some homework on the net and give it a chance.  I have utilized non-traditional workouts my whole life and attempt to train 1-2 times per week with these types of routines.

Wed morning looked like this:

4:30 am – alarm

4:40 – 1 cup of coffee, 1 scoop of pre-workout supplement

5:00 – in sauna for a 5 min “cheat” warm up

5:10 – BW Circuit warm up 5 rounds (10 squats x 10 push ups x 10 pull ups) no break between rounds

5:15 – Crossfit challenge begins:

     1-      800 meter run (on indoor track)

     2-      Back squat x 315 lbs x 10 reps

     3-      800 meter run (indoor track)

     4-      Front squat x 225 x 10

     5-      800 meter run (indoor track)

     6-      Overhead squat x 135 x 10

5:39 am – finish.

I had to complete the Overhead squats in 3 sets and they were ugly.  I grabbed my bag, was home by 5:50 and off to my breakfast by 6:30.  My legs were pretty sore, but a light run/stretch/sauna on Thursday got me ready to go for my kettlebell / pull-up / jump rope / versa climber circuit this morning.  I felt pretty good for my 50 min go and will plan on a grappling workout at lunch today.

For those of you wondering, I feel better now at 36 then I did in my “prime” (if I ever had one).  My current stats:

Height – 5’10’’

Weight – 203

Resting heart rate – 59 BPM

%BF – unknown but my guesstimate is 13-15% (I can still see my abs, but no oblique’s…)

Squat – 420 (strict and low)  Those of you who know me know that I am not lying about my squat technique!

Deadlift – 400

Bench – 320

I am journaling this because of my belief in tracking and metrics.  If you do not know where you are at, it is impossible to figure out a path to where you want to be.  I keep a similar list on my work stats and this trending information always gives me a good indicator of where I will be in a couple of months.

It was a great work week for me and I am continually impressed with the work ethic, follow-through, and professionalism of my new company.  As always, it was a whirlwind of activity at home and my beautiful wife has managed to keep us all functional, fed, safe, and out of the hospital for another week.  Annie and I discuss nightly our life situation and how blessed we really are.  I am looking forward to finishing the work week strong and spending some time with the girls and my best friend who is in Nashville for the weekend.

As always, comments are appreciated.

Daddy Headstands

I swear, as soon as the girls get out of the bathtub, their crazies come out.  Rachel, especially, runs around like a naked banshee and Elizabeth begins singing through her repertoire of songs with accompanying dance moves.  Somewhere in the mix, they get dressed and ready for bed, but mostly Scott and I just like sitting and taking it all in.

I'm not sure how we got started on gymnastics the other night, but donkey kicks turned into headstands and Elizabeth was so excited that her daddy could do one.  Yep...he's still got it.

You'll notice that she didn't ask her mommy...ooooohhhhh noooooo.  

And if you're wondering, yes, I warn Rachel daily...hourly...minutely...I warn her MINUTELY that she will pinch her fingers in those closet doors and she has about a million times.  It drives me crazy and all the bedrooms have those doors and for some reason, they like to play in them. 

Anyway...enjoy the headstand!  Well, and my husband being a great daddy...which he eternally is.  

Happy Thursday!

I'm too old to make these rookie mistakes...

Last week, the girls and I ran into Goodwill to look for a VCR.

No, I didn't stutter...those puppies are hard to find, as well as most of the Disney movies Elizabeth wants to watch on DVD.  Plus, I'm in the process of converting our home video VHS footage to digital.  So, per suggestion from Amanda, we found a great one at Goodwill for $9.

As I was plugging it in at the store to make sure it worked, I heard a noise behind me and turned around to see Elizabeth laying claim to a little doll baby stroller.  She's really gotten into her dolls lately and I've been meaning to get her a new stroller since the last one broke...so I readily agreed to purchase this $1.50 one.

Were there two in the store?  I couldn't tell you...I didn't even look.  It was like I was brain-dead from the euphoria of finding a VCR for $9.  Nor did I get Rachel an equivalent.  So in the house we walk with a toy for mommy, a toy for Elizabeth and nothing for Rachel.   Oh yes...you can guess the ruckus.  

Finally, after several minutes of threatening...begging...bribing...demanding that Elizabeth share, Rachel got a turn...I'm not sure the baby was very happy about this sudden turn of events.

I think this last one, she was actually trying to climb into the stroller...no wait, the baby's on the floor.  She's running over the baby.  Great...

Amazingly, a week later and Elizabeth barely plays with the stroller and it still remains a favorite of Rachel's.  So maybe it's a wise thing that I didn't get two??

That's what I shall keep telling myself.

Happy Wednesday!