Our Blog needs a new name!

So now that little Gracey has arrived, we need a new blog name!  Taking suggestions!

Speaking of Gracey, she's 2 months old now.  At her 2-month check-up, she was just 9 lbs. 10 oz - the 14%tile!  She is amazing.  I put her to sleep by 8pm each night and she sleeps 'till 7ish, waking just once around 3 or 4 or sometimes all the way till 5am for a quick feeding.  Naps during the day are not so dependable as her night-time routine so I have just learned to let go of getting things done around the house and think of it as a pleasant surprise if she sleeps in her crib for an extended period of time while Red is napping his normal 3-hour daily afternoon nap.  Right now, Gracey is napping in her crib and has been for 3 hours; thus why I am able to sit down and blog.

So here are Gracey's recent activities at 2 months old:

-sleeps 11-12 hours each night, waking just once to nurse after a 8 or 9 hour stretch!
-much more alert and happy during the day
-smiles and gurgles at mommy and daddy
-can be put down in vibrator bouncy seat thingy for a little while or swing sometimes if mommy is doing something
-almost outgrown newborn diapers and already out of a bunch of newborn clothing!
-9 lbs 10 oz - 14% and 23 inches - 46th %tile and head is in 22nd% (MUCH smaller than her big brother's gynormous head!)

Red has made a lot of progress verbally lately.  Just today, he said YELLOW BUS!!!!  It has taken me MONTHS to get him to put those 2 words together; something his speech pathologist has been pushing for is 2-word utterances to improve upon each 1-word he says.  He's been stringing words together too, which is funny.  If I had a dollar for every time he says, "I DO!" - we'd be millionaires.  I know its because he's 2, but wow - that kid wants to do EVERYTHING.  He likes to flush the toilet for us, he likes to close all the car doors.  He likes to feed Talcott and he even learned how to unlock the sliding glass door and slide it open to let the dog out (and himself!).  He's got a full fall schedule of activities so we're out of the house EVERY morning during the week!  (am I crazy?!)  We have MOPS on Mondays (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers), CPAT on Tuesdays (Canton Parents as Teachers), Music with Miss Jean on Wednesdays, Playgroup on Thursdays and Little Blessings with Miss Tighe (pre-preschool) on Fridays!  WOAH.  And we try to fit the gym in 1ce or 2ce a week now.  I went 4 times last week because of the holiday but that will probably never happen again!

Red has been expressing some of his old sensory-seeking behaviors again lately so in addition to his speech therapy, we'll be having his old Occupational Therapist come out to reassess his sensory processing again.  I'll let you know what she says...

Red is 2 years and 3 months:

-HATES getting his hair cut - we have to bribe him with chocolate chips during the haircut and he cries the whole time
-LOVES buses and trains
-Has started playing independently, which is so cute to see!
-Loves music - Stevie Wonder's Superstition is his favorite song but not he really loves this bible cd we play in the car too.  Oh yeah, and how could I forget House of Pain's JUMP, JUMP! (think Mrs. Doubtfire house party)
-Is starting to like certain movies - he doesn't watch regular tv except Mickey Mouse ClubHouse.  His favorite movie of all time is UP, which Randy wants to permanately hide since he's SO SICK OF WATCHING IT!  He also watches the Lorax, and some Baby Einstein musical videos.

Here are some pics of recent happenings:

Red is seriously in LOVE with daddy lately.  SO CUTE.

His hair was so cute when he woke up from his nap but he didn't want to pose for a picture.  

I love my CRI-CUT -had fun making this for Randy one day.  :)

Miss Gracey - 2 months old!

Red loves to help mommy clean the table every day!

2 Month photoshoot - STRIKE A POSE!

Trying on his Halloween costume!

and then vacuuming in it....he didn't want to take it off all day!

He wanted to wear a turbie twist like mommy one morning!

hahahaha - this kid cracks me up!

Pumpkin picking and hayride with tractor pulling us to the pumpkin patch in Avon at the Pickin' Patch.  :)  Of course, Red LOVED it!

Pointing out the birds - one of his favorite things!  "TWEET TWEET!"

Gracey's Birth Story

 Every mom has their birth story.  Every birth is special and it wasn't until I went through my first birth experience with Red that I started to really love hearing other mom's birth stories.  Gracey is 2 weeks old today.  She is our little dolly and such an angel baby.  Maybe its because I'm a 2nd time mom now or maybe she's just WAY more chill than Red ever was, (and likely a combination of those two reasons), but she's very easy-peasy, sleeping all night - waking just 2ce to nurse - and nursing like a champ.

So here's her birth story.

I was almost 40 weeks pregnant.  I went in for my check-up and my Dr. "stirred things up" - (scraped my membranes for those moms who know what that means).  It didn't hurt bad at all but I started feeling really crampy shortly after I left the dr's office.  My mother in-law was watching Red and I called to ask her if she minded if I stay out a little longer to run some errands.  As I enjoyed lunch by myself and the quiet of driving in between pit-stops, I just KNEW this was it.  THIS was my last day of freedom, before I'd be outnumbered by children each and every day moving forward.  I went to The Perfect Toy to pick up a Blast Pad for Red as a gift "from Gracey"; I bought myself new shoes at Marshalls.  I scarfed down a Pita Pocket #9 at D'Angelo's.  

When Randy got home later that day, we went on a family walk before dinner.  I was really crampy and wanted to go on a REAL walk (you know, not stopping every 4 feet for your 2-year-old to pick up a stick, point out an airplane or run up a mound of grass!).  So Randy and Red went inside to make dinner and let me go power-walking through my neighborhood.  Up and down the hills I went, timing what was now becoming regular contractions.  An hour later - around 6pm - I went inside and took a shower.  By 7 pm, my contractions were VERY regular and starting to get uncomfortable - I was SO EXCITED!  By 8pm, they were 2 minutes apart and Randy was so excited he was begging me to call the Dr. but I was scared they'd subside so I kept postponing the call.  I finally called at 8:15, was told to come into Labor & Delivery and by the time my mother in-law zipped back down to Canton (in RECORD time, might I add!), I was in a TON of pain with contractions just 1 1/2 minutes apart!

I got to the hospital and I was 4 cm.  I had been 3 cm at my appointment earlier that morning.  I was pretty much screaming at Randy every time a contraction came on because the anesthesiologist was taking FOREVER.  I have to say, I had my doubts about Randy's coaching abilities after he nearly passed out and had to be attended to during Red's delivery.  :)  However, he was AWESOME this time around - rubbing my feet, holding and swaying me during contractions, helping me breathe through the pain.  I was in need of his help and he really was wonderful.

I was 6 cm by the time I got the epidural and BOY WAS I GLAD TO GET IT!  I only had it for an hour and 15 minutes before the nurses came rushing in, telling me they were losing the baby's heartbeat every time I had a contractions.  The nurse looked down at me and said, "OH WOW - the baby's head is coming with each contraction!" - no wonder I felt so much pressure despite the epidural!!!  So after rushing everyone into the room - the anesthesiologist, the Dr., the Resident who delivered the baby, the nurses, etc. - I pushed 1/2 a push and her head came out - I had to STOP pushing!  Literally a HALF a push.  Then she told me to just give her one good "grunt" to get the body out so that's what I did and 20 seconds of delivery later, my baby girl was on my chest.

These pictures were taken by Christina Houser, a local photographer who is SO TALENTED.  Gracey is modeling some baby couture props.  :)  I'm looking forward to putting together the birth announcements and thank you-cards.

Staying in the hospital was great, but short-lived.  We were anxious to get home so even though she was born on a Friday morning at 12:32am (just after midnight on Thursday really), we left Saturday morning as soon as they could get us out!

While we were at Hartford Hospital, Red came to visit and was SO EXCITED to see mommy!  I couldn't believe how much I missed him and how excited I was to see him myself.  I didn't think he'd last more than 20 minutes for a visit, but to our surprise, he was actually very entertained with his new toys and then lunch came and Grammy had packed his lunch so we ate together and enjoyed a couple hours together before he left for nap time.  ( I had been steadfastly collecting fun new crafts, toys and gadgets to give to him "from Gracey" at the hospital when she arrived!)

Here are some pictures from her first couple days: enjoy!

Daddy got the first picture with Gracey just after she was born!

 Close-up:

 Mommy had time in the morning to do her hair and makeup without a toddler at her feet, so this picture is when Gracey is about 8 or 9 hours old - so tiny!

 Mommy could hardly wait to play dress-up now that she had a girl of her own!

 Red was so excited to see mommy and mommy was so happy to see him too!

 He wasn't that excited to see Gracey at first, he was more excited about the cool new gifts he got from her! I love his facial expression in this photo - true joy and excitement!

 MY LOVES:

 Big Brother Love. :)

 Precious.

 How quickly they grow - had to take this shot while she was still so tiny on daddy's chest. :)

 Grammy & Grampy finally got their Cassotto GIRL!!!  That was a LONG time coming. :)

 Nana's visit was amazing - had no idea just HOW helpful she'd be!

 Nana & Gracey.  Red just learned how to say Nana when she was here and now he says Grammy too!

 I can't take how cute he looks holding his baby sister - this was the first morning she was home - he was so excited!

 I love this.

 FIRST BATH!  We waited a few days (mostly out of laziness!) but Gracey did great - she is such a girl, loves her bubble baths - she only cried once when I washed her hair at the end of the bath and has since loved her bubble baths.  :)

 You can almost see her coo-ing in this picture - she really enjoyed her bath for the most part!!!

 CLASSIC shot.  don't you think?!

Hawaii as Saren sees it!

So we recently made our first, and likely LAST, trip to Hawaii!  Oahu is a beautiful island, and reminded us a lot of the scenes we watched on Lost, our all-time favorite tv show, but it is SUPER FAR AWAY!!!!  Having been to several islands in the Caribbean and Mexico, Randy & I think we'll steer clear of crossing so many time zones in the future and just take advantage of the beautiful beaches here in the East.  The travel took nearly 24 hours each way (including stops and travel to and from the airport) and SIX hours in time difference, which threw US off a lot, but REALLY threw Red off.  Its taken us a whole EXCRUCIATING week to get him back on schedule and just now is he going to bed without screaming bloody murder at us.  

So if you have a family with young children, and you live on the East Coast, we full-heartedly do NOT recommend travelling this distance to Hawaii.  Go as a couple without kids and still expect quite some jetlag in either direction.  To be completely honest, some of the beaches were pretty nice (and very windy) but even Waikiki (world-renown as it is!) really wasn't amazing and we've been to much nicer beaches in the Caribbean and Mexico.  Here are some pics and details:

Red wasn't a huge fan of his pool floaty thingy except for when it was NOT in the pool. :)

Samya Rose, Harmony's 5-year-old daughter, is just so sweet - she and Red played so nicely together. :)

The neighbors brought red-velvet and chocolate cake-pops over for us - yum!

Red would fall asleep by around 8:30 am because he'd been up since 3 or 4AM.  Lots of random naps during vacation. :)

We visited the Dole Pineapple Plantation - pretty cool train ride around that Red enjoyed. 

Red never gets in his stroller at home, but it was a huge help on vacation, even though he ended up sneaking out of it half the time and "helping" mommy push it.

The food at the Dole Plantation was a lot better in the pictures than in real life.  But Red enjoyed the french fries, no surprise there!

My surfer dude.  

Okay, so if you've been to Oahu or are planning a trip there, you'll inevitably here about the Polynesian Cultural Center - the island's largest and "best" paid attraction.  Well let me tell you - what an EXPENSIVE DISAPPOINTMENT!  We paid $100 for the Island's best luau (and you have to pay for parking!) and it was AWFUL.  I mean cafeteria-style disgusting.  We were starving and bitterly disappointed leaving there.  The entertainment was mediocre at best and the whole thing lasted about an hour and a half, most of which was us waiting to be released from our table so we could go up and get our cafeteria tray of food.  I have to say, the grounds are beautiful and the villages they have for each of the Polynesian Islands look like they'd be fun if you want to spend SEVERAL HUNDRED MORE DOLLARS on making a day of it there.  But since we had a 1 and a half-year-old in tow, we weren't about to do that.  So although I can only comment on the overpriced luau, I will say that the day activities and night show looked appealing, all-be-it SUPER expensive.  We sat next to a family with 5 kids from Utah and estimated they must've spent easily $700 on spending the day there.  WOAH.

classy, Randy.

Kayak tours through the Polynesian Cultural Center.

This was the ONE night Red was a total disaster and tired - our last night in Hawaii and he was just seriously spent.  He hardly ate the food and it was a rough ride home.  The PCC is REALLY far north on the Island so it took us an hour and a half to get home that night. 

The pig.

Hiking Diamond Head was fun!  6 months pregnant and a 1-year-old who wanted to be independent proved to be slightly challenging, but we were up to the mile-long zig-zag up to the top of the crater.  It's SUPER windy at the top (as you can see) but the views of Waikiki and Oahu were stunning - really a fun hike!

That's Waikiki and Honolulu behind us.

 The Honolulu Aquarium was TINY (and I do mean TINY) but fun for Red.  The whole thing took us about an hour but Red really loved saying "FISH!" and it was fun to see him so fascinated.

Some of these pics are out of order, but here are more views from Diamond Head.  

Red insisted on slapping every single one of these poles on the way up and on the way down - HEY, whatever keeps him entertained!

Randy snapped this on his IPhone, I love my snuggles with Red!  Red grew VERY attached to daddy on this trip and it was hard for me to sneak in kisses and snuggles - he much more freely gives them out to daddy these days!

 Okay - so lets talk the Honolulu Zoo.  It's a MUST SEE!  If you're going to Hawaii with kids (which like I said, I don't recommend if you live on the East Coast), its the best $14 you've ever spent.  HOLY MOLY, this zoo is way under-priced and has a TON to see.  We were there for several hours, including having a tasty lunch (yummy salads and burgers).  Red absolutely LOVED spending time with his cousins seeing all the animals and as parents, it was just a lot of fun to see!

Samya, Red & Tosh, posing on the hippos.  The kids did great and had such a blast that day! Harmony & Ben are so lucky to have year-passes to such an awesome attraction!

I swear, this monkey had funny nipples.

Cute picture of Tosh!

 PEARL HARBOR!  So amazing and obviously, probably the BIGGEST must-see on the island.  Before you go to the ship itself, you can tour the 2 museums (free) and then you sit and watch a half-hour long video about the event itself to get you in the spirit of what you're about to experience.  This was tricky with Red, so Randy took his time through the museums and then I sat through the movie.  Then you get on a 5-minute boat-ride over to the US Arizona memorial - really neat.

Don't know if you can see, but there is oil that STILL leaks from the ship every day - a constant reminder of what is below.  

Probably one of my all-time favorite pics to date.  :)

Samya and Red had a blast playing together - even if it was just playing in the sliding door's blinds!

This picture was at Cafe Rio in Las Angeles.  I am SO MAD because we took pictures when my oldest brother Shiloh came to the airport and we went to lunch and somehow I cannot find any of the pictures from that particular camera.  I'm sure they'll pop up somewhere on this computer at some point.  

Sleeping on the plane.  Most of planes were not completely booked so we were able to get 3 seats rather than sharing 2 seats and having Red truly on our lap.


Thanks to Harmony and her kids for putting up with us and our crazy sleeping hours for the time we spent in Hawaii.  Thank you to Ben, although he wasn't there, because he graciously allowed us to use his car the whole time we were there!  We're glad we made the trip while Harmony  & Ben are currently stationed in Oahu and we both, Randy especially, felt rejuvinated and relaxed when we returned home, having taken so much time off of work and the daily grind so it was just what we needed!!!