Soapbox 101

At Sierra's 4 month appointment her pediatrician said "we like to see their weight a little less than their height." He continued about how they shouldn't weigh more. Blah blah. I was ready to drop kick that little man as he touched a nerve in my big body. Note: I refer to men shorter than me (6 feet) as short. Apologies to those "short" men out there. I know the "average" man is 5'7" but everything's relative.


Is there not enough emphasis on body size and shape in today's world? Let's start at 4 months old thank you. Not like girls don't have enough pressure later in life.

And fyi--I am 6 feet 0 inches tall and will never be a single digit size and that's fine by me. Even if that means that I usually weigh more than E when I am pregnant. Whatever. Here's my 9 month glory:


Life is too short to stress out about stuff you can't control. And yes--I guess I could "control" my weight by going anorexic. But then now that wouldn't be any fun now would it?

You just do the best you can and eat nutritiously and take care of yourself so that you feel good and healthy. You do the best you can with your kids and hope genetics is in your favor. Did you know that for about every inch over 5' 9" you are supposed to gain like 10 lbs (with all the bone mass--muscle--etc.)?

I have friends of all different sizes and shapes and I love their uniqueness and individuality and beauty. Here's a pic from my prego days to demonstrate what I mean:



Anyhow I thought I would laud SOME of the benefits of being my size and you can do the same for yourself:

Some of The Perks of Being Tall:

1) You can Eat MORE than shorter people (ask E--I eat more than him since I'm nursing).
2) You can hide 5 or 10 lbs pretty easy (maybe not--but thanks for the false sense of security)
3) You have great leverage to do chest compressions.
4) You are usually picked as one of the 1st in gym class for basketball teams because people THINK you can play. Keyword: THINK
5) You can reach those "HARD TO REACH" spots
6) Pregnancy is easier because you have more room for the belly bean to grow. (Possibly too much room aeb my breech babies?)
7) A mini potty and footstool are not necessary when potty training for your tall kids
8) You don't notice people's bad breath (note to tall people: make sure YOUR breath smells good for those who get your breath downwind)
9) You can put the star on the Christmas tree without a ladder
10) Easy to find your way in crowds because you can see over people (i.e. picture Dad running/leading the family through Disneyland)
11) Kids can reach the bathroom sink to wash their hands at 2 years old
12) You have the potential to dunk the basketball--if only you could jump.


There's a few off the top of my head. Think of any more?

I hope my girls grow up with their heads held high (and not slouched trying to fit in cause they're tall) knowing that they are beautiful and worth loving inside and out!


Now all you "SHORT" people out there--I am sure there are perks to being short. Can you list some? Let me know and I'll post them.

Update 4/17/09

Well--here's the latest from the Freeman clan in Ohio--soon to be Minnesota:

1) My DANG COMMA key is BROKEN. Little do you realize how much you utilize something until it is gone. DANG.

2) This little missy--audacious little two year old that she is--has decided to potty train herself. Go figure. Don't ask. Don't tell. We'll see if she is successful. Love the outfit although could use a little less attitude:



3) I LOVE that these two are starting to play together. Or rather--B is starting to love to entertain S with her silly antics and love pats. S doesn't much mind if B is "all up in her business" and laughs lots. Although Mom ruins some of the fun--according to B--by regulating the swiping of S's cool baby toys.



4) This little princess is 4 1/2 months old! Here's her stats: 16 lbs 8 oz (90th percentile) and 26.25 inches (95th percentile). My pediatrician said "we like to see their weight a little less than their height." WHATEVER. Gimme a break. Don't get me started. I'll save my soapbox for another post.

To keep this growing girl full we started rice cereal on her 4 month birthday and tonight she finally figured out how to down it. This is about right on track with what B did as I start my big babies on solids early. And as I recall B finally started sleeping through the night at this age after figuring out the rice stuff. Let's hope S does too.



And just for fun: B is about 35 lbs and 39 inches (last September). She is roughly the size of a 4 year old. AWESOME. WNBA here we come.

p.s. Yes. S does have red hair and blue eyes. And YES--that is my lazy boy.

NOT.

Pictures Galore!

YES. I'M A SLACKER BLOGGER.

ANYWAYS . . . Here's some pictures to satiate your appetite for a while til my next surge of blogging. Plus Eric's on call so why not ? Not like I have a million other things on my TO DO list nagging away . . . But instead I keep waiting for someone to email me or IM me or some other form of human contact (besides this little 4 month old that is cuddling in my lap right now).

So--what have you been up to you may ask?

Well; gentle reader; here is an update (note the comma key is broken).

CLEANING OUR HOUSE. Has it ever looked so purty? Look at that SPARKLING kitchen! We are ready and waiting if you want it!



TEACHING S THE WAYS. Thanks to her big sis who just HAD to get in on the action; S has learned the perfect way to grab the hanging toy parrot and bring it to her mouth.



S can now be found here or in her exersaucer with a ready grin.




Here's a picture of B at that age on the same mat. I love a little flashback.



SHAMROCK SHAKES
Happy St. Patty's Day! Eric and I got our traditional Shamrock Shakes from McDonalds (sans Bella--she was in bed). Note: This is how we usually spend our nights--one on the computer--one with S--on the couch--trying to multitask. Love that we have had this time before the evil Q4 started again.



But at least S got in on the action. I know you're thinking it--I'm a bad mom for giving S a taste of the good stuff on her lips. Whatever. I couldn't eat ANY dairy; nuts; eggs; or spicy food; or peanut anything for MONTHS with nursing B. I've paid my price.



CAR RIDES
B likes to explore both her toy car (pictured here) and our car. Time out is now on our deck which helps B get the hang of this even more. For some reason Elmo's head looks a lot BIGger and the car looks a lot SMALLer. Hmm . . .



I love that B has her "own" set of keys that she managed to jimmy rig to the pretend key spot:



MY FIRST POST-BABY HOMEMADE TREAT
Cooking is not on the agenda as often--although I am getting better. Especially when I have this cute helper to keep me company:



MMMmmmm! Finger lickin' good!



Somebody has sure discovered the joys of licking the bowl!



CUDDLE TIME
Here I believe YO GABBA GABBA is on. Please tell me--why is my child OBSESSED with this show?! She LOVES it.



And here is a final sweet picture of Bella while Sierra is obviously still too entranced with the weird stuffed animal aliens bouncing around on TV.



How I love these sweethearts!

P.S. We did fly out to MN for a week and bought a house!

P.P.S. Please come visit! Summer's are great! (so we've been told)

P.P.S. I KNOW my blog roll is lame and still not updated for you 30 people out there. Sorry. Like I said--I'm a slacker. So just know that I love and care about each one of you and your blogs but right now I have to put this baby to sleep!

Condo for Sale!

A little shameless advertising couldn't hurt:

If you know anyone in the market for a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom townhome in Columbus--there's one for sale! Find us a buyer and we will be forever in your debt.

Here's the info:
Craigslist

or

Flat Flee Listing

Thanks!

I Need to Take more Pictures

Here's the two little weegums I get to spend my days with. This was about a month ago. B sure loves her baby sister. S probably didn't like getting her pecs stretched out but I think B is just getting her ready for baby olympics. S endures B's enthusiasm with suprising tolerance. I think I intervened here and pictures ended.



Happy Birthday Stacey! MMMmmmmm. Edwards' Keylime pie was a big hit! What a good sport to blow out birthday candles while balancing Sierra (who obviously had no clue what was going on).



This was at Red Robin for Stacey's birthday dinner. It was pretty fun but crazy as you can see:



Before bed when Dad was on call. Kids in pjs are so cute:



And in case there was any question. Here is the cute chubby face I get to wake up to every morning:



Obviously I need to take more pictures since these last ones were from about 3 weeks ago.

Kirby

For our adoring public~
This picture is one month old. That means REALLY old in S terms but here is another picture of S at 2 months old. (I obviously need to upload more pics):



I know, I know. I'll get her 3 month picture on sometime soon too (since she is 3 months old!). But not til after Minnesota.

And . . . have any of you ever bought a Kirby vacuum? We had someone come and clean our carpets and try to sell (or rather blackmail us) into buying one. Did you know they sell for $2000!!!! That's right. Two thousand dollars for a vacuum! We got them down to $1100. But still . . .

If any of you have a Kirby--what is your experience?

I must admit it was the coolest bestest awesomest vacuum I have ever seen and I WANT one (YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN WHAT IT PICKED UP). Our carpet looks AMAZING. They even vacuumed our bed. EWWWWW. But the salesman was above and beyond pushy.

Over $1000 for a VACUUM??! Seriously?!

Somethings Old, Something New

We are so BUSY BUSY!

A quick update on the past month:
Eric's sister, Stacey, visited us for 4 days--thanks Stace! Then my sister Amanda came 2 days later for 5 days--yay Amanda! Then we flew back to Utah together (kind of psycho plane story where a guy a few seats back had a seizure and they asked for a doctor or nurse and I must admit I did not immediately volunteer with 2 kiddos plus they were late taking off and lost our bags and we had to run to catch our other plane . . . ). Anyhow, it was an adventure!!

We got back one week ago and had a blast while we were there! I was a bit nervous about flying back by myself with both girls but my friend Annie talked me into flying with her and her two kids and we made it! My family was awesome with the kids: My dad and mom got up early with Bella every morning (due to jet lag) and my dad would play doll house with her for about an hour or so before he had to go to work. We were able to go to the Draper temple open house. And my mom even watched the girls while I got a massage! (sorry Sierra cried most of the time). My brothers and sisters were amazing too. Bells could not get enough of her "Aunt Wivvy" or "Woxie" the dog. It was so fun to see everyone especially since I'm not sure when I'll see Dave and Rashelle again (good luck with the NFL!). And my only regret was that I didn't see you, Steph, while we were there. Next time! I should have planned better. We were so busy (despite the one day stomach flu we brought) I can't even write everything. Loved the intramural game Nate! Memorable dinner at D & R's and Great-grandma's. It was so fun to be able to have Bella really get to know her extended family better. Thanks everyone!

And in one week we go to Minnesota for a 6 day house-hunting family trip! Ahh! Mixed feelings about the whole moving thing . . .

And between that we are trying to get our house ready to sell! (any tips anyone?!) Plus hanging out with our wonderful friends here in Ohio (the farm was the best the other day Lynnsey) and thanks so much for dinner, Brit. Plus I get to have more fun (thanks to Eric's willingness to be home) and play basketball on a league with some other girls . . . it will be a sad day when that ends. Sigh.

And this morning I hosted our playgroup. Poor Anderson, the only boy, was sick. But these little girls sure like playing with each other! I don't know why but the guest bed is always SOOOO fun to play on:



And of course I can't forget by sister, Tressa, whom I wish I could Skype with more often. Here she is with my cute Swiss grandparents and uncle. Love you Tress!



Gotta run!

2 Months Old

Lest we thought S would be a shrimp, here's the stats:

At birth S weighed 7 lbs 9 oz (50th %ile) and was 19.5 inches (33rd %ile)
And now she weighes 12 lbs 10 oz (86th %ile) and is 23.5 inches (86th %ile)
Can you believe it?! If I grew that much in 2 months I'd be over 7 feet tall right now.



Here's a pic of B at that age:



Watch out B, she's catching up!



And thanks to Aunt Stacey we had this lovely family picture taken today. Unfortunately B and S both look a little deer-in-the-headlights-ish.

We're so glad she's here visiting. We love family visiting. COME SEE US!

Shower time

Something I never posted, but meant to, were some pictures of my fun baby shower months ago. So, here's just one picture. I just wanted to thank the fabulous ladies who put it together and the other fabulous ladies who came. It was a wonderful treat for my 2nd girl. Here's a picture of me with those 1st fabulicious ladies. (can I say "Whoa! Look at that belly!?") You don't realize how big it is til you look back and say: "Was I really that big?"



These women are wonderful and I truly appreciate them.

Last month

Blessing day--January 4th. We're so glad Grandma and Grandpa were able to be with us. Unfortunately it was a week of colds. But we made some more progress in packing up and were able to share in Sierra's beautiful blessing day.



Here's our sweethearts at bath time. You can see B's hair's still wet as she had just finished. B loves being the big sister and helping with bathtime. I'm not sure how much S likes getting her hair washed by a 2 year old . . . But it's bonding time right?



Also, I just had to show you our new addition on Christmas even--though it was a month ago. Doesn't she look cute?

Pictures

Click on the picture to view more:

Christmas 2008

Sorry for the long no-posting time. Guess that's what happens when I jinxed myself by saying S wasn't crying anymore at night. Wrong. My in-laws can attest to that. I think my father-in-law was a little disappointed that we had to watch all the bowl games on mute so we could at least read the captions over the screaming baby.

So far as free time is concerned . . . still working on that.

Happy New Year! (those pictures will come later)

All is Well

Thanks for the sympathy, my gentle readers.

An update:
B's surgery went well this AM. Her eye's a little bloody and her balance is off with all the drugs, but she's coming around. She's enjoyed the "clear liquids" aka Sprite that she's able to drink right now.

And there's no snow in Chicago so E's parents should be in time for a midnight celebration. Of course, "little stinky"--as we affectionately call her--was up a bit last night so let's see if I can prop my eyelids open to welcome the new year.

But SHE did NOT have her crying spells for the last 2 nights. Yay! Let's make it 3!

So, even though we're a bit tired from reporting to surgery early this AM, we're no worse for the wear. Someone asked Eric in the waiting room if he was jealous that S had so much more hair than him (refer to newborn pics). He said yes. But I think we're over our vanity now. Almost.

Happy New Year!
Pictures will come as soon as I can find the blasted cable.

"Mental Breakdown"

Well, we've had a busy holiday season. And, as of yet, I have not uploaded new pics from the last few weeks. SORRY.
To top it off, this week B is having eye surgery. NO. The PATCH did not work. :(
And it's New Year's Eve. (Happy New Year's Eve everyone!)
And E's parents are coming on New Year's Eve.
And S has started crying jags from about 9 p to 12 A. Sound familiar? Yes, B did the same thing.
And S has her first sickness--nasty yellow snot--welcome December baby.
And in all this craziness I like to think on funny things. I laugh at much of the crying stuff. And watching TV on mute while the baby is crying makes it much more enjoyable. That way I can actually get something out of the hour.

But to get to the point, I have this cool friend named Steph. Actually, I have a couple cool Steph's that I know. But this one lives in Michigan. And we have been lucky enough to be friends for years and still keep in touch. Well, a funny phrase I picked up from her is "mental breakdown." She sometimes uses that in describing a 2 year old tantrum or something like that. It really fits. She's pretty funny too. And so you want to laugh when she says it. Especially as the 2 year old is flailing on the floor because they can't have something or whatever. And normally you would probably not be happy. But because she is funny and says "mental breakdown" it makes it better.

Anyhow, tonight when I was putting B to bed after doing the dishes and nursing the baby and shopping for a space heater after nursing the baby after taking a nap (yes!) after a crazy morning where I was still in workout clothes after showing up to workout to cancelled aerobics after a bad night because the baby couldn't breathe after . . .

Anyhow, AFTER that I was thinking, I am going to have a "mental breakdown" if I HAVE to do something else tonight. And I just wanted to say thank you to Steph, who has brought some humor to my life. Because then I thought of myself as a 2 year old and it was much more funny. Because even in this situation where I want to cry, I can laugh when I remember the way she says "mental breakdown" and life is better. :)

What we've been up to . . .

Of course our posts will be more scarce now that we have another little one in the house and the holidays are almost here.

So, what have we been up to? ? ?

Getting some zzzzzz's . . .

And

Trying on cute headbands on a cute little girl:


Making, decorating (and eating!! of course!) rice krispie treats:


With Grandma!


Playing in one of the first snows (or "nose" as B says):


And taking care of baby: (note B's great imitation of feeding her baby)


More later!

She's ready for her close-up now

Here are the first pictures of our little Sierra:

1 minute post partum:


5 minutes post partum with beautiful mom:


The new addition:


Finally a moment of peace to catch her breath:


Whoops...that didn't last long...it's bath time:


Somewhere in the middle of all this she finally found her voice:


Hanging out with Big Sister (the tousled look is in, right?):


Don't worry, there are years of pictures to look forward to.

Congratulations, it's a....

The much anticipated arrival of Little Girl #2 is finally over. We went in this morning to see if our little stinker could be turned ("verted") from breech to head down. An epidural was placed to relax R's very toned abdominal muscles and her OB/GYN (with the help of her trusty OB intern) was able to turn the baby on the first try. She actually turned so easily that we worried about her flipping back to breech so we decided to just go ahead with the induction. R started out at 1 cm when the Pitocin started at around 1030, and she was fully dilated by about 5 pm. We had actually dozed off a little when the doctor came in and said that she had noticed some decelerations on the monitor and that she just wanted to check R. The next words spoken were, "Looks like it's baby time!" and six pushes later we had another beautiful daughter. Isn't modern anesthesia wonderful! She weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was 19.5 in long. Our petite little girl!!! Pictures coming soon. Thanks to all the family and friends who have offered to help, we love you all.

Posing

Well, obviously there's no where else to take pictures in our house except in front of our red wall and couches. Sorry for the washed out flash pictures.

So, here modeling her new Christmas dress from Grandma Freeman is B!
And of course she HAD to wear my high heels and hat. :)


Thanks Grandma. It is perfect!!

Now on to another model of a 9 month pregnant woman:


There. Ya happy Nate!? Can you believe someone's belly can stretch that far?! Anytime in this next week SHE may be making her appearance sooner or later. We're ok with later.