Resting Before the Race

Not a literal race (have you SEEN how big I am?!), but next week is going to be crazy. Well, really, as soon as the boy wakes up, things will be crazy.  (I thought life was supposed to slow down after no more paintball business?!)

I'm sitting in my parents driveway right now, waiting for my mother to get home (who told me she was heading home almost an hour ago, when I called her as I was leaving my house 35 minutes away...).  I have a key to get in, but the boy fell asleep on the drive down and I'm not about to wake him.  He's been a snotty mess the last couple days and I have a feeling I'll be seeing those two more top teeth that have just been hanging out RIGHT THERE, make an appearance this weekend.  That will make 5 teeth for the little man.  So, I'm letting him get his rest; for his sake and for my sanity.  (He's been a lil grump the last couple days.  Can't say I blame him though.)

Anyway, this weekend's agenda?  And the crazy week that follows?  Well, take a look for yourself.

Staying at my parents house with Zeek while Skyler is away until sometime on Monday, bow hunting with his brother.  Dear Lord, please let them get something so that he doesn't have to take so many weekend trips this year like he did last year when he didn't get a single thing until January (when he finally shot a turkey)!

When the boy wakes, mom and I will be canning green beans that we harvested from our garden yesterday.

I've also got 2 things I want to paint (that have been sitting for far too long waiting for me!) for my house and two projects to work on to get out the door for Wood & Thimble.  Pleased as a peach that our shop is continuing to do so well.  I have seriously been so blessed with the most amazing customers ever!  They all must be dilusional though and think I'm some amazing "artist".  I am not.  I just like to make things pretty.  I'm a bit of a profectionist.  I like to create.  But I wouldn't ever call me an "artist".  They all tell me to use my creative license and do whatever I think looks best for their project with whatever customization they are asking for.  And once they get it in the mail, they email me and tell me how much they love it.  I'm always amazed at their comments and can't help but think, "there's really not much to it, so don't toot my horn that much!"  Seriously, it's not that hard.  BUT, I am so thankful that they like what I do with their projects and that they've been so sweet and kind with their words with me.  I couldn't ask for better people to have worked with so far. :)

Anyway, Zeek and I will just be enjoying the time with my family this weekend and hopefully I'll get a lot done while Zeek is playing outside on "the farm" with his grandpa.  The boy is never bored here.  I love coming here because he just goes outside and will play for hours with all the great toys, kitchen set, bikes and scooters and whatnot that my parents have.  He's pretty lucky being the 3rd grandchild - my parents are already well stocked on grandkid entertainment. ;)

Tuesday, I have an eye exam, which I could not be more excited for.  I know, how strange.  But seriously, I haven't gotten a new pair of glasses for FIVE years.  I get new contacts every year or so, but I haven't gotten glasses for the last several exams because once I first tried contacts about 6 years ago, I was like "holy cow, what took me so long to try out these bad boys?!" and I never ever wore my glasses.  Now, as a mom, I can appreciate the times where I can just whip on my glasses really quick at night or first thing in the morning... except with a 5 year old prescription, things were a bit wonky.  And then Skyler broke one pair several months ago by slamming them in a drawer.  Last month, Zeek broke my other pair.   And all that made me realize, the only thing worse than having glasses with 5 year old prescription lenses, was having no glasses at all... and to the doctor I go. :)

Tuesday night, I'll have my bible study that I lead with some high school girls and much of the day beforehand will be spent in prep for that.

Wednesday morning, I'll have my first actual appointment at the Santiam Women's Clinic with Mabel.  I can't wait to see her again!  In a few weeks, the new birth center will be open and I'll be able to get a tour of that.  I'm excited to see what it looks like.  She said there are built in jacuzzi tubs and during labor I can dim the lights and play my music, etc. so I'm looking forward to getting a visual of the place where I'll be laboring and birthing! :)

Wednesday day, I'll have to make sure I've got the three projects for W&T finished and mailed out.

And THEN, (as if that's not enough stuff), I have a girls night (which I wouldn't miss for the world) because one of my lifelong friends is here for a few days from Lithuania.  So all us girls that hung out in high school are having dinner with all our kiddo's (who luckily are all around the same age and all boys!).

And SOMETIME in the midst of all this, I'm supposed to pack for Texas for Zeek and myself, because we fly out Thursday morning at 7 am.

I just got exhausted thinking of everything on my schedule for this week.  I think I need a nap... :)

Hope you all have an awesome weekend and Labor Day!!

Love,
K

20 Weeks (Maybe), An Ultrasound and A Big Change.

So, this is my "twenty" week picture, which was last week.  So hard to label pictures when you really don't know exactly how far along you are!  Zeek just had to join in the action.

Last week, we made a big decision for this pregnancy.  We decided to transfer to a different birth center.  While Bella Vie holds a special place in our hearts and we absolutely loved our birth experience there with Ezekiel, it just didn't quite feel right for this birth.  All of the 4 ladies from my birth team with Zeek are elsewhere now and the midwife that I was assigned to was new to the business.  She was nice but I just didn't feel like she was a good fit for me and Skyler, but she was the only midwife that I could have there because of insurance.

I searched for other options; I hunted down my old midwife (who was amazing, and we still see her husband for our family doctor), but she works in Corvallis which is out of our county and insurance wouldn't cover it.  Same thing for the birth center which I would've loved to check out in Portland, where two of my other midwives are now at.  I came across the Santiam Women's Clinic in Stayton (about the same distance as Bella Vie from our house, but in the other direction) and found that they have a water birth center too.  Most importantly, they allowed you to birth in the tub.  Most hospitals or hospital birth centers that allow you to labor in a tub still make you get out and birth on the bed.  I called them to make an appointment with the midwife there.

We had our "meet and greet" appointment last week and I fell in love with the midwife Mabel (who also happens to be the midwife my sister had for the birth of her daughter, 9 years ago!).  She is a sweet older lady (around 60 maybe?) from Ghana with an awesome accent but with the warm mothering feel that made me just want to hug her like she was my grandma!  She has been a midwife for 40 years, in both Ghana and US.  She had to re-do her schooling in US, even though she had schooling and was certified in Ghana previously, and is also a nurse practitioner.  You can tell she is well educated just by speaking with her, but has such a warm and sweet personality.  As we were walking to our car after the appointment, the only way I could describe my feelings about Mabel to Skyler was this:  I told him, "I know this sounds really weird, but I just want to give her a big hug, lay my head on her chest and tell her my deepest secrets.  I feel like she would just love on me still."  He laughed and couldn't understand what I meant exactly, but he liked her too.  :)  He said he's a sucker for foreigners - just loves their personalities and cultural differences. 

We were both (but especially Skyler) hesitant about giving birth anywhere near a hospital.  We just really wanted no unnecessary interventions and loved the homey feel of Bella Vie (an old farmhouse).  Didn't like the feel of a stiff hospital with people bustling in and out, nurses upon nurses coming that we didn't know, pressure to perform on their birth time table, etc.  Skyler was very reserved going into the appointment; sat there with his arms crossed and didn't say a word for about 1/2 hour.  I asked question after question to make sure that everything we wanted for this birth was possible and to see what types of protocol or things they insisted for being linked with a hospital.  Mabel was very reassuring in that her viewpoints of birth aligned with ours and she would be an advocate for us.  She said, "what Mabel says, goes."  She handled our "interrogation" very well and even taught me a couple things, like what I should be doing to get myself up after laying on a bed in order to save my back.  After the hour, I was just totally in love with Mabel.  She also told us that they are having a brand new birth center (a building separate than the hospital) opening in October with built in jacuzzi tubs like Bella Vie has.  I was fairly sold after this point - I just couldn't wait to talk to Skyler in private after our appointment and figure out if he felt comfortable there too.  I wanted him to like where we were choosing to birth, just as much as I did.

When it came down to it, I finally had to realize that for me, Ezekiel's birth was such a relational experience and that's what made me so comfortable, relaxed and trusting throughout my whole labor/birth.  Yes, I loved the facility, but more so, I loved the relationships that I had formed there.  So if I had to choose relationship or facility, I was going to choose relationship hands down.  If I could have a homebirth with Mabel as my midwife, that would be the perfect scenario!  But, I'll settle for the Santiam birth center.  :)

Anyway - it was a hard decision for us and we spent a long time talking about the pro's and con's of it.  I feel so much more settled now that we have made our decision.  I was just feeling so unprepared for this birth.  I wasn't totally comfortable with my midwife that I had, we didn't have a boy's name picked out and I really hadn't felt like I had time to just reflect or enjoy the fact that I was pregnant yet.  Now, we have figured out the midwife situation, we have a boy's name (YAY!  Well, we have the first name anyway.  Still need to work on a middle name...), and we had our ultrasound today where we got to just sit back and watch our precious little babe and enjoy the kicks and movements on the screen.  I'm finally feeling a little more prepared and ready for this birth!  Such a great place to be, finally! (Even though, I know, I still have a ways to go.)  I've felt like this whole pregnancy has escaped me almost and I'm just NOW getting to enjoy it.  (Of course it didn't help that I was nauseous and sick for so long this pregnancy - that definitely kept me from reflecting and enjoying this pregnancy part!)

Here's a little video that our ultrasound tech put together for us:

So the only person in the world who knows what gender baby is, is our ultrasound tech!  That's the only part that's a little weird about not knowing if we're having a boy or girl - the fact a stranger knows and we don't!  Waiting to find out the gender was seriously the most amazing thing in the world with Ezekiel.  There are only a few true surprises in life and that is definitely one of them.  Finding out at the ultrasound is exciting too and I'm always excited to find out what my friend's are having (in fact, one of our friends went in for an ultrasound appt an hour after we did, had the same tech, and found out they're expecting a little boy!), but for us, having the baby right there in my arms before checking to find out "Ezekiel" or "Ellery" was the greatest, most rewarding thing ever.  And I cannot wait to do it again. :) 

Also, based on the ultrasound, we're 22 weeks and 3 days instead of 20 weeks and 5 days like I originally thought.  SO, from here on out... I'm due the end of December, not the middle of January.  I think.  *sigh* :)

22 Week Stats

• I've been feeling baby kicks so so much lately!  I keep telling my friends that it really feels like the baby is kicking me right in the crotch, like it has it's little foot wedged way down there, trying to break it's way out of me.  Turns out - baby is!  The ultrasound today showed the baby breech.  (Baby still has plenty of time to flip around; really hoping it's cooperative and does!)  But Mabel has delivered many breech babies vaginally, so I'm not worried.
• I'm feeling huge.  What's new.
• I'm feeling really short of breath already.  And tired again.  Like I only had about 5 weeks of energy back and now it's gone again. :(  I think that's mostly due to my incredibly speedy toddler though.  SO hard to keep up with his little (FAST) legs!
• Still loving my maxi skirts and tank tops.  They are literally life-savers.  I would live in sweats without them.  Jeans are pretty much non-existent in my wardrobe any more.  Or regular shirts.
• We settled on a baby boy name today!!  I had suggested a name a few months ago and Skyler liked it also so we kept it in our minds, but weren't completely set.  Then I thought of how it sounds with our last name and I wasn't so sure anymore.  Wasn't sure it really rolled off the tongue well (but for me, saying my own name has always felt weird coming out of my mouth, so that's probably why).  Then yesterday, after a walk in the park, I saw the boy name "______ Anderson" on a plaque.  And I texted a picture to Skyler with the caption "a sign from God!" (half-joking) and we settled on it tonight. :)  I'll tell you the name soon, once we figure out a middle name.
• Zeek really seems to understand that there's a baby in my tummy.  Every day he wants to spend time cuddling my tummy, pointing and saying "baby!" and giving my tummy kisses.  He'll lay his head down on it, pat my belly and say "ni-ni!" (night night) to the baby.  We were watching the ultrasound video today and I pointed and said, "who's that?" and he said, "baby!" and pointed and kissed my tummy again. :)  I think he's going to be an awesome big brother.  He just adores babies.  He loves to touch their little feet and noses and give them lots of kisses. 

All in all, still loving being pregnant, even with the added challenges of having a toddler to chase this time around. :)  It's still a huge blessing and I'm so thankful that God has given us this sweet baby to add to our family!  Cannot wait for December/January to meet this little one!

Love,
K

19 Months!

 

19 Months

 

 

You have gained such a large vocabulary that you are quickly gaining attention from strangers and friends for how much you talk!  You don't always make sense and often you say sentences that sounds like, "yedda badda badda da ball.  Da ball."  Something something something ball.  That's usually how it goes. :)  You are always talking about a ball (or anything that is even slightly circular in shape.).

You aren't afraid of trying to repeat words and you are getting very good at arguing your point! 
You have no problem saying "no" when you don't like something or don't want to do something, and will reiterate "YES!" when I'm holding something that you do want.  You are really understanding the difference between the words, which is really helping mommy be a lot less frustrated with not as much guess and check as before!

You run everywhere.  I can hardly keep up.  You hop and dance and jump around.  You've learned to jump on your bed and on the couch.  You get a thrill out of jumping on cushions.

You love to dunk your basketball in the little hoop grandpa has on the farm.  Mommy will have to be on the lookout for a little hoop for you, since you are so obsessed with it!  When you see real basketball hoops and basketballs, you want to dunk those too.  Unfortunately, at 5'2", mommy's can't really assist you with that one.

You have been frequently walking around with your little pointer finger wedged between your butt-crack... I refuse to eat anything out of your hands anymore!
 
After a rough couple of months, you are finally really good at bedtime AND naptime!  You no longer whine about it or fight it, but just lay down and go to sleep right away! GLORY hallelujah! :)

We have a newspaper clipping from Daddy's football days hanging in the office, where he's tackling someone to the ground. I told you a couple weeks ago that it was daddy in the picture.  Now when you see it, you point and say "Dada! HIIYAH!"... complete with a karate chop. :)  Your daddy is your hero!

A couple days ago, we were riding bikes past McNary High School (where daddy played football), and there were football players in pad's out practicing in the field.  You tapped me on the back and said, "Mama, Dada!!! Dadda! Dadda!  Hiiiiyaaah! Dada hiiya!"  It took me a few minutes to realize what you were talking about, but somehow from a distance you recognized the football gear to be what daddy was wearing in that newspaper clipping and put two and two together!  You are SO smart and always surprise me with the things you are picking up and understanding already at only a year and a half. 

You love to follow me into the bathroom.  You sign "potty" and clap and holler "yay!" at me.  The other day, I told you I was going to go poo-poo and you squatted into your position of how you poop, and said, "po-po! Yay mama!"  I love that you are so proud of me for my achievements... or something like that...

 

New Words You Are Saying

• eyeball
• "do" - shoe.  You're getting closer.  Much closer than your first attempt at this word with "babou".
• "sees" - cheese.  Your obsession.
• "po-po" - Poop.  SOMETIMES you'll tell me you have "po-po" in your diaper.  Most times you still deny it.  Even though the smelly evidence is undeniable.
• "duce" - Juice
• "moneh" - money.  You love to put money in your piggy bank. 
• up
• "outs" - ouch
• "menon" - Melon.  You love melon.  Of any sort.

What's in Our Fridge?

I went grocery shopping the other day and in light of my recent post about our Paleo "diet" lifestyle, I thought I'd show you what our fridge looks like after a typical grocery shopping trip.

So, what's in my fridge?!

This is after I prepared (most of) the food for easy access of healthy snacks!  I find that if I don't do this, I'm way less likely to grab a carrot for a snack, because who wants to take the time to peel it and cut it up each time?  When it's all washed, chopped and ready to grab out of the fridge, it's a lot more convenient and enticing to grab a veggie or fruit to snack on instead of junk food.

There are more things in our fridge than meet our "diet" guidelines, but I'll mostly just focus on showing you the different staples that we keep stocked for our Paleo lifestyle. :)

Now, these are definitely not 100% Paleo "approved" condiments! :)

Like I mentioned before, we try to follow about 80% of the time.

Condiments are definitely where we make some exception because of all the flavor options with the different condiments.  It's nice to have options of flavor for the slab of steak or salad! ;)

• I always have coffee creamer.  I can't stand black coffee, or even just milk and honey or anything "healthier" like that... I have to have International Delight French Vanilla.  No other. :)
• We always keep almond milk in stock for Zeek.  We don't give him much milk, but since he stopped nursing a few months ago, he still likes to have milk first thing in the morning.  Almond milk is a great alternative and this kind, Field Day Natural, is the only one I have seen without the carcinogen Carrageenan in it.  They sell it at Lifesource here in Salem. 
• We use Odwalla juices for Zeek occasionally (a few times a week) to mix about 1/4 cup in a sippy cup full of water as a special treat or when we want him to drink more water because he hasn't had enough in the day.  Mostly the kid gets water to drink.  If juice, it's a little bit of Odwalla or Naked juice mixed mostly with water.  
• The Organics box is beef broth (or chicken).  I use beef broth often to bake different meats in or slow roast them in the crock pot.  Same goes for the tomato soup - I don't use it as often, but I will use it to add to the beef broth for cooking or I'll mix it with carrots or broccoli (or something similar, instead of water) when making Zeek's food.
• We often put salsa on Zeek's fried eggs in the morning to give it a little more flavor for him.  He loves eggs with salsa! :)

• Lemon Juice (I use this in cooking frequently!)
• Variety of Dressing for Salads - keep salads interesting by changing up the flavor!
• Rice Vinegar (I dribble this over cucumber slices - YUM!)
• Tarter Sauce (Fish isn't complete without tarter sauce! ;))
• Mustard - Skyler loves to have mustard with his sausages that he eats for dinner if I'm gone or takes for lunches at work.

Top Shelf, Left:

A few more "spreads" and condiments... :)

• Tahini (because my husband makes a mean hummus and I'm addicted)
• Sour Cream (I always seem to be using sour cream in recipes.  No it's not Paleo.  But neither are the desserts that usually result from using this. ;))
• Heavy Whipping Cream (I use this for a few different things, but especially for making 2-ingredient ice cream - which tastes amazing btw and I feel much better about than eating store ice cream!)
• Pickles
• Vanilla Yogurt (often my "dessert" is yogurt, fruit and granola.  I'm a sucker for devouring homemade granola.)
• Parmesan cheese (used in my beloved Parmesan/Panko Chicken recipe!)
• Minced Garlic - I use this in just about EVERYTHING.  Seriously.  I love me some garlic. :)

Top Shelf, Right:

• Spring water.  Yep, actually from a spring.  About 2-3 times a year, Skyler makes the 2 hour drive to this natural spring (on the way to Cannon Beach) and fills up about ten 7-gallon containers of water.  We store them in the garage and refill this pitcher to keep in the fridge.  The point is to avoid our gross tap-water.  And the excessive flouride in our water.  (Which I know is controversial.  What don't we do that's controversial?! ;))
• We buy lots and lots of eggs.  Cage free.  We were buying them from a guy Skyler works with, but over the last year with nursing school, Skyler hasn't worked much and it's not frequently enough to rely on his co-worker to supply our egg needs! :)  So, we just make sure they're cage free eggs.  Hard boiled eggs are a great snack for Skyler to take to work or school, or for Zeek when he wants to nibble on something.
• Bacon.  We love our bacon.  We eat either bacon or sausage 2-3 times a week with our breakfasts.  We make sure it's minimally processed and nitrate/nitrite free.

Middle Shelf, Left:

 Mostly Zeek's snack foods. :)

• Applesauce.  Boy LOVES applesauce.  I'm going to be canning (lots and lots) of applesauce this fall to *hopefully* hold this boy over for a year, till I am able to can again! ;)
• Left over foods of his in the back.  Beet "pancakes" in one of them.  Recipe coming soon!
• Cup of olives.  He loves his olives - green and black!  His new favorite thing is to put them on his finger and suck them off. :)  Taught by daddy, of course.
• Plums that I canned
• Pineapple tidbits

Middle Shelf, Right:

Washed and prepared fruits/veggies!  I like to mix it up so we're eating different things frequently.  This shopping trip:

• Broccoli
• Zucchini (from my dad's garden)
• Carrots
• My canned peaches (in the back)
• Strawberries

Bottom & Drawers:

I stocked up on greens this trip - more than I usually do.  

• Spinach goes fast at our house, so I always get 2 bags.  
• I also got the collard greens mix bag because I am in the process of making several more bags of pureed food for Zeek and always add greens to things like his melon and broccoli puree's.
• Kale is awesome to always have on hand to whip up a quick batch of kale chips to snack on when you get the munchies. :)
• Spring Mix greens.  Good for salads, as a bed for meat entrees, etc.

 Bottom Left: Veggie Drawer

 I use the drawers mostly to contain the smaller or loose veggies/fruits.

• Green onions, yellow onions, red onions - I love to have a variety of onions on hand to give any entree some flavor.
• Green, Red, Yellow Peppers - Also love to have these on hand for the same reason.  Adding peppers to different meals adds great color and flavor (and vitamins and antioxidants!) :)
• Tomatillo's - I have a serious addiction to guacamole.  One day, some Latino's were stuffing a TON of tomatillo's in a bag at the grocery store and I stopped and asked them what they were going to do with all of them.  "Guacamole!" they said.  And they had my attention.  They gave me their recipe and I'm officially hooked.  I always have these guys in my fridge. :)  I'm sure there's plenty more to do with them too, but I'm so content with my guac that I haven't ventured out any further!
• Cilantro - Did I mention I love guacamole?  This is used in that.  But I also use it several other recipes so I always have cilantro on hand!  Adds AMAZING flavor!

Bottom Right: Fruit Drawer

 Usually this is much more full.  However, I bought cantaloupe and watermelon on this shopping trip, both of which don't fit in the fruit drawer. ;)

• Avocado's - We always have tons of avocado's on hand.  Guacamole, as a side for lunch or dinner, or with our eggs in the morning.  So versatile, so good. :)
• Lime's - I always keep a few limes on hand also, because recipe's that I try out always seem to call for lime wedges or juice!
• Oranges, grapefruit, cherries, apples - like I said, we like to have a variety of fruits/veggies on hand so we can mix it up and keep it interesting. :)

And there you have it!  That's what our fridge looks like after a usual shopping trip.  I love how colorful and pretty it looks when I open it up and look in.

One comment we always get when people come over is "wow, your fridge is packed full!"  Yes.  Yes, most often it is.  When you eat a diet of fruits, veggies, meats and eggs, your fridge is always far more full than your pantry cupboard, because you're relying on fresh foods not packaged foods.

I'd rather my fridge be stuffed full than my pantry cupboard!  I have minimal "extra" space in our cupboards as is anyway.  One whole cupboard is devoted to our nuts/seeds, dried fruits and teas.  Most of the other cupboards are dishes.  I'm currently in the process of transforming our hallway closet into more of a canned food pantry.  Skyler just canned 55 pints of tuna a couple weeks ago and it was just the "push" I needed to reorganize this closet and clear it out.  I've also been doing some of my own canning and will be storing our peaches, jam, plums and soon to be green beans, tomatoes, apple sauce, apple butter... and whatever else my heart desires. ;)

Looking forward to getting our closets cleaned out and organized better!  One closet at a time... haha!  Just gotta keep plugging away. :)

Love,
K

We're Back! (And Why I Will Never Cut an Avacado the Same)

We're back from our little 4 day vacation away!  Dishes are going, laundry is going, I'm showered, bathroom's are cleaned, boys are at grandma's... and I'm sitting down to relax. :)

We had a lovely time camping with my parents down at the Delta Campground near Blue River (just off of McKenzie River).  Right about here:

I didn't take too many photo's, but here are the few I did take to document (and show Ezekiel someday) that we went camping with grandma and grandma!

This was the first day there.  We laid in the tent with Zeek for 2 hours trying to get him to nap.  We both half napped but the boy talked and sang and read himself books for the whole time.  

Skyler decided to take him for a bike ride while I made some lunch.

He was gone for only 20 minutes and this happened a few minutes into it:

Out.  Like a light.

Later, we drove about 10 miles south of our campsite to check out Cougar Reservoir.

BEAUTIFUL.

And this is one of the many reasons I love Oregon. :)

 Mom and Dad joined us on the 2nd day of our camp trip.  We joined together in time for dinner, which I wanted to document to show Ezekiel someday....

and this picture made me laugh so hard.

What the?

The faces!!

Bopa was amazing at getting the boy to nap.  Per usual. :)

He slept here for almost 2 hours.

Our campsite:

View from the back of our campsite:

This was so lovely to listen to at night in the tent. :)

And finally - a little wash cloth bath for the filthy boy.

I have a very similar photo taken of myself when I was about two.

Bopa reading bedtime stories. :)

Oh, and one more thing happened on our camp trip.

This:

I put a knife through my hand.  Far enough that it poked a little hole out the other side.  I was making breakfast for everyone and dad was helping cook sausages on his stove, mom and Sky were sitting around the fire.  I was cutting an avocado.  Usually I "hiyah!" the knife into the seed to wiggle it out.  For whatever (distracted) reason, this fine morning, I decided to just stab the seed...and it went straight through the seed and stopped about an inch out of the back end of the avocado (only after going through my hand, of course). 

I started jumping around hollering, "it went through my hand, it went through my hand, help! It went through my hand!"  They all just stared at me.  Couldn't figure out what I was talking about.  As far as they knew, I was cooking eggs.  What the heck would've gone through my hand?  I finally ran over to the fire to show Skyler, again hollering, "it went through my hand! HELP!"  Finally he saw the blood on my hand and him and mom jumped up to help me.

Thankfully, mom had some liquid skin glue stuff in her first aid kit (lotta good my stupid bandaids would've done on this puncture job!).  Skyler applied it and I tapped my foot incredibly fast and tried to hold in the whimpers and squeals as it stung like someone was putting a needle right in the wound.  Skyler tried to tell me that childbirth was worse than this so stop being so dramatic.  (I promise, he does love me.)  And I told him, uh huh, no way.  Childbirth doesn't sting and quite like this and I don't like this kind of pain.  That kind of pain was painful.  Childbirth was more of a nuisance of a pain, like extreme cramping.  :)

The liquid skin stuff was amazing and let me tell you: I am going to revamp my first aid kit for my camping bag and my car!  This is a must-need in it now. 

Now, a couple days later, it's doing better.  The swelling went down and I have mobility and all feeling, though I still can't quite fit my wedding ring back on.  Mostly, it's just tender around the area.  All is well and lesson learned. 

Friends, PLEASE learn from me and just use a spoon to scoop out the avocado seed.  How silly of me.  :)

How exciting was your weekend?!  Hope it was awesome. :)

Love,
K

We're out...

And enjoying things this weekend for a little anniversary relaxation and last summer hurrah.

We're out enjoying these kinds of things...

Hope you have a great weekend too!!

Love,
K

3 Years Ago, This Happened.

And I'm so glad it did.

You're still my favorite, Monkey.

Love,

Your Comedian

P.S. You can read Our Love Story.

P.P.S. All photos were taken by our photographer Jessica Shepard.  She's awesome. :)