A beach trip

So let me start out this post by explaining that I'm stuck at an airport in San Francisco. I've been in San Jose this week for business. And then I tried to fly out of San Jose. But my flight was delayed. Causing me to be late for my connecting flight and the only flight I could get to Atlanta would be out of San Fran. So they shuttled me here and I'm waiting 6 hours for my red eye flight to Atlanta to get me back in GA at 5:48am. But I PROMISED my curly headed girl that I would be home on Saturday morning. And I gave her a calendar to mark off the days until Mama would be home. And by God I WILL keep that promise. Even if it means catching an all night flight to do so. Baby girl, I will see you when you wake in the morning.

I'm now two mojitos into my wait for my flight. And I've been nastalgic. Looking at pictures of my babies. And I thought this would be a good time to update that blog that I'm supposed to be keeping up with. Because I found this picture. So sweet. My Rhiannon and her best friend in the whole world. Her cousin Lawson. Boy do they love one another.

So here it goes.

In July we went on our family trip to the beach. I finally convinced my parents, the funders of this trip, that it would be better to go the Gulf this year. Versus our normal vacay spot of Myrtle Beach. I used a house that my girlfriends have stayed at in the past as ammunition to convince them.

I was excited too because Henry was only 4 months old on our trip last year. And he couldn't sit on his own yet. So I had to carry him around all week in a baby sling. And he cried ALL the time. This year, I thought foolishly, would be better. He can walk and run and swim and play in the sand. Right? Nope. My boy was teething. Apparently getting 1,000,000 molars at one time. And home boy was not handling it well. And then midway through the trip he came down with his sisters case of croup. So they were both struggling with roid rage from the steroids used to treat croup. And Henry again cried all week. But this year he also cried all night. When he was a 4 month old, he at least slept some.

Let's put it this way. I looked forward to my morning runs. And I DO NOT like to run. But it was a time that I suddenly felt 25 lbs lighter. And I didn't feel like throwing a baby out the window.

Just kidding. Sort of.

Not to dwell on the negatives but the ocean was full of seaweed. It was like standing in brunswick stew. Another reason why my parents have never wanted to go the Gulf. I convinced them by telling them that I've been going to the Gulf for years and have never had bad seaweed. Ha ha ha.

However, at the end of our road was a freshwater lake. That never got more than 3 feet deep. It was kid haven. And Rhiannon and my niece, Lawson, loved it. We saw a complete transformation in Rhiannon. She went from refusing to get her face wet to wearing goggles and swimming under water, in a 24 hour time period. So that was pretty cool.

My mental picture of Henry for the week.

He was happy as long as we was here. In someone's lap. It didn't matter who. Me. Aunt Katie. Whatevas. See the lake behind us?

The kiddos. Doesn't Henry look happy?

My babies. Again. Henry. Bless him.

My little beach bunny.

And the whole family.

We might try again next year. I'm making no promises though. . . :)

We really did have a good time. Big thanks to my parents to taking us all on this trip. And the rest of my family for putting up with me and my rugrats. There is one thing for certain. I am so blessed for my family. There is no where I would rather be than with my family. My brothers and sister and sister-in-law and mother and step-dad and out of this world neice. Combined with little family it just rocks. No matter the situation. We just have fun. I love you guys.

Oh yeah. My blog!

So for those of you who may have missed my updates. And for the sake of archiving our memories. I'm back. My d*&n laptop died again. So I have been unable to download or edit photos but now I'm back. And I'm going to attempt to update you from the summer.

But today we're going to start with just a general update. I'll update with pictures from events afterwards.

Rhiannon turned 4!! Four? Doesn't that sound old to you? It sounds old to me. And she started Pre-K! I can't handle it. That sounds big too. And it was a big decision for Mommy. First of all I was unsure if I should start her in Pre-K yet. Her birthday is July 24 which is a late birthday for that grade level. And since her birthday should have been in October, I wondered whether I should start her the next school year and keep her in preschool another year. But in the we decided that Pre-K was fine. And if she needed to wait for Kindergarten then she could just do 2 years of Pre-K. And the other big decision was whether she should continue going 3 days of move to 5 days. I thought the structure was better with 5 days. And it was only half days. But I worried about Henry missing her. And I knew the grandparents would too. So I asked her and she said she wanted to go everyday. So that's what we did. And it seems to be going just great. She loves her teacher Mrs Michelle. And her two BFF's Madyson and Madilyn are in her class again so the fab 3 are owning the halls of Grace this year.

Henry is 18 months old. At his 18 month appt we found out that he in the 50% for weight and 65% for height. Head of course in the 95% (both my kids were "blessed" with Mama's big head). I looked back and discovered that his preemie sister was actually an inch taller than him at 18 months!! So we think that he may have inherited his Daddy's height. Ha ha.

Henry is talking up a storm. He follows instructions much better than his sister. His favorite book is Good Night Moon. His favorite songs are very interesting. The most requested two: Boom Boom Pow by the Black Eyed Peas. Which he sings and knows the words to. Or "Jesus, Jesus" a gospel song by Alan Jackson. We like to mix it up around here. He loves soy milk, peanut butter, M&Ms, blueberries, and most of all cherry tomatoes. He eats then straight from the vine. When I pick him up at my mother's house, his shirts are usually covered in tomoato seeds.

Two recent pictures of my babies. . .

Easter

Easter is my second favorite holiday. It's falls very closely behind Thanksgiving. Because of the food of course. I love Thanksgiving food. Wait Easter. Oh yeah, ok. I like Easter too. There's something about the time of year. Spring is so clean and new and green. The weather is usually fantastic. The clothes are fun. And I don't have to shop for gifts.

I also get to organize an Easter egg hunt. We have it every year at my parents house and invite friends and family. This was our 3rd year. The new tradition started after my Sax-Sax passed away. I have 11 cousins that all live close by and we loved Easter at my grandmothers house. After she passed away, we were looking for excuses to see each other. So we had an Easter party at my mothers house. We invited my aunts and uncles and cousins and some family friends. And now we do it every year.

It's so much fun.

But more importantly, it's the meaning behind Easter that makes it so special.

This year Rhiannon was old enough to get it. To understand the true meaning of Easter. And that made the holiday even better. We read books about Easter and when asked what Easter was about, she woud say:

"Easter is about God's son Jesus. Jesus died to forgive us of our sins. He was dead for 3 days and then he rose from the grave and went to Heaven to live with God." She liked the 3 days part of it.

A church next to our house had a sunrise service on the lake so I took Rhiannon to her first sunrise service. Snuggling her and singing "Up from the Grave He Arose" and watching the sun light up her face as it rose over the lake was so powerful. I hope she remembers it as fondly as I remember attending the sunrise service with my dad and stepmother when I was a kid.

Afterwards we went home and Daddy and Henry had breakfast cooked. We saw that the Easter bunny had eaten his carrots and chocolate chips and drank his milk (Rhiannon insisted that was what the Easter bunny wanted). We checked out the cool things the Easter bunny left in the their baskets. And then we went to church with my family.

After church we had lunch and another Easter egg hunt at my mother's. Henry really got the hang of the egg hunting thing. Not only did he enjoy finding them in the grass. He also discovered that he could steal them from his sisters basket while she was busy stuffing her face with candy.

And then dinner and Easter egg hunt #3 at Mimi and Papa's.

What a memorable and amazing holiday.

Happy Easter from the Crains!

Boys

Boys. . .

Boys throw everything like it's a baseball. I have injuries from sippy cups, toys, food hurled at like 100 mph. Ouch.

Boys sometimes like dolls. It means he will be a good Daddy right? It's pretty cute to see Henry walking around the house with a baby on his shoulder and that sweet little hand patting the baby's back. I swear he plays with Rhiannon's dolls more than she does.

Boys are sneaky. They know if they continue to throw "B" from the crib and cry for "B" that Mommy will come back in the room to save "B". Any there is always hope that Mommy will then pick baby boy up and snuggle him some more.

Boys are leaky. How do they pee this much? How big of a diaper do I need to buy? And how can you sleep that wet? And why are you so happy in the morning even when your pajamas are soaked? And why do you pee in the bathtub? Every. Single. Night. Your sister is OVER it.

Boys do not wean themselves. My girl did. My boy? Not a chance. But Mommy got bit again last week. And there was blood involved. So my little vampire got cut off. Sorry little dude. But I think 14 months is enough.

Boys like lawn mowers and tractors. And are obsessed with riding them with Grandfathers and Daddys.

Boys love their sisters. Rhiannon now comes and wakes me up in the morning "Mommy, let's go get Henry!" Now when we go in Henry's room, I'm no longer greated with "Mama, Mama!". Now it's "Ree Ree! Ree Ree!" with outstretched arms for his big sister.

My boy is now 14 months old. And I still have a whole to learn. About boys. Lord help me.

My birthday Monkey

Good news! I got my stupid Gateway back! And guess what? I lost all my pictures just as I feared. So I have sulked for a couple of weeks. But I need to focus on the good news. I still have all the pictures of Henry's birthday party. Along with some great pics that my best bud Jessica took of his party as well.

So my boy turned one on Feb 22. I struggled with where to have his party. Winter is a tough time to have a birthday. I didn't want to rent something for a baby's birthday. So we chose to have it at our home. Trouble is our home. It ain't big. And our family is. BIG. So we decided just to have a small little gathering.

And I decided on a monkey theme.

Monkey pops!

Henry had a monkey "Henry is one" t-shirt to wear for early party and cake eating. Then a monkey longall for after cake. I made monkey cake pops. We had monkey plates and party favors. (I had more pictures of all this. . . but you know. . . they're in cyber space)

Henry had a stomach bug the day of his party. I did not know this yet. But right before his party he exploded all over his monkey t-shirt. I threw it in the washer to clean before the party. It was not quite dry yet when the guests arrived. So they were greated with this. Yes, he is holding Cinderella.

"See my belly button?" We like to party redneck style! I promise I put a shirt on the child eventually.

Henry was not a big fan of his cake. Probably because he was sick. (You can send me my Mother of the Year award at any time.) But the monkey pop made a nice cake smashing tool. But see? He's wearing a shirt now!

Monkey outfit #2 and opening gifts.

Henry and his grandfathers. Two of them anyway. These two particular pictures melt my heart.

Cooper!

And all of the little party people. Yes, this is outfit #3 for Henry. This one was not planned but he pooped on outfits #1 and #2. Luckily, this had a monkey on it too. Henry is flirting with Kate here. Michele and I may set them up one day. Henry likes older women.

And I had to add this one. These two beautiful ladies are my oldest friends. Jessica and I have been friends since 4th grade. And we met Heather (yes Jessica has two Heather's) in middle school. This pic is of the three of us and our kids. We take this picture every year. And lately we've been adding a kid every year! I think we're done adding now though. . . From left to right: Jessica, Colton (Heather's), Isabella (Jessica's) is holding Henry, I'm holding the newest addition Cooper (Heather's) and then Hudson (Jessica's) and Rhiannon and her shoe. Age of children? 7, 5, 4 (next week), 3, 1 and 9 months.

Thanks for all that celebrated with us. Happy Birthday Henry!

Where is Mama?

Where have I been. Keeping up with you blogs. And not posting any updates to my own.
Why you ask?
Because my d#*n brand new laptop that Russ and I bought for Christmas died. It's sole purpose in it's huge memory glory was to house and edit my photos from my beloved new Nikon.
But instead it died. Right after I downloaded my entire photocard to it. And before I backed it up.
Moral of this story. Don't buy a Gateway. Even if the specs look glorious. It's not.
I think it's coming back today from repair. But they were not hopeful that my hard drive would be restored. So I lost pictures from January and February. Including all the pictures I took of Henry walking for the first time and the cute little Monkey Pops I made for his birthday.
I also cannot download any pictures to update the blog because I don't want to use my work computer. Which I'm on now.
So, no updates. Just a lot of bitterness. Towards Gateway.
But here is a Crain family update. We have put our house on the market! There's a big sign in my front yard. I even bought a statue of St Joseph to bury in the front yard to help sell it. Nope. Not catholic. Just a desperate southen baptist. Who is willing to try some additional prayer and a statue if it will bring us one step closer to building our final home. So, wish us luck!

I seem to missing something.

Today is day 2 at work without my breast pump. I had thought that I would be thrilled to not lug that thing around anymore. I was about to throw it out the window a few weeks ago. But it's a little sad. I'm not sure if I miss the responsibility or the magazine break twice a day while at the office.
Oh well. That chapter is over. I'm still nursing in the morning and before bed. And will continue until he doesn't want to anymore. I'm not quite ready to lose that bonding time yet. I'm sure Henry will be soon as he already has skipped the night feeding a couple of times this week. But that morning feeding is the best. All snuggled up with my sleepy baby boy in my bed with Rhiannon next to me watching cartoons.
I may cry when that stops.
I've been crying a lot lately. Can you tell?
I guess I will just spend my magazine time blogging. Or mabye I should work. . .

In just a few minutes. . .

So normally I use this blog to tell you about my children. I try to share pictures and funny stories. But today I'm just going to share my thoughts. Russ has been snoring for hours now and I should be in bed but I'm having trouble because of my thoughts. Of course the thoughts are about my children. About one in particular tonight. Henry. Because in just a few minutes, he will be one year old.

I sat in my chair this evening and tried to catch up on some Grey's that I had DVR'd. I had to pause every so often and go and rock a sick little boy. Sick. On his birthday. But as sad as that sounds, it just means that I have an excuse to go and rock him and kiss him and smell him and squeeze him. In the same rocker that I sat in for hours and hours when he was just born. As he screamed and finally passed out on my chest. I would sit there and cry because I was the worst Mommy in the world because I couldn't comfort my son. And tonight I cried because I was all he wanted. And he is so big lying stretched across my body. Weighing what seems like a million pounds. And he smells wonderful. And feels wonderful. And I just rocked and cried getting big fat crocodile tears on his sweet blonde head.

And it didn't help that on my episode of Greys, Callie is pregnant. And bleeding. And at the OB wanting to know what was wrong. And they finally heard the heart beat. And I cried more. Because I remember.

I remember on July 17 at 9 weeks pregnant. I was driving home from work on a Friday evening and was sitting at the red light at Jesse Jewel and I felt something wrong. And I looked down to see that I was sitting in a puddle of blood. I drove home as I continued to feel the puddle grow. I got home and went to bathroom and remember sitting there on the toilet and and watching it fill with blood. Russ came home and found me crying and digging in the toilet, sifting through the clots because I just knew that it was pieces of my baby. We called the dr and they sent us to the emergency room. I remember the ultrasound tech at the ER. I remember her because it was the same tech we saw at the ER when I had bleeding with Rhiannon. And she can't tell me anything. And then after several hours, we see the doctor. That sweet wonderful doctor that tells me that the baby is fine. I remember going to my OB that Monday after a LONG worried weekend and hearing the best sound in the world. My baby's heartbeat. Thank you Jesus.

Henry, you scared me to death my entire pregnancy. I thought I lost you a half a dozen times. I layed in bed for 17 weeks because we thought you would be early. I got a shot in my butt every week for 19 weeks. 19 shots to help you cook.

But in the end, you gave me the experience I was longing for. My water broke in the middle of the night 3 days after your due date. We got to race to the hospital and wait in excitement through the contractions instead of fear.

And my favorite part? Seeing Dr Cox hold us this beautiful, BIG, pink BOY. With a head full of gorgeous dark brown hair. And you were healthy and breathing. And it was all worth it.

I'm not saying I would do it again. But I was glad to do it for you. Only you.

Happy Birthday Henry. I don't know how this year has gone by so fast. But you are so much fun and everything that I wanted. God gave us you and I thank him every day for that. We love you Bubba.

In love with B

Those of you that follow my blog then I'm sure know all about "B". See older post for some history:

Well guess who else is in love with her?

Henry.

He screams "BEEEEEE!!!" in delight when she is left unattended. And then crawls to her just as fast as he can. Then attacks her with slobbery hugs and kisses.

Rhiannon isn't fond of this attachment. She asks me to "Save B!" or "Mommy, will you protect B please?"

For Christmas, Rhiannon gave Henry his own B. A blue version of course.

Here is a picture of the new guy. And a comparison to Rhiannon's B. Yes folks. This IS what B used to look like when she was a young bunny. You can tell that after much strawberry, PBJ, and honey kisses, wet beds, and dirt, she's been washed many times and very well loved.

Henry loves his "Blue B." See video for proof. . .

Of course, still not quite as much as Rhiannon's B!

10 at 10

My New Year's Resolution revolves around my babies: upload pictures, update blog, update baby books/journals, and enjoy every second. Because I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by. It seems like a few weeks ago we were celebrating New Years as a family of 3 with Fat Pregnant Mama Crain sipping sparkling grape juice on the couch. And yet, we just had New Years with our family of 4!

So, to start, this post is about my baby boy. Who is now 10 months old. Well, 10 1/2 months old. Geez!!

10 of my favorite things about my little man:

10. Kisses. When I ask for a kiss, you will now give me a kiss. When I walk into your room in the morning, and pick up my smiling laughing baby boy. I'm not only greeted with a pat on the back, you lean in to kiss me. No request necessary from me. My are you affectionate.

9. Your laugh. In your eyes, I'm the funniest person alive. With one little glance I can get a chuckle. With a few words or songs, I can get a belly laugh. Thanks for feeding my ego. And filling our house with another sweet giggle. A little deeper than the 3 year old high pitched one that I was accustomed to hearing. And together, a symphony to my ears.

8. Your absolute refusal to "walk". You have been crawling since 5 months. Standing up on your own without assistance at 7 months. From a standing position you can reach down and pick up a toy and stand back up. All without holidng on to anything. But you hate to "walk" around holding someones hands. You may just crawl forever. But you're my baby so you take as long as you like. You can also live with me until you're 85.

7. You will eat ANYTHING. I have yet to give you a food that you will not eat. Every kind of baby food, collards, turnips, avacodo, spaghetti, peas. I hope you always are this easy to please. You definitely have your Mama's appetite.

6. You have already learned to fight back against your sister. She's a bossy thing and has a mean streak like you wouldn't believe. You will need to be strong to put up with her. I know all about bossy big sisters. I was one. Wait. I AM one. It's good that you take your toy back. You should always stand up for yourself.

5. Maybe I don't like this. But it is cute. When I attempt to disipline you with my meanest, sternest "NO". You laugh at me. Thanks.

4. You have some sort of radar to know exactly when I turn in for the night. I finally get everything finished around the house, take my shower, get in the bed, turn out the light, pull the comforter over my head. At that exact moment. You cry. Most nights, you settle down on your own. But lately I have had to go in your room. I don't have to pick you up. I just have to stand by your crib. As long as you know I'm there, you settle down. While this is flattering, Mommy does need a little sleep please.

3. You are Mommy's boy. I can come home from work and peak in the living room to see you playing perfectly content with your toys. But as soon as you realize I'm home, I have to carry you around for the rest of the evening. But, you're my baby. You can be Mommy's boy forever.

2. Your love for music. You love to dance, help Daddy play the guitar and play your drum. You also will sing when the rest of us are singing. It's the sweetest sound in the world.

1. My heart. I now understand what my grandmother and Mama have always said. Little boys have a special place in their Mommy's heart. I can't believe you are the same fussy baby that about made me lose my mind 9 1/2 months ago. But by getting through those first few weeks, we formed a bond closer than no other. I get you. I need you. And little boy, oh how I love you.