And Here's June!

The day after school ended I took Melodie to have her haircut. I think it was 11 inches that we donated to Locks of Love.

I wanted to show Melodie a way to help others and that it's just hair. It can always grow back. We're struggling with the short hair. I'm not sure how to style it (the above was done by the lady who cut her hair) and after a few days of everyone commenting on it Melodie says she wishes it was long again. It will grow back!

Melodie is now a Brownie. There was this whole bridging ceremony and everything.

Aria and I went to my youngest sisters' high school graduation. The limits on tickets was ridiculous (she got four tickets...she has five siblings) and even Aria (who can't even sit by herself) needed a ticket.

I made the cake for her. She really wanted a tiered cake. I only had a few hours, so it's now as fabulous as I would have liked, but I thought it turned out alright.

We harvest our first thing from our garden...zucchini!

We're also growing bell peppers, carrots, yellow squash and pumpkins.
Aria is now four months, and because it was also Father's Day this month her pictures were taken with Rocky. They are so cute!

Our big adventure this month was Sea World. Melodie's girl scout troop went (with money from cookie sales). We have friends who live in the area so we thought it would be fun to all go.

I just love Sea World. It's one of my favorite places.

May Adventures

I was afraid I wouldn't be very good at keeping my blog updated. So, in an effort to "catch up" here's some of our May adventures.

Aria went to her first hockey game and Melodie had a tap recital. My best friend got her Masters in Social Work. I had a nice Mother's Day (Melodie and I went to a church Mother/Daughter activity the day before).

Aria and I went to Disney's California Adventure quite a few time because my annual pass expired this month. This is my FAVORITE picture from all our visits.

Once Upon a Time is one of my favorite TV shows. When I saw that the last two episodes were entitled "Second Star to the Right" and "Straight on Til Morning" I knew a season finale party was in order. Everyone brought fairy tale themed food.

 

My best friend had to go to San Luis Obispo for the weekend and Aria and I went with her. Road Trip! The bubble gum wall in SLO is icky. I found the cutest little place called  Avila Valley Barn. Aria and I spent a beautiful afternoon there.

Aria is 3 months old!

 

It was a very busy month with so many fun adventures!

Easter Fun

  A few years ago I bought a great book called The Christ Centered Easter. I love it. Starting on Palm Sunday, and then each day until Easter Sunday, you do activities following what Christ did leading up to Easter.

 We didn't do it last year because we were on our road trip (Easter was celebrated in Texas). We didn't do it this year either. Aria's blessing was on Palm Sunday, we went to Knott's Berry Farm on Monday, etc... But no excuses. We should have done it because I really felt a lack of the spiritual this year. I'm not one that feels the need to do the secular Easter stuff on Saturday and the spiritual stuff on Sunday. I like to do plenty of both all week. But like I said, the spiritual stuff fell by the wayside this year. But there was plenty of secular stuff!
 We went to Knott's Berry Farm with lots of the extended family and Knott's was doing something called

The kids went to different areas of the park, got a card stamped and then turned it in for a prize (an Easter egg with a candy inside).

 Wednesday was the last day of school for Melodie before spring break. And she got sick. She started throwing up the night before and was very sad she couldn't go to school. I went (my dad was here so I had volunteered to help in the classroom) anyway and picked up her eggs and basket.

The bug only lasted 24 hours and then I got it! We had already paid for an Easter event at Pump It Up (a place with a bunch of inflatables), so Rocky took the day off work and took Melodie and Aria to the event (he took Aria because I was so sick). Normally I don't pay for Easter events, but some of her friends from school were going, so for $13 (including lunch) I thought it wasn't a bad deal.

24 hours later I was fine too...just in time for Saturday Easter fun. Every year we go to various city events (we live on the border of 4 different cities, with a few more just minutes away). We started off at one that had a pancake breakfast, the Easter bunny, and crafts.

It's very unusual for me to put headbands on babies, but the only "First Easter" onesie I could find that I liked was a boy one. So, to make Aria look more like a girl I stuck a headband on her. All the pink girl onesies said some variation on "Somebunny loves me" which I didn't like.
 Both city events we went to had an "egg hunt". Really it's just candy thrown on the ground and the kids make a mad dash to see how much they can get. Melodie got way too much.

But she was so happy and declared it the best day ever in her life. Oh, and I made her shirt. I messed up the iron on transfer a little, but I thought it was still cute. I used the Chick-a-dee scrapbooking kit by ScrappyNat.
 Later that day we dyed our Easter eggs, always a favorite thing to do for all of us.

We ended the day making resurrection rolls. They are floating around pinterest now, but I've done them for years (from the Christ Centered Easter book). They are rolls with marshmallows in them. When you bake them the marshmallows melt and they are empty...just like the tomb Jesus was put in.
 For church on Easter Sunday, Melodie and Aria wore their new-to-them Easter dresses and I did Mel's hair in a fancy 'do.

This is another one floating all over pinterest. The basket weave (inspired by an Easter basket) is on various hair sites. This is our version.
 I tried to take a beautiful picture of the girls at home, but Aria was not cooperating. We ended up taking more at church that did turn out beautifully (including one of the whole family).

At home we did a real Easter egg hunt (the eggs were actually hidden and required some effort to find).

And, of course, I had to get Minnie in on the celebrating.
 We went to the Anderson house for dinner (like always!) where Mel had ANOTHER egg hunt. We had a yummy dinner. The Andersons always get Mel an Easter basket (I think they were astonished when Mel was little and they found out I don't do Easter baskets). This year the basket was a backpack filled with goodies. Aria got one too!

I just had to throw in some pictures of Aria's pjs. The tail on her bottom was so soft and the bunnies on her feet were so cute.
 I hope you had a Happy Easter too!



Aria's Blessing Day

We had a lot of family come to visit to share the experience of this special day (Sunday the 24th).

Aria looked so cute in her blessing dress. My aunt made it out of my wedding dress. Melodie wore it as well. It was so big on Aria that it needed to have a few inches taken in. Huge thank you to Eva!

Unusual Baby Shower Theme

Generally I'm not a fan of baby showers for babies after the first one. After all, you probably have most stuff left over from the first. I don't think each baby needs their own new things. I love hand me downs! There are exceptions to my feeling on this like having a different gender or multiples perhaps. Turns out having your second one 6 years after the first is an exception too. I didn't think so, but turns out a lot of stuff just didn't make it through 6 years of storage. It took a little convincing, but I warmed up to the idea of a shower.

And my new thought is that it is just fun to celebrate a new baby.

I'm blessed to have fun friends in my life who threw a shower with a GREAT theme. Cars! Unique to little Aria who arrived in our vehicle.

The cake was my favorite:

Behind the van it says "Welcome Baby Aria". So clever! (And it tasted soooo good.)

The tables were fun too:

The tablecloths looked like streets! Fabulous idea from pinterest.

I was touched by the generosity of everyone.

The happy big sister

The honoree slept through most of the shower

St. Patrick's Day

 Because St. Patrick's Day was on a Sunday this year, Melodie wore her green clothes and shamrock hair to school on Friday. She looked adorable and the hair turned out great! I learned how to do this hairstyle here.

 

On St. Patrick's Day, we dressed in our green and went to church.

For dinner we had corned beef, colcannon, Irish soda bread and pistachio cake. These are all recipes I got from Sherry Jones (check out her blog here).

We only started eating Irish food on St. Patrick's Day a few years ago, but it is now a fun tradition.
 Since it was Aria's first St. Patrick's Day, we had fun taking pictures of her (and one of the puppy just for kicks).

 

 

Mini Van Birth

 Disclaimer: I wrote all of this down before I could forget the details. When you are reading this that somethings might not make sense, my spelling is probably terrible, and the grammer is probably even worse. Please remember I just gave birth and delivered a baby.

Our due date was Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2013. I was hoping she would wait until the end of our fun for the day. I had talked to my mom earlier and she was hoping the baby would come on the date or shortly after. My mom could come for a visit over the weekend to help after I had the baby, and this particular weekend would be the best because she could stay an additional day due to President's Day.
 Our Valentine fun concluded and Rocky and I put Melodie to bed. I was talking on the phone with my mom (it was around 8:30pm) who asked a question that I didn't answer. "I think I'm having a contraction," I said. At first my mom thought I was joking, but realizing I wasn't she instructed me to call when we were leaving for the hospital and we hung up. I told Rocky this would be a good time for him to get some sleep because the contractions were not painful, strong or consistant yet. He went to bed and I called Auntie June to put her on standby to watch Melodie. I watched The Big Bang Theory and Project Runway and then at around 9:30the contractions started to get stronger, hurt and slightly more consistant. An hour after that I woke up Rocky to help time them and called June to tell her she would definately be needed tonight. By the time she arrived, Rocky and I finished packing up our last minute things. At about 11:30 we thought we were close enough to the hospital guidelines for admission (Baby #2 or more - 7-10 min. apart, 40-60 seconds long for one hour). We were at 6 min. apart for 30 seconds for one hour. So I called the hospital and I was told they should actually be closer to one minute long and that I should call back in an hour (before if they did get closer to one minute). The conversation was actually longer, with me truly believing it was time to go in, and her telling me that I might not be in true labor. But the problem is, if you go in when you're not suppose to they will just send you home. So we kept timing and hoping they would get longer.
 After about a half an hour they were about 45 seconds long. We started talking about calling back and decided that we would if they stayed that consistant for a little while more. And then 15 min. later (45 min. after my call to the hospital, so it's now after midnight) I doubled over in pain and my water broke. And my pain didn't stop. Rocky called the hospital to tell them my water broke and we were coming in while June helped me get ready to go (clean off a bit). I couldn't believe it, but it seriously sounded like the girl on the phone still wasn't sure we should go in and she wanted to talk to me. The pain still hadn't stopped and I was furious. I grabbed the phone and told her we were coming in because my water broke and I was in constant pain. I was in a state of panic and rushing Rocky. I wasn't feeling an urge to push, but I felt something wasn't right. The fact that there wasn't even a few seconds of relief from the pain really concerned me and I was not handling it well.
 We were in the car and on our way to a hospital that is about 20 min. away (side note: There is a hospital about 1 min. away from my house. There are also several hospitals on the way to the one that our insurance dictates that we go to. Just another reason I'm not a fan of insurance companies). We turned off the street we live on (still in the neighborhood) and I pretty much lost it. I was screaming, "This isn't right! The pain isn't stopping! Something's wrong! Aaaahh!" The pain was much worse now that I was sitting and I was even more concerned. We turned onto Beach Blvd (for those of you who know where we live) and screamed to Rocky, "Pull the car over! Call 911! Something is wrong!" Rocky, thinking this was the pain talking, kept driving and reassuring me. Knowing something was wrong took off my bottoms, reached down...and felt a head.
 I instantly felt calmer. It was strange, but now that I knew what was going on, I really did calm down. It was odd that without pushing I was delivering a baby, and I was still worried, but I wasn't frantic. I said to Rocky (not quite as crazy as before), "Pull over and call 911! The baby's head is out!" At this point he looked over and in a complete emotional role reversal he became the panicy one. He pulled the car over and called 911 as he got out of the car and came over to my side of the van. I was pretty much ignoring him because he was repeating the things the 911 operator was saying, but I just remember thinking that she was saying very obvious things (now that I look back at it, she was saying things that you might not know if you'd never had a baby before and she was probably assuming Rocky was going to have to deliver the baby). I had my hand holding her head and after a few minutes (still not feeling the urge to push) said to Rocky, "The rest of her is coming out!" and caught her by the backside with my other hand. I put her on my stomach and covered her with a towel. She started crying and then I noticed the ambulance coming down the street the other direction. It took them a few minutes to get to us (There's a divider and they turned down another street instead of making a u-turn. In their defense, Rocky wasn't being very clear on where we were. In his defense, he was watching his wife give birth and deliver her own baby in a mini van).
 They arrived at 12:45 (we were told later because we completely didn't think to look at what time she was born). One of the paramedics looked us over and I remember him saying to the others (there was a fire truck and two police cars as well) that I was being very calm. The baby and I were loaded into the ambulance (after some manuvering...we were still attached by umbilical cord) and were on our way to a different hospital. Rocky followed in the van (escorted by police).
 And that is the story of giving birth in our mini van. The only complication caused by this was slight. Because the umbilical cord wasn't clamped and cut right after, our baby had something called polycythemia. Luckily they caught it quickly and it was taken care of just by giving her formula (I was sad about this, but it was better than an IV and taking out blood and switching it with saline) to thin out the blood. I think the birth certificate is funny. For place it says "automobile". The location is the cross streets and the attendant (physician, mid-wife, etc...) is me!
 And here she is! This is our little one who made quite an entrance:

Aria Natalia Adams

 

6 lbs. 14 oz.

19 inches

 

Valentine's Day

Before I start on our Valentine's Day this year, here's some background on how we've spent other Valentine's Day. Before Melodie was born, Rocky and I would spend the evening together, but not go out much. It's too crowded and a lot of time prices go up. Not something I enjoy. Melodie's first Valentine's Day I set up the table so that in the morning there were surprises waiting for her. She didn't really know what was going on, but a tradition was born.

The next year I thought it would be fun to have a little get together (I refused to call them parties) so Melodie could celebrate with friends. Another tradition was born and lasted until Mel started school. This year (and the next Melodie also spent the night with her Nana Raggles and Auntie June where she decorated cookies and was generally spoiled.

In 2010 Valentine's Day was on a Sunday, so we had the get together the Saturday before and I found the cutest heart dress for her to wear to church. 2011 was the first year we didn't have a get together, but Melodie had a blast celebrating at preschool.

I also made these yummy flavored whipped cream filled strawberries. Rocky and Mel loved them. I really should make them again.

In 2012 I found another cute heart dress, so just for fun she wore it the Sunday before Valentine's Day. This year she was in kindergarten. The teachers had the parents make cards that they presented to each kid and then had a little party. She received a lot of Valentines!

 This year was a lot of the same in the morning. The table was set with little gifts, I put together a special lunch for Mel to take to school (only the Valentine's stuff is in the picture), and at school they had a party.

 

Aren't those flowers beautiful? They were from Rocky and Melodie (the chocolates are my gift every year from Rocky - he picks out my favorite See's candies).

 To change things up a little bit, I took Melodie to Knott's Berry Farm after school. She had fun at Camp Snoopy, but she had even more fun at night when we went with Rocky and she went on big rides that I couldn't take her on.

 

You'll have to wait for my next post to find out how our Valentine's Day ended. There was some excitement!