Pryce's Birthday party

A few weeks ago we made a sudden trip to Florence for my Uncle Eddie's funeral. Before we came home on Sunday, we went to our cousin's birthday party! Pryce had a Hawaiin luau party, with a big water slide/bouncy house thingy. Make sense? Drake enjoyed bouncing on the bottom part of it, but cried his little eyes out when his cousin took him down the slide. It was unbelievably HOT outside, so Eli stayed inside.

He's so darn skinny, that even the 12 month size swim shorts ride up.
I tried to tell Eric that Drake's short were around his neck;-)
Aunt Amber held the snugglebug!

A few pics

Yes, I know. It's lacking here on the blog these days. I don't have time to take pics, much less post them and blog about them. However, here are a few pictures to tide you two faithful followers over. (AKA grandmothers).

Thank You Rixa, for an honest look at birth trauma

So, I've had two amazing births. They were hard, but amazing. I was lucky enough to have everything go as planned. Well, kinda. There is the little issue of my husband not making it to Drake's birth. But I got the natural births I wanted. I was completely present, mentally and physically. It was just how I wanted. But I realize and acknowledge that I am one of the lucky ones.

There are so many women who prepare just as much as I did, and labor much harder than I did, only to end up with a traumatic birth. By traumatic, I'm not referring to just a C/S. I'm referring to traumatic as anything a Momma deems it to be. If they feel traumatized by it, then it is so. It's no one else's place to judge. I really do think women get PTSD from a bad birth experience. Not every woman with a poor experience feels that traumatized, but we should respect those that do.

What makes me really, really sad, is a Momma who is traumatized--only to be told it doesn't matter because her baby is healthy. It DOES matter. It's a fabulous and amazing thing that the baby and Mom are healthy. But for some people, the birth DOES matter.

Rixa is a woman I'd totally be friends with in real life, if we lived near each other. I swear she somehow enters my mind and writes my thoughts. One of her recent posts almost had me cheering out loud in my family room. I wanted to yell "You go girl!!! You tell them!!!" I don't even know who 'them' is, but I just loved her blog post titled "All That Matters".

Here is a link to it!

So, if you know anything about me at all, you know I fall in the Enya camp. Ya know, I did actually have quite a few Enya songs on my labor playlist. In any case, the her blog post will make me think twice before I ever tell another woman "Well he/she is here and healthy, and that's all that matters". From now on I think I'll be saying something along the lines of "I'm so happy you and baby are healthy and doing well. But I'm so sorry you didn't get the birth experience you wanted. I'm here if you ever want to talk about it.".

A few changes

Hi! Long time no blog! My super busy life and incredibly adorable children have me occupied! I did take a few minutes while Drake, Eli, Eric, and even the two dogs are napping, to make a few blog changes.

You'll see I've added Kelle Hampton's blog, Enjoying the Small Things. I've posted here before about her blog, and I read it religiously!

I've also added one by some chick named Candice, who always has me laughing so hard I cry. Beware her language is incredibly foul, but I think it just makes it funnier!

I've also added Science and Sensibility, a blog backed by current research. It's written by Lamaze International. LOVE it!

And last but not least, I've added one by RixaRixa, called Stand and Deliver. I find a lot of what she writes about totally fascinating. As a matter of fact, I'd love to link and discuss one of her recent posts about birth trauma. It was an amazing read!

You'll see below I've posted a couple of videos that I've recently found entertaining. They both are about anesthesia stuff, so maybe they'll give you a little insight into my adult life outside of my children. That's right, I do have a life. Ha! It may consist of unconscious folks, but that's okay!

Another hilarious video

So funny, but this is the kinda crap we put up with at work....

...Click here!

Anaesthetists Hymn

Hilarious! This video makes fun of people who think we just sit and chill (or read the paper while drinking coffee), while the patient is asleep. That's all so far from the truth.

Swim Lessons

Today was Drake's first swim lesson. And it was SO cute! Like gymnastics, we do it more for the quality time than the skill. The morning was a struggle around here, to get to swim lesson by 11. Eric was at work, so I was flying solo. Drake skipped his morning nap, b/c we had to leave by 1o in order to stop and buy some "little swimmer's" pull ups for the pool. The Y requires THREE layers on the non potty trained kids. A disposable, a rubber training cover, and a swim suit. We were good on the first two, but not the sposie. And I'll freely admit I was a little sick to my stomach putting it on him. Yuck...all that plastic and all those chemicals. I can only imagine the nastiness in it.

There are only 4 kids in his class, and one didn't show up. I love that it's so small! They use songs and motions, and nursery rhymes to teach them things. The teacher is so creative, and it was a ton of fun! His favorite part was the end, where she turned the water on for the slide, and let them slide off the end of it. Big grins for that one!

Despite the craziness of the morning, and the struggles of getting both kids into the Y, it was all worth it for some Drakey smiles and giggles. Eli went to child watch, where he slept and hung out in the swing for an hour. I was happy he didn't give them a hard time:-)

I really enjoy doing fun and educational things with Drake. I love seeing him have fun and enjoy himself, all while getting some quality time with Mommy. I can't wait until Eli can join us doing fun stuff like this! In the meantime though, Eli is amazingly happy and content just to nurse all the time:-)