First Day of School

Today was a big day at the Crandall house because not only was it Reese's first day of 1st grade, but it was also Finn's first day of school ever!  He was so excited about going to school this year and has been talking about it non stop.  We got a letter a few weeks before school started telling us that his teacher was Ms.Katie and he's been talking about her every day and asking when he gets to go to school.  It was getting so bad that every time we left the house he would try to grab his bag because he thought he was going to school.

When I asked him what he wanted to be he replied "no" the first few times and I was having visions of him as a 30 year old still living at home, then he changed his answer to lion and I figured at least that was something.  Reese tried explaining to him that he couldn't be a lion, but he would just roar at her in an attempt to prove her wrong.  

He enjoyed his first day of school, but I think it was a bit tiring for him because he was a bit grumpy when I picked him up and ready to go home.  Once he snapped out of his mood and I got him to talk about school he was very excited again and told me about playing ring around the rosie and singing songs.

Reese was a bit jealous that Finn found out who his teacher was before her.  She was very excited to go to registration day last week to find out which class she would be in.  She's in Mrs.Sivley's class and I think it's going to be a good fit for her.  Reese was very excited about being in 1st grade because that means she's on the big playground and she doesn't have to have a bus sticker anymore.  I was a little shocked this morning when she told me that I could just drop her off at the curb if I wanted to, at this rate she'll be asking me to drop her off around the corner next year.  She's very eager to be independent, but she did allow me to walk her in to class and help her get her stuff settled. 

Little Pooper

It is a well known fact in our home that Sage must poop on every new outfit, to christen it I suppose.  Every single time she's worn something for the first time she has had a blow out.  She just likes things a lot better when they're covered in poop.  Today I was washing sheets so I pulled the sheet off her bed and but a brand new one on, not thinking that her love of pooping on new things extended to bedding.  I put her down for her nap and when she woke up I left her for a few minutes because I was helping Finn with a puzzle and she was happily talking to herself.  When I went in there and picked her up I discovered poop EVERYWHERE!!!  She had pooped out while lying on her back, then proceeded to roll over and scoot all around her bed smearing the poop all over the sheet, her stuffed animals, her clothes, everywhere except her face thank goodness.  Finn, being the clearly intelligent child that he is, informed me that Sage had pooped (thanks bud). While I was carrying the little pooper out to the changing pad (as far from my body as my arms would allow) Finn proceeded to inform me "poop, poop, poop, Sage pooped everywhere," and Sage smiled and kicked with glee at how funny she is for smearing poop all over herself.
I wish I had taken pictures, and actually thought about pausing to get the camera, but we already had such a big mess that I wasn't interested in allowing her to make it bigger while I took the time to document it.  

Sage Ireland Crandall

It's a new year and the last time I posted on my blog was a year ago when I made my resolution to be better about posting, it was my first failed resolution of 2013.  Many things were missed through 2013 that I wish I had posted about, but that's life.  Hopefully I'll be better this year, but before another day passed I wanted to document the birth story of Sage.  This blog is a journal of sorts for me and I don't want to forget the details of my last baby's birth.

Sage Ireland Crandall

11-9-2013

8 lbs 8.8 oz, 21.25 in long, 13.5 in head circumference

With this third and final pregnancy we had decided not to find out the gender of the baby.  There were times when I really really wanted to know, but overall it was exciting and I enjoyed hearing everyone's guesses and reasons behind them.  More people thought I was having a boy than a girl, but even though I flip flopped in the beginning and middle of the pregnancy I was pretty certain we were having a girl the last couple months.
Baby was measuring big from my first ultrasound, but my doctor said we would wait until the second one to decide whether or not we would change the due date.  At my second ultrasound I was measuring 8 days big but they don't change your due date unless it's a difference of 9 days or more.  I was pretty upset that they weren't changing my due date because they had me as the 20th and I was certain I should've been earlier from my calculations and they can't induce you more than 1 week early.  I was convinced I'd be having another 10 lber like Finn if I had to wait until my due date.  Since I was so worried the doctor gave me another ultrasound at 35 weeks which showed the baby to be in the 60th percentile, except the doctor who did the ultrasound HAD changed my due date to the week earlier so I was in the 60th percentile for a different due date than my doctor was basing me on.  Once I pointed this out to my doctor he looked through all the info again and finally changed my due date to Nov 12th which meant I could be induced as early as the 5th.  Since my mom was arriving in town late on the 7th and I would go in to the hospital the evening before my induction we opted to start the induction on the 9th.
All through the weeks prior to her birth I had been having lots of contractions and thought for sure that this would be my first time actually going in to labor on my own, but at every check I was still not dilated which was disheartening considering all the discomfort I was having.  At my last doctor appt I was finally a 1 but my Dr decided we should go ahead with the plan to go in the night before to start the cervadil since my previous inductions were so slow.  So Nate and I went to the hospital at 6pm on Nov 8th and got checked in and settled in a room.  The nurse put me on the monitor and checked me and I was still a 1 but I was finally vindicated because the monitors were showing my contractions and I was actually in labor (which was the good news) but since I was in labor I didn't need the cervadil so we just had to wait until the next morning to start the pitocin.
Since Nate was planning on staying the night with me and there was no one else in the delivery area, they moved us to a nicer room that had a pull out couch for him to sleep on and a giant jacuzzi tub that I got to relax in.  After a nice long bath they gave me a sleeping pill and it was actually a relaxing night, especially considering we were in a hospital.  They woke me up around 5am and checked me and I was at a 1 and a half, so hardly any progress considering I was having pretty regular contractions.  They started the pitocin and then checked me a few hours later and I was only a 2 so the doctor came in around 9:30 and broke my water, which was extremely painful.  He told me to make sure I didn't wait too long to ask for an epidural because the pain would become pretty intense.  I had been doing so well even with the pitocin up to that point that I figured I could handle it for a little while longer.  I made it til 10am when I figured I shouldn't wait any longer.  The period of time I spent waiting for the anesthesiologist was excruciating, it felt like she was trying to claw her way out of my abdomen.  He came in at 1030 and I think he was done around 1045; that epidural was the best feeling ever, to have that intense pain melt away.  They checked me when he was done and I was at an 8, I had progressed a lot in the short amount of time since my water had broken.  I spent the next little bit relaxing and when the nurses came back in to check me a short time later I was at a 10 so they called for the doctor and started getting me prepped to push.  It only took a couple pushes to get her crowning at which point the nurse asked me if all my kids were born with blond hair.  Once her head was out the doctor had me stop because the cord was wrapped around her neck three times and while it wasn't tight on her it was too tight for him to just loop it off so he had to cut the cord right then.  I had told the doctor and nurses that I didn't want them to tell me the baby's gender, that I just wanted them to hand her/him to me so I could see for myself since I had waited so long to know.  So after my last push the doctor immediately lifted her in to the air and asked me what I had had.  I then announced (even though everyone else had already seen) that she was a girl and they laid her on my chest and started cleaning her off.  In that moment the entire delivery was a success in my mind because not only was she here safely but I had gotten the two things I had asked for 1. to not have anyone tell me the gender and 2. to have her immediately placed in my arms.

After I held her for a little while the nurses took her over to weigh and measure her while the doctor finished with me.  The doctor commented that it was a good thing they had changed my due date and induced me early since she was so big, but to Nate and I she appeared so small.  She was born at 11:38am weighing 8 lbs 8.8 oz, her head was 13.5 in and she was 21.25 in long.  They got her cleaned up and then let Nate and I have time alone with her to feed her and just spend a little time alone with her new little girl.  We had had a girl name picked out already so we didn't have to wait to give her her name.

After a little while the nurse took Sage and Nate to the nursery so she could have her first bath and do whatever else they do, I wasn't really paying attention at this point, while the nurses got me to my room.  We called family and let them know that the baby had arrived but we had already decided that we wouldn't be revealing the gender or name until after the kids had come to the hospital to see her, we thought they should be the first.  We had told my mom it would probably  be about an hour before they could come down when we had called the first time and she told us Reese was itching to get down to the hospital to see if she had a brother or a sister.  When they called back we said to go ahead and head down and I told Nate to go check on Sage.  I believe it was around 2pm when they finally got to the hospital and Sage had only gotten to our room just a few minutes prior so we didn't get a chance to put her in her little sister shirt to reveal her like we had intended too, but the kids didn't mind.  Reese was beyond excited to have a little sister, it was what she had wanted.  Finn gave her a few minutes of his time and then proceeded to play games on the tablet in true Finn fashion.
And that is the story of Sage's birth

  

Random Happenings in January

Life has been nice and calm for the last little bit and that's the way we like it.  The weather finally turned slightly colder a few days ago, we're talking 60s instead of 70s, but it at least means that we don't need to run the air conditioner and it even feels good to wear a sweatshirt in the morning so I'm enjoying it.  We've also settled in to a routine and it seems like things are getting done around the house without me having to nag.  Overall it's just nice to have some uneventful times.

Even though life is uneventful the kids still fill it with hilarious moments.  The other day Finn and I were playing Legos and I got up to get something and got distracted talking to Nate and he came running in to the kitchen where we were sitting and grabbed my arm and dragged me back to the Legos.  It was really cute and though I felt a little bad for having forgotten that we were playing in the first place, it made me really happy to see how much he wanted me there playing with him.
Things with him in the toddler bed got rough for a couple days but that's starting to calm down as well.  He did so well for the first week and then Reese got him out of bed one evening and brought him to me saying he needed something and that was all it took for him to realize that he could crawl out of bed whenever he wanted.  The next two days were rough and I had to take him back to bed numerous times but he was better last night so hopefully he's starting to realize that he'll just get walked back to bed and it will lose it's excitement.  Oh there was also the morning that we woke up and found him on our bedroom floor playing with the kindle....we've got a baby gate across the hallway now so he can't leave when he wakes up.
Other things we've done over the last week or so have been making donuts on our Monday baking day,  they were a big hit, and Reese's ponies have been catching rides in Finn's big rig that is then being pulled by a pony....that's an almost daily occurrence.

And we've been watching football!  Nate's been trying his best to convince either of the kids to be Packer fans but Reese constantly referred to them as the Boo Packers and Finn wears his 49er jersey from Nana and Papa with pride.  Nate and Reese actually made a bet early in the season that whichever team made it the furthest the loser would have to buy ice cream so the playoff game between the Niners and the Packers was an exciting one for us.  Reese was excited to find out that she was getting ice cream and they turned it in to a daddy-daughter date one day after school.  Now she's excited for her 49ers to play the "birds" in the Superbowl.  Also, Finners is too cute in his football jersey.

Sweet, Funny, Reese

We had a great day today which was especially nice since Sunday is the start of Nate's work week and between the kids and I having church in the morning and him being gone by the time we get home, they don't get to see much of him.  Today we had a very relaxing afternoon where everyone was pretty much doing their own thing until I called the kids to dinner.  As soon as Reese walked in the kitchen she had her whiney face on and was asking me what we were having and telling me how she doesn't like it even though we've never had it before.  It should be noted that Reese loves pasta and hates meat, everything else falls somewhere in the middle and she could like it one day and hate it the next.  So she was complaining about how she was so hungry and I didn't make food she liked and I gave her our go to answer of you can either quite whining and join us at the table or go to your room.  During the prayer I made sure to pray that this "yummy food" would fill our "hungry bellies" and after the prayer was over Reese looked up and with a very dejected look on her face said "Heavenly Father was supposed to turn this food in to pasta."  It was hilarious.

On a completely separate note, at the start of the new year I made a new policy that 7pm was clean up time and anyone that didn't want to clean up could choose to go straight to bed.  I was feeling like the playroom was always dirty and it would be kind of huge deal for me to go through and pick everything up and make sure everything went in the right place.  The first few days Reese would mill about slowly and really take some prodding to help out, but as the first few days past she learned how quickly it went with all of us working together.  Finn did pretty well with it from the start, he needed a little bit of direction with what to do but even he has gotten better each day and now knows where most things go without being told.  It's been such a great change for us because every morning the playroom is clean and the kids have even begun to clean up after themselves when they're done playing with something because they know they'll be cleaning it up later anyways.  Well tonight around 6:30 or so Reese tells me that she and Finn are going to start cleaning up and have it all clean before 7.  I honestly didn't give it much thought and figured I'd just let them do their thing.  Well Reese directed Finn around and together they got the playroom picked up without my help and then moved on to the bookshelf and Reese had Finn wander around picking up all the books and bringing them to her while she put them on the shelves.  When she told me they were done I was so proud to find out that they really had cleaned everything up.  She's such a sweet girl and it was such a nice end to a nice day.

I Might Be Crazy

This week was so pleasant that I told Nate I wish every week could be just like this one, though I know they can't.  Nate usually works the swing shift but he had some training to do this week so he was working days and Reese's Christmas break was over so she went back to school on Tuesday so it was just Finn and I in the mornings.  I have missed having that one on one time with Finn and it was so much fun to have it just be the two of us and to get to interact with him without distractions.  It was only two days that it we were alone for the morning but we enjoyed snuggling on the couch reading books, playing with his superheros, and he liked helping me with the laundry.  

He seems like he's just in developmental overload lately using new words everyday and overall just learning to communicate better with us.  We've been trying to get him to say "please" for awhile now, and this morning he wanted my pen and I told him no and then he said "peas" so of course I gave it to him.  Then later he was pointing at the counter and whining so I asked him what he wanted and he said "cookie" and I looked at him for a moment and then he said "peas", so of course he got a cookie.  I'm just glad that he's finally starting to understand that he needs to use his words instead of whimpering all the time. 

And now for why I just might be crazy.  Nate and I have been planning to take Finn out of his crib on his second birthday, that's when we switched Reese to a toddler bed so we were planning to do the same for Finn.  Then I was speaking to my mom and discussing plans for our trip out to visit them in a few weeks and we got to talking about how they didn't have a crib for Finn anymore, since he's much too large for the pack n play, so they were just going to have to put him in a regular bed.  Nate and I talked about it and decided that it would be easier if he just transitioned him to the toddler bed a little bit early so that I wouldn't have to worry about it while we were on vacation.  So, tonight we made a big deal about taking the side off his crib and putting the little toddler railing on.  He was so excited and thought it was super cool that he and Reese could climb in and out of his bed.  Luckily it's still a little difficult for him to climb out because of the way the little railing is, so it takes a little effort on his part.  We were worried about how the first night would go, but he was fine and went right to sleep without crawling out.  When we switched Reese it took her awhile to become proficient at getting in and out so by the time she had mastered it she was used to the new bed and didn't climb out at bedtime, I'm hoping that it will be a similar situation with Finn.  Reese was even kind enough to give him her little bird pillow that her animals use until we can get a pillow for him, she's so sweet.

I love the cute little look he's giving me in this photo

Disney World Just Because We Can!

Since we are SOOO close to Disney World, we decided to go ahead and get annual passes since we were already expecting a few visitors who would want to go and the idea of being able to head over to the happiest place on earth whenever I wanted sounded too good to pass up.  We got our passes when we went for our 5 day trip for my 30th birthday (which I will hopefully get around to back posting about in a few days) and I was eager to go back just for the heck of it.  I had heard that January would be a really slow time and even though we were there less than a month ago I told Reese that we would go during her Christmas break.  Today was her last day of vacation so I loaded the kids up and we headed off to Orlando this morning.  I have to admit that I was a little nervous taking the two of them by myself, I've done a lot of traveling by myself with the kids but theme parks are crowded and I was a little concerned that a lot of my time would be spent keeping track of them.  Luckily it went very smoothly and we had a lot of fun.

We left our house around 8:30 and got to the park at 9:30.  We didn't have to park very far away so we just walked to the monorail instead of breaking down the stroller to take the parking tram.  I was a little surprised how busy it still was when we got the gates of the Magic Kingdom, I had figured that since the park opened at 9 most of the traffic would've already been in.  It really wasn't that busy of a day but I had been expecting it to be a little less crowded than it was.  I didn't really have any plans for what we would do, I figured that since it was just the three of us I'd let Reese run the show and do what she wanted.  Nate has more issues with standing in lines than I do (especially when it comes to character meets) so I didn't care that we didn't have a plan.  

We went back to Fantasyland and she said she wanted to ride Peter Pan first so I grabbed some Fastpasses for the Little Mermaid ride and then we got in line for Peter Pan.  The line was already about 30 mins long, which is actually pretty good for Peter Pan, but after we got in line a man asked us if we'd like some fastpasses for it because they weren't using all of theirs..SCORE!  It was such a great start to the day to just step right on.  After that we went on It's a Small World which is Finn's favorite ride.  He's probably going to think we're lying about this when he's older, but he absolutely loves It's a Small World.  He gets so excited and animated about seeing the little animals and he really dislikes a lot of the other rides because they're dark and he gets really upset when we go on a ride that's in the dark. We went on a few more rides and then had our lunch while Reese and I discussed what she wanted to do next.  She was eager to meet some of the characters because we hadn't done much of that on our last trip so she chose to meet Minnie and Daisy (which was the longest line we waited in all day) and then we used the Fastpasses we hadn't gotten for Dumbo and we were glad we had because it was a 75 minute wait when we went to use them which is insane. 

By this time it was after Finn's normal naptime and he was starting to drift, which would mean no more rides, so we jumped on the Tea Cups real fast since Reese was so eager to ride them and they both loved spinning around so I was glad we did.  Then we went over to watch the stage show in front of the castle.  I had it all planned out and we had the perfect seats to watch the show and then we'd just turn around and a few minutes later it would be time for the parade.  Unfortunately, the sang one song for the show and then it was drizzling so they cancelled it which Reese was a little upset about but she handled it well and asked to go on one more ride.  She wanted to ride Pirates of the Caribbean, which Finn hates because of that whole dark thing, but I thought since he was asleep I might be able to carry him on no big deal.  That plan was a fail because he woke up while we were in line and was super happy but then got mad as soon as the ride started.  I'm hoping he gets over his aversion to rides in the dark soon, he's not afraid of the dark any other time.  We got off the ride just in time to walk over to the parade and watch it, which made Reese really happy, and then we headed for the exit around 3:30.

It was a good quick day and I was glad we did it.  It was nice to go to Disney World without feeling rushed to fit everything in to a certain amount of time, we just did what we wanted, went slow and had fun.  There will be a lot of Disney "just because" trips this year and I hope they all go as smoothly as this one did.

 Riding It's a Small World....sooo happy

 

Swing Set

Day 2 of the swing set installation was a lot harder than we were expecting.  We had to anchor it in the ground which first involved finding anchors and then involved a lot of work on Nate's part trying to get them in and make everything work.  The kids were helping me with some yardwork while Nate was doing that and I don't know what it is about boys but holy cow Finn manages to get a million times dirtier than Reese does and I'm convinced it has nothing to do with him being younger.  I was raking and they wanted to put my piles in our leaf box and Reese ended up with some dirty hands but Finn ended up COVERED in dirt, he had dirt down his shirt, and he even took his shoes off and was walking around barefoot getting extra dirty.  It was cute though to watch him "help" and it was nice to actually have Reese's help.  

After the kids and I had had enough of cleaning up, and Nate was still trying to anchor the swing set and getting angrier by the minute, I took them inside for a bath in the hopes that some silence outside would help Nate work.  A little while later he had finished and since we'd assembled all the swinging pieces the night before it was quick and painless to put them on the frame real fast and the kids were ready to play.  Finn loves the slide except he loves to walk up it and then sit at the top laughing until he realizes he can't get turned around to slide back down.  Reese like the horse and the seesaw, which we didn't put on until the following day, and she's also getting better at pumping her legs so she can swing by herself.  Personally I'm a fan of the flying saucer, I could easily waste an afternoon rocking away in the warm weather.  I'm so glad we have the swing set for the kids, I have fond childhood memories of the swing set we had in our backyard growing up and I hope this one gets as much use as ours did.  We the constant sunshine and warm weather we seem to have here I'm sure it'll get plenty of use.

January 4th

For Christmas my aunt and grandma bought the kids a swing set for our backyard.  We've been excitedly awaiting it's arrival and we finally got the email today that it was ready for us to pick up.  We had been out back trimming the trees in preparation for it so while Nate was at the store picking it up the kids helped me clear out the last of the branches.  We weren't able to get the frame put up outside since the weather was gloomy and looked like rain, so Nate and I spent the evening indoors assembling the various parts.  Tomorrow we'll just have to assemble the frame and hook everything on to it and we'll be good to go.  The funny thing is that online it said that the set up time was about 2 hours and Nate and I spent more than that assembling the slide, swings, rocking horse, and flying disc.