Tuesday, November 19, 2013

6 week update

My baby is 6 weeks old.

I don't know how it happened, but she's not a new born anymore.
We're still trying to adjust to life and figure out our new normal.

  • 10.4 pounds (75th percentile)
  • starting to like the passy - but struggles to keep it in
  • eats every 2-3 hours 
  • spits up a lot
  • likes blankets/hands/a body up against her face
  • starting to smile!
  • starting to talk - her cooing melts my heart!
  • tracks us with her eyes
  • likes looking at lights

Gwen and Edie getting some rays.

I love, love, love these little furry shoulders.
 The kids have been fantastically helpful.
They just adore their little sister.


fuzzy head


And let me tell you how much I love Ryan loving his little girl!
He's been such a sweet heart to me, and is such a helper.  But he is just head over heels for this baby.  
 Ryan's always been a softie for babies.  When he sees babies, he likes to go up to them and admire their sweetness.  I think I took it for granted.  But when I was volunteering at Ironman, and was wearing Edie, a man came up and was cooing at her, and when he left, the ladies around me started talking about how cute that was.  They were saying how rare it is to find a guy that really likes babies.  Really?  Ryan LOVES babies, and especially our little ones.  I love it.  I'm so lucky.

In other Edie news, she hasn't pooped in 5 days!  Since this...

I looked it up online before making a Dr. appointment.  But apparently it's normal for exclusively breastfed babies.  I don't remember if Gwen or Drake did this.  But since babies bodies digest breast milk so efficiently, they don't have to poop a ton/often.  This is a change from her newborn weeks when she was pooping several times a day.  But it warns that when she does poop, it'll be a lot.  That picture above was after not pooping for two and a half days.  I'm scared for her next poo...

We're working on getting her on a schedule, and sleeping in her crib.  She takes at least one nap a day in her crib, and sleeps most of the night in her crib.  And last night she had her longest stretch between feedings - 6 HOURS!!  But I didn't sleep that long.  I woke up automatically for our 2 am feeding, but she was still asleep.  I think I woke up every twenty minutes after that making sure she was in fact still sleeping.  She didn't wake up until 3:40!  Crossing my fingers this happens again tonight!


Thursday, November 14, 2013

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream cheese Frosting

I will get around to posting about life in our family of FIVE soon, but for now, here is a Pinterest recipe I tried out and modified just a bit.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream cheese Frosting!


Cupcakes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (ground)
1/8 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil
2 large eggs

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
12 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 8oz package cream cheese, room temperature
3 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Mixing the cupcakes is easy, put your wets in a mixer and mix 'em up.  Then sift your dry stuff together.  Then slowly stir the dry stuff in until well incorporated.  Bake in cupcake cups at 350ยบ for 15 minutes.

For the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese first!  Then add the sugar before the wets.  Uh-mazing!!!

Use the extra frosting to eat by the spoonful or spread on graham crackers.  In secret of course.  Because you don't want to have to share your frosting with anyone!

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Eden McPhie

It's hard to believe it was over a week ago that I had Eden.  Time is just going too fast while I'm trying to soak up every single new-born moment with her.  She is just so precious, I can't stand it!
But I know I've got to get this written down before I forget more of the little details.

There was a lot of uncertainty going into this labor.  All of it revolving around Drake being shoulder dystocia (he got stuck coming out), and my chances of having another baby get stuck were much higher.  I figured that as long as I don't go 2 weeks over my due date (like Drake) then my baby wouldn't get too big and would come out just fine.  So I didn't schedule a planned c-section, and didn't want to schedule an induction either.  I wanted it to happen naturally, when my baby was ready, and my body was ripe.  But this isn't to say that I wasn't doing things to help it happen.  Like the miles and miles that Ryan and I would walk together every night.  I loved these walks!  The weather was finally cooling off at night, and I loved the time we got to spend together and the talks we had.
40 weeks - 4 days before she was born
I had had plenty of contractions.  The Friday and Saturday before I had her, I woke up very early in the morning with contractions that I'd time, but after a few hours, they'd die off.  So when I woke up at two in the morning on Tuesday with contractions, I ignored them at first and tried to sleep.  But it didn't take long for me to realize that they were strong and consistent.  So I got up and started timing them with my sweet contraction timing app.
 I hopped in the tub, turned on my relaxing music, and breathed my way through my contractions.  I thought this could be it, but if it was, labor would be hours long, so I might as well let Ryan sleep while I was progressing through the early stages of labor.  Ryan's mom was in town and would be able to stay with the kids, and I was thinking we could wait for the kids to wake up, kiss them good bye and then head to the hospital.

At 3:45 Ryan woke up (I guess because he could hear me), and came and asked me if I was okay.  I was in the middle of a contraction, and when I realized I couldn't answer him because I was focusing on my visualization/breathing, I first realized that things might be serious.  He then suggested we go to the hospital, and my initial thought was not yet, we'll have hours, but then I started shaking.  I got the shakes when I was in transition with Gwen and Drake, so I changed my mind, and agreed we should go.  That's when I tried getting out of the tub during a contraction and dropped my phone (that I took the insurance off of!) in the bathtub!!!  Crud!  I wasn't going to be able to text people, or take pictures.  Argh!!

So Ryan began running around the house getting everything together we would need, putting my phone in rice, and letting his mom know we'd be heading to the hospital.  I was trying to go to the bathroom and get dressed in between contractions.  When we finally headed to the car, contractions had gotten so strong that I would have to put my arms around Ryan's neck and almost hang on him while I was trying to let my body surrender to the shuddering.

Once we were in the car, things were even more intense.  Ryan drove like a mad man, and we made it to the hospital (in Phoenix) in only 22 minutes.  I was trying to find a comfortable position to sit in, which was impossible since I didn't want to sit.  There was just so much pressure in my bum.  I had my eyes closed and was trying desperately to keep my body under control and to relax.

We got to the hospital at about 4:35, and it took longer than we planned to get to the front door, get a wheel chair and passed security and up to labor and delivery.  When we finally got there, we went to check in, and again, I found that I couldn't really talk through my contraction when they began asking me questions.  They realized that things were intense and got me into a triage room.  They asked for a urine sample, and I just dropped trou and went into the bathroom, where it wouldn't happen.  But on my second contraction in there, I felt my body starting to contract/push down.  I abandoned the urine efforts, and went and climbed onto the bed so the midwife could check me.  Again, I couldn't imagine getting on my bum, so I laid on my side, and was just gripping the railing on the bed, and was apparently chanting "relax, relax" over and over.  The midwife checked me and said, "oh, she's at a ten, and there's a bulging bag of water, we may have this baby right here!"  I asked then if I could get in the tub, and she chuckled and said that we were probably too late for that.  And poor Ryan was there trying to rub/tickle my back or do anything to try to help.

On the next contraction, again my body pushed down hard, and just like a huge water balloon popping, my water broke with such force that it made kind of a popping sound.  That's when they decided to wheel the bed into a delivery room, and I was still just gripping the rails of the bed, eyes closed, trying to surrender to the convulsions happening to me.

By the time we got into the delivery room, it was about 5:05, and they asked me to crawl over to the delivery bed.  I opened my eyes for the first time in what felt like forever, and tried to crawl over.  But it hurt so bad.  I labored with Drake mostly on my hands and knees, and imagined that's how I would this time too, but the pain in my pelvis wouldn't allow that.  I just couldn't figure out how to get comfortable.  The pressure in my bum wouldn't allow me to sit or lay back, and I was desperate to find a way that I could just try to relax.  So the midwife got out the birthing bar and attached it to the bed, and finally I could just hang on the bar, and the midwife held up my thighs for me to squat down, fully supported, and I could handle it.

Again, my contractions were so strong, I could feel my body squeezing down, without me having to actually push.  I was just trying to breathe my way through them (when I say breathe, it means moo/moan through the contractions), and let my body just do what it needed to do.  Ryan was there putting wet washcloths on my neck and forehead since I was soo hot!  I kept reaching down to feel how close the baby was, and on the next contraction, I felt the burning of her crowning.  The next contraction, her head was out, and shortly after was the next contraction that pushed out her body, and I was able to catch her and pull her warm little body up onto my chest.  This moment was pure joy as I cradled this sweet little baby up on me, and I was still in only my tank top I had worn to the hospital, no time to even put on a hospital  gown.  It was a few seconds later that I realized we hadn't even checked to see what the baby was, and we moved the cord out of the way to find out that we had a baby girl.  After the cord had stopped pulsing, Ryan was able to cut it.  She was born at 5:22, 50 minutes after arriving at the hospital.  It was fast,

The next couple hours were some of the best in my life.  Ryan and I just sat in the room alone with our new baby girl, and cuddled her, stared at her, took pictures of her, and breathed in all her new born baby smells.  (Besides the midwife coming in an hour after she was born to fill out the admittance paperwork!)  It was heavenly having these quiet moments, just the three of us, with this squishy, warm, naked little baby girl.  We were in love!
Excuse all the blurry cell phone pics

Daddy is so in love with this little girl!



Ryan eventually took her to be bathed and weighed, etc.  She was 7 pounds, 11 ounces; and 20.5 inches long.  Practically perfect.

The rest of the day was nice and relaxing.  Family came to see our baby girl, and we debated over what to name her.  Gwen and Drake were smitten with their little sister.

first sibling picture

Early the next morning, we started packing up, getting ready for discharge, and just before leaving, we filled out the paperwork for her name.  After narrowing it down to two good choices, we felt good about naming our sweet baby girl Eden McPhie.  
Eden McPhie



Friday, September 27, 2013

sewing room

The third car garage of our house had been converted into a work room of sorts by the previous owners.  We thought it was a meth lab.  It had special ventilation, all sorts of pipes and computer-monitored mixing systems, and water filter systems, plus it smelled really weird.  I'm sure it was all the Breaking Bad watching we had been doing, but we worried it was a meth lab.  Turns out it was a dark room.  The previous owner was a photographer.  Oh.


Anyway, the "meth lab" became our dumping room.  It held all the boxes and things we didn't want to deal with when we moved in.  It was nasty.  

Fast forward to school being over, me being 8.5 months pregnant, and I wanted to start sewing.  I love to sew!  My poor sewing machine had been packed away forever, and I was ready to get it out.  Babies were coming, and I needed to get creating!  The only problem was, was I needed a space to do it.  Enter nasty meth lab.  

I wish I got a true before with all the boxes and junk still in this little room. 
 But let me tell you, this room was DIRTY!  The matte black walls were just covered in dust of some sort.  
 So these pictures are after I've already cleared out the room and started painting those lower cabinets.  I promise, it already looks 58x better.  

And after:
 I still need to get a real table to sew on since this card table shakes every time I start up my machine, but hey, it's a surface!  
Bernina love!
 And I want to paint the floor...
 and still need to take care of the lower wall area, but I can sew!!

I made these shoes and onesies for Tara's baby.
 And these gender neutralish wannabe Vans for our baby.  
I love my meth lab-turned sewing room!

Monday, September 23, 2013

men love power tools

This is a sad story.
We have a huge tree in the front yard, and I LOVE it!
It is one of the reasons I really loved this house when we were looking for houses.
But the HOA apparently doesn't love it.
Because it hangs over the road.
Give me a break!

So we got some tree trimming quotes.
$500.
Seriously!?  To trim a tree?!!?
So Ryan set out to do it himself.  He shimmied up the tree, tied him and the chainsaw to a branch, and tried to cut off some branches.  
But it was hot, and he was really high, and next thing I know, he almost passes out.
willow before
 So instead of passing out and falling out of a tree, Ryan got a bucket truck.
Exhibit A: Ryan in bucket truck
 This handy bucket truck Ryan could control from the bucket and raise himself to wherever he needed to be to cut the poor tree limbs.  
Exhibit B: Ryan about to cut tree limb
 Ryan was out there for 5 hours cutting this thing!
Because once he got the limbs down, he needed to cut and pile those so the city pick-up would come and get the branches.
 Oh, and I was in the house, doing my Saturday chores, and Ryan kept having me come outside to see what I thought about what branch to cut, bring him water, etc.  The funny thing is, is I was wearing this:
for your viewing pleasure
 You see, I have some pretty funny girlfriends who gave me a birthing baby gift.  It included  things like stool softeners, hemorrhoid cream, nipple cream, etc.; and this lovely little number.  They may have thought this gorgeous pink cherry nightgown was a joke, but once I tried it on, it was no joke!  I was wearing it all day on the tree trimming day.  So each time I went outside to observe/help Ryan, at least one neighbor would catch  me in this.  
Fortunately my neighbors are awesome, and they'd say it was cute (lie), or say "you're 9 months pregnant, wear whatever you want!" (truth).  
I love this nightgown.

And that's the story about how Ryan appeased the HOA, and saved us $500, and I gave my neighbors something to laugh about.  
Willow after.
Ryan rules.

Monday, September 16, 2013

babies are coming... 37 weeks

My sister, Tara, and I had our boys on the same day 7 years ago.  Since then, she had two more, and we thought our baby years were behind us.  So it was a super surprise when we found out that we were pregnant together again, our estimated due dates only three days apart!

She's having a girl, we're having a surprise!  I wanted to be surprised with Gwen and Drake, but Ryan wanted to know, so I agreed.  This time, I'm taking the reigns.  This might be our last baby, so why not do it the way I want to?  Luckily, Ryan eventually got on board and is down for a surprise.

Anyhow, Tara needed a last trip before the baby comes.  We try to have a mom/sisters trip every summer, but that stupid bar got in the way.  So we planned a last minute one, right before these bellies burst.

While it was not well documented with pictures, we had a ton of fun.  Pool, pedis, eating, talking, laughing... all things a girls weekend should be.

Tara's baby is going to be like 10 pounds!!
Now, because her baby is gigantic, she's scheduled to be induced on Friday.  I don't think I'll be going that early, so our babies won't share a birthday again.  :(

But let me tell you about my Drakey boy.  He is the sweetest thing.  He loves this baby so much, and he insists on taking care of me.  If I need to pick up anything, he says, "no mom, let me get that, you're pregnant".  If I need something from upstairs, he says, "I'll get it for you mom, you're pregnant".  He's my water boy, always refilling my water cup, and he's always wanting to touch and kiss my belly, and talks to the baby.  I love it.  
36 weeks
 A week ago, it was raining really hard here.  (it was awesome!!)  Well I was on my way to go get a facial my girlfriends gave me for graduation, and was going down the stairs to the girl's studio, when I slipped and fell down a few stairs.  It was scary, but more embarrassing since she heard me.  Anyway, since then, Drake reminds me before he goes to school each day to "wear your belly band, and hold on to the hand rails when you're going down stairs."  What a sweet heart.

Also... nesting.  This baby doesn't have any clothes yet.  I have three onesies, that need to be washed, no blankets, burp cloths, bottles, stroller, etc.  I started to panic the other day, and decided that maybe we should do a shower before the baby comes.  We were going to wait until after the birth so we know if it's a boy or girl, but we'll go ahead anyway.
But I do have a cute crib my friend Jen gave me, and I did buy and wash the crib sheet!  See, I'm getting ready.  ;)

 And here I am.  37 weeks pregnant.  Full term.  And I promise, I do put on clothes and make up most days.  But apparently I don't take pictures on those days to prove it.  
You can see that the baby's dropped.  Which means I have more room to eat more!  But I do pee about every 14 minutes.
37 weeks
I have a good friend who's been doing a weekly update on her blog about her pregnancy.  It's so cute, and now I wish I had been more diligent about documenting this.  I was fine doing without taking belly pictures, until I was looking for pictures of me pregnant with Gwen and Drake, and only found one picture of my belly with Gwen, and none with Drake!  So even though I feel extremely unattractive, I will take some pictures anyway so when I look for pregnant pictures in 7 or 17 years, I will have some.  

And still, just about everyday, Ryan and I will look at each other and say, "I can't believe we're having a baby!"  Still shocking.  Still exciting.  Can't wait to meet this baby!


Thursday, August 29, 2013

pinterest reviews

I love being home during the day so much!
One of the bonuses of not being at school all day is that I get to actually make things that I pin on Pinterest.  So here are some of the things I've made lately:

Oatmeal Cream Pies:
I seriously love those cheap little cookies that you can buy in the store.  But then again, I have a weakness for oatmeal cookies, especially if I don't have to pick out any raisins or chocolate chips.  So I made these:
 The cookie dough was phenomenal!  Too bad I don't photgraph them as well as the original pinner does.  But they were good.  It was nice to get to use my double boiler to make the filling (since I feel guilty having kitchen products take up space if they don't get used often), and the filling was very similar to the Little Debbie cookies, but I think I'd prefer something with butter and/or cream cheese in the middle if I'm going to be making them.  I'll try that next time.

Oatmeal Cream Pies

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. honey
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
In a double boiler, add egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar and heat over simmering water. Whisking frequently, heat until egg whites become very frothy and sugar is dissolved (approx. 160 degrees). Carefully add egg mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on high speed for several minutes until egg mixture will hold stiff peaks and is light in texture. Carefully fold in vanilla until incorporated. Add frosting to cookie and then top with another cookie. Enjoy!


Directions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer cream together the butter, brown sugar, and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, honey and vanilla and beat until incorporated.
In a separate medium sized bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture into the butter mixture and mix just until incorporated. Stir in oats until evenly distributed. Transfer dough to a large mixing bowl (this is so you can use stand mixer bowl for the frosting) and chill in refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Remove dough from refrigerator and drop by tablespoons onto baking sheet (or even a bit smaller for smaller cookies). Bake for 8 to 10 minutes just until the edges start to brown. Cookies will seem moist in the middle but they will set up. Cool on baking sheet until set and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Once cool, on the underside of one cookie spread the marshmallow frosting and top with another cookie. Store in an airtight container.
Marshmallow Frosting
Ingredients:
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Directions:
In a double boiler, add egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar and heat over simmering water. Whisking frequently, heat until egg whites become very frothy and sugar is dissolved (approx. 160 degrees). Carefully add egg mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on high speed for several minutes until egg mixture will hold stiff peaks and is light in texture. Carefully fold in vanilla until incorporated. Add frosting to cookie and then top with another cookie. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles:
Anyone else craving fall?  It may be pregnant Kristin talking, but I'm anxious for cooler weather and all things pumpkin.  Oh, and having this baby.  That'll be nice too.  But I was craving that today.  So I busted out the pumpkin, even if it is still August, it's only supposed to be 95ยบ today, so I'm going with fall.
 These cookies weren't my favorite.  Probably because they are very cake-like in texture.  The recipe calls for 1 1/2 tsp. of baking powder.  I think next time I'd try doing just 1 tsp. baking soda to help the cookies be more chewy rather than cakey.  But there were still pumpkin, cinnamon cookies, which is always a winning combination.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles:

3 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the coating:

1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Dash of allspice

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk together to blend. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugars on medium speed until well combined. Next, still on medium speed, beat in pumpkin. Then, add the egg and vanilla extract. Lastly, add in the dry ingredients. Beat until combined, but do not over mix. Cover the dough, and refrigerate for one hour, until firm.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and spices for the sugar coating. Scoop dough (approximately 2 1/2 tablespoons) and roll into a ball. Roll the dough ball in the sugar mixture, and place on the lined baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Take a drinking glass with a flat bottom and moisten with water. Dip the glass in the sugar mixture, and use it to flatten the dough balls. Re-sugar the glass as needed.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. Remove when the centers of the cookies have set. Let cool on the baking pan for approximately 5 minutes, and then transfer to wire cooling racks to cool completely.


This should just be called sweet and sour chicken.  That's basically what it is... without any added vegetables.  This I didn't get a picture, so I'm using the one from Pinterest.  
Some thoughts on the recipe.  The 1/4 c Sierra Mist is point less.  I panicked when I got to that part of the recipe until I remembered we were at Costco just before, and Drake got a Sierra Mist there, so I made him give me the rest of his cup so I could add the 1/4 cup.  It added nothing.  Next time, I'll just skip it, because I'm sure I won't have any pop on hand.
Also, this needs some serious veggies!  I should have steamed some broccoli, zucchini, cabbage, bell peppers, and carrots to put with the chicken and rice, but I choose to make balsamic glazed carrots to go with dinner.  But the sauce is so strong, and the chicken is so saucy, that I could have easily incorporated some non-flavored vegetables in with the chicken.  
Oh, and we ate it over brown rice, and the kids usually don't love brown rice, but the chicken sauce was so tangy, they didn't even notice.  

Shredded Sweet and Sour Chicken:
  • 5 chicken breasts
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup vinegar
  • 1/4 cup Sierra Mist lemon lime soda  (like I said, feel free to leave this out as I think it was pointless - there's plenty of sugar and acid in this already!)
  • 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce  (I used Liquid Aminos)
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
  • 2 tablespoons corn starch
Instructions
  1. Combine all the ingredients in crock pot (except chicken) and whisk together until mixed thoroughly and all corn starch lumps are gone.
  2. Add chicken breasts to sauce in crock pot
  3. Cook on Medium for 4-6 hours or high for 4 hours.
  4. Shred Chicken
  5. Let shredded chicken sit in sauce over "warm" setting or low for about 20 minutes
  6. Serve with rice

Sunday, August 25, 2013

..36...

McPhie celebration season has come to an end.
Gwen, Drake, and I all have birthdays in July, and then in the first couple of weeks of August is our anniversary, then Ryan's birthday.

Ryan's birthday came on a Friday.
Fridays are trial days.

So we sent him off to trial with a yummy waffle breakfast.

I got Ryan this watch for his birthday.
 But in typical Ryan fashion, he wants to exchange it.
Maybe for this one...
or this one.
Which one do you like better?  I thought about the light wood one, but thought it might get dirty.??  So here's some advice if any of you, for any reason, give Ryan a gift for any occasion, give him a gift card.  I still try and give him gifts, but they are just about always getting exchanged.  
It's okay.

Well he had a good trial (won on one count, lost on another; but he knew that one would be tough).  We celebrated with dinner and The Wolverine.  

It's a good one.  Even though Hugh Jackman was not in very good shape for it.
Not.

Yes, I just said "not".

Then we had family birthday party on Sunday.
 And I was too lazy to put 36 candles on the cake, so we had 3 candles + 6 candles.  It equals 36 in candle math.

Oh yah, and here are the kids with their As You Wish paintings from our family anniversary date.
Drake's hair is awesome
 Oh, and here's Drake's self portrait on the wall in school.
Notice the robot/lego arm, and the gun arm.
But no legs.
I love his creativity!


Happy birthday Ryan.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Lego Boy

Buster Brown is obsessed with Legos.  He watches videos about them all the time, and recently he has gotten into making his own.  Here's a sample of what he's been working on.



He is constantly asking how to earn money so he can buy more Legos.  I love it.
But I have a feeling I won't love it when we have a baby crawling around here putting everything it finds in his/her mouth.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

eight eight thirteen

10 years ago, my car of college girls ran into a car of boys in the dollar movie theater parking lot in Provo.  The boys came over to our apartment, and upon coming in the door, Ryan noticed that he and I had the same studded belt on so he plopped down by me on the couch and we started talking music and bands.  He found out I hadn't seen Braveheart which meant he had to show it to me.  We talked all night.

He showed me Braveheart a few days later.
I tried to not like him.
I was graduating in a month and moving home, and last thing I wanted was a long distance relationship.
But Ryan was persistent.
And I gave in.
I fell hard and fast.

We were married in Oakland, on a gorgeous day.
 We were an hour and a half late to our luncheon because we were taking pictures and then in bad traffic from Oakland to Sacramento.
 We had a gorgeous reception in the backyard of Ryan's house.
 We had a little cake fight.
 We were so excited to be starting eternity together.
 And we became Mr. and Mrs. McPhie.

I won't lie and say that everything has been peachy keen since.
Marriage is hard.
We've had happiness, and sorrow.  Fights and laughter.  But most of all, we've had each other.  We have leaned on each other and do truly love each other more now than we did then.  

10 years later, I woke up to this.
 My side of the bathroom mirror covered in things from 2003.
Justin Timberlake, Cry Me a River?  Check.
Black Eyed Peas?  Check.
Santa Cruz trip?  Check.
Cancun trip?  Check.
Moving to AZ?  Check.

And around the house, pictures like this.
Braveheart - first date.
 This little gem was on the fridge.  I said, I thought Kendra Wilkinson had her baby uno way after 2003.  Ryan said that picture wasn't hung up because it happened in 2003, but this picture reminded him of us.  
Naturally.
The resemblance is uncanny.  
Oh, and this picture was still on our fridge when we had a babysitter in our house for seven hours.  She must think we're awesome.  Or super creeps.

Ryan was in court all day on our anniversary, and was prepping for a trial the following day, so we had a low key Italian lunch date, just like on our wedding day.

Then he planned a Saturday day-date.
We were going to hike Camelback, which he really was doing for me, because I always want to go hike, but he doesn't want to wake up.


10 years!  It's all down hill from here.  The mountain that is.

 We made it to the top!

Oh ya, and this baby came with us.
Going up was the easy part, it was coming down that I felt it.
I wore my belly band, but still needed an arm to support my belly.
I realized that you naturally lean back a little when going down hill, and with all this mass in front of me, I needed to lean extra far back to compensate.  Core. Work. Out.

We spent the rest of the day together, hanging out, having fun, bringing up memories from the last 10 years.  
It was a great anniversary.
Even if we weren't on a cruise.
(apparently they don't like preggo people on cruises)

I love you so much Ryan McPhie!
Thank you for putting up with me for the last ten years.
I'm excited for what's in store.