Farm School

Jamisen has been going to farm school for a month now. It's this great little outdoor activity, run by Common Threads Farms. Common Threads runs quite a few school gardens around Whatcom County and they do an amazing job introducing children to healthy eating habits, teaching them where food comes from and generally showing them that nutrition can and should be fun and delicious.

Jamisen loves animals and there are geese, chickens, turkeys, chickens and sheep on the farm (in addition to a garden). It's this little oasis in downtown Fairhaven that's tucked in behind two houses. You wouldn't notice it if you didn't know where to go but they've got an amazing thing going for them.

They cook a meal every single class - sometimes it's with eggs from their chickens. In this case, they were making hummus. No, I don't know if they grew the garbanzo beans. Somehow, I doubt it.

Jamisen chows down! He will eat ANYTHING and everything if he has a hand in making it. We found that out with our green kale juice in the morning =)

Then, they wash their dishes in a makeshift little camping set up. Jamisen knows the routine now.

Yes, Jamisen is eating a raw radish, straight from the garden. He is an adventurous little guy!

Meet Lily Leah

In the end, the name wasn't hard. We probably knew it all along; paying honor to two strong women in my life was the way to go. Lily, my grandma on my Mom's side and Leah, grandma on my Dad's side, were both strong, strong women and are fantastic namesaskes for their great-great grandaughter.  

Baby Lily

Baby Lily came home on Friday and our lives have been turned upside down ... in a good way! She is adjusting to our family with aplomb, sleeping all day and staying up all night. We're looking forward to that pattern switching. She seriously stays up nightly until 2:30 a.m., crying, eating ... crying ... eating ... crying .... eating. One of these nights, I'm going to join her in at least one of those activities.

Sunny outfit for a sunny girl

Baby Lily is quite small, under six pounds so even her newborn clothes don't fit her. She is teensy tiny but is working hard to grow, eating every one to two hours. She grew a whole five ounces in 24 hours after arriving home and is trying t0 break the world record for feedings in a 24 hour period. I spend a lot of time sitting down, feeding her, but the silver lining to that is that I'm reading a bunch of magazines that have languished for months.

Lily gives Jamisen a present

Many mothers told me that Jamisen would do much better if baby Lily gave him some presents so every day that he visited her in the hospital or when she got home. We followed this advice (and it's come in handy several times this week already). She gave him a train set (pictured above) and a 1-button remote controlled car. He was much more excited about the train set. He's all boy - obsessed with anything that has a motor (cars, trains, boats, planes, helicopters).

Jamisen looks a little unsure

Overall, Jamisen is adjusting to baby Lily but hasn't been perfectly princelike in his actions. We've seen some hitting (he has hit, Grandma, Mom, Dad) and some generic acting out since the new baby came home. Overall, he's more curious than anything. He likes to touch her head and point to her facial features and naming them, "Nose, eyes, ears".

Grandma and Grandpa are instantly smitten.

Both sets of Grandparents are beyond over the moon thrilled at the new addition. Grandpa Winston has been overseas for the last week but we can't wait to have him meet his newest grandbaby.

My Mom is staying with us for an undetermined time period as we adjust to two children and I try to make it back to some semblance of work in a few weeks. With a little girl who can't sleep for longer than 90 minutes without food, that might prove more challenging than it sounds. I'm thankful for such a great family support network on both sides.

Baby's first outing

We ventured out the day after we got home from the hospital to the park for a playdate with one of Jamisen's friends. It was probably stupid on my part to think we could do that. I paid for it, pain-level wise, later. In the photo above, you an see Jamisen playing in the captain's lookout. You can't tell but I'm trying to figure out where to go sit down to feed our little teensy weensy hungry hippo of a baby girl. The entire venture was possibly worth it because we ended with a trip to Menchies for frozen yogurt. I was pleasantly surprised by their Popcorn flavored yogurt (I know, it sounds disgusting but it was a nice mixture of salt and sweet).

Reading for three

Our nighttime routine has changed a little because we have one extra reader. Jamisen asks for Lily to be put beside him for reading time and has seamlessly integrated his little sister into his bedtime routine. Overall, the new addition to our family has gone about how we thought it would with the exception of her size and feeding schedule. Chris and I are really, really tired. We're looking forward to fattening her up and continuing to find new ways to work and play together as a family of 4.

The Last Idyllic Days

 

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Baby Girl, who remains stubbornly in my belly (despite herculean efforts by our Doctors that would make for a great horror film). Jamisen remains blissfully unaware that he soon will have the divided attention of his parents (but plus side, he'll have a friend and a built in play date forever).

  

We remain enamored with our new home, thankful that we moved and feeling very excited about some of the amenities like this retrotastic pink bathtub for Jamisen to play in nightly. He loves bathtime!

  

He's even tried a little bit of immersion programming here:

  

 I've been working on a bath crayon recipe that Jamisen was very hesitant to play with. Every time he used a crayon to write on the walls, he asked to wash his hands in the faucet. He's not a fan of getting dirty. His teacher at Hillcrest told me that he asks for a paintbrush to do fingerpainting with!  

 Another joy in the new house is outdoor fun! We used to go to parks, almost daily (!), to get out and run and at our new house, we just step outside and there's always a new wonder to behold. Jamisen loves learning about everything going on and is very curious about all things water-related especially.  

 I'll admit, he wasn't a fan of my homemade sidewalk chalk. He mostly watched me draw, "Help, help, Mama!" but was thoughtful enough to pose for some photos to make it look like he was totally into it.

  

What he really got excited about was the clean up! Yeah! Water! He washed and washed that sidewalk until it was fully clean and then some.

  

 One of our new routines in the house is reading in Mommy and Daddy's bed before bedtime. Jamisen just snuggles up in his after bath towel, and we read and read and read. He always says "More! More books!" when it's time to go to sleep. I can never deny him more books or more reading time (after all, I'm the girl that would stay up all night reading when I was younger and still stay up way later than is prudent to this day!) so I always grant him one more. He carefully picks the longest one, and just when I get a few pages from the end, deliberately turns the pages almost all the way back to the beginning, ostensibly to pick up a major plot point. He's a clever one, our little Jamisen. 

  

All of the baby equipment is out and ready for Baby Girl's arrival. Stay tuned for her name. We have the full list of possible names here. We'll be choosing from one of them tomorrow!

Bowling Balls. Watermelons. Giant Babies.

Lily Leah (current name) is already showing that she is an impatient little girl. She has fully dropped. I'll spare you the gory details but the baby check this week went very well, with the Doctor exclaiming, "Oh my God!" when he realized exactly where the baby's head was. And, it turns out the baby's head is basically fully out. With how uncomfortable I am, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if I looked down and saw her dangling between my legs. No. Really. That's how ridiculously uncomfortable I am. Every time I sneeze, it's like a giant bowling ball crashing at full speed into my pelvic bones.

 

On the plus side, Chris has changed every diaper now for almost a month so he's winning for Best Husband of the Year - and the best Mother's Day Present ever. C'mon, a month without changing diapers? I know every toddler Mother in the world who would love that.

 

 Jamisen has found the hose and every single day, he wants to help wash the car. Hopefully he grows out of that by the time our water gets metered at our house.

  

We went to the Farmer's Market this weekend while Chris did household errands (there are so many errands with a house compared to a condo!). It was extremely ungainly and uncomfortable to chase little bugaboo around the Farmer's Market but he had a great two hours. A bonus was that Auntie Cheriss came to visit as did Grandma Kelly and Grandpa Winston and Auntie Anamarie. It was so fun to see them all.

  

 We took an extremely uncomfortable family walk around the neighborhood today. Jamisen had a great time and even helped push the stroller up a very steep hill. I barely kept up with that little speed demon. Actually, that's a lie ... I didn't even come close to waddling as fast as the joint efforts of Chris-holding-Jamisen-pushing-a-stroller-uphill.  

Waterproof sheets are going onto the new mattress tomorrow, just in case. And in the meantime, I'll remain thankful for the many blessings in this household ... even if one is sticking firmly inside me for the time being.

Baby 'Sprinkle'

 

The day of Baby Girl Renoud's Sprinkle brought the sun and of course, lured Jamisen right outside for a quick ride around the yard. While he and Daddy did have a great Daddy'n'Me outing planned (coffee shop, park, Fairhaven truck watching). I don't know who was more surprised, Amber or I, when she arrived promptly on time for set-up (8 a.m.) and I was still in my jammies, practicing the piano. I had told two happy helpers 8 a.m. and two of them 9 a.m. but in my head, they were all 9 a.m. Whoops. Well, now she knows I sleep in elf flannel pajamas and an "I Love Soap" t-shirt.  

The team at Bramble Berry designed this fun downloadable banner for the living room. It's downloadable so we can pin it to Pinterest (duh)

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 We painted the inside of mason jars to match the color scheme of the Sprinkle ("Sprinkle" because it's not a full baby shower but it's still a baby celebration), which was heavily aqua and pink. Then, we picked up flowers and arranged them all inside the jars. It turned out soooo pretty.  

These are three of my book club girlfriends. We have been in the same book club for 12 years now. It's amazing to look back and realize we have over a decade of shared experience and friendship. The color matching was a coincidence but a fun one!  

It wouldn't be a Bramble Berry Baby Sprinkle without crafty stations - we had a rock decorating station, an advice station and a DIY Mimosa station with lots of fun fixings to really spruce up basic champagne (complete with homemade Lavender syrup). We were not lacking in the food department either. Fresh berries and fruit, cupcakes, homemade scones and 2 types of veggie quiche (pepper cheddar + broccoli, blue cheese, onion + leek) were all out of the eating but the quiches were definitely the most popular thing; almost all 4 of them were eaten by less than 25 petite women.  

We did a very special wrist binding ceremony, based on Navajo tradition, that called upon the wisdom of our mothers and grandmothers to bless the birth and bless the baby. It was very sweet as everyone shared their mothers and grandmother's names, and spoke a blessing for our upcoming day of birth and life with Lily (yes, that's her name currently - and has been for 4 days - though Chris isn't sold).

  

Everyone is supposed to wear their wrist bindings until the baby is born but since it's a little over 2 weeks away, I can see that some of them may just happen to fall off =)  

It was a lovely day, filled with a lot of laughter and great advice. It was so nice that the Washington weather cooperated (not at all a sure bet in May) and the new house did a fantastic job entertaining. The inside-outside space flowed seamlessly and we were so happy that the home's debut went off smoothly (thanks to many helping hands).

Photos from a Move

 

 We have spent the last week moving into our new family home. It's been considerably harder and more difficult than either of us anticipated.

 

Jamisen is, of course, taking it all in stride now.

 

However, the first night was rough. I think it was because Jamisen had to sleep in his Pack'n'Play, which is essentially a plastic covered crib. He was not happy about it. His room was in disarray and his little precious soft face was smashed down against a plastic covered board. It took about 90 minutes to fall asleep, with Chris or I laying on the floor next to him. Of course, I had a Mastermind Business Meeting in the other room so I felt very torn between two places (Jamisen's bedroom floor and the dining room table with my brain trust).

Hosting a business meeting the same day we moved in may have been ill advised but thanks to my husband's patient and ever-understanding help, we got 'er done. In a truly ironic and awesome happenstance, our Mastermind group read the latest Sheryl Sandberg book, 'Lean In,' where she says that in order for any woman to take a leadership position outside the home, she must have an equal inside the home. That truth was never more apparent than the night we moved, when we were trying to juggle professional and family commitments at once.

The house is coming along but man, has it been tough. I think we both underestimated how much work I have done in previous moves and having me extremely pregnant and essentially unable to do a single thing definitely handicapped packing, moving and unpacking.

I am planning on tackling the master bathroom and bedroom tomorrow though. And once that's done, the house will be much closer to complete and ready to be visited - which, is a good thing considering we're hosting a housewarming/baby sprinkle next weekend.

The final piece of the puzzle will be Baby Girl Renoud's clothing situation. She'll be sleeping in our master bedroom for the first 5 months of her life (which is good because her room will be the guest room until the unfinished downstairs basement is remodeled).  

Thank goodness that my girlfriends Jody and Lisa came by tonight, ostensibly to just grab a quick glass of wine and say 'Hi' but they saw my clear need for help and jumped in, hanging paintings, rearranging furniture and ended up staying 3 hours to help me put the house in order. Chris came in on the tail end, long after many of the holes had been nailed into the wall. I think it looks great! And, I'm so thankful for 'front row' girlfriends that take charge and show up, even when they're not called (but desperately needed).

Happy Birthday, Jamisen

It's hard to believe that two years have passed since Jamisen came home and added to our happiness quotient. We had a wonderful time with Jamisen's birthday party. It was low-key, with family only. I'm guessing this is the last time we'll get away without any of Jamisen's little friends at his party.  

Jamisen was still a little confused about what all the fuss was for but he gamely played along, eating a mini cupcake (not the one in his hands; that one never got eaten), clapping after 'Happy Birthday' was over and enjoying the house full of family.

  

He did understand how to blow out the candle but was a little directionally challenged and didn't quite have the breath to get the candle flame out so we helped.  

Jamisen was confused about the presents. He couldn't understand why we made him rip open the paper, see the toy, say 'thank you' and then *not* let him play with the toy right then and there. He learned a lot about delayed gratification.  

We had said 'no presents' but it's hard to go to a party with a little tyke and not want to buy something fun. And, we weren't exactly upset that everyone brought such thoughtful and kind presents. I'd say his two favorite presents were the drum set (thank you Grandma Kelly and Grandpa Winston) that seems to be a favorite, closely followed by an indoor golf set from Auntie Sharon.

  

As a birthday gift for Chris and I, Grandma and Grandpa Faiola took Jamisen to the park. Jamisen loves his rock throwing (more than anything!) and is proving to be a typical boy with his fascination of water, rocks, dirt and mud.

  

Jamisen also had the best time getting to know his Auntie Sharon better. They laughed and played ball and worked the slides pretty hard.
 
Grandma and Grandpa Faiola were extremely amazed, surprised and yes, proud to see how much Jamisen has grown in his slide and playground skills in the last three weeks. Apparently, he has made impressive strides and is now fearless. Grandpa was very proud that Jamisen was going up the rope ladder, all by himself, when boys that were older than him were afraid and requiring help. Not that anyone in this family is competitive or anything.
 
It was nice to get some date time with Chris to go over our yearly goals as a family for a check-in and (eeeek) plan our house move. That's right, we're moving this week because every woman that is 8.5 months pregnant desperately wants to pack an entire house and then unpack the same house. (shrugs shoulders). Meh. You can't time when the ideal family home will come onto the market and desperately call out your name with a plaintive, "I will be perfect for your growing family." It's going to be a wonderful time for us to bond as a family during this move and then make new family memories bringing the new baby home in the new house.
 
And, the house is everything we've been looking for over a year - it has an acre of property for Jamisen and sister to run on, 3 bedrooms (but we'll add one more downstairs as a guest room) and 2 offices (one upstairs and one downstairs). It also has a garden (yay! No more $4 organic kale and $3 organic cucumbers!)
 

Thankfully, we had Grandma and Grandpa Faiola to help with some of the heavy packing for a day and get us a good head start on the moving process. We are not hiring professional movers so it's going to be a long week - but I am looking forward to cleaning and organizing. It's like spring cleaning, just a little early! Plus, I do know where to get boxes. =)