Christmas Review

So here we are in February, trying to post about Christmas.  I've decided to just include a ton of pictures of some of the fun we had over the Christmas season.

The boys enjoyed trimming our little Christmas tree.  I enjoyed seeing how many ornaments they were going to fit on one branch.  I guess you have to put the ornaments where you can reach them :)

Luke was able to watch from the swing.

After decorating the tree, Grant was still in a creative mood so he made a bed/couch out of the box of Christmas supplies, a blanket, and a couch cushion.

Of course, in our family you know there was way too much baking going on :)

I tried an easier version of gingerbread houses and the boys decorated Christmas trees (made from an upside down ice cream cone).

This little guy was just happy to be around.

The weather was incredible in VA.  On one nice day we headed out to Northwest River Park and played and hiked and ran around.

On a more obscure trail at the park, you can come across an old, falling apart ropes course that is fun to play on.  I first found it with my cross country team in high school and it looked old and falling apart then, so I'm not sure why or how it's still standing.

The boys were supposed to be entertaining us on the pavilion while I fed Luke.  Grant was a shark and Tate was a fish.  I believe it ended like many of their games do: Tate running away screaming and Grant crying on the ground.

One of our traditions on Christmas Eve night is to go on a "star walk" to find the new star like the wise men did.  Luke was not very excited about all the preparatory bundling that occurred, but I believe he was thankful once we were outside.

Uncle Ryan manned the stroller during the walk.

The boys marked our way with two bags of "reindeer food" they received from friends.  I'm sure the squirrels loved all that sparkly oatmeal in the morning!

The boys opened one present on Christmas Eve, Christmas PJ's!  I think this is one tradition that most people share in common.

After the star walk, we came inside and warmed up with hot chocolate and donuts.  This was definitely the boys' favorite tradition of the night.

Here are Luke's aforementioned Christmas PJ's.  Look, there's a reindeer on his bottom!  Adorable!

Like I mentioned in a previous post, we had church on Christmas morning so we were all dressed up to open one present each before church.

Luke's present was about the same size as he was.

And then after church we got in comfy clothes again and enjoyed the rest of our presents and family time.

Uncles David and Ryan got in on the present action.

Ryan was very excited that the boys each got their first set of six-shooters!  The "do not point your guns at people" rule was quickly forgotten as everyone in sight was showered with a hail of imaginary bullets.  It'll definitely be a while before they're allowed to touch a real gun but these will get them through just fine until then.

More presents!

Luke's favorite present!

Ryan's favorite present.  Can't beat a Cold Steel pocket knife.

More wonderful weather helped us enjoy our presents in the great outdoors.  Here, Grant has formed a posse and is going after the bad guys.

My dad put this swing set up in the early '90s, and despite some broken boards/rods, it's still going strong.

In an earlier post, I mentioned how Tate slept in my parent's closet.  We found another perfect bedroom for a young lad, the laundry room.  It was the perfect size for a futon and Grant claimed it as his bed for most of the nights we were there.  One day, Grant took a rare nap and Luke and Tate went to greet him when he woke up.  Picture time!

Of Bikes and Guns

 Merry Christmas to all!!  The boys both had two similar items on their Christmas list this year:  a bike and a gun. Santa delivered both (plus many other wonderful gifts thanks to Munga and Papa).  We had church at 9am so the boys opened one present each before church and had the rest of their presents to look forward to when they got home.  And that first present was...

 ...bright orange shot guns!  Woo Hoo!!!  We made a rule with the guns that you can't point them at anyone and shoot unless it was agreed upon as part of a game (the guns don't actually shoot out anything, just make a noise).  The boys used the tree for some nice target practice. 

 Why yes, that is a gun holster strapped to Tate's hip.  You never know when you'll need to quick-draw.

The debut ride of the bikes was quite exciting.  Early wobbles quickly turned into confidence which turned into taking sharp turns on one training wheel.  Don't worry, we have helmets, we just forgot them in Ohio. We were lucky to have hit the good weather jackpot while in VA this year.  Several of the days got close to 70 so the boys put in lots of bike time.  More Christmas posts to come...

Caught Red-Lipped

My parent's have a large walk-in closet that we usually put a futon in for one of the boys to sleep there when we are visiting.  On New Year's Eve night, we put Tate to bed in their closet and went downstairs to hang out and play games with the family.  Later, my mom went up to her bathroom to get something she needed.  She turned on the light to the bathroom and was startled to find Tate, in the dark, trying out her makeup. He obviously had already used the lipstick and was just brushing up some powder when she put on the light. My mom gasped just because she didn't expect Tate to be there, but he took it as he was in big trouble.    She came to get me, and I couldn't keep from laughing when I saw him, even though he seemed pretty upset.  I think he was nervous that he was caught doing something he wasn't supposed to and embarrassed that the adults thought it was so funny.  This picture is priceless :)

Kid Hot Tub

Bath time in the Wood house is all about speed and efficiency.  We have a removable spray nozzle on our shower head so we usually just stand the boys in the tub, lather them up, and then spray them down to get them squeaky clean.  I believe we have given Grant a tub bath a few times but the spray down is the only kind of bath that Tate knows.

While at my parents house this Christmas, a bottle of shower gel got knocked over and spilled in the bathroom.  I thought we shouldn't let it go to waste so I scooped it up and made a bubble bath for the boys (there was a lot of spilled soap that resulted in a lot of bubbles)

I guess the bubbles in the water reminded Tate of the hot tub at the pool we go to on campus.  The boys named the experience Kid Hot Tub.  Now, every night, Kid Hot Tub is requested and has become the highlight of the evening (almost surpassing their daily treat allotment if they've eaten their dinner).  It's a win win situation: the kids are actually excited to get a bath, and we look like cool parents because we let them have a Kid Hot Tub.  One day they may actually discover that this is how most normal children bathe, but until then we'll let the kids think we're just being extra nice.

A fairly random but Fall-themed post

Having a new baby keeps us indoors more than we are used to.  It seems we spend quite a few days like this:

running around in our jammies all morning with a nursing pad stuck to our bottom (no, I did not stage that).  However, we have escaped the house a few times for some fun fall excursions.  We went to a pumpkin farm with several friends from the ward.  The boys had an entertaining morning picking their own pumpkins from the field, learning about 15 varieties of pumpkins, eating donuts and cider, and running around in the straw maze and corn box.  Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera (and there were some cute picture moments).  I did, however, bring my camera to another fall outing we went to about a month ago when Luke was only 2 weeks old.

We found another farm to play at with all the regular fun fall activities.  Some of the boys' favorites were being pulled around by the tractor and playing in the designated laser tag and dodge ball areas (set up with stacked hay bales of course).

 They even got to hold poor, terrified rabbits.  I was surprised that my boys were among the more gentle rabbit-handling kids.

Ryan and I decided if we ever become landowners one day we should get one of these off-roading four wheeled bikes to survey our land :)

There was a kiddie hay maze in the old barn complete with disgusting mattresses that were great for a bounce. 

 They don't make it too easy for us big kids to get in and out of the hay maze.  I choose to exit through the entrance because that tube was tall enough for me to crawl through and only about 10 feet long.  Ryan wanted to see the maze through so he made his way out the real exit tubing which was about 20 feet long and only tall enough for a man to slither out of.  And slither he did!

 The corn maze was huge!!  It was actually a really neat design commemorating the bicentennial of the Civil War (they even had Civil War rein-actors who demonstrated the cannon firing, it was pretty awesome!!)  We lasted about 15 minutes in the maze and then decided to turn around.  It was a pretty hot day and I didn't want to get lost in there and have to end up nursing Luke while nestled amongst the corn.

 We made friends with some jolly farm animals who agreed to pose for a picture.  They were great.

 Here we are, back to pajama mornings, but I don't see any nursing pads in this picture so I guess that's a step up.  Since having Luke, the boys have started a new habit of waking up early, running downstairs and watching cartoons until I get up to feed Luke and get them breakfast.  Before Luke, this sort of activity would not have happened because I really tried to keep tabs on how much TV they watched.  But now, as long as they are quiet enough to not wake up Luke or myself, they could be sorting through our fine china and I wouldn't care.  (Just kidding, we don't have fine china).  Especially since they have pushed their waking time to 5 am since the time change.  I think they have realized the best way to get their parents to the negotiating table is to have them be completely exhausted and desperately wanting to keep a sleeping baby asleep.  Never underestimate the cleverness of a pair of young boys.

 The boys demonstrated their artistic abilities with some delicious Halloween cookie decorating.

 Another fall tradition here in Columbus is to go to Boo at the Zoo.  The zoo goes all out with Halloween decorations, shows and activities and tons of vendors set up and give out candy.  Here Captain America and his good friend Robin take a break from the animals to check out their candy bags.

 I loved these pictures.  There's something about seeing the softer side of these superheros who take a break from crime fighting to brush a goat.

 Hey, goats need care too.

Doesn't Luke make the cutest skeleton you have ever seen?

New school and new missionaries

 Back in the end of August, before our lives became more crazy than they already were, Grant started preschool.  This is a very well run and popular preschool (so much so you have to sign your kids up for it a year in advance).  So Grant has known about this preschool and been wanting to go for a long time.  Every time we would drive past the school he would ask "is it time for me to go to preschool yet?"  So, needless to say, he was very excited when school started and he has loved it!  I have loved it as well, as it gives me a break 4 afternoons a week!

We took the obligatory first day of school pictures outside of the school and inside by the school's sign.  Grant was really excited to find one of his friends from church in his class, who was actually also in the co-op preschool we did last year.  

He's growing up!

Tate wanted in on the picture action, but was a little concerned by the people watching him (there was a little line forming to get a picture by the sign).

This past summer the boys started playing "missionaries", where they would basically act out when the missionaries come over to our house for dinner (I think they believe that is mainly what you do on a mission).  They would come to the door and shake my hand and introduce themselves.  Tate decided to be named Elder Sticks and Grant is Elder Shoe (not sure where they came up with those).  After pretending to eat dinner, they pull two chairs in the living room, like we do when the Elders are over, to give us a message.  They both start flipping through the scriptures to "find" what they want to say, and then start to "read" church-like sayings such as: "and then Jesus said", "and behold", "he said unto me", "follow the prophet", and the like.  They're pretty serious when they do this so it's hard not to smile, but they are just so cute being little missionaries!

Luke is here!

 I guess if I'm going to keep this as our family journal I have to keep up with the times!!  Our sweet baby Luke arrived on September 20th at 8:18pm.  He weighed 9 lbs 7oz and was 21 inches long.

 Now for the birth story, which is long so feel free to skip.  On the morning of the 20th, (I was 39 weeks) I started having occasional contractions that would hurt a bit and then go away.  I just considered they were Braxton Hicks contractions that were on the strong side (since I had a few painful ones the day before).  I decided to go on with my day and just see what happened.  So I took Tate to playgroup, went grocery shopping with Grant, picked up Tate, gave the boys lunch, and took Grant and his friends to preschool.  All the while I was having the "braxton hicks" contractions.  Since I was induced with the other two deliveries, I had only known contractions on pitocin, so these contractions did not feel like real labor contractions and I still wasn't convinced I was in the early stages of labor. 

While Grant was at preschool, I decided I should probably start to time the contractions and saw they were coming about 5 minutes apart pretty regularly, and hurting enough that I would have to stop walking during one, so I figured it was probably labor.  I felt fine in between the contractions though, so I went to go pick up Grant and his friends from preschool and only had one contraction while in the school, so that was nice.  When we got home, I called around to find a place for the kids to go and realized with all my driving around that day, I hadn't cleaned the house. So I swept the floors and put things away just so we could come home to a somewhat clean house (and it probably helped move the labor on!).  Then I dropped the boys off at our very nice friends and drove to the hospital where Ryan would meet me (yes I drove myself to the hospital while in labor, I just sang songs through the contractions to keep my mind off them)

I got there at 4:30 and was only dilated 4, but they said they would keep me since the contractions were coming regularly.  Ryan didn't have any clothes/toiletries to stay the night, so I sent him home to get his things and walked around while he was gone.  She checked me about an hour after we got there and I had progressed to a 6 so they moved us to the labor room.  After about another hour of the contractions getting worse and worse I was still a 6 so I said I could go ahead and get an epidural (I was considering trying to not use one, but I spent an hour not progressing so I wasn't sure how long labor would take).  Then my water broke and the anesthesiologist was still not there and I really had to use the bathroom.  She let me go and when I came back the contractions started to get horrible.  The anesthesiologist came in the room and was explaining about the epidural but I have no idea what she was saying, I was just trying to not scream and throw up during the contractions.  The nurse checked me again (just 15 minutes after she had checked me when I was a 6) and I had progressed to a 9.  Then I felt like I had to start pushing, and the nurse is telling me not to push because my doctor is not there yet.  But let me tell you, when it's time to push, it's time to push!  At this point the contractions are insane, I'm sweating like a banshee, I don't even know what I am saying/screaming and I'm trying not to push (which is almost impossible).  The nurse gets a resident to come in and three crazy, I feel like I'm splitting in two, pushes later Luke is born!

.

He came out pretty blue and they had to deep suction him to get him crying.  His apgars were actually 4 and 9 (for all you medical people out there) 4 is actually the lowest by far any of the boys had.  The nurse said when they descend as fast as he did, sometimes they swallow a lot of liquid so she just had to clean him out.  We were surprised he was so big.  Grant was 8 lbs and Tate was 8 lbs 6 oz.  It does make me worry a bit how big our next one might be :)

Ryan was a good supporter through the labor and kindly obliged to whatever I asked him to do (I think I made him turn the fan on and off again probably 10 times).  We were able to leave the hospital on the 22nd and have had a pretty smooth transition.  I feel like this was my quickest recovery so far, so maybe going natural is the was to go.  I decided I will definitely need to prepare somehow for the next one though!

 

The boys love their new little brother and are very nice with him.  Tate always wants to give the baby his blankets or a toy and asks to hold him whenever he can.  We were so lucky to have my mom with us for a whole week after we brought Luke home which helped so much.  She spoiled me by taking care of Grant and Tate and the meals and the house and letting me nap whenever possible.  We have survived the first week since she left and I think things will only get easier as Luke gets older (hopefully :).