Christmas 2012

Feels like just yesterday we were on a beach... and now we're surrounded by new toys.

The weekend after we got home, we dragged this wet monster into the house:

Then off for pictures with Santa:

And then the toys (and yes, those are matching PJs):

Cabo, 5th anniversary

For our 5th wedding anniversary, we returned to Cabo, where it all began. The kids came with and Mabel had a great time. Sam was fighting teeth much of the time, but was all for pool time.

Seattle was rainy and low-40s so low 80s and cloudless days made for a perfect vacation.
We should have pro pics of the family at some point, but until then...

Happy Turkey!

We had Mabel's grandparents and uncle visiting this week, all from the Muzzey side. The kids got a lot of attention!

Sam had a lot of help getting around:


Mabel went to the Seattle Science Museum:

Halved the turkey, an adaptation of spatchcocking, which turned out some tasty bird:
 

Next up, a trip to Cabo then back home for Sigafoos grandparents at Xmas.

Sam Six Month Pics

We got some fun shots of Sam at 6 months old. Mabel was being 3 and spent the whole time in her room being unpleasant.

Odd start to the day

Kate was visiting a prospective school for Mabel this morning, so I hung out at home.

Sitting at home this morning, reading a book with Mabel. Notice my neighbor's pregnant wife lug their 1+ year old down the back stairs. coats. going on a walk.
See her then put son in stroller. Drop pants and pee in her backyard. Pants up, heads out on walk.

Sam and the inventor

Sam had his 6 month checkup today:  18 lb 4 oz (66th percentile) and 27 inches (70th).  Large and in charge.

Mabel's engineering came out again today with her first invention.  She took a flat exercise band and draped it through the leg holes in Sam's bouncer, tying it together to make a loop.  She said it was to keep his pee or poop from getting on the seat if he leaked.  Lordy, we are in for it. 

In the genes

Looks like the Muzzey engineering gene has been passed on in full force to Mabel.  Lately, she has been asking about how things work or are put together.  "How did we make this?" is a common question. (We will work on grammar later.)  It started a couple of months ago when she rolled under Sam's bouncer chair on her back like she was getting ready to change the oil. She wanted to see how the straps that hold the middle portion were connected.  She moved on to telling me how things are put together.  To make the bouncer chair "we put these things into these and then put this over that..."   You get the idea. 

When I picked M up from school on Monday her teacher, Rebecca, was telling me how Mabel constructed a door to their play structure all by herself.  She took an extra large scarf and put it through some small holes on either side of the entrance and held them there by putting clothespins on the other side so the scarf wouldn't slip back through the hole.  Rebecca said the only guidance M got was to maybe use a smaller scarf because there was so much fabric.  The construction portion was all her.  By the time I got there all the kids were making doors.  It was pretty crazy.  And not very surprising given her lineage. 

Carnivore in training

When I was pregnant with Mabel, I had a very strong meat aversion.  Just seeing the stuff made me sick.  I ate fruit and veggies (and ice cream) pretty much the whole pregnancy.  With Sam, all I wanted was meat and spicy food.  There was a month where salad actually had a horrible aftertaste and I couldn't eat it.  Also, I couldn't get enough spicy food.  There were times where it was as if my brain and my taste buds were disconnected and my mouth would be tingling with pain, but my brain didn't seem to register the heat.  It was pretty crazy.

That said, Mabel loves veggies and it is hard to get her to eat meat.  I was pretty sure when we started feeding Sam that he would love meat and spicy food given how things went during the pregnancy. 

As you saw in the video in the post below, the acorn squash wasn't a huge hit with Sam.  The pears we have him after that got the same reaction. That night we gave him grilled chicken wing meat. Oh. my. goodness.  He was basically throwing his face at the table to get more. It was insane.

The next day he got banana - eh, raspberry - eh, blueberry - eh, and grilled flank steak.  Again...oh. my. goodness.  He was crying when we weren't feeding him fast enough.

Seems as if the pregnancy was a good predictor of the kids' tastes. 

Sam's first food

Today Sam had his first taste of food. Like Mabel, the first thing we offered was acorn squash. Which went over just about like it did with Mabel.

Smiling

Sam is one smiley baby. Mabel had her great laugh, but was more apt to stare things down.

10 year kitchen

One of the many things we liked about our house was that the kitchen had not been redone - which meant we could view it as a blank slate.
The eventual dream kitchen is going to be monstrously expensive, take a long time to do, including moving a half-bath, new floors, structural work, etc... It also won't be something we will be excited the kids - and soon enough their friends - beating on.

So, tired of the current kitchen with its especially limited counterspace and questionable/beaten down storage, we are going to do a "10 year kitchen." Less-expensive cabinetry, re-use the current range, no moving walls, better storage, a sink that we don't hate, a disposal that works, bring the microwave and toaster into the kitchen from the mudroom.
The new fridge, which we hope to carry over to the dream kitchen, arrives this weekend, but I (likely) won't start ripping things out until we're through the holidays. I have a couple other projects to finish first.

NOTE FROM KATE:  Dad - you are NOT permitted to do any work on this kitchen or to encourage my husband to rip anything out while you are here for Christmas.  No no no.  

Here is what we currently have:




This is what we'll be going for:

Pictures

I just uploaded a bunch of photos from my cell phone so now there is much more of the brood to enjoy!!

                                                                          Smiles

                                                                         Kisses

                                                               First meeting

                                                                           Pig

                                                                        Taste

Roll Over

Sam rolled over today!!

He had been working on this right before bath time when he was lying on the bath mat naked.  Tonight, while I was running his bath water he rolled right on over.  But that wasn't the end of it.  As soon as he did it he started screaming bloody murder.  He basically scared the crap out of himself by being successful.  He screamed his scared scream for a solid 3 minutes.  Now, I know 3 minutes doesn't sound like a long time.  But look at your clock right now.  Time the next 3 minutes and imagine a baby screaming the whole time.  It might as well be forever.  I was doing my best to console him, but I have to admit the occasional chuckle slipped out as I was trying to help.  Silly baby.

Potty Update

We are in deep with all things potty.  Since Saturday morning when we started M has only had 2 accidents - 1 poop and 1 pee.  She has woken up dry from all her naps and even woke up dry from one night.  She has gotten used to operating commando and that seems to help.  Fingers crossed this keeps up!

Potty Time

Brett is home from work all this week so we decided to commence Intensive Potty Training 2012.  We have a solid 10 days with few plans and two adults in the house to rush Mabel to the toilet at the drop of a hat.  Mabel has done REALLY well so far.  She had no accidents Saturday, including nap time.  She woke Sunday in a wet bed, but we expected that.  She drinks a lot of water at night and rarely wakes with a dry morning diaper.  She had one accident first thing Sunday morning, but was perfect the rest of the day including nap again.

Now on to day three...

Nose rock

Mabel learned that we do NOT put rocks in our nose!! Or ears. Or eyes. Or mouth.
Fortunately, able to get it out at home, no ER visit. 

Q: Why did you put that rock up your nose?
A: When I was napping, and then I put it really far in my nose. When I was sitting on the sofa. The green one.

Mabel is three!

Time flies, and we now have a 3 year old in our midst. Kate put together a great party and the weather helped out too.

Watch out, ladies.

Crazy life

I don't think we have ever been so busy.  Brett is working insane hours, which thereby means I am working insane hours.

Just wanted to give you guys a rundown of how we spend our time: 
Mabel is in preschool three days a week for 4 hours each day.  During one of those days I manage to give Sam a nap and do the grocery shopping for the week.  How in the world does it take 4 hours to get to a store, shop, return home, and unpack groceries?  It's amazing how little babies can suck away time.  The other two days are for other errands - this week I get to take Ama to the vet (allergies) and get the oil changed in the car.  Don't be jealous.
Mabel started going to a real gymnastics class at the Seattle Gymnastics Academy on one non-preschool day.  This is a magical place where I get to sit with Sam for 45 minutes while she runs and jumps and practices handstands with a teacher. Today she also added peeing all over herself in the bleachers after class to that list, but she is working on that. 
Our last free day is usually spent meeting up with one of M's friends for a play date.  This also looks a lot like two or more moms hanging out having what amounts to 5 minutes of actual conversation spread out over two hours because of "please put that down" "we don't do that" and "don't eat that it's not food" interjections. 
Luckily for all of us Mabel is still napping most days which means we spend from 1:30 to the end of the day at home.  During this time Sam may/may not nap which means I may/may not make dinner. 

The house is a wreck, my clothes are covered in boogers, and there is likely a pair of peed on toddler undies in my purse...but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Potty time!

Mabel asked to use the potty this week. Yay!!!

She is doing great - using it herself, asking to go, and sometimes even making it. Her original sticker chart was full very quickly and she got a prize. Kate made a poster-board sized one which will last a bit longer.
She was diaper free at preschool on Friday - 1 accident, 1 success - and in and out of diapers over the weekend.

We are really, really, really excited that she decided to initiate things.

Water, water, everywhere

Mabel was helping me make spaghetti and tomato sauce for dinner last night. The house smelled good and she was excited to try twirling her pasta like in one of her books.
I poured off the pasta and had her getting all set to go in and eat. Turned back to the sink and thought I had sloshed a bunch of water of the floor while pouring off. That was not what happened. The p-trap under the sink did this:

The floor in the kitchen has a fun habbit of passing 90% of the water on it through to the laundry room below. It was a mess.
Toweled up what I could and fans spinning, I got to the hardware store and back, sink fixed before bathtime. Went with a much heavier duty drain piece than the el cheapo that had been installed. Looks like my next project which was going to be updating the plumbing for the kitchen sink has been upped in priority. Figures.

A lovely July

We've been bad about posting and only a little bit better about actually taking pictures. But we do have some to share...
First, Sam has found his hands:


Second, Mabel earns her keep: And we've taken some pictures along the way:

Sam at 2 months

Sam had a check-up today. He weighs 13 lb 4 oz. He feels even heavier. Mabel got diagnosed with horror-show explosive diarrhea. But we had known that to be the case since Friday morning. Evidently something is going around and we should expect her to start mending by Friday at the latest. A bland diet and lots of laundry.
 

Yes, we're still here

We're just sick and busy and two kids is a lot of work it turns out.

1 month old, 11 pounds and growing

Kate is on the mend.

Sam hit 1 month old on Sunday. He has now broken the 11 pounds mark and we're helping him with some cradle cap.

Mabel enjoyed having her grandparents out the past few days.
Pics forthcoming.

ouch

Kate has mastitis. She had it twice with Mabel, but this seems to be worse. Struck yesterday afternoon and quickly worsened. Running a temp, shivering in bed, in a lot of pain, even with ibuprofen. Got her in to the doc at 1 today and she now has antibiotics. Not feeling better yet, but hoping for a quick improvement. My parents arrive tonight and will be around to help Friday and the weekend. I was home today juggling kids, trying to help Kate get some rest.

Wedding. Baby powder.

Yesterday we went to one of Mabel's nanny's wedding. Mabel had been in a mood most of the day, so the end of the day was welcomed. Bathtime and books read, M was in bed about 8:15. Thirty minutes later, we saw the lights come on in her room (on the video monitor). I went in and check on her, to find her pulling on a pair of pants, telling me she was "all done sleeping." We talked about how it was late, but she insisted she was no tired. Lights on, her not in bed, I left. We'd occasionally look at the monitor and find her still not in bed, quietly playing with dolls and toys. About 10:30, it sounded like she'd opened her bedroom door so I went to check again. This is what I found:


And entire (small) bottle of baby powder on the floor, thick in the air, all over M and her panda bear who had a 'dirty diaper.' Laughing, tired, mad, I got her and the room cleaned up. She wanted the lights on but lost. A full day.

Pro Pics - Sam @ 1 week, Mabel @ 2 year 9 months

Click on a pic for the whole gallery.

Pro pics, coming soon

Sam, 2 week check

Sam had his two week doctor visit today. He now weighs 9 lb 13 oz, putting him up 13 oz from his birth weight. Kate and Sam have been doing some good work!
Tomorrow Sam has another doc appointment, this time to...uhm...have some work done. Mabel will be with the nanny, so it will just be Kate taking him in. Expecting it to be pretty rough on both.

Today was my first day back at work and the first for Kate to have the kids home alone. All-in-all the day went well. I suspect that between now and July, when Mabel starts preschool, there will be some challenging days. But also a lot of sun and time outside. I wish I could be home for more of it.

Settling in

With everyone home the last few days, we've been finding our new rhythm. Sam is sleeping and eating well. Mabel remains excited to have him here and likes to hold him (with help). The dogs are pretty numb to the whole situation.

Sam is pretty disinterested in me until his after-dinner nap, spending the rest of the day with Kate. I've been busy with meals, cleaning the house, and entertaining M. Surprising how quick the work-week went and not looking forward to only having through next-Friday to be at home.

This afternoon's project with Mabel is plants. She likes watching stop-motion of plants growing and loves fruits/veggies, so we're going to setup a planter outside with some strawberry, kohlrabi, and mint. Tomatoes will be inside until Mother's Day, and a mango plant which will live inside. Will be fun to see if she likes it and if the plants do well.

Mabel meets Sam

The siblings have met and we are now home

Mabel came to the hospital with her nanny to meet Sam. Things went really well. Sam liked his moose from Mabel, and she liked her gifts from him. The favorite is a doll of Muno from Yo Gabba Gabba, who accompanied her to bed. She gave lots of kisses and practiced holding him. Lots of pictures, which I'll deal with after some sleep.

We were discharged around 5pm and greeted at home by a very excited Mabel and the dogs. Over the next week, I'm convinced Mabel will bring every toy in the house to visit Sam.
Sam is settling in and sleeping so far...we'll see how long that lasts.
Kate is feeling good and glad to be home.

Pics and video tomorrow. Going to try and find sleep.

Introducing Sam

It's a BIG boy!

Sam weighs 9 lb and is 22 inches long.

Everyone is doing great. Sam went right for some food and we're settling in. Mabel is excited to meet him tomorrow and give him a present she picked out.

It's a boy!

Samuel Alexander Muzzey

5:23pm
Measurements soon.

Pushing time

Dilated, effaced. Time to give it a shot.

2PM check

6cm dilated and fully effaced.

Next check in ~3 hours

Relaxing

Streaming Netflix, laughing at Portlandia.

Next check at 2

Pain is well in hand now. Waiting once again.

Epidural is in

Kate is feeling much better now. Thank you anesthesia.

Waiting for epidural

I/V and blood drawn, waiting for epidural. 4cm and 90% effaced.

Working:

In room.

We are in the same room as we were for Mabel. Contractions continue to pick-up, frequency and intensity.

Being triaged

Kate isn't admitted yet, but regular contractions and hooked up to monitors. We'll likely be getting a room shortly.

Belly during contraction:

Mabel was very excited and is now at home playing with a friend and her mom until the nannies step in.

Start the clock

8% of pregnant mothers have their water break naturally. Kate is in that 8%.

T plus 2 days

Still no baby. No progress towards baby. Kate has walked many miles, baked labor cookies, some fancy tea...nothing. Sam is happy and camped out.

Due Date

Today is D Day...and I'm still very pregnant. Since the long day of contractions on Sunday we have had no action in the labor department. Not even a fake contraction. Nothing. I have appointments sent for next week and the week after so for now we just wait and see.

Mabel is doing her best to help me out: taking long walks with me and she helped me make labor inducing cookies this morning. Basically spicy gingersnaps. We will see...

Today isn't looking likely

Because we live so close to the hospital, Kate went in for a quick check...today isn't looking likely. Not much dilation and she is on her way to Mabel and I for lunch.

Timing contractions

For the past hour or so, Kate has been timing contractions. We're not headed in yet, but we've got our network of help prepared for when we do.

Health update

I had my weekly doctor checkup this week and all is well. My blood pressure was actually lower than it had been of late, which is a good thing. I also haven't been having the Braxton Hicks contractions that were plaguing me at the end of last week. I can't imagine that me being done with work had anything to do with those thing! Never!
Other than that Sam sounds fine. My next appointment is the 16th so we will see what happens this week. Not feeling very "laborish" so only time will tell.

LOUD!!!!!

38 week update

Doctor appointment today went well. My blood pressure is still good, no swelling and Sam is measuring right on track. I'm still not dilated at all either, which is very good as I'd like to finish out this week of work with no baby!

Sam update

I realized this morning that we haven't put any Sam health updates on the blog at all. Poor guy is being neglected already.

I am 36 weeks and a few days. At this point there are no signs of the pre-eclampsia I had with Mabel. No protein in the pee, no high blood pressure, and barely any swelling. Knock on wood this keeps up and I will be able to start this labor naturally.

All that said, I have no idea what it feels like to start labor naturally so I kind of feel like we are doing this for the first time. There is something comforting about induction because you know you are safe in the hospital, that your water won't break at some inopportune time, that you will have everything you need in your bag with you, etc. Nice and organized for a type A list maker like me.
I guess I'll just chalk the natural start up to another good opportunity to force me to loosen up!

Pro pics, the belly is revealed

DIY Speakers

Clearly we don't have enough going on between house and baby prep, so I built a pair of speakers for my office. This is my first speaker build and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, and they sound great. They'll move to work next week when a new amp arrives. I am going to leave them raw and not paint or veneer them.

Someday I'll build some new speakers for the theater...not now.

The turkey is done

Well, not really done, but the belly certainly is nearing capacity:

The routine and pretending

Getting Mabel settled in for bedtime stories, she loves to delay. Lots of running around. Sometimes she spreads out blankets and does "gymnastics", consisting of lots of somersaults and donkey kicks.

Lately, we're noticing an increase in the amount of pretending from this little comic. When she is playing with toys, she isn't just moving them around, she is telling them who they are and what they are doing. Tonight, she told a stuffed bear dressed in a Santa outfit that it was 'grandpa' and a stuffed monkey that it was 'grandma'. They got front row seats for her bedtime diaper. When grandpa slumped over, she muttered "I need a new papa." Grandma got shoved under the bed and told that she need to be quiet. Kate and I were also told, individually, that we needed be very quiet because grandma was sleeping. She has us laughing a lot.

Chilly Seattle swinging:


Boot stealing:

Jan 2010 redux

Found some digital pics on my hard drive, almost like an old roll of film. I'd even uploaded the pics, but finding them again squirreled away in the archives made me smile.

Sam in 4D

We had our 3D/4D ultrasound today. Sam was very active. Very. He is also still a boy so good news there.

When we did this with Mabel she spent a majority of the time with her hands in her face. Sam started off just like his sister, but because of all the moving around we had a clear view of his mug soon enough. He clearly wanted to be sleeping so was responding to the ultrasound wand with punches and kicks. I felt every one.

He also seemed to be holding the umbilical cord almost like a lovey. The woman said that sometimes babies do that bc feeling the heartbeat pulsing through it is soothing to them. It was pretty cute. Sam also has a ton of hair. Normally you can see it on the normal u/s, but not the 3D one. With this guy it was very clear on the 3D one which means there is a bunch of it. You could even see his hairline at the beginning. (Just so you know, the lumps on his head in the pics are his hair - not a lumpy head. No need to start buying hats in bulk to cover a lumpy melon.)

M was interested at first, but as is normal with a 2 year old we lost her to some toys at some point.

And yes, picture #2 is of Sam giving us the finger. Just like his mom and dad already.

February sun

Each February, we get a couple days of sun. This weekend was those couple days.

Painted and plastered

Sam's room is now painted. Some touch-ups needed, but the bulk of it is done. Kate is going to be making some curtains for his room and I'll cobble together a curtain-rod from painted electrical conduit. Classy.

The bathroom that we've been ever so deliberately working on and having contractors work on is now plastered. We wanted to keep in the spirit of the house and the guy did an amazing job. The walls are now perfectly flat. Letting the plaster dry out and then will be painting the ceiling white and walls a light blue.

Pictures when things are all done.

New pictures

I finally took some of the pictures off my phone so they are able to be shared.

At the playground:
In her daddy carrier:

Pantless at Christmas:

Painting

M got an easel for Christmas and has been painting a lot. Meaning after 5-6 sheets, we normally have to cut her off for the day. No telling how long she'd go otherwise...

The melt

Temperatures are headed up and the rains will quickly send the snow on its way. Headed to work today without too much trouble. "Plowed" roads: