Pictures and Perspective

The other day Josh remarked that I hadn't written a blog post in a while, and that I should remedy that. If this doesn't completely shock you, then it should. Josh is about as pro-internet as a hermit living in Siberia, which is something I really love about him. So, honey, this one's for you. 

Here's a summation of our activities in the past few months:

We've been reading lots of books. LOTS. Sometimes when James isn't looking I skip a few pages on the books that I find completely insufferable, but he's starting to get wise to that trick. Most of the books are pleasant, and I don't mind re-reading them a thousand times, but there are a few that I just can't handle, namely I Love You Forever (James always asks why I'm bawling by the end of it), The Cat in the Hat (I guess I'm a wuss when it comes to tongue-twisting prose), and any of the Thomas the Tank Engine books (Uh, Sir Topham Hatt needs to get himself some reliable engines STAT if he wants to make any money at all).

A lovely 8 foot tree that James adored. He was great about the ornaments this year, and none were broken by the time we packed it up! Whew! Although he did have problems waiting to open presents until Christmas. On two occasions I found him sneaking presents, and it was incredibly difficult to not laugh at him when I walked in the room, caught him red-handed, and he yelled, "AH! Go away Mom!"

I had a birthday and to celebrate we made a fort in the dining room. I'm now 27 and plan to make celebratory forts every year from now on.

We blessed Rupert in church, and he was an angel child. He didn't make a peep and kept his wiggling to a minimum. Josh gave him a lovely blessing which included a blessing that he will always listen to his mother. I'm hoping he remembers that when he's 16. There's a picture all the way at the end of this post that is a great size comparison of James and Rupert in the same blessing outfit.

Tummy time is a family affair.

More books. Books in bed, books in the car, books in the bath, books on the potty.

Lots of holiday baking happened in our house. James and I made our weight in sugar cookies for church functions (and our own consumption), and I was a cool mom and let him lick the beater. Baking with a two year-old has got to be the most patience-inducing activity on earth. I had to remind myself about 168 times that he was little and uncoordinated, and that's ok. Children make messes and that's ok. Two year-olds don't care about the perfect thickness of sugar cookies, and that's ok. But in the end it was pretty fun for the both of us. 

We went to go see the lights at the Mesa temple and James was less than impressed. He mostly spent his time running up and down aisles of chairs. He was interested in all the nativity scenes and we walked the circuit five or six times making sure we had seen all of the baby Jesuses. We talked about Jesus a lot this Christmas and how this time was the time we celebrate his birth. While I don't think he's able to comprehend that much, he does talk about Jesus a lot in our conversations, and I'm good with that for now.

This expression is common on Rupert's face. Whether he's being enthusiastically loved on by his brother, or the witness to one of James' meltdowns, there's usually something to be alarmed of in this house.

All my boys. I love being able to say, "My boys." There's something very satisfying about it.

Even James has trouble getting through a Thomas the Train book.

James on the left, Rupert on the right. And they're both the same age here. I'm worried about them when they're about 11 and 13, and Rupert ends up being four inches taller and thirty pounds heavier, and they have a disagreement about something. Yikes!

I'm finishing this post up a few days after writing it, and I'm definitely having one of those moments of mom bliss. I was rocking James to put him down for a nap and I had an overwhelming feeling of gratitude (GAH! There I go with the tears!) for these two boys. I know everyone always says it's a struggle, and they're absolutely right. Sometimes I can't stand being a mother - children know how to push your buttons in the most annoying way possible, but far more often I feel an immense joy and sense of responsibility. I'm intensely grateful that I get to hang out with them on a daily basis. Ok, wiping the tears off my keyboard and pushing publish now.

Baby time!

Both of the kids are sleeping right now (it's a miracle!) so I'm going to hammer out a lovely little blog post about Rupert's birth and the ensuing couple of weeks. Allons-y!

These pictures are going to be way out of order, so I'm just going to pretend that it was on purpose and that I'm doing a cool modern-artsy thing.

This is Rupert. You'll learn more about his entrance into the world later on.

My mom came down for a week and we decided to go to the Butterfly Atrium up in Scottsdale one afternoon. This lovely lady on the left tried to show James a buckeye that was sipping some nectar off the sponge in her hand, and James repaid that kindness by completely melting down and sobbing about the fact that a stranger had approached him with a butterfly on a stick. The poor guy is in the throes of stranger danger right now, and he's still a little wary of butterflies. We're working on it.

This is my wonderful friend Whitney who put together a little postpartum baby shower that was absolutely delightful. Fun games, delicious food, good company, what more could you ask for?

Rupert is a fantastic snuggler! Picture taken by my highly-skilled photographer mother.

Can you get over how incredibly cute this kid is? I can't either. It's ok.

While Nana Sue was here, James rekindled his love of the community splash pad. Unfortunately it gets turned off the first of October, so we'll have to wait until next April to enjoy it again. Hopefully he remembers how fun it is.

These two could play together for ages. 

Best day ever.

Ah! We've come to the part of the pictures where Rupert joins our family! Here are the boys on our way home from the hospital.

Here I am three weeks before giving birth. Holy cannoli, look at that midsection. I actually had a woman ask me if I was having twins. I didn't gain much weight after this picture was taken, but I did get bigger, as evidenced by the reactivation and growth of my stretch marks left over from James. Wahoo.

Here I am, in labor.

Here's how it went down: I had been having extremely sporadic contractions for days, so I didn't really pay attention to them any more. The only time they were coming one right after the other was a few Sundays before Rupert was born. I called a girl at my church and told her I was was having some pretty exciting contractions, and that she would have to find some subs for Nursery, as Josh and I wouldn't be there. Somehow that turned into Rupert's impending brith being announced over the pulpit. This explained why when several members of our congregation saw me later in the week, still pregnant, they looked extremely confused.

My water broke at home on Thursday the 29th around 12pm (3 days overdue), right after I had put James down for a nap (tender mercy!). I called Josh and informed him of this, and he left work and picked up our babysitter (the fantastic Whitney mentioned above) and headed home. Since I was induced with James, I had not experienced going into labor spontaneously before, so I had a tiny little panic attack. After hyperventilating for a few seconds, I called my friend Allison, and she told me to calm down and start packing the last-minute things for the hospital. I am ever so grateful for her advice. I put the last few things we needed into our hospital bag and waited for Josh to get there. Strangely enough, I had no contractions. Not even one. If this was labor, it was awesome!

Since I had tested positive for Group B streptococcus, we had to head to the hospital right away so they could start me on penicillin. We arrived at the hospital, still having very few contractions, and they started the penicillin. A couple of hours later I still wasn't having contractions, so they started some Pitocin to kickstart the whole birthing process. All I needed was a little activation energy, and I started to progress quite nicely. To pass the time, Josh and I watched Dr. Who while I squeezed the bujeebies out of his hand during the contractions. Around 7pm I had a lovely epidural that didn't work all the way on my right side, so I still had to breathe through the contractions a little. I actually preferred having it not completely numb, as I could feel when to push. I got to the point where I felt the urge to push, but the doctor was finishing up an emergency c-section at the time, so I had to hold him in for about 10 minutes. Not pushing is even harder than pushing, surprisingly. The doctor arrived, and I started pushing around 9:25, and Rupert was born at 9:39pm. He was delivered by Dr. Vaziri with no complications, and thanks to him, I only tore a small amount on my previous episiotomy scar. 

He was 9 lbs, 9 ounces, 21" and very healthy. That's a huge baby. Huge. I didn't think I would have a bigger baby than James at 8 lbs, 13 ounces, but I was proved extremely wrong. The measuring of his length was a bit off, as he was 22.5" at his 2 week checkup, but that's ok.

We named him Rupert Hugo, because we just liked the name Rupert. It's classic, but still unique. He was given the middle name Hugo after his great-great uncle on Josh's mom's side. He was a kind and loving person to Josh's family, and we wanted to honor him for that. Plus, we really liked the name Hugo too.

The literal fruits of my labors. Well, he's not an actual fruit, but you know what I mean.

Still not sure about this whole out-of-utero thing.

One proud papa. Josh was wonderful through the whole birthing process. He was supportive, and tried to make me laugh when the contractions were especially rough. He wasn't always successful, but I appreciated his effort. Also, look at the size of Rupert's massive noggin. Whoa.

Just look at those cheeks. They go on for miles.

James wasn't sure about Rupert for a whole week. Then one night he asked to hold him, and they've been inseparable ever since. He gets frustrated when I can't pay attention to him all the time, but that frustration is never aimed at Rupert. 

Nana Sue is also an exceptional snuggler.

Guess who got into mom's makeup bag while she wasn't looking! This kid.

This is how most of James and Rupert's interactions go. James loves on Rupert, and Rupert gets sad because he's usually being picked up or poked against his will. 

First smile.

Our two children are basically identical. Rupert is just a little chunkier, but they have the exact same mouth and nose. The eyes are a little different, but not much. However, their personalities are very different. James was a difficult baby, but Rupert is a dream. He eats extremely well (also because nursing the second time around is a bajillion times easier), sleeps well, and doesn't cry unnecessarily! He's a wonder child!

Look at that face! So cute!

Being a mom of two is harder in some respects and easier in others. I've mastered the art of grocery shopping with tow children, and honestly, that was what I was most worried about. Since the weather is cooler now, we go to the park or the desert, and it's been wonderful so far. 

T-Minus 8(ish) Days

That's how long we have to wait, maximum, until Baby LeMaistre #2 arrives. To be honest, I still wake up in the middle of the night panicking about how on earth I'm going to take care of two children, when one of them is already so time consuming. But thankfully Big J gets two weeks off work when the baby's born, and then my mom will be coming down for a week, so I won't have to do it on my own for a little while at least.

So what have we been doing while we've been waiting (not so patiently) for our family to expand? A lot, actually! We drove up past Payson, AZ to a couple nice lakes and spent some time hunting for crawdads and splashing around in streams.

This studious little kid quickly turned into...

...this sleepy little kid. He'll make a great college student.

The drive was only two hours and it was totally worth it. Beautiful scenery on the way there, and some gorgeous view from the Mogollan Rim.

That's not bad, eh?

The lake was beautiful, and there was some great wildlife. We got to see an osprey catch a fish, and a couple humans catch fish too. There were some jays around the campground, and some red tails circling overhead. We walked around the lake a bit and then followed a stream up to the main road.

Lake + fudgesicle = extreme happiness

The weather was perfect. Mid 70s on top of the rim, and mid 80s just down off the rim. We left the lake and headed back towards Payson, but decided to stop at a fish hatchery that was off the main road a bit. It closed 15 minutes after we got there, but we still had a great time. The blackberries were in season so we spent a lot time just stuffing ourselves with them. The scratches and pokes from the thorns were totally worth it.

Little J tried his hardest to free the fishes, but to no
avail. Either that, or he thought that was a
steering wheel.

We got home exhausted and sunburnt, and it was perfect. Being so close to my due date, we brought along the hospital bag, just in case (and I checked to see if the hospital in Payson was covered under our insurance - it was), but alas, we didn't need it.

Last night we had some great adventures too! Some friends invited us on a flashlight tour of the Desert Botanical Gardens and since we had some free passes through the library, we took them up on their offer. We had some dinner first at a fantastic Indian place in Tempe called the Dhaba Cafe. Apparently since you ALWAYS need a reservation (according to the hostess), they didn't have room for us at first, but since Big J had struck up a conversation with the owner a few minutes previous, and were becoming fast friends, they made some accommodations. That's something I love about Big J; he can talk to anyone about anything, and find something in common. Also, being a GIANT pregnant lady can usually score you a few sympathy points too.

Little J thoroughly enjoyed the rickshaw out front.
He also thoroughly enjoyed and ate most of
my chicken makhani. :(

The gardens were stunning at night. And since there was a big monsoonal moisture weather system moving in, it was fairly cool too, with it only being 94 instead of 104. Yay?

Totally gorgeous, no?

Little J and his friend ready to enjoy the night life.

There were great little educational kiosks about geckos, snakes, agaves, saguaros and toads. Little J had the best time playing with the flashlight, and the adults had a great time taking in all the scenery. And speaking of toads, we also spotted this little guy:

Now that we've done all kinds of adventuring, it's time for baby #2 to come. I mean seriously, I can hardly remember a time when I wasn't massively pregnant. Hopefully that comes sooner than later, and all four of us can go on adventures together!

You Might as Well Be Walkin' on the Sun

Here's how Little J and I feel about summertime in Phoenix:

Notice the slightly frustrated expression and the lack
of physical activity.

It's not just hot; it's a whole different level of hot that I have never experienced before. It sucks the air out of you when you walk outside, and doesn't give it back, even when there's a breeze. It permeates everything from the steering wheel to the 4 inches of air next to the inside of your windows. It's incredible that animals have evolved to survive in this kind of environment, because humans are terrible at it. I am amazed that 4.6 million people live in the Phoenix area. AMAZED. The native people who lived here left during the summer (as they should), but us modern humans are too stubborn to leave, and instead we stay and swelter. Sometimes I think Phoenix is just a giant monument to man's stubbornness.

So, what do a heavily pregnant lady and a toddler who like to be outside do in this kind of environment? We go to the pool. A lot. Sometimes we go twice a day. Little J has quite the swim diaper tan, let me tell you what. We also frequent the park (before 9am), and the zoo, where we see this guy on a regular basis:

Something about a fish the size of a small child terrifies me, but
not so for Little J.

We also visited a place up in Scottsdale called Butterfly Wonderland. Apparently it's North America's largest indoor butterfly atrium and also sports an aquarium and a bee and ant exhibit. We had such a great time! Kids under two are free, so we snuck in two visits before Little J turns two at the end of the month.

Apart from sweating out my body weight inside the atrium, it was totally
wonderful. Little J is looking a little sweaty here too.

Bzzzzzz!

Thankfully these weren't the africanized killer bees. 

Some eyes looking at some eye spots.

A really nice gentleman gave Little J a hat that he adores
now. Every time we go outside he has to wear it.

Little J is still talking about a butterfly that landed on his head. We made some butterfly crafts, and they're his new favorite thing.

We also visited the Children's Museum up in downtown with a friend, and Little J would never have left if I hadn't bribed him with fruit snacks. His favorite thing was the toothpaste car, but the racetrack was a close second.

And you can get to your destination with nice minty
fresh breath.

The best part about the Arizona summer is the monsoon season. It just began, and it has been a whopper of a season so far. Lots of lightning, thunder, torrential downpours, and dust storms, and we still have another month to go. Boo ya! The storms take the temperature down, and we love playing in the puddles in the aftermath. The sunsets are also phenomenal, as you can see:

From this...

...to this just 15 minutes later! It was followed by a massive lightning storm.

As Little J gets older, it's getting to be more and more fun to be his mom. He's a total goof, and we spend a lot of our time giggling and being exceptionally silly. One of his new favorite things is singing songs, and sometimes I hear him singing to himself when he's playing with his cars or riding in the car. His favorites are "Once there was a Snowman", "Popcorn Popping", and "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam". Here are two of his (and his father's) musical performances, for your auditory pleasure:

                                                     

That's all, folks!