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| Rowan coming home from the hospital |
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| Nadia coming home from the hospital |
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Meeting the Troops
The introduction of Elsa to our family could not have gone better. Minus the fact that both Rowan and Nadia are sick and we've had to restrict their exposure to her. The catch phrase seems to be "she's so CUTE!" Rowan and Nadia both think she's pretty adorable. Luckily Elsa's temperament has mellowed out a LOT since we've gotten home (she must of shared our feelings about the hospital) and we're all enjoying her sweet personality. The kids are fascinated with how she eats, poops, and farts. When Nadia first saw how the baby ate, she got really scared and said "I don't want her to bite me! I don't want her to bite you!" When I explained that that is how the baby gets milk, Nadia adamantly said "Only cows give milk!" We've since explained a lot about how breastfeeding works and hopefully she isn't too traumatized by the process.
Bless Aunt Chandra! I don't know how we would have gotten through this all without her. There are three adults and three kids and sometimes I feel like we are barely keeping up. We could not have managed without her. Rowan went through Chandy withdrawals when she went to the singles ward instead of our ward. It's going to be rough when she leaves and Steve goes back to work. Sometimes I wonder if it really was a good idea to have a baby during the summer while Rowan is out of school. Of course it hasn't helped that the kids have been sick and out of sorts. But for now we are doing fine because of her and I am so thankful for her willingness to help and how much my kids love her. After she leaves we have about 30 days until grandparents start to arrive. Not that I'll be counting down or anything. :)
She's Here!!
Probably the one thing I didn't get done on my to-do-before-Elsa-is-born list is catch up on my blogging. So now I'm backlogged with 2 months of posts I didn't get to, but I certainly don't want to slog through them all before posting about our sweet little addition to our family. I just have to hope that I can get to those months another time. So without further ado...
Say hello to Elsa Mae Luke!
I was induced at 6:30am on May 29th and she arrived at 11:59am. It was by far my easiest delivery. We were blessed to have Aunt Chandra come the evening before and was able to watch Rowan and Nadia while we were at the hospital. Everything really came together perfectly. I waited until the contractions started to get pretty serious and then got my epidural. It was as good as the one I had with Rowan- I had plenty of movement and could feel the contractions without the pain. Steve and I watched American Pickers on the History Channel most of the morning waiting for me to be fully dilated. I kept telling Steve how much I love epidurals the whole time- they are SO nice. The doctor came to check me and announced I was at a 10 and four pushes later she came out as angry as could be. She was definitely unhappy with the whole process and made it known.
I had a tiny baby! 7 lbs 10 oz! I wasn't quite sure how big she would be, but I think I was a little shocked to have a baby in the 7lb range. She must take after the Lukes more than the Becks.
Screaming with Daddy.
The nurses kept commenting on her temper. It got even more apparent when they started to clean her up. Unfortunately, her displeasure at being bathed continues to be the case even at home. They also ended up suctioning out her stomach since she swallowed so much amniotic fluid, which probably made her even more grumpy.
We ended up leaving the hospital a day early. There was literally someone coming in every 10 minutes. It became almost comical in a "I'm going to knock out the next person that walks through that door" kind of way. We reached our breaking point when a tech came in to "introduce herself" even though I already had a nurse for myself and a nurse for the baby that were coming in on a constant basis. I never saw the tech again and I still don't know exactly what her purpose was. Not to mention the lactation consultants, my doctor, the baby's doctor, the nursery staff, and the most annoying of them all- the hospital photographer. Elsa and I were both sleeping and she came in telling us to get her dressed (none of the clothes we brought ended up fitting Elsa- we were unprepared for such a little baby) and asking for a cute blanket as a prop. The lady obviously had a bad cold and was sniffling all over the baby. Elsa was tired and hungry. Steve kept whispering to me to see if he should ask her to leave. After that experience, we were ready to get home and get some actual rest. Thankfully my doctor completely agreed and signed off to let us go 24 hours early.
A rare moment. Someone probably walked in within moments of Steve taking this picture.
Did I mention she is absolutely adorable? After going through what has to be my most difficult pregnancy, there are no words for how incredibly grateful I am that it is over and that we have been blessed with this sweet girl. I cry just thinking about the worry, pain, and stress that we have gone through the past 9 months only to finally be done. It is a happy ending and a joyous privilege to become parents to this little girl. She is perfect. Thank you to all who were praying on our behalf.
Say hello to Elsa Mae Luke!
Screaming with Daddy.
The nurses kept commenting on her temper. It got even more apparent when they started to clean her up. Unfortunately, her displeasure at being bathed continues to be the case even at home. They also ended up suctioning out her stomach since she swallowed so much amniotic fluid, which probably made her even more grumpy.
We ended up leaving the hospital a day early. There was literally someone coming in every 10 minutes. It became almost comical in a "I'm going to knock out the next person that walks through that door" kind of way. We reached our breaking point when a tech came in to "introduce herself" even though I already had a nurse for myself and a nurse for the baby that were coming in on a constant basis. I never saw the tech again and I still don't know exactly what her purpose was. Not to mention the lactation consultants, my doctor, the baby's doctor, the nursery staff, and the most annoying of them all- the hospital photographer. Elsa and I were both sleeping and she came in telling us to get her dressed (none of the clothes we brought ended up fitting Elsa- we were unprepared for such a little baby) and asking for a cute blanket as a prop. The lady obviously had a bad cold and was sniffling all over the baby. Elsa was tired and hungry. Steve kept whispering to me to see if he should ask her to leave. After that experience, we were ready to get home and get some actual rest. Thankfully my doctor completely agreed and signed off to let us go 24 hours early.
Did I mention she is absolutely adorable? After going through what has to be my most difficult pregnancy, there are no words for how incredibly grateful I am that it is over and that we have been blessed with this sweet girl. I cry just thinking about the worry, pain, and stress that we have gone through the past 9 months only to finally be done. It is a happy ending and a joyous privilege to become parents to this little girl. She is perfect. Thank you to all who were praying on our behalf.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Easter
Some people in our ward organized an Easter Egg Hunt and we were lucky enough to be able to participate. They separated the kids into an older and younger group, which worked out well for Rowan and Nadia. They even had a candy slingshot cannon at the end. I'm glad we were able to attend as I was sick on Easter and doubt I would have gotten it together that weekend. It was nice to go to an organized event at a beautiful location.
Pinewood Derby
It worked really well and is definitely something I'd recommend to anyone in charge of a Pinewood Derby. We also wanted to contribute to the refreshments, so I made close to a hundred homemade donuts. It took two deep cleans to get my kitchen back to normal again. But it was refreshing to feel like I could support Steve in his calling after I have depended (and still do) so much on him while I try to navigate Sunday School. But it was REALLY exhausting and I think we were both so relieved when everything was over. Steve did a great job MCing the event and I think everyone had a good time. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures of him in action. The pictures here are from a friend.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Innocence
When we first moved to the area, one of my main priorities was safety. Columbia was in the top ten for crime per capita in the nation and with Rowan entering school, I wanted to make sure that he would be protected as much as possible. It seems my fears weren't unfounded as I recently found out that a new student to Rowan's class had been transferred to his school because of problems with being bullied. The new kid is super sweet and reminds me of Rowan in a lot of ways, so I felt assured that we had been guided to a good place where Rowan would be safe.
Last week when I went to pick up Rowan from the bus stop, the bus driver mentioned that someone had been killed in the ritzy neighborhood next to us and that the buses weren't going through there. When I got home, there was a recorded message on my phone from the school that was cut off, so all I was able to hear was there had been "an incident." In talking to some ladies in the ward, I found out that a man who was involved with gambling (a bookie apparently) had a disgruntled client come to his house, kill his wife, and threaten to do the same to him if he didn't open up the safe in their house. The husband ended up killing the client with a gun he had stowed away in the safe. The details are still a bit muggy, but suffice it to say I stopped feeling so safe. That only increased when I found out that the couple's son is in Rowan's class and they are good buds. He's another sweet kid that I've worked with multiple times when I volunteered in the classroom. There is also an older daughter who has been affected by this tragedy.
The school has handled the situation well and even had the school counselor come and talk to Rowan's class to help them understand the situation and to properly help the boy when he returns to school. They wrote cards to him and gave him a gift to hopefully help with the loss of his mother. Rowan doesn't seem to realize the gravity of the situation. When I asked him about it, he told me how his friend's mother got shot and how he hoped that wouldn't happen to us. Otherwise it hasn't bothered him that much. But I can't help realizing that as time goes on, I will be increasingly unable to protect my son's innocence from this world. Perhaps Steven and I will avoid having a lot of problems enter our home by adhering to what we know is right, but I can't control the choices of others. I'm just alarmed that it is happening this early.
Rowan came up to Steve and me last night and told us that he knows 3 bad words. In the aftermath of all of this, we braced ourselves for the worst. I remember the things I heard growing up, most of the time not even fully understanding what they meant. I would repeat some of them when I didn't realize their true meaning. So I looked at Rowan and asked him to spell them out for us so we could talk to him about it. The first one he told us, had been written on the Smart board in his classroom.
B-R-A-T
The next one was:
S-T-U-P-I-D
and rounding it out was:
D-U-M (presumably "dumb")
Can I please just keep him this way?
Last week when I went to pick up Rowan from the bus stop, the bus driver mentioned that someone had been killed in the ritzy neighborhood next to us and that the buses weren't going through there. When I got home, there was a recorded message on my phone from the school that was cut off, so all I was able to hear was there had been "an incident." In talking to some ladies in the ward, I found out that a man who was involved with gambling (a bookie apparently) had a disgruntled client come to his house, kill his wife, and threaten to do the same to him if he didn't open up the safe in their house. The husband ended up killing the client with a gun he had stowed away in the safe. The details are still a bit muggy, but suffice it to say I stopped feeling so safe. That only increased when I found out that the couple's son is in Rowan's class and they are good buds. He's another sweet kid that I've worked with multiple times when I volunteered in the classroom. There is also an older daughter who has been affected by this tragedy.
The school has handled the situation well and even had the school counselor come and talk to Rowan's class to help them understand the situation and to properly help the boy when he returns to school. They wrote cards to him and gave him a gift to hopefully help with the loss of his mother. Rowan doesn't seem to realize the gravity of the situation. When I asked him about it, he told me how his friend's mother got shot and how he hoped that wouldn't happen to us. Otherwise it hasn't bothered him that much. But I can't help realizing that as time goes on, I will be increasingly unable to protect my son's innocence from this world. Perhaps Steven and I will avoid having a lot of problems enter our home by adhering to what we know is right, but I can't control the choices of others. I'm just alarmed that it is happening this early.
Rowan came up to Steve and me last night and told us that he knows 3 bad words. In the aftermath of all of this, we braced ourselves for the worst. I remember the things I heard growing up, most of the time not even fully understanding what they meant. I would repeat some of them when I didn't realize their true meaning. So I looked at Rowan and asked him to spell them out for us so we could talk to him about it. The first one he told us, had been written on the Smart board in his classroom.
B-R-A-T
The next one was:
S-T-U-P-I-D
and rounding it out was:
D-U-M (presumably "dumb")
Can I please just keep him this way?
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Scenes of strawberries, across crisp farmland
Strawberry season is here in SC! I bought a pressure cooker a little while ago from a garage sale and decided to embark on the adventure of canning. Little did I know, pressure cooking is mostly used to can meats, but it worked out fine in the end as the one I purchased could also be used in a water bath method. So Nadia and I hit the road early one morning to go to a local farm and get some strawberries for jam.
The fields were packed with beautiful red strawberries! I didn't even have to supervise what kind of berries Nadia was putting in her bucket because 90% of them were good to go and she had no trouble leaving behind the green ones. We went down 1/3 of a row before we had 3 overflowing ice cream sized buckets full of these red beauties.
We might have sampled a few along the way too.
After Nadia had filled her bucket, she decided to be the photographer. She seemed to have a propensity towards taking pictures of people bending over while they were picking strawberries. I edited most of those out. :)
The fields were packed with beautiful red strawberries! I didn't even have to supervise what kind of berries Nadia was putting in her bucket because 90% of them were good to go and she had no trouble leaving behind the green ones. We went down 1/3 of a row before we had 3 overflowing ice cream sized buckets full of these red beauties.
We might have sampled a few along the way too.
After Nadia had filled her bucket, she decided to be the photographer. She seemed to have a propensity towards taking pictures of people bending over while they were picking strawberries. I edited most of those out. :)
At some point, she decided it wasn't fun anymore. Probably when I took away the camera. Or when she rightfully decided three buckets was more than we would ever need.
In the following three days we made 24 jars of canned jam, 10 cans of freezer jam (including one big tub full that I had no more jars for), strawberry milkshakes, strawberry waffles, and we still had one big bucket left over that I just froze as is. I've never canned before, so I was kind of proud of myself for figuring it out on the first try. And I'm starting to see that if I get serious about canning my produce from the garden, I'm going to have to come up with some good storage solutions! Also, I might need to find someone willing to clean up after me when I'm done. It took 3 cleanings of the kitchen to get it back to normal when I was done.
Oh, and it tastes divine!
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