Steady As We Go

It's hard to believe that five years have passed since Scott and I said our "I do's".  I still remember every moment of our wedding day, from waking up to the rain that morning, seeing each other for the first time just outside of our church with the rain lightly falling above us, running out to the limo under a rainstorm of bubbles from our guests.....you get the picture.  "They" say that rain on your wedding day will bring you good luck.  We had enough rain that day to bring us a century of luck.

However, as we all know, you certainly need more than luck to make a marriage work.  It takes work from both parties,  understanding,  patience and support from your family and friends (just to name a few important pieces that come to my mind). 

Five years ago we committed our love to each other and couldn't wait to see what life had in store for us.  I truly feel God has blessed our marriage and am thankful that we work hard to keep Him a center in our marriage, admittedly some days more than others.  He had a plan for us, though we didn't know it quite yet.  Just a month before our marriage, we were so lucky to be introduced to a wonderful group of people through a study at our church that happened to be in the same boat as us - both in age and relationships.  This group has made such a big impact on the health of our marriage, more than they could possibly know. For that,  I am so thankful to you all and hope that we have helped in some way as well.

In just 5 years, we have had the opportunity to travel, make our house a "home", see our favorite band in countless numbers of shows around the country and most importantly, be blessed to have two healthy and happy children. With the good times also comes the tough. We've also experienced sadness from a miscarriage,  worries over family dealing with serious health problems,  even the possibility of me losing my job while pregnant.  Through it all we've leaned on each other and our faith in God.

There is a line from the song "Steady As We Go" by Dave Matthews Band that we danced to for our first dance as husband and wife:

"When your load gets heavy girl,  I will lift you up"

Scott,  you have more than lived up to this in the 5 years as my husband.  I feel so lucky to have you as my partner in this journey of life and as the father of my children.  Thank you for making me your wife five years ago.  I look forward to every year with you!

Six Months with Addie Rose

**This post was written last week,  just realized I never published it!**

As we're well into her 6th month, I'm feeling....embarrassed.  I can't believe I have been so horrible at documenting our new addition.  Lately the only time I have to share about Miss Addison Rose is sharing a quick picture I've snapped on my phone.  Thankfully I've started a new project for both of the kids (keeping a separate journal for each of them), so their lives ARE being tracked somewhere! ;)

We're still somewhat in survival mode in our house.  Learning to juggle two full-time jobs, the house, a busy toddler and a little baby girl trying so hard to keep up with her rambunctious brother......oh, and we can't forget Koda (who I'm sure is feeling forgotten these days)! Phew!  Let's just say most weekends we're playing catch up.

Addison had her 6 month check up the end of February and she is growing steady.  Staying right around the 22nd percentile in all categories,  she's on the smaller end of the spectrum, but no concerns from her pedi.  She's eating plenty and we actually started her on solids that night.  First food was smashed up avocado and she loved every bite!  She's also tried bananas,  peas and yogurt. 

She's working on sitting up and will last about 5-10 seconds before toppling down.  I imagine within the next month she'll have this trick mastered!

7 months is creeping up quickly,  so I'll leave you with her first 6 month shots :-)

Introducing Addison Rose!

Those of you with multiple children (actually, any children!) will probably understand why it's taken a whole month to introduce our little girl to the blog.  To say we're busy is an understatement!  Friends with just one kiddo right now?  Enjoy it, trust me.  We had no idea how easy our life was with just little P until we added this cutie to the mix.  Absolutely worth it, don't get me wrong.  Absolutely exhausting too ;)

Speaking of Parker, he has taken on the big brother role wonderfully.  Everyday he wakes up asking "where's my baby?" as well as when he returns home from daycare.  It's so dang cute.  He kisses and hugs her goodnight and shows so much love to her already.  I'm curious how it will change once she's old enough to snag his toys?!  We shall see :)

Now back to Addison.....she wasted no time making her entrance into the world, once she decided it was time.  I was 3 days late and awoke Saturday morning, August 10th with a few labor signs.  Contractions started later on that morning, but nothing consistent, so off to Parker's first movie we went!  Contractions continued throughout the day, but they did not really start to "count" (in my opinion) until right around 4pm.  We decided Parker would head to my parents house for the night, just in case this was the real deal, clueless that our little girl would be here in just a few short hours.

After Scott came home, I decided to attempt some rest as I had no idea how long this would last and knew I'd need every ounce of energy.  Netflix was playing in our room, but I was already having a hard time concentrating on anything playing.  Snacked a little as well and at some point Scott ran to get himself a quick bite from Bandit Burrito (I declined, not curious to see how mexican food may reappear !).  Not long after he returned the contractions continued to intensify, so I transitioned to the tub as this was the most soothing during Parker's labor.  I quickly learned that every labor is different as this did not provide the relief I had hoped for.

By 7pm, I decided we should head to the hospital.  We had been in contact with our doula throughout the whole day and informed her of this decision.  I feared we were leaving the house too soon (our goal was for another natural, non-medicated birth like Parker's) and didn't want to end up laboring at the hospital too long.  Boy, was I wrong!

All of us reached the hospital shortly before 8 (I believe) and they sent us to triage.  A few minutes later I started feeling like I needed to push - RIGHT NOW!  We informed the nurse, who checked me right away and informed us that the water bag was bulging and I was dilated to a 9.  This pushed them into high gear and I was wheeled to a room immediately.  They didn't even have time to officially check me in and thankfully the midwife on call was waiting downstairs since she lives out of town.  I don't know the exact details, but from what I recall, I started pushing shortly after getting into the bed.  After about 20-30 minutes of pushing, at 8:49pm, our little girl was born!!  A full pound and a few ounces more than Parker, she weighed in at 7 lbs., 12.2 oz.

Declining to find out the gender was without a doubt the best decision we've ever made.  The pure joy and excitement in the last few minutes before she was born was incredible, a feeling that could never be duplicated.  And for anyone that doubted Scott could wait and NOT look at the envelope providing this information?  I can verify that his look of surprise was genuine, it was truly a surprise to him!

Welcome to the world Addison Rose, we are so happy to have you in our family!

3rd trimester is nearing....

....yikes. Which probably explains why I'm so zonked out tired these days! You know it's a bad sign when your body aches and you're already exhausted by 8 am every morning!

Second trimester has truly flown by for us. Thankfully it has been uneventful and the nasty, all day "morning sickness" has disappeared.

Baby Scholten #2 is growing like a weed and getting stronger and stronger everyday. Late afternoon and just before bed seem to be the baby's active points of the day, so we'll see if that rings true once it's joined us outside of the womb. It definitely has a knack for creeping daddy out when it moves and pokes my belly into such strange shapes. It's such an amazing feeling to experience, the miracle of carrying and growing our little babies are experiences I'll forever be grateful for!

We're still holding strong on Team Green and if Scott has peeked at the envelope, he's doing a great job of hiding it!

Backstory if you haven't heard it yet. Before we reached the 20 week mark, we had the "do we find out the gender?" discussion. I wanted to be Team Green with Parker, but gave in and as we know, found out. This time around, I chose to stick with Team Green (gotta have some motivation in the delivery room now that I know what I'm getting into with labor!) but Scott was still insistent on finding out if we would be blessed with another boy or have a girl. We met in the middle. At the ultrasound, the screen was shut off when they reached that point. They still took pictures, which were put into an envelope and given to Scott to look at his own discretion. I have complete faith that it will be a secret kept until the baby is born and in the meantime, he's having fun with it. Some days he tells me we need to focus on girl names, the next it's boys. Better to have fun with it, I say. :-)

Now that Parker is settled in his big boy room (I'll have to share pictures soon!), we're starting to work on the nursery. Paint color is picked and today we focused on getting the bins of newborn "stuff" out from storage in the basement. I had forgotten just how much "stuff" we had - wow. Let's just say I have a lot of laundry to keep me busy in the coming weeks. Thankfully, squishy newborn cloth diapers are so dang cute. I never thought I would be a person to get excited over that topic, but now that P has outgrown his cloth diapers, I'm strangely looking forward to diapering a tiny little newborn. I'm sure this excitement will have dwindled by say, September? ;)

So I leave you with pictures of our basement as of right now (and a close up of the bin of diapers, seriously, so tiny and cute!).Anyone that enjoys laundry and organizing (or painting!), feel free to stop on by!

Milestone Monday!

Guess what little cutie just told me he "go potty" and then proceeded to actually pee IN the potty?! Nope, not Scott, I'm still training him ;)

Parker did!!! We're so proud and while I know we have a long ways to go before potty-training is done, this is a BIG step.

We introduced the potty to Parker a few months ago just to familiarize him with it and see where it went. So there have been many days and nights of him sitting or standing at the potty only to seconds later say "I done!". However, daycare has been working close with him and even this weekend he told each of us twice "I pooping!" Both times the job was already done, but hey, at least he told us? Gotta start somewhere!

And now I just realized I've devoted a full post to the topic of going potty. Welcome to parenthood, toddler style.

Why hello Terrible Two's, how nice of you to join us...

...Not. And you know what scares me even more? I hear three is worse.

I'm hoping this new attitude is a fluke thing (as the experienced parents are laughing at me while you read this). Who knows, probably not.

Meals the last week have been a complete fail. That toddler phase where you can count on one hand what they will eat? Yep, we're there. Tonight was a handful of shredded cheese and applesauce (the yummy chicken fajitas and grilled veggies went untouched). Last night, I think he ate two noodles. The boy that I thought would always be my perfect eater...not so much anymore.

Spreading his wish to be Mr. Independent across the board, P's favorite response to any question - "No!" After dumping the laundry basket, giggling and shouting "all fall down", this was his response when I asked him to please pick up the clothes. And the same when it's time to pick up toys, etc., etc. You get the picture ;)

Mornings have been rather interesting as well. Who knew a two year old boy had such an opinion about what he will wear each day?!

So life has been a little challenging here, but all in all most days he's cracking us up and putting the biggest smiles on our face. We love him dearly, no matter what stage we're in!

Sunday Snow Fun!

After church today, Scott decided to clean up the dusting of snow we got last night. His handy little helper, Parker, had more fun than actually helping. Perks of being only two, you can still get away with skimping out on the work ;)

Turning two!

If you read my Facebook status earlier today, then you know Parker started his birthday celebration early today. Can't blame him, might as well get the most out of the day, right?

A good friend (thanks Rachel!) gave us the idea of celebrating his birthday at the new Pizza Ranch in Ankeny. What an awesome idea! Yummy food, great service AND a basketball court to shoot an endless amount of balls. This sealed the deal for Parker (and no cleaning at home equals one happy mommy!).

Our section was blocked off with a window to the basketball court, so getting him to pay attention to anything else was near impossible. It was tough to even get him to finish one piece of pizza, which if you know P, is just plain strange.

We did manage to divert his attention long enough for presents and cake (which he thoroughly enjoyed), but after that he was asking anyone who cared - "I see ball?!"

Overall, it was a very successful night and birthday. A big thank you to our family for coming out on the bone chilling weather to celebrate!!

As year two comes to an end....

I wonder how we are here already?! Two? Friday was two years since Parker's due date, yet it barely seems like a year ago.

Parker is such a little man now. He's a talking fool, picking up new words nearly everyday. Be careful what you say around him, he's likely to repeat immediately ;)

Although his first tooth didn't pop until 18 months, he's quickly caught up and now has a mouthful of teeth. In fact, his first dentist appointment is just weeks away (and I'm a little scared how it will, not gonna lie!).

Sadly, the week of his birthday brings us his first "surgery". Parker will be getting tubes on Monday, here's hoping this helps fight off the ear infections he's been prone to.

His favorite game these days is hiding - under a blanket, makeshift fort or in a tent. You name it, he'll find a place to hide!

Thankfully, my little guy gave mom some much needed and appreciated cuddle time today. Halfway through his nap he woke up on tears, so I gladly took the opportunity to rock and cuddle him back to sleep for another hour. I know my days are numbered for these chances, so I'll take what I can get!

Check back soon for more about his birthday celebration next weekend!

Doggie convention

Meeting of the minds (paws) possibly?

Parker's got a secret...

I could pretend this is the reason I haven't blogged for over 4 months...yikes! Has it been that long?

It's true what they say (whoever they are) - being pregnant with a toddler is tough stuff! Not only is he a ball of non-stop energy, but add in total exhaustion and morning sickness that lasts all day, and you have one pooped mommy. Good thing daddy is in tip top shape. Scott has been an absolute blessing, covering all jobs I'm lacking in these days.

My only hope is now that we're coming out of the first trimester, life will get somewhat back to normal for this mom. One can hope, right?

So there you have it, our big news for 2013! We hope the new year will bring you just as much fun and excitement!!

Parker "mucking"

While getting him ready for bed a few weeks ago, I taught P how to jump....into my arms from the changing table :)

Here's a video I shot tonight of him jumping (mucking as he says it!) on the floor and off of his new potty bench.

The video doesn't give the full effect since I'm usually catching him, but couldn't while holding the camera. It's still cute nonetheless!

Check it out :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY3EMa6YRzw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

A Garden "Without Weeds"

You may recall reading this post back in February about the passing of my great-grandmother Marie Caraher.  The end of July, most of her family (a large one at that, eleven children, 27 grandchildren, 37 great grandchildren and 18 great, great grandchildren!) was able to gather together for her memorial service and to celebrate the great life she lived. Her children and their families are literally scattered all over the country, coming from as far as the Domenican Republic, Canada, Oregon, the east coast, many more locations as well as right here in Iowa.  It was a wonderful celebration and great to chat with family we rarely have the opportunity to see (just wish it was under better circumstances!).  

Her son Denny is a wonderfully talented musician who has written many songs telling tales from his childhood and about the family. I highly encourage you to check out his website!  I'd like to share this beautiful song he sang for us in honor of his mother, my great-grandmother.  His website gives some backstory to points of the song.  One addition I'd like to make - one of the two "raising hell in heaven", Rosie, is my grandmother who also passed away recently, in October of last year.  I know she, along with Grandma Caraher, are enjoying this song together with Jimmy and Grandpa Caraher.  

Grandma, I look forward to one day helping you in that garden without weeds.  We love and miss you!

http://www.radioboymusic.com/news-2/

We've got ourselves a little bandit...

...applesauce bandit, that is! Snagged this pic Friday morning before work. P is a pro at cleaning out our lazy susan.

Vacation Day Five (last day - boo!)

Friday was pool day! The family chilled at home that morning munching on cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We had hoped to make it to the pool for the free "toddler time", but P decided to sleep a little later in his morning nap (and we all know the rule - do NOT wake a sleeping baby!).

By noon, we were headed out the door, and it was plenty warm by then. Parker was very excited once we entered the gates of the pool. We had gone there once before for our church family swim about a month earlier and he knew what was to come. In fact, once we were in the pool, it didn't take him long to toddle right over to the slide. He would have played on it all afternoon if we would have let him. We explained that other kids wanted the chance to enjoy it just like him (whether he actually understood this is anybody's guess!).

We definitely enjoyed our time there, which included a few trips around their lazy river (they had floats for babies!), lots of splashing in the pools and under waterfalls, and hanging out with one of our small groups' mama and her little dude Cameron.

Naturally there are zero pics since both Scott and I were in the water with him, but rest assured he was rocking his swim gear and spider hat ;)

Vacation Week - Day Three & Four

Day Three:

It was Wednesday already, boo! Amazes me how fast time goes, especially when you're having fun :)

We initially had plans to have a morning play date with Rachel and Parker's buddy Jeremiah, but unfortunately we just couldn't make our schedules work.  Due to our freed up schedule, Parker and I decided to pay daddy a visit at work!  Parker made out like a bandit, snagging up a ball and nerf toy from Scott's desk.  He had fun chatting up Scott's co-workers and throwing the ball in his recycle bin.

After this stop, I realized it was Parker's half birthday today!  So in honor of that, we stopped at a local store and picked out a new toy for him (since we don't already look like a mini Toys 'R Us at home).  Parker had fun playing with several toys, but finally decided to take this baby home (in the seal version):

http://www.plantoys.com/products.php?Id=5182

He loved his new toy so much that he attempted to play and "roll" in in the car on the way home!  Once daddy came home later that day, he was so excited to show it off.  Unfortunately, I haven't caught in on camera.  The rest of the day was spent hanging out at home and just enjoying each other's company :)

Day Four:

Thursday was Omaha Zoo day!!  We were so excited for our mini trip, even if it was a little warmer than we would prefer to trek around the zoo all day.  Scott had an early breakfast meeting that day, so we were on the road by 9am.  It was a fast trip with minor whines from the back seat, Parker took a short nap and by 11ish, we pulled into the local Jimmy John's for a bite to eat.

The zoo was just down the road from Jimmy John's, so we loaded up and headed on over.  The day was spent wandering through the jungle, aquarium (where P gazed at the many fish and sharks) and a few other enclosed areas (these were air conditioned thankfully!) as well as outside to see the many giraffes, rhinoceros, monkeys, tigers, etc.  He loved to get out at the inside exhibitions and walk up to the glass.  Ook, ooh! was his favorite expression and he just couldn't get enough of the gorillas.

Daddy and P (and the sharks!)

Mommy and P (and a gorilla in the background)

Ook!  Ook!

Sorry, that is it for pictures.  We brought a camera, but sadly it sat untouched in the stroller.  Good thing for camera phones, huh?!

P really was a trooper, we hit just about every exhibit and zero whining came out of his mouth.  We piled in the car about 2-1/2 hours later and that kid was zonked out before we were even out of the parking lot.  Pooped from the heat, Scott and I decided a trip through the Dairy Queen drive-thru was well deserved for the car ride home.  I'm pretty sure a blizzard has never tasted so good!

Vacation Week - Day Two

Tuesday started out much like Monday! We went to a local park and played, then P insisted I stop at Starbucks on the way home (at least that's how I recall it!). Mama could get used to days like this ;)

Parker headed over to daycare for a few hours in the afternoon so I could get the second coat of paint on the basement walls. He really has a great time at daycare and that day was no exception. He and our provider's son were running hot laps in the house with the toy cars when I showed up. Makes me happy to see him having fun and playing so well with the other kids!

We had a fun night ahead of us as well. Good friends invited us to join them at the Indianola Balloon Festival, so off we went to meet everyone for a quick bite at Pizza Ranch.  Our little eater filled up on the goods at the Ranch, then we headed off to pick up Uncle Scott and Aunt Tina, who decided to celebrate their wedding anniversary at the balloon festival with us (they live in Indianola).  Tina lucked out on two days in a row of Parker time!

Just a couple of balloons were in the air by the time we made it, so we settled down on our blankets and enjoyed great company.  It was so much fun and Parker and I were sad daddy couldn't join us since he was in Omaha for work when we left, but we were sure to take lots of pictures so he wouldn't feel left out!

Just your typical purple people eater :)

Mom, look at all of those balloons!

Mom, what is wrong with his eyes?

Lemonade break (Aunt Tina insisted he asked for it)

And what goes best with lemonade? Corn dog of course.  You know, because we didn't just eat dinner.

Vacation Week - Day One

As I mentioned previously, last week I was on vacation. Actually staycation is a better term. There were a few projects to take care of around the house, the biggest being painting the basement. So glad to have that done!

Monday morning Parker and I decided to take it easy. Breakfast around 7ish, then a little play at home while mom did some cleaning. By 8am, P was loaded in the jogging stroller and off for a run at the local park we went!

I haven't ran regularly since the Dam to Dam in early June, so needless to say it was a struggle (thankful the mornings were still cool!) and I will not be sharing my turtle time. The important part is we got out and enjoyed the fresh air!

The Johnston Parks and Rec guys were doing work on the big kids area, but the little kids playground was still open. P loved watching them with their machines and trucks, yelling and staring at the men at any given time. He loves the slide and could have bounced on the horse for hours!

Ooh. What do we have here?

Mom.  Really?  I'm in the goofiest outfit ever.

Ook! Trucks!  Hey dudes.

We headed home shortly after to clean up and head to P's 18 month appointment (see previous post for stats!). Aunt Tina was nice enough to meet us for lunch afterwards. It was definitely a great start to vacation :)

Test - first post from my phone!

This is just a test, repeat this is just a test. Heehee. Sorry, I'm a bit of dork sometimes (my husband will attest to that, I'm sure).

I just downloaded the blogger app on my phone, hopefully this will help me in updating more often!

I leave you with a pic of P and I at the Omaha zoo enjoying the gorillas. Now off to go pout on my last night of vacation, back to work tomorrow. Boo!

**Edit**

Blogger will not allow me to upload the pic to my post and actually "publish" the post. Something about insufficient storage quota. Any clues on how to fix this?!?

18 Months!

Hey there! Long time no chat. Can you believe that the dude is already 1-1/2 years old!! Said so often, time simply flies when your having fun. And there is lots of fun being had in our house. Parker's personality is forming and showing constantly. He loves to laugh and snuggle Koda, giving him "loves". His dad is his best bud, but thankfully he still gives his mom cuddles and kisses. He's recently began climbing on the furniture and is using his chair as an apparatus to the ottoman and couch (why in the world would we sit in it?!).

The major news this last weekend - Parker's first tooth finally came in! That last bit of "baby" is finally gone - no more gummy smiles. It is his bottom left tooth and the right one will be popping through any day now. Best of all, so far there has been no change in his mood or sleep habits. Here's hoping every tooth comes on this smoothly!

Here is a list of the latest on P:

- Weighing in at 26 lbs. and 33 inches tall, he's right at the 67th percentile for his age. Let me tell you, the boy is a tank. Try carrying him for longer than 20 minutes, I dare you.

- He's a talking fool. First word several months ago was out, followed shortly by daddy. He now is also saying: up, down, mama, shoes, toes, dat (that), ook (look), book, ball, doggie.

- Meals are still a favorite for him. He's an awesome eater, only occasionally turning down the plain stuff. Even without the teeth, he's a big fan of meat. Unfortunately, he has figured out the lazy Susan in the kitchen, so he is always sure to let us know when it's snack time by emptying it out and bringing random items to us.

As you can see, he keeps us on our toes, but we are surely loving every minute of it!!

I've been on vacation this week, so more posts to follow with details of our adventures!