ArtPrize is awesome

ArtPrize is an event in Grand Rapids for two weeks and it is absolutely amazing! It's a contest with 12,000 artists displaying their art; the public votes and first place gets $250,000. Not just any public, though, our community. You must be present to register to vote. Art fills the city- it's on the outside of buildings, inside restaurants, churches and hotels, it's in galleries, in the actual river and the bridge over top of it. Seeing art everywhere is so fun and the pieces are very well done. Talent is just spilling over this three mile radius of a competition. I use that word, but it doesn't seem like a competition at all. It seems like a celebration with people walking around, happily looking around and discussing what's going on. There's positive energy in the air and excitement surrounding this event. One of my favorite pieces is Nessie in the Grand River (the Lockness Monster) and it turns out my friend was a part of creating it. He said if they win first prize, the proceeds will go towards cancer research at the Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids. Sharing that wealth for the greater good is such an admirable way of continuing that positive energy.
What a wonderful event to be a part of, for little ol' Grand Rapids in Western Michigan to host. This could easily be something put on in New York City, but here we have it in our own place. It's here and it's being coordinated very efficiently and bringing a lot of money to our community. Thousands of people are going to attend this event and eat at our restaurants, pay for parking and buy art. So much money has gone into this event and you can see that with signs and tee-shirts everywhere and new Macs lined up at registration (yeah, I can tell that keypad is just out of the box.). Making the actual art is also boosting our weak economy; Nessie may have cost $35-37,000 to create!
Art galleries and children don't always go together well. So, I haven't spent a lot of time around art recently and this was a perfect opportunity to do that with the whole family. We did have a melt down and need to leave one particular place, but no one minded that you had your stroller. Kid sounds during the dance performance was cute. Things were outside and all over and very accessible. You could take in so much art at once and it was like a party in some places with a DJ spinning and a live performance of melting glass.
I've voted several times already and I want to go back all week! I'd love to see it all and it will be cool to see who wins. With all that art, I don't know how anyone chooses a favorite- just one. Speaking of winning the big prize.....I won an Ergo Baby Carrier! I've loved the Ergo and Jilliann practically lived in it. Miles also loves it and since I got one three years ago, several improvements have been made. So, I put my tickets towards that prize in the La Leche League raffle in celebration of World Breastfeeding Day and won it! It's organic and green and I'm so thankful to have it. Thanks to Ergo for donating that! I'm a huge fan.

My new thing

My new thing is: early to bed, early to rise. I'm trying this out and it seems to be working. The goal is to get control of my life. I feel out of control when I wake up with the kids, get breakfast, get going out the door and then return home where there are so many things to do . My mind feels chaotic and my home does, too at times with piles of to-dos. When Jilliann stopped taking naps, I lost the moments of time to myself during a day. I'm slowing going crazy without that. In the mornings, I try to get some things done but most importantly I try to think out my goals and plans for the day and week and month. It helps ground me. Sometimes I spend time on myself with yoga or coffee with a good book. This helps calm me.
I like it and apparently Rupert the cat likes it since he can bother me for love without interruption. Jilliann, however is not a fan of waking up without me there. The other day, she woke up and yelled out a grunting noise of protest. I also heard some bumping and went upstairs to see her on the ground, pushing herself across the bamboo floor with a grunt accompanying each push. I do miss her waking up, calling my name and then hearing those little pads of her feet thumping over to my bedside where I sleepily give her a kiss. I also miss sleeping in, but I've got to do this to get my mind right though and she'll thank me, too.
A benefit of being up with Jason is seeing him off in the morning and being able to give him something for breakfast. I'm not sure he views it this way (he's a big-breakfast or no-breakfast type of guy and a big breakfast takes too much time for a 7:20 departure), but I do love getting somthing in his belly before his long, demanding day.
It's very hard to go to sleep, though when I get sweet alone time with Miles before bed time. I wake him to feed him and right now, he's laying across my lap lazily playing with my bracelet. He's so sweet and content and I can tell he loves his sister but I can also tell he likes to be left along for once. ;). I guess I don't "leave him alone" much either, but I do stay out of his face much more than she does.
Well, in sticking with my new thing....Good night!

Water Breeze

The other night, while sailing through these streets on our bikes, I told Jason, "This is a water breeze." Wind that's here because we're by the water and that reminds me of many bodies of water I've sat by. Caye Caulker in Belize with sticky salty skin, Canon Beach in Portland with heavy misty fog and underneath the trees at Lake Champlain. I love the wind that comes in and takes over everything, moving every square inch. It makes me feel at ease even with the power beneath it. Of course, I'm loving it up like this and making up words for the moment and Jason says something like...."No, you didn't just coin a term, you just put two commonly used conjunctives together." Gee, way to be a buzz kill.

Now we can laugh

Now, we can laugh at Jilliann's curiosity....now that we're home from Prime Care. We were outside enjoying the gorgeous MI almost-summer weather with our neighbor, Anna. Anna taught Jilliann how to open up a helicopter (Maple tree seed) and find that shiny, slick green seed inside. This was very exciting to Jilliann and for some reason she wanted to put it up her nose. She starts doing this and I calmly tell her to not stick it up her nose, don't do that. I walk towards her to pull her hand away since she's completely disregarding what I'm telling her. I get there and it's too late; the seed is up the nose. It's stuck up the nose. I have her blow out with me and that doesn't work. She lets me try to get it with tweezers and it just gets pushed up there more. We call the pediatrician and they say take her in immediatley as it could decay and cause infection. So, she goes with Jason, I worry as I'm nursing Miles that they'll have to put her under. Luckily, they could pull it out with miniature forceps. She did scream and cry and put up a fight according to Jason, but they got up there and Jason even kept the seed! She got a green sucker and that's all she talked about the rest of the day. Now, I really watch her and reminder her of the rule to not stick things up your nose....or your brother's nose!

Miles' birth story

Jilliann woke me up Saturday night crying asking to come to our bed. She normally sleeps through the night now, so this was out of the ordinary. We came downstairs and went to the bathroom and I put her back in bed. Jason woke for a moment and kindly complimented me on working my magic as Jilliann continued to ask to sleep with us but I got her back to bed. When I laid down it was 1:30am; she and Jason went back to sleep right away and I felt contractions! I just relaxed, listened to the rain and tried to fall back asleep, which is recommended at the beginning of labor to conserve your energy for later. At 2:06am, I knew I wasn’t going to fall sleep and knew that we had things to get set up and calls to make. So, I woke Jason telling him, “This is it.” He was surprised and kind of sat up for a minute just frozen. Then, as it sunk in he got excited, kissed me and started working on the list of things to do I’d just given him. I called Yolanda to inform her of where I was at and she was going to get ready and check back in unless I called her back first. Jason was back downstairs by 2:30am and I wanted to only sit to get through my contractions. In beginning labor with Jilliann, I walked and moved around a lot to help her descend. I pictured getting everything set up, then going on a walk with Jason before others arrived. Well, it was only about 15 minutes after we called Yolanda the first time when I told Jason to call her again because I feel like I have to push! We were both surprised and Yolanda also said, “Oh, that wasn’t what I expected. Okay, I’m not going to take a shower after all and will be right there.” I called Deb and my mom and Fred to come over while Jason started blowing up the pool for the water birth. Pop!! The pool busted and we went to plan B. Jason freaked out a little; probably imagining I would flip my lid. I didn’t worry and got in the bathtub with the hot shower running over my head. Deb arrived and rubbed my back as Jason tried to salvage the pool with duck tape. I was leaning on the yoga ball in the tub and focusing on spots on the wall when a contraction came. I asked Deb to tell me about her day and I told her about the Wire episode we’d watched that evening. I was still feeling some pushing sensations during contractions and they made me grunt as I tried to hold them back. I wasn’t afraid that Yolanda would miss the birth, but I was surprised to feel the need to push so soon and before she got there. It all came on so fast! The plastic tub was a lost cause and then Yolanda walked in and confirmed we were going to leave the other tub alone and I could stay in my bathtub. This was very exciting for me because in order to have a water birth, you must be submerged a certain amount and I wasn’t sure if my tub was big enough. If you come up out of the water at all during birthing, you need to get out immediately because the air triggers the baby’s response to breathe. I think this is the case even if the scalp feels air. Yolanda positioned me so that I could fit in the tub and checked baby’s heartbeat, which was fine. I was sucking down Gatorade non-stop until Yolanda told me to stop guzzling because we didn’t want the bladder taking up too much space. I was at the pushing stage before I knew it and was surprised at how manageable the contractions were, which I attribute to being in water. I was told later that also, it was like 100 degrees in that little bathroom with the space heater going and with six people crammed into a small space. I didn’t notice that at all. Mom and Fred were in the back, then Deb in front of them and Jason was helping support me at my side and Yolanda was on the side of the tub by my feet. Mom was taking pictures and video and Yolanda was making sure people were not going in and out of the door so the heat would stay in. This is how Fred stayed in the bathroom as he had just brought some towels or something in and this turned out to be great since he could then see Miles be born. When I looked out at that group of people, I saw excitement, encouragement, and love in their eyes. No negative emotions were present and that meant a lot to me. The water relaxed my body and mind. Yolanda helped guide me through pushing and I was making progress with each push except one (I asked each time and she showed me on her hand how far down I moved baby) and pushed about seven times. When I had pushed him down far enough to feel with my hand, Yolanda had me touch the skin of his scalp. It was soft and silky and we could feel his hair. On the next couple contractions he crowned and I was in an awkward position from kind of clenching up against the pain and Yolanda straightened out my body to help baby’s descent. With the next contraction, I pushed and Yolanda had me slow down and gently push which was welcome to me as this didn’t hurt near as bad as pushing. She was steadying the pace at which he came out to prevent tearing. He came out and Yolanda said, “Reach down and pick him up.” I felt relief and grabbed my baby from under the armpits and pulled him up on my chest. I have a great memory and visual of bringing him towards me with his mouth open wide as he cried right away. He had some mucus that I wiped out of this mouth and Jason said, “Oh, it’s a……” “Wait! I haven’t seen!” I lifted him up, moved his umbilical cord out of the way and saw his swollen red scrotum. Jason finished, “It’s a boy!” “Oh, I have a boy,” I said. He was born at 4:32am on Sunday, March 29th. He had a head of hair and we dried and covered him right away to keep him warm. Yolanda was checking the cord for pulsating and showed Jason and I how you could feel the pulse and explained that this was baby’s oxygen going to him. When the cord was no longer pulsing, it was clamped and Jason cut it. Miles started to suck his thumb and was so very cute! Yolanda explained that we would not suction him because he was breathing fine and leaving him to work through getting rid of any fluid helped to develop his reflexes. If you remove the mucus for them, next time they won’t know as well how to clear it. Yolanda asked Jason to hold him while I delivered the placenta but I couldn’t give him up yet! He stayed right there and Yolanda continued to guide me through the full birthing process and Miles started to root and I helped him latch on. I got to bed and around 5:30am, we took a group photo of the awesome birthing team and then Yolanda did the newborn exam. This was done on our bed, with the lights dimmed and Yolanda slowly and gently explained everything she was looking for. She went from top to bottom, checking Miles’ scalp, color, nail beds, reflexes, nipples, hip rotation, feet. He was looking around and mellow as can be. Then, Yolanda put him in a cloth and picked it up by her scale to see how much he weighed. Jason and I guessed 9 lbs as he looked chunkier than Jilliann. She called out 9 lbs 11 oz and we were all surprised! The week before, when Yolanda felt my belly she estimated baby was around 7 lbs. We took more pictures, celebrated, ate and sent out an email. Then, people started leaving and Yolanda had everything cleaned up already and was doing laundry. She was very efficient about getting things put in their right place right away. She would call that night and come tomorrow for another check up. She told me Miles is the cutest baby she has delivered recently, hugged me and was on her way. I tried to rest before Jilliann woke up and laid in bed with Miles for a couple hours. I was so excited and probably had adrenaline running through my body which kept me from sleeping but it was nice to rest. When Jilliann woke up, she came in and we told her she has a new baby brother. She had a look of wow on her face with her mouth open wide and inhaled really big. Jason set her down between us and she cuddled up to Miles right away, giving him a kiss then a hug and picked up his fingers to look at them. “It’s my baby, baby Miles. I have a baby brother. He can’t talk.” “No, he can’t talk,” we said. “But, he can drink milk.” “Yes, he can drink milk,” we assured. I realized later these were words from her Big Sister book we’ve been reading to help prepare her. “Out of a cup.” “No, not out of a cup,” we said. Oh, she was so sweet and so excited and gentle with him.

The transition was so smooth for her, waking up and having Miles there in our life right away. She didn’t have to wake up to her parents being gone, then go to a big hospital building where strange nurses are in and out. We were all together all the time and Miles had only our eyes to look at, our voices to hear, our dim lighting to help calm him, our smells to help familiarize him, our love to pour all over him. Our friends came over and we shared food and drink, their kids played with Jilliann and her toys. She touted her new brother to everyone she saw. She went to church on Sunday morning with a pictures of Miles and was the rock star, showing everyone her new brother. Deb kept Jilliann at her house for lunch and games afterwards so Jason and I could rest and enjoy our new son. It was so relaxing and wonderful to be in my own place with my own things, so comfortable and easy. Jason and my loved ones took on the role of nurse and brought me anything I asked for while I rested in bed. I have loved this home birth experience so much and feel so blessed with a precious healthy son. I’m healing well and trying to get rid of this cold I’ve had. I’ve been sick for a few days and my body seemed to forget all about that during labor and I felt great during that time. Then, my cough came back and I’m once again fighting a cold, but what a lovely thing to not be all run down and sick while in labor. The body is an amazing thing and mine has served me well. God has blessed us and I know Yolanda’s prenatal care of vitamins, supplements, herbs and my yoga and chiropractic care all helped with a successful delivery. What an honor it is to carry a child and bring a life into this wonderful world.

Miles is doing great and is a good nurser. We rub him with olive oil and won’t bathe him until next week because the fatty cells of breast milk that produce skin oils doesn’t come in until then. He’s soft and sweet and sleeps all the time.

Jilliann and Jason have had a lot of time together, going to parks, Spanish class, shopping, etc. Jilliann is speaking in complete sentences more and more everyday. She loves to help me and touch the baby. Jason is taking a few days off work to be with our family of four and loves having a son.

We have loved celebrating this with our beloved family and friends. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.
Love,
Adriann, Jason, Jilliann, Miles

Fun....Not fun.

Hanging laundry outside for the first time this season on a lovely Spring time day: Fun.
Doing 5 loads of laundry because your daughter keeps puking: Not fun.

Kissing all over your newborn babe: Fun.
Worried about your newborn catching a virus in your house: Not fun.

Cuddling with your sweet and loving toddler: Fun.
Being climbed on and clung to by a toddler while trying to nurse a baby: Interesting.

Having a lazy day at home all day: Fun.
Forcibly being quarantined: Not fun.

Visiting with beloved friends and family: Fun.
Informing your beloved friends and family you may have infected them with a puking virus: Not fun.

Breastfeeding a baby (when it's all figured out): Fun.
Breast milk creating the specific antibodies needed to protect your baby against the particular virus they are exposed to: Genius.

Being able to laugh about getting toilet bowl water splashed (by vomit) into your eyeball as you hold back your favorite girl's hair over the porcelain bowl: Good stuff.
Still enjoying your day of sickness with your kid: Feels good.

My excessive and unrealistic birthday list

March 8, 2009 Adriann turns 31 years old and this is her wish list:
* Professional massage.....hours and hours of it
* Steady economy
* Cast iron cookware
* Tantrum free toddler
* Bread maker
* Complication free birth
* Birds without squirrels in my yard by my window
* For my house to sell without loosing my shirt
* Barack in office (check)
* Peace
* Perfect husband (check)
* Fuel efficient cars as the only option
* A cat that no one can be allergic to
* A cool styley diaper bag
* Bugaboo stroller at no cost
* The ability to eat sweets with no negative consequences
* Time to read, swim, make a baby book
* Unlimited access to flying without charge (Guthrie + parents and Dad, here I would come!)
* New shoes
* For the Wire and Six Feet Under to never end
* Jobs for the seeking, rest for the weary, health for the sick
* God's love to prevail
* A horse
* That money didn't rule the world
* Stay at home mom (check- and so grateful for what I've got)

Top ten signs that Jilliann is growing up

1. She now sleeps in an adult bed, uses adult silverware and adult potty seat only.
2. She answers the phone (no more screening calls for me!).
3.She tries her hardest to dress herself, saying, "Mommy watch" and is mostly successful (like right now as Papa hands her pajamas).
4. She tells me "Good job, Mommy" when I do something she appreciates like driving or sometimes I even get a "Good job at going potty, Mommy." (By the way, I prefer Mama, but she's clung onto Mommy lately and yeah, we still potty together.)
5. She has her own computer (cool school computer).
6. She often speaks in full sentences, past and present and all.
7. She's going to grow out of all of her shoes at once in like two weeks (but since the boots fit, don't have to worry about that until Spring).
8. She's aware of becoming a big sister and gives my bellybutton kisses, hugs, food and toys.
9. She no longer naps! What?! Yeah, I was really hoping she would hold out until those first few newborn weeks passed....bummer for Mama.
10. From toddler to teenager: she begins many sentences with, "So, um....."