Charlotte and her web

Here she is--Charlotte (so named by Annie), our garden spider. And just in time for Halloween. Well, actually, she's been with us all summer (or since our tomato plants got too big to pass the tiller between them, anyway). The pictures don't do her justice. She is HUGE. Her body is easily the size of my thumb. Seriously. The size. . . of. . . my thumb. Can you hear me emphasizing this? I cannot emphasize it enough. The first few times I saw her (and she was much smaller then, by the way), I was very very very frightened and not so sure I was going to follow my spider policy, which states the following: "If spider is found outside, that's his or her home and leave it be. If spider is found in MY home, it's 'adios' for the spider." But, in the end, adhering to the policy was to be the decision. It helped that I didn't want bugs to infest and destroy my tomato crop, spiders are good for that apparently. Her web is really big and beautiful. I tried and tried, but I can't get it to show up more in the picture.




Oh, and it gets even better--I LOVE tomatoes, but I couldn't bring myself to pick the ones on either plant that her monstrous web was attached to. After a while, I realized she wouldn't chase me and try to kill me, so we made peace. I kept my distance still, but we shared the occasional conversation, and Ryan tossed her grasshoppers every now and again. He said he watched her wrap them up and even eat one. . . . pass. . . No thanks, I'd rather not see that.




Anyway. Sometimes I'd come out to the garden and she wouldn't be in her web. I couldn't bring myself to pick tomatoes on those days. Who knew where she'd be? Gives me chills.




Ryan told me one day that she let him pet her belly. Now THAT is strange. Why? I ask? Why would you WANT to pet the belly of a spider? But alas, he does love animals, so. . .

Anyway, I don't know how long she'll be around. She has survived the few frosts we've had and moved her web twice. I think I might even be sad when we part ways.

An Early Morning Carsonism

7:15 AM, in our bed

Dad: Are you my friend?
Carson: No, I just you boy.


classic.

My FIVE year old!

My "baby" is five. When did this happen? It's like I blinked and she was five. FIVE! She's headed for kindergarten TOMORROW! She's starting to read. She (much to my horror yet amazement) unbuckled her brother from his swing and transferred him to his bouncy chair all by herself today. She said "mom, come sit by me and I'll give you a love" last week when I was sad that my family had left. She is SUCH a grown up little girl I can hardly believe it.


I thought I'd share a few pictures of her through the years and what I love about her:


This is one of the first digital pictures I have of her. Her earliest pictures are film and I haven't scanned yet. This was on Easter morning in 2005 and she was 8 months old. Annie is such a sweetheart. You can tell by looking at that sweet little face. She is always full of love for her parents and her brothers, friends and her new little cousin, Kate. She loves to snuggle and express her love through hugs and kisses. Makes my day every time she gives me a good squeeze.



She's just so dang cute! This is probably from the summer she turned two. She had this Elmo obsession. Aunt Kelli and Uncle Mike bought her this Elmo for her 2nd Christmas (I think it was about her size, too) and she took it everywhere. Here she is in our backyard enjoying the day. That's another thing I love about her. She loves to explore and try new things. She is really independent and can find a good activity or project just about anywhere.

This can sometimes be a problem:
Here she is at about 18 months. Every parent's dream (I'm sure) is to find their child standing on a desk they didn't know she could climb onto, in front of a cabinet they didn't know she could open, holding a PERMANENT marker they didn't know she could uncap, drawing pictures of Sid the Sloth on their wooden cabinet doors. awesome.



This is my little daredevil doing her "big jumps" when she was three--in fact, it very well might have been on her third bday. I love that she is adventurous and just a little fearless!



I love this picture. She is the BEST big sister in the world. They fight and steal toys from each other, don't get me wrong. But from the very moment we walked through the door with Baby Carson (and also Rhett), she has been so tender and never jealous. I overhear her saying sweet and kind things to him all the time. She teaches him how to do things, gives him hugs and kisses. Last night, in fact, she had a sleepover at grandma's and phoned to tell us goodnight. Well, to tell CARSON goodnight. "May I speak to Carson, please?" was the greeting her dad got when he picked up the phone. I could hear what she was saying, and she said, "Carson, do you miss me? Say 'yes'" To which he replied "yes." Then she said, "I miss you too. I love you Carson!" I wanted to cry until I heard his little voice say "dih-doo" (thanks) and then I decided to laugh instead. What a funny pair they are!



I won't gab on and on about the hair. . . heaven knows we've covered THAT one, but I love(d) her beautiful curly hair. This is Annie at my parents' house in CT. I love that she loves my family. And they love her. She loves to talk about her aunts and uncles and Papa and Grandma Foof all the time. When we visited last summer, she warmed up to everyone and had so much fun.

I love this little girl!

. . .and here she goes off to Kindergarten. . .

Love ya, Goose!

Baby Rhett's Blessing

What a cRaZy month this has been! And I am so behind--so be sure to scroll down because I'm going to be posting some belated stuff: Annie's bday, Visits from Family, and a much-overdue reminiscing post from last years' trip to CT.

I digress. . .

We decided (with so much of my family in town for a visit) to combine Rhett's baby blessing party with Annie's birthday party. I knew this would be a little nutso, but it worked out okay. I learned to ask for help (Oma offered to arrange the bday cake and after initially saying, "no, it's okay. I can handle it" I let her help. She did a great job!) But I'll post pictures of her birthday later, lest she not get the attention she deserves for HER special day. . .

It was so nice to have so many of my family members here and we were THRILLED to have Ryan's Uncle Ken's family (Carla, Holly, Annie / Ryan and kids, and John / Amber and kids) travel so far to see us. I don't think we'd seen Annie or John's family in about five years!

All in all it was a great day. I'm so grateful for a wonderful family that supports us and that Ryan was able to give Rhett a beautiful blessing. I'm very proud of him for all he does for our family!

Here are some random pictures from Blessing Day:

My mom getting Rhett in his blessing outfit before church. I have done / assisted doing this three times now with fear in my heart that a diaper blowout or upchuck would ruin a blessing outfit. So far we've been lucky and he looked so cute!

My mother in law and my Mom: thanks so much for all your hard work, you two!

Mommy and Rhett



Daddy, Mommy, and Rhett

Our little family!



Our friends the Martins (minus Kaden--he was busy elsewhere!)



Ryan's cousin Brian and his kids Meg and Adin. Where's Heather?



Annie with her beloved Aunt Kelli, beloved Aunt Gretchen, and beloved baby Kate. This was the "cool kids" table as far as she was concerned!

Grandpas, Dad, and the Droubay of honor (Rhett!)

The boys: My dad, Ryan's Grandpa, Ryan's dad holding Rhett, Ryan holding Carson

And of course, Papa Foof (Abraham), for whom Rhett Abraham was named

My Friend Michelle ROCKS!

My college friend Michelle Willis took some pictures of the kids a few weeks ago and I think they are awesome. Check her out at www.edreamphotography.com. I think she's got a great eye and some serious talent (and I'm not biased at all with the subjects being my kidlets!) . Here are some of her pics:

I have to say, Carson was not very cooperative during this photo shoot. He actually makes some super cute faces right now, but was a little somber this day. But his outfit was cute, right?

Here is another one with the three of them. I LOVE this picture because this is how they are with Rhett--always checking out how tiny and cute he is. Plus they look so dang calm and quiet! Love it.

This is my favorite picture of Annie. I was impressed because Michelle was able to get Annie to do her normal smiles and not some silly ole' fake picture smile. Where do kids get their "picture smiles" from anyway? I love this picture!

I thought this was cute, too.

I know I know I know. I'm totally biased 'cause she's my little girl, but how cute is this picture? What an adorable face! There's mischief in those eyes, however. Look closely and you'll see it. Makes you wonder what she's thinking, no?

This might be the only picture where he was doing a natural smile or any smile at all for that matter. And holding still too. Two year olds. What else can I say?



So tiny!

I love this picture because it captures Rhett's "sleeping face" so well. They grow so quickly and change their habits so frequently. I'm glad I have this picture to remember that cute face!

And last but not least is one of the pictures I got to take! Woo hoo!

Baby Rhett is finally here!

HALLELUJAH!!!

Here he is: Rhett Abraham Droubay, born June 10, 2009 at 11:22 AM. He weighed (so they say--I have a hard time believing it because he is soooo tiny to me) just over 8 pounds and was 19.5 inches long. Neither Annie nor Carson were this tiny in their clothes, but I'll believe the hospital scales, okay?

First things first: Ryan chose the name Rhett (which I struggled with at first, but it has totally grown on me now) and I chose his middle name. I named him for my Dad, whose response was: "why would you do that to him?" Well, I'll tell you why--because my dad is an honorable man who I really admire and who means the world to me. I wanted to honor my dad as well as give my son a name he could wear proudly. Both Carson and Annie have also been named for people who are important to Ryan and me.

Well, as many of you know, the births of our first two children were lengthy and quite traumatic for poor ole' mommy. So, my doctor, who is AMAZING by the way, made the decision to take him at 39 weeks, with the hopes that he could spare me a little trauma. This pregnancy was really difficult and very painful toward the end--I know I'm not unique in this--and I was glad as induction day approached, let me tell you! The only thing that made me sad was that I absolutely love feeling the baby inside my tummy, and I knew I'd really miss that when it was over.

Anyway, we reported to the hospital (Mountain West Medical Center in Tooele--AMAZING Labor and Delivery nurses and staff, by the way) Tuesday night (June 9). They started me at about 9:30 and again at 1:30 AM and gave me some medicine to help me sleep. I woke up at about 5 AM or so (I think) feeling some stronger and more regular contractions and dilated to a 4. I am sure I speak for laboring women everywhere when I say that there is not much more frustrating than feeling the pains and hearing some pathetic number like 3 or 4. GRRRRRR!! Anyway, about this time, I felt a huge kick from the baby and immediately realized my son had broken my water! This has not happened to me before, so I was unprepared for how fast labor progressed after that. I think I was on the Pitocin drip by now, and the contractions started to worsen. By the time the blessed nurse anesthetist arrived (LOVE her and her little cart of joy), I was dilated to a 7. Then, immediately after the epidural, I was at a 10! I have not progressed like that ever before. I almost couldn't believe it. But, I couldn't push and the baby was high, (and I still had the sleeping meds in me), so I rested for three hours. At 11AM we prepped for the Great and Terrible Pushing of 2009 and holy moly, he was born on the FOURTH contraction! I almost don't know what to say about this. I am accustomed to pushing for two hours and pleading for the vaccuum, and thinking I'm going to collapse from exhaustion, but I actually ENJOYED this experience, if you can believe it! My epidural was perfect, I felt great, and it could not have gone much better than it did.

Here is his first picture:



Here are some other pictures:

Here he is with Carson and Annie. I put this in because it was really cute to see the kids with their new baby brother. They both wanted to hold him constantly and this is actually when Carson would NOT release his grip. We kept asking him, "can Daddy have a turn? Can grandpa have a turn? Mom? Annie?" and to each question his answer was the same: very serious face, "No. It's Carsie's turn now." Very matter-of-factly. You can tell that he really likes this little man. Here he is, petting his face--I know, it looks like poking, but he was actually petting it. hilarious.



Annie was super cute as well. She raised her hand (like in school) when the nurses brought him in the room and immediately asked if she could feed or hold him. Here they are right before we brought him home on Thursday:



Here are some pictures (the best I can get so far) of his face and features. We think he looks alot like Carson's baby pictures as well as my dad. So appropriately named, I guess!

getting ready to go home from the hospital

chillin' on the couch

three days old

Here is his royal tininess:

this is the day we brought him home. I love this picture!

We are so happy he's home and healthy. We are truly blessed!

Feelin' Nostalgic

Okay. So I know pregnant women can get a little neurotic and most definitely emotional toward the end. I am SO not the exception to this. Don't get me wrong, I am so excited to meet this little baby who's been somersaulting around my tummy for the last who knows how long. I can't wait to see what color hair he has, what he looks like, (the thrill of being able to pick something up off the floor is in there somewhere), etcetera, but I'm a little sad too. I have been hanging out with the coolest toddlers ever for the last little while and I'm a little worried I'm going to be totally abandoning them. . . is that crazy?

I just have loved watching Annie and Carson grow older and older, being able to hang out with them in the backyard, play with them, and talk with them. They are so fun and SO DANG FUNNY!! I've accepted that I must once again return to mustard-poo filled diapers, and sleepless nights. I don't love the idea, but I'm fine to do it. It's totally worth it, and babies smell so good, ya know? But my heart feels a tad sad to think about those little kiddos having to share their mom more than they already do. I know it's not the end of the world. . . .

I just wanted to throw that out there to the Land of Blog.

And then, to share some of what we've been up to lately:

I already told you about the tire swing. Still a big hit, for the kiddos and neighbors too. It is so fun to watch them spin and spin and spin. So far, we've had no tossed lunch or any other meal for that matter. All's well, folks.

About a month ago, I had to go to Park City to put on a conference for the Utah Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. I do this every year in my role as the work-from-home Administrative Assistant that I am. I absolutely love doing this. It is the perfect job for me and the weekend away does wonders for my soul. . . . . . . ahhhhhhh. . . .

Anyway, while I was gone, Ryan took Annie and Carson to the zoo. They are still talking about this. Annie has been doing this new thing where she wants to dress herself, and most days, we just let her do it. I tell you this to explain the hat she is wearing. She just loves this hat.


Here she is BEING an elephant. Check out that trunk! For those of you who don't know, Annie is obsessed with elephants. I'm sure this exhibit was the highlight of her zoo experience.


The highlight for Carson, on the other hand, was of course the zoo train. Trains are referred to as either "trains" or "choo-choo planes." Don't get it, but okay. I'm not gonna argue with a 2 year old about that one! Ryan said that Carson started getting a little stressed as they were waiting their turn for their 2 minute zoo train ride. "Carsie turn! CARSIE TURN!" Can you imagine how frustrating that wait must have been? My goodness!

And how cute is that tender sibling moment, eh?

Other highlights of the past little while include Annie's first dance recital -- NOTHING short of hilarious! and graduation from preschool. This I missed, but I hear it was quite the show. They made a video of the children that were graduating and I'm so glad we got one because it was so funny. Annie was in it a few times and definitely has a flair for the dramatic. So like her dad.
Ha ha! Note the sarcasm. . .


Another thing Annie and I have been doing is gardening. Here she sits, my little preschool graduate, in the front garden amongst the bee-you-ti-ful flowers we've been caring for. I can't believe how much she is growing up.

Well, on to packing and bed. We are headed to the hospital tomorrow evening to be induced for (hopefully) a Wednesday delivery. So far so good--I'm excited and happy, nervous and a little overwhelmed, but we'll make it through!