kendalism and other sentimental ramblings

scene:  in the bathtub.  you guys know we have horrible water.  most of our house (i.e. where we drink) is filtered, but the tub, well, it isn't because we don't drink it.  it comes out sorta orange there.  looks like pond water, i say.  we encourage the kids NOT to drink it.  it is actually not bad to drink (it won't kill you) but it just doesn't taste good (metallic).

anyway, the kids were in the tub and they have all their toys floating around and kendal had his cup.  it is a plastic coffee mug.  nathaniel, as usual, was supervising their play by sitting on the toilet (using it as a chair, not a potty) and doing a crossword puzzle.  all of a sudden, he said "kendal, don't drink the water!"

kendal said "dad, i'm not drinking the water, i'm drinking my coffee!"

really.  it looks like coffee.  all brown and such.  i'd post pictures of them in the bath but it is too gross to show.  they're cute.  the water, not so much.

on a totally different topic, this past weekend it was all rainy and cold here.  kendal has been sleeping on a blow-up bed in his own room since last week.  he got tired of bunking with holly.  holly, in the mean time, took over queen of the train toddler bed.  she's been doing great in it.  so this weekend, since we were stuck inside, nathaniel dismantled her crib. 

i know that doesn't sound like a big deal but if you are a parent and you have dismantled your last child's crib, then you KNOW how big of a deal it is.  it is bigger of a deal than when you put together the first crib for your first child.  it signifies so many things, on so many levels.  to point out the most obvious, it signifies the end of the baby era in our house.  our kids aren't babies any more and they are growing at a rate too quickly to capture even in words or photos.  our lives are so different now than when this crib came into our lives.  i remember sleeping on that (well not THAT, but a predecessor) blow up mattress - trying to get holly used to sleeping in that crib.  and before that, how many months she slept right beside me in our bed.  of coarse, i'd still be sleeping with her in our bed if nathaniel didn't reclaim is rightful place there beside me... as a matter of a fact, i think that holly would probably still be in the womb.  she is such a mama's girl.  she loves being right in my lap and whenever it is available, that is right where she is. 

when we took apart kendal's crib, it wasn't as sad because we still had a crib in the house.  i think the saddest part of kendal's "moving into toddlerhood" was when i sold his cribset.  i remember how long it took me to pick it out (and buy all the pieces since it wasn't available in stores by the time we had a crib).  when i sold it using craigslist, i was happy that the girl that bought it was so happy to have that exact one.  like me, she had been searching high and low for that exact one and was so grateful that i was willing to part with it.  it made me feel good about passing it to her.  she was having her first son too.  it was still hard to part with it.

well, it is now time to get the kids out of the tub.  kendal's still singing and the floor is surely wet.  mr. friend allows for some wild times in that bath tub!  (mr. friends is a fountain toy that hangs out in the tub - they like to play with him and has surely made bathtime easy since he came to live with us via katelyn!)

PS - the last thing i heard was kendal screaming and nathaniel saying "NO, holly, you do not grab him around the neck!" ah, sibling love!  bath time is over...

killer health

About two weeks ago, I had a baseline health survey for work.  It included blood work.  I expected to get something like “your iron is low” or “you need to lose weight” or “your Vitamin D levels are low” but instead, I got a note that really blew me away.  It was included a check mark that said I needed to follow up with my doctor, and that medication may be required.  

My cholesterol is high.  In particular, the bad cholesterol (LDL).

Keep in mind that I eat very little meat.  When I do eat it, it is only a small amount.  I eat a ton of veggies  (we eat plain old salad a minimum of  4 nights a week ), nuts, berries, and beans – all the things that are supposed to keep your cholesterol low and/or give you the good cholesterol (HDL).  Quite frankly, the only animal products I do eat, outside of my mom’s house, are cheese and the incidental cream that I put in my coffee and sour cream I put on my salad.  A pack of butter lasts about 2 months in my house.  Yesterday, I ate a cheese sandwich for lunch and, that included, at the end of the day, I had 36% of the daily recommended amount of cholesterol for people my height and weight.  And, yesterday was mostly a normal eating day for me.  (I may have skimped on the chocolate but chocolate is cholesterol free – aiming for 1500 calories!)

It really gets away with me that my LDL was so high.  Where is this coming from?   I hate knowing there are bad things in my body.  I try so hard to eat healthy and right, eating lots of fiber and choosing organic and chemical and processed free foods.  Nathaniel sent me an article about how to manage cholesterol.  It, specifically, said to:

1. Not eat processed food.  Already do. 

2. Avoid animal products.  Already do.

3. Eat lots of fiber and foods that raise your HDL.  Already do.

4. Maintain a healthy weight.  Mostly do (Weight management is a work in constant progress).

5. Exercise. Could be better about that but I do walk at lunch when I can. Wait, isn’t chasing kids enough?  :)

I just don’t understand.  I’m so upset about this!

On another, more positive, note, there is a new whole foods in Raleigh!  I’m sure I’ll be there with the rest of town on Saturday!  Our pantry is about bare.  We are also out of lettuce.

holly stars as debbie gibson

we had such a lovely saturday.  it was about 80 degrees on saturday and we spent the whole day (besides nap time) outside.

the best part is that we got to see a little big of skin on the kids.  meaning, short sleeved shirts!  i love it.  i dressed holly yesterday and nathaniel said "oh, look - debbie gibson!"  i guess he gets lost in her eyes...  here are some pictures of her flirting with her dad.






here she is mad at me because i took her bubbles away.  i was giving them back to her but i was going to wash her face first!  she likes to eat the bubbles...  sometimes she doesn't listen!  (wonder where she gets that from?)



ah, a little happier now that she understands what i'm doing!









i'm sure you're wondering where's kendal!?!


did you see him?  he's on the slide eating lunch.  it takes him at least an hour to eat each meal.  he's the slowest eater ever!



he also spends a lot of time wiping/scratching his nose and eyes.  even with zyrtec. i'm going to switch to allegra this week and see if that helps. 


so, what did you this gorgeous weekend?

bad news bed

well, i said the next post i made about the bed would be a slide show showing the final product. trouble is that we haven't a final product.  the side rail cracked during the delivery so they had to take it back.  we have no bed.  we got the chest - but that is it.

prior to the mishap delivery (which the delivery guy was so upset about, he said he heard kendal excited about it yelling at him out the window and was sad to have to tell us the bad news), nathaniel did get a second coat of paint - and a ceiling fan hung which i thought was going to be really hard but he did it in about an hour.

so, here is an update.  we did get curtains hung, but i don't have pictures of that yet.  i'll wait until later to post that.  (i was too busy processing moon pictures to get those!)

i see the moon and the moon sees me

oh the big hoopla about the moon being closer than it has been in like 20 years or so.  so, i guess that once before in my life i've seen it like this.  and, hopefully i will see it again a couple more times.  either way, i took photographs of it to remember it and show my children.  they saw it too, as they were in the car with katelyn when it was rising.  yes, that's right.  they spent the night with katelyn and she came to pick them up.  and, they left with her.  we both almost cried when they were waving bye to us.  oddly enough, we watched a dragontales video during dinner about spending the night with friends and it was "OK to leave sleep over with your friends".  i think they need a mommy and daddy version of that!  kendal and holly spend the night with mamaw and granddaddy all the time, but they don't come get them and take them away.  guess that was the difference!

anyway, the point of this is the moon!  i had such a great time taking pictures!  we found a curve by a field on top of a hill in franklin county.  way out in the middle of no where.  no light pollution or anything.  it was so dark that when i tried to get car trail pictures, i couldn't even tell if i actually had the road in the shot until after the car went by (you'll see...)

here are my results!  i had to crop in the picture about half because the best zoom lens i have only goes to 200mm.  i played with the F stop and aperture and got interesting results.  i also converted a couple to black and white in photoshop.







here is where i slowed down the shutter speed and let in more light.  you can't see the detail in the moon but it did make for some neat shots.  it was a little cloudy as you can see.



this one isn't cropped - this is how it was shot in my camera.



i mentioned it was dark?  i couldn't even tell that i didn't have the lens pointed in the right direction to get this car driving by...



i did a little better this time, same curve but this time the car was coming towards me rather than away from me (red = taillights, white = head lights).

baby boy to big boy!

We're updating Kendal's room. Furniture gets delivered this Saturday. In the mean time, there is a lot to do! We've emptied his room (he moved in with Holly) and the painting has begun. I am photologging the evolution process!
Here are a few photos of the before. When we're done, I'll post a video of the whole change!

before: it is sad to paint over the border that  i  we spent so long making a straight line and stamping.  i painted this room the first time when i was pregnant.  we have nothing left from his nursery now except the curtain rod (in the picture), which that will go to goodwill now that it has been taken down to paint the room.  oh, and the boy that lived in the room.  we do still have him!  except he is hardly a baby anymore!  :)

we had to take off all the socket covers - kendal wanted to help.

with kendal's help, mommy found her reflection in the door knob!

today nathaniel taped off all the edges and broke out the paint!

as you can probably tell, the old color was a light green and the new color is a khaki (called flax). it is wet in the above pictures so it'll dry a little darker.

ok, next time i post about it i'll just do a whole slide show with the progression of the room!

sun flare

i've been saving this one for just the right time.  now is the time.  this week's iheartfaces challenge is sun flare.  it is really hard to get a sun flare picture (for me).  it is easy to add one in or enhance it (in photoshop), but this one is all natural.  i did use florabella's luxe action but that is it for this one.  this is one from matt and anna's engagement pictures taken on the last day of last year.

parade slideshow

here are the rest of the pictures.  these are mainly for katelyn to see and so mom can find them to show kendal (later).  :)

St. Patrick's Day Parade

 
yesterday, we went to the st. patrick's day parade in raleigh.  we always sit in the same spot, eat the same lunch, everything.  and, we always have a great time.

yesterday we did do something new, though.  i had to pee, so we walked over to moore's square and found the portajohns.  kendal peed in it!  first time he's done that!

so, here are some of the pictures from yesterday!





Here is Duncan!