Love the Grandmas

One of the advantages to living away from family is that when you have a baby, you get grandma help 24/7. This is exactly what I was treated to for the past few weeks. I am certain that this is why I am recovering as fast as I am. Grandma Sue just left today, so "the vacation is over" as Joe so honestly put it. I have lucked out so far as both of my boys have been sleeping for the past couple of hours. Thanks little men for being easy on the new mama of two.

So this post is to honor these beautiful women that cooked, cleaned, shopped, rocked, changed, played, walked, bathed, soothed, read, and pretty much anything else that you can think of, they did. We feel so blessed to have such helpful, loving grandmas. We miss you already and are counting down the days until we fly home to see everyone. Until then I'll leave you with a couple more photos of the boys.......Peace and Joy to all of you this holiday season.

Sam looking like a deer in headlights as he sits on Santa's lap. I couldn't get him to crack a smile. He had been rehearsing the entire time he waited on what he was going to tell Santa and then when it was finally his turn, he couldn't say a word. Well, I guess it is getting better. Last year he just cried.

Sleepy Sammy

Guess who didn't get a nap yesterday.....

Your Weekly Dose

Meet Our New Little Man

Evan Russell Carberry

November 29, 2008 at 7:38am

7lbs. 51/2 oz.

21" long

Big brother Sam. Can you tell what he'd like to do to those full cheeks?

Mom is feeling great...thanks to all of the help and support from Grandma June.

Dad and his boys.

Thanks for all of your love and support. We look forward to sharing him with most of you during the holidays. Until then we'll keep the updates coming......

gratitude:

There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.- Ralph H. Blum

All our moments are last moments. We abide in the forever leaving of our own coming? We can put our hands together, palm to palm, settling here on the last leaf of our brief flight, and bow to the wonder of it.- Jen Jensen, Bowing to Receive the Mountain, 1997

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.- Melody Beattie


Happy Thanksgiving family and friends! We have been thinking of all of you. We spent the beautiful late morning at Crystal Cove Beach intending to have a nice walk, but due to the incredible temperature ended up playing and napping on the sand. Later, we shared a marvelous feast with our friends Jeff and Nysa. (Nysa's mom did all of the cooking, so I was able to simply relax and enjoy.) Sam loved the feast, particularly the pumpkin pie with whip cream. As my boys are already fast asleep, I just wanted to take a moment to marvel at some of the blessings in my life:

• family-what a gift to create a family with someone you love. I also find it fascinating how the immediate family unit shifts throughout the generations.
• little ones-from the first breath to the present is so rich with life. This fullness is sometimes more challenging than anything I have experienced, yet it is this struggle that brings so much joy.
• health-this body, this mind, this spirit, this breath, this earth, this sky, this sun, this moon, this ocean, this mountain, this bird, this flower....we are all connected. I am in awe of the female body through pregnancy and labor doing exactly what it is designed to do, and so thankful for the tools and trust that have been passed down to me from my mother.

Blessings to you on this beautiful Thanksgiving Weekend.........

Introducing....."Sam on the drums!"

Camping in November

Perhaps the more appropriate title would be "Camping Nine Months Pregnant". Yes, we made it and had a great time.....well, great for the most part. This past weekend we braved the wall of traffic heading north to LA and then east to Joshua Tree National Park. It is a new experience dealing with bumper to bumper vehicles for miles just to get out of town. This turns a two and a half hour drive into four and as many of you know this is not ideal when you're traveling with kids. We arrived at our campsite well past light. Luckily Sam's friend Kendra was anxiously waiting to see her camping buddy. They immediately took off running around and climbing the surrounding boulders by the light of the moon. What a beautiful night and an incredible setting. I was excited to see what everything would look like in daylight.

Not too worry, we wouldn't miss a single moment of the following day. Sam woke at the crack of dawn, actually I think that it was still slightly dark. It is a difficult combination to have adults up late talking around the campfire followed by little ones up before the sunshine. (This would catch up with me later.) In the late morning the troupes gathered for a hike out in the desert. Joshua Tree is a well known spot to climbers and provides ample opportunity to free climb the rounded, grippy, granite rocks. I headed out with the group planning to stay on the dirt and enjoy a relaxing stroll. For some reason the rocks pull you in. I knew my limits and would turn around when I needed to, but absorbed in the moment I ended up higher than I had anticipated. Joe decided to head back with me considering he was carrying Sam in the backpack. Why is it that going down is often harder than going up? I definitely felt and looked awkward on the descent. Imagine a very pregnant lady crawling on her bum. We made it back to camp safely, ate and took advantage of any shade we could find to rest.

The desert in November is hot, at least on this particular day it was probably in the 80's. That evening the wind began to blow and continued through the night making our new family size tent an ideal sail. Sam slept next to me on a blow up air mattress and didn't seem to mind the shaking and snapping. Joe next to us in sleeping bag also didn't seem too bothered by the sounds. For me, it was a constant disturbance to an already restless sleep (too many bathroom breaks to count). Sam was up again at 5AM. This time it was my turn to get up with him. Due to the wind and cold we spent most of the morning playing in the car. When 7:30am rolled around I was losing it, totally exhausted and ready to go home. I realize now what camping involves for parents....a lot of work: packing, cleaning, unpacking, cooking, loading, unloading, etc., etc. Was it worth it? Of course. I loved watching Sam totally engaged in the freedom of playing in the wild: dirty, wearing his pj's most of the day, eating at all times, running barefoot, seeing shooting stars, singing around the campfire, climbing and jumping on rocks, harassing the ant hills and trying to do most things "all by myself". We'll get better at this and the lack of sleep hopefully won't be as disturbing when I am no longer prego.

We're staying home now and nesting until the baby arrives. Thanks mom and dad for all of our camping memories as kids. We love and miss all of you...xoxoxox

"Scary"

The Belly

The belly feels bigger than I remember it being with Sam. However according to measurements it is pretty much the same. Currently I am almost 35 wks. and nearing the final countdown. We still don't know what sex the baby is. I am back to guessing girl. Joe keeps trying to get Sam to pin down what he thinks it is. It varies for Sam too. It won't be long now and we'll be celebrating either way.

My dear friend Kate (we did our yoga teacher training together) was just in town and took these photos. She thinks the belly holds another boy, at least she keeps calling it "he".

Ahhhhhh.......beautiful sunsets on the beach, perfect opportunity for yoga. Sam and I in Trikonasana (triangle pose). I am savoring these final moments of time with Sam alone. We are sending love to all of you and especially Grandpa Jim (it's his birthday today). Happy Birthday!

Future Kayaker?

Over the weekend, Joe took Sam kayaking in the harbor. Sam insisted on wearing a helmet like Dad's even though it is several sizes too big. He also helped man the paddle. (You can imagine how much help that actually was.) About 30 minutes into the adventure, Sam was passed out between Dad's legs. There must be something about the rocking motion. While the boys took the afternoon to play, I enjoyed a yoga date with the little one in my belly, a hot bath and then sat down with a good book. We hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. FYI: Sam is no longer using the s-word. Phew!

Potty Mouth

Yes our sweet little Sammy has discovered how to use one lovely swear word: sh....t. I noticed it a couple of weeks ago and ignored it hoping it would simply go away. Joe finally was witness to Sam's naughty word last week at dinner when Sam 's guy fell off the table. We both could hardly contain the laughter. Of course that didn't help. So last weekend we are at a new 3 yr. old friend's birthday party when Sam accidentally drops the crayon he was coloring with. I bet you can guess what came out of his mouth next. Yes and he didn't just quietly say it. He yelled so that all around could hear. Those near were laughing and amazed at his ability to use it in perfect context. As responsible parents, ignoring this behavior is no longer an option. We've given him some new words to use like "oops", "uh-oh", or even "shoot" (despite that it is so similar to the real deal). This is working part of the time, but Sam still prefers the effect of the big S word. Yesterday when he used it once again I told him that it is not a nice word to use and that if he says it, he'll need to take a time out. Sam shaking his head from side to side says, "No, no, no-sh...t." I guess the next step involves washing the mouth out with soap-uuuhh-. Two can be so entertaining.

Sam enjoying the party.

"Happy Birthday Kati"

We love you Kati and are thinking of you on your special day. Sam would love to give you one of his spectacular hugs.

Also sending big bear hugs to Grandma and Grandpa Carberry. Thanks for coming to visit. We miss you already. Enjoy some of our photos from the beach:

Sam loved all of the extra attention. Due to this, Sam decided he should start waking up at an earlier hour (6:30 am regardless of when he goes bed). Every morning he would go knock on the grandparent's door and say, "Sammy wake up." Luckily they would play with him and let us go back to bed. Kids need grandparents around and so do parents. Sending love to all of our family and friends.....

The Really Big Birthday Boy!

We celebrated at our favorite beach, San Onofre (known to surfers as Old Man's). This beach is where we typically do our campfires in the evening. For this occasion we went early in the morning and then made brunch: pancakes, eggs, sausage & bacon (perfect for the birthday boy).

While dad was surfing, Sam found some new friends to play with. Sam is always looking for the kids.

That evening we went over to our friends place which is conveniently located right on the beach. In Sam's eyes a birthday party wouldn't be complete without cake and candles.

Sam rallied into the evening and took only a short nap in the car. You think he would've crashed that night....if we were only so lucky!?

Spinning!

If you have forgotten Sam's contagious laugh, this will help you remember.

Glimpses of Cali

Our backyard patio is getting more and more complete. We now have a table and BBQ (thanks to our neighbor).

The oranges here are amazing. Sam finished two and still wanted more. The juice was running down his face and hands.

This trail is close to our place. We call it the snail and lizard trail due to all of the little creatures we find along the way. It also provides a great view of the ocean. As does the photo below which is our street directly out from our driveway.

This is our new home. The middle garage is ours and our front door is along the right side of the house.

So we'll leave you with a clip of Sam runnnnninnng. He loves watching this over and over again. A lot of the parks around here have grassy hills so he has been taking advantage playing on them. Another favorite is to roll him up in a blanket and then push him down the hill. Believe it or not he can't get enough of this and therefore I have to redirect his attention so that he doesn't get sick from all of the spinning. Notice in the video that Sam always finishes with a crash. Enjoy!

Our Backyard (hooray!)

We are enjoying the added features of our new place, namely a garage and a backyard. I don't think that we'll ever be able to do without these again. Sam now has a small pool to play in, concrete to ride his trike on, and simply a place outside to run. We are refinishing some chairs that were left back there and looking for a nice deal on patio furniture. This is taking precidence over the inside because of the optimal temperatures most of the year here. Now ladies, you can see that I do indeed have a belly. Joe seems to think that I am a lot bigger than I was with Sam. I'm not completely sure about that, but I do know that I feel different (mainly more tired, nauseated still sometimes, and the occasional headache). Hmmmm....maybe a girl... however I continue to go back and forth.

All of these photos were taken by my dear friend Jenna Biggs who came and stayed with Sam and I while Joe was away for work. As you can see, she's a professional. She called this one "Meeting of the Minds". I think that Sam was actually trying to attack me here (a.k.a. pinch my face and grit his teeth).
Sam loves the water. He is perfectly at ease relaxing on his back. He often hangs out like this in the bathtub.
My little baby! He enjoys it when I wrap him up and hold him like he was still my little baby.
What a handsome boy. He often asks to go to grandma's house, or to visit his friends in Steamboat. I tell him that we would have to go far away on a plane. He's always up for it. His usual response: "Let's go!"

I wish we could. Thinking of you all.....Jenelle