jingle all the way

we did it! it was the first race any of us had participated in, though it wasn't a competitive timed race, i'm pretty sure we all set out to prove something to ourselves: that we could do it. we had fun too! i think we were all pretty proud of ourselves, considering none of us are "runners." i know i'm proud of us! it was really fun to run with scotty and have him by my side, holding hands as we crossed the finish line. i'm glad that we could participate in a run that meant something to us. we have quite a few family members and friends that suffer from arthritis, which is considered to be the biggest debilitating disease in our country, effecting millions and more than 300,000 children. my sweet, 4 year old niece, lucy, is among them.

(i know now why jackson always makes funny faces in pictures. lol!)

when we got back to my parents' to pick up the girls, my sweet momma made us all pancakes and eggs for breakfast.

i think this race thing might be a little addicting though, because we're now looking for more to run in our area.  lol!  who would've thought?  not me, that's for sure. 

come join us at the jingle bell run next year!   

lauren elise turns 1!

today my #2 turns 1!  i can't believe it.  this year has gone by so incredibly fast.  lauren has been such a joy to have in our family.  she has brought countless smiles to my face and has brightened so many days with her sweetness.  i am so grateful that i get to be her momma.  this year has been a challenge.  learning to be mom to two kids is tough business.  there have been times where i've wanted to throw in the towel for sure.  my post-partum with lo was a lot harder than it was with brooklin.  i was more emotional and i was definitely under more stress the second time around.  i'm so glad i have such a strong and supportive husband that was right there by my side willing to take over when i needed it.  it's really hard to not feel like you're negelecting one of your children (and yourself for that matter) when trying to meet the needs of the other, which creates guilt.  but, i learned it's just something i've gotta get over, because i'm sure it effects me so much more than it effects the girls.  i am still learning the balancing act, but i know that one day i'll feel like i've got a handle on things and maybe we'll be ready to add another to the mix.  until then, i'm so enjoying my two girls!  they are so amazing!

i wanted to repost lauren's birth story.  the memories are so vivid and i remember it like it was yesterday.  it was an incredible experience.  one that forever changed our family, most definitely for the better.  i love you so much lolo!!!

re-post of birth story

just a warning, this is pretty long, so if you really aren't that interested you may want to skip this post.



my "big" little lauren will be ten days old tomorrow and i can't believe it. time is already getting away from me, so i thought i'd finally record her birth story.


i need to back up a few weeks. three weeks ago when i went in for a routine checkup the doc told me i was already dilated to 3.5 cm, which is what i was when i started labor with brooklin. so, i started to get a little anxious/nervous about having the baby early. i was ready but at the same time i wasn't. kinda hard to explain exactly what my emotions were. fast forward to the next week, yes i actually made it another week walking around dilated to 3.5. well, now i find i'm at a 4+ and the nurse at the doctors office is very suprised to see me without a baby. i go ahead and make my next check-up for the following week, which happened to be on my due date, the 14th. the doctor said it would really suprise him if i made it that long. but alas, i did. and now i'm at a 5. what the heck! he sent me home with plans to be induced on the 17th if i wasn't able to go into labor on my own. i left the doctors office crushed. i turned to scott and told him there was no way i was going to wait another three days. the baby was going to come out, and she was going to do it on her own. after arriving back at home i started to feel some cramping, but nothing too unusual. then about an hour later i started having some pretty regular contractions, but didn't think too much of it since i wasn't in any pain. for about two hours the contractions were about 4-6 minutes apart. scott was pleading with me to go to the hospital, but i really didn't want to go only to be checked and sent home. i was sure that the contractions would fizzle out since i wasn't having much pain. he was getting a little worried because the doctor had told us that once i started labor it would probably go pretty fast because i was so far dilated. i finally gave in and we grabbed our bags and headed over to drop brooklin off at grandma's house. on the way to the hospital we decided to stop and get some dinner, since i really didn't see any urgency, and we knew that if we didn't eat before we went in it would be a while before we got the chance. while we ate we timed a few of the contractions at about 3 minutes, but i still wasn't in any kind of real pain. so, we finished up our cheeseburgers and blizzard and headed into the hospital. as i was checking in a nurse came out to the waiting room to speak to me, and asked me why i thought i was in labor. after i told her what was going on she uttered those dreaded words, "well, you don't look like your in labor." oh great. just what i feared would happen. but she told me they'd check me out and see. after getting set up in the wonderful triage room, she told me that they were going to monitor the contractions for about 20 minutes before actually cheking to see how dilated i was. not even ten minutes had gone by and she came back and told me that i was contracting like crazy. about every one to two minutes. so, she checked and i was dilated to 6+. i was admitted right away. the three nurses assigned to me were amazed at how great i was doing, pain wise. i was quite amazed with myself too. this was totally different than it was with brooklin. the question of an epidural came up. before, my doctor told me that if i was going to get one i should get it right away, "before all hell breaks loose," as he put it. my water hadn't broken yet, and i knew that would probably bring with it the pain, so i went ahead and got the epidural. i'm all for not feeling the pain if it can be helped. a few minutes after getting the epidural, my wonderful doctor, dr. cook, showed up and he went ahead and broke my water. at this time i was at 7cm and feeling great. the epidural was just enough to cut any pain i might feel but i could still move my feet and legs, and i could feel when i was being touched. it was nice to just sit and relax and talk with scott and my parents. at about 10:30 my mom decided to take my dad home since he had to get up early and drive to everett the next morning. when she left she told my nurse that i had to wait until she got back. right before my mom made it back the doc came in to check me again and i was at a ten and it was go time. after about ten minutes i was able to start pushing, and within about five minutes and three pushes she came. i was able to do it all on my own, which was totally different from brooklin's birth. my epidural with her was so strong i couldn't control my legs at all.

it was so great to finally have her out and be able to hold her in my arms, even if she did pee on me. :) i really could not have asked for a smoother labor and delivery. everything was just perfect. she came on time, my nurses were great, my doctor was amazing, and i have to give props to my drug guy who gave me such a great epidural. while he was administering it he asked who gave me my epidural with brooklin and i couldn't remember. he made a comment about how nobody ever remembers them. so dr. maixner, thank you so much, you did an excellent job :)

Lauren Elise Cunningham was born on December 14th (her due date) at 11:15 pm.

she weighed 9 lbs. 11 0z (amazing) and was 22 inches long.

she's got blonde/stawberry colored hair (depending on who you ask) and she is a beautiful, healthy baby. she has been sleeping decently through the night and is such a joy to have in our family. we feel very blessed. and if you asked me right now, at this very minute, i wouldn't mind having another. but that could change within the hour. :)



why am i doing the jingle bell run?

because of this sweet little girl. 

she has faced so many trials in her short 4 years that she's been on this earth.  one of them being arthritis.  lucy holds such a special place in my heart, and i'm sure in the hearts of all those who have met her.  she has such a sweet and caring spirit, and i'm so lucky to be called her aunt.  she is such a strong little girl.  it hurts my heart thinking about the pain she has had to go through.  i can't imagine.  

 there's not a whole lot i can do, but i can run for her.  and i will!

goin' to the lodge

every year our "crew" gets together for an ornament exchange.  this year was a little different.  okay, a lot different.  as our families are growing we've decided to not do the ornament thing anymore.  it was a general consensus (well mostly) that adding 4 or 5, or more, new ornaments to the tree every year would get to be a little excessive.  most of our trees are already pretty full.  so, this year we decided to get together and do a holiday treat exchange.  and we put the calders in charge of planning it.  something else new.  each family is going to get a chance to plan what it is that we do.  every year, a few times a year, the calders make the long trek up here from oregon so that we can all be together.  so, for the party they decided to hold it in a more central location.  the great wolf lodge.  i definitely did not complain about that!  we've been a few times since scott's mom lives just down the road, and we love it there!  so we packed up our suits and our holiday treats and hit the road.

the girls waiting ever so patiently to go into the water park.  i'm sad that i didn't get any pictures of us in there, but i didn't want to risk ruining my new camera by getting it wet. 

through the month of december the lodge is having their "snowland."  santa and the mrs. come to visit bringing along with them rudolph and a gingerbread man.  they sing christmas carols at the clock tower, and it even snows in the lobby.  it was pretty cool!

waiting in line for a picture with santa.

"the crew"

after a few hours of swimming we went out to eat... mexican food.  no surprise with this group.

after dinner we went back to the lodge and exchanged treats and visited.  poor lauren missed out.  she was just so tired from playing in the water and not napping, we didn't want to keep her up late.  she did surprisingly well on very little sleep.  what a relief.

miss brooklin really enjoyed all of the delicious goodies.  maybe a little too much.  she kept us up all night complaining of a belly ache.  luckily she was fine by morning.  but between her belly ache and lauren not sleeping so well, scott and i were pretty tired the next day.

we played some more at the water park and then hit the road for home after stopping for lunch at scott's mom's.  we had so much fun!  i loved the time that we spent together and there were definitely some memories made.  one of my favorite moments was going down the howlin' tornado.  sorry to those who had to listen to me scream.  that slide is so scary, but so dang fun!  i also loved that ellie fell asleep while i was holding her in the pool. 



falling behind

so, i've been terrible at blogging. not because we haven't been doing anything fun, but because i've been having a hard time finding the time to sit down and JUST DO IT. it's not that i have a jam packed schedule or anything, i just feel like i don't have a lot of time to myself, and when i do find the time i'm trying to do something super productive around the house while the kids aren't under my feet, run, or take a nap. the blog has definitely been neglected, which is pretty sad because i don't keep a journal or anything, so this is my family record so to speak. so, i'm gonna try and play catch-up here and give a glimpse of the fun/noteworthy things we've been up to this fall, before it turns to winter and i'm one more season behind.

toward the end of the summer lauren started really climbing!

we went on our annual camping trip to washington park in anacortes. this year we brought along the yorks. we had a blast. we played at the beach. played at the park. cooked over a fire. made yummy s'mores. the kids watched a movie out of the back of our car. we enjoyed a beautiful sunset. we had adventures in the forest. and we even had some very friendly visitors.

we took the girls to larabee state park early one saturday morning at low tide so we could check out the starfish. brooklin thought they were pretty cool but wouldn't touch them. both girls enjoyed climbing on the rocks.

this year we decided to visit stoney ridge farm and check out the pumpkin patch.  while there, we also fed chickens, went for a "hayride" and devoured some really tasty cider donuts.

the girls being rewarded for being so brave when they got their flu vaccinations.  brooklin is so nice to share with her sister!

i totally chopped my hair!  i was tired of it and ready for a change.  yes, i miss it, but it's hair.  it'll grow back, and i'll probably get sick of it again.

our annual pumpkin carving party.  ellie and lo were so cute playing together on the floor.  everyone's pumpkins turned out great and we enjoyed some excellent food! 

this year for halloween the girls and i dressed up as kitties and i made scotty be a mouse.  i thought it was quite fitting.  before heading to the trunk-or-treat at the church we had dinner at billy mchales with the yorks, and the kids ate free because they were dressed in their costumes.  i wish i had got a picture of jackson and ryan in their adorable costumes.  hopefully shanna will post them (hint hint).  after the trunk-or-treat we took brooklin for real trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.  she had a blast!  and to end the night grandma and grandpa had krispy kremes and cider waiting for us.

scott and i celebrated our 7th anniversary this november.  wow!  can't believe it's already been 7 years.  we went to the temple and then stayed the night in a hotel while scott's mom and step dad watched the girls.  we had a great time and we look forward to many many more years together!  i had to get some pictures of the fall leaves because they were breathtaking.  just like the day we got married.

i had another birthday.  blah blah blah.  yes, i'm to the point already where i'd rather not talk about getting older.  but my wonderful husband made me feel special by celebrating my birth all weekend long.  we went out to dinner friday night and he had my name put on the birthday train at billy mchales.  saturday night we had our close friends over for some cake.  and then sunday, my actual birthday, we celebrated with my family.  one year older (definitely) and wiser too (maybe).

 

scott and i got a new memory foam mattress so we sent our old pillow top out with a bang.  the girls and i jumped around on it for quite some time.

this year we went to doug's restaurant for thanksgiving.  it felt really odd to not be up in the morning helping to prepare the usual thanksgiving day feast.  but it was nice and relaxing.  we had a wonderful turkey dinner and it was great to be able to enjoy it with doug.  brooklin was a huge fan of the gravy.  she ate that for dessert instead of pumpkin pie or chocolate mousse.  she's so silly sometimes.

lauren also learned how to walk this fall, right before turning 11 months old.  so, scotty's prediction was right, she was walking at 10 months.  she still prefers to crawl because for right now it's faster, but i'm sure soon enough she'll be walking all the time.

 well, that about wraps up what we've been up to this fall.  ahhh... it feels so good to finally have it all recorded, even if it was the shortened version.  it's done!  now i can start blogging what we've been up to this month, and hopefully i won't get so far behind again.  once a procrastinator always a procrastinator?