Bundle of Blessings

Gavin received his baby blessing at church a few weeks ago by his father. It was so sweet, my favorite was that Brian blessed Gavin to be a leader through quiet example throughout his life. So far, Gavin has been just that in our family. He is a sweet angel who doesn't mind hanging out by himself when mom is busy and sweetly cooes to himself or at us as we bustle about our busy little activities at home. We are so very blessed to have him in our family, we all love him so much. And he got his daddy's big blue eyes, I just giggle with joy to have a blue-eyed baby!

Ethan is such a good big brother and completely adores "me bebe."

This photo wasn't even posed. Ethan was insisting on helping Gavin to read a book, so Brian stepped in to help. What cute boys!

Who's who?

Left: Ethan Right: Gavin

TWO!

As of October 5, Ethan is now officially a two-year-old! It was a pretty low-key birthday since his mom was too exhausted to plan or do much since it was just about two weeks after having a baby. Since Ethan (Mr. Picky) doesn't like cake or ice cream, we settled for chocolate chip cookies. He got to have some friends come over to play that day, watch a few Elmo movies, play at the library, and shoot balls into his new basketball hoop for his big day. Terrible twos here they come! Yikes! Good thing he's so darn adorable, his laugh and little personality just make me melt!

It's the Great Pumkpin, Charlie Brown

Happy Halloween from the Peanuts Gang!

Love,
Schroader, Lucy, Charlie Brown, and Snoopy

Sister Sister

The weekend after Gavin was born, Alyssa and Kaitlin, two of my three sisters (we missed you Carmelle!) came to visit for two days to meet little Gavin and see Wicked while it was on tour in Des Moines since it was Kaitlin's big 18th birthday! It was so fun to see them-- I can't wait to see my whole family at the same time for Christmas!

A Whole New World

It turns out that welcoming a new baby into the world also brings the whole family into a whole new world. Our lives have definitely gone through some chaos with the adjustment, but with the gradual settling into a routine, we can't imagine life without little Gavin.

Labor and delivery was-- let's say, a little bit of heaven and hell (depending on if the epideral was in effect yet). Once my body became numb to the pain of contractions, my spirits soared as I cut my previous PR time from pushing for 2 1/2 hours to delivering in less than 2 1/2 pushes and a happy healthy little Gavin entered our lives.

Gavin is a great baby. He has adjusted smoothly to a routine and good sleeping habits with the exception of evening fussiness/sleeplessness. He is quickly learning to be tough as his older brother slowly weans himself of jealousy for taking up so much of his mother's time. This week he has started smiling in response to our cooing at his adorable little face.

Ethan initially had a real love/hate relationship with his new sibling, not sure if he wanted to hug or hit Gavin, usually attempting to do both at the same time. With time, he has now decided this kid is a good thing and loves to constantly talk about and point at this favorite new "toy" of his. "Me bee-bee" is his biggest conversation piece. Luckily, Ethan has his own baby doll that has endured his attempts at parenting-- making his baby do anything Gavin does, including my favorite--last week I caught Ethan in Gavin's room, sitting on the glider, feeding his "bee bee" doll (lifting up his shirt to nurse the doll--apparently we need to discuss gender differences at some point).

I have had a much easier recovery and adjustment this time around. I've definitely had some ups and downs, but thanks to heaven-sent friends who brought dinners, or took Ethan to the library, park, or just to play; my mom coming to help for a week; and an amazing husband who sacrifices studying and sleep to stay up those late fussy nights for his exhausted wife; things are going well. I really do love being a mother and getting to stay home with my boys every day.

Brian has been enjoying his hospital rotations this year. Currently on a Pediatrics rotation, he gets to spend his days with sick, cranky kids at the doctor's office, and come home to his kids that may or may not be just as cranky, but regardless, he comes home smiling and ready to play with his boys. Our home lights up when he comes through the door.

He's here!

For anyone who hasn't heard, Gavin Neal Cheney was born Sat, Sept 19. Good healthy baby and oh-so-cute. I'll update with more photos and info when I'm caught up on sleep. Okay, so I won't really wait a whole year to post again, but hopefully next week I'll have a little more blogging energy (besides, it's almost my bedtime--feed the baby and then I'm out as soon as I can). For now....

Nesting

Nesting Instinct: an uncontrollable urge to clean one's house brought on by a desire to prepare a nest for the new baby, to tie up loose ends of old projects and to organize your world.Females of the animal kingdom are all equipped with this same need. It is a primal instinct. Just as you see birds making their nests, mothers-to-be do exactly the same thing. The nesting urge can also be seen as a sign of the onset of labor when it occurs close to 40 weeks of pregnancy.
Source: parentingweekly.com

No baby yet. And so, on goes the nesting. Of course, it could just be my organizing, clean-freak, just-moved-into-a-new-apartment need that is part of my natural personality, or maybe it's remembering that after having Ethan, I felt like I got NOTHING done on my to-do list for months, and wanting to instead, get everything I can done now. Regardless, until I have any contractions, on I go. Here's a few projects from the past couple weeks. Today's list: clean the whole house (hence, why I'm instead blogging :) ).

Nursing cover, wipes case, and burp rags




Hooded towels for the boys




Repainting Ethan's dresser (before and after)

The last leg...

Ten days until "the day". No, it's not the new season of Fall I'm referring to (that's the next day), but the season of baby cooing and crying. My doctor's appointment today showed I'm not dilated, so I may have some time before baby boy Cheney arrives. My hopes were that I'd be able to be induced next week, but without any dilation, it's a no-go.
"What's that?" you say. "You want to bring this baby into the world sooner than nature intended?"
Given the choice, I'd say yes. I know it's best to let nature do it's thing and let the baby come when he's ready, but I'd love to have the baby come sooner than later despite having fewer days of peaceful sleep (very relative since pregnancy sleep is no where near the good sleep you'd usually get in a night) before waking up several times a night--for several hours each time, trying to teach a newborn the difference between night and day AND despite a baby being SO easy to take care of in utero--no diapers, no nursing, no crying, nothing compared to the tumultuous chaos that erupts for a baby's world after delivery. I'm sure my opinion on that will change as soon as reality of the newborn cry hits my ears. I just can't help that we're excited to meet the little munchkin (and have my body back to myself--mostly--nursing doesn't really fit into that whole privacy thing).
Oh well, though my characteristic self yearns to have life planned out into a convenient little schedule, I'll have to throw that out the window and work on that little bit of spontaneity that I've repressed my whole life. Who knows, maybe I'll like the surprise of going into labor on my own so much that I'll get into more exciting hobbies like skydiving and shark hunting. Hmmm, maybe not.

38 Weeks

August Rush

After moving into a new apartment, we left for a couple weeks to have all these adventures. It's good to be back home to finish unpacking and making us a home.

Itinerary:
Flew from Des Moines, IA to San Francisco, CA
Flew from Oakland, CA to Salt Lake, UT
Drove from SLC to Bloomfield, NM
Flew from Durango, CO to Moline, IL
One night at home, then drove to Ames, IA
Home again, home again, jiggity jog!

GREAT trips and yet, so nice to be home!

Here's a few little tidbits of the trip:

San Francisco and Oakland

First stop on the trip was to get Brian's younger brother, Ben married off in Oakland. While we were there we got some good site seeing in of San Francisco.

Beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge, though it was hard to see the enormity of it when most was covered up with fog.

Watching the barking sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco

Loving the time with Grandpa while watching street performers at Pier 39 in SF

Cruising up the steep hills of downtown SF, and then going down the twists and turns of Lombard Street, and seeing other San Francisco sites like the Tanner's home from Full House (darn, Danny and the kids must have been taking a drive in the red convertible, we didn't see any of them while we were there...)


Waiting for Ben and the newest Mrs. Cheney to come out of the temple. Welcome Stacie!

New Mexico

Brian had to get home after the wedding for hospital rotations, but Ethan and I flew to Salt Lake, where my mom was visiting, then drove down with her to New Mexico to spend the week there. Ethan and I had a great time, while poor Brian worked a busy 85-hour workweek!
Each morning couldn't start until Ethan went outside to greet Buttercup good morning.

Oops, busted! Looking for Grandma's cookies! Ethan and cousin Lexi were always looking for trouble.


Hanging out at the county fair.

Went to Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband concert

Sprinklers, swimming, and picnics outside with the cousins.


Ethan and I then flew home, where we spent the night, and the next morning went with Brian for a fun day in Ames for Ben's reception--at a nice reception center with an old-fashioned carousel outside. I love my handsome boys!

The Friendship Investment

Copyright © Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission

This past week has led me to ponder the value of friends. Life has been nuts, and yet, so many pain-in-the-necks have turned out just fine thanks to the loving assistance of those people I call friends.
We've been moving this week. Not far, just down the street into a larger apartment in preparation for the arrival for our next little rugrat.
Unfortunately, moving while 8 months pregnant, with a "practicing the terrible twos" toddler, a super busy hubby (getting the hard hospital rotations out of the way before younger rugrat arrives), and a lease that ended two days before the next lease begins (leaving us AND all belongings homeless) has made this simple move into a juggling act that beats any move I've had yet (including the ones trekking across the country).
Fortunately, the "low-fee, no-load" investment of having wonderful friends has paid off a hundred-fold. Though too many to count, here are a few things our loving friends have done for us recently:

• Picking up furniture into their car and delivering it to our "temporary warehouse" in their garage when I can't help but buy good furniture at garage sales.
• Allowing us to take over a whole room in their apartment to store some of our large goods for a week (including free delivery--helping to carry the big stuff there the whole way on foot).
• Offering their garage to us to store our things in during our "homeless adventure" (4 separate people offering).
• Coming by multiple times to pick up "pre-packed" junk of ours to start storing it out of our way.
• Allowing Ethan and I to "move-in" for a few different days, while, our management wisely (insert sarcasm here) decides to re-concrete our complex, meaning we can't be there while concrete is ripped up, poured, dries, etc.
• Letting Ethan come over to play so I can actually pack instead of undoing whatever damage he's just done (breaking my glasses, pouring container of ultra-concentrated laundry detergent on the carpet, etc, you get the picture)
• Watching Ethan while I clean our apartment (prevention of more "help" by the rascal).
• Handing over keys to their whole apartment for us to live in for a few days while we need somewhere to stay--clean, cute, childproof, and oh so comfy.
  
• Coming over to help pack and clean, then offering and coming back the next day to help finish up everything, essentially doing most the cleaning for our check-out.
• Moving our large and heavy furniture and countless loads of "junk" ("why do we need so much stuff?" is my most frequent thought this week) into a moving van, then into our "storage unit" and being willing to come back two days later to do it all again in the reverse order, despite the busy lives they all lead, including some who just moved themselves this week!
• Watching Ethan while we move back in.
• And my true BFF (literally) to come home after long 12-18 hour workdays to hear me complain about my aching prego body and the stresses of moving, or to move all the boxes I've packed yet can't pick up, into our second storage unit.

And guess what, we're only half-way done! We're recovering from the moving out, preparing for the moving in tomorrow.
These things don't cover the half of what services others have rendered us lately, and we appreciate them ALL. I can truly say we couldn't have done it without all the help. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who has helped us recently.
For everyone out there wondering how to wisely invest for their future, here's my advice. Take it all (no diversification necessary) and put it towards friendship.

Best Biscuits

When I tried these biscuits at a dutch oven Handcart Festival a month ago, I HAD to get the recipe. This recipe makes the most moist, delicious biscuits! It's super easy and you don't have to bake them in a dutch oven either. Mmm, mmm, good. Try them! (and, no, this isn't actually a picture of them, they look slightly different, but scrumptious nonetheless). :)

2 Cups Flour
1 T sugar
1 T Baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp salt
4 T Butter (cold)
1 1/2Cups buttermilk

Mix together. Mixture will be wet. Flour your hand and scoop as much as you fit in your palm. Lightly flour it as you drop into a greased cake pan or pie plate (*or dutch oven).
Start in the center of the pan and work your way out.

Melt 2 T butter and pour over top.

Bake @ 500 for 5 min, and then 450 for 11 min.

* Dutch oven- Use 4 T. butter and spread chunks between biscuits. Stack top of oven high with brickettes. About 9-10 on bottom. They will be golden on top when finished.

Binge Blogging

Admission is the first step to any addiction. So here it is: I admit it. I am a binge blogger and have been for a long time. I often will post about three new posts in a day (see below), then call it good for the rest of the month. As weeks go by, our raving fans (okay, maybe just you Heather) are starved for more posts, and I go on another binge. I can't help it. Enjoy!

Family Vacation

Whoopie!
Last week was spent at the "Waterpark Capital of the World" in Wisconsin Dells, WI. Brian had one week off between his second and third years of med school, so off we went! The resort we stayed at had 4 indoor and 4 outdoor waterparks, plus indoor play areas and lots of other activities.
Our good friends, the VanTassells, went with us with 4-year-old Markus and 2-year-old Jonah. It was perfect. Ethan LOVED having the boys to play with. We played at waterparks during the day and at night, we all crashed from exhaustion, especially the two pregos--me and Nicole.

We also stopped for a day in Madison, WI, for a visit to the zoo. I wasn't even sure Ethan would like anything about it since he is mostly familiar with farm animals, but he loved the animals he saw, telling each one "Hi" and then "Bye" and then immediately asking for "More." By the end of the trip, he was exhausted from missing naps and late nights, and dropped into Dreamland before we finished the zoo.

The Big Boy

Last week at a garage sale I picked up a toddler bed for Ethan, with the intent of moving him into it a month or two after our baby was born. Brian had a better idea--let's try it now! I told him he was crazy, but figured he'll learn as soon as Ethan cried and kept running out of his room at bedtime.
I was wrong. That night, as we put Ethan to bed, his eyes were big and his face confused, but... he went right to sleep! With the exception of one night of fighting it for about 20 minutes, Ethan has been perfect at going to sleep in his new "big boy bed." Hey, as long as it works, I'm fine with that. I just hope potty training goes this well... (and no, that process will NOT begin before our baby comes).

Girls and Guys Nights Out

At the end of May, Brian took Ethan on the annual ward Father Toddler Campout. Though they didn't end up sleeping there, they still had a good time.Hanging out with buds Tanner and Vance in a tent.

Problem: Picky Ethan refused to try a marshmallow. Solution: pin him down and feed him one with your mouth. (Hey--it worked, he liked it! Although one was enough for Ethan, he changed his mind by the time the second marshmallow was offered).

Meanwhile, I got to get together with a bunch of friends for a Girls Night Out.

Dinner at Chili's

Then to Sarah's for chocolate fondue, karaoke, and Lots of girl talk. We had some real booty-shakin' talent with those mics.

I'm pretty sure this annual campout should turn into a... monthly campout. All us women had an awesome time!