Easter in Charleston, SC

I know what you're all thinking.  Easter?  Its the middle of June!  I know, I know.  I've been a little busy lately and at least I am getting around to catching up the blog!  I want to keep my posts in order so I will try to get back to the present quickly.  

My family spent Easter weekend in Charleston and Isle of Palms, SC.  Here are a few of the pictures that my sister and I took while we were there.

Kellan helping mommy pack :)

Mommy didn't want to make the kitchen a mess before we left on our trip so we had pizza at Little Italy the night before :)

We left the next morning and Kellan was a great traveler as usual, although we did have a few of these moments.  When he is upset it usually means he is about to fall asleep or he is hungry.

Stopping for lunch at Chik-Fil-A.  The line in the drive-thru was LONG so we let Kellan "drive" for a few minutes.  This has been one of his favorite things to do for several months now.

Apparently I didn't take any more pictures for the rest of our first day.  We stayed in a really nice house in a resort community in Isle of Palms.  My parents were already there when we arrived and my sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and niece got there pretty soon after.  We spent the rest of the day talking, getting the cars unpacked, and eating dinner out before we all crashed after the long drive.

The next morning, a restaurant inside the resort was having a special breakfast buffet with the Easter Bunny.  We saw a lot of this Easter Bunny over the next few days.

Kellan and daddy with the Easter Bunny

Uncle Shannon and Owen

Aunt Jessie and Eden

Mommy and Kellan with his Easter egg

Mimi wanted to get a belly shot but it was kind of difficult to show it while holding a toddler...there is baby brother in there!

We spent the rest of the day walking around Charleston.  All of us had been before so we took our time going shopping at the market and taking the kids to the fountains, Rainbow Row, and walking down to the Battery.  I guess that I have been to Charleston too many times because I didn't make a very good attempt at taking pictures of very many landmarks...luckily my sister is always good about getting someone to take a family picture.

The whole family at the Pineapple Fountain :)

Daddy and Kellan watching some dolphins out in the water.

Rainbow Row

Cobblestone streets

Fort Sumter statue at the Battery

Cannons at the Battery

We ate a late lunch/early dinner at Southend Brewery because my mom told us that we had to be back at our house before 6:00 p.m.  

Crossing the Cooper River Bridge back to the Isle of Palms

As soon as we pulled up in the driveway a white pick-up truck with the Easter Bunny riding in the back stopped in front of our house!  Mimi had ordered Easter baskets to be delivered to the kids and of course we had to take advantage of another photo opportunity with the bunny :)

Kellan wasn't too sure about that bunny...

After the Easter Bunny left we all went to the beach for a little while.  It was pretty windy and chilly so we got the kids all bundled up.  They had a blast and the cold didn't phase them at all.

All this boy wanted to do was RUN!

No time for pictures mommy...I've got to GO!

These two look like they are deep in conversation...

Owen could spend hours on the beach with just a shovel and a bucket...Kellan could spend hours just watching.  He loves his big cousin.

Eden showed us all how she can stand and take a couple of steps all by herself.

Eden tried to give Kellan a hug but he didn't have time to stand still for that...such a boy.

He ran and ran and ran...

Oh how I love this sweet face :)

On our way back from the beach Michael wanted to drive around and check out the rest of the neighborhood and golf course.  While we were out Michael spotted an alligator hanging out in some one's back yard.  It took quite a bit of convincing before I believed that that guy was real.

Kellan and Eden sharing a popcorn snack back at the house before bed.

The next day was Easter and the kids all dug into their goodies.

Kellan got 3 new Spot books, a Spot video, Easter eggs, a bucket of sand and water toys and boxes of his favorite snack, raisins.

Daddy reading some of Kellan's new books.  Owen loves to listen to a good book too.

Kellan got some goodies from Aunt Jessie too...bath crayons, a onsie, shutter shades, and a pair of shark shoes :)

We had to rush to get ready to make it to the community Easter Egg Hunt that morning.  It was a little drizzly but the kids braved the rain and cold to collect lots of eggs.  This was Kellan's first Easter Egg Hunt and at first he wasn't really sure what to do.  He would pick up one egg and just wanted to stop and play with it.  He didn't understand that he was supposed to get lots of eggs so mommy had to help.

Family photo with the Easter Bunny again...I told you that we saw quite a bit of him over the weekend.

We had several other adventures but I'm going to put up separate posts for each of those...be on the lookout, they will be coming soon!

"New Baby" Updates

I know that I announced that I was pregnant a few months ago but I don't think I have given any updates since then.  I have been for my doctor's appointments once a month and everything has checked out fine.  I was lucky enough to not have had any trouble with my blood pressure, glucose, swelling, or much discomfort during my pregnancy with Kellan and so far this pregnancy is going just as well.

We did have one scare at the end of November and it was already an emotional day all around.  One of my really good friends was a few weeks pregnant (about a month behind me) when her doctor could not find the baby's heartbeat. She went back for another check up and they still could not find the heartbeat and scheduled a D and C.  Her procedure was on the same morning as my 12 week doctor's appointment and she was on my mind all day.  I had to sit on the toilet seat so many times to try to get myself together and stop crying so that I could put my make up on.  I finally was able to get ready and Michael came home to pick up me and Kellan.

At the doctor everything checked out normal until he couldn't find OUR baby's heartbeat.  He assured us that everything was probably fine and as early in the pregnancy as we were, finding the heartbeat could be tricky.  As soon as he left the room, Michael immediately starts telling me that its going to be O.K. and that we don't know that anything is wrong.  I immediately fell apart and reached for Kellan to hold him.  The five minutes it took to walk down to the ultrasound room were the longest and scariest five minutes I've ever spent in my life.  Thankfully everything in the ultrasound checked out fine, there was a strong heartbeat and the baby was just swimming away in there.  Our doctor reassured us that at 12 weeks the baby is so tiny, finding the heartbeat can be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Every mother and pregnant woman knows that there is no greater sound in the world than a baby's heartbeat.  It is what I look forward to hearing every month when I go for my appointment.  One thing I have learned from friends', family members', and my own pregnancies is not to take a healthy baby for granted.  Why people that don't want their babies and don't take care of them, are seemingly able to have them so easily, is a question pondered by many.  Especially when there are so many couples that want a baby so badly and are unable to have one.  My friend I mentioned before is lucky enough to have 2 healthy children but there are so many that try and try and aren't able to have a baby at all.  It is a difficult concept to accept.  Anyway, I got side tracked but I did want to share our little scare just because its comforting to know what other women have been through.  

We had another ultrasound on January 3rd, 2013 and we found out that we are having another little boy!  I didn't even have to have the ultrasound to know.  As soon as I woke up that morning I just knew it was a boy.  Up until then I had gone back and forth between boy and girl but that morning, I can't explain it, I just knew.  Michael is beyond excited to have TWO boys and for Kellan to have a future little brother.  I was just thankful to hear that heartbeat again and see that everything checked out well.  We had a scare at our 18 week ultrasound with Kellan that I need to blog about one day.  Luckily this time there were no red flags.

Hands raised up over his head :)

Footprint :)

Ever since we found out that it was another boy I have been on a mission to decide on a name.  With Kellan, we honestly were not sure what his name was going to be until I was in labor and Michael had to fill out the cord blood banking paperwork.

I hadn't really been actively searching but names were always on my mind.  When you're pregnant you get so many emails from Diapers.com, Babycenter.com, Pampers.com, Huggies.com, Enfamil.com (I breastfed for a year...why I get emails from them I do not know), Disneybaby.com...I could go on and on.  An email somewhere along the way sent me a list of baby names that were variations of the top 10 names from 2012.  It has been no secret that I have loved the name Aiden for years but I refused to use it because it has been the #1 name for several years now.  I really liked this list because it gave you names that were similar to the popular names.

There were 2 names that were variations of Aiden that I immediately liked.  One was Adden and the other was Alden.  I liked Adden but I think people will mispronounce it Aiden just because of its popularity and there are so many different spellings of it now.  I also thought it was a little TOO close to Aiden.  So I asked Michael what he thought about Alden and prepared to be shot down (that's what always happens when one of us likes a name, the other hates it).  Surprisingly he liked it too and we tried it out for a few months to be sure.  I've been sure for a while now and have been calling the baby Alden in my head.  Its so much nicer to have a name to call him instead of "the new baby."  We already knew that his middle name was going to be Lee since that is Michael's, his dad's, and his grandfather's middle name.  

So officially, the "new baby's" name is Alden Lee Grizzard.  And its pronounced All-den.  Whew!  I bet no one expected us to have a name picked out so early.

My new diaper bag from the Whimzy Tree.  You can find her page on Facebook and Etsy.

It has Kellan's name embroidered on one side...

And baby Alden's name on the other.

The last few months I have been on full out baby planning mode and Kellan's nursery is half torn apart in preparation for making it Alden's nursery.  Some of Kellan's stuff is still up and some has been moved to his new room.  Meanwhile Kellan's new big boy room is half done and is currently the very messy and unorganized playroom until we officially move his crib in there next month.  I don't want to hang any pictures until all of the furniture is in there and I am sure of where I want everything.  I am having a very hard time moving him to the other side of the house but want him (and me) to be adjusted to his new room before baby Alden is here.  Right now we have two rooms in limbo but I know everything will fall into place in the next couple of months.

Kellan hanging out on baby Alden's new crib bedding made by my awesomely talented friend Evelyn.  She made Kellan's bedding too and it still makes his room my favorite one in the house.  I didn't think it was possible but I love this bedding even more.  The gray chevron is the outside of the crib bumper, the yellow pattern is the inside bumper and the turquoise ties and border is the same color as the crib skirt.  I will put up more pictures once the nursery is done.

Right now I am 29 weeks along with 11 weeks to go.  At my last appointment our doctor is planning another c-section for either May 24th or May 30th.  I'm hoping to hold out for the 30th because that is only 4 days before my due date.  That's really all of the updates that I have for now.  We're just counting down the days until baby Alden is here and they are going by quickly!!

The Happiness Project

I finished reading a book called The Happiness Project about a month ago.  It was recommended by a blogger that I follow and her post made me interested in checking it out.  While we were in Oregon at Powell's Books I went in search of it and luckily they had a copy.  Actually it probably wasn't lucky.  This was the same bookstore that takes up an entire city block...I'm willing to bet if you can think of a title they have a copy in there somewhere.

Anyway, I started reading it recently and after finishing I highly recommend it.  The author, Gretchen Rubin, clearly states that this book is not meant to help someone who is depressed or even genuinely UNhappy.  She wrote this book mainly to tell about her "Happiness Project" over the course of a year.  At the very beginning of the book she says that she wasn't unhappy with her life.  She loved her job, had a great marriage, and two wonderful, healthy daughters.  Her main concern was that even though she had these amazing blessings she found herself being too negative, complaining too much, and letting lots of little, nagging problems take away from her happiness.  She wasn't as happy as she SHOULD be or COULD be.

She focused on one "resolution" per month and by the end of the year she had twelve resolutions put in motion.  At the end of the year she began to wonder why she had started the project in the first place.  Her husband's thought was one that I can totally relate to in my own life.  He said, " I think this happiness project is all about you trying to get more control over your life."  That one statement resonated with me more than anything else that she said in the entire book.  Feeling like you do not have control over your own life is a sure fire way to lose happiness.  After reading each month of her experiences I found more resolutions than not that I could see trying out in my own life.

She started her project in January and I started a much "looser" version of my own project in March.  Each of her months had one main resolution with several goals to help her keep it.  For example, her January resolution was "Boost Energy" and her goals were:  Go to sleep earlier, Exercise better, Toss, restore, organize, Tackle a nagging task, and Act more energetic.

This was a fabulous chapter and through the majority of it I found myself thinking "Oh my gosh, I so need to do all of this!!!" and "Yes!  That takes away from my happiness too!"  When I thought about it I realized that there are so many tiny, little, nagging things in your day to day life that zap tiny little bits of your energy but over time really wear on you.  The main overall goal of Mrs. Rubin's project was to figure out what those little, nagging happiness suckers are, change them, fix them, or replace them with things that GIVE happiness.

These were her resolutions for the year:

January- Boost Energy (Vitality)
February-Remember Love (Marriage)
March-Aim Higher (Work)
April-Lighten Up (Parenthood)
May-Be Serious About Play (Leisure)
June-Make Time for Friends (Friendship)
July-Buy Some Happiness (Money)
August-Contemplate the Heavens (Eternity)
September-Pursue a Passion (Books)
October-Pay Attention (Mindfulness)
November-Keep a Contented Heart (Attitude)
December-Boot Camp Perfect (Happiness)

All of her resolutions did not apply to my life and sometimes even if I could relate to the resolution, I would set different goals to go about accomplishing it.  She did tons of reading and research during each month and even made herself Resolutions Charts to assess her progress each day.  I haven't gone all out to use the charts and I definitely don't have the time to do lots of reading and research.  For me, I'm not all that interested in the research and studies.  For the most part I KNOW what is zapping my energy and happiness on a daily basis...its just a matter of taking the time to do something about them.  I do see the value of setting a resolution and goals per month and finding some way to document it so that you actually stick to it.  My version of this is going to be blogging about it at the end of the month.  I don't have all of my resolutions formally mapped out for each month but I have a general idea of the big goals that I know I want to work on.  I'm being a little lenient with myself because not only am I 7 months pregnant but I'm also chasing a toddler.  My main goal for myself is to be aware of "happiness zappers" and do a little bit each day to fix them.  If I can accomplish that I will feel successful.

I highly, highly recommend this book if you can relate to anything that I've described.  I'll be posting about my first "resolution" and what I learned during March in a couple of weeks!

More Book Reviews

I should have done another book review post because I have read quite a few books since the last one!  I'm actually pretty amazed that I have finished so many since the only time that I read is before bed. Michael calls me his little "Weekly Reader."  I'm assuming the name comes from those little paper newspapers that we used to get in elementary school?  Who knows?

 Most nights I read one or two chapters before bed from whatever book I am currently into.  It has allowed me to finish lots of books but that creates my problem of staying up too late!  I guess I need to actually get into the bed earlier so that I'm getting a good night's sleep too.  I just never take the time to read during the day since there seems like there are so many other things that need to get done.

Here are half of the books that I have read since my last book review post in August, and my thoughts on them (I will do another post on the other half soon...there were too many for one post):

Book Summary by www.shelfari.com

Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown.  It has been boarded up for decades, but now the owner has made an incredible discovery:  the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II.  As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry's world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American.  While "scholarshipping" at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student.  Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship-and innocent love-that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors.  And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

My Review:  Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet taught me a lot about the events happening in the United States during World War II.  This book is not a history book but while telling a wonderful love story, it gives details about what it was like for Japanese families living in the U.S. during a time when the bombing of Pearl Harbor had made everyone terrified of all things Japanese.  I learned very little about the internment camps where all of Japanese people living in the United States were forced out of their homes and sent to live at government controlled "camps."  During my history classes through school, the main focus of our World War II lessons were on the Holocaust and the war going on in Europe.  I remember learning very little about what was going on here in our own country and I learned a lot from this story.

The author does a wonderful job of giving you a sense of the time period and its happenings while telling about the relationship between Henry and Keiko, their struggles living in a country that does not accept them, and how much of an influence their extremely different families make on their lives.

Book Summary by www.shelfari.com

A brilliant and beautiful contemporary novel about love and memory.The events of a December afternoon, during which a father and his daughter find an abandoned infant in the snow, will forever alter the 11-year-old girls understanding of the world and the adults who inhabit it: a father who has taken great pains to remove himself from society in order to put an unthinkable tragedy behind him; a young woman who must live with the consequences of the terrible choices she has made; and a detective whose cleverness is exceeded only by his sense of justice.Written from the point of view of 30-year-old Nicky as she recalls the vivid images of that fateful December, her tale is one of love and courage, of tragedy and redemption, and of the ways in which the human heart always seeks to heal itself.

My Review:  I don't know why I keep reading Anita Shreve books.  I just don't think I am a fan.  I usually enjoy them right up until the end and then either she looses me with a lot of crazy details or the book just seems to end with no real closure.  Light on Snow was the "book just seemed to end with no real closure" type to me.  I liked the story and it kept me into the mystery of where did this baby come from?, how could anyone leave their newborn in the snow?, what is going to happen to Nicky and her father?  But then, just like always, the story started to deteriorate for me and I just wasn't happy with how the ending developed and closed.  Anita Shreve is an extremely popular author so I know it is just my taste and I never seem to give up because I keep reading more and more of her books.

Book Summary by www.shelfari.com

It is a house on the beach. Honora doesn't mind renting - despite its age and all its flaws, the old house is the perfect place for a new marriage. She and Sexton throw themselves into fixing it up, just as they throw themselves into their new life together. Each morning, Honora collects sea glass washed up on the shore, each piece carrying a different story in its muted tones.

Sexton finds a way to buy the house, but his timing is perfectly wrong. The economy takes a sickening plunge, and as financial pressures mount, Honora begins to see how little she knows this man she has married.

There is Vivian, an irreverent Boston socialite who becomes Honora's closest friend even as she rejects every form of convention. McDermott, a man who works in a nearby mill, presses Honora's deepest notions of trust - even as he embroils her in a dangerous dispute. And there's Alphonse, a boy whose openness becomes the bond that holds these people together as their world is flying apart.

My Review:  I enjoyed this one more than most other books by Anita Shreve that I've read.  Although the ending was sad, the story was well written and the way that the characters were developed kept me interested.

Book Review by www.shelfari.com

Set during World War II in Nazi Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing something she can’t resist–-books. With the help of her best friend Rudy, she learns to live on Himmel Street after her brother dies on the train-ride there. She learns to read thanks to her accordion-playing foster father, Hans Hubermann, and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is found and marched to Dachau. This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul and human spirit. This book will entrance any one, this is a must read.

My Review:  I really enjoyed this book. I find the Holocaust and World War II era fascinating and I especially loved that this book was told from the perspective of a German family. It made me see this sad, and horrific time from a new viewpoint.

Book review by www.barnesandnoble.com

'When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy. I would figure out this or that way and run it down and run it down through my head until it got easy.' So it begins the tale of Ellen Foster, the brave and engaging heroine of Kaye Gibbon's much acclaimed first Novel. The story of an eleven-year-old orphan, driven to desperation by some of the wickedest relatives in literary history, this is the story of her battle for survival. Wise, funny and affectionate.

Having suffered abuse and misfortune for much of her life, a young child searches for a better life and finally gets a break in the home of a loving woman with several foster children.

My Review:  I am a big fan of books from Oprah's Book Club and this was no exception.  Stories about abused and neglected children always make me emotional but this story, although sad at times, is about such a tough, smart, and inspiring little girl you feel uplifted.  Her honest and innocent thoughts will teach even adults important life lessons.  I have always considered adopting a child and this book made those feelings even stronger.

Book review by www.shelfari.com

A funny, sad, wise, and redeeming first novel about a young girl's battle with a troubling affliction. Rural Kentucky in the 1950s is not an easy place to grow up in, and it's especially hard for 10-year-old Icy Sparks, an orphan who lives with her grandparents. Life becomes even more difficult for Icy when the violent tics and uncontrollable cursing begin. Icy's adolescence is marred by the humiliation brought on by her mysterious condition, and its all-too-visible symptoms are the source of endless hilarity as everyone around her offers an opinion about what's troubling the girl. Eventually, Icy finds solace in the company of an obese woman who knows what it's like to be an outcast in this tightly knit Appalachian community. Narrated by a now-grown Icy, this first novel shimmers with warmth and humor as it recounts a young girl's painful and poignant journey to womanhood--and the many lives she touches and enriches along the way.

My Review:  Another selection from Oprah's Book Club that I really enjoyed...right up until the end. I didn't feel satisfied with how the story ended...I needed a little more closure and wanted to know more about Icy's future.  Although it was a very eye opening read because I knew very little about Tourette's Syndrome.  It is a story that anyone can relate to that has felt like an outsider.