Saya turns two!

Sweet Saya Brynn turned two today.  I still can't figure out where my baby went.  My big girl had a fantastic day and soaked up every bit of the attention showered on her.  Before we get to the birthday rundown, a few tidbits about my girl.

The past few weeks, when she's mad at someone she shouts, "No (insert name of person she's mad at) Brynn!"  Example: She was mad at Clint for whatever reason and she shouted, "NO Daddy Brynn!!!"  She was mad.

She loves to hold Asher for about .23 seconds.  At which point she shoves him at me saying, "I done already."  She also uses this when she doesn't want to stay in bed for her naps.

When she's sad and needs a love she says, "Hold you me."

Saya loves to come in and say good morning.  Usually while I'm feeding Asher.  Then she climbs on the bed.  She likes when I take pictures of her and let her see them.  It was her birthday this morning, so I obliged.

We had a super fun time at The Children's Village this morning.  All the kids fell down in the water (where the signs clearly say, "wading only to your knees allowed.") and were soaked when we got done.  I wasn't too worried about it though, I felt worse for the daycare kids that fell in.  It was in the 90's so they needed a little cooling off.

Super excited about the little baggie of PegBuddies Princesses she got. These are seriously the best quite toy in existence.  Rachel is amazingly talented and will do lots of custom orders.  If you don't know what to give as a gift, this is it!

This box came inside an even bigger box from Amazon.  It killed Chani and Emery that we just let the box sit for a week without opening it.  The punks Emery and Chani had the box open before Saya was done unwrapping the rest of her gifts.  Because I didn't open the box ahead of time, I didn't know it needed some assembling.

She was happy to wait, and this reaction was priceless.  She loaded the cart up with all her other presents and off she went.  She loves it!  Thanks, KaLee for having one so I could steal the idea.

Saya has become enamored with lady bugs this summer in our garden.  She calls them "baby bugs" which is so cute.  When I saw this cake pan, I knew it was the cake for her.  She was thrilled.  After one bite of dinner she said, "I done already.  Cake!"  We held her off and she was happy to share cake with her buddy Khloe (who I didn't get a picture of, darn it!).

I'd call it a successful day when the birthday girl is so wiped out that when she falls out of bed, she doesn't even wake up!

When Saya turned one (and I didn't even blog about her special day)

When Saya was born

One month

I wrote a really nice post on August 16 (when it really was one month) but my phone ate it.  I can't get it to publish and it won't delete.  Dang technology!  It will probably post in 39 days.

Asher is one month old.  I can't believe how fast it's going.  He's such a sweet baby and we are all pretty smitten with him. 

At one month Asher is:

wearing size 1 diapers
growing out of newborn clothes and drowning in 0-3 month clothes
weighing in at 8 lbs. 10 oz. (yes, that's 2 lbs in one month)
happy to eat every 2-3 hours (day and night)
loving his binky
enjoying awake time in the bouncer (he likes to be up so he can see what's happening)
slowly warming up to the idea of baths
snuggling with mom and dad whenever he can
being loved constantly by his brother and sisters
melting every heart in this house

Asher's birth story

We went in for an induction Tuesday morning (July 16). They used the cervidel gel at about 7:30. I had to stay in bed for an hour, and after that I got up to use the bathroom. We walked a little bit and then used the birthing ball (seriously my favorite way to labor) until the doctor came at noon. I was a 4 and he wanted me to get a bit further before he broke my water. I told him if he broke my water we could get on with delivery. I don't think he really believed me.

 He came in about 1:20 and broke my water. He then said maybe he would go back to the office and see a patient or two. I told him that was a bad idea. He said he'd wait 20 minutes. He came back then and I was at an 8.

Two contractions later I was ready to push.

Four pushes later and Asher William was born at 2:02 PM.

The nurses were great. The doctor was really concerned about shoulder dystocia again, but coached the nurses really well and there were no complications. They put him directly on my chest and he stayed there for more than an hour before they took him to weigh and wash him. He was 6 lbs. 9 oz. at birth and was down to 6 lbs. 5 oz. at 3 days. Clint and I think he looks just like Emery.

This week in the garden...

We've been busy picking, processing, and eating. We've picked a lot of beans. We've canned most of them, and we've given some away as well.  Yesterday a friend picked 2 rows (half) and she weighed them at home. 18.2 pounds. That was half. We've had several pickings like that. I have more than 100 quarts in the basement.

Our zucchini have finally started producing. I nade two yummy zucchini chocolate cakes this week (one for a friend).

We're almost done with peas. We mostly just snack as we wander by them, we're not picking for freezing anymore.

I pulled up the beets yesterday. Some were as big as softballs, a few as small as eggs. I currently have 12 pints of beets in the pressure canner.

My tomatoes will not turn red. I have been craving fresh salsa so I bought ingredients for it. I forgot a jalapeno pepper but those are coming on fast in the garden so I plucked two fresh ones. Yum! Soon I'll be making jalapeno jelly.

I've used a couple onions and the kids have crunched a few carrots.

We're really loving our garden right now. It's awesome.

Mastitis

I know I haven't blogged anymore cutie pictures of the babe or the other kids. We've been busy constructing a closet, painting a bathroom, and canning a million green beans. (Pics to come later). All of that came to a screeching halt today, as I have mastitis.  With a fever, the shivers, nausea, and lots of achiness, I haven't done much of anything. I'm so glad Clint is home and taking good care of me.

This cute little heater is doing his best to eat often to get this crumminess out of my system.