NASCAR State Capitol

My dad invited The Lime, Doodlebug, and I to see a few race cars on Thursday, prior to the NASCAR race this weekend.  It started at 12 and went until 2, or so I thought.  At about 12:05, my dad called me to see where we were but due to some uncontrollable delays, we were running behind schedule.  It took us about 10 minutes to get to where we needed to be, after the call, and everything was over.  I felt so bad for The Lime especially since he was rarin' to go with his earmuffs.

Since we traveled a little ways, we didn't want our trip to be a complete waste so we took advantage of the Capitol's AC and did a little browsing.  Like most things in California, I've lived here my whole life and have never been inside the Capitol.  There are people EVERYWHERE!  Either taking a break and going on a walk or briskly walking through the halls with a stack of papers in their arms or on their way to a meeting in the Governor's office, which has a bear from Arnold Schwarzenegger parked outside of it (they call it Bacteria Bear because so many people touch it).

We walked along the hallways that had displays from all the counties in the state.  Neither of the counties that we have lived in had exceptional displays so I didn't take any pictures.

Each hallway lead you to the exquisite rotunda.  Had it not been for the statue in the center of the room, I would have gotten a better photo.

There was a tour passing through around the same time we were in the lobby, and we considered jumping on board with them. We ended up just doing a little peeking around by ourselves.

The first hallway offered the Treasurer's Office from 1906 as well as 1933. Why I didn't take photos of either room, I don't know. The office from 1906 looked like an old bank, with a huge vault. The office from 1933 looked more like an interrogation room.

Further down the hall was the library, where there was an extensive display of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. The exposition was supposedly a celebration of the completion of the Panama Canal. Others deemed it a reason for the city to show its return after the 1906 earthquake.

Where the exposition once stood is now the Marina District. The Palace of Fine Arts is the only building still standing, although it has been reconstructed since 1915. The picture below shows what the area looked like almost 100 years ago. Hard to believe!

The Lime and I admired the huge doors, the staircases, and the elevators that made a pleasant "ding" when arriving at each level.

We quickly zoomed down another hallway where we caught a glimpse of the Secretary of State room from 1902 and the Governor's Main Office from 1906.

By this time, both boys had had enough and one was on the verge of hysterics so we needed to take a meal break. Before finding some shade, we attempted a family photo. It only took three tries.

While we were hanging out, a fire truck pulled up to tend to a woman who sprained her ankle. My dad took The Lime to see the action and The Lime ended up sitting in the truck and made friends with one of the firefighters, Mike.

We decided to call it a day and head back home but not without driving over the yellow bridge first. You could see the bridge from the Captiol and that's all The Lime wanted to do; drive over the bridge.

Now we can mark the Captiol off of our California bucket list.

Doodlebug - Tally Mark 1

-Snorts like a little piggy.
-Has a red complexion.
-Rolled off the couch after I took these pictures.
-Sleeps 4-5 hours at night.
-Prefers to be held when he's awake.
-Only smiles for Daddy, unless he's asleep and nursing.
-Is dealing with a rash and a goopy eye...poor thing.  His doctor doesn't seem concerned.
-Is still doing his "latch on, get off, scream, burp, repeat" but not as often.  Again, doctor isn't concerned since he's gaining weight.
-Makes lots of funny faces.
-Enjoys being outside.
-Goes from 0-10 in 1 second.
-Had super boney knees when he was born but now they're nice and squishy.
-Has tried holding his head up since we brought him home.  He thinks he's stronger than he really is.

Taylors

As we were leaving the Farmers' Market yesterday, LaVor asked if we were hungry for lunch.  While I don't feel like I'm eating as much as I did while pregnant, I do feel like I'm beyond hungry and more "starving" come meal time, due to nursing.  So when LaVor said he had a new place he wanted to take us, that had a zillion milkshake flavors, I couldn't wait.

We got off the freeway and ended up in the cute downtown area of Loomis.  Right before our eyes was a small restaurant named Taylors.  The second we walked in, we were greeted by the never ending list of milkshake flavors.  There were way too many choices!

From Yelp - the list starts at the ceiling and goes to the floor

It was a toss up between salted caramel pretzel and banana cream pie. Banana cream pie was the winner and for one major reason - I've wanted pie in my milkshake for a long time. And all because of a blog post C. Jane wrote several years ago.

I've been wanting a shake with pie in it ever since but couldn't find anything around these parts that came close. Sonic has a coconut cream pie shake but it doesn't have chunks of pie in it, and that's what I wanted...chunks!

When our shake was ready yesterday, and I tried sucking it up through the straw but had trouble, because of the chunks, I knew I found my "place". It was delicious! Sweet banana chunks, buttery pieces of crust, even a hint of cinnamon, all incorporated with delicate vanilla ice cream and milk.

Sharing it among three people, it didn't last very long. And I ended up craving another one for the rest of the day. It's a gosh darn shame they have so many other flavors that I want to try, and that I'm trying to rid myself of the extra fat around my midsection, because I can see myself visiting Taylors often.

My Three Boys

What's a Sunday afternoon without a nap?  All of my boys are sleeping and taking advantage of this day of rest.  (Spoke too soon...The Lime just woke up.)

Speaking of The Lime, we were watching the A's game on Thursday night (naturally) but had to send The Lime to bed before it was over.  Then Josh Donaldson hit a walk off home run so LaVor decided to get The Lime out of bed, since he gets a kick out of the pie.  After all of the excitement was over, he went back to bed but before he got to his room, he said to LaVor, "Thanks for getting me up to show that to me, Dad!"  It was just about the cutest thing I've heard come out of his mouth (especially lately).

Speaking of LaVor, while we were outside selling lemonade yesterday, LaVor held Doodlebug the entire time.  There's something heart warming about a big tough guy holding a tiny baby.

And speaking of Doodlebug, this little guy has gained a pound and a half and grown an inch in the two weeks he's been here.  Slow down!  This is the part of parenthood that I dislike...time zips by.

So for that reason, I need to go love on my three boys while I still can.

"Lemolade! 50 cents!"

The Lime and I were at the grocery store yesterday when I remembered that he had mentioned wanting to have a lemonade stand. I asked him if he still wanted to do it and he exclaimed, "Yes!" So we bought all of the components for a successful stand.

He asked me if he could do the stand when he woke up from his nap but I suggested he wait until Saturday, when people are home from work and school and are driving around the neighborhood.

So that's what he did. After he ate his doughnuts and we got ready for the day, we setup shop outside and he transformed into a salesman. Within a minute of being outside, our neighbors were gathered around him, asking for multiple cups.

This fueled The Lime's fire and he begn shouting, "Lemolade! 50 cents!" over and over again. A few more neighbors came by and before we knew it, his pitcher was empty.

Our neighbor across the street came by with his daughter and bought a couple cups. As they were leaving, The Lime said, "Make sure you come back!" They heeded his suggestion. The whole family came back and as we chatted with the parents, the daughters ended up buying the entire second batch.

Unfortunately, we were out of sugar so we had to call it quits. But he made $14 and loved every minute of it. We're talking about selling Otter Pops next time...that is if The Lime doesn't eat them all beforehand.

He's Here

We have thoroughly enjoyed our first week as a family of four and are sad to see it come to an end. LaVor is back to work this week and both The Lime and I are dreading it. Like LaVor said last night, if there was a way for him to still make money and stay home, life would be perfect!

But since that's unlikely, we're striving to make it as perfect as we can, given our situation. And with baby boy #2 in the picture, things are pretty close to perfect.

Having a fresh, fuzzy, little, soft, squirmy, yummy smelling baby around is wonderful. We're (but mostly I) are so grateful he's here.

It all started last Saturday when we were leaving dinner. I took The Lime outside since he gets restless waiting around for the check. I had to sit back down immediately as the Braxton hicks contractions I had been getting for months were now all of a sudden painful. My first thought was, "I just stuffed my face with chips and salsa and taquitos! I can't go into labor." My mom scared me earlier that week saying if you go into labor with a full stomach, you throw it all up because your digestive system shuts down. I couldn't imagine having contractions AND throwing up...death sounds more appealing. Nothing else happened until we pulled into our garage and another contraction hit. I wasn't sure what would happen during the night so I ironed The Lime's church clothes and wanted to give him his bath, since I knew it'd be the last one with just us but LaVor objected. He told me I needed to lay down and quit trying to do everything.

So that's what I did...rested in my bed and started timing the contractions. After three hours of increasingly painful contractions, I still wasn't in line with the 5-1-1 rule but I had measured 3.5 cm at my appointment the day before and didn't want to take any chances of not getting my epidural. So we left for the hospital at 12:30 Sunday morning, leaving The Lime in good hands with my mom. We got checked into triage and they hooked me up to the monitors, asked me a million questions, and monitored me for 20 minutes, only to send me home. There was no change in the dilation and they wanted the contractions closer together and more painful. So off we went, back home to wait it out.

I stayed in our bedroom and LaVor tried to sleep on the couch. But between The Lime waking up with a coughing fit and my moaning during contractions, nobody got any sleep. After trying to relax in the bathtub, we decided to head back to the hospital since my moaning had turned into wailing. There was lots of screaming and gripping as we made the 8 minute drive to the hospital, where I was thankfully checked in at 5:45. The nurse said they had been extremely busy all night and weren't sure where they'd put me. Honestly, I didn't care where I went, I just wanted drugs. She ended up putting me in a delivery room and I was once again hooked up to monitors and checked for progress. "Oooohhhh, of course it would be this!" she said as she checked me. "Ummm, what does that mean?" I asked. She didn't respond but said the anesthesiologist was on his way. I overheard her in the hallway say that I was a 7. Several minutes later, the anesthesiologist arrived with more questions and then it was time for the good stuff. Except, it wasn't the good stuff I was hoping for. Because of how far along I was, they didn't give me a "full on" epidural but more of a limited use one (can't think of its name) which took effect immediately. The instant relief from pain was glorious and much needed. I spent the next hour or so being poked and prodded while LaVor tried to sleep. The pain medication was making my chest and face itchy and the oxygen mask was getting on my nerves. I could tell the medicine wasn't as strong as before and the pressure was mounting. We paged the nurse and told her it was time.

This part scares me. It scared me with The Lime and this time was no different. Knowing the inevitable is no fun, especially when you can feel it.

I was lucky enough to have my doctor be the one on-call so I didn't have complete strangers seeing my lady parts. And while I didn't feel an extremely close connection with my doctor (she was sort of shy) during my prenatal visits, I appreciated her calm demeanor during the delivery, especially since the nurse was getting on my case about how I was holding my legs, how I wasn't pushing down, and how I needed to "get mad!"

It didn't take long before I felt defeated and started crying. The medicine had worn off and the combination of contraction pain plus pushing pain plus being exhausted caught up to me. I knew the baby was going to come out eventually but I wasn't sure how I'd make it happen. After about 40 minutes of feeling like every blood vessel on my face exploded, eventually screaming at the top of my lungs (yup...I was one of those), and experiencing that dreaded ring of fire, we had a little Doodlebug.

We weren't surprised when we found out we had an 8 pound 3 oz baby, who measured 19 3/4 inches long. He had big hands (from LaVor) and big feet (from me) but other than that, I wasn't sure who he looked like.

After everything was cleaned up and put back, LaVor was talking to his brother and mentioned that his parents were coming up after his cousin's baby blessing. "Blessing?" the nurse asked me. "Are you guys LDS?" Even though she wasn't cutting me any slack during the delivery, we made lots of connections and figured we had to be related somehow. Her mom was from Little Rock, she grew up Catholic and joined the church as a teenager. Her name was Barbara and couldn't stay to chat for too long but we ended our time together agreeing that the gospel is a huge blessing that brings so much joy and hope to our lives.

My parents brought The Lime over a few hours later and he was a bit hesitant when he walked in the room. I think it was a shock for him to see the baby outside of my stomach but it didn't take him long to relax.

We only had to stay overnight which I appreciated. The bed was so uncomfortable and was killing my back but I did enjoy the constant flow of food. All of the nurses were also a joy to interact with, even in the middle of the night. We found out one of them lives down the street from us and her son is the nice guy who drives an old Blazer and waves at The Lime.

Overall, I think everyone is adjusting nicely. My biggest fear has been if The Lime is getting enough mom/dad time, love, affection, and attention. I've spent a few moments crying in the bathroom, to ensure he doesn't see me and have a breakdown himself (like we did a few weeks ago). But I think he's doing well. I think him being older has helped since he can comprehend the situation a bit better than if he was still a baby himself.

We have lots to be grateful for but are especially blessed that Doodlebug arrived safe, sound, and healthy.

Let's Bowl

Grease 2 is one of my favorite movies and I can't go bowling without singing "Let's bowl, let's bowl, let's rock-n-roll!"

I "like" our local bowling alley on Facebook and saw a post a few weeks ago that they were doing free bowling during the summer for kids. I immediately signed The Lime up and got an e-mail with coupons within minutes. When I saw how hot it was going to be this week, I thought it would be the perfect time to put them to use.

It must have been a combination of me not knowing what to do and the boy working the desk not knowing what to do, because it took about 15 minutes for us to get situated and for the game to start. Bless the experienced woman next to us that took matters into her own hands and got us moving.

Since the belly is too big to bowl, my mom was The Lime's competition. It might have been because of the bumpers, but The Lime won both games.

First & Second

Although he had the lightest ball available, it was still a smidge too heavy and he got creative with his technique.  He narrowed it down to throwing it overhand while sliding on his bum.  The lady next to us guessed that he was a baseball player.

They played two games and I think it was a bit too much for him.  He was getting antsy to go home by the first few frames of the second game but he pushed through and did well.

The only thing that would have made his experience better was if I had forked out over 2 bucks for an ICEE.  

But that's what Fridays are for at AM/PM.  30 cents (tax included) for a small slurpee.

Another great way to stay cool during this heat wave.