Welcoming Wesley

I can't believe we are halfway through the year and this is only my second post! Needless to say, I am sadly behind. But I have come up with a brilliant plan to catch up and keep this blog up to date: I am going to try to blog current photos/events on Sundays and do a catch-up post (for example, Jace's first day of kindergarten which occurred over 9 months ago and has barely been mentioned here on the blog, making my motherly-guilt feeling a 10 on the mo-guilter scale. Like that term? I am thinking of using it regularly here on the blog since I seem to refer to my guilt level quite often in posts about my kids. Okay, I digress.) on Tuesday nights while Tim is at church meetings. I won't make any promises, but I am really going to try to do better.

So enough talk. Now to our most exciting news, we welcomed baby Wesley Kline Carroll to our family on May 31st at 5:01 am. He was 7lbs 15oz and 20 3/4 inches long and came out looking like the spitting image of his brother Jace (as a baby, not a 6 year old), but with Ethan's chin. Both Jace and Ethan were born one day before their due date, so when Wesley's due date came around, I was super anxious, especially since my mom was flying into town in just one week- I did NOT want to have a late baby! So I came home from church on my due date and, just like I have done with every pregnancy before, I started Googleing ways to induce labor and signs of labor in hopes that I would find some new breakthrough way to get the process started or maybe just reading about it would put me into labor. Well, guess what? It actually worked because when I got off of my computer to go make dinner at 5pm, I started having labor contractions. We waited around for a few hours and my contractions were getting stronger and longer, but were not very consistent. So we waited around until about 11pm when they were so painful that I could hardly breathe. Surely, this was the real thing. So my friend Amy came over to stay with our kids, and we headed to the hospital. Sure enough, I was already dilated to a 7. PHEW- barely in time for the epidural, of which I am a BIG fan! I don't know how you natural child birth women do it- it amazes me! But I was pretty proud of myself for making it all the way to 7cm without pain medication. Go me- now bring on the relief! So that is basically the story- another 4-5 painless, numb below the waist hours, a few pushes and he was here! I will be honest and say that during this last pregnancy, which was very hard on me and my body, I was pretty sure that I did not want to do this again. But after seeing the miracle of birth and spending the first few days mostly alone in the hospital with my new little angel, I fell in love and wanted to do it all again! As much as I hate being pregnant (I know they say hate is a strong word but I will say it again and again!), having a new baby is like an emotional and spiritual high for me. It just puts so many things in perspective for me. And each time I am more and more amazed at how precious my kids are and how important family is and how so much of what I spend my time and energy on just doesn't matter at all. So we will see what the next few years brings- maybe one more is in the cards for us:)

Anyways, here are a few photos of sweet Wesley. I admit that I was a little frustrated that he didn't fully cooperate with my dozens of ideas for photos, and I only got about 8 days out of him, but looking back I really did get some amazing shots of him even if they were not exactly what I was envisioning. (Check my business blog for more, though I may add some of those here later.)

And I still have a few folders of images that I have yet to even comb through. So more to come! This set was taken at 6 days. So sweet...

Enjoy and be sure to check back soon!

An Author in the Making

I have been neglecting posting on here knowing that I have gotten so far behind that I didn't feel like I could ever attempt to catch up. Yes, it has been almost 1 year since my last post- sad indeed. So here is a recap of our last year in under 25 words:

Jace is in Kindergarten, Ethan is 3, Baby Boy #3 is due in May, I have a new business blog, and Tim is still working.

There, that was easy!

Really, I just felt very compelled to write a post about Jace because I am suffering from proud-parentitis right now. A few months ago Jace was watching PBS and heard an announcement for a writers contest they were holding. He immediately told me he wanted to do this, and I kept saying 'yeah, yeah' but putting it off because I knew this would require a lot of work on both our parts. Well last month, when we had 2 weeks of snow days here in VA (crazy, huh-should've posted about that too- trying not to feel guilty about it...) I finally agreed to let him write this story. So I asked him what he wanted to write about. Well, lately we have made almost a nightly ritual of watching an episode of Mythbusters with our kids on YouTube and Netflix. A few nights previously, Jace had seen the episode where Adam and Jamie build a boat out of Duck tape, sailing it successfully across the San Francisco bay and Jace thought that was the coolest thing since sliced bread. So the legend of the Pirate Duck Tape Boat was born (after all, in the mind of a 6 year old no boat story is complete without a Pirate, right?). So I showed him how to write an outline(seriously, psycho mom, what Kindergartner needs to know how to write an outline?), then we headed to Walmart and got him some paper, jewels, etc. for his masterpiece. And we set to work. I would say he set to work but I will not lie- it was a lot of work for me too ("Mom, where is my eraser? Can you sharpen my pencil? Which way points North? How do you spell compass? Can you tear daddies duck tape into 100 pieces for me? My glue isn't working...)

Seriously after a few days I was secretly hoping he would just give it up. But every morning after breakfast he would pull out his box of supplies and spend hours working on this thing. Looking back it is amazing to me that he stuck with it! Over the course of 2 weeks, he must have spent 24 hours on this thing. Pretty impressive in and of itself.

So today I got a call from WHTJ in Richmond, VA, telling me that Jace had won first place in his age group in our region. SO COOL! I thought his story was great, but never imagined that he would actually win. I was sure there were just too many kids that would enter- and statistically speaking it just wasn't very likely. But I am so proud of my little guy- and I can't wait until he gets his letter in the mail tomorrow telling him he won first place. Even though I am a bit worried about him getting a big head about this, I am excited for him to learn this valuable lesson: if you really put your mind to it and work hard, you can accomplish anything! Motivational even to me. So here is his story- complete with pictures. Now I am sure he will just be crossing his fingers that he gets first place nationally so he can win his very own laptop computer (which he talks about all the time.)

Enjoy!

New Couch Crisis

It is 5:15 and I should be getting dinner ready for my starving children but I need some help with a bit of a crisis I am having. Okay, lets be honest, in the grand scheme of things this is not a crisis at all- it is actually quite selfish and trivial, but right now in my mind it is a crisis. So we have been wanting new couches for some time but after having a child barf on our 20+year old couches (not to mention losing all the buttons and feeling our bottoms touch the ground because all the springs were worn out) we decided to get new couches. And we knew we wanted leather, but had to get something basic and didn't have a ton of money to invest in something super fancy. So, we decided on this set we found online. Despite my initial reservations that it was not the $10,000 looking Italian coffee colored leather that I wanted, I thought it was nice and would be a nice upgrade. And it was in our price range. So we got it. Fast forward to today- our couches got here, Tim and I unloaded them and while I was in the kitchen making lunch, Tim unpackaged them. He was oohing and ahhing, so I turned the corner to take a look and I was not thrilled with them. And I was totally bummed that I didn't immediately love them! It really stinks to invest $2500 in something and not love it immediately. So Tim set them up in the room(s) and I have been waiting all day for them to grow on me. It is not that I don't like them, I just don't love them and I feel like I should love them. And I can't pinpoint what it is that I don't love- I think it is the color. It is just a very standard brown- I expecting something a little darker or richer looking. Maybe even a little shinier? Or maybe I am just not used to leather- I have never owned leather furniture before.

So, I took some photos to see what you all think. Am I crazy? Is it just my brown walls with brown couches that makes it all look blah? I do have 30 days to return them, but the problem with sending them back is that we would lose a good couple hundred dollars to ship them back PLUS we would then have to get something else that would likely be more expensive and I may very likely decide that I don't like them either when I get them. Argh...

So here they are in my living room- non photoshopped because I didn't want to make them look any richer than they really are. I actually think they look good in the pictures:P


And one of the things that bugs me most is that we got the chair and ottoman to put in our bedroom until we have a bigger house to put the whole set together. But because the color is a lighter brown than I was thinking, it looks kind of silly in our bedroom with our coffee colored furniture everywhere else. Do you think it looks weird? Am I being way too picky? Hey, at least it matches my wreath:P
And I think that this is what I really want our couches to look like. Only this set is about $5000 more than the set we got. Maybe that is my whole problem...



So what do you think- should I stop being so picky? Should I give them some time to grow on me? Should I suck it up and be grateful that we don't have to look at those putrid green couches anymore (okay, they weren't that bad- sorry, mom, I hope that didn't offend you. They were beautiful when you got them in 1988.) Or should I send them back because leather is an investment and you need to love your furniture?

I would love to hear your input before my 30 days is up. PLEASE HELP ME!!

Victory: My 10K Update...

I know you are all just dying to know how my 10K went last Saturday- okay maybe not. Perhaps you didn't even know I ran a 10K last Saturday. Well, I did. And it was a triumphant success! My finishing time was 49:32, which is a 7.98min/mile pace- and that, for me, is very, very good! Have I mentioned on here before that I am not a fast runner? Really, just because I am tall and my legs are long does not mean I am fast. Or that I play basketball, but that is another story. Well, for some reason I decided to really push myself with this race- I trained really hard with my friend and we were both hoping to run it in under 53 minutes, so I met and exceeded my goal(as did Amanda- she did awesome as well, though that didn't surprise me!) And after my last two races (which in my mind were complete and utter failures due to bad training and injuries) that felt SO GOOD! To be honest I am not sure that has ever happened to me before- actually meeting and exceeding a goal! It almost made me want to make goals in other areas of my life. Hmmm... I'll have to think about that some more, especially given my tendency to burn myself out. I wish that I'd had Tim bring the camera and take photos of the race, just for memory's sake, but my D70 is busted and I didn't want to bring the D300 since there was a chance of rain. And there are 30,000 runners there (plus all the spectators) to steal my source of livelihood. Can you believe that- the number of people I mean? Apparently the Monument Ave. 10K is the 4th largest 10K race in the nation- last year they had 31,000 runners. The coarse just goes up and back a historic street in Richmond, VA but it is totally flat, which worked to my advantage since I trained on hills- lots and lots of hills. So here is the play by play as I ran the 6.2 miles:

Starting line- "Wow, look at all these people! There has got to be at least 2,000 people between me and Amanda- I will never catch up to her! And look at all these iPods- I am sure glad I brought mine! This will be fun!" Our wave moves closer to the starting line. "Crap, I need to stretch!" I attempt to stretch in the crowd of people but almost fall over and decide that my falling over while trying to stretch in a confined space might cause a domino effect of 25,000 people crashing down, so I better stop. We move forward again. "Almost time to go! I'm nervous! All this music is really loud- maybe I won't use my iPod after all."

Start- "Yeah, Baby! Let's do this!" I start my stopwatch and start running, but am quickly distracted by my ear buds hanging out of my shirt flopping all over the place, repeatedly whacking me in the face. So I stick them in my ears, even though I am not listening to music. "Dang iPod- I probably just lost about three seconds!" Then I look over enviously at the woman with the hot pink Fanny Pack circa 1985 and wish I had something to put my ipod in. The crowd is slowing me down so I do some zigging and zagging to get ahead of the crowd.

Mile 1- time: 8:07. "Good time, Mandy! Lets shoot for 16:15 for mile 2!" I pass a local middle school cheerleader group. I give them a courtesy smile- but wonder how on earth they got wrangled into cheering at a race. I see Tim and my boys- awwwwww! More zigging and zagging to get around people.

Mile 2- time: 16:15. "Woohoo! Keep it up, Mand!" See, I don't need cheerleaders- I am my own cheerleader. More zigging and zagging as well as being zigged and zagged by other fast runners or not-very-smart-runners-that-I-will-probably-see-walking-by-mile-3. A reminder: "Pace yourself, Mand!"

Mile 3- time: 24:05. "yEEESSSS! Ooooh look- a water stop!" I grab some water and try to drink while running but it didn't work too well- I probably only got an ounce before it spilled all down the front of me. So I keep going, trying not to trip on all the discarded cups on the ground. I pass a Christian band singing about praising the Lord. I feel very inspired. Halfway there! Hey, there is Amanda, making the big half-way turn. She sure looks fast- and very far ahead of me! Zig-zag, zig-zag!

Mile 4- time: 32:15. "Dang, I am tired! I need some lively music to pump me up!" Well, what do you know? The next corner I pass a local band playing Billy Idol's "White Wedding." Once again, I feel inspired. Nothing like back to back gospel and Billy Idol to keep you going! I take an ounce of Powerade at the next pit stop- but I accidentally throw my still-full cup all over one of the volunteers. Ooops! Reminder to self: running+drinking+me=bad idea.

Mile 5- time: 40:10. "I am getting tired! My feet hurt- these dang brick streets that I thought were so pretty at mile 1 are now killing my feet!" I feel myself slowing down, and notice that now I am the one being zig-zagged! Crap! But suddenly something strange happens- I start to get the goose bumps- I start feeling strangely proud of myself and how hard I was running. Then I feel myself choking up- "What the heck has come over me?", I thought. It was like a real Chariots of Fire moment! Then I notice a group of beautiful Asian-American dancers to my left, dancing to some dramatic orchestra music from some movie soundtrack, like Anna and the King or Legends of the Fall. It was that dang music! Making me into a sappy fool! So I fought back the ridiculous tears, scolded myself for being such a moron and continued on my race, picking up my pace. Ziggity-zig, zaggity-zag!

Mile 6- time: 47:55. I laugh at the Chariots of Fire moment from mile 5. Then I see Tim and my boys again and get some high fives. Yea! What a boost! Then the REAL chariots of fire music starts playing in my head as I see the finish line- (que Chariots of Fire music that you probably already turned off.) "Dang! That finish line looks so far away! That can't be .2 miles!" I glance at the ground- then back at the finish line- then back at the ground- then... "Stop looking at it, you dummy, and run!! RUN, FOREST! RUUUUUN!" Check time- dang, I am not going to make it! I better pick up my pace! Z-to-the-ziggy, Z-to-the-zaggy!

6.2 miles- A tall girl with a silent iPod crosses the finish line, pumping her arms enthusiastically into the air, breaking the ribbon with her chest as tears roll down her cheeks and she shouts to the heavens in a cry filled with agony and joy. (Que- Chariots of Fire music slowly fades). No, I am kidding. That would've been great though, wouldn't it? I think you have to run the race in like a 5min pace to have the honor of breaking the ribbon. But maybe next year...

Really though, this was a great race! I had so much fun and am now hoping that Tim will not want to run it next year so I can run it again. And whether I win or not, I will pump my arms into the air and cry. But only if the dramatic orchestra music is back. And next time I will not even bring my iPod because I heard that next year White Wedding will be sung by the real Billy Idol. Imagine that!...

Mr. E: Overloaded

So here are the photos I promised of Ethan yesterday(hahaha!). I have to apologize for including so many- I just didn't have the time or patience to decide which ones to post and I figured since I went through the trouble of editing them all, I might as well show them! And how could I resisit- we all know that Ethan is the cutest little peanut in the world:) Ethan is just starting to give us a taste of the terrible two's but really it is pretty mild (so far). Ethan is very easy to love- he is our little sweetheart. Here are some of the things I love about him:

1- I love the way he is attached to his blakies- Jace was never attached to objects so this is kind of new to me. It makes me smile every morning as he runs out of his bedroom dragging his "pooh bear blankie" and "boat blakie" with him.

2- I love Ethans sweet voice- anyone who has heard him will agree! I especially love the way he says sorry- he says sorry for everything, even when he bumps his own head he says "sowwy mommy!"

3- I love watching his immagination at work- it is amazing how immaginitive this boy is! No doubt he learns from his big brother! I love watching him crawl accross the floor on his hands and feet and say "Look, I Spidewman! I cwimb on a ceiwing!" And I love watching him run accross the room in his assortment of capes and look over his shoulder to see his cape flapping and swaying as he runs.

4- I LOVE the way Ethan runs. I seriously need to get video footage of it before it is too late- he does this funny little thing with his hands and his hips and he runs sideways. SO cute!

5- I love watching him color on the kitchen floor- he lays on his belly and crosses his feet behind him in the cutest way. And I love watching him hold his crayon- let's just say he has much better crayon holding form than a certain older boy that we know well;)

6- I love Ethan's facial expressions- you can see a sampling of them above:) He is very expressive- he is like a cartoon character! The angry bad guy face is the best- I love the way he wrinkles his nose and lifts hiw eyebrows:)

7- I love how friendly he is. Wherever we go, his is always saying "Hi!" and waving to strangers- he makes lots of friends! And it is fun to see how people just melt over his sweet little smile and voice- I can't help but feel proud:)

8- Most of all, I love his sweet hugs and kisses. Ethan is super cuddly, which is a parents dream, right? Who could ever tire of hugs and kisses? Not I! Nor Tim! Tim says that is definitely a trait he got from his dad, which I must say is probably true.

Well, that is all for now- I need to put my kids to bed. They are driving me crazy- the little dears...

Until next time!