Princess Party

My Anna turned 3 on Saturday, July 28, but I wanted to celebrate her birthday while my mom was still in town, because this was going to be Anna's first real friend party, and I knew I would need reinforcements!

Is there anything more exciting than waking up on your birthday to crepe paper and balloons in your very favorite color?  Anna wanted a bonafide pink princess party, and I was determined to give it to her, come hell, highwater, or Benjamin!

I channeled the spirit of a dear friend who is excellent at crafts and planning her kid's birthday parties.  I decided that we would do some crown decorating to get the party started, so I bought some sheets of colored foam and some jewel stickers and used a template to cut out crown shapes.  It was easy and the girls (and boy) loved it!

After crown decorating, it was dancing time!  After all, these girls (and boy) were all dressed up for a ball, so we turned on the bubble machine, the Disney tunes, and let them go crazy!

This is Sam, the lone boy in attendance.  He came appropriately dressed as a knight, to protect his damsels not in distress.

Dancing for Anna has always included a lot of jumping.  Each attendee also got a pink magic wand.

After dancing, it was time to play "princess, princess, dragon" (aka duck duck goose)

Anna took the liberty of running around the circle during every persons turn.  She is the birthday girl, and what she wants, she gets!  And yes, that is me at the top of the circle.  I had so much fun at this party too!

Then we closed the party with a good old fashioned, royal tea party

We had tea sandwiches, pink candy popcorn, watermelon, strawberries, and hot dogs (which are also pink, in a manner of speaking).  And of course, a pink princess cake.  I was very proud of this cake, because it was easy and looked beautiful.  I found this Happy Birthday tiara at the store and knew it would make a simple but perfect cake topper.

And that is one happy 3 year old!!

Bejamin's Birth Story: It all began with Pub Trivia

On Monday night (July 2), Richard and I decided to go on a date to pub trivia.  Why not?  The baby hadn't come yet, we had a live-in babysitter, and time on our hands.  Our team name was "40 weeks" and we came in 4th place :)  While we were playing, I started feeling the occasional strange cramp.  I told Richard that I could be going into labor which probably put him into labor...or maybe it brought out his genius, because he very soon won one of the beer challenges (which only means he won a bottle cap redeemable for a beer-- which he decided to keep for story telling purposes).
Anyway, I was NOT in labor, but I knew something was happening ("something is different, and anything different is good!"-- Groundhogs Day).

The next day I woke up and I knew it was going to be THE DAY.  I willed it.  My midwife was going to be on-call that day.  It was my stepfather's birthday.  The stars were aligning.  So, I brushed and flossed my teeth (thats a big deal for me), made sure my feet were adequately groomed, made a couple of church visits, took a 4 mile walk with Richard to get things stirring, had a good lunch to keep up my energy, and waited.  Sure enough, around 2 pm I started having consistent crampings (I had always wondered what real contractions felt like without the joy of pitocin, and my mom was right, they felt like menstrual cramps).  I immediately alerted Richard and instructed him to put on my relaxtion playlist (think spa music, ohmmm music, trickling streams with monks singing in the background music) and close the curtains.  I spent the next couple of hours pretty comfortably relaxing on my bed.  Every once in awhile Richard would come in and time a contraction or two.  Eventually I took a bath.  The contractions were uncomfortable but not necessarily memorable...some of them were even weak sauce-- I called them ghost contractions.   But they were getting closer together.  A little after 6:00 pm Richard came in to check on me and I informed him that I had 3 contractions that seemed to be really close together.  Richard made the executive decision-- GET THIS WOMAN TO A HOSPITAL NOW (especially since our hospital was 25 minutes away!).

We got to the hospital around 7 pm, and by this point, the contractions were really uncomfortable.  I would have to stop and sway and lean against something for a minute or two before I was ready to move again.  We got to our room and I crawled on the bed in the fetal position on my side and just kept my eyes closed.  We continued the relaxation music and I just kept breathing and riding the wave of each contraction (I actually pictured myself on a tiny boat going up and down with each wave).  At this point, I started getting a little funny.  I started calling Richard "buddy" as in "hey buddy, I need you to work WITH my contractions," and "hey buddy, the least you can do is hold my hand." After the first "buddy" statement I overheard the nurse say "she is sounding a little transitional, I am going to go get Shana (my midwife).  I wanted to tell her "you're sounding a little transitional" but that would have been juvenile.  Richard later informed the nurses that my sarcasm and humor would increase in direct relation to the intensity of labor.  One of the nurses kept telling me how good my breathing was, and I couldn't help but respond "well, I have been breathing my whole life, so..."

I kept expecting the medical people there to tell me what to do and give me instructions, but my midwife just told me to keep doing what I was doing and just inform them when I felt ready to push.  When I did feel ready to push (only 40 minutes after arriving at the hospital), the nurse didn't believe me because she said I didn't sound like most mothers who were at that point, but when my midwife checked me, I was fully ready.  Again, I asked if there was a specific position they wanted me in, and I was told that I could just continue on my side, as I was and to just push when I felt the need to push.  I was flabbergasted-- no stirrups, no counting, no holding my breath...what kind of a hospital was this-- what was I paying for but to be told what to do?  They just trusted me and my body's instincts.  So I started pushing, gripping Richard's hand the whole time (he later told me he had to take his wedding ring off because I was squeezing so hard it was cutting into his skin). Now, while I had been just silently breathing through all my contractions during labor to this point,  during the pushing stage, I decided to unleash my inner amazon woman and issue a few guttural yells.  I think it helps-- like grunting while you lift weights!  20 minutes later, our son was born with the amneotic sack completely intact, which meant-- no squished head.  Our midwife said that is really rare and is a sign of good luck.

So, just an hour after arriving at the hospital, Benjamin Richard Rose made his grand, memorable entrance!

Here is a short list of the my specific prayers that were answered.

1. I prayed that this birth would be more comfortable than my last one.
2. I prayed that the car ride to the hospital would be comfortable
3. I prayed that when I got to the hospital I would be at least 8 cm dilated
4. Near the end of pushing, I prayed that the next push would be the last push.

Needless to say, all my prayers were answered.  If I could give one piece of advice to any woman feeling anxious about an upcoming birth, it would be to pray specifically!  Tell God what your concerns are and what you need-- specifically.  And then just exercise some faith and trust that God can give you what you need when you need it!

The most beautiful girl in the world

Occasionally at the gym I watch the "live with Kelly" show.  And there was an advertisement for their upcoming cute kid contest.  And like all moms, my first thought was "I have the cutest kid!! Anna will win for sure!"  So I went home and tried to take pictures of Anna.  I don't think I will enter her into any contest, but she already won for me, and that is enough.  But you can go ahead and tell me that I am correct-- that my wispy curled precocious princess really is the cutest kid (behind your own of course!!).

Zoo time

Well, Richard and I have been attacking our Seattle bucket list with vehemence and filling all our Saturdays and weekends with adventures.  When you think of the Roses, I want you think of living life to the extreme-- like going to the Zoo extreme, eating Gyros from "Mr. Gyros" extreme, coming this close to downing a pound of sour patch kids while you fall asleep watching Netflix extreme.  Yeah, our family walks on the wild side!

We were excited to take Anna to the Zoo-- we think she will make a great addition to their exhibits and they paid us a fairly competative rate for her :)

Anna was channeling a little Noah in her, waiting for it to rain so she ride away in her boat while the rest of us zoo patrons floundered on land.

I always love looking at the elephants.  They have far more fat and wrinkles than I do, so I always leave feeling beautiful and youthful.

Seeing this picture, I can't help but be thankful that Anna is even cuter than me, with someone else's nose.

the amazing dancing monkeys.

Geoffrey the giraffe

these were two fat European sunbathers.  Not even the decency to wear speedos...
Actually, we learned that a hippo can outrun an Audi, and they are apparently more dangerous than even the largest churro vender.

The African Savannah...very lush and green don't you think?

Doesn't she look dangerous?  They are putting her in a maximum security pen-- we've tried that before!  Good luck!

It makes parenting so much easier when you can just throw a couple of bananas through the cage bars and call it good!

and truly the joy of my life is finding cute pictures of Anna and her daddy.

yep, this one is my favorite!  Maybe we will take Anna back home after all...

And one final picture of riding the carousel-- the highlight of any trip for Anna-- and Richard always gets a free ride to!  Next time I am making him the photographer (and since I will be having the baby soon, that won't be hard!)

Seattle at low tide

One of the many things I love about Seattle is its proximity to the ocean.  Although most of our "beach days" occur at local lakes, there is something special about going over to West Seattle and smelling the ocean air and exploring the sea life.  A friend of mine recently alerted our play group that the lowest tides of the whole  year were coming up, and since I try to never miss an opportunity like that, Anna and I packed a lunch and headed to Alki beach.

Although it was early June, it was still a little cool outside (people refer to this time of year as "Junuary"), so Anna and I both wore jackets.  But the sun was good enough to grace us just enough...

Anna loved looking for the dozens of star fish stuck to all the rock surfaces exposed due to low tide.  She especially loved the bright purple star fish.  Anna likes to poke sea life.  I like to poke Richard.

Anna found a live crab (at least, I think it was alive...).  For crabs, she sticks to sticks for poking.

more brilliant purple starfish.

I love that there are so many places like this to take Anna to.  There were many naturalists on hand to answer questions about the kind of sea life we were seeing and I felt like even though we were obviously having fun, we were also learning things too...

like how to say "anemone."  This red and green creature is a Mottled Anemone.  I think all children should learn how to say "mottled anemone."  Its a lot more impressive when Anna says it than when I say it, and a lot cuter to!

This is another kind of starfish.  The naturalists told us that it is not longer correct to call them starfish, that the preferred and more accepted term is "seastar" now. 

another crab-- probably dead.  Not due to my daughter though!!

poking more things!

There were hundreds and hundreds of school children there at the beach on end-of-the-year field trips.  I tell you, our elementary school never took us on field trips like these. 

It was a beautiful day.  One of my favorites.  My mental health is improved more by being outside in the sand and the sea, than any amount of dark chocolate.

And it was REALLY cool to be so far out into the water at low tide and to have so much of the beach exposed.  I actually have a tide app on my phone to alert me to low tide days.  We will definitely be back!!

Living away from home and family

A friend of mine recently discussed in her blog the fears she has about potentially moving with her spouse and child away from her family and hometown to pursue work in another part of the country.  It made me think about the almost three years Richard and I have spent here in Washington, away from all our family, and the things I have learned and appreciated.  Here is what I have found:

I love where I live.  Not the basement apartment so much-- still too many spiders.  But the Northwest.  I love Seattle.  I love the green.  I love the trees.  I love the lakes.  I love the temperature (just because I grew up in St. George does not mean that I loved 110 degree summers).  I love the forests and mountains and the sound.  I love the smell of the ocean.  I love how clean everything is and how well the people in this state protect the environment.  I love how pollution free it is up here.  I love that there is so much to do that I have to whittle the options down to just one or two each day.  There is an endless list for exploration.  It is the MOST beautiful place I have ever lived.

I love my spouse.  I didn't realize how little time I spent just with Richard until we moved here and we were all we had in terms of family.  Back in Utah, we had so many social engagements with friends and with family that evening alone with Richard were few and far between.  I kept our calendar hopping in Utah, and life really slowed down for us when we moved here to Washington.  We had no friends, we had no family, no ready made social scene that we could slip into.  So we spent time together.  We planned outings and date nights.  We talked and we clung together while we adjusted to this new world of ours.  And I found that I really loved the guy I was married to-- that I really looked forward to the time he came home from work each day.  And I found (most shocking of all) that I actually preferred spending time just with him and Anna, to having a whole bunch of friends over for a party.

I am comfortable with who I am up here.  One of my strangest realizations when we moved up here to Washington was that it fit me!  As I met the women here and developed my own social circle of young moms, this thought kept repeating itself in my head: "These are my people!"  The women I have met up here go running at 5 am on Saturdays and run marathons and go hiking and talk about books and art.  They have museum memberships.  No one that I know makes their own clothes or their children's clothes or has a shop on Etsy.  Their houses are not pristinely decorated with color-coordinated items.  The women I love here wear minimal make-up, jeans and T-shirts, and most of them have hair color that is pretty close to the one they were born with.  Yes, there is the occasional mom that goes above and beyond with her children's birthdays, and the one that always looks really put-together.  And although most of the women here have mastered the art of the boot (I certainly haven't!), overall, I feel like these women are MY women.  In fact,  if/when we ever move back to Utah, I have actually expressed the fear to Richard that I wouldn't fit in-- despite the fact that I lived the first 28 years of my life there.

I am needed at church!  Both Richard and I feel so essential to our church here.  We know that the days we are not there, they miss us.  We know that we filled a hole when we moved in, and when we leave there will be a space there.  We also have the sense that we have really done some good for our ward-- that we have made it better by the work we have accomplished here.  We have been blessed to be involved in a lot of missionary work and we actually know the missionaries.  I have found that I go to church now for a spiritual experience and not just to see friends.

So don't worry if life takes you away from your home for awhile-- you will find it wherever you go!  And you may have the greatest adventure in the meantime!!

Labor, pain perception, and marathons

Recently, I have been getting myself pumped up for having this baby.  I wrote down some positive affirmations for myself like:
I am marvelous
This is a woman's work
My body is beautiful and strong
I am participating in a miracle
I am confident in my ability to have a baby
I am capable of anything
I can let my body do its job
I can't wait to meet my baby!

And then I went in to my normal doctor visit (actually, midwife) and from the nurse I got some written information about when to come to the hospital and how to know if I was really in labor and what to do, etc.

The very first line read: "Real labor is painful."
And I immediately thought, "who was the idiot who thought this up?" and then I promptly looked for a pen or some white out.  I will acknowledge that while labor can be very painful for a large portion of women, I also think that it is due in part to thoughts like the one above.

The last thing you want to tell a mother-to-be is that labor is painful, because all she is going to do is panic when she actually goes into labor.  If you curl up into a ball and tense against every contraction, and you are thinking "labor is painful and horrible" THEN OF COURSE IT IS GOING TO BE JUST THAT!

And no, I don't think that labor is floating on fluffy clouds or eating ice cream with a teddy bear while sliding down a rainbow.

If I could rewrite that section on my instruction pamphlet, I would write: "Real labor is hard work."

Think about running a marathon right now.  If you have trained for a marathon and prepared yourself physically and mentally, then running a marathon can be exhilarating and fulfilling, but still requires a lot of work and physical exertion-- you will sweat, you will be tired, and your endurance and strength will be tested.  Most marathon runners will say that their marathon was exhausting, but they won't say it was painful. But if you take someone who has not prepared to run a marathon and who thinks that running is the most abhorrent task in the world, and they will say that every step of a marathon was painful.

On a smaller scale, it is the same with a simple gym workout.  It should be hard, it should require work, but for someone who is conditioned to it, a workout is not painful.

So in preparing for natural labor, I am not so naive as to think it will be comfortable, or easy, or a walk in the park, or the most fun I have ever had in my whole life, but I do think I can do it.  And yeah, I probably am one of those people who get a kick out of doing hard things.  I like knowing that I am capable of hard work.  I like the feeling of accomplishment of overcoming physical exhaustion and pushing myself a little more.  Its why I like running marathons.

Coincidentally, the best marathon I ever ran, in terms of my own personal experience, was my first, and I ran it completely without music or entertainment of any kind.  I didn't even have a running buddy.  I found that without headphones and music, I was able to concentrate on the environment around me, the beauty of the race, the uniqueness of the runners, and the needs and abilities of my own body.   And I still finished very fast (3:55), exceeding even my own expectations of what I was capable of.  And it was not the least bit painful (it was painful the next day...but not when I was running)

So I kind of think of natural labor the same way.  My body is capable of great, hard things.  I want to feel what is happening to my body and my baby.  I want to help my baby come into the world.  I want to work hard to make it happen, and I want that feeling of exhilaration that comes from being instantly released from all that exertion and effort-- kind of like crossing a finish line!