J is for Juice (and Judah) (and Judah's Juice)

So, I recently became the proud owner of one big honkin' tub of coconut oil.  I'm pretty excited about it, because I got it for a fantastic deal from vitacost.  I registered through this link and got $10 off, plus there's free shipping on Vitacost brand organic coconut oil, so I got 54oz for only 10.99 signed, sealed, delivered!  This is such a fantastic price for coconut oil, I couldn't believe it until it showed up at my door step from the coconut oil stork.  A wonderful, healthy bundle of cooking joy.  Okay, I'm going to stop this comparison before my actual babies get insecure...

 You know you're a hippy when:  Your child plays with tubs of coconut oil...

I looked at a few articles (like this one) about coconut oil, and it really is an amazing oil.  You should check it out for yourselves.  So, I thought as long as I'm in this coconut oil induced euphoria, I should write a couple of posts about what I do with coconut oil, so that others may benefit from coconut-ty goodness.  Buckle up though, I use it for a ton of things.  Today's coconut oil carrier is: the Green Smoothie.  Affectionately known in our house as "juice."

Now, we really only put coconut oil in here to give it a little coconutt-y flavor and as a way to get it's health benefits.  We all loves these, they are so nutritious and wonderful.  I will NEVER argue with my son asking for more organic, non-sweetened fruits and vegetables.  It's wonderful.  Now, before I give you the recipe, there are a few assumptions we must put asunder:

1.  It will taste like spinach and you will hate it. -  Yes, it's full of spinach, but you can't tell.  Honest, cross my heart!  You will Loooove it (especially if some honey finds its way in there.  Which I try not to do very often, but sometimes that honey's just a rascal and there's no helping it...)

2. You will have to drink or throw away the whole thing because there's no way your vegetable hatin' babies are going to drink it.  I can't speak for your children, but Judah is not a great vegetable eater (and that's putting it kindly...)  But he LOVES juice.  Loves it.  He gets all excited and downs it.  Now, we don't let him have a lot of sweets or other kinds of juice, but I've heard that lots of kids like this.  And you could always surrender a little easier to that honey trying to jump in there in order to sweeten the deal.  Whatever works, right?

3. You will get some.  I made 3 glasses worth of smoothies tonight.  SOMEONE drank one and a half glasses (going on two) and I got a half of a glass that I had to wrestle and steal back calmly reclaim from a certain 3 foot tall man.  I tell you, that kid loves his juice.

All gone (and this was after I poured half of my glass into his!)

So, there you go, now that we've put our faulty assumptions aside.  We're ready for the recipe that I got from passionate homemaking and kind of made my own.

(I would have taken a picture of a nice full glass, but I gave Judah half of mine before I got a picture.)

Blue Smoothies that Used to be Green Until I Put Some Blueberries in Because I love Me Some Blueberries
(Kind of a long title, but I didn't choose it.  Okay, maybe I did...)

1 cup yogurt (I use organic, whole milk plain yogurt from Trader Joes.  It's da bomb!)
1/2 cup water
1 orange (or you can use 2-3 Tbs orange juice concentrate)
A whole bunch of spinach or kale (About 3oz or 3 large handfuls)

~Blendy, Blendy~  It's better if you blend this first before adding in the extras so it gets nice and smooth

Then add your choice of add-ins, get creative! We love:

1 cup frozen blueberries (I use target's frozen organic blueberries)
1 banana
1 Tbs Coconut Oil (the star of this post)
2 Tbs Flax seed (Organic from Costco)
3 tsp local pollen (Research the wonders of pollen.  Your jaw will drop like it's hot, and it adds a nice honey flavor!)

~Blendy, Blendy~

Put in a fun glass (or a spaceship sippy cup), add a straw and enjoy!

Tune in next time when I tell you about my little experiment with making my own deodorant and forcing sweetly asking my husband to try it for me.

Kendall

Pictures Galore

Just wanted to throw some pictures up here.

 Judah loves anything on his head.  This should be good for blackmail eventually. :)

 Cheese (ball)!

 He thinks he's SO funny!

 His favorite activity: stealing Asher's pacifier.  He thinks it's hilarious!

 Such a sweetie!

 "Mama, I wanted to play with brother, not take a nap!" :)

 My big helper!  Asher goes down for a nap so much better when Judah helps!

 If Asher won't take it, I will!

 All tucked in and ready to sleep!

 Achoo!  (or as Judah likes to say Aaaaa-tooo!)

 Looking rather contrite after spitting up all over mommy, or not... :)

 Good thing he's the happiest baby ever, I love to see those dimples!

Happy Tuesday!!!!

Kendall

Long Overdue

Happy April!  We have been one busy little family the last couple of months.  Here's the scoop:

1. Joshua started working as a contractor at Meredith Publishing.  I know what you're going to ask since he's now working at a cool, hip publishing company.  Yes, he's the only person there not wearing skinny jeans, including the security guard (actually I have no idea what the security guard wears, but I will just say that in waiting to pick him up everyone had on tight, very tight pantalones.  Except my man. And yes, he's vowed that it will remain that way.  I'm okay with that.  He's really enjoying it there though, which is a huge blessing.  We weren't sure how it would go having him off to work everyday.  We're thankful it's at least doing work he enjoys and the people there are super nice.  You would expect them to be nice, what with them getting tight hugs from their pants all day.  Constant free hugs oh and free pop and free espresso and a panini grill.  Not even kidding. Poor Joshua can't enjoy the grill though since that commercial came out, "Paninis are for winnies."  It's given him a complex.

It wouldn't be a Kendall blog without random pictures of my children, right?  Don't lie, you like it... :)

2. Joshua is still working half time at Covenant Design.  This means he's working 60 hours a week.  This is a radical jump from the maybe-40-hours-if-he's-lucky-and-I'm-on-my-best-behavior-not-bugging-him-every-five-minutes routine we've been enjoying for the last year or so.  We miss each other, a lot.  We know this is what God has for us right now and God has been good in helping us adjust.  But it's still hard for all of us.  Judah and I kind of just push each other out of the way as we run to the door to greet Joshua.  I usually win.  Boo-yah!  

Couldn't turn this picture, but it's so cute I had to include it.  they dig each other. 

3. Me and my little boys are enjoying the bonding time.  We have all sorts of fun together at home.  We bounce balls, play peek-a-boo, sing, take all the contents out every open drawer, vacuum, shop, read, and make animal sounds all day long.  It's pretty awesome.  I will just give one bit of parenting advice to those mothers expecting additions to their families.  Do NOT teach your kids to point out their facial parts before your newest little one is born.  Wait until they are old enough to defend themselves against such educational attacks.  Some of us get excited pointing out our little brother's nose, mouth, and then we poke him in the eye.  Others of us are distraught mothers that freak out when still others of us decide not to open our eyes for a bit. The a fore mentioned distraught mothers may or may not call their husbands wondering if they should rush stubborn non-eye-openers to the hospital.  Luckily, all is well as the injured parties open their eyes while the phone call takes place and everyone can breath again once it is indeed confirmed that the eye in question is still very much in place and looks totally fine. Not that this took place in our family...

Pretty proud to have climbed into Asher's co-sleeper.  Silly goose. 

4. We moved.  We totally love our new place and can not wait to have lots of people over.  (Feel free to invite yourselves!) But oh my-lanta, who in the world thought moving was a good idea with two little boy in the midst of adjusting to husband's new schedule?  Aaaahhhhhh!  My house was a disaster. We washed all the dishes as they came out of the boxes before they went into cupboards, but it took for.ev.er.  Our dishwasher takes (and I'm not exaggerating here - if anything I am underestimating, no joke) at least 4 hours/ per load.  At least.  That meant piles of dishes (my poor OCD husband can not leave anything in boxes.  I am in the process of seeking therapy... for myself).  But we are actually just now starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Now it's just all the little stuff that takes a ton of time.  But, we are so thankful for a place so near to Meredith so Joshua has a 2 minute commute.  I'm just excited for when we get settled in and can enjoy it!  We'll post pictures when we can, but you don't want to see it now. :)

5. We're getting used to having two wonderful boys (one of which is snoring on me as I type).  We are totally enjoying having two.  It seems like such a natural transition.  It really feels like Asher has always been a part of our family. We are doing really well. By nothing short of a miracle Asher is sleeping well, so we are able to stay sane.  Asher is such a sweet baby.  He is our little cuddle bug and we love it.  Even Judah loves snuggling with Asher it's so cute.  Asher LOVES Judah, he gives his brother the best smiles, it melts my heart.  The only hard thing is Asher does not like being in the car.  He's figured out that he can't be cuddled while in his car seat, so is not a fan.  We have to time leaving the house just right or I have to have my hand back with him and his pacifier the whole time we're driving.  Other than that he's a model child.  

Sleep with your bum in the air like you just don't care!

6. Judah is getting so big!  He can say a lot of words now and can do so many things.  We've recently discovered that he's pretty musical which we're not sure where that comes from.  If there's music on he's always tapping/ dancing perfectly in rhythm.  Today in the car I was clapping the beat to the radio since our musical friend said that was a good thing to do for kids his age.  When I stopped and looked back he was clapping the beat perfectly.  He's started correcting me when I do it wrong.  I missed a beat and he shook his head at me.  Oi!  So today was our first music class with other kids, it was awesome!  Right now his favorite things are his red bouncy ball (because every little boy needs a big red rubber ball), elmo, books, elmo, his plastic animals, elmo, and Asher). 

He caught us leaning against the kitchen counters, so now he leans on everything.  So funny!

And I think that's the scoop for now.  I'm sure that as soon as I hit "publish," I'll think of something else, but that will just give me inspiration for my next post!

Kendall

Bullets

I'm going to start doing some posts with just 3 bullets points.  My mom and husband were talking yesterday about how no one has time to read anymore.  My mom said that everything is too long, really people should only be limited to 3 bullet points.  I thought that would be a fun thing to do sometimes, limit myself to 3 bullet points.  Only say the important things.  So, after that lengthy explanation on why I'm not writing a lot, here goes. (Ah, sweet irony...)

Joshua's First Day at a Full Time Job Outside the Home in 2 Years

• So excited to pay off debt in 6 months instead of 5 years!
• Missing him like cra-zy.  Who am I supposed to distract all day now?
• Not going to complain about seeing him in his hott work outfits each day, just sayin... :)

And that's all she wrote!

Kendall

Asher's Birth Story

Well, after that long post about patience.  I got to wait a little longer.  I kept saying, "I never thought I'd make it to (insert any occasion or date)."  But I just kept chugging along, feeling (and looking) oh so pregnant.  I'll spare you all the whiny details, but let it suffice to say I really think if I had been pregnant one second longer, my hips would no longer be with us (may they rest in peace).  And then what would I have to waddle with next pregnancy?

Pretty pregnant!

Now for the birth story...

Once upon a time in a far away land: At 4:30 in the morning, a princess awoke.  Just kidding, I promise I'm done with the fairy tale.  I was woken up by a pretty strong contraction, right in the middle of a wonderful dream about garage sale-ing.  After a few contractions, I realized that this was the real thing, finally.  I'd been having false alarms for a couple of weeks, so by this time I was pretty skeptical.  I woke Joshua up pretty quickly, because I realized this one was going to be way faster (dream big!).  The contractions started out much harder this time than they did with Judah.  We didn't really have anything ready, so we spent the next hour or so getting things in order for my parents to watch Judah.  When my dad left for work at 5:30, I told him to keep his phone with him because today was the day.

First Snuggles, totally amazing!

I was going to wait awhile to wake my mom up because I'm a nice person, but this was happening way faster than I anticipated.  Joshua went over to their house at around 5:55 to wake her.  I knew that I wouldn't want to be giving instructions for watching Judah much later.  We finished getting ready until about 6:30, and then headed to town.  Our plan was to get a hotel room near the hospital to labor in.  We wanted to stay out of the hospital as long as possible, but knew I wouldn't want to be in the car towards the end.

Could not love this face any more, so sweet!

As soon as we got in the car, the contractions spread out and got less intense.  It felt wonderful.  I joked that I would stay in the car the whole labor.  When we left the house we were almost thinking we'd go straight to the hospital, but once in the car we decided we for sure would get a hotel room.  We headed to the Wildwood Lodge in West Des Moines.  Joshua called ahead, and they said they had a room with a Jacuzzi tub available (yes please!).  I'm sure they thought we were crazy getting a room at 7:00 in the morning... Oh well, just wait until they hear me moaning as we check in.

Loving the family time!

We pulled into the parking lot and started to walk into the hotel.  All of a sudden I had a whole bunch of really intense contractions.  Like, I couldn't make it inside the hotel.  There was a cab sitting outside the hotel, I'm pretty sure they thought we were some young couple crazy about each other (which we are, but aren't quite as PDAish as it seemed).  We would take a step, then I'd throw myself on Joshua and just hang there for the contraction.  Ahh, young love...  Anyway, we decided that this was happening fast as long as I stood up, so decided to go straight to the hospital.  We figured we'd save ourselves money and just labor in the hospital waiting room.  That way we wouldn't have to drive at all when it got really intense.

Look at those cheeks!

We got to Mercy Hospital at around 7:00.  We didn't want to check in right away (since then they strap you down and that would slow things down too much), so we labored on the second floor for a couple hours.  They have a nice waiting room there, and there wasn't too much traffic that early in the morning. The contractions with this labor were really intense and close together while I was standing, so I stood basically the whole time.  If it got to be too much to handle, I would sit down for a couple contractions, and that would space them out to give me a break.  It was like having my own pain control, it really helped me get through it.  It gave me a sense of control so that I could relax. I truly believe it was a gift from God to get me through it.

Our good sleeper, mostly...

Finally around 9:00, I could tell I was transitioning (the worst part of labor).  How could I tell?  I think I remember declaring that I was just giving up, walking out of the hospital, and going home.  I may have also mentioned something about jumping off the balcony when Joshua told me option A was not possible.  (I have a sick sense of humor when in pain.  A lot of pain.)  Did I mention birth hurts?  That's where the expression "hurts like a mother" comes from.  I was one hurtin' mama.  Anyway, where were we?  Oh yeah, at 9:30 point we decided we should get my lil' laboring booty up stairs.  Up we went, with lots of contractions on the way.  I could tell I was a lot further along than I was with Judah when I got to the check-in desk because they didn't really care about insurance, my name, or much else.  They were just pretty interested in getting me to my room.  I declined the wheel chair escort, because I wanted to keep the show rolling.  I think I really freaked the nurse out though, since I had about 5 contractions on our very short walk to the room.

Long skinny feet, just like mama!

When I got to my room they promptly made me lay down on the bed, ugh.  They hooked me up and checked me.  I was at an 8, woohoo!  I was actually at this point starting to feel a tiny bit "pushy," but I knew I wasn't ready to push quite yet.  The nurse was so-so.  She wasn't mean, but wasn't the happiest camper on the lot.  She asked me a million questions.  A million.  During contractions even.  Let me give you one little piece of advice.  Never ever ever ever ever ever never ever ever ask a woman questions during transition contractions.  It is mean, you will probably not get an answer, and did I mention it is mean?  Luckily Joshua fielded most of these for me, but oh man, it really made it hard to focus on relaxing during contractions.

Hungry already!

Once the nurse was done with the third degree, the doctor came in (around 10:00).  It was a substitute doctor, since the real on call doctor was doing a C-section.  I really like this doctor because she told me I could get out of bed and go to the potty (over share, I know.  But you ARE reading a birth story, that will always include over sharing,  and if you only knew the things I'm not sharing...).  While doing my thing I had a really strong contraction, that made my body push.  I told Joshua that and he told me to stop right then and then ran out of the room and tattled on me (I didn't mean to push, it just happened, honest (Joshua would like to note that "I told Joshua that" took the form of loudly screaming - "I'm pushing!" thereby slightly justifying the forementioned tattling)).  Nurses came spilling in, I was promptly ushered to bed.  People came a-runnin' in, like a little scrub army.  Then I yelled "just kidding!" No, just kidding.  My body really was pushing, but I could tell it wasn't doing it for reals, just kind of practice pushing.  They checked me again, and I wasn't completely dilated yet.  Everyone started breathing again.  People finished setting up for the exciting moment and then left the room.  It was really exciting when they put down the baby bed thing in the room, it made it feel more real.  That helped me get through this time.  I just kept saying that meant the baby was coming soon.

"Hey look!  He makes funny faces when I poke him!"

The real doctor got out of their C-section and came in. I was kind of bummed because she's not very gentle with anything.  When she would check me in visits it would hurt a lot and a lot of the other doctors weren't as rough.  Around 10:35 they checked me and I was a perfect 10 (go me!).  Our doctor broke my water with out telling me then actually lied about it when I asked her.  I wasn't very impressed with that.  I think I would have been okay with it, had she asked me first or at least been honest with me.  That coupled with some other issues made me really disappointed in her because we so appreciated her willingness to try birthing naturally with Judah.  Any way, I had a couple minute break in contractions which was nice before I started pushing.

So snuggly already, good for a mama's heart.

At around 10:39 I started pushing.  The nurse yelled at me to push harder and the doctor yelled at me to push slower. I didn't want to take sides, so I just pushed how I pushed and left them to duke it out.  It was fun this time because Joshua actually got to see him being born, it really encouraged me to hear that he was coming out and was so sweet.  At 10:45 Asher Avdon Stewardson was born.  Huzzah!  I felt so much better this time than after Judah was born so I was really able to enjoy holding him.  I was so excited because it just happened that everyone else was busy so I saw when they turned him to put him on my chest that he was a boy.  I never thought I'd get to be the first to find out.  I announced that he was a boy and was so excited to meet my little man!  They kept having to rub his back and pinch him because he just snuggled in right away and didn't want to cry a lot.  He's already living up to his name, it means "happy."

Our big boy: 13lbs 12.8oz (after pooping already...)

Poor little face was bruised because of how fast it went apparently. Still perfect though!

After he was born, the doctor stitched me up.  I only had a 2nd degree tear this time, so we were really grateful for that!  At this rate, hopefully next time will only be a 1st degree.  Woo to the hoo!

So happy to head home to see big brother!

So, that's how it all went down.  It was just one big blessing.  I had read on a blog about how labor can be a worship experience because you're so dependent on God to get you through it.  It's totally true.  It was an amazing time of relying on God and feeling his peace.  He is so glorious and has made labor and birth to be such a beautiful experience.  I feel really blessed to have gotten to experience it twice, and I hope to experience it again sometime.

Judah's such a good helper rocking Asher. If Asher survives... :)

Asher is such a blessed addition to our family.  We all love him so much already.  He is a really happy baby as long as he's not hungry (who could blame him...).  I'm loving the new born phase this time around, I could just snuggle him forever.  And don't get me started on how fun it is to see Judah interact with him. Judah is a great big brother.  Asher is really blessed to have such a wonderful big brother.  I think 15 months apart is the perfect gap.  Judah really hasn't experienced jealousy, there's always room for two on our laps and he likes snuggling with Asher.  All in all, we're just really enjoying our family of four and praising God for the gift of two beautiful boys.  We hope to raise them to glorify God in all they do.

Brother snuggles!

Daddy's lap is the shnizz!

Over and out!

Kendall

Patience

We're finally here.  The end of the road.  On Tuesday I will be 40 weeks.  This pregnancy started off going quickly.  Sometimes I even sort of forgot I was pregnant.  Not now.  Nope.  I am so completely and utterly pregnant.  I'm pretty sure I'm twice as wide now.  Sometimes it's hard to remember what a blessing it is.  I'm definitely all about the blessing of holding my little one.  I know that is a blessing.  I know the life inside me is nothing short of a gift from God.  But, oh man, the overly pregnant part of me is a whiner.  The last few days I've found myself short on patience and trust in God.

Thankfully there are people out there that have been down this road before and are not as grumpy as me.  I found a blog called Passionate Homemaking and she shared some Bible verses for preparing your heart for the new little one coming.  I was really convicted by a lot of them.  Especially: 

"So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord.  Remember the great reward it brings you!  Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will.  Then you will receive all that He has promised."  Hebrews 10: 35-36

This is totally where I'm at.  I was starting to throw away my trust in the Lord.  Questions like, "doesn't he love me?", "does he have a plan for this?", "is he good?" all flooded my brain.  Until yesterday they overtook me, consumed me.  Praise the Lord for godly women who focus on scripture.  This baby is a gift from the Lord and He will bring it in HIS timing.  I am so thankful that he is teaching me patient endurance.  It's hard, because I've heard of women surrendering and realizing this and then they go into labor that night.  I didn't, but then I would have missed out on this peace that comes from the Lord and his continually giving me patience.  

Do not get me wrong this doesn't mean that I don't pray for this little one to come as soon as possible.  Because I do. But I also am now more able to just enjoy the life God has for me right now and be excited for when he chooses to add to it. 

"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is set on you; because he trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3

While I'm uncomfortable right now, I pray that God will continue to develop patience and trust in me.  I'm thankful for what he has done so far.  I'm thankful for the peace that only he can give. 

And I'm so excited for when I get to kiss this new little member of our family.
Some things are worth waiting for.

Kendall

Christmas Highlights

We really enjoyed Christmas this year.  We didn't do much, but that was perfect for us.

Judah helped us get in the Christmas spirit.

He put on his Christmas Shoes...

 On Christmas Eve we spent time with family, and tried to get a picture with all 6 grandkids.  Yes, they're all boys.  It would be pretty radical for this family if this baby is a girl...

Grandma and Grandpa got all the kids matching jackets.  It was actually nice enough to play outside.

I love the age Judah is at.  It was so fun for Christmas.  He would very very very very slowly open each gift (mostly from the grandparents :) and look up at us with a huge smile.

 Judah loves his vacuum.  Loves it.

Then on Christmas day we went over to great grandma and grandpa's.  Judah loves playing with all the cousins

 Love the way Judah is sliding in this, cracks me up.

 Playing with Grandma and Grandpa

And lest we forget Baby #2.  (Like you can forget something this big...)  Baby had a good Christmas, but may have eaten a few too many Christmas treats.  Naughty, naughty... :)

Hope you had a good Christmas!

Kendall