ArtSchmart

belly boys

2007-04-02T13:43:00.001-07:00

belly boys
Originally uploaded by beckyk.

ahhh to be young and have a pot belly you aren't ashamed to show...

allergies

2007-03-29T07:28:00.000-07:00

my allergies have been running rampant- uncommon for the last few years. i had 3 days last week where i could smell absolutely nothing. a good thing living in a house with 3 males and 2 digestively challenged dogs. a not so good thing when people are bringing you homemade double chocolate brownies and your husband decides to make choco cupcakes. i felt like i was eating aluminum foil- but in the texture of a cupcake. lovely. of course i still ate it- didnt want to deprive my body of the goodness of chocolate. it's been almost 2 weeks now of consistent blowing of nose and hacking up internal organs. i gave up taking medications as i kept feeling as if my head was floating 2 feet away.

ok- i still havent figured out the posting of photos in an organized way on this site...i guess i should dedicate more time (when i'm not at work) to figuring it out...i'm jealous of other blogs.

check out my belly boys....

Swallowed by dupioni silk

2007-03-14T13:28:00.000-07:00

i went to a new giant super colossal store near my work to get some canvas for a project. most craft/fabric stores are hellish because there is always a horribly long line to get your fabric cut and then they always start the same conversation- "so what are YOU going to be making?" in my head i say something like" a death cloth for my grandma" but i always falter and stumble over what my project will be. like those crafties really care. so of course the fabric cutting line was long- its also a new store and spring break so mobs of people were there- in addition they have all sorts of 50% off coupons right now. anyway, there are 4 people cutting fabric including- god bless her- a 70 yr old woman who was slow as molasses. i was watching her fold and i wanted to claw my eyeballs out she was taking so long. so of course who calls my #?

she asked me at least 4 or 5 times how many yards i wanted. then when she couldn't get her scanner dealy to work she just stood there and looked at her co-workers hoping her subtle quiet looks would somehow draw their attention to her- wait! someone looked at her! she smiles! they walk away! another co-worker looks at her- she smiles! in my head i'm screaming "what the f$%#k!!!!! why are you standing there not asking for help!!!! kill me now!!!!!" so after a week of her awkward pause or soul searching or whatever she was doing whilst i stabbed her with sharp pins from my eyeballs she quietly turns to try again and somehow gets it to work. all of her other co-workers are asking diligently if people have coupons. i'm holding mine in my hand. she does not ask. whatever- i don't want to deal with her anymore!!! so of course the checkout guy rolls his eyes when he sees my coupons "they are supposed to give the credit at the fabric counter". luckily everything was half off or i would have beat her over the head with a couple of yards of pre-printed fleece......

Thoughts for the day

2007-03-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

I started parting my hair on my right side. I'm not yet sure how I feel about it...I mean I'm getting the height I like - but I feel like it throws the whole perspective of my face/head off. I should stop looking in the mirror.

I just saw a banana guard on my friend's blog DesignCrack. I don't know why but I really want one. Maybe because I always end up with a blackened banana by the time I lug all my bags to work. Somebody send me one please!!!! I loathe bruised bananas....

I can't figure out how to put my pics on Flickr in the correct order...help me with this life ending dilemma please.

None of my art projects seem to be ending. I start them- but can't complete them because of lack of materials/motivation/time/sleep. I need to finish 2 before next month, so I'm off to the craft store to find some tracing paper and an appropriate fabric to paint on without gesso that will enable me to to a wash and then sew onto it....

I've started reading more blogs after looking up the bloggie awards... it's becoming addictive. I wonder if I could talk that much...

birth story

2005-08-26T14:44:00.000-07:00

my water broke about 6:15am while i was taking a shower. getting ready for what i expected would be my last day of work anyway. i wasn't sure if that's what it was since i was already in water, just felt a sort of pop and what i thought was a small gush. once i got out and dried off i couldn't really tell anything was different. that is until i got dressed and couldn't stop the flow. wow! weird feeling...
called the doc's office - no pains yet but they told me it would probably be about 45 min before they started to be noticeable and to check into the hospital. i planned on having a VBAC so knew i would have to labor there once my water broke. i was a little bummed but excited that our new babe was finally on its way out!
i woke up adam and told him we needed to make our way to the hospital...we decided to take owen to daycare since it would be a long day anyway. got dressed, finished packing my bag(since i had never really done it anyway) got about 10 other bags filled with cameras, snacks, pillows, clothes, then owen's overnight bag for grandma...sheesh! meanwhile, i'm still leaking water all over the place - lovely, really.
we take owen to daycare (after adam decides to install the infant carseat- uh...hello, i'm leaking here! he can do this at some point on a break from me being in labor or after the kiddo shoots out).
anyway, we drop off soon to be big brother and let them know he'll be out a few weeks after today, and head for the hospital. we are birthing at Seton SW by the way, which is such an awesome hospital - i hate to even mention it cause its such a wonderful out of the way place. right in the middle of the hill country with the most awesome views from all of the rooms. we check in thru the ER and go up to LD. they check me in the small triage room where i proceed to leak water everywhere and then get my med history and hook me up to the uh, heartbeat thingy. -hey, this is my 2nd kid- i can't retain any information anymore - you know the thing i'm talking about. anyway- baby's heartbeat is strong and i'm actually having contractions 3-5min apart and didn't even know it.
they move us into a larger delivery room and there i sit and wait...
more later...owen is demanding i find his thomas engine...

ok, so its going on lunch time and i can feel a few contractions here and there. nothing to strong but noticeable. dr L. had come in about this time and told me i was progressing just fine but didnt see me really going full force until early in the morning. oh, and no solids just liquid diet...uh, ok, i had only had a few bites of muffin cause i had forgotten to eat more in our hurry. adam came in a few minutes after that with a sub sandwich- which i promptly wolfed down (i would pay for it later).
my mom, tia tiller and dad came up about then too. then adam's mom and his sister arrived soon after that. if i could have taken a nap at this time i would have but really, the excitement just wouldn't let me. we got up and walked around the floor twice just to get my but out of bed.

by 6pm a nurse shift change- i was ready to walk again. unfortunately this nurse chastised us and said i'd have to stay in my room cause i needed to be hooked up to the monitor. seriously i didnt see how taking a 5-10 min walk would make that much of a difference. i was already getting up every 30 minutes to pee. anyway, i was thinking she was going to be a nazi about stuff but then she asked if we wanted to change rooms and if we needed a remote control. we got a bigger room, a remote (the other room didnt have one and apparently they were pretty scarce) and she got me an egg crate mattress for my ever flattening ass. ok- i loved her again.

so, as i'm finally feeling like drifting off to sleep about midnight- holy crap! the contractions start full force. man oh man...so i could tell this would be a long night. by 3am i am thinking things are going to be moving along. we call my mom and my doula to let them know. they had to start me on antibiotics after hour 18 since my water had already broken. this would continue every 4 hrs and this stuff was cold. i started getting the shakes from this and reminded me of how i felt after my previous c-section. i think the dr. came in around 6am and said we should start on a slow pitocin drip to get the labor working- this could have happened around 7pm the previous night but i cant quite remember . i was only about 5 cm at this point so not too much progress had been made and baby had to really moved into birth position.

i just remember my only comfort was standing there when a contraction came on, holding on to adam's neck and rocking back and forth. i was ok with sitting on the birthing ball in between but standing seem to make it more comfortable and then moaning really loud. i just remembered in my childbirth book that moaning and concentrating on making your mouth into the shape of an "O" would help the cervix open . they kept trying to get me to change positions. laying on my side was excruciating- i thought i was going to pull the armrails off of the bed. positioning on all fours was even worse i stayed this way thru maybe 10 rounds of contractions - literally sobbing my way thru them. i just could not relax enough to feel like they were even doing any good. i think at this point i was giving up- but adam and lanell (doula) kept telling me i could do it so i tried to concentrate on how short the contractions really were.

i cant remember when the last time dr. l came in to check on me was it before lunchtime? that becomes a total blur. at any rate she told me i was at 7 cm but the baby had still not dropped although i was almost completelty effaced. at that point i think i just let out a big sigh- told adam if we had a 3rd child i didn't know if i could handle a "natural birth". anyway- at least not 3o some odd hours of it. it was at this point i gave in and asked for the drugs. best thing i could have done- it was about 11am when i asked for it and would be another 6hrs. ahhh...so sweet...i could at least lay on my side and labor comfortably. i think that really helped the little booger move its way down the birth canal. plus i was able to close my eyes and rest for awhile.

by 5 or so dr. reddy (the dr. on call) came in to check on me - lanell said she thought later that she (dr. reddy) was very uncertain whether i would be able to continue much longer. she's writing a up a birth story so i'll have to compare later. anyway, about 6pm the nurse said i was at about 8 and she thought the baby had moved enough to where i could start pushing to try and get it to get a move on. at that announcement i thought "helll yeah, i'm pushing this baby out as fast as i possibly can!" it's weird cause i could feel the contractions and i could feel the pressure but other than that i just felt like i was holding my breath and wrinkling up my face.

everyone was cheering me on...lanell made me feel the head when it first appeared- honestly i didnt really want to but i did. um...yeah, just felt kind of slimy- i really had no idea that i was touching my baby's head. so about the time the head was about to pop all of the way out the nurse told me to stop pushing. what?!?! they had to call the dr. in and an army of nurses started piling into the room. all i can remember was them telling me to just hold on and all i could say was "i can't ~ its coming out!" she was in her office in the other building but somehow made it just as i could hold on no longer. adam and my mom said later they thought the baby was going to drop on the floor cause they were all getting "dressed" for the birth and no one was waiting to catch it. it came out so quick. left meconium all over the dr.'s scrubs and they rushed to clean him off. nothing got in its lungs just came out with all the pressure pushing it out. i could tell immediately he was a boy as they lifted him up. i had a slight tear so wasn't able to really sit up and enjoy him until he had been wiped down and passed around to dad.

man was he a buggy eyed little man! 8lbs 8oz, 22in long, born @ 6:57pm 8/11/05. Finnegan (Finn) James -he's a little white boy like daddy and has light colored eyes. i honestly thought all of our babies were destined to have chocolate brown eyes. he latched on really well as soon as i got a chance to feed him. man- i forgot how small babies start out. compared to big brother owen he's a dwarf!

so my second little boy entered the world and i can't wait to watch him grow. his big brother loves to kiss and hug and touch him.

oh yeah, on our way home from the hospital Finn started to cry, rather loudly. Owen was a little upset about this to say the least (I could not fit in back with both car seats) and started yelling "Don't do that to me!" so we had to listen to both of them crying/yelling for about 10 min on the way home. adam and i laughed and said "lord, what have we gotten ourselves into? And we want another one someday?" :)

tongue family

2005-07-25T10:25:00.000-07:00

so, the daycare asked for a family photo. since we can't seem to get all of us to smile at the same time in a studio i took this lovely gem for owen to take with him. i thought it was funny- little did i know it would be glued to a prayer reminder (huh?). i'm sure they think we are freaks. oh well...

good gawd get this thing outta me

2005-07-25T10:22:00.000-07:00

i'm having some severe ligament pain on my right side this morning. not sure if its cause my maternity jeans are finally just too tight or maybe cause i'm 38 wks preg. at any rate its killing me and i'm too far from home to change pants. not like i have that many things to wear these days anymore anyway. argh!

the latest

2005-06-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

so today i talked to the doula i decided on for the upcoming birth of kiddo numero dos. i read a booklet on c-sections vs. vaginal birth last night and am more determined now to stick with this thing naturally as much as i possibly can. i've got about 6-7 more weeks to go - hopefully thats the minimum as i have been feeling less mobile the last 3-4 days.

this morning owen was being a little toot. everything he would ask for- i'd offer to him and apparently i was doing it wrong cause he'd scream and say "no!" and then sit on the floor in a bundle of whimpers. it was his usual "yes i want that, oh you are giving it to me? no, i don't want it until you try to put it away" routine. this drives me CRAZY! he threw himself down twice this morning and bonked his head. ugh...we were not very happy with each other - he was upset because he got upset and threw his cars down while we were on our way to daycare. so of course- he wanted me to get them while i was driving. i pretty much was silent - i had had enough arguing with him. he cried for a few minutes about this - i could see the big tears rolling down his face. i finally gave him a tissue to wipe his face off and he was fine the rest of the way- babbling about buses and dozers and such. i went ahead and carried him inside so our last few minutes before i left him would be nice and huggy mommy time. he gave me a big kiss before settling in to eat. ahhh...big sigh of relief.

on another note- yesterday, i told him the "license plate" he made at school said his whole name. i gave him his full name and he said it quite clearly- pretty good for being stuck with 4 names. anyway, i told him to tell daddy about 3 hrs later at home what his full name was and he said it again- clear as a bell! i hope his good memory sticks with him forever, cause mine has turned to absolute crap!

freak

2005-06-06T11:26:00.000-07:00

so, i've been having these weird dreams. pretty normal for 31 wks along. but man- one of 'em involved my little man - i can't even repeat it cause it freaked me out so much. it woke me up and i kept trying to fall back asleep and change it but just couldn't get the image out of my head. it involved war and crap like that- i think i had been reading an article about the hutu/tsutsi conflicts in rwanda and it just made me think about all of those babies and children that were massacred. as much as i think this country is going down the shitter i still am glad i live here than some other places. oy...
so i hugged the little man this morning lots and gave him so many kisses on his face that he shrieked! poor mama...

2005-05-17T13:12:00.001-07:00

Owen & Graysen work on their showtunes 5/05

2005-05-17T13:12:00.000-07:00

Owen at 2 years

2005-05-17T13:11:00.001-07:00

Owen at 2 years

2005-05-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

Owen at 2 years

bread awakenings

2004-09-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

last night at about 1am owen started tossing and turning. he'd fall asleep for one minute and then wake up the next screaming. what tha?!? i got up with him, rocked him...nothing- same reaction. i gave him some ibuprofen- he still kept screaming. so after 30 minutes of this, i finally asked him "tienes hambre?" he immediately perked up and said his usual "uh?". daddy went and got him a piece of bread and he immediately giggled and flashed his toothy grin and just got dern giddy. perhaps it was because he so didnt appreciate my naturally nutritious meal of cheese, avocado and buttered sweet potatoes. hmmm...he's always liked these before. anyway, he didnt eat very much for dinner. he finished all but one little crust and settled down to give mommy and daddy a break. sheesh...kids are complicated.

hair cut

2004-08-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

ok, so last night we finally chopped what was left of Owen's baby hair. a recent comment by a neighbor led to me thinking it was time. "what- you growin' that kid a mullet?" to be fair he only had long hair growing on the sides of his head - but at times- esp. when he got all little boy sweaty he would receive the nickname "crazy hair" from his ma & pa. adam didn't want me to cut it- in fact afterwards he told me it was almost as if we (i) had broken him. ah, daddy, let yer lil' one grow up. his teacher this morning mentioned he looked as if he had grown over the weekend.