about the boy and the girl

moving, with instructions

2010-06-22T16:36:00.001-04:00

seems that some folks were having trouble with the new rss feed.

here's what derek had to say about it:

Do you know how they're trying to get it?

I clicked Syndicate at the top and got the URL:
http://sarah.lidbom.com/feed/atom

And put that in google reader and it worked for me.

good luck.

moving....

2010-06-21T16:36:00.003-04:00

this blog is moving...

to...

http://sarah.lidbom.com

if you'd like to stay with me, update your bookmarks and/or rss feeds...

:)

pretty in green

2010-06-20T16:08:00.001-04:00

the big brother rocks.

2010-06-19T08:34:00.001-04:00

anna's abc's

2010-06-18T09:11:00.002-04:00

Sleepy girl

2010-06-17T20:55:00.000-04:00

I held Anna during a nice long late afternoon nap (while Isaac was at
his gram's house). What other choice did I have than to take lots of
pics of the sleeping girl?

(ghetto) pool attire

2010-06-16T23:00:00.002-04:00

isaac likes his ghetto deck pool...

but, he hates wearing his swim trunks ("they're all wet!!!"):

so, i let him just wear underwear:

but, eventually that came off, too (they get wet, too, apparently.):

but, i don't know why it really matters at all, because the only part of his body that really sees much water time is his feet:

smile. kind of.

2010-06-16T22:57:00.001-04:00

here's a washed out shot of the girl smiling. she's hard to catch...

kitchen sink fun

2010-06-16T22:55:00.001-04:00

Starry Lunch

2010-06-16T11:54:00.001-04:00

worked hard on this star shaped menu for isaac's lunch today. it's already worked to trick him into trying a peanut butter sandwich (something he wouldn't even dream of trying in it's native format).

the rollover

2010-06-14T11:02:00.002-04:00

the anna baby completed another task on the list of things that babies do that moms record in a baby book. the first was being born. then smiling. and last night... the rollover.

while derek was trying to get her to go to sleep *sigh*, she rolled from her belly (shhhh... yes we let her sleep on her belly) to her back 5 or 6 times. i got to witness the last of the rollovers, before derek weighted her down with a blanket.

this morning, i tried to capture a rollover on digital media, with no luck. seems she's only interested in performing this trick for the purposes of remaining awake.

5 weeks and 1 day...

2010-06-13T09:13:00.000-04:00

nature vs. nurture...

2010-06-10T13:19:00.003-04:00

do my kids get their dislike of sleep from a gene that derek and/or i am carrying? or do i simply make my kids hate sleep? perhaps i'm just so fun that they can't stand to miss out on just one minute of it...

all kidding aside, we're having a pretty tough couple of days here lately. anna has slowly abandoned her terrific sleeping habits for a more sparsely populated schedule of sleeping. and it sucks.

she's really not all that bad when she's awake. which is a plus. isaac screamed his little head off during all waking hours when he was this age. so, no complaints on that. she does require a bit of entertaining when she's awake. and with my hands full, it's hard to tend to other things (showers, brushing teeth, preparing meals, eating meals, isaac). so, it can get a bit frustrating. then when she does actually sleep, i'm rushing around (as quietly as i possibly can) doing all the aforementioned tasks, hoping to squeeze in a few minutes of quality time with my neglected older child before the next round of awake baby comes along.

i know, i know. if it's so rough, why am i on this blog right now. well, i've instituted a bit of a quiet time for the boy. he's in his room, "reading" books. hopefully falling asleep soon. currently singing. so, we'll see how it goes. and anna, who (thank goodness) seems to like her swing for now, is swinging back and forth dozing on and off. so, i thought i would get this all out there. of my chest sort of. to remember if i ever get the notion to have another...

anyhow, i think my new plan is to not care. if anna is going to sleep when she wants and not when she should (ie: when she's clearly tired and has been up forever) and she's not so unhappy when she's awake, i think i'll just strap her into the bjorn and carry on. forget what the books and other people say about routines and schedules and babywise and sleep solutions and happiest babies and all that crap.

for every minute that i'm trying to get her to sleep and she's staring up at me with those beady eyes and isaac is running rampant all over the house (usually naked), i feel like a worse and worse parent. frustrated with a 5 week old baby. resentful that she's taking time from isaac. worried that i'm turning him into a neglected kid. stressed because she "should" be sleeping more. so, if i don't try to get her to sleep and just let her do what she wants... maybe i'll feel better. we'll see...

Happy Girl

2010-06-09T15:56:00.000-04:00

ghetto deck pool

2010-06-08T09:44:00.002-04:00

i commissioned derek to purchase a $10 blue plastic wading pool from walmart for our deck. we're high class now. isaac doesn't really like full all out swimming, so it's pretty much perfect for us. i'm not sure how many more things we can cram on the deck. we currently have a pool, a sand/water table, a grill, a table and 4 chairs, another chair for isaac, an herb garden (sort of), and some other random items...

anyhooo... here's some pics from our adventures in the ghetto deck pool...

anna, in the shade, taking in some fresh air:

isaac, explaining to me that he doesn't think this is "such a good idea":

soaking feet:

one month

2010-06-08T09:38:00.005-04:00

anna is one month old today. it's gone by fairly quickly, i suppose. more quickly at first than it's going now. she's getting a little tougher. a little more needy. and a little less likely to sleep. it's definitely challenging here and there. (like right now, that she's awakening from a nap way way way too early...)

last night, we were fighting to keep her awake for just a few minutes so we could eat dinner before we bathed her and put her to bed. this was at 6:40. after her bath, she was awake until 10:40. it makes no sense. and it's irritating. the good news was, after she finally went to sleep, she slept until 4am-ish. so, that was nice.

i would love to be able to duct tape a pacifier to her face. i think she would sleep much more consistently if i were allowed to do that. i should check some baby websites to see where pediatricians stand on that... i'm pretty sure i already know.

all this lack of sleep and neediness is hard on isaac. he's feeling pretty neglected. and that sucks. i don't want to wish away my life, but i'm really looking forward to getting out of this infant time. i've said it before and i'll say it again, i'm not a big fan of little bitty babies. at least this time around, i have a better perspective... that it will go by in a flash and i'll hardly remember it. with isaac, there was no light at the end of the tunnel.

well, that's all the rambling i have for now. it's hard to compose my thoughts with an awakening baby on the other side of the room. :)

anna's first big adventure

2010-06-05T21:10:00.009-04:00

with beautiful weather in the forecast for the day, and a mom and boy itching to get out of the house, we decided to head to the natural science center in greensboro. we packed up the entire contents of our house (it felt like) and rolled on down the road...

the springy teeter-totter like contraption.

water table:

examining the current:

too cool:

inside the kitchen hut:

anna was conked out most of the day in the bjorn:

isaac and derek checking out the sweet marble contraption:

view of sweet marble contraption:

obviously, all of these pictures depict a delightful day, but such was not the case...

most of the trip consisted of either one or two kids whining and crying. isaac hated being outside. anna hated (read: screamed in) her carseat for most of the day. it was 90 degrees. isaac didn't really care about most of the exhibits. to end the trip, isaac dozed off in the car and just as we pulled onto our street, he awakened screaming he was wet. so, now i have a pee soaked car seat to contend with...

but, we got out. got fresh air. survived. :)

anna banana

2010-06-04T14:54:00.001-04:00

boys love hoses

2010-06-04T14:51:00.003-04:00

isaac loves to fill things with water. preferably hose water. so, i pulled out all kinds of containers and let him have at it on the deck...

Personalized Pancakes

2010-06-04T09:05:00.002-04:00

Maybe I should try to grow some letter shaped vegetables...

Show down

2010-06-02T18:59:00.000-04:00

Blog name

2010-06-02T08:22:00.002-04:00

I'm in the market for a new name for my blog. If you couldn't tell, I
didn't work very hard making the jump from "about the boy" to "about
the boy and the girl"... It was a lazy choice. :)

Anyhooo... I'm taking suggestions... Any ideas?

Sent from my iPhone

Hair bow envy

2010-06-01T16:39:00.002-04:00

"special delivery"

2010-05-30T20:48:00.003-04:00

the other day, while my mom was here, an interesting thing happened...

isaac was upstairs playing by himself. i think anna was asleep (or more likely, my mom was holding/spoiling her). isaac started down the stairs with a small puzzle box in his hand, announcing he had a "special derivery" for me.

he knelt down in the living room and carefully removed the puzzle box top to display the contents of my delivery for my mom and i to behold. there was a little bowl inside with some wooden blocks with numbers on them. i noticed that it looked like there was water in the box, so i asked, "is there water in there?"...

to which isaac replied, "no. it's pee."

and it was.

i thought back to when he was coming down the stairs and he did, in fact, tell me that the box contained "numbers and pee". but, i chalked it up to his nonsense play world that he spends 90% of his waking hours in. unfortunately, this time it was real.

siblings

2010-05-29T10:00:00.005-04:00

one of the pictures in the "anna's first bath" collection reminded me of one of the pictures from isaac's first bath. i had to search long and hard for it, since i've organized and reorganized our photo collection a number of times (do i sort by age, year, event, etc??)...

anyhooo... here's the side by side (top to bottom) comparison...

(the top is isaac and bottom is anna).

first bath

2010-05-27T16:00:00.001-04:00

anna had her first bath, yesterday, while new gramma was here to help out. after the initial shock of being immersed in water for the first time, she rather enjoyed herself...

naked and ready:

getting scrubbed down:

pondering:

drying off:

retraction

2010-05-27T15:18:00.000-04:00

a few posts back, i made anna out to be a complete opposite to our sweet boy isaac. well, here it is a few days (weeks, even?) later and i'd like to retract some of that information...

isaac and anna are very very very similar. the main difference is that isaac cried all the time and anna does not. so, it's a pretty big glaring difference. but, it's still pretty much the only one.

lately, we've noticed that anna has a slight aversion to sleeping. she's a little better than isaac, probably because she's not frantic from so much crying. but, she likes to be awake, that is for sure. she has strung together some pretty long stretches here and there.

she's also ultra alert. i think this contributes to her disliking sleep. she likes to be checking things out. her eyes are constantly scanning her surroundings and honing in on where the excitement is. (isaac is her favorite viewing subject).

dear sweet anna is also not a huge fan of just hanging out. unlike other babies that i see (and exactly like our first), she does not enjoy sitting in her car seat or a swing or a bouncy chair for any length of time. she likes to be on the move. changing up her scenery. much the same as the boy. i thought he would never let me put him down. but, then once he could move on his own and change his scenery on his own, he didn't want to be held for the next 2.5 years. so, i'm not so worried about that with this girl. should i be?

finally, the last similarity is her strength. she's already pushing herself up on her scrawny little legs. lifting up her head and looking around. shoving herself forward on her belly during tummy time. it seems i've got another mobile kid on my hands. i was rather hoping for on of those chilled out babies that likes to hang in their car seat while their moms chat away nearby. i guess it's not meant to be for me...

so, to recap... the girl started out the opposite of the boy. but has morphed into pretty much the same baby. only on mute, this time.

just the three of us...

2010-05-27T15:07:00.000-04:00

this morning, we put new gramma on a plane headed back to buffalo, ny (via newark, nj)and returned to our "normal" life. we haven't settled in enough to call it normal, but it is our new normal, i suppose. huh?

anyhooo...
while she was here, my battery in my laptop was mostly dead, because she's an avid fan of disconnecting the power supply and then leaving it open for hours on end. my laptop is pretty old, so it only takes a few minutes of being unplugged. so, i haven't posted much by way of blog. unless i used my phone...

while she was here, we went on a couple of adventures with the boy and the girl. it's a lot easier with two sets of grownup hands, that's for sure. anna slept through most of her adventures, which made it even easier. so far, she seems to like riding in the car (isaac didn't), so that's great.

i think that i have a lot of my mom, holding the girl and/or entertaining the boy. so, when i think of it, i suppose i'll post some...

Tummy time

2010-05-25T22:05:00.002-04:00

isaac hearts anna

2010-05-24T21:25:00.002-04:00

New Gramma is here!

2010-05-23T11:06:00.001-04:00

first park trip

2010-05-21T16:04:00.001-04:00

yesterday, we met the mielke's at the park for anna's first trip. she slept through most of it. isaac and luke played in some imaginary land that only they have access to. it was good to get out of the house...

here's a shot of anna hanging with abigail...

kristin boone does it again...

2010-05-19T09:40:00.001-04:00

kristin boone came over to take some pics of the girl last week. of course, she did a marvelous job.

7 years of marriage deserves...

2010-05-18T11:31:00.003-04:00

towels!

last year, we went to hilton head island for a sweet long weekend beach trip. this year, well, we had a baby a week before our anniversary, so we knew we weren't going to go on any fantastic voyages... so, instead we splurged on towels...

our old towels were from when we got married and they weren't doing so hot, so off to target we went for our big purchase...

i'm actually pretty excited about them. derek... not as much. :)

on our own.

2010-05-17T16:07:00.002-04:00

derek went back to work today.

surprisingly, it was much much MUCH easier to manage the two kids on my own than it was the first time around with the one kid. the girl is just so chill. it's awesome.

isaac is really great with her. he talks to her and entertains her when i've got my hands tied and she's getting a little fussy. he is always available for shoving a pacifier into anna's mouth, should the situation necessitate such measures. he's a very good big brother.

this afternoon, derek's mom swung by and picked up the semi-neglected boy. now, with the girl fast asleep and no boy in the house, i feel a bit weird. if i nap, i'll feel awful when i wake up. but, it's not like i can start a major project. perhaps some couch vegging is in order...

so, that's all.

photo shoot with isaac.

2010-05-16T08:21:00.003-04:00

Anna Sleeps

2010-05-15T20:12:00.000-04:00

sweet track for thomas

2010-05-15T11:03:00.000-04:00

Derek and Isaac constructed this awesome train for Thomas and his
fellow battery powered engines.

about the girl

2010-05-15T08:27:00.004-04:00

well, the girl is one week old today. it has been the fastest week of my life. of course, it could be relative, since the previous 2 or 3 weeks of pregnancy dragged on forever...

one week ago, we were kicking off the pitocin party in the hospital and contractions were just showing up on the scene. here's the rest of the story of the girl's life, so far...

labor
around 11 am, i was about 5 cm and they kindly broke my water. this kicked up the pain level of the contractions, so i requested my epidural. :). with isaac, the epidural was relatively pain-free, but my blood pressure dropped like crazy right afterward. this time, getting the epidural was pretty uncomfortable. the doc kept hitting nerves and such on the way through, sending shooting pains down my back and legs. good times. then, to keep my blood pressure in check, they started with a pretty low dose and worked up. which was fine, except for two things. my contractions were moving into high gear quickly AND the epidural was missing a spot on my left side. another doc came in and helped get me fixed up, but until she did, i questioned my toughness and wondered how women had babies in the pre-epidural days.

around 1 pm, the nurse checked me and i was about 6 cm. the epidural was cranking through my lower half and i decided to rest up for the last 4 cm long haul. we turned the lights off and i managed to doze a bit here and there for the next hour, or so. something about knowing you're going to have a baby soon makes it hard to sleep. :)

delivery
sometime after 2, the nurse and my doctor came in to check me again. the doctor had me push just a little, i guess to see what would happen. what happened was, he said, "we're going to have this baby now". so, while he got suited up in his baby delivering clothes, we called our parents (at 2:31 and 2:32 - i checked later)... and we got ready.

(i was quite surprised. when it took 2 hours to go from 5 to 6 cm, i thought we were in for a long afternoon.)

anyhooo...
on the first contraction, i pushed a couple of times and baby anna ("the anna baby" as isaac calls her) was born. at 2:39. awesome.

hospital
while anna was away being scrubbed up and examined, derek went out to get me a quizno's sub, to spare me the hospital food. they brought the girl back and we hung out with her for a bit, before sending her off to the nursery for the night so we could rest. the next morning, she arrived, sleeping away. we were stunned at the difference between isaac and the girl. even in the hospital, isaac screamed and slept very little. it was miserable. anna, on the other hand, slept and gazed back at us and cried very little.

we had some pals come to visit. mark, allison (and almost born babydunc), kerry and jude all popped in to meet the girl. as did isaac and derek's parents. isaac was amazed at how small she was. he asked to see pretty much every "tiny little" part. cute.

we sent the girl off to the nursery for the second night, derek came home to make sure all was ready for the arrival of the girl and the mom. i got a nice solid night of sleep, as did derek, i presume. in the morning, we collected our new kid, our belongings, lots of freebies from the hospital (and by free, i mean expensive) and rolled on out. we picked up the boy, who was very happy to have us back and headed home...

about anna
anna has been an amazingly "good" baby. of course, we only have isaac to compare her to. and he was definitely challenging. she sleeps lots. eats well. doesn't really cry, well, pretty much ever. it's crazy what a different baby experience we are having with this one.
i'm thankful to have had isaac (and survived to tell the tale), because it makes me much more appreciative of how it's been going so far with anna. AND, i think i would rather be bringing home the easy baby to an assertive 3 year old. so, i'm glad we got the difficult one out of the way first. even if i thought i was going to go crazy and we would never consider having children ever ever again...

so, that's the story of the birth of anna. it's not for you. it's for me. because i know in three years, i'll never remember how it all went down...

some Isaac

2010-05-13T12:53:00.001-04:00

(the artist).

some Anna

2010-05-13T12:51:00.001-04:00

the arrival of anna d.

2010-05-10T15:08:00.003-04:00

well, the girl has arrived.

she was born at 2:19 on saturday, may 8th, 2010.
weighed in at 8 pounds 3.5 ounces.
and, she's 21 inches long (tall?).
she is doing quite well and we're pretty smitten with her.
even isaac.

we got home today around noon and we're just adjusting and settling in. i'll try to get more pictures up after i sort through all of the iphone pics and real pics that were taken of the new baby girl...

T Minus 7 Hours and 14 Minutes.

2010-05-07T21:39:00.004-04:00

had high blood pressure at the doc's today.

it didn't go down enough to make them happy, so i'll be heading in to be induced at 5:00 am tomorrow. actually, we'll be heading in at like 4:10 to be there at 4:30 to check in to be induced at 5:00 am. which is fine with me, since i've been up most of the night for the last few nights anyhow...

isaac is at his gramma's house. he sort of knows what is about to go down, but really has absolutely no idea how much his happy little existence is about to change. i think he'll be a good big brother and helper. that's what i keep telling myself, anyways. :)

it was a weird feeling sitting around tonight, knowing how different things are going to be. it's not like we didn't know it before, but having a set date and time makes it so real.

we ordered a pizza. clicked through some terrible friday night programming. decided that going to bed was a better idea. straightened up a little. and here we are...

overdue day number 2.

2010-05-07T14:43:00.000-04:00

well, here we are.

still pregnant. much larger. much more tired. out of things to clean. in a constant state of limbo. waiting.

i guess this means that the girl is either really stubborn or really laid back. i'm hoping for laid back, since the role of the really stubborn child is currently being played by the boy.

i head to the doc in a few minutes. i'm hoping they'll tell me i'm ready to roll. but, i'm realistically expecting them to give me a high five and have me back next week.

i did have a delightful (hopefully last pregnant) day hanging with one, jude to the p-sall. we dined on chipotle and took the little ones to the park for some swinging and playing in stagnant water. (and i just came to the realization that blogger has changed the way pictures get uploaded and i don't have time to do it the new and "improved" way... so, no pictures of toddlers and stagnant water for now)...

ANYHOOOOO, that's the story.
:)

Piggies

2010-05-06T09:16:00.001-04:00

Isaacangelo

2010-05-05T09:41:00.001-04:00

happy "due date" to you!

2010-05-05T08:44:00.003-04:00

dear anna the fetus,

today is your due date. it's time to become a baby. let's do this thing. it would be pretty sweet to have a cinco de mayo birthday, you know. it would seem like everyone was celebrating your birthday with fiestas, every year. just sayin.

i don't know if you're just pretty comfortable because you hear that loud kid on the outside, who never stops talking, and you would like to avoid having to deal with that for as long as possible... but, trust me, he's pretty cute and you get used to it. he is even sort of excited to have a sister. (he doesn't actually know what he's in for).

so, to conclude, i'm not a huge fan of being pregnant. i don't mind doing my time, but i'm not crazy about extra time. so, let's get moving today. ok?

i'm packing up the maternity clothes today. buying some ribeyes to eat medium rare. and purchasing some saranac.

see you later...

your mom.
(aka: the one whose uterus you are currently taking up residence in).

blood pressure roller coaster.

2010-05-03T20:28:00.003-04:00

went back to the doctor today to check out that slightly elevated bp from friday. at first it was super high. so, i got to lay on my side for a bit and when they came back to check it had returned to normal...

so, they patted me on the back and sent me on my way. i go back friday. (note: due date is wednesday. just sayin').

i guess i just wait.

made it to may...

2010-05-01T00:13:00.004-04:00

well, it appears that i've made it through april and that this baby will be born in the month of may...

still no signs of a baby on the way, however.

i went to the doctor yesterday and my blood pressure seems to be creeping up a little lately, so i go back on monday, so they can keep an eye on it.

the due date is wednesday, which is 4 days away. which, coincidentally is the day i had isaac. four days early. so, beginning today, i will be the most pregnant i will ever have been. :)

i honestly don't feel that bad. i'm not really swollen. i'm not gigantically huge or anything. i'm just not sleeping great and i'm anxious to get the show on the road.

in the meantime, we've been just keeping busy, trying to do things around the house. little things. we took the tutoring table out of the nursery (the "baby's office" as isaac says). adjusted the crib height from "2 year old who could almost climb out" height, back to "baby that just lays there" height. hung some paper lanterns for a little decor in the corner...

so, that's that. i'll be sure to keep the blogging world posted. even though i'm pretty sure that i'm the only one that reads this blog thanks to stupid facebook. but, i'm not bitter....

Candyland

2010-04-27T16:45:00.002-04:00

on sunday, derek showed up with quite a few gifts for the boy and me, one such gift being the board game "candyland". isaac quickly caught on and has become quite obsessed. he's not very competitive yet, so it's still semi-enjoyable....

10 days...

2010-04-25T16:29:00.000-04:00

ten days until this baby is due. hoping sooner. hoping more for NOT later. :)

i'm pretty tired these last few days. probably some because of the giant stomach i'm carrying around and probably mostly from intermittent sleep. last night, for the first part of the night, i woke up every half an hour. for the second part of the night, the wee hours of the morning, i woke up every hour. sometimes, i like to wake all the way up, so that i can heave my body into a new sleeping position. sometimes, to make sure i'm all the way awake, i get up and go to the bathroom.

other than that, everything is good with this pregnancy. i'm just starting to get cankles, and they're not too bad. depends on the weather, time of day, what i've been doing, etcetera. not like with isaac, where i woke in the morning with tree trunks straight to my feet and by the end of the day, my ankles were practically pouring out over the tops of my shoes.

and my blood pressure has been down and all the other stuff that went wrong with the boy seems to be going right... so, hip hip hooray, i guess i'll get to be pregnant longer...

in other news, isaac seems pretty excited for his baby sister, anna. of course, he has absolutely no idea what he's in for. but, he talks about her a lot. and we've been pumping him up as the responsible and helpful big brother. we'll see what he thinks when all this talk comes to fruition.

we still feel like there's so much to do, but i think we have the basics covered. i have been slowly packing a bag for the hospital. why i don't do it all at once, i don't know. today, i packed an iphone charger. maybe later, i'll put some clothes in there. :). isaac's bag is packed in my imagination. some clothes and cash ought to cover him. he's either heading off to derek's parents, where they're fully equipped to handle a toddler boy for a few days, or to some friends, who will be supplied with enough cash to keep him alive on chicken nuggets and french fries for the short time span. :)

i set up the pack n play as our bassinet in the bedroom. the car seat has high hopes of being installed in the next day or so. and we have diapers and wipes. and clean clothes.

so...
that's how it's going on the baby lidbom 2.0 front.

banana bread

2010-04-19T10:52:00.001-04:00

we bought like 50 bananas at costco a week ago, and then subsequently ate approximately one of them. so, in an effort to not waste the $1.32-ish that we paid for said bananas, we're turning them into various forms of baked goods. isaac helped use up about 3 of them in some banana bread:

mashing:

stirring the dry goods (note: 0.25 seconds after this picture, he shoved the wisk into his mouth, making this "family only" banana bread):

the final stir:

Cora's BounceU Birthday Party

2010-04-19T08:00:00.001-04:00

yesterday we strolled off to isaac's favorite place in the entire universe, bounceU, to celebrate the 3rd birthday of his pal, cora. we didn't bring a camera, so we couldn't get any good shot of the bouncing action. but, our phones did a decent job of capturing the birthday cake part of the day...

cora and her princess cake:

sucking down a juice box after an hour of intense bouncing:

delicious cake:

testing out the princess party hat:

Our First WS Dash Game

2010-04-17T08:34:00.003-04:00

last night, we packed up and drove off to downtown winston-salem, to take in our first dash game at the new stadium. we had lots of fun...

i think we were in the ninth row.

isaac loves sprite. or any pop for that matter.

watching intently.

when the excitement of class a baseball wore off (after about 1 inning), we went to explore other parts of the park, such as the kid zone, which had an assortment of blow up bouncy apparatuses and a merry-go-round. isaac's favorite is the big slide.

isaac did a really great job at being a baseball fan... cheering at the appropriate times, dancing when cued to dance, eating hot dogs, drinking carbonated beverages, walking the long long long haul from our parking spot to the stadium, riding on dad's shoulders from the stadium back to the parking spot...

Pizza (and pop) lunch date with a cute boy.

2010-04-16T15:16:00.001-04:00

Hipstamatic

2010-04-14T16:09:00.001-04:00

Got a sweet new photo app for the iPhone. More pics to follow, I'm
sure...

"i love you so much"

2010-04-11T21:29:00.008-04:00

this story happened quite awhile back...

many times, isaac will stop us in the midst of what we're doing and say, "mom/dad, i have to tell you something... i love you so much". it's very sweet and he's stocking up some good bonus points for the times when he says not so nice things...

one night, i was lying in bed with him and it had been pretty quiet for some time, when he said, "i love you so much". i thought he was talking to me, until i heard a kissing sound with no accompanying kiss.

not really sure i wanted to know the answer, i asked, "who are you talking to?"

"super mario."

meaning this (a 2ish inch tall replica of super mario. yeah.):

anna delores

2010-04-10T09:18:00.003-04:00

that's what we'll be calling baby lidbom 2.0.

anna - because we both liked it and could agree on it. :)

delores - after my mom's mom. the grams...

so, that's that.

one month away...

2010-04-05T15:02:00.004-04:00

8 months of pregnancy in the books.

1 left. give or take a few days, i suppose.

i feel like we have so much to do. which is funny, because we cut out a lot of the to-do's that we had with isaac. since, apparently, the world doesn't end if the nursery isn't ready for a photo shoot when you bring the baby home. and kitchen towels can double as burp cloths. and diapers can go in the trash just as easily as a diaper genie.

but, we do still need to buy some bottles. and a car seat. :)

our to-do list mostly consists of stuff that has nothing to do with the baby, but we know will be put on hold indefinitely if we wait until her arrival... like when i didn't clean the house for 18 or so months after isaac was born. :)

anyhooo...
that's the story. one month left.

egg hunting, round 2.

2010-04-04T21:17:00.002-04:00

firstly, happy easter to all....

we started off the day by heading out to salem chapel for some super sweet easter services. then, we went to derek's parents for easter lunch and a little egg hunting. we forgot our camera, so all of those pics are on a borrowed camera, to be posted at a later date.

we came home and lounged around for a bit, sampling a few different movies from netflix for isaac. when we had recovered from our morning, i hid some more eggs for isaac to hunt in the backyard, without competition. i thought i got some great pictures, but since i'm a little slow these days, i was usually behind the boy and didn't get too many face shots. and who wants to look at the back of the head of a kid picking up easter eggs?

anyhow, without further ado, here are some shots of the little man on his egg hunt...

checking out the goods on the first egg:

running to the next egg:

securing an egg found on the garden tarp:

all eggs loaded in the back of the car, ready for cruising:

cousins and easter eggs

2010-04-03T09:49:00.003-04:00

isaac went to his gramma's yesterday to dye easter eggs with his cousins...

easter eggs

2010-03-29T21:06:00.001-04:00

i thought perhaps the boy was old enough this year to do a little easter egg decorating. i opted for a kit that had stamps and paintbrushes rather than fizzy dyes that take so very very long to take effect. (even i lose patience with that process). well, a couple of eggs in, isaac became more interested in floating his stamps in the rinse water (they were "taking a bath"), so we didn't get very far. but, i managed some pictures, nonetheless. better luck next year...

doesn't he look excited to begin?

nature

2010-03-29T21:01:00.001-04:00

isaac has recently discovered that there's a little stream (at the end of a treacherous path) at the park around the corner. he begs and begs for me to take him "to the river", so he can touch the stagnant water and walk precariously along the steep bank. how can i say no?

frilly shower fun

2010-03-29T20:43:00.003-04:00

on saturday, some cool girls from salem chapel threw a shower for me and the soon-to-arrive baby lidbom 2.0 (who, incidentally, does have a name, to be revealed soon)...

i don't have any pictures to tell the tale, but it was an extremely pink and frilly affair. i even sported a boa and a tiara. ridiculous.

anyhooo... lots of great friends turned out and we scored some super sweet loot... lots of not-too-frilly, super cute clothes and shoes, some starter packs of diapers, a few stuffed toys, some receiving blankets (even though i'm still not really sure what they are for) and lots of generous gift cards to fill in the necessities.

several awesome friends went in and scored us a sit-n-stand stroller, putting an end to my craigslist obsession to find one. i'm super excited for it. mostly excited to stroll around town with the boy and the girl, unloading the baby pounds... hopefully two baby's worth.

kristin boone gave us a free photo shoot for the girl. she takes terrific pictures (as documented here. and here. and again here. so, i'm excited for that. now i've just got to clear some wall space for the girl's pics...

anyhooo... when some of the pictures come rolling in (and i know they will, on account of said boa and tiara), i'll be posting...

First Fun Dip

2010-03-23T15:18:00.000-04:00

the last cupcake hurrah.

2010-03-21T09:08:00.001-04:00

i've been trying to quit the cake/cupcake business (temporarily) for quite awhile now. something about being pregnant and tired and having a to-do-before-baby list 3 miles long has stolen the joy of cakes from my soul.

a month or so ago, i drew a line in the sand and decided to finish any previously agreed to orders, but i would be declining any new requests. the following cupcakes are the last order on that list...

(i mostly only took pictures of the cute little ball cupcakes, since the others i've done a couple of times now. they're not all that exciting.)

boys love h2o and/or bubbles

2010-03-20T15:38:00.003-04:00

spring!

2010-03-20T11:57:00.002-04:00

three year checkup.

2010-03-11T14:59:00.002-05:00

isaac had his big three year checkup this morning. all morning long, he kept telling me that he didn't want to get an "ouchie on his hand". apparently, all he remembers from all the doctor visits in the past is the dreaded finger prick. could be worse. the good news was, this was a finger prick (and shot) free checkup. :)

after checking all of the physical stuff, the doctor started asking isaac some questions, i suppose to make sure he's a smart cookie and developing at the right pace. he asked him his name, and isaac replied, "I-S-A-A-C". showoff. and then his last name and he said, "timothylidbom". isaac was very excited to showoff his sweet jumping skills. and after talking the doctor's ear OFF for the entire appointment, the good doctor stated, "i see that speech and vocabulary are doing just fine..."

so, it went smoothly.
isaac is 40.5" tall, which is pretty tall apparently.
and 33 pounds, which is in the middle apparently.

:)

More sun = more park fun.

2010-03-08T13:51:00.001-05:00

way way way belated birthday photos.

2010-03-07T20:37:00.003-05:00

firstly, we had isaac's "north carolina" birthday party way late. like by a month. then, i never realized that i failed to post pics. so, without further ado, here are some pictures from isaac's "north carolina three year old" party...

warm sunny days...

2010-03-07T19:19:00.003-05:00

it appears that finally the winter weather is on the way out and warmer weather is moving in. we took the toddlers outside at church this morning. we ate lunch outside at five guys. and we topped it all off with a long trip to the park. it's supposed to be in the 60s all week which makes us happy.

here are some pics from the park...

swinging:

proud climber:

action shot of said climbing:

curly slider:

dangling on the slide:

head first slider:

bring on the sugar.

2010-02-24T07:43:00.006-05:00

i'm 30 weeks today. 10 to go.

the big news of the last week of being pregnant is that i had the delightful experience of taking the 3 hour version of the glucose test last friday and it revealed that i do not have gestational diabetes and that the one hour test was just a fluke. so that's good. i can resume my normal (box of sprees a day) candy eating habits...

so, 10 weeks. we're in pretty good shape. the room is painted. we have a lot of big ticket items, either leftover from the boy or on loan from eliot. we even have a full closet of clothes, thanks to eliot.
we're planning on heading to ikea this weekend to finish furnishing the girl's room. then, all that will be left is decor. which, well, there's plenty of time for. you know, since i still haven't finished decorating the boy's room...

the biggest thing that is left for us to do is to pick a name. we're not doing so hot. we have a few that we're tossing around. i was pretty settled on one name, early on, but derek wasn't really on board. now, he's given me the ok to move forward with that name, and i'm the unsure one. so, when we know, you'll know. :)

finally, some really exciting news... i'm already the same weight as i was with isaac when he was born. so that's pretty encouraging. ok, that's sarcastic. i started out with a pretty big head start, so i'm not surprised, but it's still a little traumatizing to be standing on a scale at your highest weight of all time with 10 weeks left of growing a baby inside.

here's my 30 week post with isaac lidbom.

isaac quotes

2010-02-20T06:00:00.001-05:00

in new york:
jake: isaac, do you want some skittles?
isaac: i have to ask mom first.
(pitter patter of feet as he comes to find me).
isaac: mom, can i ask you if i can have some skittles.
me: yes.
(pause).
isaac: can i have some skittles?

at a rest stop:
a man, who was most likely a biker, dressed in a black leather jacket and a black hat held the door for me and isaac. as isaac passed through, he turned and asked, "mom, is that a cowboy?"

when we pulled in from our long trip to ny and derek was waiting for us to help unload:
"mom! there's dad! he's looking at our new, broken car."

after stepping on lucy's tail didn't result in a bark (as it usually does):
"i gotta find a screwdriver to change lucy's battery..."

following a pretty good bump on the head:
isaac ran over to me crying, "i'm gonna live. i'm gonna live, mom".
(often, following less severe injuries, i ask, "are you ok? do you think you'll live?")

birthday party:
while in ny, and on isaac's actual birthday, we had a little party with new york family and convinced isaac that he was no longer two and was now three. last week, after the dust had settled from our trip, we had a little nc gathering and celebrated again. and this was a bit confusing....
"i was three and now i have a birthday and i'm four."

there's so many more... and of course, when i sit down to write them, i can't remember them at all...

"the man game" cupcakes

2010-02-13T16:08:00.001-05:00

isaac's birthday was on january 24th, but since we were in ny a) we didn't get a chance to celebrate with his nc family and b) i didn't get to make a cake for him.

the b) part was the part that was making me a little sad. i make cakes for so many other people. strangers, even. and then, when it's my own kid's birthday, i buy an $8 cake from bj's wholesale. and he didn't even like it. we picked it out because the adults at the party would like it.

before we made the spontaneous (and expensive) (and frustrating) trip to ny, isaac had been trying to decide what sort of cake he wanted. it bounced around from a chick fil a cake (whatever that is). to thomas the train. to a heart cake (which i would have talked him out of had he settled on). and then he finally decided on a "the man game" cake. which is what he calls super mario bros.

so, in an effort to keep myself sane, i went with cupcakes. and did my best at creating some memorable characters from super mario bros. mario himself looks a little crazy, but he was the last one i made and isaac's patience with my ignoring him was growing thin, and my patience with isaac's attempts to gain my attention and destroy my house was growing thin... so he'll just have to look a little crazy, i guess.

28 weeks.

2010-02-11T11:03:00.005-05:00

i was 28 weeks of pregnant yesterday. 12 to go.

i also received notification that my one hour glucose test came back high, so now i get to endure the delightful experience of the three hour test and hope that it was just a fluke... maybe due to excessive consumption of sweetarts the previous evening? i don't remember, but it's very likely, given my candy eating habits...

i was perusing through my blog and realized that it was around 28 weeks that i started my blog with isaac. (blog post here). so, it will be interesting to compare, down the stretch...

so. that's all.

sabres cake

2010-02-10T13:59:00.001-05:00

i was surprised to receive an order for a buffalo sabres cake (you know, since i live in winston-salem, north carolina). even though i had intended to cut back on cakes, i couldn's say no to this request....

dice and hearts

2010-02-08T21:46:00.002-05:00

made these cupcakes to order for a valentine's (tues)day bunco extravaganza.
72 fondant dice, plus a few spares... means i'll be dreaming of fondant dice. (which would actually be a good break from the crazy pregnant dreams that i've been having...)

Pinny's monster.

2010-02-06T21:05:00.001-05:00

made this for stephanie and jeremy's baby on the way...

Lego lineup

2010-02-05T19:42:00.001-05:00

some way late 3rd birthday photos

2010-02-04T11:35:00.001-05:00

and now, for a much happier post... some pictures from isaac's birthday party in new york.

the cake (sadly, since we were in ny, i didn't create a custom creation for my own kid. maybe a small gathering with nc family so he doesn't feel slighted):

isaac's cousin, eliot, is a bit skeptical of all this birthday stuff:

opening presents:

crazy new york trip (long version)

2010-02-04T10:04:00.009-05:00

on thursday january 21st, isaac and i embarked on a trip to batavia, new york, 14020. little did we know the fate that awaited us...

the trip up:
we had planned to leave on friday, but the local forecast didn't look too hot for the morning, so we decided to get on the road thursday night to beat the storm's arrival. we left around 5ish and planned to stop around 10 or so. we found a delightful little comfort inn in weston, wv and settled in for the night. in the middle of the night isaac started squirming and whining and coughing. the coughing worsened and then turned into throwing up. this made for not a very restful night, to say the least. but, we managed to get back to sleep and then back on the road in the morning...

batavia:
we rolled into town around 2 pm. the entire ride, isaac implored me to turn around and go home. he informed me that he didn't want to see "any of those people" that i mentioned we'd see while in new york.

batavia was snowy. and cold.
and it seemed to continue to snow and be cold for the duration of our trip. dragging isaac in and out of the elements (as well as my pregnant fat self) was a daunting task, so we felt snowed in. except for the day that we went to julie redband's....

the accident:
on wednesday, we went to julie redband's to play with her kids (and some others that she keeps). then, we went out to pick up some subs (some delicious subs) and head out to visit my aunt eleanor. after carefully letting every single car in sight pass by, i pulled out of the parking lot of the deli. as i approached a red light, i slowed down. i glanced away for a moment, and when i looked back, i was pretty much ramming into an old man in a ford focus. i don't really know how it happened, but the best i can figure is he was slowing down way way way before the light, the way sometimes "older" folks tend to do. (i do still take full responsibility for the accident, i'm just trying to make sense of it all...)

insert funny isaac story here:
after the initial smashing of vehicles, isaac began to cry. i asked if he was alright, to which he replied, "i spilled my drink". while we sat and waited for the police, isaac kept apologizing, saying, "mom. i'm sorry i made a big mess back here". i reassured him that it was ok. it wasn't his fault. it was mine. then he apologized, "i'm sorry that YOU made this mess back here". funny boy.

anyhow... the damage didn't look too bad, but i was worried that i did something to the part of the car that magically makes it turn on and go. so, i had my stepdad take a look and a spin. he gave me the ok to wait until arriving back in nc before repairing it.

snow storms and delays:
between the terrible weather in north carolina that caused schools to close for nearly a week and the continuous snowing in new york, we pushed our departure day back from saturday to monday.

(here's where it gets fun)...

the trip home.
on monday morning, we packed up the sweet ride and headed on our way. we were making seriously good time and were about 4:15 into the trip when i started to hear a weird clicking sound and most of my warning lights lit up my dashboard like a christmas tree. we pulled over at the first available exit. ruff creek in pennsylvania. aka: the middle of nowhere.

i opened the hood (as if i knew about anything i was going to be looking at, only to find it completely spattered with gooey pink liquid. i'm smart enough to know that that is bad. so, i called derek....

an hour later, we wound up getting towed (which isaac greatly enjoyed) to waynesburg, PA, about 6 miles away.

upon our arrival, we learned that i would need a new radiator. (note: in PA, they pronounce radiator with a soft a sound. like radical.) the repair would take until the following afternoon. so, we secured a rental car, a kia rio, and a hotel and began our unexpected layover in the not-so-happenin' town of waynesburg, PA.

our night in the hotel was much more enjoyable this time, with both of us sleeping solidly through the night. the problem was, we had to check out at 11 and the car wouldn't be ready until "the afternoon". we found a walmart and bought snacks and a couple of toys to kill some time. then a burger king with a playground that helped us get to about 1 pm. from there, we found a library, with a great childrens section with lots and lots of toys. this would be a lifesaver.
AND, since waynesburg, PA is not on AT&T's 3G network, my phone was draining power before my eyes. the librarian let me plug my phone in and get charged up for the days 50 zillion phone calls (and endless checking of facebook out of complete boredom).

at 3:30, i got the call that my car would be ready at 4:00. we made a quick exit and got the rental gassed up, turned in and made our way to good ol' chuck's collision, where our chariot awaited us. by 4:18, we were back on the road. we arrived home a little after 10 pm. derek and lucy were happy to have us and i have never been so happy to see my house. my couch. my bed.

reflection:
i'm very thankful for a lot of things. that isaac and i were ok during the accident. and the girl baby residing inside of me. that we were only a few miles from a town with a tow truck. that the town with the tow truck also had a nationwide blue ribbon shop, since our repairs are covered by insurance because they were caused by the accident. that nationwide let us split the repairs between what was needed to get back on the road and the cosmetic stuff to be completed here. the iphone (to take and mail pics to derek, to figure out where we were, to find the hotel, walmart, library, etcetera, and of course to facebook when completely bored out of my mind). the library! the great folks at chuck's that were extremely helpful and helped entertain isaac during some of the frantic moments.

the biggest tragedy of all:
in all of the madness of the day, we misplaced the beloved blue linus blanket. the last place i remember it was the hotel and there was really no other place it could be, but they don't have it (confirmed by 3 phone calls in 3 days), so it looks like it's gone for good. isaac is handling it like a champ. he has slept two nights and one nap without it, without incident. i think i'm the saddest of all. i miss the cute boy bundled up with his blanket over his face. oh well. i can't complain. the transition has been so easy.

so, thanks for bearing with my story. have a nice day!

Crazy bath hair.

2010-02-04T09:34:00.001-05:00

Happy 3rd Birthday to The Boy....

2010-01-24T10:18:00.006-05:00

0 years:

1 year:

2 years:

3(ish):

frozen lake fun

2010-01-24T10:16:00.002-05:00

isaac and i made the long trip up to batavia on thursday night and friday morning. the lake at my parent's is frozen over, so off we went for some good snowy fun....

63 degrees in january

2010-01-21T13:34:00.001-05:00

so we went to the park.

hello kitty

2010-01-21T13:29:00.004-05:00

(for grace rapert's 6th birthday).

the grampa turdy song...

2010-01-21T13:29:00.003-05:00

note: grampa turdy = grampa terry.

Heart.

2010-01-19T13:20:00.000-05:00

red monogram red velvet.

2010-01-15T15:53:00.001-05:00

some cupcakes for your friday viewing (and someone else's eating) pleasure...

Robot art

2010-01-11T10:27:00.002-05:00

I drew a giant robot for Isaac to color:

And then he drew his own version of a robot... so proud.

baby abigail's cupcakes

2010-01-08T18:11:00.006-05:00

whipped these up today for one (future) miss abigail mielke...

Fondant helper

2010-01-08T13:43:00.001-05:00

practice baby holding...

2010-01-08T10:47:00.001-05:00

isaac had his first stab at holding another baby yesterday, when jessica brought 3 month old graelyn over for a visit. he wasn't really interested at first, but i kept seeing him sneaking peeks at graelyn and then this conversation took place:

isaac: is that a baby?
jessica: yes. she's a baby.
isaac: she's pretty nice.
jessica: she has been a pretty nice baby, tonight.
isaac: she's pretty cool.
jessica: do you want to try holding her?
isaac: um. ok.

not wanting to miss the opportunity, we grabbed the camera, got isaac situated and placed the unsuspecting baby on his lap. as you can see from the picture, he didn't really want to touch her and after about 10 seconds he said, "can you get the baby off of me?"...

the pink room.

2010-01-03T17:58:00.001-05:00

derek was off for the last week, so we took the opportunity to paint the baby's room (formerly known as my office). despite an original reluctance to have any pink be a part of this girl's life, i opted for a very dark, almost red shade of pink. isaac thinks that "the baby is going to love it". he also said he liked it better than his (blue) room.

view from the door (of the tutoring table that will remain until mayish...):

crib (stuffed with boy clothes):

door:

every boy needs a play kitchen...

2010-01-03T17:53:00.005-05:00

and here's a video of its unveiling on christmas morning...

sugar coating.

2010-01-03T17:37:00.001-05:00

more christmas...

2010-01-03T17:33:00.001-05:00

reading charlie brown christmas (which is decidedly less scary than the video that has a creepy scooby doo preview that makes isaac break down into a bumbling mess).

looking in stockings:

opening play doh:

sadly, we didn't take many more pictures on christmas. i'm sure someday i'll look back and regret not taking more picture on what is likely to be isaac's last before realizing christmas = presents.

and a memorable quote:

me: do you want to go open the presents under the tree?
isaac: we already opened them last night.
me: there's more now.
isaac: why?

the cousins.

2010-01-03T17:26:00.001-05:00

on christmas eve...

cookie helper... belated pics.

2010-01-03T17:25:00.001-05:00

this took place sometime before christmas. i'm a little bit delayed in posting... my apologies. also, some apologies for the onslaught of posts that is about to commence.