Reflection Time!

Hello from Reno!

Well, like I said, it's "Reflection Time"! This time last year I was still pregnant with my second baby! Now that baby is nearly a year old! I can't believe how fast time has flown! Boo is getting older, bigger, and SMARTER! He knows the alphabet VERY well, and spells EVERYTHING! He also counts very well! He reads a small handful of words as well! I just can't get over how smart he is! He's also quite a challenge from time to time, mostly with listening, he pushes boundaries that have been in place since he was a tiny baby! I continue to hope that he gets easier! The big hope is that as his language skills continue to grow and evolve, so will his abilities to reason.

We have lived in Reno for a little more than a year and we love it more and more every day! We are in the midst of fall, in fact, thanks to some fairly strong wind a couple of days ago, the trees that are closest to us have lost most of their leaves! Soon we'll have snow! We have discovered that we are small town kind of people...at least now we are! We lived in Salem, OR for a year and at the time it was too small a town. Then we lived in Las Vegas for seven very. long. years. And that was too big, we're like the Goldie Locks of residence! Reno is just right!

Some things have changed in recent months, I am experiencing my teen years all over again! I got braces back in August to correct my mid-line so that I don't have a tooth in the middle of my mouth! With any luck, I will be out of the braces by next Christmas! So, because I'm in braces and can't eat some of my favorite foods (mostly candy, specifically, sticky, gooey candy) I took it upon myself to join a gym and start getting in shape for some road races that I want to run next year! So, now I'm training for the Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Half-Marathon. Reno also has a Marathon and Half-Marathon, so I might run that one, and there is also another race in the Reno Tahoe area called "The Odyssey" that is 178 miles that is run as a team relay, hopefully, I can find a team that will have me, and I can run that one as well!

As far as training and running goes, it's going well, I am running at just over a 10 minute mile, in fact just yesterday (11/7/11) I ran three miles in 30:36! I have never run that fast in my life! Seattle ought to be awesome! I'm also looking forward to running with my dad at Christmas and actually keeping up with him!

I think that's all for now! I hope everything is going well for everyone! TTFN, Ta Ta For Now!

--MS:)--

Yummy yummy yummy I've got love in my tummy!

Here are the "recipes" that I have been posting about on Facebook! They were pretty much improvised, I'm more of an exact measurement kind of person...I don't much care for recipes that go by the "I don't know, until it looks right" type cooking.

Bean Dip

1- 8oz brick of cream cheese, softened
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can whole sweet kernel corn, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 small can diced jalapeno peppers
1 1/2 tsp. dark chili powder
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1 1/2 tsp. salt or to taste
cayenne pepper to taste- but I think I used about a teaspoon and a half...

Combine ingredients in a mixing bowl, stir them all together, serve with tortilla chips...I served the dip warm, it was a little strange cold...


Fajita Marinade

4 Anaheim peppers, seeded, and cut into smaller pieces
1/2 an onion
3 Tablespoons of Minced Garlic
1 3/4 tsp. salt
some lime juice

Use either chicken or beef cut up into strips...Place the ingredients for the marinade in a blender or food processor and blend well (I used a blender and set it to puree) Place the cut up meat in a gallon size resealable bag and pour the marinade over the meat. Refrigerate for 24 hours, I did it for two days...

Then cook the meat anyway you want...I put mine in the oven at 375 degrees for about 35 minutes. Top with any desired toppings (guacamole, sour cream, shredded lettuce, whatever you like.) And ENJOY!

Happy New Year!

Hello from Reno!

I hope everyone had a lovely Holiday season! Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, or Festivus...And I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year! I can tell you that I had a pretty good Christmas and New Year's. Mostly because our beautiful baby girl made her debut! So far Boo is a wonderful big brother, he pretty much ignores her until she starts fussing and then he wonders what is making that noise and then once in a while he tries to comfort her...in his slightly overly aggressive two and a half year old way...it's cute but also a little frightening at the same time!

So as I mentioned before, our beautiful baby girl finally made her much anticipated debut! We ended up doing a repeat c-section, since I wasn't able to convince my body to go into labor on its own! This time the c-section and the recovery went much better than the first time around, I think it also has to do with the fact that I knew what to expect this time. The only thing was that I could still feel and move my arms once the spinal took effect, and that freaked me out since I couldn't feel or move them when I had Boo...My doctor did a very good job, it was quick and easy and he even held up our little girl so that (in theory) I could see her over the drape. However, all I ended up being able to see was her hand. One other difference that I seemed to notice was that Jason wasn't allowed to come in until they had made the initial incision, for some reason I remember him being there the entire time, like just after the drape was put up with Boo. After a little tugging and pulling and a minor freak out on my part, our beautiful Scarlett Yvaine Secrest was born into the world at 8:05am on Wednesday December 8th! We decided on the name Scarlett because I really liked Gone with the Wind, and that Scarlett was very dramatic and our Scarlett came into the world in a very dramatic fashion, screaming her head off! She was a very healthy 7 pounds and 4 ounces and 19 inches long. One other thing that was different about this delivery was that from the operating room I was taken to recovery and Scarlett was taken to the nursery not to our room, and it was a couple of hours before she was brought to me, but on the plus side, the nurses and doctors in the nursery did NOT give her formula, with Boo, the nursery staff gave him formula because "his blood sugar was low" and looking back on it, I think they were just trying to get him to calm down...

Also, this time instead of the postpartum nurse coming in and saying "it's time for your percoset", they came in and asked what my pain level was on a scale of one to ten, then asked if I wanted one or two percoset, so as a result, I was much more lucid and I remember much more of my daughter's first three days of life. Another thing was that I got scolded a little for letting her nurse for 40 minutes on one side, in my defense, I had just had some percoset, and I kept falling asleep!

My mom was able to come out the day that Scarlett was born, and help with taking care of Boo and she got to meet her very first granddaughter when she was just brand new! Then, just 8 days later, in an effort to have people around to help me, I flew back to Michigan with my mom to finish up my recovery and enjoy the holidays with my family and my husband's family!

We also had Miss Scarlett blessed/dedicated while we were in Michigan! I would post pictures of that day, but we weren't able to assemble everyone in one shot to do the pictures, so in a few weeks, Jason, Boo, Scarlett and I are going to have pictures done and I will post those.

So far, this being a mom of two thing is going well! Boo really does have ways of getting attention, he climbs up in my lap when he wants attention from his mommy! Miss Scarlett is much more vocal than Boo was at the same age, she definitely lets her mommy know when she's ticked off! Getting places does take a little longer, and a little more planning, but it can be done!!

Again I hope everyone had a wonderful end to 2010 and a terrific beginning to 2011! Enjoy every minute! I think that's all for now!

TTFN! Ta Ta For Now!

--MS:)--

Countdown to baby, Christmas, and the New Year!

Hello again from Reno!

The Countdown is on! As I mentioned previously, we have decided on a scheduled repeat c-section but if I happen to go into labor before December 8th on my own, then we will go ahead with a VBAC delivery...Although, it doesn't really look like the deck is stacked in my favor, at my most recent office visit, my doctor checked me and at 38 weeks and a couple of days, I wasn't even a full centimeter dilated and I'm not even a little bit effaced...Little miss has dropped quite a bit, in fact she has dropped so much that I have a tendency to feel like I'm walking with a bowling ball between my knees...that being said, she simply has not dropped enough to cause the kind of pressure it would take to make me dilate...DANG!

I'm not giving up hope all together on the VBAC front...according to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, even women who have had as many as two Cesarean sections should be afforded the chance to at least ATTEMPT a VBAC...

With the birth of our little girl just a couple of days away, I can't help but feel that I am not even a little bit prepared for her arrival! I was talking to my dad and he had some good insight, maybe the reason I felt so prepared when Boo was born was that I didn't have a 2 and a half year old to occupy so much of my attention...and I hadn't just moved, and so on and so forth...Also, I don't have an entire room set up for her, since I know I can't get around very quickly after a c-section, she will be sleeping in our room for a while, in a bassinet, and then once she is sleeping through the night, she will be moved into the same room as her brother...It's kind of crazy to think that Boo is going to be a big brother!!

After eight years of being married and not decorating AT ALL for Christmas, my very favorite holiday of the entire year, I finally decided that we needed something to bring out the Christmas spirit, especially with what is essentially a Christmas baby on her way! So I bought a very small (3 feet tall) artificial tree, even though I pretty much have my pick of places to go to get a real tree, neither Jason nor I really want to take care of a real tree, not this year anyway...I also used some of my birthday money to buy a fresh-cut evergreen wreath and I put that on our front door, it smells so good! I must have looked like a crazy person at Costco practically climbing into the bin and smelling for the best smelling wreath! We even have some bells on the doorknob on our front door, I remember having a decoration with bells on it on our front door when I was growing up, and I needed something with bells! I haven't done any baking just yet this year, maybe as we get closer to Christmas!

I'm excited to see what the new year has in store for us as our family grows and we learn to be a family of four instead of just three! My hope is that I can be a good mother to both of my children, I worry that all of my attention will go to the new baby and Boo will just get left out in the cold! I'm pretty sure that is an irrational fear since Boo has his ways of getting attention from me!

I think that is all for now, I will be sure to post in a few days after Little Miss makes her official arrival! I hope everyone is well!

TTFN! Ta Ta For Now!

--MS:)--

A few people have requested pictures be posted!

Even though most if not all of my blog followers are also my friends on facebook, I have a few friends who are not on facebook and want to see some more recent pictures...

Baby Update!

Hello from Reno!

So, I know I just posted a few days ago, but I thought I would give you another update! I'm now about 36 weeks pregnant, 3 and a half weeks to go! I can make it! I swear I can! The reason I say I have 3 and a half weeks to go is because of what we've opted to do delivery wise...

I would like to attempt a VBAC, and I've been able to convince my doctor that I can do it! However, it turns out that it is one of those "if all the stars align" type deals...Also, I might just change doctors after the birth of this child, mostly because I don't really like the size of the practice that my doctor is with, there are about 11 doctors in the group! So, anyway, according to this practice and their policy, the following things need to happen for me to do a VBAC: My doctor needs to be the one on-call, I have to go into labor on my own (they won't induce for a VBAC), and I have to go into labor by 40 weeks...meaning, I have to have this little girl on or before my due date which is December 14th, otherwise they will do a c-section anyway...

In doing a little bit of thinking, I realized that genetically speaking, the odds are not in my favor. My mother did not have a single one of her babies on or before their due date, her record was 15 days past her due date, that was me! I just didn't feel like being born in October! And my mother's other children who have given birth have gone past their due dates as well. So, what we've decided to do, it to just schedule the section for December 8th and if I happen to go into labor on my own before that, cool! If not, oh well...

Also, I'm working on getting things ready for little miss to make her debut! That silly nesting instinct has hit me pretty hard, I cleaned the apartment for several hours today, and I still feel like it's not clean enough!

Anyway, I think that's all, I hope all is well with everyone!

TTFN!! Ta Ta For Now!

--MS:)--

Post Election and Other Observations

Hello again from Reno!

Starting with news: I'm only about 4 weeks out from having this little girl! I think she's getting to the over it phase...she's just done being stuck in my belly! More good news! Jason is now working directly for the company that he was contracting for when we initially moved up here! So it looks like this whole Reno thing is going to be pretty long term...Sorry to our Vegas friends, but it looks like we're not coming back anytime soon! Also, we've just accepted an offer on our house, now we just have to wait for the bank to approve it and we'll be good to go! YIPPEE!!

Less than awesome news: I ended up having to go and repeat my one hour glucose screen because my results from my previous doctor's office were never sent...UGH!! So like an idiot I scheduled the repeat test for November 1st...for those of you keeping score, that is the day after Halloween! And what did I do on Halloween? The same thing I've done since I discovered the magic of Halloween, I stayed up late binging on candy! So I wasn't fasting and I hadn't really had much water to drink, so my test came back elevated...I didn't fail outright, but it was higher than normal, so now I have to do the three hour test! Whatever!

Now, on to the actual title of this blog post. First, post-election stuff. Unless you live under a rock, a very large rock, you all know we recently had mid-term elections. As predicted, the Republican party regained control of the House of Representatives and the Democratic party retained control of the Senate. I refuse to refer to the two major parties in this country as "the Republicans" and "the Democrats"...this is not the Hatfield's and the McCoy's, as much as many people would like to think differently. The whole "it's us against them" mentality. There is a lot of noise about not compromising...very much "It's our way or the highway!" Now, maybe I'm the only one who actually attended and listened in Government and Civics, but I'm fairly certain that compromise was one reason that we fought for our independence, we didn't want to have to bend to the will of one person or one group of people. Compromise is a major component of a working Democracy.

I don't usually get very political on the Internet, but I have to say that I have been interested in politics for pretty close to as long as I can remember. I turned ten years old on Election day in 1992, and when people asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I would tell them to go vote! My opinion is, if you're not going to exercise your right to vote, then you have no room to complain about the state of affairs in this country!

Okay, that's my political rant, now on to other observations. I have taken notice of my driving practices...I semi-jokingly tell people that I have a real problem with road rage...like I said, SEMI-joking...I get really annoyed when people do stupid stuff, like speed up to get in front of me, cut me off and then slow down to under the speed limit! That's another thing, I don't really like sticking to speed limits. People! They're not serious when the sign says 65, they mean more like 72...Also, apparently, having a lead foot is genetic, and genetics can't really be cured. Another thing, I learned to drive in Detroit where silly things like using one's turn signal and observing the speed limit are really just gentle suggestions...I can say with great certainty, that if you get on the freeway in and around Detroit and do the speed limit, you will encounter numerous people with a broken horn but fully functional fingers, if you catch my drift. I'm pretty sure that if I had learned to drive somewhere else, really anywhere else, I would not have these attitudes about driving! My motto is "Drive it like you stole it!"

Next observation, I like to do what I call "Sociological experiments" when I'm out and about. One that I used to do was to see how often I carded for any particular purpose when I was by myself versus when I'm out with Jason. In case you don't know, Jason is 11 years older than I am and you can clearly see that he is older than 21. I found that I would get carded every single time when I was alone, but only about a quarter of the time when I was with Jason.

Funny story about looking, or more accurately, not looking my age. It was still census time, and census workers were going door to door. One day, one of these census workers came to my door. I opened the front door and this very sweet woman said, "Hi! I'm so and so with the United States census. Is your mom home?" And I answered, "Well, ma'am, I am the mom...so, yes, I'm home..." She then followed up with, "Oh my goodness! I'm sorry! I thought you were a teenager!" In her defense, I didn't have ANY make-up on, I was wearing my glasses and I did not style my hair that day, and when wear or don't do those things, I do look MUCH younger than I am!

Anyway, on with another observation that follows the line of sociological experiments. I do not wear my engagement ring and wedding band when I take a shower, I don't want to get them tangled in my hair and I don't want all the soap crud to get in under the diamond in my engagement ring. Because I take them off when I take a shower, I don't always remember to put them back on when I get out of the shower. Sometimes, I end up going out without them on. And now with a two year old son and clearly pregnant belly, I get one of two reactions from people when they see my son and that I am clearly expecting another, and they come from complete opposite ends of the spectrum. I either get a reaction of "Oh! How wonderful! When are you due??" Or, I get people who refuse to make eye contact with me but are clearly disgusted with the fact that I am pregnant again and I'm not married...the conclusion of these experiments, people are very strange...

Anyway, we're getting ready for this baby girl to make her debut, and Boo is getting bigger and talks ALL THE TIME!! I feel for my mother now, I'm wildly surprised that she maintained any degree of sanity through our childhoods, especially when we were going through our "repeating phase"...by that I mean, repeating ourselves until she or really anybody answered us back!

Okay then, I think that's everything for now! I hope everyone is doing well!

TTFN! Ta Ta For Now!

--MS:)--