The details

Monday morning my water broke at 1:15am out of a sound sleep. From that moment I knew that Eve was low and my only concern was getting to the hospital as soon as possible. There was not going to be any casual walking around the house looking for the missing items on my hospital list. I wanted to be teleported to the hospital. I wanted to be beamed to the hospital. Since we lack the technology to do so I told Seth, "You need to call Brett NOW." Brett was the first person on our list of people to come get Josh. And, he was in our driveway within 15 minutes. During those 15 minutes I knew deep down that I would most likely make it to the hospital; however, I kept perfectly still on the bathroom floor just in case. Seth helped me into the car and we left when Brett pulled into the driveway. Seth asked me what I wanted on the ipod and I said Enya. So, I listened to "time" by Enya and counted contractions that were 7 minutes apart. I only had 3 in the car so I guess we got there in 21 minutes. Yay Seth!

Anyone who knows about my first birth experience knows that it was long and at times traumatic. All I wanted this time around was to have a much less dramatic, much less painful experience. Even though emergencies can always come up I wanted to feel safe. So, I had completely given myself permission to have an epidural and was actually looking forward to not having to be a hero.

We pulled into the ER and Seth ran out to get a wheelchair for me which I could NOT sit on. I felt like if I sat down I would have the baby. So, I kneeled on the wheelchair leaning over the back of the chair. All I remember was seeing everyone's shoes. The black loafers of the ER tech who was waiting by the door. The white and yellow Nike's of the labor and delivery nurse. Seth's New Balance sneakers. I told those who visited me in the hospital that I actually had the thought right then and there that if I needed to identify the people who helped us I could do a shoe line-up with 100% accuracy, just not their faces.

Upon entering the labor and delivery floor my first question for the nurse was I imagine a common one among women in labor:

THE QUESTION: "Is the anesthesiologist available? Can I have an epidural?"


THE WRONG ANSWER: "Oh, honey, you may be way past an epidural."

Well, I got the wrong answer and I was not pleased. I wonder if they get HR training to give answers like that? I didn't think it was nice and I would have preferred something along the lines of, "sure, we will do the best we can." Soon after I got checked and it turned out I wasn't past and epidural and 45 minutes later I got one. 3 hours after that I was holding a baby in my arms. How easy is that??? So easy, in fact, and so different from my first experience that I am tempted to say, "Let's do that all again next week!"

The Best Laid Plans...

At 1:15am Monday morning my water broke at home and we checked into Doylestown Hospital at 2:00am. Eve was born at 6:15am, 45 minutes before we were to check in for the induction. ...(details to follow)


Our friend and home teacher, Brett had a cake for Eve when we got home from the hospital today. The Smith's also watched Joshua for two days. I can't say how nice it was to know that Joshua was well taken care of and I didn't have to worry about him.



Eve Shirley Clawson

Born: December 14th 2009
6:13am at Doylestown Hospital

7lbs 15 oz 20 inches

'Twas the eve of Eve

Tomorrow I am being induced at Doylestown Hospital bright and early in the morning. On the night before Eve will join our family we decorated our Christmas tree. This is our first year with a tree and I must admit it makes the house feel even more like a home this time of year. I will be sure to post some pictures of Eve from the hospital; we are so thrilled to meet her!

I will now attempt to get sleep before tomorrow.

Hunting (Sitting and Waiting)

CAVEAT: Lindsay B. and others who are sensitive to animals PLEASE DON'T HATE US.

Seth, Brett Smith, Ben Smith
In our attempts to live within a food budget this year we decided to live off the land a bit. We are planning on killing a deer, taking it to the butcher for processing and then coming home with 3 cubic feet of meat for our freezer. Again, Lindsay, I am sorry.

Seth got his hunting license, which we obtained at the proverbial Walmart (after he took the required safety course).


Our friend Brett Smith has been coming over and hunting (sitting and waiting) since deer season started, the Monday after Thanksgiving.

So far, when they are hunting (sitting and waiting) the deer seem to be elsewhere. But, as soon as they stop hunting, the deer then come out in droves, walking across our driveway and all through the yard. Hopefully they will have more luck this week.

Josh turns 2!

We celebrated Josh's b-day a week early in case Eve decided to come before the 11th. It was a small gathering; a good time was had by all and Elmo cake was consumed.

p.s. Josh is going to be a freshman at Harvard in the Fall. He did early acceptance.

Eve has been a great tenant...

Even though it could still be another month before Eve gets her security deposit back, I am preparing for her arrival to be at any time now. My hospital bag is packed. Joshua's overnight bag is ready. There is even a pumpkin roll in the freezer at the ready for the Doylestown Hospital nurses. After all, there is no such thing as being too nice to the nurses who hold the power to make or break a hospital experience. I am keeping my fingers crossed for my own room...maybe I should include some cash in the pumpkin roll. Hmmmm.

In the spirit of this last month of pregnancy I am posting a link to Tiz Studios, where there is a small slide show of pregnancy pictures of me.


Seth and his siblings are all very talented in many ways. One of Liz' talents is photography. You'll have to just go to the link to see what I mean. She is able to capture so much in her photography and I am grateful she was able to take pictures of me when I was pregnant with Joshua. Thank you Liz!


At this point, I oscillate between being a little sad at the thought of Eve leaving the protective cavern of the womb and entering the big scary world, and being excited to finally meet her and learn of her personality.

Room Escaping: The New Crib Escaping

When we moved into our wonderful abode Joshua's room did not have a door. Instead, it has a 24 inch wide opening, with one side backing up to the chimney. In case you are wondering, all manufacturers of baby gates, and dog gates do not make a product narrower than 26 inches.

Since we could not contain Joshua in his room, he decided IF and WHERE he would be taking a nap as well as sleeping at night (usually in our bed).

Needless to say, I was not happy with this arrangement.

Who, meeee...take a nap? Why, I am the king of the cottage.

Does anyone know a good woodworker??

So Seth built a cute dutch door for Joshua's room (with Josh's help).






And, the results the first time I closed him in his room for a nap...


Please know that I put him in his bed with NO SHOES ON. He got out of bed, tromped around a little, put on one of each boot and then passed out on his big boy bed. Success!

Finders Keepers

Look what I picked up in the produce department today!

Pumpkin Rolls

On Saturday, my mom came over with her recipe book to bake pumpkin rolls. Growing up we used to do this and then give them as gifts to teachers and friends. They keep really well frozen in the freezer until you are ready to give one away.

My aunts and grandma in Western PA used to get together in the fall and bake them in true assembly line fashion. But today we just made 5 (which is really like 10 because they get cut in half).
The cream cheese filling station.
The Pumpkin Station.

As a child, was there any sweeter question uttered from an adults mouth than, "Would you like to lick the beaters?" Rhiannon said, "yes".
In order to show one of our finished products I also have to show myself in this third trimester state. Yikes. The horizontal stripes don't help any.

Josh takes Swimming Lessons!

Josh has absolutely no problem leaving me to get in the pool because his instructor is his Aunt Kim whom he adores.
He also loves the water and so here Kim is teaching him how to get himself to the side of the pool.
My mother-in-law, Terri gave some of her medical services to Chris Hopkins (Kim's husband) in exchange for swimming lessons for Josh. Don't you just love exchanging services without money!!

A Spontaneous Trip to the Beach

On Sunday my friend Eliza asked if I wanted to come to Belmar beach with her and her kids on Monday. I love the beach on the off season and the weather was nice.

There is something so restorative about the beach any time of year. It is no wonder that while at the beach the headache I had been having for 3 days went away.

Joshua and Abby on the ride down. They are in nursery together at church. Abby is the only toddler I know who says Joshua's full name so clearly! She is really good with name recognition.

I love this picture. Joshua, Morgan and Tyler

They all ate Philly soft pretzels leftover from the Eagles game.
The wind on the beach got so bad that the sand was especially painful to anyone less than 3 feet tall. So, the kids spent a lot of time on this playground on the beach, next to the boardwalk.

Visit from a Friend

My friend Shannon came over and planted a winter herb garden. It is such a wonderful thing to have these kitchen herbs greet me at the door.
Shannon is amazing. She is always doing something for someone. Always.
Look at this Golden Sage, the variegated greens are so pretty, and the copper label looks great against it.
The finished product: a cute little Zen herb garden, mulched and everything! Thank you Shannon.

A Walk to Discover the Pond

There is a trailhead across the street that leads to the Ockanickon pond. It is just a 5 minute hike from our house.

It has swimming docks and is stocked with fish.

The Pipersville Library

All Joshua wants to do lately is have me read to him and it seems like I read the same 30 books all day long so I decided to have a library trip once a week in order to add some variety.
The Pipersville branch of the Bucks County Library System is a one-room library; how CHARMING! When I asked the librarian if she had The Scarlet Letter (this month's book club pick) she said, "I don't know, let me look it up in the card catalog." They don't have a computer.
There is a sweet kids section.
With great wooden toys.
Josh was either reading or staring down this other boy in the rocker. I think he reminded Josh of Connor Hopkins.


He sits down at the little kids table and looks at book after book.


They even sell penny candy. 25 cents for a ziplock baggie of gummie bears lovingly put together by a librarian.

Some Scenes from the Homestead

There is a butterfly bush right outside the living room window.




Turkeys in a row.

Moving Day

We had a great turnout of generous people who helped us move! Thank you to everyone! And thanks to everyone who wanted to help but couldn't because we picked an inconvenient time to move (Friday during rush hour).

This is our trailer that has been full of our worldly possessions for over a year. It took everyone half and hour to get the whole thing unloaded. Wow.



We had a spread of pizza and hoagies set up in the garage.



Ed finds one of Seth's swords.



The dilemma: fitting a queen size mattress and box spring up the stairs...




Luckily, there is a "trapped door" (as the Nelson young men were calling it) in the floor to get large objects upstairs. The previous owner made five of the wooden planks removable. Of course he did.



Here they are lifting the mattress through the floor



Many Hands Make Light Work.



However, the box spring would not fit. But my dad was nice enough to have two twin box springs delivered to our door! Does anyone need a queen box spring??

We are moving...

This is the antique cape in Pipersville where we are moving on August 14th. I'll send more pics of the inside when we move in. The house is tiny, just two bedrooms and one bath but it is on 7 ACRES of private wooded property.

We have signed a lease-purchase option which means for the next year we will be leasing the property. At the end of the year, we have the option to buy it at the price we lock in now.

This is the detached garage for Clawson Custom Woodworks! It has a heated office as well.

Free Glitter Graphics, It's A Girl Glitter Graphics
We had our ultrasound appointment this morning; Seth, my mom, Terri (seth's mom) and Liz (Seth's sister) were all able to be there. We were so lucky because Seth's parents and sister happen to be visiting from the South Pacific and Utah.

That is her hand under her chin. How feminine.

Crib Escaping Reaches Peak: Mother considering big boy bed.

Here he is UNDER his crib. I have been leaving the side of the crib down since he is going to crawl out anyway.
Again, with the hard objects as pillows. This time a wooden puzzle for a pillow. That's going to leave a mark.

Crib Escaping On The Rise

This is where I found Joshua today after putting him down for a nap...in his crib. I mean, why sleep on a mattress with soft bedding when you can sprawl out on an antique wicker box that isn't long enough for your entire body? Right?

Even though he looks comfortable I still move him back into the crib each time I find him somewhere else.

I now think of his room as one giant crib.

Surprise

This was where I left Joshua this afternoon for his nap. And, yes, the crib was empty when I went to peek in on his cute sleeping face.
This is where I found Joshua. Asleep in his play tent using his keyboard as a pillow!

I always thought that when babies learn to crawl out of their cribs the parent hears the famed big bang of the child hitting the floor. Well, I was next door to his room the whole time and I tell you I heard nothing! The boy soundlessly scales down the side of his crib, apparently with an invisible belayer I am unaware of.

A Surfin' kind of baby

Joshua and I went to my mom's beach house on the Outer Banks, North Carolina. Seth had to stay home to work on some woodworking jobs. We missed him but were glad for the work.
Let me check out the surf this morning.

Joshua eating his first donut with cousins Noah and Liam.
I'm not sure if he likes it.

Trip to Utah for Memorial Day

We took a tour of Temple Square.

The Great Salt Lake

Most people who live in Salt Lake City think the Great Salt Lake is just smelly and inhospitable (nothing but Brine shrimp live in it). But I think the lake is amazing and want to float in it like that guy.
Kink, Josh's great-grandfather, takes a picture of Josh wading by the Salt Lake.

Antelope Island, Utah

We drove over a land bridge to Antelope Island, which is famous for...
...its Bison!
...and Antelopes.
We stopped at the Maddox Family Drive-In for some Bison Burgers. Did you know Bison meat is leaner than beef or chicken?
Waiting in the car for our food.
A Bison Burger!

Brunch at Grand America Hotel, Salt Lake City

Seth and Joshua waiting at our table for the glutenous over-consumption of food to begin. Brunch at Grand America usually means we don't eat breakfast or dinner that day because it is so filling. I took a few shots of some of the food stations. I did not take pictures of our plates spilling over with crepes and crab legs because that would just be embarrassing.
The Omelet Station
The Smoothie and Yogurt Station
The Sushi Station!
The dessert station complete with chocolate fountain.

Willard Bay, Utah (Seth's childhood playground)

The Zoo

Megan, Seth and Joshua at the Zoo.
Kingsley, Seth and Joshua at the Zoo.
For some reason, the animals at the zoo never look as happy and thriving as the animals on the Discovery Channel.

European Vacation

Our friends, the Seguines, just got back from a trip to Europe and it made me remember our trip in June 08. Since I didn't have a blog last year I am going to post some of the highlights. So, Enjoy.

Baby Bjorn

This nifty little piece of equipment was our best friend during the trip. Actually, it was Joshua's best friend. Those two spent a lot of time together.