Good morning sunshine...

Mushroom Hunters

Here are some shots of the team and the loot we pulled in from our first annual mushroom hunting expedition. Spencer and I took our BedBath&BeyondBags to places they never thought they'd go, that's for sure. See post below for field specimens.

FungusAmungus

A couple weeks ago we found the largest and craziest mushrooms I've ever seen...all just down the hill from our house! Staci had got a mushroom ID book for me for father's day and we tried to educate ourselves on the giant blooms that seemed to appear out of nowhere.


AMANITA (Poisonous or hallucinagenic?? Robert Plant walks up to one of these mushrooms in the movie 'The Song Remains the Same'...)


KING BOLETE (a most prized edible)


SCALY TOOTH

First Day....

Spencer on his first day of preschool. He was more excited about his lunch box than school....he had it packed and was all ready to go by 8am. School didn't even start until 9. Paul and I dropped him off and I bawled....I am blaming it on the hormones. With Sahalie in the mix it is crazy just how grown up he seems. I just love that little dude.

Gone Baby Gone

that was then....


this is now....

Well, after 18 months of growing that baby out it is gone. I think he looks incredibly handsome either way....you?

Jumping right in...

Nesting? What is that? No rest for the wicked when you have a three year old.

Sahalie got a good taste of life over the last couple of weeks. She was showered with love from both my parents and Paul's parents after she was born as they both got to stick around for awhile and celebrate with us. She has been spending lots of time with her big brother and she saw her first concert, Wilco. She will definitely has some bragging rights with that one. A little weekend getaway to Elk Lake....she decided the water was too chilly for a swim. She attended a birthday party complete with cocktails which mama got to enjoy and got downright funky at the Sisters Folk Festival this last weekend. Whew...welcome to the world Sahalie!

"Celebrate".....

That was my angel card that I picked on Tuesday morning and that is exactly what we were doing by 12:14pm on Wednesday afternoon.

I woke up a couple times on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning to some contractions. Nothing consistent, but just strong enough for me to wake up. At 2:20am they started coming every 5 minutes for about a minute at a time. I woke Paul up an hour later, "Honey, I think I am in labor". He gave me a high five. We laid in bed for another half hour before we decided it was for real, we rolled out of bed, showered, made some breakfast and a cup of coffee....just in case it was going to be a long night. We got to the hospital about 5am where they hooked me up to a monitor to check my contractions, check the babe's heart rate and give me an exam (who wouldn't love that at 5 in the morning?) I was dilated at 2 and my contractions had slowed. The nurse sent us to walk the halls for an hour to see if I might progress. Let me tell you, the hospital is an eerie place at 5:30 in the morning.

Back in the birthing center by 6:30am and I had jumped up to a 3. They admitted us and the next 5 1/2 hours are already a blur. We walked some more and my contractions started getting a little stronger. Paul gave me another high five.

With the advice of the doctor, we broke my water at 8:30am with what looked like a crocheting needle in hopes that it would keep me progressing....and that it did. By 10am I started laboring quite a bit harder and breathing VERY heavily. By 11:55am, I had had enough and was ready to push this kiddo out. And nineteen minutes later, at 12:14pm, Sahalie Rae was born. And she is beautiful.