Picnic in the park

A few weeks ago my mom and I took Ruth Ann to the park and on the way home she got a call from a friend. She was telling this friend about our park trip and how nice she thought the park was when this friend told her the other park in town was her grandkids favorite. The other park was were I grew up playing...it was close to our old house but I kinda remembered in being pretty run down when I was little so I was slightly nervous about what I was going to find. It was really a great park...we stayed for about 2 hours and only left because the Tripp-man hunger alarm starting going off. I had not planned on staying so long, but I'll be prepared for a long stay the next time we go...and if Ruth Ann has her way there will be lots more next times!

Although a little strange...the "musical instrument area" of the playground was a big hit with Ruth Ann. She loves the show Fresh Beat Band on Nick Jr and walks around the house playing her air guitar saying "And a 1-2-3-4."



Watch out Matthew McConaughey...this girl may have you beat on the bongos...and she doesn't need any "other" help to get the beat going!





Here's one of the clowns...I mean friends we played with today. Brantley had just picked Mason up from school and there was a circus theme in his class today...hence the paint. We aren't training our kids for a life in the circus...although with Ruth Ann's roaring 2 year old attitude I often find myself telling her I'm going to send her to live with the gypsies which I guess are closely related.



Roper spent some time on the sidelines for a little juice break...



While these two tackled the jungle gym...



Roper eventually found a comfortable swing to relax in...



As did Mason...for a short period of time...if you know Mason then you know this boy doesn't stay in one place for very long...



Then Mason took off for another hot spot on the playground and Ruth Ann took a turn on the swing which didn't last long because if you know Ruth Ann then you know this girl doesn't stay in one place for very long either!



But all the fun came to an end when Tripp-man woke up and was ready to eat!



But a good time was had by all...and fabulous naps followed once we got home. Well, Ruth Ann started her nap about 2 minutes after we left the park...



And 2 hours later she's still napping!

Do you see what I see??

Cherry blossoms in bloom!! I just noticed these trees blooming this morning and had to fight the urge to run home to pack up the winter clothes! I'm so ready for Spring time I can hardly stand it!!

Everyone to the Zoo!

This past week we have enjoyed some fantastic weather in the Midlands...and like everyone else in Columbia with a child under 12 years of age, we headed to the zoo on Saturday! I have never seen the zoo so incredibly packed! When we left at 1:30pm there were no parking spaces available. Tons of people were circling the lot looking for a park and the line to get into the zoo was backed up by at least 30 cars...but this may have been our best zoo trip yet!

Each time we go to the zoo Ruth Ann seems to enjoy it more and more. And each time Ada comes to visit the girls seem to play better and better together...so when you combine the 2 it made for a great time!



For those who know me well you will understand how significant the following pictures are...I conquered a fear and entered the bird habitat with Ruth Ann. I, like my mother, have a fear of birds. I wouldn't say the fear is gone, I was a nervous wreck and flinched everytime a bird flew dangerously close to my head...but Ruth Ann wanted to feed the birds on this visit, so this is what I did for my child. Please notice my mom in the background of these pictures, in the green shirt, safely behind a screen. She loves her granddaughters, but not enough to join them for the feeding of the birds...







Obviously Ruth Ann doesn't share my fear because she started begging for more juice to feed the birds...mostly because I had been sharing her juice with the other kids around us in an attempt to evacuate the danger zone!



2 years ago we tried to sneak Ada on the horses because she was tall enough to look like a 2 year old child (which is the zoo requirement to ride)...but she had a melt down and wouldn't do it. Last year she rode with Toni by her side, but this year...she rode solo.



Ruth Ann has been a big talker when it comes to riding a horse, but at one of the last b-day parties we went to where a pony was there for riding...she wouldn't ride until we convinced an older child to ride with her. But today she cut in front of the entire long line to grab a helmet and jump on...I told her we had to wait our turn so we weren't escorted from the zoo...but once she got on all you could hear was "Yippee ki yay!"...words only riding a horse can produce!



My dad has a serious addiction to buying horses...and I have a feeling if he sees how much fun these girls had riding these ponies then there may be a pony in his future. For this reason, my mom may never allow him to accompany us to the zoo.



Sadly, this is the only picture of Tripp-man and it was his first trip to the zoo. He, like his sister when she was his age, slept almost the entire time. Aunt Toni managed to get a picture of him awake...thank goodness. I'm afraid Tripp may have a few less pictures of his first year than his sister. I don't seem to take near as many pictures as I use to and I can't seem to get 2 kids out of the house and remember to bring my camera along...I need to make a serious effort to take pictures more often of this cute little guy!

I'm pretty proud of myself...

...so I had to share.



I just completed my first smocked dress...start to finish...all by myself!

I started this dress months ago by cutting out the pattern, pleating the pattern, and then smocking the strawberries. Then it sat in my smocking bag for a few months...Spring was months away so it didn't bother me to have this unfinished project sitting around. But with the warm weather we're having in SC I've gotten in the mood to break out the warm weather clothes, so I pulled out my unfinished project. The last few dresses I've made have been with the supervision of my sewing teacher, but this week I decided to see if I could do it myself...and I did!!



Ruth Ann had an outfit last summer from Shrimp and Grits that was blue with red strawberries and I loved it to pieces...I may even try to fit her in it this summer too. When I found this smocking pattern I knew exactly what I want to make. I think I love this dress more because of all the time I put into making it. There are few mistakes but I'll learn from them and try not repeat them next time. One of my co-workers has a mother who smocks and sews a lot. I met with her on one of her last visits to SC and she gave me the best advise. She felt like I was too critical of my work (both smocking and sewing) and I needed to remember Ruth Ann is going to be running around while wearing this dress and no one will be able to see my little mistakes. She's right and that advice finally gave me to courage to sit down and tackle this pattern!

This is also Ruth Ann and Tripp's first brother/sister outfit since I made this little bubble before I went on maternity leave from sewing class.



I can't wait to fit little Tripp-man into this outfit!

Goodbye old friend

If you've been around Ruth Ann much...especially close to nap time or bed time, you know there are 2 things she treasures more than anything on Earth. 1) Her baby (which is what she calls her security blanket) 2) Her pacies



I've been debating for months when the right time would be to take away the pacie...(ps...she can keep the baby until she goes to college for all I care, I still have my baby blanket in my bed so who am I to throw stones). But like with most things in life there is never a "right time"...she's also been particularly sassy (aka...B-A-D) so I didn't have much sympathy for her I as was gathering them up yesterday while she was at her grandparents house.

When I picked her up the first thing she said was "I need my baby and my pacie". I hadn't expected to break the bad news so quickly, so I told her she could have her baby but her pacies were gone. She repeated the request 10 more time in the hopes my answer would change, but I held firm. Once we got home she immediately went into her room to look in her crib for a pacie...but they were gone and she didn't ask me again for several hours...but she asked Arch as soon as he got in the door...funny how young we are when we started playing our parents against each other! He's one board with the idea so he repeated what I had told her and until bed time all was well.

Bed time was a different story...for 30 minutes she cried for anyone to come pick her up...Mommy, Daddy, Spencer...there may have even been a Grammy or Papaw thrown in there...but eventually she fell asleep for the first time without a pacie and slept soundly until I went to get her up at 7am.

I'd love to say that the first thing she said to me this morning was "I love you Mommy" or even just "Good morning Mommy", but no...her first words this morning were "I miss my pacie". But she didn't ask for it again until I dropped her off at school...we'll see how nap time goes, but 18 hours into pacie withdrawal and so far she's surviving just fine!

What to do???

I know I'm lucky to have a little girl who was born with a head full of hair...she came into the world with bow worthy hair...thanks to a good hair gene she inherited from her daddy. I had visions of growing her hair out long but I trimmed it up last winter as it was growing out and that trim turned into a cute short hair cut. I eventually let a pro handle the cutting and she spent all summer with sassy short hair. Then as the weather got cooler I decided to let her short hair grow out and it's really starting to get long. Now Spring is approaching and I can't decide what to do...keep it long or cut it short again...



Oh I loved that hair cut...I'm so tempted to cut it off and to cut it soon!

The time has come...

Growing up I started planning my wedding when I was about 4 years old. I played wedding with friends and started taking mental notes as to how I wanted my wedding to look from a very early age. When Arch asked me to marry him I finally had the missing piece to my imaginary wedding...the groom. In this imaginary wedding I wanted to look slim and trim, so in January 2006 I introduced myself to The South Beach Diet. From January to May 6th (my wedding date) I lost between 30-35 lbs and looked fantastic in my wedding dress. Then all bets were off for the reception and the honeymoon and slowly over time the weight I had lost crept back on until I was just as heavy...if not more than when I started South Beach in the first place. Then I finally found out I was pregnant with Ruth Ann and of course I didn't watch what I was eating...unless you count actually watching each delicious piece of fattening food literally entering my mouth. I had big plans of breast feeding Ruth Ann so I was counting of all the baby weight melting away with each feeding. Then Ruth Ann arrived and I was the heaviest I had ever been in my whole life...and she would not cooperate with breast feeding, so I was left to try shed this baby weight on my own...1 year later I reacquainted myself with The South Beach Diet and soon I was fitting back into all my pre-wedding clothes! I was so proud of myself...and then I found out I was pregnant with Tripp. I had plans of sticking with South Beach, but then morning sickness...or afternoon & evening sickness...set in and the one thing that made me feel better was a carbohydrate. Diet blown once more so I didn't hold back while I was pregnant and ate whatever whenever I wanted! Now Tripp has arrived and here I sit once more, heavier than ever but now I'm going back to work 4 weeks earlier than I did with Ruth Ann...meaning I have to get back into my work clothes pronto! Side note to those who may not have been pregnant yet...when you buy your maternity clothes, you're not just buying them for those months when you're pregnant...99% of us also wear those maternity clothes in the weeks and months post-delivery!

So, the time has come to go back to the Beach...South Beach that is. Arch & I have Valentine's Day plans, so the diet starts Tuesday. I need to shed about 40 lbs to be back to my pre-Tripp weight and my goal is to be back in my favorite jeans by the fall. I've done it before and I can do it again! Even if I had to shed 100 lbs...this little boy is worth every pound!!

Tripp-One Month

I feel like I've said this about Ruth Ann a million times and now I'm starting to say the same thing about Tripp...but time is really going way too quickly at our house. I can barely believe Tripp-man has been in our family for 1 whole month. In some ways it feels like he's always been here and in other ways it feels like I just found out I was even pregnant with him.



So here's what Tripp is up to at 1 month old:

~eating 7 bottles a day with at least 3 ounces of breast milk. I gave up breastfeeding...for those moms out there who have been successful with breastfeeding I believe you all deserve gold stars. It's exhausting work. Tripp took about an hour to eat, times 8-10 feedings per day it was more time consuming than a full time job...Tripp didn't take the weekends off so it was WAY more time consuming than a full time job! Then he developed breast milk jaundice and had to go on formula for a day or two to clear it up quickly...after feeding him from a bottle I suddenly felt liberated! I had all this new found time on my hands...luckily I had lots and lots of breast milk frozen and tucked away in the fridge, so once the jaundice cleared up we started working our way through that supply. He'll have a few more days of breast milk and then we'll be back to mixing formula for the next 9-10 months.

~sleeping a lot. We're followers of Baby Wise at the McCarty house so our schedule is Eat, 30 minutes Awake Time, Sleep...repeat every 3 hours...except at night, then baby can sleep as long as they want to. Tripp gets his last bottle at 11pm-ish and usually gets up once during the night around 3:30-4am. Then he wakes again around 7am. I'm planning on putting a little rice cereal in those night time formula bottles in a few weeks and am hoping this will keep him asleep until at least 5 or 6am. I return to work in 28 days and sleep through the night will be a requirement for me to function properly.

~enjoys the swing...thanks to the Clark boys for letting us use your swing!

~HATES his car seat. Ruth Ann never minded riding in her car seat so traveling with her was a breeze. Apparently lightening really doesn't strike twice because so far Tripp hates the car seat. This may mean I'll be traveling a lot less in the next year or it may mean Tripp stays home with Daddy while Ruth Ann and I go off to play!

~HATES bath time. I can't remember when Ruth Ann started enjoying bath time, but it seems like it was only after a few weeks. Tripp hates it the moment I take his clothes off...it's like he already knows what is coming. The crying ends as soon as I put his diaper back on...maybe he's just modest!

~LOVES being held. I said this on Facebook the other day, but I'll repeat it here too...I had a strict "No Rocking To Sleep" policy with Ruth Ann, but I'm having a hard time resisting the urge to rock my snugly baby boy through out his entire nap time. He's so snugly and sweet. His favorite position is on his tummy laying on your chest. He burrows down and oh I could just stay like this with him for hours! I realize all this snuggling could be creating a monster...but I don't care. He's my last and I'll take all the snuggle time I can get. Ruth Ann is the opposite, all though since Tripp's arrival she has asked to snuggle and be rocked more often...which is fine with me too. I'll rock both these babies until they move out of this house to go to college if they ask me to!

~unfortunately baby acne is starting to set in. Ruth Ann's skin went crazy around this same time and I've been waiting for Tripp's to do the same. It only last a few weeks but it makes for awful pictures until it clears up. I had the same thing when I was baby and my Granny (my dad's step-mother from Western NC) told my mom it's all the poison coming out of their little bodies...yikes! This may sound shocking to hear, but if you've met my Granny it won't surprise you at all...she's not full of happy things to say.

I'm still trying to figure out who Tripp looks like and really I think he's got a mix of different family members. At times I see a lot of my brother and dad. Especially when you look at these legs...



If you've ever seen my dad in a pair of shorts then these skinny legs will look very familiar. I'm not use to looking at skinny legs. I have tree trunk legs and Ruth Ann had chubby legs the minute she started eating. I keep thinking these little legs will start plumping up soon, but I'm starting to have a feeling he's going to have the legs of the Becker men that came before him!

When I was pregnant with Ruth Ann and found out I was having a girl I began hoping and praying she would have Arch's hair...stick straight...and my prayers were answered. So far she has his hair and it really is great hair. Now I have found out this McCarty hair gene is a dominant gene because Tripp also has his daddy's hair...notice it sticking straight up...



Luckily Arch and Spencer have both mastered this hair, so they'll be able to help Tripp figure out what to do with his hair too...bows hold Ruth Ann's hair down and out of her face...Tripp won't have this advantage.