Samuel on his first day

Samuel arrived January 27th at 12:38pm, weighing in at 7lbs exactly and 19.5″ long. We are absolutely overjoyed to have him with us! Beatrice is a great big sister and we’re enjoying these first days as a family of four.

Family of Four

It’s official! We’re at 39 weeks! What a miracle you are, sweet Baby McPherson 2.0. I can hardly wait to meet you. I feel like I’m more excited to meet you than I was with your sister. I think that’s because I already know how sweet and amazing it will be to have a newborn in the house and before she arrived it was all just unknown. Trust me, I loved her right away just as I love you and there are still plenty of things I don’t know. I love you, your Daddy loves you and you have a whole big family who loves you and is excited to meet you!

I’m definitely huge these days. My belly is really big. Yesterday at school, I was cleaning up art supplies and got paint on my shirt, but didn’t realize it for a bit because it was on the underside of my belly. Oh how silly! I’m not going to lie, I’m looking forward to having my regular clothes back, but it has been quite a blessing to see you grow and watch you move.

Yesterday, I was feeling as if you were choosing an early birthday, but today you’ve been happy as a clam. Everything is all set for ya! I had a fun girls’ day with your sister today. It was mostly our usual errands, but we also stopped at Starbucks for a treat and to read some books and then we had our photos taken at the photo booth in the mall. We also went to Bath and Body Works and smelled the candles. She loves scented items! It will be different to have a boy with us all day, but we’re both excited for you to be part of our routine!

Now that we’re able to get out of our house, we decided to have a little family fun day as a bit of a last hoorah as a family of three.

First stop: Top Pot Donuts

Donut Feast

If you know us pretty well, you can easily figure out who had which donut. For her part, Beatrice very much enjoyed it!

Yum!

After our treat, we headed to Hobby Lobby (this was Beatrice’s idea! Love that girl!). I had looked at their advert online and noticed that “men’s decorative items” were on sale. Jonathan said no man under 50 would ever decorate with them and they really shouldn’t indicate that they are for men, but rather purchased by the women who decorate men’s homes. He does have a good point. I didn’t see a single man in the “men’s items” area.  We spent quite a long time in Hobby Lobby, for the youngest member of our party just couldn’t get enough of the crafty goodness. It helped that her Daddy was along to give her a better view of things:

Doll Houses

After Hobby Lobby, we stopped by the mall in hopes of finding some new shoes for Jonathan, but quickly realized it was too close to lunch and nap time to do any shopping. We returned home for Bea’s nap, after which we headed to dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants:

Mmm. Delicious!

As you can see, Beatrice was so excited by her pepperoni pizza that she couldn’t look up for the photo. What a difference a year makes! We’d gone out for dinner here on our anniversary last year and it was kind of terrible. Beatrice was horribly crabby and while they had our food out in record time, Jonathan and I each only had one slice of pizza before we headed home because it was evident Beatrice was not able to dine in public during the evening! Yikes! This time, we waited almost 35 minutes for a table and she was only fussy the last five minutes or so of this period. Once we sat down, she was happy as can be with the coloring page and crayons provided for her. They brought out breadsticks for us right away and we were able to keep her supplied with little bits of bread to munch while she colored. Our waiter was kind enough to suggest that he could cut her pizza into bite-sized pieces in the kitchen if we’d like, so her food was all ready for her when it came out! Jonathan had to make sure her plate always had a few more bites on it, but all in all, we had a really enjoyable meal. Hooray! And just in time for us to hit the “reset” button and start all over again.

Here are some photos of our fun in the snowy weather:

Snowing!

She liked being out in the snow a little better when it was just snowing rather than snow up to the top of her boots. I think walking in that much snow was a little tricky for her.

Making a snowball

Yes, I showed her how to make a snowball and then we maybe threw them at Daddy who gladly participated in our snowball fight!

Eating a "snow treat"

And Daddy taught her that snow is delicious! She calls it a snow treat. Don’t worry, we made sure the snow was “clean” and we’ve talked about avoiding yellow snow….

We like snow

And naturally, she gets to have some “tea” when she comes inside (it’s really warm apple juice):

Nice and warm!

37 Weeks

I was feeling some contractions last weekend, which really got us motivated to get things ready for you! And naturally, once your Daddy finished painting your sister’s new bedroom, you settled right down and seem to have made yourself comfortable for the long haul. I’m just fine with that! While I am feeling really, really big and don’t hate the idea of being unpregnant, we are all sick with a cold these days and I’d rather you wait until we’re all feeling better. Also, this cold has been waking your sister several times a night with coughing fits and frankly, she wakes up everyone else. It would be better for you if we’re not all completely exhausted when you arrive.

Tonight, you followed our hands with your little fist, just like your sister did when she was in the womb! It was very exciting to have you interact with us! What an adventure parenting has been so far!

What has happened in the last few months?  Well sweet girl:

You got your first hair cut and it wasn’t terrible! I will be honest and tell you that’s the last time I want to cut your hair, so it better grow out in some cute style or we’re going to have some trouble on our hands.

We celebrated Thanksgiving and you sat by me while I watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I don’t think you loved it, necessarily, but you sat still for a few minutes.

We continued our tradition of going downtown the day after Thanksgiving. We saw the Teddy Bear Suite at the Fairmont, the gingerbread houses at the Sheraton and the tree lighting at Westlake. The best part for you was your first candy: a candy cane. You were in wound-up toddler heaven:

It's sweet! It's sweet!

You have started to help out in the kitchen. We made chex mix just before Christmas and you decided that yes, you do like mixed nuts but only the cashews! Fancy girl! You also helped me make sugar cookies for the first time, which mostly made me want to cry tears of delight and joy and amazement at how big you’re getting!

You also ate dough:

You continue to desire to be outside pretty much all the time, all day long. You also like to watch for birds in the yard. We have a book about birds in our area and you’re learning to identify them. You still get most excited about crows and ducks, but now you’re learning to recognize robins and chickadees.

You’re getting really great with shapes and continue to be strong with color recognition. Last week, I made you eggs and toast for breakfast and you nibbled your toast into a triangle and exclaimed, “it’s a triangle! It’s a triangle!” which made you giggle.

You’ve started to realize that “you” isn’t always the appropriate way for you to refer to yourself. If you see a photo of the three of us, you will now say, “It’s me, you and Daddy” but you still use phrases such as “Daddy hold you?” when you want to be held. It’s adorable.

You are also beginning to experiment with speaking in different tenses. If I give you a kiss, you will say, “that was a kissy!” or if you were recently held, you say, “Daddy was holding you”. We’ve only heard you use the future tense a couple of times and you usually speak in present perfect tense, but it’s still really neat to see how you’re language is being developed. You’re getting to be such a big girl!

For Christmas, you received some very wonderful gifts, but you mostly seemed to enjoy looking at and holding the wrapped presents so your Daddy and I unwrapped things for you. One of the most delightful parts of Christmas morning was hearing you exclaim “Oh how wonderful!” when you saw the little cups your Aunt Rachel got for you. You squealed with joy when you realized the blue quilt your Meamaw made you had duckies all over the other side and this blanket continues to be a highlight of your day. You like me to “make a pocket” (fold it in half) and then you scoot your little self inside it and just roll around.

You are going through a Daddy phase. BIG TIME. If we are both in the room, you only want Daddy. If I go to get you from your crib in the morning, you respond to my “Good morning!” with “No Momma. Only Daddy!” to which I generally say that he’s busy and you’re stuck with me, sucka. We were traveling in the car recently and you were having a rough time. We had stopped for lunch and you refused to eat anything so we got back in the car and while J was using the facilities, I said, “Momma and Daddy both love you very much, I’m sorry you’re having a rough time right now” and you looked at me and said, “No Momma loves you! Only Daddy!” which naturally upset me. I was nervous about our return to the regular routine after having Daddy home for ten days, but you were completely unfazed. Once Daddy left for work, you just sat down on my lap and asked me to read you book after book like usual.

I’m so thankful to have you as my buddy during the day. You like to help out around the house and usually Raggedy Ann or Big Duckie help out as well. Last month, I was getting the laundry out of the dryer and you came up and patted my back and said, “You’re a great helper, Momma!” which warmed my heart!

There are some big changes coming soon. We know you’re going to be a great big sister and we pray that the transition is smooth as we begin to live it up as a family of four.

Herbed Chicken Cutlets with Roasted Winter Vegetables

I didn’t look close enough at the chicken I had in the freezer, which turned out to be chicken breast strips rather than chicken cutlets. It still turned out just fine.

Ingredients:

1lb Brussels Sprouts, trimmed and quartered
1/2 head cauliflower, cut into small pieces (about the same as the Brussels Sprouts)
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
1lb chicken cutlets
2 teaspoons herbs de Provence

Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil (I use the broiler pan because it has higher sides than our cookie sheets). Toss the Brussels Sprouts and cauliflower bits with a few glugs of olive oil and a couple of grinds each of salt and pepper. Roast until tender, turning once. In our oven this was 20 minutes.

While the vegetables are roasting, heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the chicken to the pan and season with the herbs de Provence. Cook until cooked through. Serve with the veggies.

Jonathan and I both really liked this. Beatrice enjoyed the chicken and cauliflower, but the Brussels sprouts were not her favorite. In her defense, I did make them extra crispy (just how I like them!), which I think was too much for her. I have no idea what’s in herbs de Provence, but it had a great flavor. Oh and if you’re looking for another recipe using herbs de Provence, you should definitely make this pizza!

I don’t know if you’ve ever been in Seattle in January, but it’s pretty cold and we spend most of it inside reading books. We welcomed the new year in style with our traditional New Year’s Day party (which involves pajamas, board games, and making a dish you’re afraid of) and a blind champagne tasting (pictured).

And Beatrice? She pulled up on furniture a lot and started standing up in her crib more often. We would often walk her room after her nap to find her hopping up and down on her mattress, holding on to her crib rail for support and grinning like she’d just figured out a magic trick.

We celebrated Valentine’s Day with a traditional fondue dinner. Kelly took a cake decorating class (see impressive results pictured), and I made a quesamandilla (it’s like a quesadilla… but for a man). We tried to decide what to get our girl for her first birthday. I secured the bookshelf to the wall so Beatrice wouldn’t pull it down on herself and replaced the faucet in the kitchen sink.

Our little girl turned one! We spent a lot of time wondering exactly how she had managed to become a year old already. Seriously, wasn’t it just a few weeks ago we were taking her tiny, warm body from the bassinet and letting her sleep on us because she wouldn’t sleep anywhere else? I’m pretty sure that was just a few weeks ago. We bought her a doll, which she loved and held closely for days. She calls it “dolly”.

Another March highlight was getting the fence on the side of our house (which was rotting and falling down) replaced with a much sturdier fence and a retaining wall.

April’s big event was visting my brother Rusty in Washington DC. For those of you who aren’t acquainted with my family, I’m the oldest of 7 children, and Rusty is the next oldest. He works for the National Guard in DC and we stayed with him for a few days, catching up and visiting the sights of the capitol. Beatrice loved the sights and she also loved Uncle Rusty, on whom she fell asleep repeatedly.

The weather finally starts thawing out in April, and we started spending time outside. Beatrice loved to go outside and pick dandelions with me, and she would gather them carefully in her fingers, one at a time, and then want to come inside and give them to Kelly as a gift: she would say “For Momma? For Momma?” and then throw them onto the floor (or onto Kelly’s shirt).

Spring arrived at last! Seriously, it was the coldest and wettest spring on record in Washington. Kelly would go running and come back with actual ice formed on her hair. We still found time to visit the farmer’s market in Redmond (which opens in May), cook out with friends, and enjoy the sun when it decided it was time for a little visit.

And this is the month when it actually became warm, warm enough to put fans in the windows and mow the lawn. We ate a lot of vegetables from the nearby farm (The Root Connection–check it out!) and from our backyard. Kelly grows all kinds of things in our planting beds and Beatrice and I would often go there before dinner and pick peas, blueberries, and cherry tomatoes to eat together.

The photo above is from Kelly’s grandfather’s 90th birthday. Beatrice loves him and calls him “Papa Roy”. She often asks him where his pipe is.

July = camping month. We actually camped twice this month, once at Alta Lake and once with Kelly’s family on their annual family retreat. This picture is from the latter event, in which Beatrice was introduced to the joy of life near the water’s edge (in other words, we flipped over rocks and she got to see the little crabs scurry away). Camping as a family is a little tougher than camping as a couple, but it went surprisingly well both times, and we hope to spend some more time sleeping outside in 2012.

In August, my mom came to Seattle to visit us and my sister’s family (my sister lives in Kirkland and also has a child, a son born in December of last year). Beatrice loves her “Gamma Barbara”, as she calls her. Later in the month, Beatrice ate popsicles and Kelly and I went to an outdoor concert. August was also the month I started commuting on my bike: I would often come home from work and find my girls waiting on the front porch and smiling. There’s nothing like coming home to a happy family!

Did I mention that we’re expecting another child? We are! The Lord has blessed us with another life and little “2.0″ (as we call him for now) is due in early February of 2012. In September, he was about the size of a banana. He is now much larger and is quite the little mover. He and our daughter have a strange affinity: she insisted that she was having a brother (not a sister!) far before we knew the sex ourselves, and he kicks and squirms whenever he hears Beatrice’s voice. She likes to “hold Brother” (put her hands under Kelly’s stomach) and will occasionally give him stickers. It’s hard to say how she’ll react to the reality of having a sibling but for now they’re really good friends!

In October, we attended our friend DJ’s wedding in Chico, California. This is a photo of us from that event. It’s great seeing our friends so happy and Beatrice was a trooper in the car! Later in the month, we dressed her up as a dinosaur (her choice) for Halloween. Since she doesn’t really know what candy is, she was mostly uninterested in trick-or-treating. Instead, she wanted to find all the spiders (she loves spiders) that were put up as decorations, and she also wanted to splash in ALL the puddles while wearing her dinosaur costume.

We had our kitchen floor replaced in November, hosted Thanksgiving at our house the next day, and then attended the Day After Thanksgiving festivities in downtown Seattle. Beatrice was sort of afraid of some of the teddy bears in the Teddy Bear Suite, but she did love twirling in the hotel hall!

And here’s our family on Christmas Eve this year.

2011 will go down as a year of trips, adventures with family, and seeing our baby turn into a walking, talking little girl in front of our very eyes. We love being married and knowing that the memories we’re building now are really just the first couple of pages in the story of our family. Here’s to 2012, in which we will become a family of a newborn, a toddler, and two occasionally bewildered but always blessed adults! Happy New Year!

All in all, it was just fine for us to walk around all morning. The weather was unseasonably warm and sunny. We were able to hang out with my Dad for a bit and do some light shopping at the mall. We went to the library and our local Ben Franklin to look at craft ideas.  The estimate of “1 to 3.6 hours” ended up being only 2.5 hours. I felt really good after a nice, long walk and we found a delightful little book at the library (don’t worry, we currently have at least a dozen children’s books checked out!). Beatrice did a great job with all our wandering around and after some lunch, she cuddled on my lap in the rocking chair and fell asleep on my shoulder. I love that she has done this the last two days!  I will say, however, that the whole time we were walking around I was thinking that I was really thankful we are not homeless. Entertaining a toddler with no home base is tricky! I imagine it would be even trickier if we were on the go regularly and wondering where we’d sleep or what we might eat. Also, it’s really nice that our downtown area is flat. REALLY nice.

After her nap, Beatrice asked to paint. “I love painting!” she said. So, I got out the fingerpaints and q-tips and she got to work. I was cleaning the kitchen and just happened to look over at her to see this:

she loves paint!

It should be noted that she fingerpaints with q-tips because she doesn’t like the feeling of paint on her fingers. It is apparent that she doesn’t have a problem with it on her face or her arms. Sillypants!

Here are a couple of photos of the final result:

Now, I will admit that these turned out looking pretty good. However, they took a rather long time to make. Also, they were fairly costly and kind of a waste of a perfectly good york peppermint patty. For my money, chocolate crinkles are my chocolate Christmas cookie of choice! (I’ll be baking those up on Thursday if anyone wants to swing by for a visit!) And if you’re looking for a good minty chocolate, Theo Chocolates Peppermint Sipping Chocolate is excellent!