Fall Fun

The night before Halloween, we did the big Halloween carnival at our church. Here are the kiddos as Scooby, a Jack-o-lantern, and Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar.

 

 

For the actual Halloween night, BJ and I were too exhausted to even contemplate dressing up our children again, so instead, we built a fire and made s'mores in the back yard. I was the best Halloween ever, and BJ and I have decided to make this a permanent family tradition. Here are Shepherd and Lydia having their first s'mores ever.

 Violet was a little young to participate, but she stayed pretty content hanging out in Shepherd's old snow suit from Kentucky.

And here are me and BJ congratulating ourselves on avoiding further Halloween festivities while keeping our children happy.

Lastly, just because, this is what happy looks like on this fine November day.

She's Like a Girl Shepherd

We are always amazed at how much Violet looks like Shepherd and Lydia at her age, but especially Shepherd. She doesn't just look like Shepherd; she sucks her thumb like Shepherd, she loves bath time the way Shepherd did at her age, and she always wants someone talking to her like Shepherd. Since we are crazy about our son, we find it pretty cute how much our youngest reminds us of our oldest. So in homage of that, here is a picture illustration of just how much they are alike.

Violet

Shepherd

Why I Love Fall: A Confusing Love Story

I love fall for a lot of reasons: cooler temperatures, Starbucks's Salted Caramel Mocha Latte, beautiful colored leaves, and the anticipation of the holiday season. But mostly, I love fall because it is the season that I fell in love.

Ten years ago this November, I headed over to my new friend's apartment to cook dinner on a cool Tuesday night. He was a shaggy, poor graduate student named BJ who I thought was cute in a stray-dog kind of way. If you know me, you know that all of these descriptors add up to my kind of guy.

We cooked skillet lasagna out of his red-and-white-checkered Betty Crocker cookbook. It made such a huge batch that we divided the leftovers into Ziploc bags and froze them. I later learned that it took BJ a very, very long time to eat it all.

After dishes were done, we sat down on his roommate, Josh's, futon, a Native-American motifed number that could only be seen in the apartments of bachelors. While chatting, I casually dropped that my hands were cold. BJ chivalrously offered to hold them in an attempt to warm them up.

While sitting holding hands, BJ said he had something to tell me: "Kalyn, I like you a lot. I mean I really like you." I said, "I like you a lot, too. Like I really, really like you."

We were really, really articulate.

Being only a few months shy of twenty and having never had a boyfriend, I was eager to put the appropriate labels on the situation to avoid confusion, so I asked if holding hands and saying we liked each other meant we were dating. My shaggy, commitment-phobe crush said he wasn't prepared to call it dating yet. Instead, we were "seeing each other." I was officially confused.

For the next few days, I found myself fielding several questions from friends and family about my relationship status (this was long ago before one could just put "It's complicated" on Facebook.) Being inexperienced in the romance department, I did my best to clarify that we were only seeing each other. I was pretty sure we were dating, but I figured it was best to be prudent and wait for BJ to figure it out at his own pace.

Five days later while making out, BJ admitted that, yes, we probably were dating.

And ten years, an engagement, a wedding, multiple cross-country moves, and three children later, I'm really happy I went over to BJ's apartment to make heaps of skillet lasagna.

The Incredible Shep

Two days ago, we celebrated Shepherd's forth birthday. Since then, I've been thinking a lot about what an amazing, gently, funny, and affectionate boy he is. Here are the top ten things I love the most about Shepherd.


1. His songs. Right now, life is a musical for Shepherd. He often narrates his day with songs made up as he goes along.


2. His eyes. They are the huge brown eyes that I fell in love with ten years ago when I met BJ.


3. His out-going personality. When he is playing at the playground in our neighborhood park, he walks up to the other children, introduces himself, and then asks, "Do you want to play with me?" Whether they want it or not, they get a new friend.


4. His carefulness. He thinks about consequences before he attempts anything. I mainly love this because I see bits of the overly-cautious Pierces in this trait.


5. His stories. He is constantly making up stories with his toys. I love sitting quietly in a corner listening to what he comes up with.


6. His contemplative moments. Shepherd will spend hours every week pacing around our yard thinking. He even hold his chin in the most classic contemplative pose.


7. His lovingness. He LOVES his family and friends, and he holds a special place for Nana, Papa, Mamm, Pap, Uncle Bro, Aunt Stephanie, and Auntie Al. While reading books with Auntie Al tonight, he asked her if she'd be her tomorrow. When she said she would, he said, "Good. I missed you when you were gone."


8. His old soul. He eats donuts on Sunday morning at the table in the Parlor where the old gentlemen sit. They have wonderful conversations.


9. His brothering. He adores his sisters. He plays and laughs and schemes and explores with Lydia, and he showers Violet with love and affection and hugs and kisses.


10. His hugs. When he wraps his arms around me, he whispers, "Everything is going to be okay, Mom."

About that last post...

While staring at the picture I just posted earlier, I kept thinking that Violet looked like some other baby I'd seen. Then I realized that I was thinking about a baby picture of my dad that hangs in my parent's house. I called Mom and asked her to send me a picture. So, what do you think? Any resemblance?

Those Lips

Ignore the mismatched sheets and unmade bed, and just focus on those adorable little lips. Sweet Violet.

Violet: The Spit-Up Machine

BJ just informed me that I have spit up at the middle of my back on my shirt. Well played, Violet. Well played.

Womanhood as seen through the eyes of my 2 year-old

Grown women always have a purse on one arm.

They wear really cool hats.

They drink copious amounts of coffee.

They are ALWAYS holding a baby (wonder where she got that notion?).

Apparently, they sometimes feed the aforementioned baby their coffee.

And they are always on the go.

I wish I looked half as cool being a grown woman as Lydia does pretending to be one.

'Nuff Said

The onesie and the smile say it all.

Life With Three

This video is a pretty good representation of just how chaotic Violet's day to day life is at only 6 weeks old.

BJ and Lydia

I remember when he was afraid he wouldn't know what to do with a daughter.

You know you've been in newborn-baby land for a while when:

-you walk out of the house and the wind blows a forgotten burp cloth off your shoulder and across the yard.

-you become an accidental exhibitionist. I didn't realize until I'd walked out into my back yard and sat down in a lawn chair that my shirt was pulled up over my bra from the last time I'd breastfed. It's that bad.

-6 hours of sleep is the new 8 hours of sleep. I feel positively invigorated after a 6 hour night.

-a trip to Walmart (aka the worst place on earth) becomes a luxury for the sole reason that it isn't your house.

-your husband spends an hour putting an additional hard drive on your computer to compensate for all the pictures like below that are clogging up you memory space. Worth it.

A boy being a boy

Shepherd loves to play with his Transformer toy that Mamm and Pap got him back in July. I love to eaves drop on his play time to hear the dialogue he creates as he is playing. I have no idea where he comes up with this stuff, but here is what I overheard this morning: 

Deep Voice: I'm a big bad scary man and I will never love you. I will eat you.
High Voice: No, don't eat me. I'm a good little man.
Deep Voice: No. I'm a robot and I will eat you.

The Hair Issue

Sometime in the past week, Violet acquired a tiny mohawk. I'm not sure when it happened, but I'm in love with the Kewpie-doll look on her.

I'm hoping that this mohawk portends to a repeat of Lydia's hair during her 3-9 months-old phase.

That hair was just way to awesome not to repeat.

Shepherd is also spiked these days, but that is because big boys who go to school spike their hair. Obviously.

And since I have an up-to-date picture of Violet and Shepherd on this post, here is a picture of my beautiful Lydia after being told she can't play with the camera. She's pretty even when she's sad.

Thoughts at Two Weeks

1. Two weeks ago today at 12:25 in the morning, Violet Beverly Gensic joined our family. She weighed 6 pounds 13 ounces and was 19.5 inches long.

2. My labor with Violet was the longest and hardest of my three children. My theory is that this is because my water broke much earlier this time. I was in labor off and on for 30 hours. It would ramp up, and I would be positive I was moving into transition only to have it completely stall out. We went to the hospital 3 times in the 30 hour period. The second time, after watching the labor stall out at 4 centimeters, I requested that the nurse take out the IV and let me go home because I was hungry and sitting in that hospital was just stupid. I wasn't in the cheeriest mood after loosing a whole night's sleep and having no baby to show for it. The nurse obliged, I went home, got dressed, and went to church where I had extremely painful contraction about every ten minutes. I think it is safe to say that it will go down as one of the more memorable church services of my life. At 10:45 that night, we headed to the hospital for the third time. As with both Shepherd and Lydia, Violet arrived an hour and 40 minutes after our arrival at the hospital via an all natural delivery. Despite the exhausting longevity of the labor, the end went perfectly.

3. This was the only delivery in which I actually ordered an epidural. I was terrified the labor would stall out again, and I knew I didn't have the physical stamina to face a second night in labor. Fortunately, as soon as the order was placed, my labor cranked up. Violet was there 20 minutes later, so I didn't have to worry about the needle in my back (one of my worst fears!).

4. Violet looks like mine and BJ's kid. We are nothing if not consistent.

Shepherd

Lydia

Violet

 

3. We finalized Violet's name five days before her arrival. Violet is after my mother's mom, and Beverly is for BJ's dad's mom. They are pretty outstanding women to be named after.

5. Violet is a pig. As soon as she was born, she nursed for an entire hour. We didn't get to our hospital room until well after 2:00 in the morning because she ate for so long.

6. Violet was borderline jaundiced the first week, so for two days she had to be wrapped in a plastic lamp/blanket. It was sort of awful. Imagine nursing a taco. And on top of that, I had to wear sunglasses to hold her.

7. Lydia has never been a particularly happy child. Since the arrival of Violet, Lydia has been happy. She is happy everyday, all day. Violet was what we needed.

8. Shepherd thinks Violet is cute. He tells Violet she is cute about 20 times a day. He's right. Violet is really cute.

9. While I was pregnant, all the ladies at church told me that oops babies are the best kind. They're right. Violet is the best baby ever. I've always had pretty high-octane babies, but Violet is totally chill. It is not unusual at all for her to be awake and not crying simultaneously.

10. I've had two weeks to assess the situation and I can now make an important declaration with absolute certainty: I'm so deeply grateful and overjoyed that me and BJ botched the whole birth control thing last November. 

A few points of interest...

1. A pictorial definition for the phrase, "About to pop."

2. I know it is just the hormone cocktail I have going right now, but I definitely cried when I walked in the living room and saw my babies cuddled up like this watching a movie.

3. I am officially aching to hold my third baby, but I suspect that all of the bouncing, nudging, and screaming Shepherd and Lydia have done around my belly these past 9 months have her cowering deep within my uterus. Who can blame the pool girl?

Nesting, Third-Child Style

Nesting is very different this time around. With both Shepherd and Lydia, I thoroughly enjoyed creating a space for them. For baby number 3, though, there is no space in which to carve out a space. We are sardines in our little matchbox house. So here is what nesting is looking like with #3.

1. As with Shepherd and Lydia, I painted her a painting for her room. I had to do something that would look right in Lydia's room since they will likely be sharing for the next 18 years or so. I was pretty pleased with how it came out.

2. Next, I made t-shirts for Shepherd and Lydia to wear to the hospital. Last time, Shepherd was a little freaked out by the whole hospital experience, so I wanted to try and build it up as a fun experience that come with its very own wardrobe!  So far, Shepherd is excited about wearing his new shirt to meet his new little sister. He has also informed that he will wear his Big Bro shirt on his birthday. He likes to plan ahead.

3. The biggest nesting project has been cooking, cooking, and more cooking. By the third baby, one is pretty realistic about what they are going to get done the first three months. My expectations for home-cooking and a clean house are pretty low. So I decided to make a list of freezer meals that could be made ahead of time:

Then, BJ's mom came down to stay with us for two weeks while BJ was at Lipscomb for school, and we cooked until our little freezer chest was full of over 30 dinners and 15 breakfasts.

Other than these major projects, I've just been doing the small stuff: washing and folding clothes, packing the hospital bag, trying to keep the house tidy enough that I won't feel horrible leaving it when I do go into labor, and most importantly, spending as much time playing with these two crazy kids before our world gets turned upside down again (in a good way, of course.)
 

 

Lydia's Birthday in Pictures

 I am heading to bed after a wonderful day of celebrating my beautiful little girl turning 2. Here are some snap shots of all the fun we had celebrating with dear friends and family.

First, we have Baby #2 perched on Baby #3. It is one of Lydia's favorite spots, and right now, its pretty roomy.

Here is Lydia's cupcake. The theme of the night was ladybugs for our Lydi-bug.

She was both perplexed and impressed by everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to her.

Eating homemade ice cream with Nana!

Shep and I had to do most of the unwrapping. Lydia just watched attentively. I'm guessing next year she'll be digging in!

It wouldn't be a Gensic party without Shepherd disrobing at some point and running into the room in just his underwear. Apparently, he suddenly really needed to put on his Batman shirt, but he couldn't find it.

Lydia made Donna read all of the cards to her!

All girl.

Lydia LOVED her new stroller from Mamm and Pap. She immediately strapped in her new doll from Aunt Marcy, and from that point onward, she didn't pay much attention to anything but walking her baby.

Both kids were taken with the Minnie Mouse doll. They are cuties.

Thank you to everyone who made the day special! It can be really depressing having BJ at school for two weeks at a time, but it is a huge comfort to have our friends and family around us on the big days!