downtown

we have out-of-town guests visiting, so naturally we had to show them some seattle sites. to be honest, the famous fremont troll was just an afterthought after we had snarfed down some cuban.

i had never been to the troll before and now i know why. it smelled like nastiness down there. as tagg said, "i smell bum's pee".

getting some fresh.... donuts (thought i was going to say produce? then you dont know me) at pike place. i was pretty paranoid about all the tourists' germs so we were in and out in about five minutes. there really is nothing better than spending a gorgeous day in seattle with my boys.

my boys

i loooooooove this face. i can just hear his little voice saying something quirky/hilarious when i look at this picture.

the smith men.

sully is already chubbing up and looking like a baby instead of a newborn. i love it!

one week check up

"ok, whats in your milk?!" thats the first thing sully's doctor said to me when she walked into the room today. since last week (when we had to see the doctor because of his jaundice...which is gone now, btw) sully has gained over an ounce each day! "what a flipping porker!" is what she wanted to say. i am so proud of my little boy. it has been a crazy week and a half, but my three boys and i are having a blast.

baby sully and his big brother

my sweet baby.

tagg has been pretty much text-book about becoming a big brother. half the time he is affectionate and loving towards sully and the other half.... well lets just say "MINE!" has been yelled quite a few times in the past week in our home.

look at that widow's peak! he's my little vampire.

boy oh boy i am excited to see these two grow up together. i hope they are the best of friends.

sullivan tyler

sully is here! he was born sunday, august 15th at 8.55pm. he weighed seven pounds, seven ounces and came into this world via VBAC! thank you very much. its crazy how it all worked out..... i wasnt even that set on having a vbac with this baby but it just so happened that my doctor turned out to be the only doctor in the seattle area that performs vbacs and thought i was a good candidate. the only problem was was that he was going out of town the week before i was due so if i wanted a vbac we were going to have to get a little creative (you cant induce a vbac). my doctor had me go into the hospital at noon on sunday and inflated a balloon inside me to try to dilate me to more than a three (which i had been at for a couple weeks). after three hours with the balloon, there was no progress. so i started bouncing on a big ball (humiliating!). after an hour of that, i was dilated to to a six and the doctor broke my water. i got my EPIDURAL and two hours later, was pushing sully out! i only had to push for about twelve minutes and it was such a cool experience. definitely more exciting than a c-section.

tagg and me, on our way to the hospital to see if we could magically make this baby appear.

obligatory family portrait on the hospital bed. tagg was mesmerized by sully and even offered up his favorite blue blanket and pacifier.

i am obsessed with my two little boys.

craig was great throughout the whole thing (except when he mentioned how tired he was, right smack in the middle of my laboring).

i am so grateful to live close to my mom. she was there from the second we went to the hospital until the minute we left. i dont know what i would have done without her.

tucker is one proud uncle.

my mom made this gorgeous quilt for sully. well actually, she made a boy and a girl version (just like she did for tagg) so we would be ready for either gender. i have a feeling we are going to have LOTSA extra baby girl quilts lying around after i am done procreating...

my boys.

sully is such a sweet little boy. and he is named after my cousin and best friend, tyler, who died of cancer ten years ago. which makes him have an even sweeter spot in my heart. i love sully so much already.

baking up some perfection at home

my definition of a fantastic friday/saturday nite is shopping (preferably not window!) at bellesquare followed by a yummy meal at the nordstrom cafe. and recently, i discovered the cafe sold to-die-for rhubarb bars which have now become the end-cap to these perfect weekend nites. they are seriously so tasty that we usually end up getting two! and so, as always, megan and i were determined to recreate the rhubarb goodness at home. after a few trial-and-errors, megan got it right.

rhubarb bars

crust

1 cup soft butter

1/2 cup powder sugar

2 cups flour

dash salt

*pulse ingredients in food processor. pat into the bottom of a greased 9x13 inch baking dish (i like a thinner crust than megan, so i would only use about 3/4 of the dough...)

fruit

5 cups rhubarb (diced into 1 inch squares)

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

*mix ingredients together and evenly distribute over crust

topping

2 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar

2 sticks chilled butter (cut up into bits)

*pulse ingredients in food processor and sprinkle evenly over fruit

bake for 50 minutes in a 350 degree oven. chill finished bars in refrigerator.

perks

one of the things about not knowing the gender of my baby is that my mom cant give me a traditional baby gift. so instead, she surprised me with these babies! i am obsessed with them and i cant stop staring at them in my closet. i love fryes and i love my mom.

always be prepared

only a couple more days to go (my c-section is scheduled for the 23rd) so i am getting everything all ready. there isnt much to do because i dont know if the baby is a boy or girl but i did make these blankets for the little cherub. i cant wait to bundle this new baby all up.

last few minutes of boredom

while tagg takes his afternoon nap, i find myself to be quite bored. i realize the novelty of being bored is about to go out the window but until then i have to think of things to do to keep myself occupied. and my idea of a fun afternoon is being in the kitchen.

i made butter yellow cupcakes with peanut butter and raspberry jelly buttercream. the only thing is that i like to bake things but not necessarily eat them so luckily craig's friends at work love treats!

so does tagg.

have fun with that one.

thats what craig said to me a of couple nites ago when tagg was saying something even more outrageous than what he's yelling in this video: "lady, honking is annoying!". i need to work on this little boy's tolerance. and to watch how often i say "annoying" throughout the day.