Reid Anderson is HERE!!!!

     Tuesday April 19, 2011, I went to the hospital at 5:30 am for a planned induction. The day progressed nicely and by 1:59pm Reid Anderson Schneeberger had arrived! He weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces and was 22 inches long! His head was full of black hair. The poor kid already had his daddy's receding hair line! On Wednesday April 20 at 3:30pm Jason, Reid and I were in the car headed for home! I was very thankful the doctor allowed us to go home early. From day 1 Reid has been a GREAT baby! We've had 1 sleepless night but the other 3 nights have been perfect. Allison is beside herself with pride for her little brother. She feeds him, holds him, and talks nonstop to him. Sometimes I catch her telling him, "Come on Reid, wake up so we can play! I just love you so much!" Then I have to go get a tissue because this always makes me tear up! :) Breastfeeding has been interesting with Alli around. I confided to her that it's a bit embarrassing having her watch me feed her brother because I'm still trying to "figure it out." She laughed at me and said, "You're feeding him like our cows feed their babies!" Then she ran off giggling! Oh well...what can you do?!

     My heart is so full of love when I look at my children. I can't believe that my husband and I have created these two very perfect beings together. God's abundance of love is so evident in my life and this gives me so much to be thankful for. I have a husband of 8 years who loves and respects me, 2 beautiful children that complete me, and I live a lifestyle that I wouldn't change for the world. Let the adventures begin....!

Ready or Not...

     I can't believe that in 24 hours I'll be meeting my son for the first time. I'm looking forward to holding him, rocking him, and introducing him to his sister. A part of me is a little nervous though too. I've been out of the baby loop for awhile now and to be quite honest, going back to diapers and nightly feedings isn't something I look forward to. But I do remember that those times didn't last very long with Alli and I was eager to rush her through the baby stage. With my son, I would really like to slow it down and just enjoy each day that God blesses us with. I don't want it rushed. I also want to get rid of that attitude, "when the kids get older." I'm finally at a point in my life that I really just want to live in the here and now.
     It's funny how I feel anxious for Alli. I want so badly to make sure she feels secure and loved during this time. I bought her a gift for when she comes to the hospital to meet her new brother. She loves the Little Critters series so I thought the book Me and the New Baby would be perfect. I also bought her some candy because she does have one heck of a sweet tooth!
     Tonight as I put her to bed, I realized that this is the last night that will be just me and her. Most nights that's how it is and I really love that time we share together. It's almost like a delicious secret that we share and look forward to. That's all going to change and I can't help but wonder....but at the same time there's so much to anticipate bringing home a baby. I wonder how he's going to change the dynamics of our set routines. I also wonder how much mother henning Alli will be doing. Life is so great. I can't wait to get this new chapter started!

Pride

     Tonight my family went to a friends 30th birthday party. It was your typical birthday party for our area: cookout, in a barn, couple of kegs, and karaoke. Now karaoke didn't start until a little bit later into the night and it was met with lots of laughter and a little resistance. The birthday boy was trying to encourage people to get up there and break out a tune but nobody would, that is until my 4 year old daughter did! I was at the table talking with friends and Jason was doing the same thing only with all the guys around the grill. All the sudden I hear a little girl start singing You Are My Sunshine. I was wondering who it was when I looked up to see my daughter standing at the front of the barn, microphone in hand, nervously singing. My world stopped. She was beautiful... and brave... and so innocent as she stood there and sang. The whole place got real quite as everyone stopped to watch and listen to her sing. She literally captivated the entire party with her simple song. When she finished, she ran right into my arms. I was fighting tears as I hugged her fiercely. My heart was swollen with pride for my beautiful daughter. It turned out, Alli sang because nobody else would and the birthday boy wanted people to sing. She thought if she did then other people would too.
     As I look at my daughter and reflect on the young lady she is learning to become, I can't help but feel tremendous pride in her. Both Jason and I expect a lot from her in terms of behavior and work ethic and she has always met our expectations or exceeded them. She has a caring heart, funny personality, and brains to boot! I have no idea how I got so lucky to have such a great daughter. But I do know, I wouldn't change one little hair on her head for the world. I love you Allison Noel Schneeberger!

Ring of Fire

     On Sunday my husband gets this bright idea to burn the pasture that surrounds our house. The wind was barely there and the conditions were good. The burn went well! I got to see a bobcat run from the pasture where his home was burning, to the middle of the dirt road, where he stopped dead in his tracks looking at all the people, before finally running across to the next pasture. Poor cat..but it sure was comical! I was the official photographer for the evening but missed these would be spectacular photos because I was laughing too hard! Speaking of people...holy moly we had people coming out of the wood works to watch our "little burn." I can't even tell you how many city folks called in an out of control fire to the three surrounding fire departments! Farmers and ranchers all over the USA burn off dead grass and field every spring, and every spring city folk act like this is something new. Let me tell you, nothing can scare the pants right off these people like a pasture fire! 

Aarrgggg..........Is it over yet?

     Pregnancy hormones are the worst thing that can ever happen to a woman. Sometimes I feel on top of the world then, without notice, I'm ready to tear someone's head off. It's ridiculous, confusing, and irritating. I cry, a lot. Oh man do I cry. It's flat out embarrassing. I cry over everything; commercials, random thoughts I have, when I'm mad, happy and sad. I even cry because I cry! Oh, and I've become needy. As if crying weren't bad enough, I had to turn into one of those women who constantly need to be told they're loved and to be held. AND I want to talk about my feelings! WHAT?!!! It. Is. Bad. Never, in my relationship have I ever wanted to "talk about it" just to feel better. I'm a problem solver. This is how Jason knows me. He also knows that if I'm crying, then it's best to keep your distance because I'm angry. Don't even think about coddling me. But for some reason, these insane hormones do not follow by the rules. At this point in the game, my uterus and my emotions are ready to give this baby the ol' heave ho. The welcome mat has been rolled up and the incubator needs to turn off. My arms are MORE than willing to cocoon my baby so...come to mama! Well, until he decides to come, I guess I'll just have to deal with all this craziness. Maybe one day, I'll look back and remember this time and smile. Maybe.

Maternity Pictures: What an experience!

     Recently I had maternity pictures done by my good friend Jules. I didn’t do this with Alli and now I regret that, just a little bit. So this was a huge step for me, one that I backed out of many times before actually committing and following through with. See, even though I have this insanely huge ego, I tend to be a very modest person. One of Jason’s favorite past times is teasing me about how “teacher like” I dress, whatever that means. But the process turned out to be kind of fun. It was the first time ever I could actually take a picture without having to worry about sucking in my belly! In fact, the more I let it all hang out, the better. What’s not to love about that? The most surprising thing about the day was the pictures that I ended up loving. I really wanted “candid” pictures with my husband and me lazily lying on our couch looking comfortable and cute. These looked great online. We took several and I hated them all! (Remember the movie Batman in which Danny Davito played the Penguin? Yeah, he and I had way too much in common in terms of girth. YIKES!) Then there were the dreaded “bare belly” pictures. I was seriously frightened to show my very pregnant and naked belly to the world however I did it. (I know what you’re thinking and yes, I AM WOMAN!!!) Surprisingly, these pictures happened to be my absolute favorite ones of the day. I didn’t feel like I was the focus in these picture but rather the life I am growing was. Here are some of the pictures that were snapped that day, including the bare belly! And in case you didn’t catch that, let me try again. WARNING! Viewer discretion is advised!

Preggo Cravings

I have learned that pregnancy cravings can be very intense. With my daughter, I didn’t really crave anything except watermelon. Oh my, did I crave watermelon. I would eat an entire melon in one day! Aside from my daily melon, I was good. With baby #2, I crave things on whims and in a manner so deep that it’s almost frightening. One of these cravings happened to be Frito Chili Pie. I swear that craving hit me so fast and furious I would have hurt anyone who got in my way of partaking in it.

Then there was the “I need something sweet pronto” craving. Not just anything would do either. I wanted something new and different. After reading through one of my favorite food blogs, I found a recipe for Cherry Cake Pudding.  It’s moist, sweet, and best served warm. Yum-O!

Unfortunately, these pesky cravings aren’t helping me to maintain a “healthy weight” gain. The doc says I should be gaining 1-1 ½ pounds a week at this point. I have a confession, last week I gained 3 lbs! Though I enjoyed every bit of how I gained those 3 measly little pounds, I have decided it’s time to employ some self-control. So why not revert back to watermelon? It’s healthy and sweet. Surely it would satisfy me this time around as much as it did with my first bambina. After eating a couple of pieces I got this brilliant idea to make watermelon ice. See, the watermelons just aren’t any good this time of year and they need some help. So I pureed 5 cups of cubed watermelon, 2 cups of chopped strawberries, 2 tbsp of Lemoncello, 1 tbsp of lemon juice, and ½ cup sugar together then froze it. Mmm….Now that was good watermelon! This seems to be working for now but who knows what these crazy hormones will dictate to me tomorrow!

Watermelon Ice

Cherry Cake Pudding

Frito Chili Pie