Announcing the arrival of Cole Aaron Mellen

Cole was born on September 17, 2008 at 9:26 PM. He was 8 lbs 13 oz and 20 inches long. After a doctor's appointment that morning and a two hour trip to our zoo, contractions finally started in the early afternoon. We started getting ourselves organized and preparing to go to the hospital. We dropped off Grant at Amy's house around 4:30 and got to the hospital between 5 and 5:30. I was nervous that we were going too early because the contractions weren't that consistent or that hard but we went anyway. It turned out to be a good thing. I was dilated to between 7 and 8 cm and although I could only feel contractions about every 6-8 minutes they were actually coming every 3-4 minutes. No one could believe I was not in pain and perfectly relaxed so far along into my labor. My labor progressed at a nice, casual pace with no complications or concerns and about 5 to 5-1/2 hours later Cole arrived. We are very blessed to have this new little guy in our family and blessed to have had such an uneventful birth, particulary after Grant's lightning speed birth with complications. Cole and I will be in the hospital until tonight. My mom arrives tomorrow for about 10 days then Chad's mom comes for another 10 days. Cole is turning out to be a good sleeper and a good eater. Grant and Chad spent the better part of yesterday with us at the hospital. Grant was more interested in being close to mommy than baby Cole, which was expected. His interest increased throughout the day though and he is quite sweet with him. They will be a good pair and probably cause all sorts of trouble together when they are older. Chad and I can't wait. Enjoy the pictures below.

(Cole sleeping on mommy's lap)

(Cole all snuggled up for a nap)

(Grant checking out baby Cole with daddy)

(Grant meeting Cole for the first time)

Addendum to our Crazy Weekend

I forgot to mention in my post about our weekend that on Saturday Grant went to his first birthday party. His friend Shayna turned 3 so she had a birthday party at her house with some of her friends. Shayna's mom, Regina, is the person who watched Grant during the two years that I worked after he was born. Shayna and her older sister, Oraclle are like sisters to Grant. Grant seemed to have a good time, although it was later in the morning so he was kind of ready for his nap. They had a swimming pool set up in the backyard and pizza and snacks to eat. There was also a pinata. Grant wouldn't hit it though. He kept asking for a turn but then when he got the stick in his hand he would start crying and saying no. Grant enjoyed watching Shayna open her presents and just had fun with the kids. Of course, he loved the cake and candy he won from the pinata.

Scattergories

I got tagged by Adrian to play Scattergories. Here goes.

Here are the rules: Use the first letter of your name to answer the following. They have to be real places, things, names...nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person who tagged you had the same first initial. You can't use your name for the boy/girl name question... Here goes!
Your name: Lindsay

4-letter word: love

Pro sports team: Lions

Celebrity/band: Lindsay Lohan (do I get 2 points for a double "L" and use of my own first name?)

Vehicle: Lexus

TV shows:

City: Las Vegas

Boy name: Linus

Girl name: Lucy

Occupation: Lawyer

Something you wear: Leggings (don't worry I don't really but some people do)

Something you throw away: lima beans

Food: lettuce

Something you find in a bathroom: lipstick

Reason for being late: lightning

Something you shout: "Like I care!!!!!"

I tag Marenda, Sarah and Amy! Happy Scattegoring!!

Our crazy weekend

This weekend Shelli came into town overnight. In true Mellen tradition, we had to take her on a weird Tucson excursion so we took her to this event called Glow at the Triangle L Ranch in Oracle, about 1 hour away from Tucson. Here is a link about the event. http://www.trianglelranch.com/glow.htm

It was funny. Quite the sub-culture we encountered. I am not even sure how to describe what we saw. They had a Scuplture Path that had these weird art things set up. They had a stage with various bands playing, which was fun. It was just a strange, once in a life time experience. The only thing that made it uncomfortable was that I was having contractions and my back hurt. I mentioned to Shelli that whenever we attend these weird events around town, we never seem to run into anyone we know. Shelli said that means we are associating with the right people.

On Sunday, we went to the first fall Music Under the Starts Tucson Pops concert. Several times each year the pops orchestra gives free concerts at Reid Park at the bandshell. We bring cheese and crackers and other snacks and go sit on the grass and listen to the concert. It is about 2 hours. Grant had a great time, playing on the grass, attacking daddy, eating yummy snacks and dancing to the music. We love going to these events. It helps us remember our Chicago days.

Grant the artist

I decided it was time to start providing a creative outlet for Grant, in honor of the artsy Mellen side of his family. Last week I bought him a $.92 watercolor set, which he absolutely loves. You can see how much he loved painting. He just found it more fun to paint himself than the paper.

(Grant doing watercolors)

(Grant doing watercolors)

(Two above are Grant's beautiful watercolor masterpieces)

Because Grant loved painting himself so much Chad suggested that I get him fingerpaints so I did just that yesterday. He loved it and of course loved painting himself as much as the paper. Barry also ended up being slightly fingerpainted but thankfully I caught that before it went too far. I love Crayola washable products. They are a mother's best friend in my opinion.

(Two above are Grant's fingerpaintings)

(Grant intently fingerpainting)

(The aftermath of fingerpainting)

Jelly update

Well, things didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. The jelly is not setting. I have to unseal the jars and add more pectin then reseal the jars. Thank goodness the pectin recipe insert comes with a section about what to do if the jelly doesn't set. I'm bummed though. I followed the instructions just right. I don't know what happened. Does anyone know what you do wrong when jelly doesn't set?

#71: Learn to make jam

Alright folks I did it. I learned to make jam and accomplished one item on my list. After 3 years of living in this house, I finally went out and picked ripe prickly pear from the cacti in our neighborhood, reduced it to juice and then made jelly. Chad and I have talked about me doing that since we moved into our house. Every year, we see the beautiful fruit grow, ripen and fall off without ever being used. Well, not this year. I picked the fruit and made juice on Saturday and then today made the jelly. The worst part was burning the spines off of each piece of fruit. It took me about an hour to clean a half grocery sack full. I had to take each piece of fruit one by one and burn them off using my gas stove burner. It was hot, particularly given I'm so pregnant. I took a couple of breaks but got it done. From there it didn't take took much time. You put the fruit in a big pot, add 1-2 cups of water and boil the fruit for about 20-30 minutes. Once softened, you take a potato masher to the fruit and squeeze out as much juice as you can, then pour it into a bowl through a colander lined with cheese cloth. You leave the colander over the pot to let it drain and let the fruit cool. When it's cool enough to touch, you put on latex gloves and start squeezing the heck out of the fruit mash to get every last drop of juice you possibly can out of the mash. From there, you can drink it or make jelly or whatever else you want. I chose to make jelly. We shall know in a day or two if the jelly turned out. I hope the jars sealed and the jelly set. I'll let you know.

Potty training update

Grant is doing fantastic going pee pee on the potty. He has even gone at the zoo, the baseball game and church without problem. I bring his potty insert with us and he is comfortable going anywhere. He tells me when he needs to go and hasn't had an accident in days. #2 is still another story though. He just won't do it. We have made progress though, in that he no longer freaks out and starts throwing a tantrum when I take him the bathroom to clean him up. Maybe he'll actually go on the potty before he turns 3. Wouldn't that be nice? I'm not complaining though. #2 happens only once or twice a day and sometimes every other day so it's not a huge deal. Going pee pee is a huge accomplishment and I'll take it.

Our Labor Day Weekend

Chad had his first staffing weekend this past weekend and had to work Labor Day for his holiday over the next year so we couldn't go on any fun road trips or anything (although I've now heard from two separate people who went camping and got rained out so I think I'm glad we didn't try it). We managed to have some fun though.

On Saturday, we went to the Desert Museum for one of their Summer Saturday night events. During the summer, the museum stays open late on Saturday nights so you can wander around after dark when it's cooler. We had a good time. Our neighborhood is located in this weird, dry vortex, which means that while it may be raining around the rest of Tucson, it is not raining at our house. Because of this vortex we headed out to the museum, not knowing that it was downpouring at the museum. We had to make a dinner pit stop at McDonald's to wait out some of the rain. Thankfully, it did die down (another blessing of Arizona, rain comes but doesn't stay long) and as we drove closer to the museum it was down to a mere drizzle. The drizzle actually helped keep the night cool, although we did get quite damp by the end. The museum is a fun place, although not my favorite. They have a reptile house, mountain lions, wolves, big horn sheep, beavers etc. Grant kept asking to see more animals and when we told him we had seen them all, he did not accept that answer with much happiness. I have never known a little boy to love looking at animals as much as he does. You can see from the pictures of Grant below, just how wet we got though.

(Grant relaxing in his stroller.)

(Grant petting the baby pigs)

On Labor Day, we went to the very last Tucson Sidewinders game ever. The Sidewinders are the D-backs AAA team and they are moving to Reno. They had their final game last night so we went to enjoy the festivities. We try to go to a few games each season since living here, although I have to say that since having Grant I'm pretty sure I haven't actually seen one of the games. They have all sorts of activities for kids going on during the games. They have a bunch of giant inflatable toys, i.e. a slide and an obstacle course. Grant wanted to try out the obstacle course so I let him. Surprisingly, he did not freak out when he went in it, even though there were lots of bigger kids plowing through it. He went through the obstacle course countless times and some of the kids were so nice to him, helping him out and watching out for him. The pictures below are him in the obstacle course. He had a great time and was upset when they closed it down and he couldn't go through anymore.

Our favorite part of baseball games is the food of course. Chad has his superdog and soda and I enjoy my brat with sauerkraut and fresh squeezed lemonade. Grant loves the peanuts. About three separate times Grant pointed at the cotton candy and asked, "What's that?" Chad, also a sucker for cotton candy, bought some for the two of them to share. Grant, of course, had to hold the bag and graciously shared with his dad. He even told me later that he shared the cotton candy with daddy. (We are forever learning and practicing the concept of sharing so Grant likes to let me know when he does share.) Both father and son had blue fingers, lips and tongues at the end of the bag but loved every minute of it.

(Grant and Chad enjoying cotton candy.)

After the game ended, they had a fantastic fireworks display and the let everyone who wanted go down on the field and run the bases. We, of course, couldn't pass up that opportunity so we headed down with everyone else. I headed to homeplate to capture the Kodak moment and Chad chased Grant around the bases (I'm also way to pregnant to do the chasing). Grant loved it and was running crazy. Chad had to keep grabbing him to put him back on track. Grant thought it was the greatest thing ever and wanted to do it again when he was done.

(Chad and Grant running into home.)

After base running, we had to stop and see Sally Sidewinder. Every time Grant sees one of these mascots he bursts into tears and is really scared. However, last night was a breakthrough. He did not cry, only a little uncertain. Our little boy is growing up. We are sad the Sidewinders are leaving and are going to miss them. It was relatively cheap entertainment.

(Chad and Grant with Sally Sidewinder. Although he looks somewhat terrified, he is not crying.)