Everett's home movies

7 week smiles from Kristi Rittenhouse on Vimeo.

evertts first time at the playground from Kristi Rittenhouse on Vimeo.

funk dancing from Kristi Rittenhouse on Vimeo.

sleepy dance from Kristi Rittenhouse on Vimeo.
When my first son was born, we started a file called Liam's home movies and it's been a joy to watch him grow up and capture moments like smiles, crawling, walking and other fun life moments. So I recently just created Everett's home movie file on my computer and here are the few we have for him. Happy 2 months Everett Flin! I love you so!

Everett Flin

We welcomed Everett Flin* Rittenhouse to our family on the morning of October 30th. Born 10:30am, weighing 7lb 6oz and 20 inches long.

We had Liam and now Everett at a birth center. It's been a wonderful experience, far greater and more relaxed than I ever thought childbirth could be. So on thursday morning I went for my 40 week + 2 day checkup. They asked all the standard questions, tried to see how big they thought he would be ( they guessed 7 1/2) and asked if I'd like to try to get things going. I kindly replied "My husband is finishing my floor tonight, laughs, so I'm going to hold off." I was already having some irregular contractions and I had driven down by myself so thought better of it. Plus I still had over a week to go, so I thought I'd see what happens.

So I drove home, had coffee with my sister, had this strong urge to use up my apples to make some apple hand pies, didn't really have to much concern with dinner, helped Liam collect some leaves for an art project and Jason worked on the floor. My contractions got closer together as the evening progressed. Liam and I did some errands, Jason nearly finished the floor and I called my Mom to tell her this might be the real deal. By 12pm they were time-able contractions. I got a few hours of sleep and by 4am I knew this was happening. We called my Mom, had some oatmeal as a family, scrambled to get our stuff together and get on the turnpike before rush hour started.

 We got to the birth center around 8am. I was around 5 cm when we got there, they checked the heartbeat, which they were a little concerned with at first. Early decelerations, I believe they called it. They kept monitoring it during contractions and after a few more, the issue was resolved enough that they felt confident I could stay, labor and give birth there. Things moved quickly in the next hour and a half I went from 5-10cm. My water broke, they quickly asked Jason to get the nurse in the other room, his head popped out by the time Jason was returning and he was fully birthed in around 10-15 minutes. His pink, crying, squishy body was a breath of relief, joy and exhaustion. He was beautiful. Lots of hair and so small. Not really that small, but Liam was 8lb 4 oz so it seemed that way. I held him for over two hours before they did his apgar. It was pure joy. We got time to just marvel at him.
He slept a lot. We got to all rest together for a bit, Everett ate a little bit and we on our way by 5pm that evening. We had dinner at home and then Liam came back from my parents house to meet his little brother. It was all a very quick, happy, amazing, whirlwind of a day. I, amazingly, didn't feel wiped out this time around and it's truly been a blessing with having two now. Everett will be two weeks old tomorrow and he couldn't be more loved and cherished by his Mama, Daddy and big brother. He loves to sleep ( way more that Liam did ) eats pretty well, has the best faces and is starting to have more alert time. He cycles with Liam's nap, giving me some moments to rest and relax and write down these memories.

* Liam helped us out with Everett's middle name. Jason and I were having a hard time coming up with one, so we just went with what Liam had been calling him all along "baby flynn". Only he was referencing his favorite fire truck on thomas. In time it grew on us and we decided to just go with it. I just decided to change up the spelling for fun.

39 weeks

 So this will be my last pregnant post I'm sure. I'm due on Tuesday, so we'll just have to wait and see when this bean wants to grace us with his presence. As I write this, I'm secretly hoping it's not before Tuesday since we are staining our hallway and stairs this weekend ( we, as in I moved out again and Jason got stuck with the fun job of staining). It's all been a little bit of racing the clock with this pregnancy vs. home renovations. Our stairs got installed last week and we are hoping to have the floors stained and finished, so we can wrap up this renovation for now. Sure, we still have trim and touch ups, but the end is finally in sight. It's been an emotional last two weeks as we weren't sure if everything could get done. Making last minute house decisions and getting ready for the cooler weather. Even when we thought things couldn't get crazier, they did. This weekend our shower broke, Jason's car window broke, and Liam and I came down with colds, on top of packing my "just in case I go into labor bags" and having them accessible, along with my we're staying with my parents for another long weekend bags.

There have been some lovely moments along with the hard and crazy ones. Like the morning we got to go apple picking with my dear friend, Kerah. She snapped some pictures of Liam, bean and I! Liam and I also got to have a fun little shake shack date last weekend. We made applesauce with my Mom, I worked my last shift at work and did my last cake order. We've also been able to get to the park and walk on the trail to enjoy autumn's beauty.

We couldn't be more excited to finally meet this baby boy. It's been one very exciting pregnancy with lots of activity, projects and busyness. I am looking forward to some slower days with all three of my boys at home with me by my side.

Super Mario Bros. Cake

Happy Weekend all! I leave you with one of my favorite kid cakes I've done this year!

A fine fall day!

 Last weekend we went to visit Graceful Glen alpaca farm for their national farm days. It's been on my radar for a couple of years as something I'd like to do with Liam, so I was happy that we had the weekend free to go see the alpacas. We started off with a hayride and let me just say, that a hayride with a 3 year old, makes it just so much more fun. The sheer delight of sitting on hay and throwing some ( of course) and being pulled by a tractor was magical for this little boy. We then went to feed the alpacas. Outside we fed the males with hay and inside the barn we fed the Mama's and the babies with pellets. Liam wasn't the least bit shy with them. I was a little surprised at just how much he loved feeding them. He played some of their harvest games, learned about washing and carding the alpacas fur and got to try spinning some. We also got a hat for Liam and his baby brother from their great little shop.

On the way home we stopped by our favorite vegetable stand to look at the pumpkins and find a few small pumpkins and gourds to make the inside of our home feel festive for fall. I love to decorate the porch, but that will have to wait till next year as we are still using the porch for a work zone for the house. Liam picked a pumpkin out for his room and we got a few more to be scattered around the kitchen and dinning room. We got to chatting with the lady who lives there and runs the stand. She saw us and said, hey if you want to take any pictures in the flowers or pumpkins go for it. So, of course we couldn't pass up that invitation especially since I actually had my dslr with us from the alpaca farm. It's not quite as often these days, that I take it with us, so I was delighted for the impromptu photo fun we had there. The owner was such a sweet woman, telling us about her two boys and asking about my pregnancy. She even picked 3 gorgeous sunflowers, handed them to Liam and told him to give them to his sweet Mommy. This season already makes my heart so full, but spending the day with my family outdoors at the farm and at the patch just made it one of the finest days I can remember.

35 weeks

Autumn is here now. Making it all the more real to me each day that our little bean will soon greet us! This is truly my favorite season, so I am happy to get to have another little one during this time. Cool mornings, pumpkin picking, apple cider, pumpkin donuts, hayrides, and burning candles are some of the many wonderful things we enjoyed this weekend to celebrate the season. I'm trying to soak up these activities with Liam and focus on him, since soon, it will be a divided focus. Still wondering how that will look, how Liam will react and what day to day life will mean with two little ones.

Applesauce + Raspberry Picking

If there's one thing Liam has done since he was born, it has been to go raspberry picking!!! See here and here . Even though raspberries are now not his favorite thing to eat, he still tried a few and picked a few and found other ways to amuse himself at the patch. Another tradition Liam loves is making applesauce with my family. Mostly because he gets to splash around in apples, take bites and turn the applesauce crank. I love these little experiences I get to share with him year after year. He remembers them and talks about them all throughout the year. We look forward to taking his little brother with us on our next adventures in the orchard.

Alaskan Cruise Cake

This was a cake for a co-workers birthday! She was headed off on an Alaskan cruise, shortly after this party. Jason and I would love to see Alaska one day. It's definitely on our travel bucket list.

 I had a lot of fun with this cake, from the tiny cruise ship details to the icebergs and little penguin hanging out. So much fun!! I also recently got a stamp set, that I've set aside specifically for fondant, so I had fun imprinting the message with stamps for a change.

 Happy birthday Louise!

33 weeks

This babe is growing quickly now. I feel it's strong movements at the most inconvenient of times lately. Say, when I'm piping on icing details for a cake or desperately trying to fall asleep, but it just reminds me I have a strong baby boy growing steadily and nothing makes a Mama's heart feel better and reassured than that!

It has been a busy couple of weeks, moving back into our house, cleaning, washing baby clothes, taking stock of what we have and still need for the baby and the house, celebrating a birthday and a wedding.

 Our floors are hopefully going in this week and we have some meetings with contractors to finish up the details of our house. Liam is desperately looking forward to bringing his toys downstairs again and I am as well. Right now our dining and living room sit empty and we miss having a downstairs ( besides the kitchen and laundry room) that function like livable spaces.

We just got a second, more family friendly car, for Jason, ( bye, bye old truck) to drive to work everyday. A Honda, Element that will be more reliable, with way better gas mileage and have room for trips to Lowes but still fit two car seats. Not exactly something we wanted to take on this summer, but a necessary must for our life right now.

We are enjoying the little tastes of fall. We stopped for some pumpkin donuts recently and I've been knitting baby things ( and hopefully some for Liam too)

I'm still working some banquets and taking cake orders for the foreseeable future. That's life right now at 33 weeks.

At the beach 2015

 We woke Liam up early Sunday morning to surprise him with a day at the beach. We'd been promising all summer, that when we moved back home, we would go to the beach. This kid loves sand. In fact, at playgroup you can usually find him in the sandbox, regardless of who's around playing or not. It's his happy spot.

So imagine his delight when he realized he had an unlimited sandbox for the day. This was his first time at the beach. Each year, we mean to go, but something always comes up. We haven't been since I was pregnant with Liam.

He loved the ocean too. It was fun to watch him get acquainted with the ocean, waves and tides. We took a few dips in the "pool" as Liam called it, but most of the day was spent playing in the sand. We stopped for a picnic lunch and to get custard on the boardwalk. And to really make the day special, we stopped in Philly on the way home so I could get a lobster roll. A pregnancy/ summer dream come true. It was really a lovely relaxing family day, that was well deserved for everyone, considering the grueling, bumpy summer it's been for Jason and the long time we spent away from him and our home.