Cupcakes!

A routine Thursday evening and looking for something different to do tonight.  Since Alex has been big on helping me around the kitchen, I decided to ask him to be my sous chef and bake some cupcakes with me.

I told him we could decorate with sprinkles. That's all we talked about for the next 5 minutes.

Now I know Gordon Ramsey would be disappointed in us since this is not good, honest, fresh, local (unless getting it from the local Safeway counts) food but we're not exactly going for a michelin star so that's okay.

 Dumping the flour. Requires much concentration.

 Making sure we get EVERY last microscopic particle out.

 

Dumping the eggs.

I took care of adding the oil, water and using the electric mixer.

Helping put the cupcake liners in the pan...

 And counting along the way.

 Now comes the tough part.  Waiting!

After waiting what seemed like an eternity, finally the timer went ding.  Alex has his leveler. Because you know, that's essential when baking cupcakes. He must have picked up the tip on his most recent visit to Home Depot.

 

Quality control testing of the frosting. Need to taste it to make sure it's okay. In fact, need to take a few bites just to make extra, extra sure!

OCD Alex is not sure if each cupcake has exactly the same amount of sprinkles. We might have to toss all of these out and start over again

After much consideration, they thankfully passed the inspection. Voila! 

"Which one should I pick?"

 Yummy! This one looks good.

Not too shabby.

Finished off with a glass of milk!

These lasted a mere 2 days in our house. Too tasty to avoid. We're going to try strawberry flavored ones next time.

Big Brother Alex Meets Little Brother Zack

While we were at the hospital, Alex was at daycare. Our daycare lady was nice enough to drop him off at the hospital in the evening so he could meet Zack. Apart from Zack's actual arrival, this was the moment Matt and  I had been excited about most.

We had no idea how Alex would react. I spent a lot of time talking to him about the new baby, buying little toys for him and wrapping them up in case, preparing myself for any kind of hunger strikes, tantrums and/or jealous. He's typically a very mild mannered, patient good  kid but toddlers are unpredictable.We prepared for the worst and hoped for the best.

Alex was over the moon when he came to visit.  He had the hugest grin on his face the whole time he was there.

Alex arriving at the hospital

Seeing Baby Zack for the first time.

All Smiles

Vaali

Excited

Kissing Baby Brother

No longer a baby

The Willis Men

Zack meets the Grandparents...all of them!

Four very delighted grandparents came to visit us at the hospital and meet Zack. This was a first time opportunity for all of them.  Even my parents never got to initially see Alex since he was taken to the ICU for a couple of days as precaution.

The pictures pretty much speak for themselves

I think it's  pretty obvious who my parents are and who Matt's parents are

Hello Zack!

Zachary James Willis was born on November 15th at 10:57am, weighing 8lbs 2oz and 20.5 inches long.
During his first few moments he looked almost identical to Alex. In fact, I found a photo on my iPhone of me and Alex minutes after he was born and showed Matt.  He didn't realize it was me and Alex, thought it was me and Zack.

Alex and me in 2010

Zack  and me 2012

 Initially they looked identical but even over the course of a few hours Zack started looking a little different. Here are some more photos

Hello Mommy

Hello Daddy

Burrito Baby

First Hour

This photo does not resemble Zack at all

Labor and Delivery

At my 39 week appointment there were no signs of Baby Willis # 2 coming early. Alex surprised us at 35.5 weeks so we were on guard this time starting in mid-October. Matt's parents decided to arrive on November 6th thinking if the baby came early then they'd have only missed a couple of weeks and if the baby came later then at least they'd get some one-on-one time with Alex and simultaneously get to hang out with their evil pregnant hormonal daughter-in-law.

Bob (my father-in-law) was set to return to the UK on November 21st and none of us imagined the baby actually arriving on his actual due date so as we got closer to it, we started considering things like an induction or maybe pushing the flight out.

I had an afternoon appointment set for November 15th (my 40 week check up) and was going to see if there was anything we could do however I never made the appointment.

Thar morning, I rolled out of bed at about 8:40am and heard/felt a pop which was my water breaking. I called Labor and  Delivery and spoke to a nurse who asked if I was having contractions.  At that precise moment I wasn't, so she told me to have breakfast, take a shower and come in in the next hour or so. I was in no particular rush since I had 12 hours between my water breaking and delivering Alex. I also had zero contractions with him.

 However after showering I started feeling back pains. I tried to eat breakfast but the pains were getting worse and quicker. This may sound stupid but I didn't actually realize those were real contractions. We quickly drove to Kaiser Hospital.  The 12 minute car journey seemed a lot longer. By the time we arrived I couldn't even walk, I had to ask for wheelchair. L&D is on the fifth floor which doesn't make sense to me but I am sure there's a reason.  An old lady had to ask the nurse who was pushing my wheelchair for directions in the slowest possible way.  Then that same lady eventually got in the elevator with us and took her sweet time deciding what floor she wanted to go to. I wanted to punch her.

In fact I pretty much wanted to punch everyone for the next 20 minutes.  When I got to  L&D they assumed I hadn't called ahead of time and for whatever reason were not really prepared for my arrival. They told me to go into a room and wait so I sat on the edge of the bed having pretty horrible contractions waiting for the nurses to get me set up AND my epidural! I must have pushed the nurse button 5 times in 5 minutes because I was getting really impatient.

Matt

Don't let the smile fool you. Behind it is my I'm-going-to-punch-you face!

A midwife came in and asked me "Se habla Espanol"...again wanted to punch her but nicely let her know I speak English.  I asked if I could have an epidural or IV. At first they said yes but then realized I was already 9.8cm dilated and had no time for anything.  The room went from having 1-2 people in it to having about 8 people and before I knew it, it was time to have the baby.

They told me the second delivery is usually quicker but I didn't think it would be THIS quick.  At10:57am I delivered our second son, Zachary James Willis who weighed 8 lbs and 2 oz and was 20.5 inches long.

( I'm still a little traumatized from having no kind of drugs or epidural but it's more the thought than the actual event that has me disturbed).

I called my parents and my in-laws both of whom were surprised Zachary was already here! A new chapter begins.

Zachary James Willis

Kitchen Cabinet Renovation

At 9 months pregnant I was huffing and puffing around Lowe's (home improvement store) and walked by a Rustoleum display for renovating kitchen cabinets. Being a Pinterest junkie and spending months and months looking up DIY and home improvement pins, I suddenly decided our cabinets would look fantastic in white! I've never been a fan of our oak cabinets but know that replacing them completely is out of the question for now. We have far more pressing upgrades (backyard, bathroom, garage) that ought to take priority. I ran the idea by Matt, expecting for him to ignore me (I usually have about 110 projects daily, most ridiculous) who actually agreed that it would make the space look a lot brighter. My in-laws (Bob and Dot) arrived on November 6th to spend time with Alex and expect the arrival of Baby Willis #2 (estimated due date November 16th). After a few days of getting settled and waiting for the baby, everyone got antsy and we decided to give this cabinet project a go. Well, not so much "we", but more like "they" since it probably wasn't a great idea for me to be around paint fumes and varnish. So Matt and Bob went off to Lowe's and purchased everything we needed, the cabinet kit, brushes, painter's tape, etc. They also optimistically purchased pieces for a mantel which was a second project in mind. The DVD that came with the cabinet said it should take about 24 hours total for the project to be completed. Clearly they didn't factor in drying time or multiple paint coats. Or the birth of a baby in between! It took us 5ish days from start to finish. We added an extra step of adding handles on all the doors but still, 24 hours? Not possible. Also as I mentioned, Baby Willis 2 decided to show up towards the end of the project which caused a slight delay. I will stop blabbing now and show some before, during and after photos. Spoiler alert: cabinets look absolutely beautiful and our kitchen looks much brighter. I can't even remember what it looked like before.

Before

Looks like someone is having second thoughts

So far so good

Dot busy painting

Cleaning

Second coat? Third Coat? Lost count

Lots of doors to paint,  each required 3 coats

The night before Zachary was born

Just need to screw a couple more doors on