Knowledge or Ignorance

About two weeks ago I found myself wondering "Is ignorance bliss, or is knowing half the battle." Kind of a weird question I guess, but at that moment I was seriously contemplating that. I am about 15 weeks pregnant with our second child (since I have not blogged much lately, I guess that was my official announcement about that). When I was pregnant with Ethan we found out I had an "incompetent cervix." I had to have emergency surgery to keep from giving birth in the second trimester and then the 15 weeks of bedrest. The doctors told me the second time would be different. Yes the medical issue is still there but the surgery would be preventative, would take place early on and I would have minimal bedrest, hopefully only as a recovery to the surgery. At that time I thought knowing is half the battle; next time around this will be manageable.
Well I had the surgery about two weeks ago. I was shocked at how much pain I was in. I didn't remember the pain from the surgery before, I just remember the annoying bedrest. Chris gently reminded me that I was in the hospital for days following the first surgery and had an IV that nurses where pumping meds into. I was in a state of shock by all that was going on that I must have missed that piece where the nurses where pumping me full of pain killers. Ignorance is bliss!?!?
This time I came home hours after the surgery. I thought bedrest would be nothing, for crying out loud I was on it for 15 weeks last time, this time it was only for two weeks. As long as everything recovered fine. After a day or two I found myself annoyed at bedrest and wondering how on earth I could handle this for another week or more. Really, "Hello Amanda, 15 weeks last time, two this time." What a baby I was being. So I started to wonder, why did this seem more challenging for me? I knew what to expect. I think for me, in this situation, I did much better with the ignorance. When I did not know what was going on, and the doctors were telling me if I got up my baby could be born right then and there, I just did what they said. Not that it wasn't hard (I really struggled emotionally with all of it) , but I was just in a state of shock with all this new info. This time I know the risk, I know that everything that can be done preventatively was and is being done and I know the surgery was done WAY before it became a problem so staying in bed was hard!
I still think that the majority of the time knowing is half the battle, but in this case, my type A personality took over yet again and had it all planned out, and it turned out to be harder than I expected. When will I learn that God is in control and I need to give it all to him and find joy in the moment and not expect things to go my way. As much as I love to know all, some times I do better when I am ignorant.
Does that make sense? Does anyone else feel that way?

Buzz Lightyear

I am usually not the one to get into the Halloween spirit (besides carving pumpkins). I just don't get into the whole dressing up thing. But this year I seem to be having more fun with it. Our church has decided to do a harvest festival tomorrow and we are taking Ethan and then also working a booth with our youth group kids.
Anyway back to my point...I think it is insane how much people will spend on costumes for this holiday. So a month or so ago, while at the mall, Ethan and made out way into the Disney store where they were having a sale on PJ's (for the record I also think PJ's are overpriced), so I let Ethan pick out one that he would like to dress up like. With a little creativity from dad add in, we have a cheap, and I think, cute halloween costume.

So here is what we came up with:

Buzz Lightyear PJ's-$10

Daddy made and designed Buzz Lightyear wings- $4.50

A two and half year old pretending to be Buzz Lightyear-Priceless

New House E's Room

I mentioned a while back that we moved. About the time we moved it seemed like the sky started falling and our lives got turned upside down. I have been wanting to post photos of our new house (mainly for my records, but some people have actually ask to see them. shocking!). I did a post a while back showing our backyard and grass we put in. Well today I am going to show you some photos of Ethan's room. Eventually I will show photos of the whole house, but like I said things got turned upside down so although we have been living here a while it only just now getting FULLY decorated.Ethan loves his sports themed bedding. He also has Lightning McQueen sheets that Gamma made for him. He LOVES those!

Daddy screen printed this poster a long time ago. When we moved we found it (funny how that happens) and thought it would look cool in Ethan's room.

Ethan's room with all his toys in their home. This is not always the case. This is just minutes after we finished cleaning his room.


N-Tee Sami and Mommy painted these mini canvases for Ethan's room of all things Ethan: a baseball, robot, football, car and a bug. He loves them all.

My Ethan looking up at the aforementioned paintings (I had just finished hanging them). Ethan we love you so much baby!!!

**As we continue to finish the rest of the house I will post more tours. We are getting close, we spent all day today cleaning out the remaining boxes in the garage and hanging things on the walls throughout the house.

Questions

I was recently tagged in a friends blog to answer some fun questions. Here are my answers.

1. What is your signature color?

I must say it is probably black, for clothing anyway. I am trying to branch out a bit more, but it looks good with everything, it usually looks more put together than other colors and it looks with the blonde hair.

For my house I have been into that brighter green that is popular right now. So the house we just moved into has a nice brighter feel to it. Maybe, hopefully one day soon I will get time to take some photos of parts of the house.

2. Your most embarrassing moment?

Okay one time in junior high I sat on a chair in my English class that had chocolate on it (unbeknown to me). I was wear white jeans (it was the early 90's, 'nough said) and when I got up from my seat to go talk to the teacher I had chocolate all over my bum and the class got a great kick out of it. I did not so much. Fun times (it took me awhile to remember this. I must have suppressed it pretty deep. haha).

3. Would you ever get anything pierced other than your ears? If yes, what?

I think I would get a teeny tiny piercing on my nose. But I don't even wear earrings anymore so I am not thinking that is likely.

4. Are you a social butterfly or a homebody?

I am a homebody, an introvert. Over the years I have learned to be more outgoing and when I am with people that I am very comfortable with and know well I can appear outgoing. But I prefer to not go to big group things, and I don't meet people well. It isn't that I don't want to be social or meet new people, it is that I am always so worried that I am not making a good impression that I might be annoying them. It is very anxiety producing for me. It is much easier for me to open up on the blog or on FB becuase it is not face to face. I know that seems a bit wierd but it is true.

Example: When I was a toddler I would only speak at home to my parents. Extended family thought I was mute for a long time. My parents put me in preschool to help me socialize more.

5. Are you done having babies or do you want more?

I would love to have more. I am not sure how many more though, we like to to take it one at a time. ;)

6. Are you loyal to your hairstylist or are do you tryout every salon in town?

I am very loyal to my hairstylist, "Little Patty." I love her and rumor has it she might be moving to a new salon and I will follow her there. I go to her, Chris and Ethan do, my sister Sam and even mom. Not to mention a handful of friends who all recommended her to me.

7. How many times have you moved in your life?

I have moved 9 times in my life. Of that 9, four of them were in college alone. I didn't think too much about moving as a kid (I only moved twice then) but as an adult I must say it is something I don't like.

8. If you could plan your dream vacation with just you and your love where would it be?

Probably Greece or Italy or some sort of European backpacking vacation.

here are my tags:

Two Little Monkeys

Samantha Michelle Photography

Adventures of the Matlocks

Legoland

Today Ethan and I had a chance to go to Legoland. I had never been. Ethan went one time when he was one with Chris, but I ended up with food poisoning so I missed out. Well today my good friend Stacey had a free pass and used it on me. That was nice of her. Thanks Stace.

The boys had such a wonderful time, they are such great friends.

Ethan giving N a hug. So cute.

The boys got to play on the cool Duplo playgrounds. There was even a train ride that they got to go on by themselves. Made me a little sad that he could ride a ride without me. But he LOVED it and had a fantastic time on it.

They a huge "splash pad playground complete with waterslides. N LOVED the water slides. Ethan on the other hand had a great time watching N, but never got any higher than the third step up. He is not a fan of water dropping on his face from above. :)




Stace and N riding the plane ride.
Look I was even there. :) A rare self portrait to prove my attendance.
It is such a great park for little kids. The boys had a great time and now both of them are fast asleep napping to their hearts content.

Our house-yard

Like I have mentioned previously, the last couple months have been busy and filled with LOTS of changes. One of the more positive changes is that we have moved. We had been wanting to move for quite some time, but there was lots of things in the way. But those things are no more and a couple months ago we moved into a cute little house in the neighboring city. We LOVE it. The neighborhood is quiet and safe, we have a garage and a yard and Auntie Sami has her own room instead of my couch. God has truly blessed us with being able to live here.

I don't have a whole ton of pictures of the house; we still have lots of things to do to finish decorating and "moving in." But I do have some pictures of our new backyard. When we moved in the "grass" was green but we quickly learned it was all weeds and then died pretty quick. So we decided to redo the backyard.

Our backyard before

The grass arrives!

Chatzski was so excited about the grass that she claimed the first piece that was laid down.

Our friends Jill and Chuck helped us out a TON.

Laying down the sod

My feet after laying the sod down on the dirt. Thought you all might like that one.

The finished product!

I will work on getting more photos of the rest of the house. But for now we are all just enjoying our backyard!

Art

Last week I decided to have Ethan do a little art project. I had bought a couple of actual art canvases last year. I had an idea in my head, but it was not going to work out after all. So I decided what could be cool than having an actual art piece of our son's hanging in our house.

So I got him all dressed up for painting!I got out all our paint supplies.

And I let him go at it.
I must admit it was a bit hard to sit back and let him do his thing and not help him with colors and placement. But I wanted it to be 100% him, so I did not say anything at all.
It got pretty messy out there; that is why we started this project in our yet to be finished backyard.
At the end he was so excited to show me his finished project! I absolutely love it!! And now it is hanging in the hallway outside his bedroom! We will always cherish this piece of art he did.