Eric's Ice Cream Factory {2018 Summer Blog Project}

I decided that I needed a summer project.  Being new to northwest Ohio, I am not familiar with the area ice cream venues.  So Ian and I are going to visit different ice cream sites and give a rating / review of each.

There was a car dealership across the road so Samuel thought our seats were the best ever - life does not get better than ice cream and watching cars

First up, Eric's Ice Cream Factory. There are several in the area - we visited one in Defiance.  I have to say that I was really impressed!  They had 24 (I think?) different flavors of homemade ice cream (they had soft serve, but who has soft serve when there is another option?)

Positives:

1. nice employees
2. reasonable price
3. generous serving
4. wide variety of flavors 
5. the location we went to had indoor and outdoor seating (and the outdoor seating area was clean)
6. they had highchairs
7. they had little tasting spoons (this is a big deal to me as it helps me eat my ice cream slower)
8. the are "real food" items available as well
9. they are open late if Ian and I want to go after we put Samuel to bed

Negatives:

1. distance - it would be nice if it was in Paulding (I have a feeling that this will be a negative for all places we try this summer - deep sadness)

Being a good Ohio citizen, I had tried the Buckeye Ice Cream.  Ian had "the bomb" which was vanilla ice cream with brownie batter and caramel.  Both were so good (I think the Buckeye was better).  Samuel was indecisive and wanted to eat all of both.

I am glad that we gave Eric's a try. I now have high expectations for the other ice places in the area.  I can see a lot of summer date nights involving Eric's Ice Cream Factory.

Samuel Cary - 12 months

Well, I have decided to try to document the second year of Samuel's life.  I have no idea how this will go, but I at least have to give it a try (it is alarming to me how poor my memory has become)


Weight: 21 lbs 4 oz
Height: 29.25 inches
Head: over 18 inches

Health: Overall, Samuel has been pretty healthy.  I did have a scare in early April when I discovered a rash all over his stomach, chest, and back.  It resolved.  I am not sure what brought it on. We tried to stick to 1-ingredient food for a few days.

Social: Samuel likes to watch big kids.  He does okay in the nursery at church, but is happiest when he can see Mom or Dad.

Diet: Anything he can get into his mouth. Samuel's favorite foods are yogurt, hard boiled eggs, and anything on Dad's plate.  

Clothes: Samuel is still wearing (and filling out) 12 month clothing. I think he has been wearing some 12 month onesies since he was 4 months old.  He will definitely be in 12 month pants for awhile yet (I am hoping it warms up enough that we do not have to worry about pants soon!)  12 month clothing is the first size Samuel has not grown through super fast and I am ready for some new clothes for him.


Momma's Favorites: There was one day when Samuel woke up super early and ended up nursing back to sleep after a bit.  I held him while he napped and really enjoyed it. Everyone told me when he was little to savor holding a napping baby.  I get it now. 

Crying: You cry when something does not go your way - so that would be 78 times a day.

Sleep: Oh sleep.  I could write a book on it. Samuel will sleep through the night and take two naps a day. A perfect day would be waking up around 6, napping from 8:30-10am and 1-2pm, and down for the night around 6:15ish.  Usually he wakes up early for the day or one of his naps.  But it is so much better than the first 9 months of his life that I try to be grateful.

Baby Likes: Food, emptying the dishwasher, pushing things while walking behind them, GOING OUTSIDE (this may be Sam's most favorite thing in the world!)

Milestones: We switched Samuel to a "big boy" carseat (thanks Papa G and Mama G!) It was great to be able to click you in and out when the weather was cold, but now that it is warming up (and you weigh a ton!) it is nice to just carry you.

The poem included in Samuel's one year birthday card from Great-Grandpa Schaudt:

"You're a very special little boy

who's loved in every way...

for bringing joy and laughter

to each and every day.

So happy and so full of fun

and such a good boy too

you make the world a nicer place

with everything you do.

So now that your 1st Birthday's here

may all your dreams come true...

for no-one else deserves them more 

than a special boy like you."

Favorite Things about Living in a Small Town {in the Midwest}

I have been listing off ideas in my brain for a few months of the positives of moving back to a small town.  All of my experiences with small towns are in the Midwest, so I don't know if small towns out of the Midwest are the same or not.  In no particular order:

Positives of Small Town Life

• I don't need my GPS to get many places.  I think I used my GPS to get to the grocery store for the first month we lived in Littleton.  And I used my GPS all the time to get anywhere out of the ordinary.  I think I used my GPS for half a day around Paulding and then maybe a week or two to get around Defiance and Van Wert.  There are still times I need to pull it out, but for the most part, I can think of a place and drive there and not need elaborate directions.
• The cost of living is lower.  I am a fairly frugal person so saving money is a big perk for me.  I LOVE that I can get a latte for less than four dollars and that it taste better than my more-than-five-dollar Starbucks.  THE MIDWEST HAS ALDI.  And now it is cool to go to Aldi (unlike when I was a kid and I was so embarrassed that my mom shopped at Aldi).  Our car insurance dropped over $125 per month.  Our rent for a two bedroom house is about half of what our one bedroom apartment was in Englewood.  
• People are friendly.  People acknowledge other people by smiling and saying, "Hi" even if they don't know each other. Strangers will stop and talk to Samuel in stores and try to coax a smile out of him. 
• Related: People are kind.  Receptionists are so much more helpful on the phone (in my opinion).  We are on our third doctor for Samuel (2 in Denver due to insurance changes) and then 1 here.  Instead of handing you a bunch of papers to try to fill out while entertaining an infant, the nurses here ask questions and fill out paperwork for you.  And offer Samuel flavored tongue depressors to play with while asking you questions.  Is it efficient? Probably not, but it is nice.
• People do not drive crazy.
• There are possibly six stoplights in our whole entire town.  I drove through 30 to get to work every day in Denver.
• Folks tend to be more conservative. I am conservative. It is draining to be around liberals who belittle conservatives.  You are welcomed to have an opinion as long as you are open minded to other people having different opinions and being respectful of their opinions.
• Specific to life in Ohio: You can always count on having something flavored "buckeye".  My new favorite latte is a buckeye latte.  My favorite cupcake is also a buckeye.  The rest of America needs to jump on the chocolate + peanut butter bandwagon.  I would suggest the rest of the world needs to jump on the bandwagon but the rest of the world views Americans to be cray-cray for our love of peanut butter, much less peanut butter + chocolate. 
• The Midwest understands how to plow roads AND embraces said understanding. I will take plowed roads with tax payer's salt on them and thus the ensuing potholes over driving in Denver's unplowed streets any day.

Samuel is thankful that we have our own yard with leaves that he can eat any time he wants.

One positive of moving out of Colorado - every time I have smelled skunk, I have seen a skunk (usually dead on the road).  After smelling a whole lotta weed over the last four or five years, I will take the skunks.

Thankfuls 2017

Happy Thanksgiving!  Ever since I have been a little girl I have been making a list of 100 things I am thankful for each year on (or close to) Thanksgiving Day.  The tradition was started by my mom on a car ride out to Iowa to visit family for Thanksgiving and has continued.

Thankfuls for 2017 (in no particular order):
1. God - faithful, kind, compassionate, sovereign
2. Wheelchairs
3. My wife (said by Ian)
4. FAMILY 
5. Coffee
6. a job
7. leftovers!
8. Samuel Cary
8.5 Coach P and Heather
9. My husband (said by Alissa)
10. naps

From Samuel:
11. Corn Toothbrush (and all chew toys in general)
12. Wind Chimes
13. Boxes that one can sit in
14. End of Nap time
15. Sitting on Dad/ Grandpa's shoulders
16. People (repeatedly) picking up what I have dropped
17. Tylenol for teething
18. warm hats for cold walks
19. pacis (and blessed silence - added by Samuel's Mom)
20. Halloween is only once a year
21. the Jumparoo - thanks to Uncle Dan and Aunt Sara

22. car rides and walks that put Samuel to sleep
23. police and firefighters
24. craft beer
25. dishwashers
26. water bottles
27. restaurants to go to when you don't feel like cooking
28. disposable diapers
29. gyms
30. dreadmills for cold days or dark nights
31. fitbit
32. community that embraces (and celebrates) us like family
33. witnessing the joy and delight brought to grandparents by Samuel
34. Christmas music
35. all the people who have helped, encouraged, and supported us as we have moved
36. catalogs that come in the mail
37. friends that listen with their hearts
38. the Bible
39. drive throughs
40. DQ Blizzards
41. Target
42. Costco (costco diapers - see #28)
43. Vista being family
44. good co workers
45. health insurance
46. taking the Fit in to get a new turn signal and getting the air conditioner fixed by surprise
47. sweet potato souffle
48. epidurals
49. caesarean section for when things do not go as planned
50. smart phones
51. Chick fil A 
52. doughnuts (and students who came to doughnuts and derivatives)
53. Calc 3 MIT Lectures on youtube
54. bouncy seats, swings, boxes, high chairs, strollers, and other things that contain Samuel
55. times that we communicate clearly
56. deodorant
57. AndreaDekker.com
58. Mom forums
59. Necklaces that Samuel can safely on
60. misletoe
61. air conditioning
62. stevia
63. decaffeinated beverages
64. La Croix
65. Coke
66. special egg rolls
67. soccer
68. cross country and track
69. dogs (said by Ian)
70. books
71. trees
72. flowers
73. wreaths
74. crisp morning air
75. smooth running trails
76. sea salt dark chocolate
77. white noise maker
78. wood burning fireplaces
79. magic eraser
80. foot rubs
81. ponytail holders
82. real cream for coffee
83. moving company
84. Hadley Rose and the Donkey
85. technology that keep us in touch with family and friends
86. shoes
87. the fact that no one can stay awake forever
88. gum
89. we survived seminary
90. wine
91. cinnamon rolls
92. the Babylon Bee
93. eggs
94. slippers
95. bacon
96. paper snowflakes
97. those that welcome us with open arms
98. magic the gathering (said by Ian)
99. scented candles
100. Grandpa and Kathryn

seven years

Today is our SEVEN year wedding anniversary - wootwoot! I thought I would share seven things I love about Ian (in no particular order).

1. Ian points us to Jesus and the Gospel. 
He is so faithful in this. We have friends that say, "Everything is negotiable... except us and Jesus." Ian has adopted this for us as well. I can get caught up in superficial things, but Ian stays focused on eternity.

2. Ian knows me better than I know myself.
There are times that I am externally processing my life and Ian will say something and I am like, "Boom! Yes! How do you know me better than I know myself?" or we will play, "Guess what Alissa is thinking right now?" And he can guess 100% of the time (even when I think I am thinking crazy weird not related to what we are doing thoughts).

3. Ian believes in me, encourages me to be brave, and chase my dreams.
Sometimes I am asked to take on big projects and I lack the self-confidence that I can do it. Or sometimes I lack the courage to do small things (like talk to people). Ian reminds me of what I have already accomplished, who I am (You are Alissa Ferguson, you work hard, and you can do it.) and what others have said to me.  Some of my proudest accomplishment I would never have attempted if it was not for Ian cheering me on.

4. Ian can make me laugh even when I have zero desire to find humor in a situation.
I don't know how he does it.  I can go from fuming angry to cracking up (and calmer) in moments when Ian reframes our situations. He also cracks himself up, which is good because I do not make him laugh often enough.

5. Ian is patient with me.
I am not very patient with myself (and sometimes others). I want everyone to have the same unreasonably high expectations that I do. I have said this many times, but it is still true - I am so glad I am not married to me.  It is good that I am married to Ian.

6. Ian speaks truth into my life.
Worry Kills.
Expectations are meant to be broken.
You need a pedicure.

Just a few of the truth bombs that Ian has dropped in my life in the last few months.

7. Ian still sees life as an adventure.
I probably would have lost the adventure mindset somewhere along the way (when we moved back to America) but Ian still reminds me that we are in adventure mode and that we are on an adventure because we are changing the world.

seven years later

Bonus: He buys me ice cream. And he rubs my feet. Some said it would not last after we got married - it has. He is my favorite and my bestie.

The birth of Samuel Cary part 5 - the C section

I am writing this post to try to remember all the details of our son's birth - maybe too many details.  Feel free to read along or just scroll through and look at pictures.

I did not finish this post for a long time (like 10.5 months AFTER Samuel was born) so here are my foggy memories:

Once the forceps did not work, I knew that I was going to have a c section.  I pretty much just laid in there and cried and tried to not cry while people went into action.  Dr. Bozeman was really sweet and as I was signing my life away he told me, "You tried everything you could. You are not failing." My response was to cry harder and ask Ian to bring puke bags into the Operating Room with us.

Ian was getting scrubs on.  Dr. Bozeman was stitching me (becuase I pushed long enough/ hard enough / whatever enough to tear).  Even with an epidural it was not a pleasant experience.  I found out that Sara could not go with us into the operating room.  Only one person was allowed and we thought it would be good if Samuel's father was there for his birth.  I was nervous about Ian holding the puke bags.

They wheeled me into the operating room.  People kept walking up to me and introducing themselves and telling me their duties.  I did not care in the least at that moment, but I do remember thinking, "there are SO MANY people in here".  I had to be switched to a different bed and I was so impressed by how amazingly smooth the procedure went (I am guessing this is part of people's every day job, but for someone who has never stayed in the hospital for longer than a few hours, I was impressed!)

Dr. Bozeman had another doctor assisting him with the procedure.  It just so happened to be Dr. Jill Ingenito.  Dr. Ingenito just so happened to be the doctor who removed my arm stick 38 weeks and 5 days before Samuel was born.  She told me to start taking prenatal vitamins and to stop drinking alcohol (at that time).  I was all like, "Oh it is going to take us years to get pregnant.  I will think about possibly starting prenatals soon." Dr. Bozeman and Dr. Ingenito had a chuckle about it.  I was not chuckling.

Anyway, I do remember that there were two anesthesiologists or one anesthesiologist and one assistant to the anesthesiologist.  One was a man and one was a woman.  The woman anesthesiologist gave me the play by play of what was happening.  She stood above me and would hold my face in her hands and bend over and talk right into my face any time she wanted to tell me something.  At the time, it was reassuring and sweet.

Dr. B and Dr. I were going about the c section and shooting the breeze like it was no big deal.  I was crying, trying not throw up any more, and trying to process my life.  I did throw up once or twice in the operating room.  I can't remember if it was before or after Samuel was born.

They did announce, "Your son is about to be born.... He is here!" (I don't remember what they said but it was something along those lines.)  Soon, I could hear his cry.  I had not really stopped crying in the last 45 minutes, so I just kept crying.  

Ian went over to check on him and ended up cutting the umbilical cord (not by his consent, but it makes for a funny memory). Eventually they brought Samuel all swaddled up in a blanket over to let me see him and hold him.  The man anesthesiologist took a couple "first family pictures" I did not look at the camera.  I did not smile.  I laid there and cried.  I don't know if I even held Samuel.  Then they took Samuel and Ian off somewhere.  I can't remember when I stopped crying, but I was trying to pull myself together while they stitched me up.

I feel like it was half an hour later that I was wheeled into an alcove of a hallway with a chair for Ian.  Samuel was in his little plastic bed thing, just taking the world (I was surprised he was not crying). Ian and I tried to process our life and call people and send pictures etc.  We did it!  We had become parents.  Ian did not faint.  I did not make it anywhere close to having an unmedicated all natural birth, but a few months later I would finally accept it.  We did find out that Samuel had a slightly over 15 inch circumference of his head which is huge.  One nurse practitioner mentioned that I may have broken my pelvis or something if I had pushed him out (Lordhavemercy).  Samuel Cary weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces and was 21.5 inches long when he was born at 3:01pm. 

I could probably ramble on and on about our stay in the hospital but I will end here.  The adventure of parenting has just begun.  We are so thankful for our friends and family that supported us so much the first few weeks of Samuel's life.  We would not have made it without yall.  Much love and thanks.

The birth of Samuel Cary part 4 - the pushing

I am writing this post to try to remember all the details of our son's birth - maybe too many details.  Feel free to read along.

Once Casey came back she asked if Ian would like to cut the cord after the baby was born.  His reply was a solid, "NO!" Then she asked me if I wanted to cut the cord after the baby was born.  My reply was also a solid, "NO!" Our friend, Sara, was there and so Casey asked her and she was like, "Of course! That would be so cool!"

I told Casey that this was my first rodeo as far as giving birth and Ian and I had not attended any birthing classes or really had any idea what we were doing.  She assured us that this was okay and that she would just teach us her own method.

I was supposed to wait for a contraction (which I could not really feel all that much) and then hold my breathe and push. Casey would count to ten. I would exhale, inhale and repeat. And a third time. It sounded so easy.

On the second or third push Casey told us, "Your baby has hair!" I thought, "YES! This is working wootwoot!" and on the push after that, "He has long dark hair." I was encouraged.

Aunt Sara and Samuel

The story gets fairly boring for the next few hours.  I pushed and I pushed. I started throwing up about an hour or so into the pushing.  God Bless Sara and Ian.  Sara held the puke bag and helped me rinse me mouth out after I threw up each time.  Good thing the room was well stocked with puke bags. Ian was so great!  He held my leg and was so encouraging. (I kept waiting for him to pass out or something and he did not.  He hung in there for the entire process and was so great!) Actually everyone was encouraging.  I specifically remember asking Casey how I was doing at one point and she told me that 75 to 80% of my pushing was good.  The main thing I HATED was holding my breathe. I could rant about that for a long time. I don't think the person who proposed holding one's breathe while trying to push what feels like a bowling ball out of one's self did not had any experience in doing so.

Casey was SO GREAT! She was so encouraging and she did not give up on me. She was the slowest count-er to ten that I have ever met.  I would try to count to ten slowly in my mind and I would be at twenty and she would be at six.  One thing that I will always laugh about is my memory of pushing.  I told Ian later, "I know I pushed for three hours, but I was only pushing like every 10 or 15 minutes... so it wasn't really that much." He looked at me with a shocked face and said, "No. I was watching the monitor, you were pushing every 2 to 4 minutes." Hahaha - time can become a funny thing.

At one point after I had thrown up and was feeling exhausted, I pathetically asked Ian, "Once this is all done (and in my brain I added, "And I survive this ordeal alive...") can you please find me some Sprite." The only thing I want after throwing up is Sprite.  Of course I was restricted to ice chips. Ian agreed to find me some Sprite.

At one point I think they may have turned down my epidural so that I could feel the contractions so I would know when to push as it was not timing out correctly.  I can't really remember... it is part of the fog now.

I don't remember how far along we were, but at one point Casey asked me how much I had left in the tank.  I gave a pretty vague answer. I did not feel like I knew. At that point it felt like I was going to spend the rest of my life pushing as I was not really making any progress.  

Dr. Bozemann came in around the two and half or three hour mark of pushing.  He said that I had four options:

1. Turn the epidural off and let nature take its course - Um, NO, I was not about to do that.
2. Keep pushing - well I had not really progressed (in my opinion) in the last three hours, so I am not sure why this was an option
3. Try forceps or vacuum - I was not crazy about this option.
4. C-section - at that moment in time I thought, "I will do anything so that I do not have to have a c-section."

My only "birth plan" was: do whatever the trained people tell me to do. Unfortunately all the medically trained people were like, "What do you want to do?" and Ian and I were like, "Tell us what to do!" By order of elimination we decided to try forceps.

I don't remember a whole lot at this point - they had me put my legs in stirrups and my legs started shaking uncontrollably. They did a quick ultrasound to see what way the baby was facing.  A LOT of people started coming in the room. I think I tried to keep pushing through most of this because trying to breathe through a contraction and not push was WAY more painful than pushing.

Once everything was ready, they told me to push. Sweet Lord Jesus, Rapture Me Now. Pushing with forceps was hands down the most painful thing I have ever experienced in my life.  I was willing to do anything in that moment to not experience that pain again.  I screamed (from pain) and then started crying (because I knew I was going to have to have a c-section).