crunchytown

Lacy's Birthday Interview

2011-07-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

My name is: Lacy
I am 7 years old.
I am ____ inches tall and I weigh ___ pounds. (still need to do this!)
My favorite color is black.
My favorite book is one with the main character of Lacy (we can't remember the book name)
My favorite show is Wild Kratts
My favorite food is cake
I want to be a scientist when I grow up.
My favorite subject at school is reading.
The music I like best is the music I learn at school.
My favorite thing I did last year was meeting my teacher
This year I hope I will watch TV at lunch again.
My favorite place to go is school.
My favorite thing to do is draw.
My favorite animal is every animal.
My favorite thing to do with Rose is play on my bed.
My favorite thing to do with Uriah is help him climb up my ladder.
My favorite thing to do with daddy is go to the little store and eat candy.
My favorite thing to do with mommy is go to the fair and sit in the ferris wheel.

Rose's Birthday Interview

2011-05-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

My name is: Rose
I am 5 years old.
I am 43 1/4 inches tall and I weigh 40 pounds.
My favorite color is purple and blue.
My favorite book is Pink Pajamas
My favorite show is Dora
My favorite food is spaghetti.
I want to be a doctor when I grow up.
My favorite subject at school is bringing muffins and cupcakes too.
The music I like best is violin.
My favorite thing I did last year was play soccer.
This year I hope I will make necklaces.
My favorite place to go is school.
My favorite thing to do is get balloons.
My favorite animal is horses.
My favorite thing to do with Lacy is play school and house.
My favorite thing to do with Uriah is snuggle with him.
My favorite thing to do with daddy is go to the little store.
My favorite thing to do with mommy is go the doctors and get a shot.

So how's the nightweaning going?

2011-04-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

Well, it's going great! Uriah was very unhappy at the idea of nightweaning. At first. The first several days were very, very hard, especially once I stopped nursing him at night altogether (night 4 and later). I almost threw in the towel at one point. Almost. I think I was on night 5 or 6, and my lovely friends and family convinced me to keep on trying. Guess what? It got easier after that! Uriah still wakes up at about 12:30 every night, but it takes about 2 minutes to get him back to sleep now, and I don't have to get out of bed or even hold him. I just shush him (he likes the white noise), push down on the bed a little so he jiggles a bit, and maybe say a few soft gentle words while patting him, and he falls back asleep. This would not have been possible a few weeks ago! I am so happy that the nightweaning has worked! I didn't follow Dr. Gordon's plan to a T this time, as I did with Rose, because Uriah was about 6 months younger than Rose when I nightweaned her. I stayed on phase 2 for a couple of additional days, and we naturally and easily transitioned to phase 3 a few days later.

Nightweaning part 2

2011-04-01T10:29:00.000-07:00

So I noticed a little bit of discoloration on Uriah's teeth recently. I'm so frustrated. I've been doing everything "right" this time- little sugar, hardly ever any juice (maybe 1-2x a month), teeth get brushed very well daily with no-fluoride toothpaste, but he also gets fluoride supplements every day. The theory is, if teeth are brushed well, breastmilk on the teeth does not cause cavities. There is actually a dentist who has done extensive research on this matter and has come to that conclusion. I'm starting to doubt that now because all 3 of my kids have had some amount of decay on their front top teeth. It may be somewhat genetic though, since I know plenty of other people who have much worse oral hygiene habits that have kids with perfectly beautiful and healthy teeth. I guess I have to be extra careful with my children to prevent this from happening.

So I decided that nightweaning is necessary to stop some of the decay. I have a very fast letdown, and we cosleep, so I think some of the milk actually is pooling up in his mouth causing the decay. I didn't nightwean Rose until she was older, and Lacy nightweaned out of necessity because I was pregnant with Rose, so her damage was less severe . Uriah is 14 months now and perfectly capable of nightweaning. It's a hard process though. I decided to start it last night.

The first night is really hard because they've never had to be forced to do without nursing at night before. You do allow them some nursing (2-3 minutes) but not to where they fall asleep again. And this really upset Uriah. REALLY upset him. He woke up at 11:45 last night and cried and screamed and fought until 1:15 when I finally was able to lay down with him. He woke up again maybe twice more, but it was easier to get him back to sleep then. He woke up happy and smiling this morning, so no harm done! We've just got to get through 9 more days of this.

Quack Quack by Louise Rupnik

2011-03-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be fun to review Uriah's favorite book! Quack Quack is a touch and feel book for babies, and Uriah absolutely loves it!

There are photographs of various animals in this book with little patches for baby to feel. Uriah doesn't just feel these patches. He bites them. I guess this book is Uriah approved! This is the only book that he'll sit all the way through. He loves it! He's not quite 14 months and I try to read a few books to him every day, but he usually gets bored halfway through the book.

This is a good one for little babies because it's not too long and they like patting (or biting!) the animals in the book.

Sick

2011-03-14T17:26:00.000-07:00

For the last week and a half. Hoo boy this is fun. Everyone else has already gone through it (and still have lingering symptoms- thank goodness the boy is still nursing because he can't keep anything down but mama milk) and finally today I notice a little drip from the nose. Perfect. Well, maybe hubby can pamper me for a couple of days while I recover. Lacy has already missed 4 full days and 2 half days of school AND two violin lessons. We are managing to get practice in most of the time, though. Hopefully by this Thursday she will be 100% better and ready to fiddle again!

And I always start getting smug in late February that we didn't get sick this winter. And then we get sick in March. Never fails. I'll stop being smug about our health next year. If I remember.

The Monster Princess

2011-03-03T20:46:00.000-08:00

Tonight we tried something the girls picked out from the library yesterday. The Monster Princess, by D.J. MacHale, ended up in my bag from the new picture book section.

Did you ever wish to be a princess? Lala, the Rugabee, did. A Rugabee is a type of monster that lives underground and collects a special kind of nut. But Lala, a very talented and popular Rugabee, wanted to be a princess and live above ground and dance!

One day, she ventures into the castle and finds the princesses' room, where she tries on their dresses. At first they are afraid, but they end up ridiculing her in public, which really hurts Lala's feelings.

When I opened this book and realized it was a rhyming book, I silently groaned to myself. I am not a fan of rhyming books. I've never really liked poetry (sorry, Mom, it's true, but I'll still recite poetry for your birthday) so rhyming books usually have a groan-inducing eyeball-rolling effect on me. But The Monster Princess was actually not obnoxious rhyming, so it's one I could read again! Most rhyming books aren't very cleaver and they try too hard. I didn't feel like that with The Monster Princess. The girls enjoyed reading it with me, so I officially declare that The Monster Princess will be renewed 3 weeks from now! Unless, of course, somebody has a hold on it already.

All boy!

2011-03-02T22:01:00.000-08:00

They say that boys and girls are equal and that we teach them to be boy-ish or girl-ish based on our own biases and expectations. Well, I don't believe that for a second. I didn't believe it when my first child was born and she gravitated toward girly things to do. I did buy the gender neutral toys, and they have a box of dinosaurs and trains (Rose requested the trains, actually!). Of course, the dinosaur gets dressed up in fancy dresses and Lacy parades the beautiful T. Rex around the house singing, "This is the dinosaur of the queeeeeen!"

Now I have a boy. He turned 1 about a month ago. I love him more than life itself and I would do anything for my little man. I'm so glad I got him! Of course, being a mom to a boy is a new thing for me, so I treated him exactly as I have treated my girls. And the girls have put bows in his head more than once. I may or may not have encouraged that. Once I put a girly diaper on him and Dave wasn't too thrilled about that, but all my diapers were dirty and I only had a pink flower one handy. What's a mom to do?

We're in the midst of a large amount of remodeling at our house, due to some unfortunate wind, ice and rain damage that occurred. Because Dave is handy with this type of thing, he is doing the majority of the work himself. My dad comes over and helps Dave often with the work that needs done, as he's pretty handy as well. Uriah of course wants to be around all the action. He loves hanging with the guys and is always picking up tools and trying to "help" any way he can! It's adorable! At least, until he finds the razor knives and carries them around.

Twig

2011-03-02T21:53:00.000-08:00

Looking for a sweet little book for your sweet little one? Twig by Elizabeth Orton Jones is a good choice.

Twig was published in 1942, but even though it's going on 70, children today are the same as children 70 years ago, no matter how different we think they are. They're full of imagination and can turn the simplest thing into a magical wonderland. I know my own children will play with paper, cardboard boxes and fabric scraps for hours, coming up with all sorts of uses for them. Twig is no different- she turns an old, empty tomato can into a fairy house! It is just so amazing!

Your child will love listening to a book about a little child who has an imagination as big as her own. You will love reading it to your child because the chapters are short! Short chapters are a wonderful thing. If you don't have much time to read because you've been busily running around all evenings, you can choose to read one chapter. If you have more time, you can read as many as you wish!

The language is simple and the characters are cute. This is a good book to read aloud to kids who haven't had many chapter books read to them yet.

My favorite part about this book? Twig looks a lot like my little Rosie! I'll have to read Twig to Rose soon... I've only read it so far to Lacy. Rose will be 5 in May and maybe she'll be ready to listen to it then. I already call her Little Missy a lot, just like Mrs. Sparrow calls Twig Little Missy in the book! Don't you see the resemblance?

The BFG

2011-02-27T22:39:00.000-08:00

Oh, Big Friendly Giant, I am so grateful to you forever. You finally got my Lacy interested in reading chapter books with me. This was not the first chapter book Lacy listened to. But this is the first one that Lacy actually actively listened to, enjoyed, and begged for more. If you haven't read The BFG by Roald Dahl, you must go read this book. Today, if possible. It's worth it.

How did I get Lacy interested in reading a book about giants? I told her there was a queen in the book. And she was immediately interested. This is such a great book for all kids, boys and girls alike, and I really wanted Lacy to hear this one and love it, so I used whatever I could to get her to want to hear it. I'm glad I did- she loved it!

The two main characters in the BFG are Sophie and The Big Friendly Giant, or BFG. He is the only giant who doesn't eat human beans. Instead, he collects dreams and gives them to the little childlers at night while they sleep. One night Sophie awakens during the witching hour and observes The BFG blowing dreams to boys and girls. In order to protect his identity, he kidnaps her and takes her to his cave, where they eventually come up with a plan (this is where the queen comes in!) to rid the world of the disgusting, flithsome giants forevermore.

This book is interesting and fast paced. This is an excellent choice for a first read-aloud chapter book. Even if you don't have a child at home to listen to you read this aloud, you should still read this book if you haven't already. It is one of my favorite children's novels of all-time.

I just realized that I need to read more Roald Dahl to Lacy. I've got to figure out my angle in order to convince Lacy that it's worthwhile to listen to... if it's not about princesses or little girls, she's really not interested. We've read Matilda and she loved it, but I tried to read The Witches and she was not having it.

The Very Fairy Princess

2011-02-26T23:21:00.000-08:00

Another picture book that we've recently checked out and read together as a family is The Very Fairy Princess by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton.

Honestly? Not my favorite. It was pretty cute, but a little boring, to me anyway. BUT the kids really enjoyed it, and that's who I'm reading for, right? Well, to be totally honest, when I read to the kids, I want something that I enjoy and my kids enjoy. I'm glad this was a library book because I was looking forward to not having to read it anymore!

The book is all about being a fairy princess, and how you need to "let your sparkle out." She goes over all the qualities of a fairy princess ("Fairy princesses are very supportive" for example, when she gives encouragement to her friend). It's a good message.

But the fact of it is, I read books to be entertaining and not to teach my kids life lessons. As the mom, I teach them life lessons while they're living their life, not while they're reading a book for entertainment. If there are morals in the story, I want them to not be detrimental to the plot of the book. There really was not much of a plot, which was why this book was so boring.

But, because my own daughters want to be fairy princesses themselves, I ended up reading it over and over (and over and over...).

Interrupting Chicken

2011-02-26T14:41:00.000-08:00

I decided I'll start posting picture books that I read to my kids as well. Rose really loves picture books. Here is a fun one that we found recently. Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein.

Interrupting Chicken is a fun book for kids (I'd recommend ages 3 and older). Both Lacy and Rose love when I read this aloud. It won a Caldecott award and is fully deserving of it! Such a fun read.

Chicken enjoys getting a story every night from her papa. Unfortunately, she gets a little too involved in the book and keeps interrupting Papa as she reads! Finally, there are no more stories to read and Chicken creates her own bedtime story for her papa.

Rose says: "Funny. Her father reads her a story. The kid knows how to read."

Lacy says: "I think the book is cute and funny and really silly. The most thing I like about it is there's a chicken, and I like chickens. They are so cute when they hatch!"

A Little Princess

2011-02-26T12:55:00.000-08:00

Last night Lacy and I finished reading A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

It is written in really old-fashioned language and at times was tedious and hard to understand. Especially on the day that I was so tired that I actually fell asleep while reading this to Lacy. I said something about Sara having blond hair. Yeah, she's a brunette and I'm not sure where that came from. Sleep deprivation is a scary thing.

To make the book more fun for Lacy, I had to emphasize my voice during certain parts. She ate that up! In the end, she really loved the book. She likes the Little House books better, but she still really enjoyed reading A Little Princess with me. She especially loved all the chapters about the magic, and she was so mad at Miss Minchen. Well, she should be. Miss Minchen is pure evil.

I'm glad I got to share my favorite childhood book with Lacy. It was a difficult book for me to read aloud at times, and some of the chapters are really long. Which is part of the reason I fell asleep that one day. But she loved it, and that's what matters! This book is a little hard for a 6 year old so when it's time to read chapter books with Rose, I'll probably wait until she's closer to 7 or 8 to read this book. It's a lovely book, but it can be hard for the young kids to pay attention.

Lacy says- "It's cool and exciting. I really wanted my mom to read all of it at the same day. It was AWESOME! It was awesome because I decided that I want to make another book of it- A Little Princess 2. My dad said he would read any book I wrote."

Farmer Boy

2011-02-15T20:14:00.000-08:00

I love reading to my children. It is one of my biggest joys of being a mother- to read to my children and have them learn to love books.

Last night, we finished one of my favorite books of all time-Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It is one of the books in the Little House series, written about her husband as a 10 year old farm boy in New York.

Oh, we laughed at Almanzo's antics! We enjoyed hearing all about farm life. And how hard he worked, from sun up to sun down! We were so excited when he won the blue ribbon at the fair, and then when he got $200 for returning a wallet- with some persuasion from a 3rd party- we were so happy for him! The best part of all is when he found out he would finally be trusted to train a little colt! What a wonderful ending to a wonderful book.

Lacy and I adored the moments we had reading this book together. Every moment was entertaining and also educational.

Yes, Lacy was thrilled when she got the box set of Little House books. And she loves each book she's read. I do too.

Too grown up for her own good

2011-01-02T21:40:00.000-08:00

Where did this kid come from? She certainly can't be MY child. I am not old enough to have such a big girl for a daughter.

...and he's off!

2011-01-02T21:38:00.000-08:00

My 11 month old decided to turn the corner with the walking this week! He's been taking steps here and there for about 6 or so weeks, but usually resorts to the Mowgli crawl after falling down on his bottom. Not anymore! He rarely is Mowgli crawling (which makes me sad because it is the cutest thing ever) and now is almost exclusively walking everywhere. It is so adorable.

Pacific Science Center

2010-12-30T11:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we decided to take my sister and her family on a trip to the Pacific Science Center- we went in the summer and got a year membership for about $30 more than going that one time cost us, and we had enough passes for my sister's entire family to come, too. Plus, the Harry Potter exhibit was there! Leslie's 3 big kids were really excited about going there.

We got there around 11:30 or so and find out that Harry Potter is sold out until 5:45, and we weren't staying there that long. Lovely. That's ok, though- there's plenty to do at the science center!

There were way too many people there yesterday, though. It made it difficult to do anything fun. But that's okay. We enjoyed the butterfly house,

Riah and Rose loved the music room,

and I thought the dinosaurs were really cool.

Rose hopped in the stroller when Ri wasn't in it.

But then Turner got lost. He wandered off when we were doing silly pictures with the girls. We got security to start looking for him, too. And then he just... appeared again. I don't know where he went. Dave said he searched exactly where he was found and he wasn't there. Leslie explained the importance of staying with the group to him, and we all decided we were done for the day. The crowds were too big to have a good time.

We decided to see an IMAX movie (about beavers! I really enjoyed it until Ri fell on his head in the theater) and then head home. On the way out we snapped a few pictures in front of the space needle and headed home.

We took Porter with us so he could help butcher Dave's deer and then they went squid jigging last night. I know they were successful because I was surprised to find a squid helping me do the dishes this morning.

We love the science center, but it's a lot more fun when there aren't huge crowds of people there. Maybe we can go during spring break, but it might be crowded then, too. I'll just hope that Lacy's school break is at a different time than the kids' in Seattle.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-28T21:50:00.000-08:00

I've been having some fun with some photo editing software. Here are some pictures of our holiday for you to enjoy! I hope you had a merry Christmas!

Resolutions for 2011

2010-12-28T19:33:00.000-08:00

I didn't make resolutions last year. I was too busy being 9 months pregnant. But I've been thinking about it for this upcoming year. This is what I'm thinking of for 2011's resolutions:

Read the whole Ensign every month
Have a meaningful spiritual time with my family every day
Eat to live this year for most of the year (at least through July to see if my diet affects my allergies)
Keep up with my chores and maintain a clean home by doing Fly Lady every day
100% visiting teaching and tithing, and do my best in my calling(s) at church

Mowgli boy

2010-12-27T22:22:00.000-08:00

My sweet little boy has been walking! Earlier than either of his sisters by quite a while. He took his first steps about 6 weeks or so ago when he was about 9 1/2 months old. He wasn't even standing up well when he first took some steps. But even though he started walking so long ago, he's still only taking a few steps at a time each time he attempts to walk. Because it is just so much faster to crawl. Especially when you crawl like Mowgli. My boy must have some serious upper body strength! He crawls so fast.

Music and my kids

2010-12-13T22:03:00.000-08:00

I love music. Anyone who knows me knows that I am musical, and I hope to raise my children to be musical as well. Now that Lacy is in the first grade, that means private music lessons. I thought about starting her in piano, but since I was having difficulty getting into the groove of teaching her myself, I decided to go for an instrument that I can't play- the violin. Lacy's also been begging me to put her in violin lessons for about 6 months or so, and in September we finally got started with Suzuki violin. She's doing so well and has learned to play Twinkle already (it takes several weeks to understand the posture, holding the bow, holding the violin, etc. before they start in on playing the music).

Today I had a proud mama moment when Rose was done with preschool. Normally I wait outside of the preschool building to pick her up, but today Dave and I had finished our Christmas shopping and Riah was starving, so I went into the waiting area to nurse him while we waited for school to get out. At the end of school the teacher always sings a song as they are leaving. And whose voice did I hear, loud and strong? Of course my Miss Rosie! She was so happy to be singing with her teacher as she left the building, and I happened to be inside where I could witness her singing so well. She loves singing in church, too, and always loves learning new songs, too! I can't wait until she's old enough for music lessons, too!

And my little Ri guy; he's been immersed in music since before he was born. He was lucky enough to be my belly baby when I challenged myself to practice piano every single day in 2009. So he got to hear the music from the first time his ears started working in the womb! And the music hasn't stopped. We're always singing around here, and I play the piano a lot and Lacy practices her violin every day. The girls love to listen to music, so they usually have CDs going in their room when they're playing. It's a lot of fun! Riah has shown his love for music by pounding the piano keys and reaching up as tall as he can to play the keys whenever he passes the piano. I can already tell he's a musical child. People comment all the time on how big Ri is (he's almost to the same weight Lacy was at when she turned 3, and Ri is 10 months old), saying he'll play basketball or football or whatever sport. I really don't care what sport he plays as long as he plays an instrument!

This video features both Lacy playing the violin (Monkey Song) and Rose singing along enthusiastically! I hope you enjoy!

No I haven't forgotten about my blog

2010-12-06T10:55:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a while. We've been busy! Lacy's in first grade, Rose is in preschool 4 days a week, and Riah is surprising me by attempting to walk at 10 months old! What a big boy he is!

I have a lot of updates. A lot of good things going on in our lives. Lacy and Rose love school. Dave is working every day in a city that is 2 hours away from here. Why don't we move? Because the work isn't consistent enough for us to move out there. Because I totally would move there if I could. The town has a giant food co-op and is very anti corporation, which is totally my kind of town. It's like Olympia with fewer people and no big chain stores or fast food. Maybe someday, but for now Dave commutes every day. We're just thankful for the work, and that he only has to commute half way.

Growing Up

2010-08-27T22:33:00.000-07:00

Everyone's growing up so fast! Here's what's going on in our house:

Lacy got her ears pierced! My mom made me wait until I was 10 to get mine pierced. I didn't want to be that mean to my own babygirls, so I decided I would let them get it done when they wanted (love ya mom!). Lacy has asked to have it done a few times in the past, but she's quickly forgotten about it. I wanted to wait until she was really ready to have it done, and really wanted to get it done! This week was the week! She asked me earlier in the week and kept on asking. She made a 5-day chart and said she'd get them pierced in 5 days if she was a good girl and did her chores. Well, she was pretty good most of the time, and there was really no reason to deny her getting them pierced, so today we went ahead and did it!

Then there's Rose. She's my rough and tumble little brave girl. She rarely complains and is so independent! I love that little girl! Poor thing is allergic to several things... what they are, I'm not sure. I do know mosquitos are on the list though. We went camping, and she was bitten way more than anyone else (even after bug spray was applied) and she swelled up massively. She looked terrible. To top it off, she fell off a makeshift swing that Dave made up (and subsequently dismantalled after the fall) and got scrapes on top of the already swollen mosquito bites. Poor kid! But she didn't complain at all. She's also starting to talk like a kid, not a toddler anymore. She still has a few speech issues (but the speech therapist said it's nothing to worry about), but she's certainly sounding more grown up every day!

And Uriah, my sweet little baby boy. He's eating solids now! I wanted to wait until he was sitting up unassisted very well, growing teeth, acted interested in food, mastered the pincer grasp, and was older than 6 months in order to begin solid foods. I am pretty strict about when to introduce foods because early solids introduction can lead to GI tract disorders, diabetes and food allergies, which can show up at any time in life. Dave is blessed with GI tract disorders and food allergies, and diabetes runs in his family, so I am extra cautious. But Ri was very ready, so at 6 1/2 months we started solids. He wasn't terribly impressed with them until he got to try cucumber spears and big chunks of melon. He loves those! My big boy is getting bigger now that he gets to eat big boy food! He'll eat maybe a tablespoon of babyfood at a time, but he'll attack foods that he gets to feed himself and eat a lot more that way. I've always given my babies their own food to feed themselves from a relatively young age, and I never knew that the technique I used had a name until maybe a year ago- it's called "Baby Led Weaning," and it's basically what I've always done with my kiddos, I just didn't know it had a name! I'll probably give Ri another week or so on babyfood before we abandon it completely!

First bites of babyfood... um... that was weird, mom.

But cucumber? Nom nom nom nom give me more, mama!

Missionaries

2010-08-16T12:29:00.000-07:00

This morning, I had a Young Women's presidency meeting. I had to bring all three of my kiddos. Which is not my favorite thing to do. The meeting was at 9 am at the church. Ugh. I'm not a morning person, and neither are my kids.

Monday is Preparation day. Basically, the day the missionaries have to get ready and gear up for the week ahead. Also some time to dress down and just be young adults. Minus dating- they can't do that. Because it was their day off, there were several sets (4? 5?) of missionaries at the building where we had our meeting. Including a set of sister missionaries. They were cooking breakfast together. They fed my girls food, gave us the leftovers, and entertained my girls during my entire meeting. Lacy was especially enamored with the sister missionaries who were there. She gave one sister a nick name ("superstar," and my Lacy's nickname is "sparkle") and they formed a girls club, which included my girls, the sister missionaries and one Elder (he was included because Rose asked on Saturday if he was an old lady when they came to our house).

Anyway, I'm so happy for the service they provided me while I was fulfilling my calling! Sure made my meeting go so much easier! AND my kids weren't bored. But, Sisters, I bet you'll soon realize it was a mistake to exchange phone numbers with my daughter, since she's already called you twice. The meeting got out two hours ago. Sorry about that.

Laughing Uriah

2010-08-03T22:45:00.000-07:00

My adorable ticklish little dude is sure to make you laugh, too!

Paper Plate People

2010-08-03T11:01:00.001-07:00

I have a stubborn child. She's been struggling to learn to read, and I get easily frustrated with her. I hate feeling frustrated at her when she won't try but I have to help her to learn to read this summer. She got a bit behind her reading lessons in school this year, and her teacher sent home a big stack of lessons for us to work on every day. Well, it hasn't been every day. Partly because of the frustrations we both feel when she isn't getting anything out of it.

Enter the paper plate people. One day, Lacy decided to draw faces on a bunch of paper plates. Then it was time for summer school. She decided to have the paper plate people read all her lessons for her. And do you know what? She actually learned! She read! I didn't get frustrated with her! She didn't get frustrated trying to read! It was a miracle! So now, every time we do school, the paper plate people come out and read for Lacy.

But today, Lacy admitted something to me. "Mom, it's not really the paper plate people who are reading. It's me. I just make different voices and pretend that it is the paper plate people who are reading." Well, what a revelation, Lacy! I'm glad it's helping, even if it's not real.

Mr. Chubbers 6 month update

2010-08-02T22:17:00.000-07:00

Uriah had his 6 month appointment today. He is doing great- sitting very well unassisted, scooting around the floor via rolling over, preventing me from actually diapering him by rolling away from said diaper each and every single time I try to change him (guess he likes the freedom of no diaper... not that I blame him!), trying to crawl but can't because his massively heavy midsection is firmly planted on the ground, can stand up holding on to the edge of a couch for a couple minutes at a time... he's really growing and learning new things every day!

He's also quite a big boy! He weighed in today at 20 lb 10 oz, which is the 90th percentile. And for length, he is 28 1/2 inches long- the 96th percentile. I can't even remember what his head circumference is- maybe 19 inches? Anyway, it was the 99th percentile. He takes after his dad, who has the biggest head I know (love you, honey!). Thank goodness his head was only average sized when he was born, otherwise he may have taken more than two pushes to be born!

In other news, Dave and I are celebrating our 10th anniversary this week! I can hardly believe it's already been ten years! I'm so thankful for my awesome husband who provided me with three beautiful children!

Don't you just want to kiss this face?

2010-07-27T12:13:00.000-07:00

Allergies

2010-07-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

I'm terrified that my babies are going to end up with severe allergies like their mama. Or, worse allergies than the ones I have currently. Yesterday my sweet Rose's back was all broken out in bumps- not exactly hives, but an allergic reaction for sure. We gave her benedryl and Dave's friend who is a medic came over to check her out. We washed her off to make sure it wasn't something she was wearing/laying in (she was in the grass earlier that evening). It could have been the new sunscreen we got, or maybe all the mosquito bites Rose got while camping. She still looks like she got punched in the eye because she has a swollen bite right below her eye.

For now I'll make sure I have Benedryl on hand and I'm going to include Rose in our daily spoonful of local honey ritual to hopefully lessen the effects of the allergies, but I'm not sure what else I can do. I'm trying to take the more natural route. I'm going to talk to the doctor about allergy testing because she's had three allergic reactions in her lifetime now and I'm starting to get concerned about them.

Staircase

2010-07-21T21:26:00.001-07:00

On Monday, we decided to head up to Olympic National Park and stay a couple of nights in the Staircase area. It is so beautiful!

This is where we stayed:

With a river running behind us, with the constant white noise soothing us to sleep each night. It was also great fun for the kids to play at! Next year, when Riah's mobile, we'll have to stay away from the river so I'm not constantly worrying about him escaping and getting down to the river without me!

There are lots of things to do in the Staircase area. One of the first things we did was take a hike. There is a beautiful hike where you can walk a loop and cross a bridge, but unfortunately the bridge washed out a few years ago and now you can't do that anymore. But hopefully soon they will rebuild the bridge and we can walk it again! But there is a huge fallen red cedar tree that you can look at, climb, and look at in awe of it's giant stature. I would have liked to see it while still standing, but it probably fell before I was even born.

Besides hiking, you can take a short drive to Lake Cushman to play at the beach or go boating and fishing. Unfortunately, the beach is quite rocky, and I dropped my camera. The screen is now broken, but I can still take pictures with my camera. C'est la vie!

We had a great time on our trip and can't wait to visit again soon! We bought the year membership to Olympic National Park (it was only $15 more than the week pass) and we're planning on getting our money's worth out of that card!

Packing up

2010-07-17T21:49:00.000-07:00

We're planning a camping trip, and the girls decided to pack themselves. Here's what an almost-6 year old finds essential for a camping trip:

two skirts

two t-shirts

one flashlight

And a four year old:

three t-shirts

four long sleeved shirts

one pair of stretch pants

one swim suit

one swim suit cover-up

one uber-froofy skirt

My baby is growing up!

2010-07-12T22:04:00.000-07:00

Lacy turns 6 in 11 days and now has her first loose tooth! It's officially wiggling, and I don't know who's more excited- Lacy, or me! She was giddy with excitement. It would be really cool if she loses it on her birthday (but honestly, I have no idea how long these things take to fall out!). She's already got some permanent molars, and the dentist said it's less common (but still normal) for children to get their 6 year molars before they lose a tooth. He mentioned that her new teeth would be coming in shortly after that, and sure enough, they are!

Which reminds me. For a long time, Lacy would show everybody her 6 year molars. Not just friends and family. Everybody at the grocery store, random people she met while we were out and about, pretty much anyone who would give her the time of day. She would say, "I have a six year molar and I'm only five and a half!"

The Poop on Cloth

2010-07-11T07:57:00.000-07:00

I was just reading an article about cloth diapering that appeared in someone's local newspaper. Her grandmother actually clipped it and sent it to her in a very passive aggressive manner. The article in question actually suggests that cloth diapering is a confusing and complicated process, not to mention expensive! Well, it can be confusing. There are a lot of different diapers out on the internets. But there are also lots of resources out there to help you figure out what you should get. In that article, it states that a newborn diaper stash can cost you up to $700. Well, that's a lot of money. But cloth diapering certainly doesn't have to cost you a lot of money to get some really nice diapers.

There are lots of different types of diapers available. The most basic type of diaper is a flat. You know, those squares of fabric that are only one layer that you have to fold to get to a diaper shape. Well, flats are still available and many parents still use them on their babies. I briefly considered using flats when I was pregnant with Lacy, but I opted for a different diapering system as to not overwhelm and confuse myself and my husband with folding techniques. There are tons of websites with folding instructions, and even you tube videos! Flats are the most economical of all cloth diapers, costing around $1 per diaper, or a little more if you get larger flats. Plus, with flats, you don't have detergent buildup issues that you can get with other diapers, and if you line dry your diapers, they will be dry lickety split!

It seems that more commonly used are prefold diapers. They look like squares and have layers sewn in them, but you still have to fold them. Here's my baby boy in a prefold with pins when he was new still:

Isn't that cute? Please excuse the sideways view- I swear I changed that in my pictures, but it's not showing up here. Ri was about 6 weeks when I took this picture.

Prefolds are actually very easy to use, and quite economical. They run about $1.50-3/dozen for your run-of-the-mill prefold cloth diapers. The price gets higher for larger sizes of diapers and for organic cotton.

Contours and fitteds are other diapering choices that are available- they are shaped more like a baby already and may or may not have elastic in the legs and back (fitteds have the elastic) and you may or may not need to use pins or snappis to fasten them. Many come with velcro or snaps already applied. When I was pregnant with Lacy, I bought a bunch of flannel and sewed my own diapers using the Very Baby All In One pattern. These diapers are now getting quite thin and have a new life as doll diapers, but they served me well with my babies!

My diapers have snaps on them, which I prefer to velcro for many reasons. The snaps had not been applied yet in this picture- my friend had a snap press and put them on for me, and later I bought my own snap press. Normally, contours and fitteds cost quite a bit more than other types of diapers. Some of the more popular brands made from specialty fabrics such as bamboo can cost more than many all-in-one diapers!

With any of the flats, prefolds, contours or fitteds, you will need a cover, and possibly something to close them with. Covers usually are more form fittting than they were in the days of plastic pants. They usually fit on like a disposable diaper and have either velcro or snaps to close them with. For closure options, there are either pins or snappis, which are, in my experience, much easier to use than pins. But some people prefer the pins to the snappis. I personally like snappis because they are much faster than pins, making potty breaks for elimination communication much easier.

Then there are the easiest diapers of all to use- the all-in-ones and the pockets. The difference between the AIO's and pockets is that the all-in-ones are all ready to go, and the pockets have a little place in back where you stuff soakers to make them absorbent. They have a waterproof layer on the outside (usually polyurithane laminate, or PUL) and close with either snaps or velcro. The benefits of AIOs are they are very easy to use and are all one piece, but they do take a long time to dry. The benefits of pocket diapers are that they are much faster to dry and they always have a moisture-wicking layer next to the baby's skin, so the diaper feels less wet.

Here are several of my diapers. I've gotten a few more since this photo was taken.

Most of the diapers in this picture are one-size diapers, meaning they can fit on a baby anywhere from about 10 to 35 pounds. The Fuzzi Bunz one size (I have five of them in this picture- they have the white snaps) are set on the newborn setting and can fit smaller babies more easily. The Bum Genius organic All-in-ones (the top row light green and orange and the middle row blue) fit my baby very nicely now, but they didn't fit him until he was about 2 months old. And he's a chunk! Many cloth diapering experts recommend using prefold diapers for the first month or two before starting with a one-size system, because they don't fit newborns as nicely.

Cloth doesn't have to be expensive, nor does it have to be difficult! I much prefer using cloth diapers over disposable diapers for many reasons. They are cuter, are easier on my babies' bottoms, less expensive and much easier on the environment.

Summer School

2010-07-10T14:16:00.000-07:00

I'm trying my hardest to work with my children this summer on school work. Especially Lacy. She needs to review several reading units from kindergarten so she can be prepared for first grade. She's struggling a little with it. She has some attention problems and she gets burnt out really fast. As much as I would love to homeschool her (and as much as she would benefit from it), it is really challenging for me to be consistent with her schooling every day and to be patient with her. We really can only do 15 minutes at a time, tops. I think I need to learn some unschooling methods so I can figure out a method that works better for her.

As far as Rose goes, she's just turned 4 and can't sing the alphabet song yet. She's a little slower with learning to speak than Lacy, but she's been evaluated and is within a normal range for her age, but they actually are concerned about her fine motor skills. She just started drawing recognizable people within the last couple of months. Maybe it's because she's small and still speaks babyish, but I haven't really worried about what she knows yet. But it dawned on me- she's supposed to start kindergarten in a year! I don't know if she'll be even close to ready for kindergarten. If I don't work with her, she for sure won't be ready. So we have these alphabet strips that Lacy made in kindergarten, and we get them out and point at all the letters and sing the alphabet song each day. My friend Emily also got her a beginning tracing book, which is really cute. She likes to draw in that every day. Hopefully that helps her fine motor development.

We're also busily reading every day. Lacy and I just finished On The Banks of Plumb Creek, from the Little House series, and we have just started Twig. which we're enjoying so far. We attend story time each week (it only runs in July in the summer) and pick out a selection of books each week to read with Rose. She has several favorites, including Blueberries for Sal (which we own, thanks to my sister Leslie), Belinda Begins Ballet, and Claire and the Unicorn.

Hopefully my allergies will finally go away in a few days so I can really get down to business- I feel like they've been weighing me down all last month and into this month, and I haven't been a very good mom. But with our new air conditioner, perhaps I'll be able to do better!

Really- he's only 5 months!

2010-07-05T12:43:00.001-07:00

I've heard boys are bigger than girls. But really, Uriah was only 2 ounces heavier than Rose at birth, so I didn't really think he was that much bigger. But everywhere I go, I get comments, "He's only how old?!?"

Yes, my Moose-boy weighs the same as my Lacy did at 12 months, and he's just barely 5 months old!

So let's review:

Birth: 9 lb 8 oz 22 inches

2 months: 13 lb 13 oz 24.5 inches

4 months: 17 lb 5 oz, 26 3/4"

Currently (5 months): 19 lbs and 28 inches

And actually I weighed him today and it looked like it was closer to 20 or 21 pounds! Chubbawubba! So he's at the 96th percentile for length, and for height, it may be the 86th percentile if he's around 19 pounds, or 93rd for 20, 97th if he weighs 21 pounds.

Seriously. Moose.

Awkward Babywearing comments

2010-07-03T21:11:00.001-07:00

I have a pretty awesome woven wrap. See it? I made it myself. (Oh, the door isn't dirty- it's painted courtesy of Rose. We still need to fix it). I took five yards of 100% linen from JoAnn's fabric (where I conveniently had a 40% off coupon and a $50 gift card- linen ain't cheap, you know), washed it, cut it in half lengthwise, hemmed it, and voila- a woven wrap. I love it and wear Ri in it all the time. In fact, my new Costco membership card has both me and my baby in the picture because he's in the wrap almost excursively when we're out and about. Which sometimes leads to interesting comments.

One day I took the kiddos to the library (a frequent occurrence in my house- we LOVE the library!). While checking out, a woman said to me, "Wow! That's really cool! Where'd you get that carrier?" I replied by saying, "Actually I made it myself out of linen. And I just wrap my baby up on me and he's so comfy." She responded with, "I've been looking all over for one of those so I can put my dog it it!" Seriously, what do you say to that? I know people love carrying their little dogs all over the place in doggy carriers, but... I don't know. I was just speechless.

So, I take all three kiddos out to the van and we start getting in. The car next to my van has the driver sitting inside. He rolls down his window. "Hey, that's a pretty neat carrier! Where'd you get that?" I respond with my usual, "Oh, I made it myself out of linen. Just took 5 yards and cut it down the middle lengthwise..." And then, creep mode set in with his response- "Oh, I'd like to be carried around in one of those" I think I smiled and nodded and turned to the kids and said,"Get your seatbelts ready! Hurry up! We need to get home!" That guy seriously creeped me out. I understand that babywearing is unusual (well, not too unusual in the town in which I live- I see people in Ergos every single day, and I'll often see wraps or other less commonly used carriers) but my goodness! Keep the weird comments to yourself and google it yourself when you get home (or even right then in the library! You've got a card to use the internet there, you know.).

Ahem. Sorry about my lack of blogging.

2010-07-01T14:17:00.000-07:00

Well. I've been a little busy with three kiddos. So with no further ado, I'll jump back in! No pictures- for some reason I'm having trouble uploading everything right now. Still working on that. So we'll get into today's feature...

Why parents love to embarrass their teenagers

Otherwise known as "Payback."

Oh yes, my kids can embarrass me. Big time. Rose is part monkey, and she will climb all over everything. And Lacy has no concept of personal space and thinks everyone is her BFF.

So why would today, my major errand running day, be any different?

Oh, we have the usual run off and have lengthy conversations with adults. Which other people (I think) find charming. Me? Well, it was charming the first 500 times it happened.

But perhaps today's embarrassment wasn't so much my children's fault, but rather a byproduct of having children with me. I totally brought it upon myself. But it was Their Fault.

Today was a busy day. Starting off early with a 7:30 wake-up time (why do they never wake up that early during the school year?) and immediately starting to fight. I serve breakfast and work on some morning chores, wash a load of diapers, get the baby down for a nap (I have to say, he is the least embarrassing of my children, despite the fact that he frequently burps and farts loudly in public)... you know, the usual mom stuff. The kids get to watch a television show while I fold socks. At 10 am, we load up in the car and go off to story time at the library. Thank heaven for story time on a beautifully rainy July morning! After story time was over, the real errands began. Bank, and stop by two establishments to give them all of the money I just deposited. Finally, a bite to eat and grocery shopping.

At the grocery store, Rose always insists upon riding in the car shopping cart. You know- the kind that look like this:

Oh yes. Great fun. Unfortunately, Rose is at the age where she no longer wishes to be restrained, and it's difficult for me to keep her restrained even if I wanted to (which is hard because I keep little Ri on my front in a woven wrap, making it difficult to bend and reach in to buckle her in in the first place). So she climbs on it the whole time we're shopping. Eventually she and Lacy start sitting on the edge of the seat with their bottoms in the car and their legs and bodies outside of it. It's already awkwardly shaped and gigantous. Now it's even wider.

Halfway through our shopping trip Rose announces, "I have to go potty!" Well, I kinda had to go too, so it must be time for a bathroom break. I hate hate hate taking bathroom breaks in the middle of a shopping trip. But even more so I hate having accidents in the middle of a shopping trip! So, I park the cart near the bathrooms and we go. After Lacy wastes a bunch of paper in the automatic paper towel dispensers, we finally get back into the cart.

Look back up at the picture of the cart. You'll notice the very front of the cart jets out several inches. And that's your cart's blind spot. I always think I have more clearance than I actually do because the cart is so long. Of course today I happen to park the cart right next to a sunscreen display. Which was soon displayed all over the floor of the store. Right as a bunch of people happened to walk by. I apologized profusely and walked away as quickly as I could, a little pink in the cheeks. We hurry and get the rest of our items and go to check out.

Lacy absolutely loves workers at our local grocery store. She in particular talks to a lady named Crystal and a lady named Rose who works in produce. Today she say Crystal and had to say hello. I told the cashier, laughing, "Yes, that's my girl- wants to work at Top Foods when she's bigger. My girl reaches for the stars, she does." Um, I was talking to an older lady who probably had been working at a grocery store for most of her adult career. Cheeks are slightly pink once again. I try to pry the foot from my mouth and backpedal a little because I'm afraid I was insulting, and quickly we rush out of there (after we look to see if Rose the produce lady is working yet).

And that's when it hit me. While the embarrassment was because of my own doing, it was all because I have children in the first place that I became embarrassed. IT'S ALL THEIR FAULT! And now I understand. I hereby vow to be as embarrassing to my children as humanly possible as soon as they become humiliated by their parents. It's only fair.

Chunky Monkey!

2010-03-31T21:50:00.000-07:00

My little guy is growing like a weed! He's 9 weeks old tomorrow and is still just as huge as ever and smiling a lot (and eating a lot, too!). He's a good baby except at midnight when he starts crying and doesn't let off until 1 or 2 am. But then he sleeps practically all morning and won't wake up until mid-afternoon! I'm trying to switch his schedule around slightly so he'll sleep soundly starting around 9 pm. Good luck with that, right?

Riah had his 2 month checkup on Monday and they weighed and measured him. He weighs 13 pounds 13 ounces (and this was on a cleared-out system- he had just filled a diaper and hadn't eaten in a couple of hours) and is 24 1/2 inches long. Head circumference is 16.5 inches. Weight and head are 80th percentiles, length is 84th. Everything looks good with his health and he just gets cuter every day!

The Blessing of Uriah

2010-03-25T21:37:00.000-07:00

Uriah was blessed on the 7th of March. I've been meaning to update the blog with what was said during the blessing but I have been busy with three kids! Finally, I find Riah in bed asleep and two girls in bed. The stars have aligned!

Uriah was blessed with strength, knowledge of Heavenly Father's love for him, help with obtaining his education. He will have health sufficient for his needs. He will have a desire to serve Heavenly Father and people will follow his example. He will understand the plan of salvation better than most. He will be delighted to serve a mission for the church, which will be an unusual mission, not standard to most missionaries. When he returns, he will meet someone to marry in the temple and will have a righteous posterity, and will have many blessings that only he will notice.

And, of course, now the baby's crying!

Blessing Day

2010-03-07T21:48:00.001-08:00

I'll update a little later with more of the details of the blessing, but I wanted to share some pictures of my adorable little man and our family right away!

Tape starts with... what again?

2010-03-02T14:01:00.000-08:00

Conversation just now...

L: Mom! Rose can count to eleven! Eleven starts with A, right?

C: No, eleven starts with E.

R: (holding a giant roll of tape) TAPE starts with ELEBEN.

OK, maybe she doesn't exactly get the letters/numbers thing yet, but she's trying!

2 Week Update

2010-02-12T18:42:00.000-08:00

Today Uriah got to meet the pediatrician for the first time. Since birth, he has grown lots!

Weight: 10 lb 3 oz (birth 9 lb 8 oz)
Length: 22 1/2 inches (birth 22 inches)
Head Circumference: 15 inches (birth 14 1/4 inches)

She also checked out his whole body, especially his nose since he has been dripping milk out of his left nostril when we nurse side-lying on his left side. His nose looked fine though- it may be because I have so much milk. She's also concerned of a slight tongue tie, but it's not enough to worry about since he nurses effectively and is gaining weight rapidly. He's only got 5 ounces to go until he is a pound over his birthweight- a lot of babies are just barely back up to their birthweight at 2 weeks old!

While we were at the pediatrician's office, the girls got to go to a birthday party! They had lots of fun playing games and doing art projects. Now Dave is taking them both to a basketball game, so it's just me and Riah at home. And he's sound asleep! I guess tonight's a good night to curl up with a book. Good thing I stopped by the library to pick two new ones up today! I've been reading books from the juvenile and young adult sections lately. I got book three in the Gregor the Overlander series, and I picked up a book called The Goose Girl that my sister read and really enjoyed.

Favorite Colors

2010-02-10T20:13:00.001-08:00

Apparently, being bombarded with pink and purple hasn't influenced my daughters' color preferences. Rose has recently announced that her favorite color is blue. And Lacy? For a long time, it was purple. Then she discovered that many of her friends love purple as well. To be different, she decided that her favorite colors are actually red, brown and black. And she specifically said that she likes those colors because nobody else does. She's a girl after her mother's heart, she is.

Babylove

2010-02-04T23:13:00.001-08:00

My sweet boy is one week old and we couldn't be happier in love with him!

Whoops!

2010-02-02T22:39:00.000-08:00

Uriah actually weighed 9 lb 8 oz at birth. The midwife wasn't used to the scale they had at the birth center and told us the wrong weight. We are certain that 9 lb 8 oz is correct, though, because today he weighed in at 9 lb 9 oz. My milk is in, but he certainly hasn't gained that much by 5 days old!

The birth of Uriah Gregory

2010-01-31T12:01:00.000-08:00

Wednesday I had a midwife appointment and was so tired of all the prodromal labor. We realized at the appointment why my body was having such a hard time starting labor. His hands were up by his head, making it near impossible to descend much farther down in my pelvis. My midwife was able to kind of push him up, move his hands out of the way one by one, and get him back down there. She stripped my membranes (I was 5 cm when I left) and gave me instructions to go walk around before getting in the car and driving off, while keeping my hands down by where his head was to keep his little hands from going back down so he could settle in head-down. I was supposed to use wide strides. It was very awkward to walk around in public like this.

Apparently, what we did that night did the trick. Around 12:15, I felt my first real contraction. You know, the kind that make your toes curl. Not just crampy or tightness, which all my previous contractions had been. After 15 minutes, I had had three of them and Dave told me that I needed to page the midwife. I did, and told her these ones were different, and she said that we needed to go up to the birth center. I called my sister Leslie, who came over to stay the night with my kids. Since I was laughing and joking between contractions, she was not convinced I was actually in labor. To be honest, I wasn't completely convinced I was in labor, either.

We left and told the midwife we'd meet her up at the birth center. On the way up, the contractions continued to intensify and started getting closer together. We got to the birth center almost exactly at the same time as our midwife, around 2 am. She unlocked the door and let us choose a room, and started filling the tub for us. I got into "birth mode" and changed out of my clothes into my swimming suit. I was in there maybe 10 minutes when the contractions went from me being able to talk between them, joking and laughing, to having to recover from each contraction with another contraction beginning again almost immediately. The pressure was getting intense. Then my water broke in the birth tub. Dave went out to tell the midwife my water broke (she was getting set up with her assistant out of the room- and her assistant had just gotten there maybe about 10 minutes prior to my water breaking) and then I had even more pressure on my perineum!

It only took about 5-10 more minutes before I started feeling "pushy." And, oh my goodness, I have never experienced such an urge to push as I did with this baby. I literally couldn't stop pushing. I was on hands and knees in the birth tub, and his head came out. The midwife ordered me out of the tub because his cord was wrapped around his neck three times and they had to get it untangled. I leaned up against the bed, standing, with both midwives and DH behind me, working on the cord. I said, "He's coming! I can't stop it!" and baby boy shot out into Dave's hand! His other hand was holding cord! He was born at 2:52 am.

The midwife told me this was the longest cord she had ever seen. It was about four feet long. Though Dave would describe it as even longer, and he's probably a better judge of that considering I had just given birth when I saw it. Not only was it wrapped around his neck three times, it was also under BOTH arms, criss-crossing in the back.

After a few seconds, he let out a nice little cry to let us know he was okay. We weighed him a bit later, and he weighed in at 9 lb 1/2 oz, and is 22 inches long. I escaped without needing any perennial repair! I'm pretty happy about that considering how fast he came out!

This whole pregnancy, I've had a strong feeling this labor was going to go by quickly. I still can't believe how fast it all happened! Just over 2 1/2 hours from first real contraction until he was born. WOW! I can hardly believe it. My family does have a history of very fast 3rd labors... my mother, a 3rd child, was born in the hallway of the hospital during the era of twilight sleep- no medications for my grandma because it happened so quickly! I am also a 3rd child, and was born in the labor room after my dad ran frantically down the halls trying to find a doctor to deliver me.

In labor, still filling the tub.

20 minutes later, a baby!

A few hours later, right before heading home. I was a wee bit tired! Sweet little Riah always has his hands up by his face, just like when he was in the womb. Little stinker!

He's here!

2010-01-28T09:22:00.000-08:00

Uriah Gregory

I went into labor around 12:15 this morning and after a very intense labor he was born at 2:52 am. Less than 3 hours from the very first contraction to his birth! 9 lb 0.5 oz 22 in long, 7 min pushing and only a tiny tear that doesn't require repair. Was going to be a waterbirth but the cord was wrapped tightly around his neck 3x and under each arm so I had to get out of the tub.

More details to come!

My Little Superman

2010-01-27T15:55:00.000-08:00

No wonder I haven't made any progress! Baby boy's hands were BOTH up by his head. The midwife moved those today at my appointment. Then she sent me out walking to engage his head in my pelvis with his hands out of the way. We're really hoping he comes tonight. It's entirely possible because I have an extremely favorable cervix, and with his hands gone from his head, it shouldn't be too long before he's fully engaged and labor begins!

As far as the rest of my appointment goes, I have lost 3 pounds since my last appointment, and everything else is right on track. Hopefully my next post will be about my new little addition! I'll keep you posted!

Waiting Game (aka ramblings from a very impatient pregnant woman)

2010-01-24T21:03:00.000-08:00

It's now a waiting game for us. Lacy was born at 39 weeks and 2 days, and Rose was born at exactly 40 weeks, so I'm anticipating baby in the next couple of days or so, since I'm in the middle of week 39 now. Friday night I really felt like that was the night. I was contracting every 3 minutes or so for 6 hours. The girls were overnight with Dave's brother's family, so it was a perfect night to have a baby. But alas, when we went to see the midwife at 11, there was very little change since my appointment earlier in the week.

So we went home, went to sleep, and slept in until 11! It was great! Then, Brenda (Dave's dad's wife) and her son Kyle brought the girls back to us and we had a super fun day with them- we walked around the docks around the Puget Sound, ate a spicy Mexican dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, visited the cloth diaper store and the library, and came home to two very exhausted children who fell asleep like angels!

But of course, I had virtually zero contractions last night, despite the spicy food and all the walking. Today was Stake Conference, so I opted to stay home with the kids while Dave attended. I really hate attending SC with the kids because it is so hard to get anything out of it with trying to keep two kids occupied for two hours. Dave was able to enjoy it, though. We went to a baptism tonight which was really nice (at least I got some spiritual enrichment today!) but before we left for the baptism, I was starting to feel really icky and crampy. I'm still feeling icky and crampy and am having more regular contractions, but they're still to the point where I can eat during them, walk and talk through them, and basically function through them. Occasionally I'll get that one contraction that stops me in my tracks, but that is pretty rare. We're not calling for babysitting backup or paging the midwife unless I am fairly certain that it's the real deal, though. My body likes to tease me. But I have known with certainty when I was in labor both times, so I'm confident I'll know this time as well. But the anticipation! It's making me crazy!

So I've decided I'm going to get in my jammies, put on a DVD, and relax for the rest of the night and not worry about the contractions until they are strong enough for me to feel urgently that I need to leave my home and go to the birth center.

I have to admit that I'm really hoping for a birth tomorrow the 25th- it will continue our tradition of having our children born on the day after a blood relative (Lacy and Rose are also born on the same date as relatives-by-marriage) since today is Dave's grandpa's birthday. Also, Lacy's birth day is the 23rd and Rose's is the 24th, so it would be fun to have Riah born on the 25th!

Dirndls & Football

2010-01-19T15:38:00.000-08:00

Of course I have to post adorable pictures of my children, since I'm on a posting frenzy right now (I think this is part of my nesting process since it won't be long now!).

The girls looked so darned cute for church on Sunday that I had to take their pictures.

Also, Lacy decided she wanted to be a football star, and was being hilarious, so we took more pictures. Her team colors are pink and purple, but the players on her team are less than enthusiastic about the sport (FYI, she said she's the coach).

She has her football poses down pat, though.

Midwives in Training

2010-01-19T15:24:00.000-08:00

First, the details of today's appointment: I am 38w and 5 d currently. I gained 2 pounds since my last appointment, which puts me right where I should be since I lost a pound at the last appointment. Blood pressure was high (for me) at 108/60something, but I did have kids climbing on me at the time. Belly is measuring at 39cm and baby's heart rate was at 130. Since I've been having so many contractions lately and wanted to have an idea of when I may be needing some babysitters, I got an internal check today. Baby's head is much lower than it was last week, and I'm 3 cm dilated! I'm very thick though, so I could have several more days (or not very long at all). I'm thinking it's going to be within the next week, but honestly, who knows at this point! I just really hope I won't continue having these contractions into February!

The girls always love to help the midwife with checking me each time I go. They help with measuring my belly:

And listening to the heartbeat with the fetoscope

In full bloom

2010-01-19T15:02:00.000-08:00

I tried posting this a few days ago, but I got a new memory disk for my camera which wasn't compatible with my disk drive. I have it all figured out now, so now you get to see pictures again!

Here I am, a couple days past 38 weeks. Usually I don't post the bare belly pictures, but the girls were being so cute that I'm going to do it this time.

The Hair

2010-01-19T15:00:00.000-08:00

...and because my hair looked so beautiful in those belly pictures, I decided I would do something about it. I got it chopped off. The idea of having really long hair for labor wasn't that pleasant to me. I'm going to donate my ponytail as soon as I decide which charity should get it! I got about 10-12" chopped off.

Waiting for the cut with my snuggley cuties

Full length

During...
The finished new hairstyle:

Getting Ready

2010-01-14T17:00:00.000-08:00

Two weeks to go until the baby's due! If you want to make a guess on when baby will make his appearance, you can make your guess here.

Yesterday I was feeling completely unready to have this baby. I went to the midwife yesterday and expressed my concern about the place of birth- the birthing center in my city is not legally able to be operated as a birthing center quite yet (they're waiting on the health department) and there is no guarantee that it will be ready in time. I'm not mentally prepared for a homebirth, nor can I fit a birthing tub in my tiny home at this time, so I'd prefer to birth outside of my home, yet still outside of a hospital setting. I was going to register at a nearby birthing center (it's still a 45 minute drive on a good traffic day, so it's only sort of close by) but they have a non-refundable $250 fee that is not covered by insurance at all. I was afraid of paying that and then having the birthing center be finished in time and not be able to get my money back, or having a freeway baby or an unattended homebirth. There's a family history of fast labors as it is (including my own first labor which was just 4.5 hours- my second labor was much longer due to various complications during labor) especially with third babies. So I'm a little terrified of not having enough time to get there!

So the office manager at the midwifery office called, and I was able to register up at the birth center without paying the fee. I will pay the fee if I actually use the facility. We went and toured it with the girls yesterday and it was beautiful! There is one room that is decorated in purples, and Lacy absolutely flipped about that room. She really wants that to be my birthing room (plus, the tub in that room is deeper, which I really like). I'm feeling much more comfortable with the idea of giving birth now, and even started packing my bags! Now I just have to get this baby to decide to engage his head, and it won't be much longer. I'd prefer not to have this baby earlier than 39 weeks, though!

As far as a pregnancy update goes, I actually LOST a pound! AND, I tried on my belly cast the other day and there's a ton of room still. The midwife guessed by feeling the baby that he's going to be a large one, but not as large as Rosie, who was 9-6. She guessed that yesterday at my appointment he was about 8 pounds-ish. During my blood pressure check, she asked me "What would you do if you went into labor tonight?" She had to check my blood pressure a few minuets later because it started out with the top number being 140. Yikes! After a break and a talk about other things, my blood pressure was back to 104/54. Much more normal for me. Some good news from the appointment is that I'm GBS negative so even if I have a very fast birth, I don't have to worry about antibiotics. I'm happy to report that everything is looking great, and even though I'm extremely uncomfortable this pregnancy, this is the most textbook-healthy pregnancy I've ever had. I haven't even gained too much weight this time!

So today Dave and I have been working hard to get some major cleaning done, and we've made quite a bit of progress. I still have an hour of kid-free time (thank you to my friend Tina for watching the girls today!) but my back is aching so I took a little blog break. I volunteered at Lacy's school this morning, and Dave helped a family at the funeral home (he's not working there yet- it's a family from church- but it is the one he's most likely going to be working at soon). Lacy's teacher said they're going to give Lacy extra help since they know it's going to be hard for me to do it with the new baby and with Rosie already at home. I'm so grateful for their help!

Tomorrow is another big cleaning day. Hopefully on Saturday Dave and I can go out on a pre-baby date- we found two super saver movie tickets and he really wants to see Avatar (I suggested taking the kids to see the new Disney movie, but he wasn't going for that!). He was actually called in to work next week for the asbestos company up in a city that is a 2 hour drive away. He's really feeling conflicted about this. He knows that the funeral home is not ready to take him on quite yet (he needs to get his ducks in a row for schooling first) but he was looking forward to never doing asbestos work again. But, working means earning two times what unemployment pays. He's just really worried about being so far away from me so close to my due date. I really don't think anything will happen until at least 39 weeks, but... when Lacy was born, he had carpooled to work that day and had to figure out how to get home from work while the other guy (who drove) would stay at work. He's worried about a similar situation this time since he can't just up and leave the work site like he could at that other job!

Cinnamon Rolls

2010-01-12T14:48:00.000-08:00

Dave bought cinnamon rolls in celebration of a possible career change and the fact that he will likely be going back to school (soon) so he can become an apprentice of this guy who is a funeral director, and eventually become a funeral director himself someday.

Lacy and Rose were eating some as a snack, and Rose asked if mommy made them.

Lacy said, "No, mom didn't make these. Mom's are gooder."

Contractions & Insomnia

2010-01-12T08:35:00.001-08:00

So I read a while back that pineapple can bring on labor. Not even thinking anything of it, I had a huge glass of pineapple juice last night (seriously, I'm not ready yet, so I'd like to keep this baby in for at least another week, preferably closer to two). I usually get lots of contractions anyway, but last night it was insane! I don't know if it was because of the pineapple juice or because I'm a little over 2 weeks away from being due and my body is really starting to get ready for this baby. Today I'm still having a lot of contractions, but I have a lot to get done today, so I'm going to work really hard to try to get it all done.

My mom says she's been praying that I won't have the baby while she's gone on her cruise. I hope the prayers work, but if they don't, that's what she gets for taking a vacation two weeks before her daughter's due date!

And of course, the insomnia is a lot of fun. I have a lot of trouble falling asleep and have routinely been falling asleep around 2 am or later for the past few days, than waking up at 7:30 or 8 and not taking any naps during the day. I want to fall asleep, but I just can't.

Oh, the last few weeks of pregnancy are so much fun! I guess they are so uncomfortable because that way you'll actually look forward to going into labor! I've just got to mentally prepare myself to have this baby, and I've got to clean my house to the point where there's not going to be a lot of work to do once the baby is here. I did go through all my birth supplies last night just in case I end up with a homebirth! It was fun looking at the teeny tiny t-shirts that will soon have a body to fit in them!

Haven't done this in a while... kiddo stats

2010-01-11T18:01:00.001-08:00

I knew Lacy was tall. But gosh dangit, I didn't really know how tall she was until she started kindergarten. She is the 2nd youngest child in her class, and the second tallest. Then today, we had a doctor's appointment and I got the actual measurements of my children. I am blown away by Lacy's numbers. She is nearly 4 feet tall, and not yet 5 1/2 years old. That puts her squarely in the 96th percentile for height. WOW. I mean, she's often been in the 90s, but I thought maybe she'd slow down a little as she grew, and for a while her height stats were in the 80s. I guess she had a growth spurt. No wonder the size 5 clothes don't fit her anymore- they're all too short (but fit her fine in the waist). The doctor said she is the size of a 6 or 7 year old. But she's proportionate.

I also talked to the doctor about her tip toe walking, and after an evaluation, it seems like it isn't really going to be a problem, but we can always take her to a podiatrist if we are still concerned about it. And she referred us to a podiatrist that Dave has known for years and years. He's the guy that helped Dave with his foot when he broke it the week before we got married.

I didn't have any concerns with Rose, but I did have her get a vaccine. She is on a very delayed/selective schedule, so we're just trying to complete one of the vaccine series right now before we go on to the next one. She's been getting the DTaP vaccine. In choosing which vaccines we will do, we evaluate the risk of the vaccine versus the risk of the disease, and also factor in the likelihood of actually getting the disease in our decision. I feel like the DTaP vaccine, while it has a lot of side effects, is worth it because the diseases (at least tetanus and pertussis) are not eradicated in this country and are quite common, which is why I decided to go with this particular vaccine. Rose hasn't gotten many vaccines, and we will likely decline most others, especially the flu shot and the new Guardasil vaccine (which protects against some strains of HPV and has a high rate of side effects).

And here are the stats for the kiddos.

Lacy: 47.25 inches tall (96th percentile)
49 pounds (84th percentile)

Rose: 39.25 inches tall (63rd percentile)
33 pounds (49th percentile)

Compared to Lacy, Rose is a little pipsqueak! And she was my 9 1/2 pounder and was always bigger than Lacy (at the same ages) until after she was 2.

Let the weekly visits begin!

2010-01-06T20:42:00.001-08:00

Okay... today I had another midwife appointment. Everything went beautifully, except that I had traces of sugar in my, uh, system. So I'm hoping that's only because I ate some lebkuchen right before I came to my appointment. I'm doing well with weight gain... I'm up to almost 35 pounds gained (total) I believe. I don't want to gain too much more at this point!

Baby is still head down, and I'm measuring right on with him. I'm thinking he's going to be smaller than Rose, but at this point it's just a guessing game anyway. He still has three weeks of growing left to do- which will include more than a pound of weight gain between now and then.

It's iffy if the birthing center will be ready in time. They have their occupancy license, and now they're waiting on the health department's okay before they can start hosting births there. Crossing my fingers that it will be done in time, because the next closest birthing center is close to an hour drive away, and I really don't want to have to drive that far in January.

I'll have Dave take some pictures of me later and I'll post them. My neighbor said I looked really small considering I'm due in just over three weeks' time. Thank you, thank you, sweet neighbor. For now, we're just trying to get everything ready, while Dave is trying to butcher a cow and find freezer space for all of that. It's a little stressful around here lately, because I'm quickly running out of time!

Kids cuteness

2009-12-30T21:10:00.000-08:00

"I'm as hot as a snickerdoodle!" -Lacy, today after her bath.

Lacy has been really cute today. She was playing that she was a mommy and first gave birth to baby Elizabeth. Then, surprise, Elizabeth has a twin sister, Charlotte! Finally, a third girl came into the world, but I can't remember what Lacy named her. Then she asked Rose to watch her children because she had a very important meeting she needed to attend. I asked her what they would eat while she was gone, and she said, well, they can have formula. Which really, really surprised me because lately she's been quite the lactivist! I questioned her about it, and she said, "Mom, it's just for pretend!"

Suddenly, she was a queen, and she was making clothes with swatches of fabric. I was *this close* to getting her a simple sewing machine for Christmas, but I don't think she's quite ready for that yet. I think I'll teach her how to knit first.

I've been under the weather for the past two days, and can I just say that my mom saved the day by getting Rose a collection of children's songs and music for Christmas? I didn't much feel like reading to the kids tonight, but I was feeling guilty for not reading as much as I should lately and for excessive use of the TV (we actually skipped TV-free Tuesday this week- shame on me!), but I was able to put on a story CD for the kids tonight at bedtime, and now I'm feeling just fine about it! No guilt whatsoever. In the collection is three or four CDs of just stories, including many famous fairy tales, Peter and the Wolf, Peter Rabbit, Alice in Wonderland (condensed version obviously) and several others I hadn't heard of before. The other day, Lacy just sat and listened to stories for about an hour. I'm sure these CDs will get a lot of playtime in the next couple of months!

A few photos from Christmas and Christmas Eve...

2009-12-25T22:22:00.001-08:00

First off, I was 35 weeks on Christmas Eve, so Dave very kindly took a belly shot of me by the Christmas Tree (at Dave's dad's house).

My sweet girls all dressed up on Christmas Eve
Reading the Christmas story from the Bible

What Santa brought...
A choo choo train and a piano for Rosie, and a telescope, veil and The Sound of Music DVD for Lacy, plus stockings full of all sorts of good stuff! The easel they got earlier that evening from their Papa (Dave's dad).

Christmas Day at my parents' house... Rose, Regan and Lacy all in their beautiful Christmas skirts that Les and Mom sewed up for them! Don't they look great?

We had a really fun Christmas this year! I'm really excited about my new sewing machine, and Dave is stoked that he got gift cards to Wholesale Sports from both his Dad and my parents! Lacy and Rose got some really great gifts and we are so appreciative of everyone who thought of us this Christmas.

Hope you had a great Christmas, too!

Dave found Rudolph

2009-12-24T14:45:00.000-08:00

...and he's going to taste delicious!

For any of you from out-of-state, who may be used to other species of deer (especially mule deer), this is actually quite a large black tail deer. And with a bow, it's an absolute trophy! We rarely ever see deer this large, and we see deer quite often living out near the woods. I'm so proud of my hubby! (Not that he was looking for a trophy- as he always says, you can't eat antlers! This deer also has a big body and will provide us with quite a bit of meat)

Is all I ever do baby updates anymore? Plus other good things.

2009-12-22T20:56:00.001-08:00

Yet another midwife appointment. Baby apparently had a growth spurt, because I gained 3.5 pounds (a total of 26 pounds thus far- not too bad!) and am measuring a bit ahead of schedule again fundal-height wise (last time I was measuring exactly right on). Everything's looking great- baby's still head down and he's not posterior at the moment, and he's feeling like he's more average sized (I am capable of delivering a 12 pound baby I am sure, but I don't really want to!). I'm feeling like he's going to be in between Lacy and Rose's size- high 8's or low 9's.

AND I went BY MYSELF to my appointment! My sister was so kind as to watch my children for me so I wouldn't go crazy while I was there. They love going to the midwife with me, but honestly, it gets to be a little too much sometimes with them!

After the appointment, I went by K-Mart because I figured they wouldn't be as busy as other stores would be a few days before Christmas. I was right, however, their selection stinks and I couldn't find anything because I never shop there, so I still spent an hour in the store. At least I didn't have to deal with stinky parking situations or long lines, which I dread. I was able to find a few things I needed to get, but forgot to look for the materials I need for this year's funny gift.

After shopping, I went back to Leslie's, and we spent a little time in the kitchen making a few Christmas treats. The girls had a lot of fun eating them and playing with their cousins. We went home to have leftovers for dinner (yum!) and now the girls are settling in their beds. We'll see if they actually go to sleep- their sleep schedules have been so wonky since school got out.

But the BEST NEWS OF ALL: Dave's friend had two beef cows. One was butchered last week. Ever since then, their remaining cow has been going crazy. Escaping and going into the neighbor's yard, destroying fences and property, and basically acting wild. They decided they can NOT have this in their yard anymore. But because they're already going to have an entire cow to put in their freezer, they have opted to give it to us! Dave went out this afternoon to try to find it, and he killed it himself, dressed it out, and is taking it out to a close friend's house who has a meat locker and a processing center. Next week will be butchering time! If that wasn't good enough news, he ALSO shot a 3 point buck with his bow today (for those of you on the east coast, that's a 6 point buck, and for a black tailed deer, which is all we have around here, that's a decent size)! He didn't have time to track it and find it, but he knows he got it and he knows exactly where it is and will get it tomorrow to dress it out and hang it. I don't have any more details than that at the moment. I'm feeling incredibly blessed that our family will have plenty of meat to get us through the next year. Not only that, it is all good, basically organic meat that ate the food naturally intended for that animal to eat, and locally grown, too!

UPDATE: Dave went back and got the deer already! We are going to be overflowing with meat soon!

Wee One Update

2009-12-10T16:39:00.001-08:00

Today I am 33 weeks! Just 4 weeks until I am considered term, and 3 weeks after that until I will likely deliver my baby! Lacy and Rose both came right around their due dates, so I'm not expecting anything earlier than 39 weeks with this one.

The good news is the birthing center is almost finished! I walked around it today- they're just doing detail stuff like caulking around the giant whirlpools and such. They need to furnish it still and get approval from the health department, and then they're in business! Hopefully they'll have it all done in 5-6 weeks so it will be ready before I go into labor! It's going to be beautiful! I'm so excited! My city has needed a birthing center for a long time. The closest one is 30 miles away in a larger city, but there are two out-of-hospital birth midwifery practices in my city, so there is certainly a need being filled with this birthing center.

As far as I go... today my blood pressure was super high- 120/80. For me, that's really high. Normally I'm in the 90/60 range. Baby's heart was at 150 and is still head down. I was getting worried because I was feeling hiccups all over the place over the last few days, but I thought I was feeling his bum at the top so I wasn't sure. Sure enough, I was right- that lump I was feeling at the top of my uterus was indeed his bum.

The best news- I am measuring right on at 33.5 cm and I only gained 2 1/2 pounds since my last visit 2 1/2 weeks ago. Considering we've had Thanksgiving and lots of cookies and candies because we are in the midst of the Christmas season, I'm thinking that's pretty good! I would really like a baby slightly smaller than my Rosie, so not gaining two pounds a week (like I did in my 3rd trimester with both girls) is really encouraging. I'm not feeling as giant as I felt when I was pregnant with her, too.

I'm keeping my hopes up that this upcoming birth will be easier than Rose's. I ended up having several complications that emerged at once, resulting in a hospital transfer. My labor with Lacy was only 4.5 hours, and Rose's labor, which should have been shorter since usually 2nd labors are faster than first labors, ended up lasting 9 hours. I was exhausted and just done by the end, but once my (sunny side up) baby arrived, I was over the moon and ready to run a marathon (okay, maybe not quite, but I felt great). I'm hoping this time for a fast labor like Lacy's followed by an easy recovery like Rose's.

Santa Claus is Coming To Our Neighborhood!

2009-12-07T22:30:00.000-08:00

Tonight was the food drive put on by the local fire department. They come through the neighborhood with the lights and sirens going and have Santa with them on a sleigh to help collect food. We told the girls that Santa was in the neighborhood and they were so very excited. Lacy immediately put on more appropriate clothes for wearing outside, and I swear we waited outside for 20 minutes because she couldn't stand waiting inside where she could possibly miss Santa coming by our house.

It was freezing cold. But the girls were so happy that they got to sit up with Santa on his sleigh for a minute. Thankfully I remembered the camera.

'Tis the Season... for Static!

2009-12-07T22:25:00.000-08:00

This time of year when the humidity is low (except when it is raining) and it is cold, my thin, dry hair always seems to be very staticy. My lucky children also have the type of hair that lends itself easily to a lot of static. Here we have Rose, who just came in from the freezing cold outside.

Wish Lists to Santa

2009-12-07T11:19:00.001-08:00

Here's what my girls have asked Santa to give them:

Rose:
Piano
Doggy
Choo Choo Train

Lacy:
Wedding Dress
Veil
Cake Topper

Lacy's a bit obsessed with getting married lately. The other day, she packed all her clothes in a suitcase and told me she was moving to Utah because she was getting married and her husband had a job in Utah.

What's your guess?

2009-12-05T15:27:00.001-08:00

I asked all my family members what their guesses are for this new little baby. Here are our guesses, and we'll see who is closest! If you want to play, too, just respond with your guess in the comments!

Rose
Date: January 22
Time: Night/10 pm
Hair? Lots of blond hair
Weight: 9 lb 3 oz
Length: 22 inches

Lacy
Date: January 31
Time: 2 am
Hair?: Lots of blond hair
Weight: 8 lb 5 oz (shockingly, that's Lacy's birth weight)
Length: 21 inches

Carolyn
Date: February 2 (my second choice is January 25)
Time: 10:30 am
Hair?: Lots of brown hair
Weight: 8 lb 12 oz
Length: 20 inches

Dave
Date: January 21
Time: Sometime at night
Hair?: A medium amount of light-colored hair
Weight: 8 lb 14 oz

Past history to help you make your guess: Both Lacy and Rose were 21 inches long. Lacy was 8 lb 5 oz, Rose was 9 lb 6 oz. Lacy was born 5 days before her due date, Rose was born on her due date. Both girls were born at night. Lacy had a smallish amount of light brown hair, Rose had a ton of dark brown hair. As far as Dave and I go, I don't know many details on Dave's birth. I believe he was on the larger side, but he was early (his mother had complications due to the shape of her uterus though, which probably resulted in the early birth). He was a blond, bald baby. I was born in the morning at 9 lb 2 oz/21" long with tons of dark brown hair just like Rosie.

Conversation in the car today

2009-11-27T23:17:00.000-08:00

Lacy: I'm going to get married in the Seattle Temple!

Rose: I'm going to get married in the PARTY Temple!

Um... I don't think there's a party temple my dear... but at least you're planning a temple wedding! Even if you are just three years old!

Baby Update

2009-11-04T20:24:00.000-08:00

I love going to the midwife! The best thing is the hour long appointments that I get to have with them. It was also exciting to see all the progress on the birthing center that they're building! I bring my girls with me to my appointments because they love to hear the heart "beep" and help measure my belly. They're very good student midwives! I actually wouldn't be surprised if one of my children ends up being a midwife someday!

So upon arrival to the midwifery office, I went in and weighed myself and tested my pee (lovely!) for protein and sugar. I believe at most OB offices, the nurse does this for you. It's just as easy and accurate for me to do so myself! I unfortunately gained 8 pounds in the past 4 weeks, which was a huge jump, but only 20 pounds gained thus far, so it's not a big deal.

Then we went over my tests from last week- the gestational diabetes glucose tolerance test and hematocrit (iron) level testing. The first result was excellent- my glucose level was 80! They're looking for anything under 130, so I was better than okay. I tolerate sugar just fine. It's a good thing, too, because I have a bit of a sugar addiction! I am trying to be better about my sugar consumption, but it is just soooo good! At least this time when I have a 9-10 pound baby, there will be no question that this was just a result of me making big babies rather than having a GD big baby (I didn't get the test with Rose, and she was over 9 pounds, which is why I opted to get tested this time around).

The iron levels, however, are a concern. I've been pretty good about remembering to take my iron supplements, but apparently my body needs a little more of a boost because my iron level was at 30, which is the lowest it's ever been in any of my pregnancies. I need to work to get it up so I don't have to transfer care to a hospital midwife at the end of my pregnancy. I'm now drinking a pregnancy tea which includes nettle and dandilion root which have iron in them. I'm also taking an herb, yellow dock, which helps with iron absobtion. I cook off of cast iron pans already, and have been taking a whole food iron supplement along with my prenatal vitamin. They'll retest my iron level in 6 weeks. Hopefully by then it will be higher! At least now I know why I've been so tired and cranky all the time!

I complained about my aching back, and I will be referred to physical therapy! Unfortunately we can't afford chiropractic care with this pregnancy (as much as I would love to be able to afford it) so this is the only option that my insurance will pay for. I'm hoping with the work Dave's been getting recently I'll be able to get some adjustments at the end of my pregnancy.

Then, the fun stuff. We measured my belly (29 cm, which for me is normal- about 1-2 cm ahead of how many weeks pregnant I am), and listened to the heart "beep" through the fetoscope. I was able to hear it quite clearly this time! It is so hard to hear the heartbeat in one of those. It's different than a doppler, which has adjustable volume controls. This one you have to really focus and listen for it. It is a very faint thumping, but it was clear as a bell once I heard it. Lacy got to listen to it to, and use the fetoscope herself. She loves doing that! The midwife also felt for baby's position, and my guess was right on the money- he is still head down. I determined this based on where I was feeling the hiccups! I think he was flipping all over the place the other day, but went back to head down before the day was done. Then she took my blood pressure and said, "wow, this is high for you!" It was 100/60. Yeah, that's a high blood pressure reading for me, all right! After I had Lacy, I was on my back on the floor passed out because it got down to 60/40! I tend to run low. Last time I think my high number was in the 80s or 90s.

I don't have a new belly picture to post, so for now you'll just get the update. I'll understand if most of you don't want to read this- it's just technical stuff for my own enjoyment later on, anyway!

Fall Fotos

2009-10-24T19:47:00.000-07:00

Today we decided that the weather was nice enough, so we went up to take pictures at the capitol campus with the fall leaves. We try to do this every year, but missed last year because we couldn't find a good weekend with no rain! This year we learned our lesson, and the first day that wasn't raining where the leaves had already fallen enough, we took the opportunity to take the pictures.

Here are a few of my favorites from today.

Field Trip!

2009-10-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

Lacy went on her first field trip with her kindergarten class on Friday. I was able to volunteer and attend the field trip with Lacy. I'm really happy that I was able to go- I met some of Lacy's friends, including friends from the other kindergarten class whom she plays with at recess. I was also able to spend a fun morning with her. I won't be able to volunteer in her kindergarten class much after January, so I'm taking advantage of the time I have now!

With the giant 638 pound pumpkin on display in front of the cider mill (where the pumpkin patch was located)

A taste of delicious fresh cider- their specialty! They also got apple cider donuts. The best part of it was, I got cider and donuts, too! Yippee!

The pumpkin patch

Lacy and her buddy with their pumpkins!

Feeding the goats was a highlight of the trip! Lacy's buddy's bag got eaten whole by a greedy goat who took it right out of her hands!

This goat pulls the bucket of food up the pulley with her mouth! Cleaver!

They have a wooden maze set up in the back. The kids got a kick out of running through it and finding their way out!

It was a really fun trip and I'm glad I was able to go, though I was soooo tired at the end of the day! I actually had to have a few hours of kid-free time this afternoon to recover and take a nap! I was exhausted! I'm volunteering for the class again this week as the parent helper. I'm very excited to observe a day at school to see what they do! I'm also going to help out at their harvest festival later this month, assuming I can find a babysitter. I'll have helped out in Lacy's class three weeks in a row this month!

A little pregnancy update

2009-10-06T22:13:00.000-07:00

I'm almost 24 weeks! Yippee! I had a midwife appointment today. Everything's looking really good! Baby's head down, at least he was today, though it's so early that he could easily change positions and flip flop all over the place. Eventually he'll (probably) settle down into a good vertex position.

The good news- I've only gained 12 pounds thus far! True, 5 pounds have been in the past week, but with both the girls, I had gained about 20 at this point. I'm really happy since I started out heavier this pregnancy, and I really didn't want to have to lose a ton of weight to get to my pre-pre-pregnancy weight! Also, the birthing center should be finished in December or January, so I'll likely be one of the first to deliver there! I'm so excited! The midwife said that now that there's going to be a birth center, they are having about 50% of their clients signing up for birth center births, whereas it used to be maybe one or two a month. They're also turning clients away because of increased interest in their services now that they have a birthing center going in.

I've decided to go ahead and get the gestational diabetes test done. I'll be between 26 and 28 weeks when it's done. It's my third pregnancy and I've declined it every time before now, but I'm at a slightly increased risk for gestational diabetes based on my history. I really doubt I've ever had it, or that I have it now, but the midwives strongly recommended it this time.

New Niece!

2009-10-05T20:57:00.000-07:00

Dave's brother Tim's wife Julie had a baby tonight! Little baby Hailee was born around 5 or 5:30 and weighed in at 7 1/2 pounds. She is gorgeous with a full head of dark brown hair (the old wives' tale proved true this time- Julie had near constant heartburn the whole time). I am happy to report that everyone is healthy as well, and I've heard that baby is nursing like a champ. Yea!

Tonight we went to my niece Allison's birthday party and got the news that Hailee had arrived once we got there. We had lots of fun seeing family and friends, and at dusk when the park closed, we all headed off to Chris and Kelly's house (Allison's parents) and met Big Dave there, who had pictures of the new little beauty.

Dave's grandpa is having some health problems and can't live alone anymore, and Chris and Kelly were gracious enough to invite him to live with them. He was able to see the pictures of his newest great granddaughter when she was only a couple of hours old. I was really happy that he was able to see her pictures so soon after her birth. It was nice that we were all able to say hello to him, too.

Kelly was such a sweetheart and printed out a picture for Lacy to take to school tomorrow. This is "H" week at school, and Lacy's sharing day is tomorrow, so she is taking in a picture of baby Hailee to share with her class! She is so excited to share about her newest cousin!

Family Project

2009-10-03T12:52:00.001-07:00

In Lacy's kindergarten class each month, she is assigned a special family project that she is supposed to do with all of her family. Last month, she did a "getting to know you" apple, with a picture of her on the apple. She put lots of things about her on the apple and colored it herself. I did all the writing on the apple.

She was very excited to get going on it this month! They gave them a blank pumpkin, and told them they could decorate it any way they wanted, using whatever they chose. During general conference this morning, we decided to get going on Lacy's pumpkin. All four of us helped out with making pumpkin. Here is what we came up with.

A little elaborate? Maybe. Can you even tell that it is a pumpkin?

Well, we had fun with it at least! She gets to share it in her class on Monday.

Family Home Evening

2009-09-29T22:24:00.001-07:00

We had a nice family home evening last night. A good lesson from The Friend, ice cream, reading scriptures together, and of course a fun game, chosen by Lacy. Who always chooses hide and seek.

Rose was hiding. She thought she was doing a pretty good job of it too.

Here's where we found her.

It's amazing anyone could find her at all.

My Kind is in Kindergarten

2009-09-14T20:05:00.001-07:00

Today was the first day of Kindergarten! Lacy was so excited! She could hardly sleep last night because of all the excitement, and then she woke up at 7 on the dot this morning. Which means she fell asleep before 8 o'clock tonight.

Getting ready to go!
She found her seat in her classroom. She is excited to sit at the yellow table, because the yellow table has purple handled scissors.
But Rose was pretty upset to have her sister gone
Really, really upset. She cried all the way home. OK, actually she cried until Dave gave her some M&Ms (which she calls yum yums)
But she was excited to come pick her up at the end of her first day of kindergarten!
Lacy emerging triumphantly from her first day of kindergarten!
She had such a good time! She can't wait to go again tomorrow! Tomorrow she's riding the bus! I will be driving to the school and meeting her there to make sure she knows where to go, and on Wednesday, she'll go it alone! I'm a little bit nervous about that, actually. But I know she'll do great!

Lacy Won!

2009-09-08T22:05:00.001-07:00

Tonight was our school's open house. School starts tomorrow, except for kindergarten, which starts on Monday. But we wanted to take a look around the school and see Lacy's classroom, meet some of the other teachers, and see the other kids. We had a lot of fun!

One of the events was going into the gym, visiting all the booths and getting a stamp from each of them, and entering a drawing for 8 passes plus pizza and drinks from Charlie's Safari, a locally owned fun center for kids that is kind of like Chuck E. Cheese, only way cooler because it has a giant playland (like McDonald's but much larger), bounce houses, and laser tag. I forgot to grab the entry form, so we had to go back through all the booths again so we could enter. But I'm glad I did, because Lacy won!!! She is so excited to get to go to Charlie's Safari and have a little party there with her sister and 6 other people. I'm so surprised that she won! It's such a huge blessing to our family, since there's no way we could afford going there without free tickets.

(Almost) Halfway There!

2009-09-08T21:54:00.000-07:00

On Thursday I will be 20 weeks. So halfway there! Today I went to the midwife and we had a great appointment. I may have to give up my dream of having a birth center birth in my city, because it looks like there's a big possibility of it not being completed in time. I called the birth center farther north and will schedule myself there, but if it's snowy, I'll probably end up having a homebirth because I'd be much more comfortable there than, you know, giving birth on the side of the road (which is entirely possible, since my first labor was quite short, and if we're held up because of bad weather, which is entirely possible based on the weather we experienced last year...). Plus I've already had a homebirth, so it's not like it's an idea I'm not at all comfortable with anyway.

So, the appointment went really well, and Constance (the midwife) was able to hear the heartbeat with the fetoscope, which was great considering I'm not yet 20 weeks. My blood pressure was extremely low- something like 80/46. I was impressed with how low it was. So far, I've gained 7 pounds, and my fundal height was 22 cm (so, a little bigger than average, but I'm a 3rd time mom and I have bigger than average babies anyway). I'm feeling pretty good other than a ton of braxton hicks contractions that I'm getting several times an hour. Constance said if they got to be too many, just lie down for a while on my left side, and I really only need to call if they feel labor-y. That's kind of what I figured anyway.

The girls really enjoyed going to the midwife with me, and were excited about telling her that the new baby is a boy. They got to listen through the fetoscope, too, which they enjoyed. It's a lot different than listening to the doppler, but it's more fun, too, since you have to put on your ears.

Baby #3 on HIS way!

2009-08-27T19:33:00.001-07:00

Today we got to get a sneak peek into the womb, and discovered that we are going to have a boy! The ultrasound technician said she doesn't give absolutes because nothing is certain until the baby is born, and the highest she gives is 90%... she gave us a 90% chance that this little one is a boy. And looking at my pictures, I believe it!

So here he is... your first look at our first little guy!

It's a boy!

Weaned.

2009-08-20T21:08:00.000-07:00

I'm an extended breastfeeder. I decided when I read my first breastfeeding book when I was pregnant, I would breastfeed my babies until at least age 2, per the World Health Organization's recommendation. Well, the second birthday came and went for both my girls, and I knew they weren't ready yet, so I continued on. Lacy weaned at 39 months, a little less than 2 years ago.

Rose is just under 39 months. And she hasn't nursed in three days. I gave her the choice last night and the night before. Tonight I didn't even offer. I did ask her vaguely if there was anything else that she needed before she went to bed. All she wanted was to read Wolf's Coming and get a drink of water. I tucked her into bed. Ten minutes later, she was asleep. I'm not going to offer to nurse her again. If she asks, I'm going to tell her that they're for the new baby. She'll probably have mostly forgotten about nursing by the time the baby comes in January, anyway. Sure, she'll always know what it is, but by January, with a new baby cousin coming a few months before, she'll associate it with babies, not with herself. Which is fine by me. I was ready to be done nursing her. I think that's the beauty of extended breastfeeding. When it's time to end the relationship, everybody's ready, which makes it easier to deal with. Plus, the gradual weaning means less engorgement (unless, like me, you're either nursing a younger sibling or pregnant again with a diminished milk supply).

I'm not sad about weaning her, but I am a little sad about the end of an era. How did my little Roo Roo go from this:

To this:

But soon, another little nursling will be added to our family, and a new era will begin.

WARNING!!! Disturbing and/or Creepy Photos in the Following Blog Post!

2009-08-12T21:28:00.000-07:00

There's a new doll in town. OK, maybe not in OUR town exactly, but it's available in Spain. It's a breastfeeding doll. You put the little halter top with flower "nipples" on the child, and put the baby up to the "breast" and it makes little nursing noises.

While I personally wouldn't buy a doll such as this for my child, I understand the appeal of it to parents wishing to encourage little children to think of breastfeeding as the normal way of feeding a child. That's not my beef. My beef is with other people's reactions to this doll.

Here's a quote from one article I read: "Although many health care providers promote the benefits of breast-feeding, parents around the world have criticized Berjuan, saying the idea of breast-feeding is too grown-up for young children -- and may even promote early pregnancy."

Um... no. Because we've been promoting bottle feeding of babies for years and years. If you were to use that argument, you'd have to use all types of care taking of baby dolls as promoting early pregnancy. Breastfeeding is just another way to FEED a BABY. That argument really just doesn't make any sense, unless you are promoting the idea of taking away all baby dolls completely. Then children would go back to using corncob dolls like Laura Ingalls and nursing those instead of baby dolls! I personally breastfed all of my baby dolls and I gave birth for the first time at age 26 after nearly 4 years of marriage. Perhaps in some cultuers that is an early pregnancy, but I was one of the later ones in my group of friends to begin having children, so I don't think so!

Another quote from the same article:

Dr. Manny Alvarez, managing health editor of FOXNews.com, said although he supports the idea of breast-feeding, he sees how his own daughter plays with dolls and wonders if Bebe Gloton might speed up maternal urges in the little girls who play it.

“Pregnancy has to entail maturity and understanding,” Alvarez said. “It’s like introducing sex education in first grade instead of seventh or eighth grade. Or, it could inadvertently lead little girls to become traumatized. You never know the effects this could have until she’s older.”

Seriously, I just want to knock some sense into this guy right about now. Honestly. Traumatized? By mimicking how a baby is fed? I really don't know how pregnancy comes to play in this argument. Many little girls pretend to be mothers, and are pretending to be their biological mothers. They'll stuff dolls down their shirts and "give birth" to them on their beds. So somehow, breastfeeding a doll will speed up maternal urges more than pretending to be a doll's biological mother? How, exactly, will it do that?

But seriously. Traumatized? By pretending to breastfeed their doll? Really?

“What’s next?” wrote Eric Ruhalter, a parenting columnist for New Jersey’s Star Ledger. “Bebe Sot — the doll who has a problem with a different kind of bottle, and loses his family, job and feelings of self-worth? Bebe Limp — the male doll who experiences erectile dysfunction? Bebe Cell Mate — a weak, unimposing doll that experiences all the indignation and humiliation of life in prison?

"Toy themes should be age appropriate. I think so anyway.”

Oh, for heaven's sake. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. Little girls like baby dolls. What's wrong with having a nursing baby doll? I've often wished for a baby doll to come with a little pretend breastpump instead of a bottle so my girls could pretend to pump like mommy does sometimes. Because it is something that some little girls are interested in playing with, and would like to pretend to be a real mommy. How is a breastfeeding doll not age appropriate? Little girls see their mothers, aunts and other females in their lives breastfeeding their babies. They want to be just like them. Therefore, a doll company is filling a niche.

But the worst of all is comments from people who think that little girls breastfeeding their dolls are disturbing or inappropriate.

Comments from an online publication asking for opinions about this doll:

"This is sick!!! Why not go ahead and show young children how to use a condom. I have 4 children of my own, aren't we supposed to protect our children from knowing things like this? Wait until they are old enough, then let them in on things. This doll is taking it way too far!"

"...However, if my sweet, innocent daughter came to me and wanted this doll; I would be mortified. Why don't I just tell her about sex and how babies are created why I am @ it? There are just some things that need to be learned later in life. Breastfeeding is something she will learn about in Sex Ed."

"Yes this Breast Feeding doll is going to far, I can't believe someone would come up with this!!!!! Whoever thought up something sucking on little girls non grown boobs yet is sick and you need help."

Seriously, my head is going to explode any second now. And this is just scratching the surface of what I've heard about this doll. People calling the sight of seeing a little child pretending to breastfeed a doll "disturbing," or "creepy." Seriously, people! It's a CHILD mimicing a loving act between a mother and a baby! All children should know about breastfeeding, and how it is the NORMAL way for a child to eat, and doesn't need to be hidden from view. It is not a shameful act. Why are we treating it as such? If more people saw breastfeeding on a regular basis, it wouldn't be such a big deal, and we wouldn't freak out about a silly little doll that breastfeeds. And, we'd probably have higher breastfeeding rates, too. Which isn't a bad thing! In fact, breastfeeding rates are abysmally low in our country, so anything to help little girls start thinking of breastfeeding as the normal way to feed a baby will be beneficial in the long run.

With no further adieu, the disturbing and/or creepy photos I took of my daughter tandem nursing her "twin" babies the other day.

Isn't that disturbing? She's pretending to be a mommy! Of twins! That's just WROOOONG!

Update on Dave

2009-08-03T23:07:00.001-07:00

This morning, Dave wasn't any better than he was Saturday or Sunday (although, he was quite a bit more hydrated thanks to the 2000ml of IV fluid he got in the ER). None of the medications he got were working, and his joints were very painful and he could hardly stand to be touched. We knew he needed an evaluation by our family doctor.

Dave went in for an appointment this morning just before noon. He got a diagnosis (which I'm not going to name on my public blog because it's his illness and since we're talking GI tract illness, I'm leaving it up to him), an antibiotic, a non-narcotic but strong pain medication, plus he was instructed to double up on another medication he was prescribed. Considering how poorly he was feeling this morning, the turnaround he's had this evening is simply miraculous. He has truly turned the corner, and I think he's going to be better in time for our hot date on Wednesday (our 9th anniversary!).

I have a lot to be thankful for tonight.

Listening to Promptings

2009-08-02T13:05:00.001-07:00

Dave got sick on Friday. Really sick. He tried to get a hold of our home teacher to give him a blessing of healing, but wasn't able to get through to him. About 10 o'clock on Friday night, we get a knock on our door. It's our home teacher, bringing us a bag of clothing from his sister-in-law. He felt a very strong prompting that he needed to bring the clothes over then. He was able to give Dave a blessing at that time, which was a huge comfort to us.

Dave knew, however, that his illness was more than just a run-of-the-mill virus. We lost our insurance in July, but thankfully Dave had enough hours banked to have insurance in August. So Saturday, August 1, we ended up taking him into the ER so he could get some fluids into his body- he was pretty dehydrated, despite his best efforts to hydrate his body. He just was unable to absorb any liquids at all. He ended up receiving two liters of fluid via IV, and then a couple 'scripts, and then we left for home. He still feels poorly. But the doctor said all tests came back negative, so it is probably just a GI tract virus, which should last about 72 hours. If Dave still feels this badly tomorrow, we will have him visit the family doctor in the morning. Hopefully his meds will start working and he can get feeling back to normal quickly.

The Best Time to Wean

2009-07-27T21:25:00.001-07:00

Yes, Rose is still nursing. She's 3 year old, just turned in May. But the time has come (for me, not for her) that the nursing relationship needs to come to an end. Mainly because I'm too hot to nurse her anymore. Which is why July is the ideal time to wean- incentive to keep plugging along until the task is done! I still give her five minutes before bed, then I lie down with her for a few minutes. Usually Dave will lie down with her until she's asleep, but tonight 1) Dave's not home and 2) It's so hot she's having trouble settling down anyway. So she's in the bedroom crying and whining. I'm doing what I can to console her, but I can't lie down with her the entire time. I would like to have her in her own bed before another little munchkin joins our crew, and that's happening in the not-too-distant future!

But we'll keep plugging away. It will only get hotter, so my distaste for being touched will only increase. The next step (after she's mastered lying down in bed and falling asleep sans mama) will be to nurse before spiritual time, then brush teeth and stories, then bed. Then, cut it out altogether.

I weaned Lacy right around this age, too. It's funny that she seemed so much older and more mature than Rose seems.

Camping

2009-07-08T22:39:00.000-07:00

We went camping the first weekend in June. Yeah, I'm a little behind! Like I said before, June is my worst month, and after this weekend campout, my allergies acted up like never before (since last year anyway) and I started getting the morning sickness. That combination wasn't pretty!

Here's where we stayed... beautiful Wynoochee Dam

But it was a little cold. The past few days had been in the 80s and 90s, so silly me only packed one pair of pants and one sweatshirt for each girl. And no jackets. Of course, Rose, who hasn't had an accident in months, had an accident within a couple of hours of arriving at the campground. Nice.

Fortunately, I did bring footie jamies. Which are actually difficult when you're camping and there are no working bathrooms, just outhouses. Bummer.

Lacy loved playing on this old tree stump. It was her platform where she would perform, do tricks, jump, climb, and just chill out. It was right by papa's campground, where everyone hung out most of the time.

This next one looks like we've been walking for hours. But really, we just walked down to the lake and back. I have no idea where my girls get their drama queen attitudes from. Really, none.

With Aunt Julie. Notice Rose polishing off a can of peanuts! That girl was so hungry all of the time this campout! And no wonder-- she just got weighed a couple weeks ago and she was right at 30 pounds! The little stinker gained 4 pounds on me!

The real reason we went to Wynoochee was because of the fishing. The fishing used to be good, but this year, only one fish was caught. And it wasn't even a steelhead, which is what we were after. Fortunately one of the kids caught it, so that was nice. Rose here is showing you the kind of bait you have to use to fish for steelhead. Just need a little cocktail sauce and we'll be set...

I love these girls! Is there anything cuter than three grubby little girls having the time of their lives camping?

I'm still working on getting out some of those stains in those shirts.

We had a little birthday celebration for Rose while we were there, and also for Justin, who had a birthday around the same time as Rose. They had cupcakes, and Rose got to open a present.

She got a stuffed pony, which she absolutely adores! She loves horses.

On the last day, we went for a nice long hike. Most everyone was already gone, so it was just a few of us there who hiked. The hike was absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous, and the kids were such troopers during the whole thing. Lacy marched right along and had a great time! Rose mostly rode on people's shoulders.

Pretty soon it was time to say goodbye. We had such a great time, and look forward to our next camping trip!

Poetry Slam!

2009-07-08T22:19:00.000-07:00

OK, not really a slam per se... My mother asked us to all memorize a poem for her birthday, in lieu of getting her a gift. She enjoys poetry, and we don't have any money anyway, so this was a good fit for everyone!

Lacy's poem: "Rain, Rain
Went away
Sun came out
With pipe of clay
Blew a bubble
Whole world wide
Stuck a rainbow
On one side"

Lacy's had this poem memorized and ready to go basically since we picked it out a few months ago.

Rose's poem:

"The secret of the polar bear
Is that he wears long underwear."

Except she didn't really have it memorized (not for lack of trying!) and "underwear" comes out something like "unnywayr." She doesn't have her sister's gift of gab, but she does try!

Cooper enjoyed everyone's performances!
Leslie and I forgot to memorize poems ourselves! I recited the first paragraph of the Proclamation to the Family, and Leslie recited the second paragraph. Thank goodness we had something memorized, even if it wasn't a poem!

Dale recited a very animated poem that was a lot of fun (Dale: what poem did you memorize? It was a lot of fun!)

I didn't get a picture of Mark reciting his poem, but it was another long, dramatic poem. Very different style than Dale's poem.

I think Kurt recited Bob Marley lyrics. That was fun! But of course, could we expect Kurt to love another poet as much as Marley?

Dave recited a poem he memorized on his mission, and Dixon recited a poem he wrote as a child.

Regan recited a poem about hippopotamuses (is that how you make it plural? I have no idea.), and I can't remember what poems the rest of the kids recited! It was so fun, though. The kids were all so cute.

Then Regan had to sing "So Long, Farewell," with her mom. At least the first part where they cuckoo.
Lacy was attached to her Grandma

And the little kids rolled around and had fun playing.
Until Rose got so tired she couldn't take it anymore!

Then it was time to go to bed. We had a great time doing this, and hopefully we can have another poetry night again next year! Hopefully Rose can memorize something this time!

Glasses!

2009-07-08T22:14:00.000-07:00

This one's all fluff, no substance. So we went to get Dave some new glasses because one of the eyeglass shops has a buy one-get one free deal going on. We had no idea that the "buy one" would cost $400! So we didn't get any glasses. But when we were still considering buying them, Dave tried some glasses on. Since he couldn't see himself in them, I took pictures of him wearing them. The girls wanted in on the action, too. Since they're much cuter than Dave, I will spare you the pictures of him :)

I'm actually going to get Lacy's eyes checked before she starts Kindergarten, and I have a feeling that she may need some glasses, so this may actually be an accurate picture of her in a couple months!

Kiss That Fish!

2009-07-08T22:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to Fawn Lake with the girls, and Lacy reeled in a fish. We told Lacy she had to kiss the fish since she caught it. She obliged!

We met Uncle Chris and Aunt Kelly at the lake, who brought Allison, who is just a few months younger than Rose. They are good friends and love each other. I had to snap this picture when Rose grabbed onto Allison's hand as they walked down toward the lake together.
Lacy, Rose and Allison all played pretend for the rest of the trip, since the fishing wasn't that good and the fish weren't biting very well.
Today would have been a much better day to take the kids fishing-- they brought back an entire cooler filled with fish! Yesterday, we only brought home that one fish Lacy kissed. There were only a few other fish caught yesterday, none of which were keepers. Lacy's fish was a keeper based on the fact that it swallowed the hook!

Happy Fourth

2009-07-04T23:13:00.001-07:00

Tonight on the drive home from my parent's house (oh yeah, my parents got home from their mission to Germany on Wednesday, so we've been over there every day since then), the Star Spangled Banner came on the radio. Rose yelled to us, "It's my FAVWIT!" (favorite) which was our cue to turn up the volume. She listened happily to the whole song.

The Booger Dilemma

2009-06-28T22:35:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago, Lacy and Dave were home on their own, so at bedtime, Lacy snuggled down with her daddy in our big bed. She picked her nose and had a big booger on it, then asked Dave, "Daddy, what do I do? I've already brushed my teeth!"

Um...

The Big Question

2009-06-28T22:31:00.000-07:00

Lacy asked me yesterday how the baby got into mommy's tummy. I knew that question would come someday, but honestly, it threw me for a loop! I told her something along the lines of, Daddy has a seed that goes to mommy's egg, and then that is a baby, and it grows and grows and grows.

June is my worst month.

2009-06-25T23:22:00.000-07:00

That's why you're getting my first blog post today. And it's not even a good one. Just an explanation, and a promise of some good blog posts coming soon!

June has always been a bad month for me. My allergies kick into high gear somewhere around the last week of May and the first week of June, and they stick around until the first week of July. My allergies are pretty debilitating for me at times. Some days are worse than others. The bad days are the days that my eyes swell shut and my eyeballs are actually puffy. My nose runs like a faucet, the roof of my mouth itches, and I can't stop sneezing. Prescriptions don't do any good, either. Claritin is a joke. Zyrtec puts me to sleep, and it doesn't do a darned thing. I thought my saving grace was Xyzal, but when I take it, I am so exhausted, even when I take it the night before.

On top of that, I am in my first trimester, the tired trimester. I have had days where I stayed in bed until 11 or so. Lacy gets breakfast for herself and for Rose. She's such a good helper. Then I put in a musical (the current favorite is Annie, but Sound of Music is always appreciated, too) and let the kids watch it until I feel good enough to empty the dishwasher and lie down again.

Fortunately, I don't really get too sick on top of the exhaustion. I guess I lucked out in that regard. But I do occasionally feel nauseated, and once got really sick. But I'm not complaining about that at all!

I didn't mean to turn this into a whine fest, but I guess that's kind of what this became. Sorry. I'm starting to feel much, much better (THANK YOU, June rain!) and am ready to download pictures and start blogging about some topics that I'm really passionate about (since I'm pregnant, pregnancy and birth are on my mind, and it's a topic I love reading about and studying. If I were a nicer person, I'd be a midwife or a doula for sure).

I guess I'll end by saying that other than not getting Rose to sleep until 11 tonight, today was a great day! My friend Diane offered to watch my kids so I could go to the temple this morning. I returned home and watched a musical with my husband and kids (Annie, of course!), had tacos (YUM!), and had a very productive Young Women planning meeting, while also baking bread (YUM!). To add to the joy of today, Dave worked four hours, and is working three days in a row 12 hour shifts, most or all of which will be overtime pay (Union rules and all!). He's starting another project on Monday that may last several days. Hopefully there's more coming! I'm so happy that Dave is working! He's so much happier when he has a job.

Telling Lacy

2009-05-31T21:19:00.001-07:00

It was really fun to let Lacy know that I was pregnant. I really wanted to tell my sister first (after Dave, obviously), so it was fun that we had her in our car driving up to Zion's camp a week ago. They had too many passengers in their car, so Les was the one voted off the Suburban and sat between two carseats in our van. Leslie got in, and I said, "So, I have a special secret to share. Do you want to guess what it is?" Leslie's eyes got big immediately and knew exactly what I was talking about. Since we weren't exactly trying, this was unexpected news, for sure! It took a little while for Lacy to figure it out. OK, we told her. But she didn't get it.

Finally, after about a half an hour or so, I said something about how "the egg hatched" and finally it clicked. MOMMY IS PREGNANT!!! Suddenly she couldn't stop talking about how excited she was! "I'm super very very very very very very ONE HUNDRED excited!!!" When we got to the camp site, within about 5 minutes everyone in our group knew we were expecting. The next day, when other people began arriving, they all knew within minutes of arriving as well.

The only reason she didn't end up telling every living soul at church the Sunday after we went camping was because it was Rose's birthday, and she told everyone that news instead! But she's starting to spread the news to her teachers in Primary now that Rose's birthday is over.

Like my new widget?

2009-05-26T19:54:00.001-07:00

;)------->

Happy Birthday to my Mother

2009-05-23T20:47:00.001-07:00

Mom, today you turn 60 years old, a milestone in your life. I'm glad that you decided to have children after Leslie. I've been able to become a mother myself and bring two lovely daughters into this world. I hope you have had a great birthday, Mom. I love you!

Sickie

2009-05-18T22:37:00.000-07:00

My allergies are acting up today. Bad. I tried helping Dave with some outdoor work, but I was useless. I went home with the kids instead. So Dave worked for several hours while I rested at home, reading a book and trying to watch the kiddos.

They're so sweet. I was just not very nice today at all and despite that, they were pretty good. Other than some scolding for playing in the front yard that I had to do this afternoon (no way I could supervise them for that!). They were very sweet, trying to take care of their mother. Rose brought me a pillow and covered me with blankets, instructed me to close my eyes, and sang me some lullabies, and Lacy made me peppermint tea sweetened with (too much) tylenol, I mean xylitol. She's a very independent girl who knows her way around the kitchen already! She ended up making cups of tea for herself and for Rose, as well.

Now, I've practiced piano (a very small amount today since I'm feeling unwell) and I'm taking an allergy pill (which makes me incredibly drowsy) and going to bed. Hopefully I'll feel well tomorrow!

Where are you going again?

2009-05-14T10:38:00.000-07:00

Lacy's grandma has been talking to her about taking her to Leavenworth after she gets back from her mission in Germany. Lacy is very excited about that! But she's a little confused about where she's going.

Lemonwars. Yes, Lemonwars. Oh, and Turner's not going. Poor Turner.

And yes, that's a carrot she's eating. My kids take whole carrots out of the fridge and eat them, a la Bugs Bunny.

Her bags are packed, she's ready to go. Fortunately I'm still behind on laundry, so even though she put every single article of clothing that were in her drawers in her backpack, it wasn't too many!

Of course, books are of the upmost importance, so she took books with her. Especially since Grandma sold it to her with book reading while there! Good thing she didn't say anything about possibly seeing "Sound of Music," too!

Round up them kindergarteners

2009-05-12T23:47:00.000-07:00

Today Lacy, Dave and I went to our local elementary school's Kindergarten Round Up event. It was a lot of fun, and my baby is now enrolled in Kindergarten! She got to ride a bus, do some crafts, see the classrooms, and meet other kids. We got to hear from the PTA, the Spanish Club leaders, the principal, and other school staff members. I always thought I'd homeschool, but I felt unprepared, and now after going to this event, I feel really comfortable with the school she'll be attending. I got a really good vibe from the principal and just the whole experience. The principal actually taught Lacy's cousin a few years back, which was really fun to find out.

I can't believe my baby's going to go to kindergarten. And she'll be one of the youngest ones there, since her birthday is 6 weeks before the cutoff.

Stupid me forgot her birth certificate and proof of address. I'll bring it in later this week. Lacy would really like to attend a BBQ on Friday that the school is holding. Maybe we'll do it then.

How did this happen? She isn't supposed to start Kindergarten so soon! She's my baby!

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

2009-05-07T18:19:00.000-07:00

How does your garden grow? Hopefully like gangbusters!

Today we worked a lot in the garden. Here's what we have so far.

The salad box, with various types of lettuce greens, plus some swiss chard, carrots radishes and beets. We also have an artichoke that came back from last year. I thought they died off in the winter, but they came back even after tilling the garden. They are some very determined plants! And I'm hoping for some artichokes this year! Any bare spots in the garden are due to either slugs or cats. I will win the war against these critters!

Behind the salad box, we have our peas. Four different varieties, actually. I'm very excited for harvesting them in the near future! They're already starting to climb! I've also planted a few other plants in there with them that are good companions to peas-- onions, carrots, and a few other things. They should be going strong once the peas are done for in the hot summer.

Not pictured is the bean/corn box. Corn and beans are good companion plants, so I put them in a box together. They have not come up yet. This box is next to the fence behind the pea box.

We also have the girls' boxes. Lacy has planted many different things in her box. It should be interesting when everything starts to really get growing. Rose's box has a few sweet peas just sprouting, and she also has some beans in there. If she's planted anything else, it will be a surprise! I tried keeping her box empty for longer because I wanted to have a place for her to dig until we got new sand for the sandbox.

The next box has lots of different types of root vegetables. Parsnips, salsify, turnips, beets, onions and carrots are all just starting to come up. I'm very excited to taste some new things this summer/fall (though I hear parnsips taste best after sitting in the garden all winter, being harvested in spring).

We have another small box with onions and parsnips that I planted a couple weeks before the big root veggie box. They're really coming up well, but cats and Rose have digged in this box! Argh!

On the other side of the house, we have our strawberry/spinach patch. These two are great companions and really play well together. They should both produce more vigerously because they have eachother. And I'm hoping since half of the strawberries are everbearing, it will make even more of a difference on the strawberries. The spinach is still itty bitty, but it's coming up nicely.

We planted about half our potatoes in our potato hill, and we also planted various members of the cabbage family in the box nearby. This planting happened today, so no sproutlets yet. Soon, I hope!

And finally, we worked hard on our tomatoes today. We have 8 that we planted in a box along with other good companion plants, which are mint, chives, carrots and onions. We're really excited at the size of the back six tomatoes! We just got those today, but the two puny ones in front we got a few weeks ago. And all but one are heirlooms. In the foreground is a rhubarb plant that a neighbor gave us. We're still looking for its final home.

Lastly, we planted five upside down tomatoes. We're very excited about these! We have three of the same upside down varieties also in the box, so it will be an interesting experiment to see what produces the best!

I'll update this blog later on in the summer to see the progress of my garden! I still have lots to plant, including squash, more corn and beans, and potatoes!

Now she's having a sweet day

2009-05-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

Lacy woke up happy (albeit early) this morning. She asked me some questions about her laundry, as in, why the heck are all my clothes dirty.

"I'm sorry honey, I'm a bad mom."

"You're not a bad mom. You're just crazy."

So there you have it. That's her way of making me feel better about getting behind on my motherly duties.