divine positioning

So I truely believe that Heavenly Father at times helps "align the stars" or orchestrates situations to help us achieve our (His) purposes or goals. It all started Sunday, I had the opportunity to talk with another young mom in my ward while we both had to nurse. She mentioned that she and three other moms in our ward are doing Joy School preschool together,. Now this is the second year and second group that has done a joy school, and I never heard anything about it till months into it. Secretly I was a little hurt to never have been included or invited, but... oh well. I moved on. Then in the evening I visited some family members I haven't seen I was pregnant with Julia. They threw a little shower for Sean. Well my great aunt put some copies of Desseret News in a bag for me. Still on Sunday I made some preliminary goals for 2013, including engaging the girls in more structured play and learning. I also made a trip to the temple last night for the 8 pm session. Such an amazing experience very many reasons, one of my best EVER!!
Fast forward to this morning. In one Desseret News was an article by Richard and Linda Eyre (creators of Joy School) about large families. They talked of doing the Oprah show about their Values Parenting book. Well it all intrigued me, and gave a little info about Joy School. I have never heard much about JS except that a lot of members did it. I didn't know that members created it etc... Well i got online today and looked at the site... and signed up right then. The more I read on the site the more I am grateful for "finding" it. It is what I need, what the girls need, and what our family needs.
So Cassidy starts Kindergarten in September and will only get one semester of JS but Molly will 2 1/2 years, I am excited. It may just be our girls unless others want to join but regardless, it will be fun as a family to do together.
I am absolutely amazed at how much is available for members. Monthly lessons, themes, there are awesome articles to read. I wish someone would have clued me in a few years ago. I did not know enough to know what to ask. Now I do. Even without Joy School, the ValuesParenting.com site is worth becoming a member. Check it out. If you like it, join, promo code lotzd.

i like to move it

After I got pregnant with Julia I dropped my membership to the gym, because I didn't have the time or energy. So I thought then, and maybe I didn't. But one thing I learned after Julia was a few months old is that I have as much time as anyone else- 24 hours a day. With our children going to bed on the early side (the best decision we made) I had a few hours each night free to do what I wanted or needed to do, including going to the gym. So fast forward to being pregnant with Sean. It wiped my last bits of physical reserve. I knew I needed to get strong again (though I had said that before) if I wanted to be a good mom and person. So I have joined the gym again, for super cheap which is a bonus. I have gone about every other week for different reasons and LOVE it. I go to the Monday night 8pm Zumba class. I love being there where I can spend 60 full minutes focusing on performing the right movement so that I don't look like a dork. In college I studied Kinesiology so I had to take 10 physical education classes and appreciated that I could take two or three a semester. Having a grade attached to working out was great. No matter how unmotivated I was to go work out I was motivated to get a good grade so I would show up. How does this relate? I feel like I joined this class the week before finals. I feel like everyone knows the steps and I don't, which I don't necessarily like. So it forces me to focus. It gives me 60 minutes where the kids and the house and all that is no where to be seen in my mind. I am so glad that I get an hour to myself and for myself.
On the way home from the gym last night I got lost, sort of. I guess I mean I went the long way home. Between our house and the gym are streets that don't know how to be straight. I feel like it's the antithesis of Salt Lake City. Even though I have lived here for six years and driven those roads so many times, I constantly go the "wrong" way, so today I did what I have thought about for months. I bought a GPS. I don't know why I think that is so weird or big but without a smart phone I don't always know how to get to where I need to go. Heck, I don't even know how to get to the gym.
A bunch of little meaningless thoughts but those are the big things at times right?

it's a wonderful life

The girls acting like the captives they are... just kidding.

 

Check out the super curls, the loose curls, and the no curls. Who'd think they were all sisters? Oh and the baby crack is thanks to Julia's new thing about wanting to sit on the potty and wearing big girl panties. I don't know if I am ready to potty train, or if she really is but maybe.

What a ham? She can be the friendliest little girl at times.

She was happy once she had her present from Santa. She wasn't too sure at first about him but once Joe was by her side she was happy.

Just hanging out waiting for the boat parade to start.

i always forget

During the days I think, oh yeah, I should mention that on the blog. Well everything I had on that mental list is off in never-never (remember) land except one.
Sean is laughing. My dad was over yesterday and while I was at the dentist Sean sneezed and then proceeded to laugh. I was bummed I had missed it. Today Joe's dad was over for dinner and afterwards he was holding Sean. Somehow Jim was able to get Sean to laugh a couple of times, the cutest laugh. It was awesome. He is full blown laughing. He's still a string bean, only about 11 pounds, but he is doing well. The napping is a little (LOT) off lately but still doing well at night.
Nope all the other things I was going to mention are gone. Maybe next time I will write them down.

Stuff

We have had a wonderful week of weather. It's hard to believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and also our anniversary. I can't believe that we are 2/3 done with November and the weather has allowed us to get outside and play each afternoon. Today I took Molly and Julia for some runs done the street in their Radio Flyer wagon. Sean was sleeping so we had to stay close. They loved being out there are gong down the driveway and down the block. Our neighbors (8 and 4) were also out doing the same thing. I love our neighbors. Yesterday we were out with those neighbors as well as the three girls across the street playing four square. Cassidy didn't really get it, Molly was off in her own world and Julia had fun with the little ball she found. I love that if the neighbors are out, it's just a big party with all the kids. Did I mention that I love our neighbors?
Yesterday we had to have one of Joe's coworkers come by to deal with our plumbing. Three little girls have been putting too much toilet paper down the toilet. Nearly every other day we have to plunge them. Thankfully there hasn't been toys or valuables put down the toilets, but TP can give you problems enough. They snaked the line but since we couldn't find the clean out outside I fear the problem is not solved. Agh. Where is that clean out? I think we are going to start rationing the TP in the bathrooms. What is the attraction to toilets???? I don't get it?
Oh and yesterday Julia found the dry cat food on our neighbors' porch. She ate some and liked it! How come she'll eat that but then won't eat my chicken noodle soup? Or she'll eat dirt by the handful but not dinner sometimes? I don't get it.
Sean is on the verge of laughing. He makes noises but they aren't quite laughs. But he is so close. He gets the biggest smile sometimes and it just melts my heart. It's funny that sometimes when I go in to get him in the morning and he's wailing I will pick him up and he'll calm down until I put him down to change him when he starts wailing again. But then when I get his diaper off he starts smiling his huge smile. He loves to have his diaper changed. Today was a weird day for him. It is almost 9 pm and he is still sleeping from the nap he started at about  2:30 this afternoon!! Crazy. He must think it's night time. I hope that doesn't portend a rough night to come. He has been clock work lately during the night but is only taking one super long (four hours) nap during the day.

Here are some recent photos.

mini cassidy

after sean was born i thought he resembled cassidy. they both were born close to their due dates so they were similar weights, though sean was a couple inches longer. i compared sean to pictures of cassidy from her first couple of months; he is a little copy of cassidy. as i let the slide show on the right go through the photos of cassidy it really reminds me of sean. it's uncanny. as the photos go by, especially the ones where cassidy is in blue or green, oh and the one with the extended pinky, it is little sean. i just hope he doesn't get the curls.

getting out

I feel like today was a half success. In the morning I had to take Sean to the doctor to get two of the shots that were unavailable at his two month check. I decided to go ahead and take all four of the kids because it would be a quick in and out appointment and they can't run away once we are in the office. I started packing them up at 9 o'clock (the appointment was not till 9:45). Getting them in to the car at home is easy, it just takes time. Getting them out of the car and into the Mobi (Sean) and the double stroller (Molly and Julia) with Cassidy walking is a little more complicated and it has to be done in just the right order. Crazy Molly always wants to walk when I need her to ride, and she wants to ride when I need her to walk, so there always seems to be a minor melt down involved. By the time we got to the office Sean was asleep, so the poor guy had to wake up to get two shots, yuck. He turned so red while getting the shots, but he didn't cry quite as much as last time, and he was again asleep by the time we got to the car. Getting the girls back into their car seats while parked in a parking lot is a little stressful sometimes and defintely has to be done in the right order, but I am always a little nervous having to leave one or two in the stroller while I attend to the others, afraid that someone driving is just not going to be paying attention. But there is no way to get them all out in one feel swoop and so I do the best, the fastest I can. So that trip went well. Minus Sean's crying every time the car would stop moving be it for a red light or a stop sign. He is not a car seat baby.
  Cassidy and Molly had a play date today which was wonderful. Despite the fact that Julia took the shortest nap ever, as did Sean, it was still nice to have a little break. I should have taken Sean and Julia to drop off our absentee ballots and stop by the store, but I didn't think I had enough time and so I had to take all four kids to the store and the school (our voting place). So again getting them all in the car and out of the car. This time I let Molly and Cassidy walk. Molly is the x-factor and the main reason we don't get out much, even when all four are awake (rare that it is). She has a tendency to not listen, not stay close by, and to not pay attention to where she is walking. That makes it hard when I have to keep track of three other kids. If it was just her it's frustrating but when it is all of them, it's a deal breaker. But she did well at the school. Of course it only took one minute to drop off the ballots, but 5 minutes to get them all back in the car. Then the store. Oh the store. Not fun. Not pleasant. It was already 5 pm and that means close to dinner time. I don't know about you but from 430 on it is CHAOS. They must have an internal clock that tells them to go nuts. At one point Cassidy and Molly take off down one aisle and up the next. I have catch up. I guess it doesn't sound bad now but trying to get them to walk past all the yummy looking food without picking it up, grabbing the rolls out of the bins, touching the hot surface under the chickens, not grabbing the jars of food, go really tiring. Shopping with just Cassidy walking is slow enough at times but her and Molly... oh my. But we survived. We even saw a man from our ward who commented on how well we seemed to be doing. Thank you. We made it, barely. I won't be doing that again for awhile.  Molly just needs to get a little easier to corral.
  Sunday I took the four to church alone as Joe was sick. At least he was able to help get them ready and in the car. Sacrament meeting was entertaining. Molly went nuts, Cassidy was crying, Julia was a doll, and Sean spent most of the meeting being held by the couple behind us. The logistics of getting the four of them (and all the stuff they need) from the car to the church to the classes and them back into the car... Thank heavens for those who were willing to give us a hand, and for Grandpa (who isn't a member) meeting us at church to help during Sacrament. I felt the love.
  Don't take this as complaining. I just thought it would be interesting to know the logistics of getting four kids four years old and under from point a to point b as a single individual. Pleasantly difficult.

cuz' i want to

That is what Julia told me tonight when I asked her why she did something. I don't even remember what it was that I asked her, but she responded with "Cuz want to." Can you guess where she picked that up? Her sisters. She also picked up "why?" She's 19 months old and has been using those phrases for a while now. Cassidy didn't start asking why until almost three years old, than Molly and Julia picked it up real fast. I have three little girls always asking me "Why?" Gets old after a while, but "Cuz want to" is way cute.

life

   So its 6:30am, i am feeding sean in the living room, listening to cassidy and julia right above me having fun in bed. they are laughing, making noises, and not sleeping. its cute being a part of their fun  from a distance, not interrupting. sean may or may not go back to sleep after eating, usually he doesn't after this lat night/first morning feed. but that is okay because over the last two weeks he has developed an awesome night sleep pattern, one stretch of at least 6 hours, up to nine one night!!! i am in love, in heaven, and not altogether exhausted. oh that it will continue. please please please.
   Last night joe and i had date night. kids and politics were off limits. it was WONDERFUL. love my kids, love discussing what's going on, but it's nice to have a break and talk about other things. we then watched a couple of episodes of Merlin together and went to bed. sean had been sleeping since 730 pm and didn't get up 130 am, it was fabulous.  a nice night with joe was so needed.
   The weather went from 98 degrees Tuesday to just 75 today, fall arrived!!!
   Gas prices, in case you are ready for a shock, went from $4.45 sunday to $4.89 last night!!! It cost joe over $80 to fill up his Passat!! What happened? There was even a 10 cent increase yesterday from the tome we went to the library at 10 am an going out to dinner last night. RIDICULOUS!!!!

Dealings

I am so happy to have another boy in the house.  Even though he is still a little pooping machine it is nice to know that one day i will have someone that understands grunts, sighs, and other forms of male communication.  Or someone i can tell someone something without him trying to relate it to something or some feeling i have towards "her".  You women out there know what i mean. Like if i said, "that woman over there has a sweet looking pair of sneakers" he will understand that i am only talking about the shoes,,, not talking about anything about the woman or how thin/fat she is or how she is/isn't prettier or whatever than him.
My wife has had a harder time with the mental challenge that having a fourth kid presents than she lets on. She is a tough cookie and has shown so real resilience. She still isn't healed physically yet, so please keep her in your prayers.

Not so small blessings

It has been almost two weeks since little Sean came into our family, it some ways not much has changed and yet everything has changed. We have been SO blessed that he has been a sleeper. I am not trying to brag; I really truely sincerely feel like we have been blessed with him sleeping so much to make this transition easier on me. He is on a 3 1/2 hour feeding schedule now, all by himself. Sometimes I can actually time him waking up because he is so regular. He usually eats and then goes right back to sleep, and he will stay up for about two hours between feedings once maybe twice a day, that is it. I really don't know how I would handle life if he was up at night more often or during the day with the girls.
I have taken him to the pediatrician three times, for his color check, a weight check, and his two week appointment. It was so nice to go the the doctor with only one child, instead of three. Thanks Joe for watching the girls. He is doing well and was only one ounce under his birth weight!! That is HUGE. The girls all took close to a month to regain their birth weight, so I feel a major weight off my shoulders and feel totally cool letting him set his own schedule (let's hope it doesn't change for the worse in the near future).
Other than those trips to the doctor I have only left the house to make quick trips to the store, without kids. I miss being able to take the kids to the store during the day as needed, but with Sean making a fourth child that is not possible. We were all (even Joe) going to try to go to the library today but Sean was sleeping of course so I got to stay home with him. Oh yeah, we all went to grandma and grandpa's house last Saturday to go swimming but that is it. So in that way I feel like my world has totally changed, I am chained to this house for the time being, during the day at least.
Maybe that is why I feel so "blah" these days, not much motivation to do much. Maybe it's just the normal hormones, or the 'oh my gosh' realization that I have four children. I have four children, maybe I should keep repeating that until I can fathom that it is true. I could use a big boost of something to get me going again. Oh and Molly is done napping, we think. That is another energy drainer. She is such a sweet child but so demanding when it comes to getting her to do things, like go to the bathroom, get dressed, come here, go there, etc. She just continues with whatever she's doing and either stares off into space right above you or doesn't acknowledge that she even heard what you said. It can be so maddening day after day. So taking away that 2 1/2 hour break from that and the back and forth with Cassidy is tough at the moment. So much change in such a short period. I might just loose my mind soon. And Joe had to go back to work already, way sooner than we expected. Sigh. Oh well. C'est la vie. Vamos marchar!!! Vamos conquestamos com valor. Sorry, brief Portuguese moment.
On a happy note, my grandma was able to come visit us today. She has never been to my house before, even though she only lives about 20 miles away (health issues), so it was fun to have her here. She is the funniest old lady. I always leave her house laughing at something she said or did. I am glad that she was able to come today and hope she can come again soon.
So that is my life right now. In someways so nice and in other places a little rough, but that is how we grow and get stronger.

Finally some photos

 This is the first time that Cassidy held little Sean. She is getting to be such a big girl and is such a great helper most of the time.


Look at those long legs poking out of the outfit we had for taking him home. He won't be in newborn sized clothes at all,except for onsies.

Daddy and his four kids, crazy.

Sean is such a good sleeper, he's only up a few hours.

This is a glider my dad gave us for Sean's room. The padding was all smooshed and not at all comfy any more so I bought some nice 3" foam and some new fabric and voila! It looks (almst) brand new and is a ton more comfy. I just need to replace the foam in the back and it will be all done.

just arrived

Our little guy finally decided to join this house of fun; he took his time but we are grateful he's here. Saturday was his official due date and he waited until Sunday morning. I woke up around 2 am with a lot of discomfort but was never sure if it was just my normal pains or if I really was in labor. But we went to the hospital around 8 am and after checking in and getting the paper work done and finally getting the IV in, I was already at a 4 or 5. That was around 9 am, I think. Progress stalled a little once I got the epidural but considering the other option, no epidural, the extra hour was just fine with me. I could still feel some discomfort with the contractions but it was so nice to not feel every thing. Just before 1 pm the nurse said I was at a 9 and almost ready. She stepped out of the room and I them got a nice long contraction that was piggy backed with one that didn't stop until I called the nurse back in. The sensation was weird, like my belly was going to rip open at my belly button. As the contraction continued the point of pressure dropped lower and lower. I wondered if my doctor was going to make it back into the room in time. She had yet to deliver one of the girls so I thought it would be ironic if she missed this one too even though we were all there. But she made it and everything was ready just as the feeling to push came through the epidural. One really long push and his head was out. The doctor had to cut the cord because it was a little tight around his neck, then one more to deliver the shoulders and body. Compared to the last two deliveries, this one was "more work" though it was still quite easy. My body gets it done really well.
Little man was 7 pounds 14.8 ounces and get this, 22 1/2 inches long. No wonder that despite all the room he had in my belly I was still feeling him well under my ribs. He looked so perfect. As usual, we didn't give him a name until the next day, after seeing him and feeling out his spirit, We both felt that he should be called Sean, meaning God is gracious, Joseph. So that is our little man Sean Joseph. He has been his own person ever since. Very different from his sisters, even at four days.
The girls are taking well to him so far. Cassidy of course wants to hold him all the time. She always wants to kiss or touch him. Molly likes him but isn't too interested in him most of the time, thankfully. She refers to him as "baby brother." Julia is so cute about Sean, when she sees him she says "see, see" and then we say Sean and she says "sean", it is really cute.  

News

Our news is... there is no news of which to speak. Little man has decided to become a permanent resident. Friday marks 38 weeks 6 days, that is 13 days more than Molly and 8 more than Julia. And there is little evidence that he's coming soon. But then again I never knew until the day of with each girl. So we will keep you all posted. I know I know, he's not even due yet, it's just the expectation that he would be like his sisters, and we all know the feeling of unmet expectations.
Wednesday night, since he hadn't come and I had to return my dads wallet to him (he left it at our house that day), I decided to go to the temple. What a great choice and I am so glad I went. I left thinking, little man just wanted to go to the temple again. There was the sweetest sister there who made the experience that much more wonderful. The sisters from our ward had come by earlier in the day and shared a Mormon Message from President Uctdorf Continuing in Patience. I needed that, with regards to my kids, my husband, me, and this baby. I also had a gorgeous view of the sun poking out through the clouds as I drove towards the temple. That really spoke peace to my soul. Along with a much needed phone call, it was a day that really helped me on many levels. I am grateful for a Father who is aware of me needs.
Today I felt like I received the blessing for the sacrifice it was (physically speaking) to go to the temple last night. A lady from my ward called and offered to go shopping for me or come watch the kiddos. I choose the latter and went and redeemed a gift certificate for a pedicure. Oh to be pampered. So nice.
We will keep you all posted but it could be a while.

A big girl bed

Little Miss Molly just received a new, big girl bed from grandma and grandpa. It arrived tonight just before bedtime. I think Cassidy was more excited than Molly. We had to take apart the toddler bed in her room to make room; with the crib still up as well as a dresser and chair with ottoman (for me to have a comfy place to sit up there) it was a little too cramped to just add a twin bed to the mix. I think there were more screws in the toddler bed than in the cribs we have, which is three and they are all put together, just in case. Grandma did a good job picking out a fun flowers sheet/comforter set. It has lots of purple in it and yellow to go with Molly's green room, it's perfect.
I am kind of amazed that she is already in a big bed, she's is my Molly and it seems like she is so young. If they hadn't purchased the bed I would have left her in the toddler bed for as long as it fit, but can you really turn down the grandparents when they are willing to buy her a nice bed that will last for years? Nope, so here she is. Oddly though, when I tucked her into it tonight she didn't seem to drown in it like Cassidy did at first. Let's see how long it takes for her to roll out of it. Cassidy has only fallen out of her bed twice, maybe three times in the year that she has been in hers. Molly liked to sleep with her head towards the open end of the toddler bed anyway so maybe she'll be just fine. That's what the good carpet padding is for, right? At some point you have to learn not to roll off, right?
The girls all received a fun new gift from our neighbors today. Our neighbors have grandchildren who have outgrown a chair and table set as well as a little slide, so they asked if our girls would like them. Oh yeah. Our girls love tea parties and such so the chairs and table will get much love. And the little slide will be so fun for the girls to have upstairs in Cassidy's room. I think we will be spending more time upstairs with the new baby coming and they will enjoy another thing to play on. After the neighbor brought it in the living room Cassidy and Molly must have gone up and down it twenty straight times. Julia was weary of going down the slide which is weird because she is just fine with the one we have out back that is just a tiny bit smaller. Oh well. Better a little cautious than dare devil. All of the pieces are painted with a cute garden motif that will go perfect upstairs, or where ever.
I will be 38 weeks Saturday and am ready to not be pregnant anymore. I don't think I am quite ready for the baby to be here but man this last week has been getter a lot more painful. We will keep you updated. Let's hope that he doesn't come Monday (or Sunday or Tuesday, but definitely not Monday).

We've all been there

If you don't talk about what happens in the bathroom with little kids, don't read on...
I just have to write about this because it typifies motherhood, always dealing with other (little) people's bodily excretions. So yesterday while we were doing our thing, waiting for nap time before 1 pm church ( I don't like 1 pm church) Julia found herself unsupervised and found an open door to the bathroom. Joy. She also found that dirty clothes hold a lot of toilet water and make a HUGE mess as they are being shaken from one room to another by a 17 month old. Thanks hon, I needed to super clean our bedroom floor anyway. Then today I bravely took all three girls into the shower with me to wash off after a noon time swim at grandma's house. We find it easier than baths and all the water is contained. So the shower was stopped up to make it more fun and I look down and there are brown things in the water by Julia and she starts to freak out, I mean seriously freak out. She totally lost it and got hysterical. So I cleaned it all up and calmed her down. I don't think I have ever seen her get so hysterical about anything before. I am surprised that she would know to be weary of the pooh, seeing as how we are so far from potty training but she knows. Pooh = nasty. Maybe she'll be more like Cassidy than Molly in that regard. Well, if that wasn't enough for two days, she had one last surprise waiting for me. I got Molly out and dried off, then Julia, and finally Cassidy. Seeing how we do this a few times a weeks, I know enough to not let Julia stay sans diaper too long but today I was too late. She left a puddle for me on the same floor I had to Mr Clean the day before. At least we had towels handy, and at least she didn't slip in it like she almost always does when the floor is wet, with anything.
Isn't it amazing how we are so willing to clean up after our kids. Not that we are grossed out, complain, make comments, and thoroughly loathe doing it, but we still do it, day after day, year after year. I wish that we could play back those moments for our kids when they are teenagers and think all we want to do is ruin their lives. See how much we really do love you??

Musical Rooms

We made the move... We moved Julia full-time into Cassidy's room. I thought we had better do it now and get them used to each other before little man makes his appearance. The first few days, not so happy Julia but now all is well. Cassidy wakes up loudly so she tends to wake Julia in the morning, but all in all... success. With her up there, all of her stuff went up there too. That once HUGE closet is now full, Julia must have 25 dresses and with the skirts and jackets, her clothes take up over half of the 8 1/2' closet. Plus she has two drawers in Cassidy's dresser and her own little night stand with three drawers of clothes. Shesh. So much clothing. Most are hand me downs that have gone through 4 girls prior to her but there is a good portion that were from Cassidy or Molly. I hope they get more wear.
With all of Julia's stuff upstairs, I brought all of the nursery/new baby stuff downstairs. Wowsers. In the last week alone, we were given four boxes of boy clothes. Thank goodness for hand-me-downs. So little man is pretty set for quite some time. It makes it seems so close to have all the nursing stuff and car seat and Boppy etc down and in the nursery closet.
Molly, oh Molly. She is a silly girl. She is constantly pulling faces and using voices during our conversations. It is quite comical, except when we are trying to be serious with her and she is off in her la-la land. She is doing better about staying in bed at night and naps are hit and miss, but we are gradually making progress. The hardest thing is when she gets up and cries to us that she has to go to the bathroom. She will usually pee but then will say she has to pooh, but most often she just seems to be stalling with that one. I want to encourage her to get out of bed and go to the bathroom but I want her to realize that if she really needs to go, she needs to get in and get out and go back to bed. Aghh. What do you do?
I am about 90% done with little man's blessing "romper" as the pattern calls it. I decided to take apart my old temple dress because it was just too big in the bodice and shoulders and I wanted to get a new one that fit up top but would also fit during the eighth month of pregnancy. I found one and tried it out last night- perfect. So back to the old dress. I thought that it would be neat to use it make blessing outfits for the little guy, so I took out all the seams (that took about four hours) and used the various pieces to make his outfit. It isn't exactly right because some of the instructions didn't make sense even when I asked someone for help, but I think I still made it work and it's cute. And HUGE!! I did the extra small size (0-3 months) but I think even the extra extra small would have been huge as well, it looks like it would fit a six month old. If this little guy is anything like Molly or Julia then he'll be swimming in this outfit. Oh well. I am really pleased that it is going so well. I want it done though and can't wait until Friday to finish it. There is no way that it would get done after he is born so gotta keep pushing through. I will say that I dislike sewing baby sized sleeves. AAAGGGGHHH!!!! Too small. Too tight. Too frustrating. But it will be something that he has that I made. Plus he's been to the temple (inside of me that is) more than the girls so it's kind of neat he gets to keep the dress. :)
That is my disjointed post. 35 1/2 weeks, we'll see how much longer till he comes. Two weeks? Three? Four and a half?!?! I hope not. :)

Watching the good

I don't know why I never thought about it before but I just realized in the last few weeks that there are probably a lot of worth watching shows on BYUtv that are on the BYUtv website. We all know of the trash on tv station websites but why not good, uplifting, make you feel better for watching types of shows as well? After talking to my father about my grandmother purchasing a volume of the Joseph Smith Papers as well as some of the television series, I made the connection to the BYUtv website and lo and behold, there it was/is. I have been watching the Joseph Smith Papers episodes in order for the last couple of weeks and have thoroughly enjoyed learning more, I almost feel like I am taking a religion class from the best the church has to offer. I am so grateful to have found something that I can feel good about and relax after long days with. I am now Seeing the Good more often, thanks BYUtv.com

Home at last

We arrived home yesterday. I can't believe that a week went by so quickly. My body sure noticed that week though; the almost 5 hour trip out wasn't that bad, but oh, did I hurt last night and even this morning from the same trip back. We were fortunate that despite leaving at 2 and not getting to Truckee till 330, we didn't hit any traffic on 80 or 5 and made it home in 4.5 hours. Good job driving honey.
I had originally written the following last Saturday but obviously didn't get it posted till tonight, so all the days mentioned are from last week.

I knew that there were a few things I wanted to mention last night…

  Fun words - I am all about teaching the girls to pronounce words correctly but sometimes there are a few words that I allow the girls to mispronounce until they correct themselves. Cassidy used to say “fling-a-moes” instead of flamingos. At first I couldn’t even pronounce how she would say it but I miss that little quirk. At one point she learned how to say flamingo correctly and then went back to saying flingamo, but of course she now says flamingo. I wish I would have taped her saying flingamo. Molly has two right now that Joe and I LOVE. She says “sir-bup” instead of “syrup” and “juh-bob” instead of “good job”. There are a lot of other words that don’t quite come out right or we just can’t understand but we let those two slide and even play along with them. She will figure them out soon enough.

  Yesterday morning Cassidy and Molly came into the kitchen area carrying toys and a hat. Molly said she wanted to share with me what was in the hat but Cassidy told her not to, so of course I wanted to know what was in the hat. I asked Molly what was in the hat and she said chocolate. I found two Reese’s peanut butter cups, two Milky Ways, and a Snickers bar; they were all fun size mind you but still… Where on earth did they get the chocolate? As it turns out the day before, I fell asleep on the couch for a few minutes and Cassidy climbed up on the counter and got into the chocolate jar and stashed some in a box in her closet for later. It also explained what was around her mouth when she came in and woke us up yesterday morning; I thought it could be chocolate but I thought there was no way that she could chocolate because I had put up the jar after I found Cassidy in it after I woke up. So after I confiscated the chocolate and asked if there was more, nope, and then I asked for any wrappers, three. Cassidy had snuck eight chocolate bars, sneaky smart girl. Reminded me of the brown sugar episode, a few months back.

  This morning, Joe got up with Cassidy and let me stay in bed a little while. He said by the time that he came down he couldn’t find her. Eventually he found her hiding in a cabinet in the kitchen with the bag of Goldfish crackers. I am starting to see a pattern here.

  This afternoon, Joe and I took the three girls down to the creek behind us. We hadn’t been down there more than five minutes when Joe pulls a little fish out of the water with his bare hands. It was dead, but most have died super recently because rigamortis hadn’t set it and it still flopped like a live fish. For some reason Cassidy really liked the fish and wanted to hold it, and did until I finally made her throw it down the creek because it had started to smell, about twenty minutes. She held onto it like it was something important and kept taunting Molly and me with it, she would put it down in the rocks while she would play in the water and then she’d pick it up and continue to play with and hold it. At one point she held it so close to her mouth that I thought she was going to bite it, on the head. Yuck.  

  While the older girls were playing in the creek Julia was fussing a lot, mostly because she was tired because Molly woke her up from her nap. I wasn’t able to console her so Joe took her and she just played koala (I love it when she does that). After about ten minutes, she was out. It was so adorable to look over at Joe in his swim trunks holding a sleeping Julia. He was even able to keep her asleep while he hiked up to the house, got the girls to the house despite all the dirt, and got the two girls showered and dressed. Juh-bob Joe!!!!

After note: The day following the chocolate incident Joe found TWO more wrappers in Cassidy’s room. I guess she had even more hidden than we realized.

Good job

Molly has created a unique way of saying good job, by pronouncing it "Gu Bob."  It is one of the little things I have let slide.  I like it too much too correct her.  Daddies get some indulgences, right?

hodge podge

Wednesday was 7/11, which happens to be free slurpee day at 7Eleven. We were driving and it was coming on lunch time so we looked up the closet 7Eleven and stopped. What a fun memory, to be sitting in the back of our odyssey with our lunch and free slurpees. I wanted to get a picture of it, but of course the camera was at the bottom of the basket and wasn't worth the effort, so I just logged the scene in the memory bank. Sounds trivial, but it's those little moments right?
We forgot our pack-n-play and with only one crib here, we had to come up with a sleeping plan, and it has been interesting. Cassidy is in a HUGE queen size bed in the same room as Julia in the crib. Molly is in a twin bed next to a twin bed in her own room. Two firsts, Julia sharing a room and Molly not in a crib. The days had to come and we were forced to do it. The first night Julia cried, a lot. Not sure if it was because it was a new room or because it was too bright to hide that fact, but it took her a while to get to sleep. Now she's falling asleep much easier and the challenge is to get Cassidy not to wake her up in the morning when Cassidy wakes up. Julia will even take a three-hour nap in her room!! We are quickly getting to the time when we had to put the bookends as I call Cassidy and Julia together and it seems to be  successful so far. Molly, oh Molly. She's been the x-factor. One night she was up and out of her room for over an hour, the next night she was out in five minutes, tonight we are still having a stand off. She's just playing on her bed, after lots of trips out to "go pee", throw out the stuffed duck, get the stuffed duck, and who knows what purpose.
I don't have a favorite child but I think my favorite age right now is 12 - 16 months. It is such a fun and enjoyable age. Julia is such a joy to be around. The few tantrums are quickly swallowed up in all the cute and adorable things she does. It seems like every time I turn around I want to say 'ahhh, you are so cute!!' She walks around tyring to put on any pieces of clothing or shoes she finds, she loves to walk around on her toes, she loves to chatter and is acquiring more and more words every day, and she is such a love bug. Maybe it's the contrast with the more difficult stages Molly (cry about everything) and Cassidy (bosy and defiant) are in. Despite their own challenges, Molly and Cassidy have moments that are just as cute and wonderful, those moments just seem to come less often than with Julia. They are all so different and it is amazing to me every time I really notice it. They were born different, with different temperaments, different likes/dislikes, strengths/weaknesses, etc. My challenge is to learn the different ways they need me to deal with each of them.
I am so grateful to have all these girls in our family. They love each other and at times they surprise me with the acts of kindness they show towards each other. Molly is such a share bear and often Cassidy will talk Molly into giving Cassidy the last portion of whatever Molly has, and Molly will do it with a smile. Cassidy tries to help her sister and when one of them cries she often is quick to get to their side and try and console them. Oh and Julia has just learned how to kiss and she will go around and give everyone kisses.  She even makes the smacking noise before she kisses.
Molly is asleep!! Almost two hours after going down to bed. We are all still learning.
What else?? Five weeks to go, that is my prediction.  Six max. I can't believe it. Maybe that is why I am enjoying Julia so much, she knows and I know that it's almost over with her being the baby. It kind of makes me sad. She will be the oldest of any of the girls when this little boy comes but it seems like her being the baby is going to be over much too soon for me. I don't know if I am ready for the sleepless nights and all the havoc that it will do on our schedule. Life is good right now and I know that things are going to change big time after this baby comes. He's squirming around right now, maybe to reassure me that it will be just as wonderful as it is now but it's a little scarey to me right now.

It's vacation time!!!

We are going on vacation!! For the first time since last August. It's hard to believe that it has been 11 months since we have gotten away from town but with all that has been going on it kind of just happened. I am so excited to be going away just as a family this time, I don't remember when that last happened either. We will get to decide what works for us and not worry about disturbing anyone else or accommodating someone else's not-so-early/hectic schedule.e get up early, we (the girls) go to bed early, and we can take up as much of the room as needed so that everyone is comfortable (and sleeping). I have been trying to get us gone for three months now but something always came up and now with the baby coming in probably 6 weeks, it's do or die, and we are DOING!!!!

The garden that was (not) to be

Last December when I was thinking of what I wanted for my birthday I was so excited to put in a garden this summer, all I wanted was seeds. I went through a couple catalogs and founds some fun looking varieties of melons and lettuces etc. Joe and I had decided that we weren't going to talk about getting pregnant until summer so I was really pumped to have an awesome garden. Well, the seeds came in the mail the week after Christmas, just in time to find out we were surprise pregnant. That kind of put a little damper on the garden, but when the first trimester fun hit, we were sunk. Seeds did get started, a lot late and fairly neglected. Then we spent a few weeks preparing the garden area (last summer the garden didn't happen due to construction so we had a lot of work to do, and the weeds...). But it just wasn't going to happen this year. I started a second flat of seeds about April (?) and they are still in the flat waiting to be planted. I can tell that those new varieties haven't survived, darn.
The weird part is that in May or so we noticed little plants coming up in our large garden bed. They have steadily grown since then and we have since discovered what they are, cherry and yellow plum tomatoes and butternut squash and pumpkins. So thanks to our compost pile that never got hot enough to kill the seeds, we now have a plethora of squash and tomatoes, just not the most desired varieties. Those not so little plants are the only thing keeping me interested in even trying to get our little starts in the ground, but that won't happen till next week because....

It's a zoo...day

This summer I wanted to be able to get us out of the house on a regular basis and take the girls to do something interesting. My dad had brought up a number of times the idea to go to the zoo, it's only two exits up the freeway from his house. So I looked into the cost, expensive to do a one day trip, like $50 with parking, but not bad to buy a season pass, $125 for three adults and up to four children and parking, plus ride coupons and a free one-day pass for two adults and two kids. I thought that would work for us and my dad could also be named so that the girls and I could go with Grandpa D during the day when Joe works.
We have gone three times now, twice with my dad and last week I actually ventured to the zoo with the three girls all by my six-and-a-half month pregnant self. We have really enjoyed seeing the various animals. I was right in thinking that the zoo is something even our 15 month old could get into, Julia enjoys seeing the animals as much as the other two. In fact on our first visit we stopped at the first animal area and were greeted by a monkey that swung through the trees right in front of us and proceeded to hang there with his legs folded, it was quite cute. And then he did as a monkey does, peed and pooped, right in front of us. The girls giggled and I tried to move us on a little. Oh well. That is nature, right?
As we left the zoo after our second visit, we saw a hill side of goats. There must have been a thousand of them, grazing the hillside as living lawn mowers for fire prevention I am sure. Cassidy really liked them.

Here are some cute pictures of them from our first two trips.

Never a dry moment

Back in December I started potty training Molly but when Joe and the girls all got sick for weeks on end I was too tired to really put in the effort needed so I gave up. I had been putting it off even since then. About a month and a half ago Molly woke in the morning completely dry so I figured she was physically ready to try again. It has gone so much better than I had hoped, even back in December. There have been accident but not too horrible. But it seems that both girls tend to have accidents more at Joe’s parents’ home than anywhere else, for whatever reason. A week or so ago we were over there for the afternoon and Molly had an accident right on the corner of their area rug, she created the 6^th great lake. So we cleaned it up and cleaned her up. After swimming and showering off we were back inside and playing with dominoes and Molly comes and sits in my lap. … And has an accident, while in my lap. I was more than stunned, I didn’t want to move too much because it was kind of staying in my lap and not seeping down on the same aforementioned area rug. As my mother-in-law was getting rags to clean me and the rug up we failed to keep an eye on Julia who saw the can of soda my mother-in-law had been drinking, grabbed it, and tried to drink it herself. Most of it ended up on the same area rug and on her dress. So we had the 7^th and 8^th great lakes to clean up, at least it was diet soda, right? Oh the fun.

I am so grateful that we are now down to just diapers at night for Cassidy and Molly, and half the mornings Molly wakes up dry. Three in diapers isn’t so bad in that light. Maybe we will be down to one by the time the new baby comes. Either way, we are way ahead of where we were two months ago. 

Note: I originally wrote this about two weeks ago. We have regressed a little and aren't as dry as we once were. Oh well right? 

Cake Odyssey

In April Joe volunteered us to bring a dessert to the YM/YW chili dinner/auction. So I decided to make a carrot cake from a recipe my dad gave me. It’s a yummy yummy recipe using fresh ginger. I started it in the afternoon while the two youngest were napping. Cassidy is quite enough to try and allow help by herself.  So everything was going well until it was time to un-pan the cakes.  Both layers failed to completely detach from the pans and came out in two pieces. I knew right away that this was going to be quite a “fun” experience so I grabbed my camera and took a picture. After cooling and making the frosting I tried to stack the layers. Our wall oven is slightly tilted forward because the counter tiles get in the way of it fitting level. Of course I thought I had rotated them to account for this (even though I had tried to level them by shaving them flat) and of course I miscalculated and the high sides stacked on top of each other so the cake was a little less then perfectly level. Oh well. I put on a crumb coat, refridgerated it and then did the final coat. I even came up with a cute carrot design; nothing requiring too much creativity or skill, I have neither, but I was more than satisfied. So I took another photo. Well, prior to leaving to the auction, I was descending from upstairs when I heard the two older girls quickly getting out of the fridge and Cassidy making a comment about the cake. I came into the kitchen to find them having taken a chunk out of the side of the cake. Ohhhhh, I wasn’t happy, so I took another picture. Then I had the decision to make, blow off the auction (they had TOO many deserts as it was) or come up with a fix. I decided to make it a “diet cake” and only take half of it (half the calories of a whole cake).  After frosting the cut side I took another picture. I think it turned out rather cute. I figured that there might be a couple who would like the smaller portion. Bonus that we got to eat half of the cake, it was yummy.