Spring Schming

Have I mentioned that I'm particularly ready for spring this year? Too bad I guess...Mother Nature has other ideas. We got no less than 18" of snow at our house on Monday. Just when I was enjoying the sight of our dead grass, mud, and a few brave tulips...sigh. Maybe that was the going out with a lion part and spring will truly be on its way now.

I signed Luke up for a session of swimming lessons which started the day of the big blizzard. He added his parka to complete the outfit below, and we headed out. The parking lot was unplowed, and I had to carry Seth through knee deep snow to get into the building only to find out it was about 120 degrees in there. Not my best prego moment, but we survived!

Man Cubs and Impossibilities

A few days ago I put Jungle Book on for my boys, so I could attempt to clean up the house. About a minute into it Luke looked at me and said, "Me and Seth are both man cubs." Yep. We know man cubs around this house. It's snowing outside, but the other day it was actually sunny and warm outside and we took advantage. We took a walk in the stroller, scootered, biked...come on spring!!!!

Check out Seth's ears. Jer brought the boys shirts and hats from his annual Targhee trip, and they love them. Seth's had to be cinched way down to fit and now it folds his ears over. Luke wore his getup for show and tell and wants to wear it everyday.


Tired man cub.


These towels or "capes" from grandma have been a big hit around our house.

Now on a side note. I've been thinking a lot about pregnancy lately and am starting to get really antsy for the end. Here are a few things that are gradually becoming impossibilities:

**Shaving my legs--that's a little overrated in the winter anyway, right? I can still do it, but it pretty much cuts off blood flow back to my head while I'm at it.

**Really anything to do with my feet--I think they're still down there somewhere. Slipping my shoes on is easy (when my feet aren't fat) but clipping/painting toenails...that's another story. Guess I need a pedicure.

**Rolling over in bed at night. This is the most painful thing I do due to the intense groin pain I have while pregnant. Am I alone in that symptom? I had it with Luke also but this time I started around 5 months.

**Go through the day without getting my shirt dirty. My belly is just out there to catch stuff on.

**Make it for any reasonable amount of time without going to the bathroom.

**Wear my wedding ring. My ring hasn't fit since December, and my fingers are numb and stiff all the time.

**Get into my car. This isn't usually a problem, but the other day at the store I came out and the car next to me had left almost no room to get my door open. Come on people! I seriously barely squeezed in. Sucking in is not an option.

**Remember anything. I swear I'm operating on half a brain right now.

Due to the half-brain, I can't think of anything else right now. You get the idea though. Just some of the little joys of pregnancy. Seriously though I am so grateful. This was a long time coming, and we are all so excited for the baby's arrival. I see people at the store look at me with my boys and then at my belly, and I can tell they think I'm a Fertile Myrtle or something. Little do they know! It's so exciting to be able to say that I'm having my baby next month--I can handle that!

Big Baby?

I had a check-up today and it looks like this baby is following in Luke's footsteps and could be a big baby. That's not exactly the news I was looking for. Don't get me wrong--I'm not after a scrawny baby or anything--but I'm not trying to set any records either! The ultrasound I had a few weeks ago estimated my due date at about April 10th or 11th which would be almost 2 weeks early. My doc basically told me not to get my hopes up--that just meant the baby was big, but he could still easily go to term. Luke was born about 10 days early at 8 lbs. 6 oz. My doc then was shocked at his size...so was I. He also had an extremely big head. When the nurse saw his head she said, "That's the biggest head I've ever seen." Not exactly comforting considering I wasn't done birthing the bigheaded child yet! I kind of wanted to punch her in the face or something. I'm measuring a cm big right now and the doc is estimating this could be an 8.5-9 pounder if I go to term. Yikes! I'll admit that scares me a little. Oh well, can't wait to meet this chubby guy, and I'd be totally excited if it was just a week or two early! At least this time around I won't let the doctors examine his head. Poor Luke had to be sedated and get an MRI when he was a year because his doc was so concerned about his gigantic cranium. Turns out he just had a big head. He gets that from his Grandpa Steve (or me if you ask Jer)!

You've Come a Long Way Baby

I thought it was about time I did a post dedicated to this little guy growing inside me. The two months I have left seems like a long time but considering we were trying for this pregnancy for over 3 years, we are almost to the finish line. My kids are both asleep, and I felt like blogging so I'm going for it. (Unfortunately Luke is sleeping because he's sick. He has a fever, rash, and has been throwing up. After he wakes up and lets me know how his throat is I may need to have him checked for strep.) I am breaking down and documenting my pregnant belly. I need a few pics (very few) to remember it by.

Here I am in all my glory at 30 weeks and counting. I really don't mind the belly growing too much. It would just be nice to not also get bigger thighs, puffy hands, extra chin...!


Having a picture like this is a perk of IVF. This is our baby boy in his embryonic state (5 days). Which one he is will forever be a mystery. It's most likely that he's the larger one called a blastocyst. The other is still in the morula stage which means it was a little behind from where it should have been. You too could have a picture of your child as an embryo for lots of money, hundreds of needles, and several invasive procedures! Just kidding. Now that it's over I feel like joking about it a little. I still consider myself extremely lucky!


Our first ultrasound at 7 weeks. It doesn't look like much, but it was my reassurance that he was there and growing in the right place. It also let us know that we were having one baby only.


This is at about 18 weeks when we found out we were having a boy (see the arrow). More importantly everything was right where it should be and looked great.

This was just earlier today. I had another ultrasound because my placenta was low lying, and they needed to check it again. Thankfully it had moved out of the way of the cervix (barely), so I should be able to have a normal birth. It was so fun to see how big he is getting. I think these ultrasounds are totally amazing! She guesstimated that he weighs about 4 pounds right now, and he is right on track with his growth.

Check out those cheeks! They look very kissable. It's amazing to me how much you can love someone you've never even met yet. By the way, we are most likely naming him Ian. Jer is totally sold on it, and I like it a lot so unless some other name comes out of nowhere that will be the one. The middle name is still undecided. I've had several days with fairly strong contractions lately but all still seems to be well. He just needs to stay in there and keep on cooking!

Boy Stuff

Since I'm about to be a mom of three boys, I know I'm looking forward to a lifetime of sports, trucks, dinosaurs, you name it. I'm not much of a girly girl though, so it works great for me. (Not that I wouldn't take a girl if another miraculous pregnancy happened!) My boys are growing up on me so fast and some of the stuff they say and do cracks me up. Luke is always telling me things he'll do "while my belly is so fat." The list includes being really nice to Seth (work in progress), cleaning everything up, and helping me make stuff. His primary teacher said he prayed "to not shove Seth" in class the other day. He and Seth love each other and most of the time when I send Luke to his room for doing something mean to Seth then Seth follows him and cries to be let in.

Luke is learning to read and doing great at it. I've been working with him on "reading lessons," and he's really picking it up fast. Writing on the other hand, he could do without. He has made a lot of progress but it's not his favorite thing. He watched our neighbor's little girl coloring in sacrament meeting the other day totally interested. He was amazed at her ability to "stay in the lines" and "use lots of different colors." He is more about quantity than quality when coloring.

Jer and Luke headed down with two of our neighbor friends and their boys on Friday to the Monster Truck show. They loved it. Luke looks pretty somber in the pictures, but he's been telling me how cool it was.

This is the same place the dinosaur show we went to was held as well as an ice skating thing quite a while ago, and being the detail guy he is Luke had all sorts of questions about how they "changed the floor."

Luke was pleased as punch with the "ear muffs" he got to wear. I guess monster trucks are super loud.

Seth is also becoming such a big boy and actually initiates going on the potty! I am hoping for an easy potty training rather than the horrible experience it was with Luke. He is especially great about wanting to try #2 on the potty. The only drawback is he wants to get on a million times a day, and when he does go he will persist with it and drag it out for like 20 minutes. He just sits there like he owns the throne. He claps for himself when he's done. What a cutie. I'm really not trying to train him yet, but I have him in pull-ups and whenever he's interested we put him on. He is still my snuggly boy and gives all of us the best hugs and kisses.

I didn't take any pics of Valentine's Day, but we had a fun couple of days. We made treats, Luke had a party at school, we ate yummy chocolate covered strawberries, and Jer and I went out on a much needed date. Luke even thanked in his prayers for the "Valentine toys he got from grandmas, grandpas, and mom and dad" and the "yummy pizza-shaped like a heart." It's nice that it doesn't take much to please kids. They enjoy the little stuff and time with family the most.

Fun Weekend

Jer patrolled Friday night and Saturday, so we decided to make it a family affair and headed to the mountains for the weekend. Our friend Steve was also patrolling, so Seth and I hung out with Cami and Caitlyn while the others headed out to ski. Luke had a major skiing breakthrough and loved it!!! He could not get enough. We took dinner up, and I was expecting them to be in by 6:30 or so at the latest to eat, but it was after eight. He just made his "pizza" (that's kid lingo for snowplow) and did run after run down the Little Beav. I was so proud of him. He's a kid that needs some encouragement...sometimes persuasion...to do things but once he does he has so much fun. It was a pretty cold night and he looked like a frozen popsicle when he came in, but he was so excited about what a good skier he was and told me he just "tried his hardest." Jer said his legs were shaking on the lift ride up and when he asked if he was cold Luke said "no, my legs are just a little tired." I totally feel his pain. After skiing with him last year I realized what a workout it is to snow plow all the time! Now he wants to go skiing everyday.

We stayed the night at Steve and Cami's cabin and had a fun day of hanging out and sledding on Saturday while the dads were gone. My kids were exhausted though--especially Seth...and me. We got the kids to bed late Friday and then stayed up until about 2 am which is way past my bedtime. I'm old..and pregnant. When we finally did go to sleep Luke was in the bed with us (it was huge) and Seth was in the port-a-crib in the same room. Between my coughing, overheating (I had Jer opening windows in the middle of the night), Luke hogging the bed, and somebody waking up at least every hour it was not exactly restful. In the morning Jer and I had both kids in bed with us, and we were still closing our eyes and pretending to sleep. After about 5 minutes of the kids jumping around, landing on our heads, etc. I could not help but laugh and ask why we were even bothering!

Here are some pics from the sledding and playing at the cabin. There was a ton of snow!




It looks kind of flat, but they went down the tire tracks in the driveway and actually picked up a lot of speed by the end.


There was a lot of snow eating going on. Luke doesn't even bother to pick it up first. Notice his tiny glasses. Yes, that's the pair he got at age one (a replacement anyway). His have been broken for two weeks and the replacements are still nowhere in sight. After trying both tape and super glue to hold them together it's getting a little old! Glasses and four-year-olds are a very bad combo.

Luke, Caitlyn, and Jack (belongs to some other friends who came up to stay too).

Jack was not a fan of the sledding but Cami finally convinced him to go down with her. After Luke saw that he wanted a ride too. Thanks Cami! He asked me but the tube was a little low on air, and I was pretty sure we would bottom out and/or I would never get back up again. Cami is so tiny you can hardly see her!

And yes, Seth was on this trip, but he was attempting to take a nap during the sledding. He loves "panda" right now and does kung fu/karate around the house with Luke a lot. He waves his arms around, kicks, and says "hiya" a lot. I can't stand how fast he's growing up!

Writer's Block

I am not exactly off to a great start with blogging in 2009. I have not felt like blogging at all and can't really think of anything to write about. Of course since I'm a stay-at-home mom the natural thing to write about would be my kiddos since I'm with them 24/7. I think I've been feeling a little of the after Christmas/winter blues. My kids are doing great though and playing more and better with each other every day. It makes my day to hear them laughing together and to see Seth copying everything that Luke does...even if those things include jumping on the beds, going off the couch headfirst, etc. Before Seth's nap and at bedtime they always give each other a "hug and a kiss" which is pretty cute. Luke still calls Seth our baby which is kind of funny considering Seth is almost as big as him. It will be interesting to see their reactions when there is a tiny baby around here again.

Luke is growing up so fast and learning so much. He keeps asking me how the baby will get out. In trying to figure it out he suggested maybe the baby would come out of my mouth. I told him that was not the case but couldn't even begin to explain how it would really occur. I told him it was "complicated." Help! I'm just leaving him hanging on that one. About a month ago we realized that one of our frogs, "Stitch" the climber, had escaped from the tank. We still have not found his poor little carcass. It made me feel good to know that Luke's first thought was to say a prayer for him. At first he prayed we would get him back but now I think he's resigned himself to the fact that Stitch is gone and he prays for him to be safe in froggy heaven. Ever since Jer's grandpa died in November Luke has asked tons of questions about death and heaven. Stuff like "How do we get to heaven?" A lot of his questions I don't have the answers to. I'm just glad to see that some of what we are trying to teach him is actually sinking in. He definitely understands that there is a heaven and that he can pray and be heard. That's makes me feel good because sometimes I wonder when FHE becomes WWF or Luke only wants to read BOM stories about "bad guys!"

As for me I'm just doing my same old mom stuff. I've been thinking about my role as a mom a lot lately and despite the fact that some days I still miss teaching quite a bit, I am so glad I've decided to stay home with my boys. I love spending so much time with them and seeing what great little people they are becoming. So what if the craziest thing I did all day was wear a white T-shirt while feeding Seth spaghettios. I figure there will be time for "living on the edge" and pursuing my other interests someday. Nothing beats those sticky little fingers around my neck and knowing that my kids love having me around. I do still find a little time for my own hobbies. I love taking pictures and just got an awesome new lens for my camera. I'd really like to learn to take better pictures and have some time to spend on digital scrapbooking. I also still love to exercise. It's not what it once was with this bowling ball under my shirt, but it still makes me feel great. I kind of have to redefine what makes a good workout while pregnant. I've set a few goals (potentially unrealistic) for myself as far as runs I plan on training and entering this summer to lose the baby weight. I am also keeping busy with my online classes I'm "teaching" and the classes I'm taking for my Masters. I'm only taking one class this semester. It's called "Current Issues in Biology" and after reading the list of topics in the syllabus is sure to be incredibly boring, but I am going to power through and hopefully finish up in the nick of time before the baby arrives!

Below are a few random pics of what we've been up to this month so far.


Seth loves pudding and just about anything else. Not just junk though--he can eat an orange with the best of them. He especially loves those little cuties that are easy to peel. He is learning more new words all the time and is my happy "big baby."


We went with friends to see the elk on a day that was about 10 degrees. I didn't take too many pictures because my hands were freezing. The kids all liked the elk and the sleigh ride and then we rushed to the car to avoid hypothermia.

We've had a lot of sunny days lately and our snow is rapidly melting. The snow is hard enough the kids can walk all over the yard on it. Seth is not a big fan of the snow...mostly because he will not keep gloves on and is then very sad when his hands freeze. The swingset even surfaced for some playtime.

Jer is patrolling again this year and to be honest it's a pain for me right now, but I think it will pay off in the future. We all love to ski and our whole family will be able to spend lots of time at the mountain for free this way. We've gone up a few Saturdays to eat lunch with Jer and let Luke go out on a few runs. What he does at this point can hardly be called skiing and he's missing his instructor this year (that would be me), but it's been fun to go. Jer even ditches his snowboard (he's a snowboarder of almost 20 years now) for skis to take Luke out. Seth totally wants in on the action so maybe next year he can go out a run or two when I'm back on my skis.

We also took the kids to "Walking With Dinosaurs." It was mostly for Luke who loves dinosaurs. He asks about a million and one questions about them (and every other topic). I thought Seth would be scared, but he was actually quite in awe of the whole thing. He makes a mean dinosaur noise.

That's about it. For not having anything to say I sure rambled a lot! Maybe I'll get on a roll now and post before another month goes by.