1 Week Old

LeRoy and the kids are all sick so there aren't any new pictures with the others. I have 2 friends who have just had their babies in the hospital with RSV so I'm probably a little over cautious. Levi, Chad and I are the only ones holding, snuggling and kissing the baby and the others are all adoring him from a distance.

We are beginning to pack up for the big move on Friday so I won't be around the computer except to do the necessary office stuff. I'll catch up with you all sometime next week from my new office (I love the sound of that! - no more tiny corner for me).

Today's Favorites

So many have asked how I am doing. Here are a few of the things that help me to answer, "I'm doing very well", without giving away too much information. Ok, some of you may have received too much info, sorry :) I'll call this my 'list of favorites' for today.

#4 - Cabbage. In theory it is supposed to reduce swelling and heat. Compared to other pregnancies it really is working. However, I still feel and look like I am carrying around 2 overgrown cabbages (I traded in the watermelon). Add a little stray milk and I smell like coleslaw. I am grateful that this particular salad fixing is making this unpleasant process a little less painful and alot more humorous.

#3 - Lansinoh for Breastfeeding Mothers. I'll keep this a G rating and just say it is a favorite today - and this week.

#2 - Cramp Relief. I know it has helped with the afterpains and I can't imagine them being worse without being actual labor contractions but finally I have some relief. I am still having them though not as frequently and not as intense.

Hopefully we can get rid of these 3 favorites in the next few days, but for today I truly appreciate them.

And here we are at #1 . . . drumroll please . . . .

#1 - My Newest Angel Baby! I can't quit looking at him. He is so perfect. His swollen eyes and nose have gone down and now he looks so much like Levi did as a baby. As he snuggles and squirms in my arms I tear up with overwhelming feelings of love and joy and for a brief moment the pains are forgotten as I soak in his Divinity. As I feel his silky soft hair against my cheek and he nuzzles into my neck for security, lovin' and of course, a hint that he would like to eat again, I remember that this is all worth it and that I am doing the greatest thing I can right now. Nope, it isn't the laundry, cleaning the house, or making dinner. It is sitting in complete humility at the wonder that Heavenly Father trusts me with yet another of his children to raise.

A little overwhelming sometimes. . . so I think I will go cuddle with him again.

(Thanks to all of you for your e-mails and phone calls. They really brighten my day and I feel so loved. You are all wonderful!)

A Very Happy Easter!

From the very first minute of Easter Sunday 2008 - it has been our best Easter ever! At 12:00 Midnight - exactly - out little baby boy was born. He was in a hurry to make it during the first minute, or I was just in a hurry to have that part done, as he came literally sliding in on the 23rd of March. He weighed in at 7lb 7oz and is 19.5 inches long.

The midwife lovingly provided bunny ears and Erika played photographer to give us this beautiful Easter photo.

I'm not sure even where to begin telling about his birth and really don't have the words for it now and I am supposed to be at the computer to get payroll done. I'll try to update later.

Some highlights of the last 46 hours:

Having of my children tell me that I 'almost walk normal'.

Having Nathan sit on my lap, pat my belly (aka: squishy padding in front) and say "lap, lap" in a tender voice of awe, ready to read his story before naptime.

Being able to really get a good hug from LeRoy without the belly getting in the way. I've missed his great hugs!

Struggles:

My hips did not miraculously return to the painless state they began the pregnancy in. I'm probably going to need to visit the chiropractor for that.

The afterpains are bringing me near tears.

We still don't know what we are going to name him.

First Day of Spring

Spring has brought the sunshine. Real sunshine that shines in the windows not just the stuff that squeezes light through the clouds of winter. I do love the sunshine. The grass is green, kind of. Maybe a little more brown than green but still, I can see grass. Birds are singing. I've missed them and I need to get some trees planted to welcome the birds to our new house. It has to be good luck to start the first day of spring with everyone healthy. That is a blessing.

With one of my favorite seasons waking to the world I should be so content. Winter is gone, or in the process of leaving. But so is my patience.

Why is my patience gone? One word. Sleep. What is sleep? I can't remember! I don't think I have slept for at least a month. Ok, if I were to be honest, I have had a couple of good nights but sleep isn't something that you can store up and spread out over a couple of days. I need it every night and I can't seem to get it. Naps are rare and not quite as effective as sleep. I'm running on such a low sleep tank that my brain, emotions and physical body are about to fall apart.

I really do feel sorry for my family. They have been at their best. Helpful is an understatement. I didn't know teenagers could be so thoughtful. Thankfully, they seem to have additional patience where mine is lacking. Except Nathan. He is so full of life, exploration, curiosity and energy that I really need the others to keep up with him and they are all gone for 7 hours a day.

I guess I am losing patience but gaining appreciation.

An appreciation for walking. I miss it. Last night it felt like this little guy was squirming down so low he would pop a hand out. (Sorry, if that is to descriptive) Yet, here I am trying to walk, when running really would be better, trying keep up with 2 year old Nathan. Walk? More like waddling in squat position.

Stairs? Are you kidding me? I have put the gate at the top of the stairs to keep Nathan from going down but the TV is down there. He must have Elmo. I must have Elmo. Elmo is my 1 hour-sit-at-the-computer sanity. So here I am. Yup, I did the stairs. I haven't figured out what I will do when it is time to go back up. When I came down I brought a load of laundry with me but can I get it back up and still be able to breath when I reach the top? Hopefully.

Now that I have let you all catch a glimpse of how exhausted I am let me add: Yaayyy! I'm exhausted! I'm to the end of my rope! I feel like I can't do this one more day, or more specifically, one more night! I'm on the verge of tears at the thought of going to the bank, the drive thru at the bank.

Wait, I haven't lost my mind yet. This all makes sense. I am so far gone that I am excited about the pains of labor. Bring them on! Labor would bring a smile to my face. I would definitely offer a prayer of gratitude. It must be part of the pregnant plan to get the woman so far gone physically, mentally and emotionally that she craves labor and is willing to do whatever it takes to get beyond the pregnant point to the next stage.

Labor, please come soon.

I'm ready.

Elmo is over.

Blues, Greens and FHE

When I was expecting Nathan I knew that we were planning on another baby so I decorated the room to fit either a boy or girl. Now that I know I am having a boy I decided to go a little more boyish so I have redone the babies room.

It was originally the Malawi theme in greens and yellows with jungle animals and now I have switched everything out to cars. I found a twin quilt that I liked at Pottery Barn so I waited until I found one on e-bay that I felt was price-worthy. However, I didn't want to pay Pottery Barn or e-bay price for curtains or crib stuff so I decided to find a complimentary fabric and make it. I have had the quilt for about 3 months and the fabric for 2 and just needed the right motivation to sew everything up.

I guess the right motivation came Saturday afternoon and yesterday. I'm not sure what sparked it but I finished and love the look. The room will be a little less crowded when we move and will have only the crib and twin in the room but for now we are going to put the baby in the pack & play, and leave Nathan in the crib.

I made the curtains, pillow case on the twin, and the bedskirt. I'd like to do a small crib quilt also but my back hurts so bad from my terrible sewing posture (and having my big belly sitting on my lap while sewing) that it will have to wait.
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Happy St. Patrick's Day! At least it was yesterday. I don't know why our family is kinda lacking in birthday celebrations but we always celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Nope, no Irish blood in us. Just a love for the color green.

This is our 7th year celebrating but it was by far our smallest party. Usually we all wake up with "Leprechaun Kisses" all over us (clover stickers) and a prize at the table. One year it fell on Sunday and the kids even wore a couple of 'kisses' to church. I was serving in the primary presidency at the time and had sharing time that day but while the kids were in their classes I snuck home to hurry and decorate the table and set out all the green food. This was when they were all younger and it just made them believe in leprechauns even more because they saw me at church and didn't think I would be so sneaky. Now they know better but we all still enjoy our family green holiday.

This year we just did dinner - all green. We had taquitos with green chili sauce, green cornbread, grapes and kiwi, and green jello (I found out that Levi has been missing jello and reminded me that I haven't made it since 2003 - which is true). We also had green crowns to go with it and balloons. Nathan's favorite part (since this was all new to him) was the grapes, kiwi and balloons. He wasn't too fond of the jello at all - that was Levi's chosen treasure. For dessert we had mint ice cream sandwiches.

Yes, Nathan is still in his Elmo shirt. It did get washed on Saturday, I promise.
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For family home evening last night we talked about the rewards of obedience. I used the article from the March New Era called "What I Learned as a Cowboy" which had a story with some great 'this is what I learned' thoughts in it. Then we read scriptures relating to obedience.

• 1 Nephi 22:31 - Prophets teach obedience - we will be saved at the last day
• Alma 57:21 - Stripling warriors were obedient because they remembered the teachings of their mothers (parents). They did "perform every word of command with exactness".
• D & C 59:3 - Rewards of the earth
• D & C 58:2 - Rewards in heaven
• D & C 89: 1, 18-21 - health, wisdom, great treasures of knowledge, etc.
• D & C 93:1 - See the face of Christ and know that He is.

We also discussed the fact that obedience doesn't guarantee an easy life or that nothing bad happens but that there is a reward in it somewhere, even if we don't see it for years, or even in this life but in the next.
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So after thinking I had nothing to post yesterday it turned out to be a very full day. I love the days of feeling a little normal, doing something productive (ok, so growing a baby is productive but it sure can leave other things falling waaaaay behind) and having great family time together.

More of Nathan

I don't know what else to post except that I am still waiting to have a baby. So.... you get more of Nathan.

I realized that all of his clothes were getting way to small on him (rightly so, he is almost 2 and still wearing size 18 mo.) so I did a little Nathan shopping. His favorite character right now is Elmo so when I found this outfit I couldn't resist, especially because it was on sale. When I put it on him the next morning he would not get out from in front of the mirror. He just keep talking to himself and was so excited to have Elmo on his shirt and pants. As the kids came in from school and LeRoy came home from work that was the first thing he showed them, in a very animated way!

I love this video clip because it shows what most people don't get to see . . . the chattering Nathan. Usually he is very easy to understand and uses real words to express himself but when he gets in one of his chattering moods we can hardly understand anything. I also love seeing Levi play with Nathan and to have Chad (Levi's best friend) come over and give him quality attention as well. He is certainly not ignored when friends come over.

Yummerrific!

Today I couldn't figure out what I was craving so I decided to try something new and made the cake that Kellie shared and that Kate made for her birthday. It was soooo good.

I also tweeked it a little. I didn't feel like going to the store for frosting but I had all the stuff to make a cream cheese frosting so I did that with the oranges in it. I set aside a little and made it more runny so that I could poke holes in the cake and let the frosting run down into it (I'm not usually a cake fan because I don't just like moist, I like soggy cake). It was easy to hide the holes with the oranges on top.

After a couple of hours in the fridge it was the perfect sogginess and the flavor was soooo very good!! For the recipe go here (the link that Kellie listed) and for a very fun picture of the cake go see Kate's cake.

Caliente Dolar

During Levi's spanish class this week they have been working on foods, ordering from a menu and using more complete sentences. Levi had to come up with the name of his restaurant (Caliente Dolar), a printed menu with all the restaurant information and menu. The fun part is that he has had only had 1 trimester of spanish and had to come up with all of this on his own, including the descriptive paragraphs of the foods, and then present it to the class - all in spanish. He designed this picture for the front of his menu (kinda funny that his US dollar has spanish writing on it) and really did a creative and fun project.

Then today in class his teacher had a table set up at the front of the classroom that had a bunch of foods on it. Each student was given a card with three spanish food words on it and they were randomly asked what they would like to eat. They had to respond in spanish with the food listed on their card. One kid asked for cereal. So the teacher walked over and poured cereal on his desk. Another asked for milk and the teacher poured milk on the desk. I'm sure the janitors love this teacher!! He was trying to get the kids to use complete sentences: I would like a glass of milk, a bowl of cereal, etc. According to Levi the room was busting with laughter and a big mess. They also learned about a couple of spanish foods and had so much food that Levi didn't even eat lunch.

Levi has loved this class because from day 1 they have not been allowed to speak any english. It has been hard for him at times but the teacher uses alot of hand gestures and pictures on the board to teach them. He also doesn't focus on vocabulary as much as sentences.

According to high school parent/teacher gossip, this teacher was accused of not really teaching the kids well enough for them to pass college entrance exams for spanish so he left all the textbooks behind and started teaching his own way. Against district policy at first, but has since had great success with kids who have gone on to college using their spanish. The only sad part for us is that he is retiring this year. Why can't the really good teachers stay forever???

Pi Day

Yup - I spelled it right. I had to look it up on google because I am so mathematically challenged but pi = 3.14159. Why do I need to know this today? Because today is Pi day in Algebra II and Levi needs extra credit.

Pi day in class = pie day in class = Levi begging me to take him to the store before school to buy a pie = spending $6 = 20 extra credit points = a smiling 16 year old boy who adores his mommy today

Now you know the extent of my math abilities . . . spending money :)

Pregnant Apologies

Wow - I'm a wimp!

I really need to apologize to you guys. Maybe I should have edited a little in my latest posts to not complain so much and have everything be about me wishing I could just have this baby. Everyone has been so kind to leave nice comments. Maybe one of you should have commented a couple of weeks ago saying "you have a month - deal with it!!"

Today I looked at Kara's blog and her banner says: "My Baby Is Due Tomorrow". I realized once again that my little sister is awesome! I already knew that but I gained a new respect for her. You know, she has been so patient and uncomplaining waiting clear until her due date (unlike the whiney, gripey me). I'm sorry, Kara, that you have been reading my complaining blogs wishing I was done 2 weeks early and you have been doing that last 2 weeks leaving nice comments for me. You rock!

I will now send you all my "I-Wanna-Have-This-Baby-Now" vibes your way. You are constantly in my thoughts and prayers. Love you!!