Spring break!

Last week was spring break for the boys, and B1 was able to take the week off work as well. So, we loaded up the van, and drove to California! At least once a week, at least one boy will ask to go to California. I'm not sure if it's the fact that it's warm, or that they get to see Grandma and Grandpa, or that they get to swim in Grandma and Grandpa's pool, but they are always up for the trip.

We drove down Friday afternoon and got there after midnight. A had a rough last few hours--he fell asleep in his car seat, but every hour or so would wake up and cry for about 5 minutes before going back to sleep. When we arrived and unloaded him, he became completely irrational. I think he feared we were leaving him in a strange house, because he would start screaming the second we put him down until we picked him up again. He ended up sleeping with B1 and I that night--it was the only way he could be comforted enough to fall back asleep. Other than that, our trip was rather uneventful--there was very minimal fighting with the kids, and we made pretty good time (I pumped while B1 drove so that we could feed E via bottles, minimizing our stops).

Saturday and Sunday we watched General Conference (well, the adults tried to watch while the kids ran around like crazy people). I will admit that I completely slept through the afternoon session on Saturday--I was just too tired from our long drive the night before. On Saturday, B1 also helped my dad install a drip irrigation system to my dad's new garden. While it's cool that he's finally able to plant a garden, it was still sad seeing my dog's old home without him there. And somehow A knew a dog was supposed to be in the backyard, because the first thing he said when he looked out there was "Doggy?" Maybe Scooter still visits and A's innocent eyes were able to see him. Anyway, starting from Saturday morning, the boys kept begging to go swimming, even though my dad's pool was only about 65* and it was only in the high 70s outside. Much too cold for my old self to get in the pool. In fact, we didn't even pack swimsuits because I knew the pool would be too cold.

On Monday the older 2 boys went to play at Aunt K's house with their cousin O. It wasn't long before they had jumped in the pool, clothes and all. They had so much fun playing with their cousin this week, and we are all so excited that they are moving to Utah this summer!

Battle wound from the spinal tap

On Tuesday, B1 woke me up around 4:00 a.m. with some bad news--E was running a fever. He had been up with her for several hours, with her fever fluctuating between low-grade and fairly high. By 4:00 a.m. though, she was also starting to breathe fairly quickly--roughly one breath every second--and very shallow. We were worried, and so we called the nurse hotline through our insurance company. The nurse recommended we take her in to the ER, so we got dressed and drove her to the ER. Her fever was 101.2*, and given her age the doctor recommended a series of tests that included several blood tests, a urine test, a flu/RSV test using a nasal swab, and a test done from her stool sample (she so kindly pooped on the bed for them). After the ER doctor consulted with our pediatrician, she also recommended a spinal tap to run cultures on her spinal fluid--these cultures would help rule out meningitis. As you all know, I don't do well with needles. The last time I saw a needle inserted in my skin (I was giving blood at the time), I nearly passed out. I turned all white and several technicians came over, worried about me. So, when the nurses were putting in IV lines and taking blood samples, I had to sit down and B1 stood next to E. Poor girl. The spinal tap got to both of us though--I couldn't watch, and I just sat and wiped tears as I worried about my poor girl and how miserable she must be feeling right now, between being sick and having everyone poking her. They also gave her some Tylenol, and shortly afterward her fever broke.

All the tests (blood, urine, flu, RSV) came back negative, but it would take 48 hours to allow the culture tests from the spinal fluid to work. The doctor wanted to admit E during this time so they could keep an eye on her, and to administer antibiotics in case it was meningitis. Unfortunately, this hospital (which was only about 10 minutes from my parents' home) didn't have a pediatric unit, so she was transferred to a hospital in Tarzana, about 35 minutes away (without traffic). My brother was amazing and came by to help B1 give E a blessing before they left. At this point, it's after 10:00 a.m. B1 went with E in the ambulance to Tarzana while I went home, took the fastest shower of my life, and loaded up the necessities: clothes for E, PJs so I could stay overnight in the hospital, toothbrush, etc. I drove down to the hospital, pull in, and see a turnstile so I can pay to park in the hospital parking lot. Yep, no free parking. I felt like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz -- "I'm not in Utah anymore!" No only are we going to be paying a fortune to have my daughter in the hospital for the next 2+ days, but we are also going to pay to park as well.

E was held in the PICU ward, though we were told later that she was only there because the pediatric unit was full, and not because she needed PICU care. That was reassuring. We were also told that she would be held at least 48 hours--if her fever returned, or her pulse rate went abnormal, or her blood oxygen level dropped too low, or the cultures came back with negative results, she would be there longer. We all prayed (along with many others--thank you!!) that she would be fine so we could get back to our vacation. B1 and I took turns being with her--I stayed with her most of Tuesday and Tuesday night, and B1 stayed with her most of the day on Wednesday (I came back during the night). But, she did great--her fever never returned, and all her levels and tests were normal. We were thrilled when the doctor said she would be discharged Thursday morning.

When we got home from the hospital, we took the family out for lunch (Cafe Rio, yum!) and my mom showed us a park with some adorable ducks. There were even baby ducklings swimming around, and a few turtles! We ate while we watched the ducks swim and eat. One of the things I miss about working in the CP office is driving past the duck ponds every day and watching for the new little ducklings each spring. Baby ducklings are some of the cutest animals ever.

On Friday, we went to Griffith Park. B1 came with us as we went to their train museum--they had tons of old train cars that you could walk through, plus a museum and a train ride. My mom also had a celebrity spotting -- Walton Goggins. She kept trying to catch him in a photo bomb. I'm not sure if she ever got a decent picture of him to prove that she saw him. We were there for an hour and a half and didn't even see half of the train stuff, but we couldn't stay--B1 was meeting my dad at the pony rides to go golfing. While he did that, B2, D, and A rode on the ponies. B2's first time was on a bigger horse that went fast, and I think the bouncing hurt his back a little--he didn't want to ride again for a while. D had to sit out the first ride as a punishment for some bad behavior earlier that day. A went on a slow pony that walked the whole time. He loved it on the first lap, but during the second lap the pony just stopped for a while, and A got scared that he had been left. He wouldn't go on a pony again for the rest of the day. B2 went on one more ride on the medium speed ponies (smaller, and they trot a little on the first lap and walk the second lap), and D ended up doing two more rides on the medium ponies.

Our initial plan had been to come home on Saturday, but with E spending two days in the hospital, we stayed one last day to BBQ with my parents and see my brother and sister-in-law before we left. Saturday was a relaxing day at home. We then woke up Sunday morning at 2:30 a.m. CA time, loaded the kids up, and drove home. Despite some car troubles, we made it home before 4:00 p.m. Utah time. It was great waking up early like that -- the kids didn't even wake up until we were in Vegas, so it greatly minimized the number of times we were asked "Are we there yet?" and "How much longer?" We would have been home even sooner if D and B2 hadn't needed to pee every 20 minutes between Cedar City and Nephi. :)

This final picture isn't from spring break, but I had to share--I painted E's toenails for the first time after we got back. B1 had a hard time with it--he feels like it's a short jump from painted nails to make-up and then boys, and he feels like she's growing up too fast. She's only 2 months old and he's already worried about her teen years. :)

Halfway!

As of today, I am 21 weeks and 1 day pregnant, so I am past the halfway point! It's so weird to think that I'm this far along, since I'm still not as heavy as I usually am when I get pregnant, let alone when I'm halfway there. I haven't had a lot of morning sickness for the past two months or so, but I do have eating fatigue, where pretty much nothing sounds good to eat (except maybe candy, but then only eating candy on an empty stomach makes me feel worse!). But, my weight gain isn't low enough that the doctor is worried.

Today, we had our major ultrasound. And, to answer the first and obvious question, no, we still don't know if it's a boy or girl. We are going to be surprised! Everyone else is convinced that this one is a girl due all the differences in my pregnancy, but I used the same logic with A (my pregnancy with him was so different than with my other two!) and clearly that wasn't accurate. So, you'll all just have to wait until February like the rest of us to find out.

The ultrasound went well. The doctor said everything looks great, and I think the profile picture looks a lot like AJ. Interestingly though, this baby's head is only measuring at 20 weeks and a few days...in other words, SMALLER than normal. Odd, since my babies have ginormous heads! Maybe I'll have a nice, easy delivery this time. Ha!

The best part of the ultrasound? This!

The doctor caught the baby yawning! How cute is that?!?!?

Parenting win!

On Monday this week, B1 and I were making dinner and cleaning up the kitchen (translation: I was playing games on my phonewhile my husband did dishes, and dinner was cooking in the crock pot). D had been sent to his room for refusing to do time out for refusing to help me clean up the front room. So, there we were, when we both heard the sound of glass breaking. In a panic, we ran to D's room , and found him standing perfectly still, with a broken window. We asked him what happened, and he said he had thrown his soccer shin guards at the window. By this point, I was so done--D had ignored me all day, and I was tired of fighting him. I knew if I had tried to punish him, it would have been so ridiculous (you know, something like "you're not eating for a week"), so I walked out. B1 stayed behind to clean up the glass, but he too was too angry to punish D. We told him the punishment would come after we had a chance to talk to each other. We called our parents, asked some advice, and finally decided on the following:

1. Since D had inappropriately used his shin guards, he was going to lose those for 24 hours. The next night he had a soccer game, so we took him to the game, sans guards. As such, he had to sit on the sidelines and watch his team play.
2. Since D had caused damage that would be expensive to replace, we felt that he had to "earn" some of the money to fix the window. He would do this by doing extra chores. As an added incentive to do those chores, he will not be allowed to watch TV until all the money is earned.

So, the day after the window incident, D asked over and over again if he could watch TV. Every time we said no, and he would whine, "Why?" I'd look at him and ask back, "Why can't you watch TV?" He'd glumly reply, "Because I broke the window and now I have to do chores." Then I'd ask if he wanted to do chores, and he'd say no. 30 minutes later, and the scene repeats. Day 2 was much the same, though with fewer requests to watch TV.

Today started off the same--D asking to watch TV, and me saying no. When I asked this time if he wanted to do chores, he said yes! I was shocked, but quickly found some chores to do--cleaning air vents and washing baseboards. It only lasted about 30 minutes, though he might have cleaned longer if it weren't for friends stopping by (I was babysitting this morning).

So, chalk this up to a parenting WIN! Thanks to our parents (and sister-in-law C2) for the great advice!

Stop growing!!!

A isn't growing super fast in the weight category (he had his 2 month check-up this past week, and he's in the 7th percentile!), but he is growing up fast in other areas. Tonight I watched him roll from his BACK to his front! Yes, that's right! Not front to back, which is supposedly easier, but back to front. We have a spry one our hands!

Just wanted to blog this so we would have it documented.

Welcome A!

I suppose I need to write down A's birth story before I forget all the details. I had expected to have a similar experience as I did with B2, but it was quite different.

A was due June 11, 2012. As I had anticipated, I started dilating early. At my 36 week appt, I was already 2 cm dilated and 70% effaced. And, as before, I was hoping for an early delivery. I was also hoping not to have two of my boys sharing birthdays, because that was a definite possibility--at 36 weeks, B2's birthday was 6 days away and D's was 3.5 weeks away. We were also moving in to our new house the weekend after my 36 week appt. I asked the doctor if lifting heavy boxes would throw me into labor, but he sadly informed me that at best it would do nothing; at worst, I would get hurt (sore muscles and all). He said the move would have no positive or negative impact on my pregnancy.

The move went well, and I went in two days later for my 37th week appointment hoping for good news. Sadly, I didn't get it--I had made absolutely no progress. For me, that's unusual. I usually dilate 1/2 to 1 cm per week and continually efface, but I hadn't done either. I began to resign myself to the idea that I was probably not going to have another May baby.

By the 38th week appt, I had made a little more progress. I was up to 3 cm dilated and still around 70-75% effaced. With B2's birthday now behind me, I was ready to have this baby quickly before it got too close to D's birthday. The doctor swept my membranes, hoping to throw me into labor. Alas, no luck. I just bled a little for a day or two and had some wonderfully awesome (*cough*) and intense contractions, but stayed pregnant.

At 39 weeks, I was so done being pregnant! D's birthday was now in 4 days, so I had the doctor sweep my membranes again, hoping that I could go into labor, have this baby, and be home before D's birthday.  Again, no luck--just more contractions, but they never got close enough together to go the hospital and would stop by bedtime. I tried walking and cleaning and all sorts of stuff to keep those contractions going, as well as applying essential oils to encourage the contractions, but no luck.

I saw the doctor again on my due date, June 11th. By now, I had been pregnant longer with this baby than with any other (B2 was born at 1:00 a.m. on his due date, and we induced D a week early), so I was getting really sick of being pregnant and ready to snuggle this cute (and likely ginormous) baby. I was also getting a little scared of having a stillborn child. Even though the doctor reassured me that the odds of stillborn didn't go up until at least a week after my due date (and more likely two weeks), I asked to be scheduled for an induction on Friday, June 15th. I didn't want to go a whole weekend without being able to easily (and cheaply) see my doctor in his office instead of having to go to the ER, just in case. I also had the doctor sweep my membranes again, just in case. He (Dr M) mentioned that he was the on-call doctor until 7:00 a.m. the next morning, so he said he hoped to see me before he got off call. I agreed. I didn't really get many contractions that afternoon, and I got sadder and sadder as I watched my due date come to a close.

I was woken up by contractions at 3:45 a.m. The contractions weren't terribly intense, but they were intense enough to wake me up (that hadn't happened before...ever) and seemed to be coming fairly close together. Not wanting to unnecessarily freak out my husband, I went into the living room to time the contractions and see if they were getting closer together, staying the same distance, or growing further apart. Plan failed--B1 felt me get out of bed and within seconds he was out of bed too. We timed a few contractions, and they were lasting about a minute and were coming every 3 minutes. We decided to head to the hospital. After my short labor with B2, we were afraid of having a freeway baby and didn't want to wait any longer. So far during the pregnancy, I hadn't had any contractions this close together (except the occasional 2 or 3 that would be close together but then nothing for hours or days). We packed up the hospital bags, called B1's parents (who were kind enough to wake up in the middle of the night and drive to our house so we didn't have to wake up B2 and D), and we were off to the hospital. My contractions weren't as intense as they were with B2 as we drove, so I was better able to handle B1's crazy driving. :) Just kidding--he did really well, especially with avoiding speeding up and slowing down dramatically.

We got to the hospital around 4:45 a.m., and was immediately checked in. We didn't have to be monitored like I was with D--I guess they figured that since a.) I was technically past my due date, b.) I was already dilated to 3 cm, c.) I had been timing my contractions for nearly an hour, and c.) this wasn't my first pregnancy so I theoretically knew what was real labor, they would accept my word for it. I was taking to the delivery room and got settled in.

B1 and I had discussed prior the plan of me going all natural with this delivery. With B2 and D, I had had IV painkillers (Demerol, I believe) during the labor. Both boys seemed to struggle a very tiny bit as well--B2 struggled during delivery, when his oxygen dropped and I had to put on oxygen mask, and D after delivery when he couldn't clear the fluid out of his lungs. While I don't know all the research to know if these are even known risk factors for IV painkillers and delivery, I felt that I needed to not do any painkillers this time and see if it made a difference. We explained that we did not want any painkillers to the nurse, but she still said I had to have an IV inserted and taped off due to hospital policy. It happened so fast, and I was not happy about it after the fact. I found out later that we could have avoided that if we had signed a waiver, and I wish we had been more forceful with the nurse. Oh well...notes for me for next time.

With B2, I was only in the hospital for about 3 hours before he was born--I was being monitored for an hour, at which point I was at least 5 cm dilated and moved to the labor room. I then went from a 5 to a 10 in another hour, at which point my water was broken and I started to push. He was born an hour later. So, I was hoping for another quick delivery (though hopefully much less pushing). But, sadly, I went at the normal rate--I was dilating about a cm per hour. Thankfully, my contractions were not intense for most of that time. I would describe them as uncomfortable--I would have to stop talking and focus on breathing, but other than that the time passed fairly easily, although slowly. We joked with Dr. M, who stopped in every hour or so, that he must be the only OB at the doctors' office who knows how to sweep membranes, because the other two OBs had not been successful. He kept me laughing whenever he came in. At 7:00 a.m. Dr M went home, and Dr. L came in! Dr. L was the same OB who delivered B2, and the reason why we returned to that practice for this pregnancy.

Around 9:00 a.m. the contractions started getting worse--they were more intense and painful, and seemed to be even closer together. I was checked, and still only around 7 cm. I feared that I would have another 3 hours of painful contractions, and was starting to doubt my decision to go natural. Brian and I talked, and we figured we would wait a little longer to see how much more I could handle. At 9:30 a.m., I asked the nurse to check me and I was still around 7.5 cm. I broke down and asked for the painkillers at this point, only to be told no--she said at this point I could go so quickly that it's not advised to have painkillers injected.. The contractions right after being checked were so intense that I quickly moved to the stage of thinking, "I can't do this!" After one or two contractions, I felt my body start pushing the baby. The nurse had mentioned that my OB had left the hospital to go to his office (it's just on the other side of the parking lot), so B1 quickly summoned the nurse and told her that my body was pushing and we needed the doctor back. By this point, it's now around 9:45 a.m. The nurse checked me again, and I was nearly at 10 cm. She summoned the doctor, and I started pushing. I was shocked that my body was pushing this baby out, because as of yet my water still hadn't broken. I didn't know it was possible to start delivering the baby while he was still enclosed in the amniotic sac. I guess I didn't pay enough attention in my birthing class when I was pregnant with B1. My water finally broke a few pushes before the baby's head came out. So, I had my first "spontaneous rupture." As with B1, there was meconium in the amniotic fluid, but I guess that's what I get for having full-term babies (and another reason I'm terrified of going past my due date).

I imagine the rest is fairly typical of labor--I pushed, screamed some, insisted I couldn't deliver this baby, and tried to convince the doctor that the baby's head wasn't going to fit, while he tried to convince me that there was plenty of room. Ha! You're going to tell the pregnant lady who is feeling every cm of her baby's head burning its way out that there's more room??? And then, suddenly, the head pops out, the body quickly follows, and all is right with the world.

I had always heard stories about people saying what a spiritual experience birth is, and I had felt kinda like a horrible person because the delivery had been such horrible experiences for me in the past. But, this time, I had had that spirtual experience. As soon as A's head was out, I felt an outpouring of peace, happiness, love, and so many other positive emotions that I don't even have words for. All thoughts of pain, frustration, and so on that I had just had were instantly gone, and all I could think about was this sweet baby in front of me, and he was the most perfect thing I had ever seen. I know it's probably silly and can't be proven scientifically, but I honestly think not having painkillers with this delivery made a huge difference. Now, I'm not saying that you can't have a similar wonderful experience with IV painkillers or epidurals, but for me the experience was so much better without the medications.

Little Strider, as he was known in the womb, was born at 10:20 a.m. He weighed 7 pounds and 13 ounces. I was shocked that he was so little. B2 was 6 ounces heavier and born one day earlier, so I was expecting at least an 8 pound baby. We moved into the recovery room, and within a few hours I was ready to go home, except we didn't have a name for the baby. B1 and I spent most of that day talking about it, and decided on A. Both his first name and nickname both have references to Lord of the Rings. The middle name was in a dream that B1 had, and we both liked it. It's a big name for a little guy, so we mainly call him by his initials.

My recovery was very fast and easy. I didn't have any pain medication in the hospital (to the shock of the nurses--they didn't seem to know what to do with me since I didn't need helping peeing and I didn't need drugs), and I didn't have an episiotomy or tear when delivery. Within a few hours, I felt almost as good as new (though it still hurt a bit to sit), and we pushed to be discharged the following morning. We were discharged about 26 hours after A was born.

So, overall, this birth was a wonderful experience. Yes, there was pain and frustration and fatigue, but mostly I remember the wonderful feelings associated with snuggling this cute, adorable baby. A was already sleeping 4-5 hours at a time in the hospital, and would sleep best at night, so I have been able to do fairly well on his sleep schedule. He hasn't grown as quickly as my other boys, which makes me both happy (because he stays a little boy for just a bit longer) and scared (because I'm worried he's not eating enough). I am thrilled that I get to stay at home with him and I don't have to leave him with a babysitter 5 days a week. I'm glad that I didn't stay on maternity leave for the full 12 weeks with my other boys, because it just would have been too heart-wrenching to come back after that. So I am just loving being able to cuddle A all day, every day. I may even indulge him a bit too much by holding him for his afternoon naps and letting him sleep in our bed after his 4:30 a.m. feeding, but I know he won't stay little for long.

A was blessed on Sunday, July 15th. Rinz and J came in to town from AR, and my parents, E, and K were in town from CA. We were sorely missed B1's sister C1, her husband B, and their kids, but other than that all of A's immediate and close extended family were there! Thank you to all who came--you made it the perfect day!

Another addition to the White house!

The boys got a new bed!

We bought a new bunk bed, custom-made by Colungas Custom Beds, for the boys. Tonight is their first night in it. In fact, it's the first night D has not slept in a crib or play pack. Right now I'm hearing B2 shout, over and over again, "Go to bed! GO TO BED!" Apparently, D won't let him sleep now that he has a choice about whether or not he stays in bed. Haha!

D's 18 month checkup

Tomorrow D is 18 months. Holy...crap. Anyway, so I'm taking him to his 18 month checkup. Our doctor always asks how many words he knows, so this time I'm coming prepared: 20. I thought it might be fun to post his word list:

Hi
Mommy (or Mama)
Dada
Baba (for sippy)
More
Milk
Please
Cookie (yes, my 18-month-old knows the word cookie)
Papa (what he calls Grandpa)
Shoe
No (very important when you have an obnoxious older brother)
Mine (also very important when you have an obnoxious older brother)
(Side note: is there anything besides an obnoxious older brother?? I argue no...at least, not at their ages)
Boo
Up
Down
Nini (every time he sees a picture of my sister, he starts saying, "Nini!! Hi Nini!")
Baby
Choo Choo (haven't you seen the video??)
Hot
All done!

Such an impressive list! And so full of commands--more, down, mine...

Tomorrow, I'd love to post all of my kids' growth charts, both for comparisons as well as to keep them documented in a way other than a pile of papers on my computer desk... But, we'll see. Work is going to be super busy this week, so I think I'll be spending much of my evenings playing catch up. Goal for tonight: work fewer than 2 hours.

So long volleyball

This week my little sister has her last two college volleyball games ever (well, as a player at least). It's crazy--my best estimate is that I've watched 60 games in the last 4 years, not counting games I watched online or via Gametracker, or spring tournaments. Holy crap! No wonder my autumns have been so busy lately. And yet, I don't regret a single minute, except the minutes I was late. I've said things like, "Go Utah" exponentially more than I ever thought I would. And, while I'm still not a Utah fan by any means, I won't be bad-mouthing the Utah volleyball team any time soon, even when I'm cheering on my Cougars.

So, as the season draws to a close, I say "Well done girls!" to KB, KF, and, most importantly, my awesome sister Rinz.

Funny Things B2 Says

April 13th--B2 experiences a new meteorological occurrence known as hail. B1 was home, so he took B2 out onto our patio so he could experience it firsthand. He lets B2 stick his hand out in the hail, then run to the edge of our "front yard" and back. B1 asked B2 what he thought of the hail. B2's response?


"Hail...it's raining out there!"

An Update

Well, it's time to update the blog again, so here it goes. About a week ago, B1 was working (big surprise--he credited over 100 hours in February, a new personal record!), and I was just getting home from picking up the kids at the babysitter's house. Our neighbors from upstairs were out walking their dog. As I said hi, B2 interrupted and started introducing himself (it's one of his favorite activities). He said, "I'm B, and this is D, and he's pretty cute, and he's a baby."

Last weekend, B, D, and I went to B1's cousin's daughter's baptism. (So, I guess that would make it B2's and D's second cousin's baptism.) All went well until the time came for the actual baptism. B2 went up to the font with the rest of his cousins and second cousins, and when the little girl went down into the water and back up, B2 said (about as loud as you can without actually yelling), "HOLY MY COW! He got her all wet!" We all started laughing, and B2 kept talking really loudly as the bishop tried to get him to quiet down. I finally had to go up to the font and tell him to be quiet. Poor kid...I guess we need to attend these a little more often so he understands the social norms.

Last week, D was diagnosed with a double ear infection. Poor kid--he was running really high fevers, and was all around miserable. We understood more of why he was so miserable on Sunday, when BOTH of his two bottom front teeth broke through. He was cutting two teeth while battling two ear infections. What a trooper!

D has been army crawling like no one's business. This kid is so fast! It just makes me melt because when I come home, he'll book it over to me and try to crawl into my lap so I can hold him. I love that he's such a momma's boy, since B2 only wanted to be near me when he was sick. But, now that he's teething, we've been giving D some Cheerios to munch on. He LOVES them, though he's still having a hard time figuring out how to get them in his mouth. That pincer grasp isn't far away though.

Yesterday was a milestone (albeit a sad one) for me - it was the first day in 9 months that I didn't nurse or pump. Yep, D is now on solids and formula. I did get a bit choked up when I put D to bed last night without nursing him. I didn't think it would bother me as much as it did. I had hoped to make it at least 10 months (I nursed/pumped for B2 for 10 months), but my last managers retreat pretty much killed it. It was so hard to get out any milk after going 3 days without nursing, so I've been struggling the last few months to maintain any type of supply. So, finally, this week I gave up. I take comfort in the fact that I at least got him through the worst part of the flu/cold season. We do have some pumped milk in the freezer that we'll give him for the next few weeks to hopefully give him a few more defenses against illnesses.

One last bit of news: we decorated our condo! I found this quote online, and liked it because it was different (most people out here have phrases like "All Because Two People Fell in Love" or something like that). Our graphic artist at work made it look nice, and I was able to print it on the vinyl at work as well. We absolutely LOVE it! I got all these frames for Christmas, and have been itching to put them up. I'm going to get that last of the pictures for the frames today, but am just so excited to be displaying some of the pictures of my family that I love so much.

A random picture

Since I was able to figure out how to get images and video off my phone, here is a random picture:

The past week at work, I spent nearly three hours going through old employee files where documents could be shredded, and then nearly another hour shredding those documents. I kept filling up bag after bag of shredded paper. As I was trying to stack them to get them out of the way until our building could be cleaned (note also the huge pile of trash at the bottom of the picture), I noticed it looked like a snowman. So, I grabbed my Sharpie, an orange post-it note, and a gray piece of paper, and made my friend Frosty here and left it by our Accounts Receivable/Payable person. We had a good laugh. Despite our building being cleaned several times, Frosty is still here.

Some random stories

Although it hasn't been that long since my last post, it seems like forever because so much as happened that I wanted to blog about. So, let's go chronologically.

A few weeks ago, B1 and I went to Chilis for dinner with the boys. My boss gave us a gift card there for Christmas, so we figured it was a good time to use it. Well, it wasn't really, since we went on a Friday night at 6:15 and the placed was PACKED and it was freaking cold. I won't go into why it took us nearly an hour to be seated when they quoted me 10-15 minutes, but that's mainly because I have no idea why that happened. Anyway, we had an amazing server who was friendly, fast, and most likely gay. B1 had him running with how fast he was downing his lemonades, so finally the server brought B1 two glasses with the comment, "You're a heavy drinker." Oh, if only he knew... I started laughing and have been giving him crap ever since. That was pretty much the highlight of the evening, since my once-delicious food turned into stomach cramps and--um, use your imagination--when I discovered a huge nasty hair only millimeters from where I stopped eating. My stomach is churning just thinking about it. We'll probably go back to Chilis again, because our waiter was awesome and because we have another gift card, but I'm definitely not ordering that dish next time. And we're not going on a Friday night again.

Last Sunday, February 7th, was even grosser than my experience at Chilis, but also funnier. In the morning as we were getting ready for church, I was playing with D. One of his favorite games is when we lift him into the air like we are going to toss him, but without letting go, and then bringing him back down. He always get a huge grin on his face. We may have another aviator on our hands... Anyway, so I was playing with D by lifting him into the air, but I was sitting on the bed so D was directly above my head. I was giving D a big grin when suddenly...*BARF*.... D spits up and it lands directly in my mouth!!! Luckily, we had a burp cloth close and I quickly wiped out my mouth, but B1 started gagging a bit (he, of course, saw the whole thing). I guess I was lucky that B2never barfed in my mouth as a baby. In fact, most of the gross stuff seems to happen to other people (like Beez getting B2's diarrhea all over her pants and newly-replaced carpet). There goes my streak.

That same day, B2 gave his first talk in Primary! I was so proud of him. I managed not to be a total dork and cry at how my little baby is growing up, but I did boast about what a great job he did and how he talked loudly (but not too loudly) in the microphone and only twice went off subject telling stories that inevitable would have ended with something Mommy and Daddy don't want the ward to know. :) B2's topic was "I know Heavenly Father loves me" and consisted of blessings we have been given that show that Heavenly Father loves us -- temples, families, the earth, and Jesus's sacrifice, to name a few.

Last week we had two unfortunate milestones -- first, it seems that D also has night terrors (it's going to be a fun couple of years...), and second, it appears that B2 is now sleepwalking in addition to having night terrors. Why can't I have children who have normal sleep patterns? Last week B1 was gone on a trip. I was up finishing a book; at about 11:00 p.m., I heard B2 calling my name. He wasn't screaming like he does when he has night terrors, but he was whimpering a bit, so I got out of bed to check on him. I found him in the corner of his room, sitting on his rocking horse, whimpering my name. I led him back to bed, and he was out cold before his head hit the pillow. It was really weird. I can't image that it was anything other than sleep walking, because he was not awake when I found him. I don't think it's related to the night terrors, or at least he wasn't have a night terror at the time, because he wasn't screaming his ever-loving head off. It was very bizarre. It hasn't happened since, so let's hope it isn't a common occurrence.

On the bright side, I think B2 is coming out of the terrible threes. He's still having some problems with pooping in his pants, but mainly the tantrums seem to be going away and the sweet boy I barely remembered is coming back. The tantrums/disobedience are the worst at night and in the morning, but he seems to be doing a lot better during the day. Though, I suspect that's easy for me to say, since I only see him a few hours a day most of the time.

California Trip

This last weekend we made a little family trip to California to see my parents and my brother and sister-in-law. It's one thing I love about being a pilot's wife--I get to go see my parents pretty much whenever I can break away from work. We flew in Friday morning. That day, the girls went and got a pedicure (I still had nail polish on from my last pedicure, which was before my sister's wedding...7 months ago). After that, K dyed and cut my hair. I went brown again, and she did a fantastic job as always.

On Saturday, we went to Griffiths Park. I think my parents took me when I was a baby, but I have no memory of the place. It was a blast! We started off with the world's fastest carousel--okay, maybe not, but I did get a bit sea-sick on it, not to mention the music was really loud. It was supposed to be a really old carousel; the music was powered by an actual pipe organ or something like that.

After we went on the carousel, we then took B2 on a pony ride. My boy is so fearless -- he LOVED the ponies! Grandpa bought him 2 tickets, so he got to ride the pony around the course 4 times. He kept yelling at the pony "Let's go pony!" to make him go faster.

After the pony rides, we went over to the miniature train that takes a little loop around the park. Grandpa bought B2 this little pinwheel, and B2 LOVED making it spin. He almost missed most of the train ride because he was watching those wheels move. As a side note, great job on the colors Dad -- Go Cougars!

Well, that pretty much sums up the trip. It was so great being in 70 degree weather in January, seeing my family, and having a break from the day-to-day grind. I guess it's time to start planning our next trip to California!!

Sledding at Soldier Hollow

So, I am way behind on updating this blog. I'll do my best to get a few posts up in the next couple of days.

In mid-January, my company took all the employees tubing at Soldier Hollow. We did this as a management team last January, and it was a blast. I was so excited to hear that we were going to go again, but this time with our families. We have never taken B2 tubing before, probably because I'm too much of a wuss when it comes to being cold and being in the snow (I don't like either situation). So, since this was our first time, B2 and I had to go out and get snow clothes. 

B2 absolutely LOVED tubing!! We were pleasantly surprised. Since our company had the hill reserved before Soldier Hollow's normal hours, we were up there pretty early, which meant a.) B2 was cranky in the morning, b.) I was cranky in the morning, c.) it was FREAKING COLD, and d.) the lanes were super slick. Our first run of the day, we went down the hill so fast that we not only crashed through one barrier at the end of the run, but two! We even broke a few of the PVC pipes that were used to hold the barrier up. After our crash, the employees at the top had to remind every single rider not to crash into the barriers--yep, every single rider the entire time we were there. Oops... :) After it started warming up and more riders were going down, the lanes slowed down a bit, so we didn't have another collision...with a barrier, at least. But, even with our collision, we asked B2 if he wanted to go down the hill again, to which he adamantly exclaimed, "Yes, let's do that again!" That became the typical response--as soon as our run ended, B2 was begging us to go again. One great part about Soldier Hollow is that they have a rope that tows you up the mountain, so you don't have to lug your tubes up the hill over and over again. So, we had the energy to go down a bunch of times.  We were tubing for two hours (with a brief break about halfway through for some hot chocolate, a ski mask for me, and snow gloves for B2), and we could have gone for probably another hour had we not gotten kicked off the slope.

Christmas letter

Merry Christmas!

Christmas letter text:
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
December 2009

Dear friends and family,

Well, once again, I have procrastinated this year’s Christmas card, so you are all getting it through email instead of the actual mail. I would be happy to print copies of the picture for anyone would like it.

2009 has gone much faster than expected. I am sure that we have hit the point in our lives where time seems to continually speed up, but it still takes us by surprise every year.

B1’s life has been pretty consistent this year. He is still working at [airline company], and is still the Employment Specialist in our ward. This calling has been a great blessing for him, if for no other reason than it helps him be grateful for his job while he’s parking airplanes in negative-degree temperatures.

This year has been a little more eventful for me. I had planned on quitting my job when our son was born, but with the unstable economy and fear of Brian losing his job, I am still working full-time. But, I am happy to be at such a wonderful company. In June my baby sister was married the day before B1 and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary. In August I lost my grandpa, and I miss him dearly. This month I launched my own business (mymommyshelpers.blogspot.com). 2009 has brought me some happy and some sad events, and I anxiously (and nervously) await what 2010 has in store for me.

B2 is still growing like a weed. He consistently ranks in the 90th-plus percentiles for height and weight. Despite being white, he might be able to play football for BYU after all. This year B2 has become potty trained, which has been the source of much happiness and much frustration for him (and his parents). He absolutely adores his younger brother, and loves his new babysitters Colby and Kristy (and their kids, of course) and his nursery leaders. B2 is now three years old, so he will be starting Primary next month. I think B1 and I got a few gray hairs once we realized our kid would be in Primary, but we’re excited to see him participate in the sacrament meeting programs. His favorite Primary song right now is Follow The Prophet, and he knows the first three verses. He also likes to regularly inject lines from the song into every day conversation, such as a few weeks ago when he was saying goodbye to his dad and told him sternly, “Dad, don’t go astray.” Of course, we’d rather he repeat Primary songs than what his mom and dad say.

This year we welcomed D.S. to our family. D was born in June, and is the happiest baby you’ve ever met. He is just becoming mobile by turning his body and rolling to get where he wants to go, and is trying so hard to scoot. He has the cutest smile you’ll ever see, and you’ll see it often. He hardly ever cries. Of course, I think the reason why he’s the best baby is because his first word was Mama. In fact, he still hasn’t said Dada, though Brian tries hard, and regularly, to get D to expand his vocabulary.

This time of year reminds us that we are truly blessed. We have wonderful children and extended family, dear friends, a home, and jobs. We hope that this Christmas season finds you happy and able to see the best in your life!

Love,
B1, S, B2, and D

Milestones

B2 had hit two milestones this week on Sunday: first, he learned to blow bubbles (thanks to his Great Aunt Leslie, who gave him some at the family Cousin Party this week), and second, he had his first accident that resulted in blood (he fell and bit his lip - nothing serious).

Also, despite his absolute refusal to wear shoes a few months ago, B2 now LOVES his shoes! Offering to put on his shoes is a better bribe than chocolate or juice! As soon as B2 realizes that he gets to put on his shoes, he will come right over to me, turn around, back up slowly, and carefully sit down in my lap. He will then hold perfectly still while I strap on his shoes (I think the Vans are his favorite). He then gets up and begins to strut. B2 has learned that putting on shoes means going outside, and he loves walking outside! It sure makes my load lighter, though slower, since I don't have to carry him.

In other news, B1 finished the last of his multi-engine hours on Friday, August 31st. He now has the minimum requirements to apply at ExpressJet, and is studying hard. I told him that all I wanted for my birthday was for his application to be in, so he is hurrying to meet that deadline. :) I am very excited about B1 finally being able to do what he wants to do, though it will mean that some very difficult times are ahead for us. For example, if B1 gets a job with ExpressJet, he will be sent to his ground school class in Houston, so he will be in Houston for 6 straight weeks. He may be able to come home one weekend, but mostly will need that time to study it is really disastrous for a pilot to fail out of a ground school class.

Also, I am an aunt again! C1, B1's sister, is adopting another child this week. Her name will be L, and they are picking her up from the hospital today!

I think that's all! I'll try to post again soon.