31 Weeks

The face I pulled when Lily told me I wasn't saying "Cheese!"

31 Weeks.  Does that number freak anyone else out?  I have sooooo much I still need to get done.

Last weekend our little girl dropped.  All at once.  I wanted to die I was in so much pain.  I literally couldn't walk and Ben had to carry me up and down stairs.  But I got better and went from being immobile to doing a pretty embarrassing "cowboy walk."  Then the cowboy walk upgraded to hardcore waddling.  So I'd say I'm doing pretty well.  ;)

On Friday I had a regular checkup with my OB and she told me that she's planning on inducing me right when I hit 39 weeks if I don't go into labor before then (that makes 3/3 pregnancies that I've been induced at 39 weeks... pretty sweet if you ask me).  So #3 will be born on July 24th.  Happy pioneer day y'all.  This also means that I have some weight I need to put on in the next 8 (!!!!!) weeks since I've somehow only gained 14 pounds.  I mean, usually by now I resemble something close to a hungry hungry hippo....

Other than freaking out about finishing the nursery and getting freezer meals made, I am so dang excited it's ridiculous.  I'm so excited to experience a wobbly newborn who can't keep her head up so she has to rest it on my shoulder.  I'm excited to see the funny things that will capture her attention.  I'm excited to hear those newborn coos.  This 3 year break between babies has been a great time to recharge my mommy batteries and get excited to experience this all over again.  Aaaaah!!!  So much fun!!!!

Sucka!!!!

Most women find shoe stores to be a place where they lose their well-practiced self-control and give in to something that they want.  While I'm a total fan of shoes, I know how to contain myself.  If a sale isn't mindblowingly awesome, I walk away.  I don't like to buy shoes unless I can brag about how little I paid for them.  Besides, I probably already have a pair at home that would work just as well.  Every store on the planet is the same story for me.  Unless we really really need it, I don't get it unless the price is hysterically low. 

Except for one place.  Where I have almost no control over myself.  Where I could spend an entire day just looking around for ways to drop money.

The Farmer's Market.

I'm pretty sure that whenever I go there I must have some sign on my forehead (that I sure can't see) that says "Sucker" on it. 

Why yes, I will buy 40 pounds of your peaches that my son has already eaten 5 samples of.  Yes, I do need some blueberry bushes (after buying 6 of them on different occasions I'm starting to wonder if that guy might have our credit card number memorized).  Why yes, those flowers are gorgeous and would be easy to take care of in I don't know what place in my yard. 

It's sort of unhealthy.

After our trip this past weekend I told Ben that we're not allowed to go there for the rest of the year.  I mean, unless they come out with some VIP loyalty card or something...

So for now, we have 40 lbs. of peaches.  This is only half of the lot.  The others were frozen for smoothies.  The rest will soon be canned or freezer jammed.  At least they were cheap and are incredibly delicious.

As for our own garden, we're definitely still learning. Pretty much everything has started from seeds (except for the few plants that got killed by a frost and couldn't be replaced).  Our blueberry bushes are already giving us fruit.  So are our peas.  Our corn keeps getting taller and we're amazed that our potatoes are taking off and are already getting huge under the soil.  The strawberries on our porch are just starting to produce berries and the kids are completely enthralled.  It's like we live in an episode of Curious George or something. 

It's definitely been a learning process.  Some of the things we've learned are:

- Our tomatoes need nitrogen.

- Blueberry bushes need soil acidifier (i.e. azalea food) which you can either buy or use oak leaves if you have lots in your yard.

- You can change the color of your hydrangea bushes by adding lime to make them pink or soil acidifier to make them blue. 

Another thing I've learned?  Buying an Easter lily and a gorgeous red flower called "Lucifer" at the farmer's market and planting them next to each other is sort of ironic.  Crazy farmers making me do weird things...

Robin Egg Blue

A little while ago Ben was out gardening when he brought in this little beauty.  I was completely surprised because we don't have any trees in our yard, so why would we have a hatched robin egg in our grass? 

It's funny because whenever people have asked what color we've been painting our downstairs I'd tell them it was basically a light robin egg blue.  I had no idea how true that was until we held up the egg next to the wall.

 Then a couple of days later we found our answer as to where the egg came from.  This definitely isn't the best shot of our covered porch, but if you look closely you can see the nest that was built on top of the pillar.  Better than a home in a tree if you ask me!  Now every time I walk out my front door a bird flies away, perches on my neighbor's house, and then stares me down until I'm back inside. 

So the downstairs is basically painted (we just have one small area that still needs to be done).  Skyler is potty trained (although he does have his share of accidents).  And the kiddos are sleeping together in bunk beds.  My 3 big pre-baby goals are officially accomplished! 

My next pre-baby goals consist of the following (in no particular order):

• Finish nursery (finish painting flowers, cover new-to-us chair, move in changing table)
• Finish making bows/hair accessories
• Be able to wear my 5 inch heels all the way up to D-Day.
• Celebrate all 4 of our birthdays without scrimping on the kids' (even though Skyler's is the day before my due date).  Also squeeze in our anniversary and Father's Day.
• Successfully convince people that I'm not waddling yet.  Because I'm not.  Not at all.  But don't come over to my house with binoculars to check. 

Mommy Lessons I've Learned

1 -- I always thought that delivering a baby must be the grossest, most painful thing ever (when I took biology in high school we had to watch a movie that featured an entire delivery, including the water breaking, from the worst possible view.  I'm fairly sure that they showed it to us to encourage abstinence/birth control.  I decided I'd only adopt after that).  Then Skyler asked me in the car yesterday if the baby would come out through my mouth. *Shivers*  I'll take the natural way.  Combine that with an epidural, a nap, and a Sonic grape/cherry slush that Ben sneaks in for me that I'm technically not allowed to drink, and it's actually quite an enjoyable experience.

2 -- You will think you've had embarrassing experiences before you become a parent.  But you're wrong.  Nothing can quite compare to when you go to a birthday party and your son sees a man with a beard and wavy brown hair down to his shoulders, and he decides to shout, "Hey look it's Jesus!"

3 -- Going to the bathroom without an audience is a luxury.  And if you manage it you will get at least a dozen knocks on the door asking if you're done yet.

4 -- You think that your kids will forget promises you make (i.e. "If you're really good while we're shopping you might get a treat at home) but they won't. 

5 -- "Listen earnestly to anything your children want to tell you, no matter what.  If you don't listen eagerly to the little stuff while they're little, they won't tell you the big stuff when they're big, because to them all of it has always been big stuff."  - Catherine M. Wallace

6 -- Something magical happens when children are asleep in bed.  The little known Amnesia Fairy puts a cloudy fog in your mind that makes you forget everything horrible your children ever did and makes you want to get under the covers with them and snuggle while they're so peacefully sleeping.  It makes the hard days worth it.

7 -- It's better to go without the nice furniture that you really want than to see it destroyed in half a second. 

8 -- Genes are a funny thing.  I always imagined my kids to grow to be somewhere between me and Ben in height but Lily is predicted to be 5'5" like me and Skyler is predicted to be 6'4", an inch taller than Ben.  That'll look funny when they're in high school together, a mere grade apart.

9 -- You will feel bad for other parents that their kids aren't as cute as yours.  And you still totally understand that they feel the exact same way about you and your kids. 

The Day My Life Became a Primary Lesson

CTR 5 Teacher

CTR 7 Teacher

Primary Music Leader

CTR 4 Teacher

Primary 1st Counselor

It's a good thing I've got a kickin' Primary teaching resume.

Because today I needed it.

It started in the Dollar Tree with me saying, "Put that back, Skyler."

Apparently he didn't.

Because when we put our bags in the car there was a neon green ball in his hand.

I mentally pulled out my z-snap and thought (with full attitude), "Oh. No. You. Didn't."

I marched that Little Man back into the store and straight to the cashier.

(There was no way I was going to inconspicuously put it back.)

I explained what happened.

Then I made Skyler give it back.

(Which took 3 attempts since he wouldn't make eye contact and kept missing her hand)

Then he apologized.  And promised not to do it again.

And cried on our walk back to the car.

Despite Skyler's bad choice, I was glad that this happened because it was an age-appropriate learning experience for him to see the difference between choosing the easy/wrong way and the difficult/right way.  It was actually coincidental that this happened today because just two nights ago we had a Family Home Evening lesson on honesty.  All we covered was the difference between telling the truth and lying.  So Skyler's stealing was an opportunity for me to push the honesty lesson even further. 

Maybe I'll push my luck next week and teach the kiddos about tithing.  Then maybe a couple of days later we'll magically find some money.  :)



All Skyler

Skyler is my Little Handsome.  And when I say "my" I should say "our" but really "my" is a better description.  Since the day he was born, he has refused to believe that his umbilical cord was cut [1], and somehow thinks that I should be with him every single moment of his life (except for when he needs privacy to do things like, oh you know, spread vaseline on our walls).  He is a chubby cheeked, constant eating, letter/shape knowing lap dweller. 

I realize that most of my posts are about funny or crazy experiences, or sometimes even frustrating ones about Skyler being so emotional, so I wanted to write a normal everyday post about the real Skyler. 

This little man is the world's biggest sweetie.  Anytime he sees a baby or a baby animal his voice gets so high pitched that I swear dogs in China become alert [2].  He goes up to them and tickles them while saying things I can't even understand (and he's a pretty amazing talker for his age).  If he can't reach them (say, if they're on TV) then he "air tickles" them.  (See dog loving image below)

I am thinking about contributing to his college fund by signing him up for food eating contests in the future.  This 2 year-old eats as much as me.  While preggers.  The way to Skyler's heart really is through his stomach.  If he is inconsolable we go for the snacks.  My only problem with that (besides the fact that our food bill when he's a teenager will be astronomical) is that he becomes so eager to eat so much at once that he ends up not being able to eat because his mouth is so full. 

He is obsessed with balls.  There are two things in the world that Skyler doesn't share: food and balls.  And don't just think that the term "balls" is restricted to that round thing that you throw and kick.  Nope.  Balls = beads on my jewelry, pilates balls, balloons, food shaped like balls [4], and even things that may just roll like a ball [5].  My dad even told me that when Skyler took a nap in one of the bedrooms in my parents' house that he unscrewed the knobs on the dresser because they were spherical.

He is very squishy.  And we like to squish him.  Especially his honeys. [6]

He is so full of love.  Every morning when he gets in my bed to wake me up, he gives me the biggest hug and kiss.  Then he has to give #3 some love and she gets multiple big brother kisses each day.  It is a very common thing for Skyler to be sitting in my lap, turn around to look at me, put both of his hands on my cheeks, and say, "Mommy, I love you," and then snuggle into me. 

It's true that Skyler is a tough kid to raise.  He gets upset over the smallest things and he is going through a major rebellious phase right now.  But from what Skyler takes out of me he more than replenishes.  I don't know what I'd do without the Little Handsome. 


[1] This is figuratively speaking.  Thank.  Goodness.
[2] Possibly even Australia since that's even farther [3].
[3] This is not true.
[4] Oranges, peas, meatballs, etc.  Food in ball form is even more off limits when it belongs to Skyler. 
[5] DVD's, toilet paper rolls, used tissues scrunched up...
[6] Although that came back to bite me when the other day he came up to me, gave my bum a nice slap, and said, "Oh it's so cute!!!  SQUISH!  SQUISH!" 

Skyler and Mia are tight.  When she was staying with us these two would snuggle together on the couch while watching TV.