Budding Violinist...

Just quickly wanted to share this one... Not sure when else I was going to have time. ; ) This is one sweet little girl. Unless you're her daddy, the only person in THE WORLD who she's sassy with.

Setting up pre-concert.Incredibly artistic and expressive version of "Mary had a Little Lamb" played on the tiniest little violin I ever saw!

Warms my little heart!

He's still cooking!

Little man is still in there! No medium rare babies here! I only make 'em well done!

I feel like I should be doing about a thousand things today: I'm still battling the laundry, getting the bills paid, February birthday cards ready to send out, get stuff ready for the kids for when I'm gone, prepping taxes, bathrooms, sheets, making sure I have my back issues of House Beautiful and the Pottery Barn catalogue to read at the hospital, so... you know, the usual.
(Why does it seem like you finish the laundry, then night comes and everyone puts on their jim-jams and the basket is full again? It's a little disheartening. Me no likey.)

I have what I hope will be my last OB appointment tomorrow afternoon! Oh, little baby, please stay in there for at least another day. My to-do list is so long... and I have to decide if it would be shameful if I take another bag and bring all the Ballard Designs catalogues too... Probably, right?

Wet sheets: 6 Lauren:0

We are not winning.

I CANNOT seem to help Lauren stop wetting the bed!

I usually just put her in one of Krew's diapers (cuz he has chunky buns) and don't worry about it, but a few days ago, Grandpa told her no more diapers for her when the new baby is born. He will need them.

She believed him.

She does try. And she's a good sport about helping me strip the sheets every morning and clean up the mess. And the thing is, she always thinks that she made it and is so disappointed to see the sog. Awwww.

I asked her pediatrician and she said not to really worry about it till she's about 7. (Seven?!?) Well, I'd rather not put a second grader in diapers, or wash sheets every day for the next 2 or 3 years.

Just sayin'.

So the forum has officially opened.

Help me raise my daughter.

Or at least, help her have that happy face when she can tell me her sheets are dry.

And they actually will be.

Happy early Heart Day!

So browsing around online, I saw this cute idea for making your kids' Valentines! I thought to my little self... I could do that! And I need the practice!

So I tried my darndest. I did.

But I had to take them downstairs so I could hang the fabric backdrop and there are lots of flourescent lights. Maybe I should say ONLY flourescent lights.

Functional: yes. Flattering: no.

So I played the photoshop game with these:

Grandmas and Grandpas, look forward to Krew's cuteness, because he has no classmates. This was one of the two shots he let me take before he was off and running again!

And then Lauren spilled red soda pop all over the pink toile backdrop...

And I asked Jocelyn if we could take pictures without her glasses so we could see her sweet little eyes. We got lots of squinty, cross eyed pictures! Good times.

And Gage is getting too cool...

I took really adorable ones of his with a pinstripe fedora, but he said they made him too embarrassed to give his friends. I'm still going to edit them for me, though. Cuz they were kinda adorable.

When they saw the finished product, they seemed pretty excited! We'll put these together with a little treat and the whole project will be done!

(FYI: I did 9 cent prints from Walmart, and this will cost about the same as store cards. Handy dandy!)

One more thing checked off the list. Now onto laundry, deep cleaning, labor, whichever comes first...

A momentous occasion...

Nah, we didn't have our baby yet. Sorry to make it sound all exciting and then just let you down.

But look at this fancy pic of how our car would have looked when it was new! (I won't torture you with pictures of our actual car, because it is super dirty and half buried in snow.)

So what's the occasion, you wonder? Our car is finally paid for!

We have never had a "paid for" car before, and even though it's getting a little older, it's got barely 100,000 miles on it and is still working great! I think we'll keep her a lil' longer.

I know I'm just being silly, but isn't it true that sometimes just little things can make us happy?

Oh, it's you again...

I had this lil' dream last night, we'll call it an old friend, because we've met before.

Oh, doesn't everyone have one of those dreams that they have more than once?

A few of the details change, but generally the same story, told to you by your own crazy sleep-brain?

I dreamt that my OB (not my real one, a fake crazy lady one my brain makes up. Think Steve Buschemi with 80's hair) starts my labor with an IV, only to tell me that I CANNOT have any pain medicine. I panic, then rip the needles from my arm and run and hide dramatically till I wake up.

That's it. My nightmare is having to muster the courage to face childbirth without pain meds.

I am such a yellow-bellied dirty dog!

Lucky for me, I don't think labor will be starting for a few more years though. At my appointment on Friday, my good doctor said, "This little guy isn't going anywhere. For awhile." Lie to me man. Tell me I'm close. And that my thighs look super slim and toned.

Then I asked him to make me an induction appointment with the hospital for my due date.

Because even with my apparent cowardice, I still cannot wait to meet my little man!

A grand gesture...

For any of you who know my husband, I think we could all say that he is not an overly-exuberant man. It takes alot to get him angry, or excited, or overly emotional. And he expects the same poise and control from me. (He gets disappointed alot.)

But every now and then, he'll surprise me. Like when he signs my Valentine's Day/Anniversary card. ; ) Or when he chokes up whenever he bears his testimony or speaks in church.

Or when he goes beyond what I know we can comfortably afford to get me something I've wanted for a long, long time.

For Christmas, he got me that snazzy, fancy camera I've been drooling over forever. I was truly and completely surprised, and feel a little teary every time I think about the selfless sacrifice he made for me. It was his ENTIRE Christmas bonus.

So I've been practicing. I made Lauren be my model this day, because well, the big kids are in school during the day. She was annoyed after 5 minutes. I love my outside pictures like this a bit overexposed.

Loving my fancy lens! If you can zoom/enlarge the last one, you can see the reflection of our car (which was not that close) in her eyes. Amazing.

Do I need more practice? Um, yes. But I want to have awesome pictures of my kids! And I am going to have to learn how to use this puppy if I'm going to get those lovely pics. I love nothing more than their cute little faces...

Already need to put a little more effort into #3...

You know how it was New Year's, oh like, 10 days ago?

And how everybody posted cute little resolutions about how their buns aren't perky enough, or how they resolve to squeeze in a weekly date night with the hubby? Adorable and admirable, right?

This version is much grittier, I'm afraid.

Perhaps it's because I have more personal development work to do. (Or perhaps it's because of some fatal flaw in my character that I will not disclose at this time, because it's likely that there may be more than one.)

#1: Birth a healthy baby and assimilate him into our family with minimal tears from either party. (Um, yeah, you can totally put this on a list and it will happen. You sillies!)

#2: Parent my children with INTENTION. Being a mom ON PURPOSE. Putting in an extraordinary effort every day. (This one is actually not going to be policed until about May, just so you know. Because I have some necessary couch-days planned until then.)

#3: Make an effort to end my chronic procrastinating, un-punctual, always late ways. They're sinful. And for heaven's sake, get the laundry under control!

#4: Read the entire Book of Mormon with my kids in ONE YEAR. If we do... we get an ice cream party! And I get a nap.

#5: Take my kids camping in an actual tent in the actual forest. Not in the yard. (Some goals start small, right?)

#6: Be a better record keeper: More journaling, more GOOD pictures, and dare I say it, more blogging and make a book with all our posts. It's kinda like our little family journal...

#7: Write down my delivery weight. Then subtract about 45. Then I'll just try to weigh that...

#8: Send birthday cards to all siblings, neices, nephews, and grandparents. Tony has a sister that does this and my kids look forward to her cards every year, because they know she won't forget. (No pressure, Shannon.) Disclaimer: I am already behind by 2 birthdays. See #3.

#9: Stop dressing my girls in identical clothes. They are old enough now that I think they find it a little embarrassing. But for me it's a process of baby steps. I didn't say they couldn't coordinate...

#10: This one is making a repeat appearance. And now it almost feels like more of a wish: get a place of our own. I am itching to paint something. That's all.

Bring it on 2012!

Four...

Four weeks from TODAY! SCREAM!!! I am getting unbelieveably nervous...

What if Tony is working in Saratoga Springs or Harriman and doesn't make it home from work quickly enough and I have our baby in the car? (Which I would probably have to clean! Insult AND injury.)

What if the weather is awful and we can't get there at all?

What if our baby isn't healthy?

What if my epidurral doesn't work?

Worry, worry. It does no good, but I can't seem to help it.

My mother-in-law took this funny picture of me and my sister-in-law on Christmas Eve. We are standing about 3 feet apart and almost touching!

Another funny thing: she's due 3 days BEFORE me! I'm huge. Maybe it's the poncho? They're not very slimming...

Another funny: our last two babies were also born the same week, almost 2.5 years ago.

How can you plan that?!? Twice! You can't.

She's having another girl (same as last time) and I'm having another boy (same as last time).
Next time we'll plan better, right?

If there is a next time...

Proud as a peacock...

Lauren had preschool yesterday.

She likes jam sandwiches before she goes. They're very gourmet, I know...

So I made Krew a sandwich too, which he finished, then ran downstairs to hurry and do Lauren's hair while he watched a cartoon.

About five minutes later, he shows up with this mess of bread with a giant glob of grape jelly in the middle, all folded into a giant jelly envelope.

My 2-year-old made my 5-year-old a sandwich.

Adorable, really.

He hands it to Lauren and then marches back down the hall, swinging one little arm and feeling like he was a pretty big boy.

Lauren says:

"Mom, I am not eating that."

I told her I would, but to tell him thank you and give him a great big hug.

I didn't eat it either. But I did take a picture because it was one of those moments that was so dear! I don't want to ever forget...

The belated pre-Christmas...

I love to do something fancy before Christmas! (To me, fancy means something you cannot do in sweats.) It just makes me feel more festive, and I think everyone had a really nice time for our day in the city... Even the big boss!

Here's Jocelyn at the Symphony in SLC. She has been learning how to play the violin, and has never been to any kind of orchestral performance before. She loved it! And Krew took a little napsky for 75% percent of the concert. It was perfect.

Our token temple square picture... Notice how NOT dark it is. The lights come on about 5, we showed up around 4 and toured the visitor's center and the other buildings, took a quick peek at the lights and were outta there! It was chilly!


This is not completely chronological. Sorry. After the symphony, we took the train over to the Gateway center to go get a bite to eat. This was the highlight of the day for Krew. He LOVES trains...


The Christus... and my kids.
And a little treat for us to come home to. This was our first night home after returning from Washington. It was a little breezy. I don't know if we'll be able to save it. This is our fourth trampoline. I guess we know what we'll be saving our pennies for...

And check out the bare ground! It is so warm here, it is creeping me out. Makes me want to go buy food storage and water purifiers.