Cute Kid Stuff

Things have been slow moving around here. Not too much excitement. But I do have a few tidbits to share with you.

As I re-read through some of these quotes, I realized that my children are fairly disgusting. I apologize....

While in a crowd of people

Me: Reagan, look out for Daddy, let me know when you see him

Reagan: (whining) I can't.... I don't know what he looks like!

Reagan: I am growing up and getting bigger so I don't pick my nose and eat my boogers anymore.

Me: That is wonderful

Reagan: Now I just pick my nose and throw my boogers on the ground.

Jefferson: Grant, I know why boys can't go in the girl bathrooms and girls can't go in the boy bathrooms.

Grant: Why?

Jefferson: Because boys and girls have different private parts

Grant: Well, they've got the same butts!

Jefferson: We're going to go see a movie at McMennamin's tonight

Reagan: what movie are we going to see?

Grant: Puss and Butts

I overheard Jefferson say: Grant, I made a discovery about our stinky breath. When it's cold outside and you breathe on me, your breath is more stinky. When we're inside where it's warm, your breath is not as stinky. So, the cold must make our breath stinkier! Hey, did you know, if we only brush our teeth, but not our tongues, we'll have extra stinky breath?

At this point I interrupt: Why on Earth would you want stinky breath? That's disgusting!!

Jefferson: Well mom, what if someone like a bully tries to push me or hurt me. I'll just breath on him. He'll smell a stink and never want to bother me again.

Me: Good point

After reaching into a container of nuts, I was about to toss them in my mouth when Jefferson says: Oh mommy, you're gonna love those nuts.... we sucked on them and unsalted them all for you

Reagan: if the baby is a girl I am going to watch her and play with her. I am going to change her diaper and take good care of her.

Me: and what if the baby is a boy?

Reagan: then you can do all those things!

One day Jefferson volunteered to put all the doll furniture back into Reagan's doll house. I checked on his job well done.

Me: wow, nice job Jefferson. But, why is everyone piled into one bed?

Jefferson: I wanted it to look just like our house.

(here's a picture of my sad reality)

  And after WEEKS, (we're talking since before Thanksgiving).... Grant's first loose tooth FINALLY fell out. Actually Jefferson yanked it out for him yesterday. He had one stubborn tooth! The permanent one is already there.  

Grant with his new smile.... He looks like a different person now. He was so happy! He put the tooth under the bed and checked it every few minutes to see if it had been exchanged for money yet. Cute!

Allowing myself to get excited….

This post is of more personal nature than I usually (or ever) write about. My plan isn’t to make anyone reading feel uncomfortable, just to chronicle my feelings and what I’m experiencing in my life.

I am very excited, and also very hesitant to announce that Shawn and I are expecting our 4th baby. We are due June 20th.

Excited, because we have been wanting to add another special spirit to our family for a while.

Hesitant, because I have found that I have very little control over pregnancies, and the unknown is frightening to me.

The past year-and-a-half has been very difficult for our family. We have dealt with 2 painful pregnancy loses. Both babies died in my second trimester. Based on several tests done on Shawn and I, my Doctor, and a high risk OB have an “idea” of what is going on.  The treatment is prescription blood thinner. But our 2 loses are not enough to warrant taking the blood thinner. As the Doctor put it, “you are in a gray zone and we cannot treat you with medication until you have experienced 3 loses.” Instead, they are having me take a ton of vitamins and a single baby aspirin.

So, we entered this pregnancy in the gray zone. Not knowing the future, and putting all our hope onto one tiny pink pill.

I have worried every single day for 18 weeks. This has not been easy for me, or Shawn. I have had weeks of migraines and tension headaches. And it has been difficult to focus 100% on the beautiful children I have here at home. The Doctor has seen me weekly for an ultrasound, which has lessoned my anxiety. But it’s still hard not to worry. I have not allowed myself to get excited, I have rarely even talked about the baby, and when I do I always preface it with, “if everything goes well….”

I was talking with my dear friend Carrie, telling her my reservations and fears. She asked me why I was feeling that way. I told her, “Well, I think I’m protecting myself by not getting too excited.” She asked, “If you lose the baby, won’t it hurt the same whether you have been excited or fearful?” I thought about it… yes, it would hurt just as bad. She said, “then why waste your time and energy worrying when you can spend every day thankful and excited for the opportunity you have to carry this baby.”

I’ve been thinking a lot about what she said. We certainly don’t know what the future holds. I don’t know why we experienced the loses we have. I don’t know what Heavenly Father has planned for this baby. I don’t have much say in anything…. except how I live day to day. I don’t want to experience another day of fear over the unknown. I do know that last week I saw a healthy baby on the ultrasound machine.  I plan on being thankful every single day for the remainder of this pregnancy. I will be excited. I will talk about the baby, buy things, make things, and certainly smile much more.

I’ll even take a picture… well, have Jefferson to take one for me….

He took this of me today, outside in the snow (so we could also document the huge snowfall we had last night). We must have gotten 8 inches, beautiful!

So here I am, 18 weeks along! There’s a cute little baby growing in there. It’s amazing how I can feel so huge and yet look so tiny in a picture.

Reagan wanted to snap a picture of me too.

So, here’s to getting excited! I am thankful for honest words from a friend who helped me let go. Being pregnant is my favorite thing IN THE WORLD. So, I will let go of my guard of “protection”, and look forward to feeling that same joy I have had in the past. I embrace nausea, heartburn, an expanding waistline, and many more (some unmentionable) symptoms that go along with pregnancy…. I love them all. It is a gift from Heavenly Father that I do not take for granted. I am very sensitive to others who cannot conceive, or who have experienced their own loses. It is a very personal pain. And we cannot pretend to know how others feel. What I do know is that no matter what, it will be okay, we will all be alright. And if Shawn and my hearts are broken again, I know that we will be alright as well. I know this from experience that our Savior’s love can heal anything.

Snow!

The kids were really hoping for this on Christmas Day….. but Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is good enough.

We all had fun playing in it… well, all except Shawn (party pooper) who just stood outside under the awning. He said something about ‘cold’ and ‘wet’ and I couldn’t really understand him because those words aren’t synonymous with SNOW! Just watch any kid play in the snow… they are sopping wet and probably freezing to death, but having the time of their life!

YEAH!

Here’s my kids in a prison pose. I know, there’s not much snow, but it was enough to powder everything white, and have a snowball fight.

The boys rolled up the snow to make a snowman….

lifting a 100 lb. snowball all by themselves (Shawn has ventured into the snow at this point, but says it’s too cold to help lift)….

They stacked everything up nice and patted it down…

Here’s the masterpiece. A little wonky, in a cute way. How long do you think it stood?

If you guessed more than 10 seconds, you’d be wrong. Luckily no one’s heart was broken… the kids just went to town smashing it.

(no, that’s not a missing tooth… yet)

Oh we love the snow. It’s almost completely melted now. But we’re still hoping we get some overnight and school is cancelled tomarrow. Joy!

Sending good luck to NC

Shawn has had Boards on the brain for the past year. Part 1 consumed his life for a while, then things went back to normal (well, as normal as grad school can be).  Then came Part 2. And now Shawn is on his way to take Part 3. I say 'on his way' because he has to travel clear across the country, to Charlotte, NC to be evaluated on his Clinical Skills. Geez, that's far! He's traveling with a couple of his friends, so he's not completely alone, and hopefully that lessens the stress level a few notches.

We love you Shawn. We stuck all the good luck we could into your suitcase. I know you'll do just swell. You are amazing. Just do your best, hurry home, and we can celebrate having all this Boards buisness behind you!

My baby turns 4

A Preschooler, a Sunbeam, and now a 4 year old. Things are moving too fast in our home. On January 8th, our Reagan turned 4. I guess I officially have to stop carrying her around. But I can’t help it. Whenever I look at her I see this….

It’s like I’m in this time warp where she will always be a baby… a really really cute one!

Our family was blessed the moment she entered this world. She brings so much flavor. (I sat here 10 minutes trying to think of an appropriate word…. flavor is the best I could come up with). There are many flavors, and she brings them ALL. Sweet to sour, tasty to tart. This girl is like an Everlasting Gobstoper!

If you don’t know Reagan well, this picture is her 100%. I took about a million pictures with these faces and got about 2 decent smiles!

Saturday morning we went to her favorite place on Earth, Chuck-e-Cheese.

The kids got the most of their tokens by sharing them. I like how they all crammed into this tiny seat to ride together.

They’re all obsessed with tickets and how many they can get. The boys his a few jackpots and got 800 tickets. They only kept 200 for themselves and gave 400 to Reagan since it was her birthday, so sweet!

When we got home, Reagan didn’t waste a second opening her presents.

Happy Birthday Hugs!

After gifts, we watched the Tinkerbell movie, then had dinner…. Birthday Girl’s choice of meals: Macky-Cheese, salad, and pink lemonade, delish!

Reagan was VERY specific on what sort of cake she wanted. It was to be a “Pink princess cake.” And it had to be a “real princess,” she said “with a head and arms and legs.” Nice. Luckily I found a photo on Pinterest and copied the cake. And… it had to be a “strawberry cake, with strawberry frosting.” (one might think she were spoiled with these demanding requests!)

You are looking at 2 boxes of cake and 4 containers of frosting! I think we could have fed the neighborhood dessert.

But it really only had to make 1 person happy… and I think it did!

About to blow out the candles…

Reagan, you may be stubborn as a mule, but I love you and cherish your spunky spirit! You have brought an irreplaceable light to our lives!

You will always be my little princess, no matter how many birthdays you continue to have, or how big you get! I would make you the birthday cake your heart desires… I would make you the moon! Happy Birthday Reagan

A Happy Holiday indeed!

I haven’t posted anything in a while. I wish I had a good reason why… like we went on some exotic vacation, or maybe we won the lottery and have been busy buying houses and boats galore. Santa did leave us lottery tickets in our stockings…. I had such high hopes!

No, instead Shawn has been working like crazy. The Dr. he is interning for is a workaholic, I swear. In the meantime, I am being driven crazy by a combination of awful weather and rowdy kids. Are my kids the only ones who fight and wrestle all day long? And who race through our narrow hallway, non-stop? And only speak in whines?

Yes, this post was intended to be about our Christmas…. not my woes

We were able to do a lot to feel the Christmas spirit, like go view Christmas lights, bake/decorate sugar cookies, and other fun stuff…. all of which I DIDN’T snap a single picture of. We’re lucky I remembered to take the camera out for Christmas Eve.

We were lucky to have my mom spend Christmas with us this year. Here we all are Christmas Eve. I made everyone matching pajamas, then ran out of fabric, so Shawn has pajama ‘shorts.’ They are hilarious looking, I love them, and I love that Shawn is more than happy to sport them around the house.

Christmas morning went pretty smooth. We had church in the morning, so the kids had to wait to see what Santa brought them until afterwards. There wasn’t any fuss…. amazing! They were so patient.

Here they are, lined up after church, ready to go in the living room and see their toys.

Grant is obsessed with Armadillos.

Reagan with her doll house she touched once. I never know what this girl will like. Looks like Santa was just as clueless.

This is the first year that we have had the kids actually buy gifts for each other, with their own hard-earned money. Reagan had Jefferson to buy for….. after some coaxing she decided he would like a Lego, rather than a Barbie. And here we have our first hug-tackle. Jefferson was thrilled!

Jefferson had Grant… he chose to get him a Playmobil figurine. And here we have our second hug-tackle of the day. Grant flipped out!

It was so fun to watch them give and receive from each other. Grant had Reagan to buy for. He had a very difficult time thinking of something to get her (huh, not unlike me, or Santa). On Christmas Eve night he made the decision to make her new play dough, but it was too late. Luckily I had some extra gifts he chose from to give her.

And our third hug-tackle was with this beautiful blanket. I mentioned Jefferson’s baby blanket HERE. My girlfriend’s mom, Lisa, read that blog post and actually made Jefferson a new blanket. UNBELIEVABLE. I swear, if you had been here Lisa, you would have been knocked to the ground with a hug. Jefferson was so happy! He uses it constantly, although the old one tags along too.

The kids made Shawn this city shirt so they can drive their cars on his back and give him a fun massage.

My mom made Reagan a couple of these adorable scarfs. See, Mom, you are crafty! Reagan will wear them with enough bribery.

I tried my hand at crochet and made this hat for Reagan. She wore it for 5 seconds! I’m saving it for my granddaughter, who will cherish and adore handmade gifts, unlike my daughter!

 

This Season went by lightning fast! This is the only family picture we took this season, lame.

Our Christmas tree got taken down Christmas day (it was completely dead) and the decorations shortly afterwards. We celebrated New Years, the kids went back to school, and now we’re back to reality! It is exciting to start a brand New Year. One of my goals is to try to document more on the blog, I feel like I’ve gotten lazy about taking pictures and writing stuff down. So, hopefully you’ll see more of us, like it or not!