A fondness for snails

On Saturday I went out onto the patio to open our little storage shed to get all of the Christmas stuff out...and to my surprise, saw that something had made the shed its' home. I had just been in the shed a few weeks ago, so it must have been recent. But this little mouse sure went to town! It chewed on just about everything plastic... all of our storage containers, making some good-sized holes in a few of them. But it was mostly a nibble here and a nibble there. It also managed to destroy Michael's golf bag and several of his golf balls, both of our air mattresses, the curtains that belong to the owners of our townhome (oops!), and desperately tried to get into two of our emergency buckets, but was luckily unsuccessful! He basically made his mark on almost everything out there, in one way or another. The one thing he basically did leave alone? My four boxes of books! :) Thank you, little mouse.

We had to pull everything out of the shed and figure out how he was getting in. He had a chewed a hole through the back of the shed in the corner and was sneaking in and out. We also found a scattering of empty snail shells. He is probably the same critter who stole the 2 of 3 tomatoes we got this year. :(

Let's just say hubby wasn't too happy about the whole thing.

Favorite Season

Fall is by far my favorite season...sweater weather, beautiful colors, warm fires, hot chocolate, crisp air, you get the drift. :)

I have a lot of childhood memories associated with fall. Raking leaves with my family, getting wheelbarrow rides from dad, making leaf houses with my sister (we would line up leaves to make connected rectangles and squares all over the yard for the rooms), and taking drives in the canyon on Sunday afternoons.

Daughter was busy "decorating" our house too, and wanted me to take a picture of her "pretending to play" with her set-up. I bet my sisters can't guess what part of her decor is my favorite. You gotta know my quirky sense of humor. :)

Happy Fall!!!

Fun, Fun, Fun

The kids picked out the "finest" pumpkin (according to older daughter) they could get at the pumpkin patch and we enjoyed carving it together...and eating apples. ;)

Don't you just want to kiss that little face? He made a very cute cow (or calf?)

Ready to head out to the Halloween Party at our church.

And finally, a sneak peek at my latest project (or nightmare, however you want to look at it)!

If you are ever considering painting chairs, call me first! :) You may think twice...at least if you pick chairs that look like these.

A few more

Younger daughter: "Mommy, you need to buy me a new leotard before I start gymnastics again."

Me: Nodding.

Daughter: "Why don't they let you wear necklaces at gymnastics?"

Me: "Because they can get tangled up when you are doing somersaults and flips and things. "

Daughter: "Do they let you have chapped lips at gymnastics?"

Me: "Yes, they do."

Daughter: "Because those don't get tangled up, right?"

Me: "No."

Older daughter made a cute drawing of a ghost to hang on our window and drew a large speech bubble coming from it's mouth, saying, "BOOB!" :)

Little man is a great talker, but there is one phrase that he says that always cracks me up. He uses it when he wants me to scoot in or out a chair, or to turn the music up in the car.

"Mommy, scool up a lip!"

Smiles

Me: "Ouch! "Little Man"! Quit stepping on my foot!"

Oldest daughter: (in a very firm voice) "Remember Mom, don't react!"

I have been trying to teach the girls not to make a big deal out of when their little brother tries to hurt them (he is going through a hitting/pulling hair phase and wants them to overreact). I guess I should remember my own teachings better, too. :)

Younger daughter: "I am going to make my doll's hair look so gracious."

Oldest daugher: "If I get a pet dog someday and it is a white Poodle, I will name it Snowflake, and if it is a black Poodle, I will name it Cooking Pan."

Crush

Finally figured it out...and loving it...for now :)

With a new baby in tow who is oh-so-sweet, but a non-stop crier, and a busy two-year-old (also mom's shadow), I have come to realize how much I need to rely on the help of my 4 and 6-year-old daughters.

Yes, I have always had them pick up their toys and other things throughout the day, and for the past year they have been helping put their laundry away (after I folded it), make their beds, and they always help set the table at dinner time/clear their dishes at meal time. They also love to help me dust and wash windows. But I have discovered lately that this just isn't quite cutting it.

So....(drum roll please), I finally got around to setting up a REAL chore system! Yay! I made a list of daily morning chores (pics included), daily supper chores, and evening chores. Each day they check them off after they are completed (their fav. part, of course). I can't tell you how much this has helped me, not to mention the overall order and cleanliness of the house. I don't believe in allowance, but think that being a part of our family and living together in our home is reason enough why they need to do their part to help out. But I did make a list of extra chores that they can do to earn money if they want to buy something. They are still young enough that they don't really care about that yet.

Both girls are required to make their beds, get dressed, fold their pajamas and brush their teeth before breakfast (it is amazing how fast and well these things are done when done before they get to eat, instead of after. Brushing teeth should probably be done after breakfast, but I always seem to forget to remind them, so at least it is getting done).

While I am making dinner has been the magical part of our new program. Right before dinner is usually the crazy part of our day and the kids think this is a good time to run wild (while the baby is crying and the two-year-old is fussing and hanging onto my leg). Having the kids complete chores while I am making dinner has really calmed things down and gives them something productive to do. The girls need to have their room picked up and inspected by mom before dinner. Also, I have a supper helper each day (as well as a breakfast helper): middle daughter is on Mon/Wed, oldest on Tues/Thurs, Little Man is on Friday.

Here is oldest daughter's schedule:

Morning Chores: Make bed, get dressed, brush teeth, fold pjs, breakfast helper (Mon/Wed).

Supper Chores: Clean room, Supper helper on Tues/Thurs. (includes helping prepare meal, setting table, unloading/loading dishwasher, putting food away, and wiping table), and wipe out kid's bathroom sink (no more globs of toothpaste building up!).

Evening Chores: Clean up living room

Weekly Chores:

Mon: Pick up in van.

Tues: Fold and put away laundry.

Fri: Organize dresser drawers.

Monthly:

Week 1: Change sheets on bed.

Week 2: Wash windows/mirrors.

Week 3: Clean light switch plates.

Week 4: Help wash the cars.

Obviously, this is still a work in progress. But because I want the kids to be successful, it pushes me to stay on top of things (like getting the dishes done after each meal, instead of letting them pile up all day long). With the demands of the baby, we don't always get everything done, but so far I am loving the new system and the kids are too (Little Man loves being able to set the table and he does a pretty cute job :)). The girls like the satisfaction of checking things off when completed and knowing how proud and grateful mommy is.

Now if only I can keep this up. So I am loving it for now, while it lasts. :)

What do you do in your home? I would love to hear!

Arrival :)

Our little bundle of joy is here! We are so blessed to have such a beautiful, healthy young man. :)

This lovely profile picture was taken a few hours before he was born.

I went in at noon for a weekly checkup and was dilated to about a 3 and 50% effaced. Fortunately, my mother-in-law had graciously offered to come up for the day to watch the kids and take the girls swimming after my appointment so I could rest. So while they were swimming and older brother was taking a nap, I was enjoying a bowl of cherries when I felt my first obvious contraction. I paid attention for the next 2 hours or so and they kept coming about every 10 minutes apart. I gave hubby a ring to let him know he might want to wrap things up at work and head on home (which takes him another 1.5 hours on average). I wanted to make sure he was home just in case things kept progressing. By the time he arrived, the contractions were about 5 minutes apart, but still quite mild.

Because my previous labor felt similar to start but progressed VERY fast (brother was born less than 20 minutes upon arriving at the hospital), I didn't want to take any chances, so we headed over to the hospital.

I was at a 4 and 80% effaced when we arrived. The doctor asked if we wanted to wait things out and walk around or to break my water and speed things up a bit. Because older brother's birthday was the next day and we kind of wanted them to each have their own special day, we decided to speed things up. The doctor broke my water at a 5 and I was given the epidural.

The entire right side of my body didn't want to participate in the epidural experience, so while my left side couldn't feel much, my right leg was not a bit numb and I could feel all the contractions. At first I thought, "Well at least I get to control half my body, and half the pain isn't so bad." :)

Eventually, as I got close to a 9 and there was no break between contractions, my thoughts weren't as pleasant, and I felt like if I received an epidural this time, then it should be doing its job properly. So I asked them to adjust the epidural and it felt much better after 20 minutes or so. I think the anesthesiologist felt bad for not getting it right the first time and gave me too much pain medication, because soon I felt a bit too numb.

I was getting a little uncomfortable at this point and asked the nurse when the doctor would be coming in to check me, to which she casually replied, "Oh, as soon as he is done with his C-section." So I asked if I could be rotated to my left side for awhile. After I was rotated and the nurse left, my hubby whispered to me that his head was right there because he could see the top of it when they turned me over. :)

As if hearing our thoughts, the nurse came back in and said, "Um. I am going to check you because baby's heart rate seems pretty low." Her expression was priceless when she took a look and she told hubby to quickly reach over and push the call button. Another nurse ran in and looked and ran back out to get the doctor pronto. It was frantic from there. Nurses were running in like crazy preparing everything and the doctor was not far behind. They kept saying, "He is coming, but he seems happy...just take big deep breaths." As the doctor was quickly suiting up, a nurse was watching and said, "Uh, DOCTOR!" He whipped around and ran over just in time to catch the rest of the baby as his entire head had already shown up.

My hubby stated afterward, "You know, it is funny that we made sure to get here in plenty of time this time and it was still rushed and crazy at the end. " :) This baby pretty much delivered himself. :)

The kids were very excited to come see him the next day and oldest daughter stated, "I think he will make a very handsome part of our family."

I think so, too. :)

Please shoot me a comment with your email if you would like to know his name and stats. :) Sorry for the inconvenience. It may be time I went private, so things aren't so complicated.

HELP!

As mentioned in a previous post, I am having major issues with blogger.

First of all, I can't publish a post by clicking on the "Publish Post" button down below. I have to click "Save Now" and then select the new post I have just saved, and then publish (sometimes it won't even let me do it that way).

But the bigger problem is commenting on others' posts. Some of your blogs let me post a comment, no problem. But 2 of my sisters' blogs and also my new sister-in-law's blog won't give me the time of day. One of their's is private, and posting a comment is not even an option on her blog for me. For the other two blogs, I can at least put in a comment, but when I click on "Publish Comment" it takes me to the Google Sign-in page, so I sign in again, try to resubmit, but each time it just takes me back to the Google Sign-in page.

Does anyone who is more familiar with blogger, or computers in general (or who have husbands who are), know what I can do to solve these problems? Making comments on others blogs is an easy way for me to keep in touch with friends and family (I especially would like to be able to make comments on family blogs), so it is rather frustrating to read these blogs and not let these family members and friends know that I am interested in their lives and care about what they are up to. AARRGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Few Weeks of Action

The last few weeks have been action-packed, and we have been enjoying every minute of it. Here are a few of the pictures from all of our fun adventures (all of which took place in less than 2 weeks).

My brother's wedding reception in Utah

Camping with the girls

Pretending to be a chipmunk. I love her expression. :)

The Fourth of July was a blast! The day consisted of pancake breakfast, bbq, swimming, pinata, marshmallow shootout, second bbq, and fireworks show in the evening.

Roasting marshmallows in Grandma's backyard. (And "sort-of-a-belly-pic" for Denise. :))

2.5 weeks to go! Yea.

Well, we will see. When I went into the doc on Friday, he said the baby was stationed at a -4 and that nothing at all is happening so far. We may have an August baby instead. :)

Issues

So, blogger has not been my friend lately. Let us see if I can actually post something successfully this time. (Making comments on others' blogs is useless too, but that is another story).

The happenings of late have been many:

-Oldest daughter finished Kindergarten

-We went to same daughter's tri-annual eye exam and need to patch again for the next 4 months.

-One month left until new family member's arrival :)

-Husband celebrated his 30th birthday (on which I tried to post about, but was unsuccessful :()

-Went to Utah for a short 3 days to celebrate my youngest brother's wedding (Manti, Ut Temple)

-Planning a camping trip this weekend and fun 4th of July activities

-Little man will be two in 3 weeks (he counted to 10 in the correct order for the first time today, actually up to 13. :))

-I have been taking the kids to our pool tons lately since it has been hot, but today it actually rained all day (strange for CA in late June). Both girls have learned to jump into the pool without anyone catching them. We're finally making progress!

-Oldest daughter lost first tooth one week ago

-Second daughter hit major growth spurt, but it seems from only the waist up (she wears size 3T bottom clothing and 5T top clothing)

-Trip to Utah reaffirmed to me how much I just love all my family and miss them so much!

Hopefully I will have a post soon on the new little one (but not too soon ;)).

There is one in every family...

...And our oldest daughter would be that one.

*Forehead glued twice,

*Forehead stitched once,

*And now a fractured wrist.

*And she just turned 6?

Life is always exciting with our highly energetic daughter! :)

Two conversations

This past week I was able to stay at my husband's parents' home for oldest daughter's Spring Break. I snuck a baby monitor into the room the girls were sleeping in because sometimes I like to listen in on their bedtime conversations. Here were two of them:

#1

*Younger daughter: I know what the name of our baby brother should be?

Older daughter: What?

Younger daughter: Sha-conga.

Older daugher: Oh.

Younger daughter: Actually let's just name him " " (same name as current little brother).

Older daughter: But then they would get mixed up.

Younger daughter: No, because one would be a big " ", and the other would be a little " ".

Older daughter: Yea, and one would look different, and the other one would look...different too!

:) That makes perfect sense to me.

#2 (This was the second night we were there. This conversation stems from the fact that they thought they heard a strange noise in their room earlier, so they were feeling nervous going to bed.)

Older daughter: I feel homesick. That means I am sick of being somewhere that is not my home.

Younger daughter: Me too.

Older daughter: I like being at my own house, in my own bed, where there is peace and love. ;) But when I feel scared, the spirit can comfort me, and when I feel better, then I know it was the spirit making me feel that way. And my pet dog (the stuffed animal she had in bed) can comfort me too.

I am glad that she thinks our home is a nice place to be.

But as soon as we were driving away from Grandma's house, they were telling me they missed being there already.

Fun News

Little Man is going to have a brother. Middle child was really hoping for a sister so she was a little disappointed initially, but once she saw the pics from the ultrasound, she seemed okay about it. I am just happy that everything looks healthy. Although it is a nice bonus that Little Man will have a younger brother to do boy things with. :) I thought the picture was cute of his leg. ;)

And it is a...

Any guesses?

A playmate for Little Man? or is brother going to be surrounded by sisters?

My sister is also staying with us this week and it has sure been wonderful having her around. What a wonderful family I have.

Funny

Oldest daughter: "Mom, I lifted up my arms and my shirt just purped up!" (Meaning, I need to buy her longer shirts; interesting way to say it though ;)).

Middle child: " I ate all my lunch and didn't leave a single chuck." Hmm. Okay.

I just love the things kids say.

Speaking of kids, my due date is July 28th. So my current youngest and this one will be 2 years apart by a few days. Hopefully they won't share the same birthday. That stinks for a kid. :)

:)

#4