Catching up...just in time.

Warning: very long and somewhat rambly.  This post must be a journaling effort by me because it's long! Scroll to find pics- I know that's what you do anyway. 

Hello hello.  I find myself "catching up" again- although this is a good thing. I made the goal to catch up before the baby is born THIS FRIDAY, and here I am, Tuesday afternoon.  Plenty of time.  I've been working on a couple other projects the last month or so, and blogging just hasn't been one of my goals until now.

I was two years behind with editing our home movies and getting them on DVD.  I told myself completing that project was of paramount importance before the baby was born.  This proved an overwhelming goal at first since I was working with new software, but once I figured it out just good enough- (learned to edit clips and throw them together on a DVD with no frills whatsoever)- it went by fairly fast.  Especially since I don't record as many home movies.  I think both 2012 and 2013 were summed up in about 45 minutes a piece.

Since I finished up this project with a couple weeks before the baby, I decided to take on another project.  I'm crocheting my first blanket.  I found a simple pattern on Etsy, and with my mom's help getting it started, I've been working on this for about a week now.  I have about 6 more inches to go before it'll be a good size baby blanket.  I've really enjoyed this project.  I've learned how to crochet this last year and it feels good to be able to give something handmade to our new baby girl. 

Now I just need to get a few other things checked off the list before Friday, such as washing baby blankets, setting up the baby's sleeping arrangements, update my kids journals and pick up a journal for the baby, squeeze in a last trip to Costco and the grocery store, and I will feel real good come Friday morning at 5:30 when we are to be at the hospital. Since it's a scheduled C-Section, it's been weird to know the date (April 11th).  I didn't get that with either Mitch (6 days late) or Luke (11 days early).  In many ways it's like knowing that D-Day is about to happen rather than being taken by surprise. We're thrilled to have her here, just a bit nervous. 

Nervous mostly because Luke is just 15 months and still such a baby in so many ways. He's still not walking which is going to be tough in some ways.  He knows how to walk holding hands, and he can cruise along furniture. And, he's been waking up about 6:30am (or earlier) for the last few weeks.  Morning time is the time I'm most nervous about with a new baby.  The baby will probably need to eat sometime in that early hour, Luke will be awake and screaming, and I won't want to be awake at all.  Plus, Todd will already have left for work.  Best of luck, right?

Let's catch up on the kids a little bit.  Like I said, Luke is still not walking, and thus, surpassing Mitch's standard at 14 months. However, he could win a race in crawling.  That kid is fast on all fours! He's also a little terrorist, getting into absolutely everything.  His nickname is Demo.  My personal favorite is each morning when I get ready, I have a little buddy right with me, pulling everything he can out of the bathroom cupboards.  He also loves any kitchen drawer and cabinet that we can't lock.  He just had his 15 month appointment today and is in the 95% for weight (27lbs) and 93% for height (33").  He's a fun loving boy and thinks just about anything and everything you do is some kind of game.  He loves my parents and is so excited when they are home.  Since he's been getting up pretty early, he sits outside their door each morning until my mom comes and gets him for a few minutes before she needs to leave.  When he hears the garage door open- indicating my parents or Todd is home- he starts breathing really excitedly and makes a beeline for the door. I've been old news for quite some time now.  He still loves Mitchell so much and definitely knows how to interact with him at times, mostly in a game of chase. Eating is still somewhat of a challenge.  He loves certain foods one day, and hates them the next. And then decides to love them again.  He definitely keeps me on my toes when it comes to eating.  We thought Mitch was a problem- eater.  Oh yeah, he learned to say "Gram-PA" last week.  This is his first word other than "mom" and "dad"- and he won't even really say those, even though he knows how.

Mitchell still lives in an imaginary world of pirates, ninjas, knights, zombies, Lego guys, Super heroes, and ninja turtles.  Absolutely everything is about good guys vs. bad guys- and he usually takes more joy in the bad guys victory.  He truly feels that Todd is his personal playmate each day when he comes home.  Todd has always been a great sport about playing with him for a bit before dinner is ready.  This is a such a blessing, but it sure makes me feel like a chump when I need to get other things taken care of instead of being the preferred playmate! Mitchell is crazy about his friends as well.  He asks several times a day which friend he can play with that day.  I usually try to arrange a friend coming over a couple times a week.  We'll see how this pans out with the new baby.  Also, we're moving to our first home in May up in Cache Valley, so that will be hard for Mitch to start over again making new friends. Mitch has been learning to read and is making great progress with that, knowing how to read simple sentences and stories.  He still loves preschool, and it will be a sad day when graduation comes come mid-May. Mitch has been involved with tumbling this school year and he looks forward to that each Tuesday.  This month, I signed him up for indoor swimming lessons.  I wasn't thrilled with the pool he went to last summer, so I wanted him to be in a pool where he had to put skills to the test.  So far, so good.  I'm not sure when I'll figure out what to involve him with when we move, so I'm grateful he has these activities for now.  He always has a positive attitude with preschool, tumbling, and swimming lessons.  I'm very grateful for this because I know some kids have a lot of anxiety or just don't want to try new and hard things.  He isn't crazy about learning new things either, but somehow, when it comes down to it, he really does have a positive attitude.  He's pretty perfect, but has a couple faults here and there.  He can definitely work on listening- the first time.  And, he still takes FOREVER to eat his food.  It's usually just dinner he takes forever with, but sometimes breakfast and lunch are real trouble as well.  I'm curious when the light bulb will burn bright for him and he'll finally understand the concept- "the faster I eat, the faster I can go back to playing."

Todd has been real busy at work lately.  The end of the fiscal year is next week, and I guess this means that the couple months prior are crazy busy.  He's worked overtime each week for at least 6 weeks now and hasn't taken his off Friday in a long time.  We're looking forward to our "vacation" next week when he gets to stay home with me and the kids and the new baby. 

Well, that's about it as far as catch-up.  As indicated earlier, we did buy our first home recently.  We'll move up to Cache Valley at the end of May.  Quick specs- it's 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms.  It's a tri-level, which I've never super loved that lay out, but this one doesn't feel like the usual tri-levels I've been familiar with in the past.  It's not huge, 1760 sq. ft, but it is laid out really well.  The kids bedrooms are big which was a big selling point for me.  It was built in 1999, so there are aspects that are definitely getting outdated.  It's a 1/3 acre, fully fenced and we're thrilled about that! It has a big dog kennel, a storage shed, a good sized garden, and raspberry bushes that line the back fence.  We paid a great price and we're excited to make it ours!

Okay, here are some pics.  Nothing too crazy, just some pics on some regular days. And I apologize- I have not yet learned to do the "collage" thing, and I like my pics big, so sorry to those who don't love that. 

See the belly? This was back in February- so around 30 weeks or so.

Mitch has turned a corner with practicing his letters.  He used to hate it, but now he asks to practice them.

Valentine's treat- chocolate strawberries, molten lava cake that I cooked too long, so not really any lava, and some ice cream.

Day trip to the Hill Air Force Base Museum.  Pretty awesome.  No less than a hundred giant airplanes. 

Todd shaved his beard and kept this lovely creation for 24 hours.

Bathroom demolition time.  Every day.

Tumbling performance. 

Kenna and my mom threw a baby shower for me, which was amazing, and many friends and family were able to make it!

Good buddy, Karter.

Look at that face!

Day at the park, flying the kite, with cousins.

Look at that belly!  I don't grow 'em small, that's for sure!

Brother time.  So cute.

Night at a hockey game.  Mitch was in love with the cotton candy!

Day at the park- a park with swings! Hard to come by around here!

January

Oh, where to begin? January was quite the month and such a way to begin a new year! There's a lot to say about January, so buckle up. We had some highs and some lows, kind of a lot of lows, but thankfully we made it through. The lows got started at the end of December with Mitch's sledding accident, compounded by Haley causing a traffic accident, compounded by the Corolla giving us hard-to-diagnose car trouble, compounded by sickness ailing Haley and Luke- and just all carried into January. 

My nasty cold turned into a stomach bug that had me throwing up.  Luke spent a week at the start of January in complete despair.  He slept terrible, and each evening around 4:30 or so, he would just start screaming at me. All he wanted was to be held, but of course, that's the Bermuda triangle of the day- trying to get dinner going, and the house picked up a bit before Todd gets home. Todd would get home and just hold him, much to Mitchell's dismay. Thankfully Luke's little funk didn't last more than a week. I'm sure he must have been teething, but no teeth have popped through yet. He has the same six he's had since October.

Then for about a week, everything seemed to be pretty calm. The Corolla trouble had been taken care of finally. The van was close to being fixed, but still drivable.  Sickness had fled our home. Mitch had started up with preschool again. 

He and I have been having a reading lesson each day out of the Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons book. I'm not a crazy mother who is demanding that my child knows how to read by the time he starts Kindergarten or anything.  He's just ready for it.  He's always asking how to spell different words, and asks what every single sign/billboard/label says. It started off great, then got rough for about a week, and now he's doing really well again. It was rough for a little bit because he wasn't getting the connection between sounding out a word and understanding that was the same as reading. Hard to explain, but now he's grown in his confidence and ability to understand the words he sounds out, and is doing really well.  It's so much fun to hear him sound words out.  He earns a quarter for each positive reading lesson we have.

Mitchell's cousin, Cardon, came to stay with us for 10 days in January while his parents went to Peru.  Cardon just turned five, so the two are very close in age.  They had such a great time together.  I had absolutely no hesitation taking Cardon for that long.  He is so well behaved, and I knew the boys would have a wonderful time together.  Thankfully the weather was really mild while he was here and the boys were able to spend some time outside just about every day.  In addition to them just having a great time around home, we also took the opportunity to go to Kangaroo Zoo, the Treehouse Museum, out to ice cream one night, and the last day he was with us we met his parents at a mall where the boys got to ride a train and go to the candy store.  We had to solidify our standing as the favorite Aunt/Uncle, right?

Unfortunately, when Cardon first arrived, he brought with him a stomach bug that made it's way through most of our house. Mitchell started off with it and threw up a few times within a few days.  He wasn't eating well at all, but was playing just fine, and also wasn't telling us he wasn't feeling good.  So one day, we were at our wits end with his non-eating, and so we sent him outside (in the freezing cold), to finish his dinner. It was one measly slice of homemade pizza. Cardon ate 5 slices. We thought being outside would light a fire in his butt and get him to eat faster. He had been taking 1.5 - 2 hours to finish a meal. Well, he finally finished the pizza, and guess what?- he threw up big time later that night.  Awesome parenting moment. Apparently, he was still not feeling well. Luke caught it the last day Mitch had it, but thankfully it didn't hit him quite as hard, and only lasted a couple days. I caught it for two days, had a break, then caught it again for a couple more days. My parents also caught it about a week apart from each other. Somehow Todd escaped unscathed.

To cap it all off- remember how Mitch got his first stitches the day after Christmas? Well, Luke and I also had our first stitches in January.  Unfortunately, no pictures were taken to document ours, but we have scars to prove it. Luke was crawling in the kitchen one day, and I escaped to the bathroom for under one minute. Not two seconds in there, I hear Luke bloody murder screaming! Well, by the time I was done, he was over his fit.  So I went back to building some legos with Mitchell for a little while, without even checking on Luke. A little time goes by and Luke crawls his way over to us and he's got blood all over his face and his pajamas (yep, it was like 3:30pm). Well, apparently the bloody murder scream meant he had fallen somehow and cut his chin open! The van was being fixed that day, so as soon as Todd got home, we took him to Instacare for three stitches. Amazingly enough, Luke didn't move a muscle or cry at all when the doctor was stitching him up.  Crazy kid.

Well, not a week goes by, and we find ourselves at Costco to pick up a pair of tennis shoes that I had my eye on for a long time. I had already tried them on previously, but tried them on again when Todd was with me.  He tells me I should walk around with them.  I say, "no, they feel good, I really think they are the right fit." He insists I walk around and offers to cut the thick zip tie that is holding the shoes together really closely. He gets out his handy pocket knife and cuts up, instead of down, and slices my leg open!! I must have been in shock because I didn't curse (and I, admittedly, curse way too much), nor did I cry even though it hurt really really bad! I just sat down on a nearby couch, told Todd to go get a big bandaid, and I held my jeans against the wound to help the bleeding. Apply bandaid, purchase the tennis shoes (although they don't seem like such a great deal anymore), and exit Costco. Enter Instacare for the third time in less than one month.  Very unfortunately, two of three stitches popped out (apparently my calf is just too muscular), and now I might as well have not gotten them at all because the wound opened right back up and is now covered with a nasty nasty scab that will turn into a nasty nasty scar.

So, there ya have it folks.  Oh wait, the van not only needed to be fixed from the accident, we also had two more issues with it in January, beginning of February.  Thankfully both pretty quick and easy fixes- a brake caliper, and a new oil pan, but sheesh.  Good riddance January!! You brought us some good times, but mostly, you really stunk it up. Better luck in February, right?

By the way, I don't feel overly negative about all the lows, but documenting them all may sound contrary. I'm mostly amazed by the amount of crap that happened in such a short amount of time.  Despite a rough start to the year, we are a very blessed family and try to count those blessings every day. It is mid-February, and, thankfully, we're having a very normal month so far.

Who is the rightful heir? Cardon and Mitch at the Treehouse Museum.

Mitch played the Prince in the Cinderella "partici-play" at the Treehouse Museum.

Do you love how Mitch is "looking" at the camera? Drives me insane.

Obviously not a great pic, but this is mom remembering to keep the kitchen pantry shut with this little terrorist around!