connections

So many thoughts crashing around in the ol' noggin for the past 5 months. Maybe I can finally put some of them into words. To start out, the pregnancy is going along fast. Too fast. The first trimester is long gone. I wasn't really sick. That is what clued me in that it was probably a girl. Hunter and Mack gave me the yucky sick feeling when I was pregnant with them and I was never sick when I was pregnant with Preslie. I find it interesting, even if it is just a coincidence.

I am excited to have another baby. And by excited I mean terrified. Because it has become all too apparent in the past 5 months that I can barely handle the three children I have. Mostly that is because I can barely handle myself. I still feel like a child. But time relentlessly surges forward not allowing me to stay in my 18-year-old mind set. I miss the feeling that I had everything figured out. The Lord sees fit to push me and try me and works to get this stubborn teenager to grow up and become more refined. It is a painful process. It is humbling. The scripture "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding" has never been so hard. I do believe that life is supposed to be hard and to gain anything worthwhile takes hard work. That is why I believe that Heavenly Father wants us to have children. Many days I wonder why older Mothers and Grandmothers always say, "These are the best years of your life." Then I have a quiet moment--and it doesn't happen very often--that I can step back and get a glimpse of what they mean.


As I am nearing the third trimester of this pregnancy it has hit me how quick time goes. I think God has pushed fast forward button. Even my kids tell me often that they never have time to do the things they need or want to do. I don't remember it being that way when I was little. Days were long and Christmas always seemed forever away. Now our years are a blur with tiny specs of memories scattered in. I feel like I cannot afford to hope things will happen. I have to make them happen. And I have to pick which things I want to happen the very most and do those and forget everything else because there really is no time to waste. I am talking about my family. I want us all to have beautiful relationships and fun memories, and so much love that it cannot be contained. And I am overwhelmed that it must start with me. Not that I don't love my family with all my heart, but sometimes I lose that lovin' feeling when I am cleaning up [fill in the blank] off the [fill in the blank]. And so I guess I need more patience with myself than I need with my kids because I have still not learned the lesson I need to from these experiences.

But the Lord does have a plan for me. And rather than try to figure it all out, I need to take it one day but mostly one minute at a time. Because it is all the little things that add up to something really big.

Earth Day

I love when it rains all night. I got out of bed a bit late, and having watched Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution last night, felt guilty for giving the kids a Pop Tart for breakfast. I made orange juice to ease my guilt a bit. They were too late to catch the bus so I drove them to school and stopped at the grocery store on my way home. Back home, I was unloading my healthy groceries and got a phone call from Preslie's teacher saying that she needed to be picked up because she had a tick on the back of her neck.


As I threw Mack in the car, I remembered the past few days of Little Babe complaining about the back of her head itching and one night she asked me to check her for lice. I checked and didn't see any. But you'd think I would have noticed this fat boy...



All the regular suggested removal tips (smother it with Vaseline, touch it with a hot needle or match) did not work. And in the middle of this I had to go get Hunter from school and clean up a box of baking soda that got dumped out when my attention was diverted.

I called our pediatrician and he said the best way to remove it is to grab it with some good tweezers down by where it's hooked on and pull gently, slowly, and consistently until it is out. It was hooked on pretty good. Then I drove Preslie back to school. Four trips in one day to the elementary is my new record.

I was sort of wiped out from all the excitement but knew I'd better suck it up because I had cub scouts in a few hours. Then Dax called and said they cancelled his horse rides because of the rain so he was coming home early. I was more thankful than ever for the rain because he was able to come teach my scouts about Wildlife Conservation (which is what we've been studying all month). It took such a load off to have him come!

All this nature stuff and the fact that I remembered to use my own bags at the grocery store made for one fulfilling Earth Day.

P.S. I bet Dax brought that tick home from work.

first half of April: gone!

Dax returned home safely from his hunting trip in Namibia. He had the most wonderful time!
I wish I could say the same thing for my two weeks without him. I was a mess half the time. Why do I have to be so dependent on Dax for my emotional well-being? I would really like to blame it on pregnancy. This gestational go-round has me so pumped full of hormones; I don't think I've cried this much in my whole life. Or had as many zits. I mean, I thought I grew out of puberty long ago.


We had a fun Easter. We all really enjoyed coloring eggs, finding our baskets, and I loved having General Conference to top it off.

Nothing beats finally finishing my bedroom curtains whilst listening to a conference talk about how it is ok to be Martha. Here I am finishing the final hem!
Dax came home the day before Easter and it was so fun to see him. And weird after that long. But mostly fun. Fun to kiss that guy and get those butterflies in my stomach like when we were first dating. The butterflies were so not worth the 2 weeks. Just sayin'.

The kids loved pajama day at school. Great to wake up and already be dressed!
Mack just loves to help cook. He is so talented, he turns a 10 minute meal into a 30 minute meal! He also created a fun "guess that spice" game by taking every lid off the spice jars and lining them up on the bar. We had a great time smelling the spices and matching them with their proper lids.

Preslie looked so cute in the new dress Aunt Trina sent.
Turns out everyone who's anyone is having a baby is 2010. Out of my TWELVE pregnant friends, three have had their babies...
Tiffany's Holland: January 22
JayeCee's Cecilee: March 29
Bridgett's Stockton: April 9

The next one in line is Dax's cousin Meesha, pregnant with her first baby. We are all waiting to hear the news!
The rest of my girlfriends are all having boys. Not me. Someone has to have a girl to keep all those boys in line.

awesome idea for baby boys

Every mom of baby/toddler boys loves to dress up her little guy but also knows how annoying it is to keep their dang dress shirts tucked in. I saw this super great and simple idea and had to share.

Happy Easter

Wishing everyone a wonderful Easter time. I'll just be here listening to LDS General Conference curled up with those I love.

(and stuffing my face with Reece's eggs and cinnamon bunnies)

april fools to me

Mack started the day off right by pooping on the carpet. I didn't even cry this time. So he tried another aproach...


Nothing.

Then later...

Me: "Mack, what are you doing?"
Mack: "Squeezing toothpaste all over the carpet."
Me: "No, we don't do that. You have to go in your crib now."
Mack: (screaming) "No! Don't clean it up!"

I don't know why I didn't lose it like every other time in the past 2 weeks that he felt the need to destroy my life or my home. But thanks be to God that I was able to stay calm with him all day. Or maybe it is thanks to the fact my husband will be here for moral support in a couple days.



Or maybe it is because if this that you can't phase me today...



I've cleaned up otter pop, Cholula hot sauce, juice, milk, spaghetti sauce, sugar, blood, urine, feces, throw-up, butter, cereal, chili, etc.

but none of it has kicked my butt worse than

Peanut Butter.

Mack and peanut butter are similar in a lot of ways.