Primary Helper

It's (just about) September, so it's time for the Sunbeams to start helping with Opening Exercises in Primary. Elena has been asked to give a scripture in Primary, next week (9/7), and a talk the week after (9/14). I could look up when the Primary Sacrament Meeting presentation is, for anyone who wants to come.

Baby on His Way

For those of you who don't read the rest of my family's blogs, my sister-in-law Sherry is due 15 days before me. They're expecting a boy, and the little guy just got his eviction notice, so to speak. If he doesn't come by next Friday, Sherry'll be induced so that Rick has plenty of time to cuddle and help with the baby before he has to leave for a business trip. So, keep on the lookout for super cute pictures.

Done!

During the beginning of the knitting frenzy, just about a year ago, I borrowed a book from the library and happened to see a really cute and really easy baby blanket pattern. I knew I was going to have more kids, though not precisely when, so I pulled out a few skeins of a warm peach yarn I had tucked away and started. I've had other projects going on, since then, and it it's gotten pushed out of the way innumerable times, but I've been working on it with extra enthusiasm, this last week, so that I could put it in my bag to take to the hospital. Today I finished off the last 10 rows and got it all bound off. It's done! What do you think?

I Knew It

You Belong in 1951

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

What Year Do You Belong In?

They have the best clothes, too.

Polls Are Closed

Because the "official" party results results are in! By our oh-so-scientific method of testing every Old Wives Tale we could find, all at once, our conclusion is that BOY wins 9-6. For details, you would have to check with Andrea. **just to muddy the waters, though, this website says it's 67% in favor of girl, and this one is 60% for girl.**

I know at least one of them (which side I sleep on) has changed (though I can't remember which way) since the party, because of this: After more than two years of promising myself that I would get a new mattress, I finally did it. Goodbye 30+ year-old Sealy Posturepedic! You were good to us, but my back says it's time to move on. The picture doesn't actually match the bed, but it's the closest I could get. Ours is a 10-11" Eurotop (like a pillowtop, but with memoryfoam) just like the picture, but ours is made by a family-run company out of Houston so they don't have pictures on the web. Since the mattress is thicker, we got the "low profile" (half-height) foundation, and it comes out just the right height.

We've only had it for one night, so results are not entirely conclusive. Not conclusive for me, at least--Jonathan didn't snore a bit, last night, so we have some success.

Success!!!

Oh, the agony of finding the right car seats! Ah, the sweet thrill of victory when you find some that work!

I stopped at Target to get upholstery cleaner to fully cleanse and scrub the back seat and looked at the passenger side floor only to notice that there was a tape measure there, for some strange reason. I picked it up, turned around, and measured the back seat from door handle to door handle. 50 inches, not 48! I knew that the seats I had picked out added up to 48 inches, and with the extra 2 inches they would definitely fit. It took two stops (they only had one at that location, so I had to get the second at another store) but I got them. Here are all three, fully strapped in and 2/3 in use.


And just to show you that beautiful little space between the seat and the door:


I'm so happy it worked! As to the technical bits, the bottom tethers are fully tightened, but the top one isn't--the top anchors are spaced so close together that tightening that one pulls the the tops of the seats inward and the infant seat won't fit. There's still no forward give, though, so it's still doing it's job, it's just not cranked down. And yes, the infant seat will still snap in and out.

In A Given Population of 28-Year-Old Women...

How many will be pregnant? If our 10-year reunion was anything to go off of, I think the answer is about 10-15%. I was due the soonest, but only by 6 days. I must say that the belly is a great conversation starter, though. None of my friends were there (boo hoo!) but at least I knew people, and I had a great time chatting with people I never had a thing to do with ten years ago. It's funny how life works like that. You take high school so seriously, at the time, with the cliques and separating by who does what. Now, we've grown up, we're real people with real lives, and what we've been up to is interesting to people who ignored us (with a cheerful return of apathy on our part) way back when.

As a party, it was great. We spent the whole 4-5 hours floating around saying hello and catching up. There was some food, but it was really casual. The weather was fantastic (even with the short, massive cloud-burst) so going out on the deck was wonderfully pleasant. There were enough people to talk to that we didn't feel left out, but not so many good friends that we felt like we were rushed trying to get to everyone. For my "fringes" way of life, it was just about perfect. $45-a-pop perfect? Well, I'm not so sure about that, but at least it was fun.

Every Day, Things Are Getting Better

At this same point in my last pregnancy, I was in the hospital being given shots to stop my pre-term labor.

It started with the usual tiredness and aches, so I went to lie down. In half an hour I was in so much pain I was sobbing and couldn't even call out to Jonathan for help. Eventually, Elena came up to visit me and I told her to go get Daddy. He called the doctor because I could barely talk, they rushed me in at the end of their day and started checking me out. The first thing they had to decide was "is this appendicitis?" There was so much pain and it was all gathered on the right side of my abdomen that this was a serious concern, especially at only 34 weeks. After a few tests they hooked me up to a fetal monitor to see how the baby was doing and discovered that I was having regular contractions. Ah ha! Off I went, across the street, were I got several nurses all to myself and more monitoring. The contractions didn't go away, and this is where the shots came in. I'm not sure what they gave me, but I will say that they burned. Like rubbing alcohol on an open wound, they burned. At least they were only in my arm and not in my rear or belly. A few more hours of waiting, just to make sure it was gone, then I was back home and exhausted.

For the rest of the pregnancy, every twitch and pain had me panicked. Was this labor? With Elena, I hadn't felt a thing until two hours after my water broke (at home) so I had no idea what to look for. I didn't dare take long car trips and even canceled a temple trip I had planned. Every day I could tick off the calendar was one day stronger, healthier and closer to term, just in case it happened again. Finally, I had made it to June (my original goal when getting pregnant--I know I'm weird with the baby planning) and the stress was enough. I asked my doctor for an induction and she complied. It's not her usual way, especially so close to a due date, but I was done.

And now, here I am. I've made it this far without any serious issues, so things are looking good. Every day is one day closer, one day stronger, one day better.

Cousins!

My sister-in-law Kim and her kids Spencer and Jenna visited town last week. We had a great time getting so many cousins together. I don't have pictures for everything, but here are some.

Thursday way we went to the Children's Museum and then out to lunch at The Spaghetti Warehouse.






Friday took us to a whole wonderland of bouncy houses at Texas Jumping Beans. Joseph was in love with the slides, though the rocking horse motorcycle in the little kids' area was pretty cool, too.




At this point I took the camera out of my purse to upload to the computer and forgot to put it back.

Saturday was Sherry's baby shower and basic family chilling with a big lunch and fun in the pool. Monday held a trip to the capital and the Bullock Museum before heading to an Express game. It was a lot of fun! Many thanks to Mom for sponsoring so much of the fun; Jeri for offering the hospitality of her house and providing game tickets; and Kim, Spencer & Jenna for enduring long flights to come see us all. We hope you got home safe.

Girls Who Make Stuff

Elena has a favorite website for coloring pages and can often be found coloring Disney Princesses, assorted mermaids, or Hello Kitty pages. One day she wanted a paper and a pen, too, so she could copy the letters on the screen.


I had a lot of fun trying out new patterns for baby socks to give to Sherry and her upcoming baby. These were my very first Fair Isle project. Elena's been so very excited about both the babies, so I let her pick the yarn colors (she's insisting on pink socks for ours). They look more like sunflowers than snowflakes, but that just makes them more interesting. Even though I followed the pattern they still ended up fitting Joseph's feet (6-12 months, my rear!) so I'm glad I did several pairs in a couple different styles and sizes.

"Expect Delivery In 4-6 Weeks"

Tomorrow makes 34 weeks, so it should be just a hair less than six weeks from now. I'm looking forward to a comfortable night's sleep, even if it's still not a full night's, and an end to the pain in my poor back/tail bone. I'm looking forward to those tiny little fingers and toes. I really want to just stare at my tiny one and memorize everything about him or her. I'm in no rush and have been very patient throughout it all, much more so than I would have thought of myself. A question, though. Why am I so nauseous all of a sudden? I try to eat well, and I'm always hungry, but I just can't eat as much as I used to. On top of that, I've had several days where I've had to stop whatever I'm doing and rest because I just don't feel good anymore. It's usually in the pool and I'd like to blame the horse-play of those around me but it's been popping up too many other places as well. Even stranger, I have zero desire/craving/whatever for sweets, anymore. It used to be gummy bears and Mrs. Baird's chocolate-covered donuts and chocolate chip cookies and warm brownies three or four times a week, and now nothing. It's not like the opportunity isn't there, I just don't want them. It's all so strange.

It *Sounds* Easy

Sure we all know them. We use them every day. But when you have to come up with examples, well, that's where it gets tricky. It happens with everything that we take for granted, but perhaps these are the worst. They are the most commonly used words in our language--how many can you name?

(I got 30 the first try and 42 the second.)

"The Second Scoop"

"$2; ages 12 and under free"

We'll miss most of it due to other awesome family activities, and it seems a shame to pay $4 just to catch the last little bit, even if it does go to the Austin Children's Shelter. I hope you get the chance to go, though, because last year's was fantastic!