I have been patiently waiting for thousands of years for this day, and now it’s come. I have a body! I love my new little body. I have the cutest little nose and mouth…
Ten little fingers complete with really long nails…(mommy cut those really quick so I wouldn’t scratch my face. That mommy, I tell ya, she’s one smart gal)
But the best part, is that this little body has a FAMILY. They hold me, and love me, and say how cute I am over and over again.
I think I am going to like this life.
I am a “To do “ list girl. Not all the time, and really more times than not it’s a mental list than one actually written down, but it’s a list non the less. With the approach of every baby, my to do list gets a little longer and more intense-call it nesting, call it anxiety, call it whatever, but I always want to feel prepared when this brand new little life finally makes it’s appearance.
I busily work on my list thinking, “Maybe tomorrow he will come-I’ll for sure be ready”. Then tomorrow comes and he still isn’t here and I am silently grateful for one more day to accomplish more things on my list. It’s one of those little tender mercies from the Lord, and I so thankful for it. With this baby, I have been ready to not be pregnant, but really haven’t been that anxious-I know by the 7th that I am a “due dater” so I don’t even get my hopes up for en early baby. Maybe I am just secretly scared at how hard this is going to be with 7 kids-that reality I don’t think has sunk in just yet. Anyways, here is my to do list that I have been working on the last few weeks. It makes me feel peaceful to know that much of it has been marked off, and now when little baby#7 arrives I can completely relax! I can’t wait!
It has been fun as I have gone through this pregnancy to think about how different this pregnancy is compared to when I was pregnant with my very first baby over 12 years ago. It’s amazing how life and times have changed since then. Here are some of the fun differences and a few similarities from then and now:
| Then | Now |
| 1. I was having a girl. | 1. We are having a boy. |
| 2. I was due in the summer. | 2. I am due in the fall. |
| 3. I was a student at BYU. | 3. I help four other students at home to get to school. |
| 4. I worked at the BYU Laundry Services. | 4. I am the “laundry service” around here. |
| 5. Aaron was going to school and dreamed of being a doctor. | 5. Now he is our dream doctor =). |
| 6. We had been married almost exactly 13 1/2 months. | 6. We have been married almost exactly 13 1/2 years. |
| 7. I was really sick at the beginning of my pregnancy. | 7. I was really sick at the beginning of my pregnancy. |
| 8. I craved big soft pretzels. | 8. I have craved IHOP Viva la French Toast with scrambled eggs, and peanut butter sandwiches with a tall glass of cold skim milk. |
| 9. I gained 25lbs in my pregnancy. | 9. I have gained more than 25lbs in this pregnancy=) I am totally chalking that up to it being a boy. I have always gained a lot more with my boys than with my girls. |
| 10. After being sick, a very easy pregnancy. | 10. After being sick, very easy as well. Had restless leg syndrome and was anemic, just like my other boy pregnancies. |
| 11. I read my pregnancy book religiously everyday, sometimes more than once a day. | 11. I have only cracked open my pregnancy book a couple times throughout this whole pregnancy. |
| 12. I made a long list of things I “needed” for the baby. I went to second hand baby stores and saved my pennies to buy all of it. I was very by the book-if it said 8 receiving blankets, than we must “need” 8. What for, I don’t know, but we must need them=). | 12. I pulled out my boys bin of clothes and had everything I needed already from when Scott was born. I have learned we need WAY less than those books recommend. Lots of diapers, onesies, burp cloths, and easy to close (either zipper or nightgown type) pajamas for the first little while. |
| 13. Our favorite baby accessory was probably her stroller. At nights she wouldn’t calm down unless we took her for a walk around the Provo Temple. | 13. Favorite baby accessory hands down is the Baby Bjorn. I wish I would have known about it when Brianna was born. Such a life saver! |
| 14. My parents bought us a bouncy seat for her to sit in during the day. | 14. We are on our 4th bouncy seat so far. He will probably not sit in it much the first few weeks because he will be in everyone's arms all day. |
| 15. We had to trade cars with Aaron’s sister for a year because we only had a two seater Honda CRX, and we didn’t all fit in it. | 15. We have a Honda Odyssey (we love our Honda’s) that seats 8, and will still don’t all fit in it. We will have to double buckle someone if we ever all go somewhere together. Most times we end up driving separate anyways and Aaron meets us somewhere from work. |
| 16. I had a baby shower that my sister-in-law threw for me. | 16. No shower. |
| 17. I had all the baby clothes washed, organized, and hung up in our wardrobe a least a month before she was born. | 17. I have all the baby clothes washed and in the baskets above Scott’s dresser with a week to spare. |
| 18. I was busy sewing all of Brianna’s baby bedding-bumper pad and crib skirt. | 18. We have since ditched the bed skirt and bumper pad concept. I am busy sewing witch costumes for Halloween for four little girls. |
| 19. We had her name picked out months before. | 19. We have had a name picked out for about one month and are 99% sure it’s the one we’ll use. |
| 20. I was pregnant at the same time as my sister-in-law. We were having a girl, they were having a boy. They were born one week apart. | 20. Pregnant at the same time as a different sister-in-law. We are having a boy, they are having a girl. They will be almost exactly 1 month apart. |
| 21. I had no idea what a contraction felt like. | 21. I have felt more than my fair share of contractions, and I am actually hoping I am late so I can be induced. 1. Epidural 2. Pitocin, 3.Baby born 4. No contractions ever felt. I like that plan. |
| 22. Aaron and I took a prenatal class and a breathing class before the baby was born. | 22. No classes this time. |
| 23. When someone asked if I was getting an epidural I was open to going natural. “I’ll just see how it goes”. | 23. I will definitely be getting an epidural this time. I have gone “natural” once and that was enough for me. |
| 24. I had Brianna the day before her due date. | 24. ? Hopefully soon! |
| 25. Regular vaginal birth. | 25. 5th time VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). |
| 26. My labor was about 8 hours. | 26. ? Probably very similar. |
| 27. She was the first grandchild on my side, and the third grandchild on Aaron’s side. | 27. He will be the 13th grandchild on my side, and the 18th on Aaron’s side. |
| 28. Didn’t have to call anyone when I was in labor. | 28. Have to arrange a babysitter to watch the other kids when we go to the hospital. I always hate to call someone in the middle of the night! |
| 29. My mom came to help a couple days after Brianna was born. | 29. Family will come one month after the baby is born. |
| 30. When Brianna was born we had a big sign on our door to let all our neighbors know she was here. | 30. No sign, no balloons, just six other kids who will tell all the neighbor kids, school teachers, ward members, and friends that he is here. |
| 31. Grandma Bonnie (my mom) gave us Brianna’s baby blessing dress for a gift. | 31. I found online, ordered, and had delivered to my door the new baby’s blessing outfit. |
| 32. We blessed Brianna when she was 3 weeks old. | 32. We will bless this baby when he is about 5 weeks old. |
| 33. We had a one bedroom apartment and Brianna slept with us in our small room. | 33. We have a four bedroom house and the baby will still be sleeping with us in our room. Some things never change, I guess.=) |
| 34. She was very loved, and had us to hold her day or night | 34. He is already very loved and will have 8 people to hold him day or night. |
We are nearing an end here and are so excited! I finally got around to taking some self portraits of this pregnant belly. I know someday I will look back and be a little sad and miss this ever growing tummy, but for now, I am very ready to get to hold this cute little boy in my arms instead.
Just one more..
Hopefully the next picture you see of me here will be holding a sweet little boy.
Every General Conference we try to think of fun family traditions that will not only keep the kids attention during conference, but also help them to gain a love of listening to our beloved Prophet and Apostles. For the last few years we have used Conference Packets that I found on line and tweaked to my liking. Last Conference, I was so sick that we opted for a quick small notebook with everyone's name printed on the front and their own pack of crayons. Simple, but they still loved it. This year I looked at the packets again and just knew that they weren’t going to work out. I needed something new and different to capture the attention of all, young and old.
That is how General Conference Trick-or-Treating was born. I loved the idea I had seen online of doing a Conference Wall-basically after every talk taping up a picture of who spoke and maybe writing a short little bit about what they talked about. I knew that would be fun, but I wanted my kids to still take some notes or remember some specifics or each talk.
Fast forward to Saturday morning and here is what is waiting for my anxious and excited kids:
pumpkins galore… and what is this…
Treats…
Fun little papers to play a little game during conference..
So, here’s how our fun little General Conference game played out. We started with the pumpkin at our house, and after every talk we would tape the picture of the General Authority on that house, write a few words below of what they talked about, and then move our pumpkin to the next house. If there was someone from the Seventy or other General Auxiliary who spoke we had a blank picture they could draw and write the person’s name on. When there was a song sung, the kids would take turns picking a non-house object out of the envelope, writing the song on it, and hanging it somewhere in our neighborhood to fancy it up. There was a fire hydrant, flowers, mailboxes, and trees. At the end of the session we would put a stop sign next to that house so we would know who all spoke at that particular session.
During the talks the kids would take the little papers and write either a TRICK, which would be a question about that talk for others to answer, or a TREAT, which would be something they learned from the talk. They would circle either the word trick or treat on their paper and then fold them up and put them in the correct bucket until that session was over. Our buckets were overflowing!
After the session we read all the questions and the kids got to pick out a treat for each one they wrote or answered. It was so fun! The kids paid attention for all 8 hours of conference and I was so surprised how much they remembered. We had quite a few tricks after the first session of what color tie was so and so wearing, but by the last session their questions were so thoughtful and deep. I just love General Conference! The best part was that Aaron and I got to actually listen too and didn’t have to remind the kids to be quiet or to try and pay attention.
I made the board out of two foam core sheets that can be folded in half and stuck behind the TV cabinet. Every month for our General Conference family home evening we can take it out and review what one of the speakers talked about. Hopefully by next conference we will be able to know, remember, and have incorporated the great counsel from our prophet and other general authorities.
While Brianna was at Young Women’s Girls Camp this summer she learned this cute banana song that she taught us. Ever since then, when someone yells, “Banana’s up!”, all the kids get into position and sing the song. A banana is one of the few fruits that Scott knows how to identify correctly. It’s either a “banana” or everything else which is an “apple”. He loves bananas and has been well taught in the best way to eat one for breakfast.
Step 1: Convince mommy to slice one up and let you eat it up on the tall chairs at the high counter instead of your highchair.
Step 2: Concentrate really hard to stick one of the slices on your little fork.
Step 3: Make your mad face at the banana and try to scare him on your fork.
Step 4: Try to get it to stick on your hand instead.
Step 5: Trick that silly banana and finally get it stuck on your fork.
Step 6: Eat yummy banana. Repeat as necessary.
Now that school has been in for over a month, it has been fun to see how this school year will go. Here are my abbreviated 5 word answers to the school year so far:
1. Who’s in school this year?
Brianna, Austin, Brooke, and Erika
2. What grades are they in?
7th, 5th, 2nd, and kindergarten
3. How would they describe their teachers?
Fun, Joking, Pregnant, Nice, and Animated
4. What new school stuff did we get this year?
Potterybarnkids polka dot backpacks/lunchboxes
5.Lunch box or school lunch?
Lunchbox except for chicken day
6. How are the new school hours working out? Little kids 8am-2:30pm. Brianna 9am-4pm
Aaron takes little, Brianna bus
7.Any sports or activities so far?
Brianna soccer, us loyal spectators
8. Favorite after school snacks?
Anything, and lots of it
9. First quarter report cards?
Lots of smiles from parents
10. Mom’s favorite thing to do during school hours?
Take a nice long nap!
For Labor Day we decided to stay close to home and enjoy some of the fun things right in our own backyard. A day at Flat Rock Park seemed to fit the bill quite nicely. The kids were up for a nice picnic lunch, exploring all the climbing rocks, wading in the stream, and of course sliding down the slippery rocks.
The day wouldn’t be complete without trying to catch a few fish. There were tons of little minnows swimming around and the kids were all convinced that they could catch one with their bare hands. Erika and Abby kept calling them tadpoles, until we found some real tadpoles with these super fat bodies. yuck!Austin was finally the one to catch a fish, though we weren’t all convinced at first it wasn’t dead. “I just found it floating down the stream. “After some good water resuscitation he was able to bring the little guy back to “life”.
The highlight of the day for the kids was sliding down the big rock formations at the front of the park. They somehow remember a time we came here before and slid on them and it was the “funest thing they had ever done”. I still am wracking my brain for when that even was? The only problem with such a fun activity is that since the water always runs down the same places, it is super slippery on them. So just walk up on the dry parts you say? Can we say hot!
The older kids didn’t seem to mind as much, but Abby was screaming once she would get to the bottom. We found a little tamer spot higher up with just a little slide for her, Erika, and Scott.
