Isaac's sign

Isaac watched a show about signs. He decided he needed to make a sign for his door. Can you guess what this sign says? (or depicts?) *HINT* His mom is all for this!

I'm SO not seeing this :)! But I may single handedly turn these numbers around.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070409115759.htm

Male Births: Decline In The US And Japan

"ScienceDaily (Apr. 10, 2007) — A study published in this week's online edition of Environmental Health Perspectives reports that during the past thirty years, the number of male births has decreased each year in the U.S. and Japan. In a review of all births in both countries, the University of Pittsburgh-led study found significantly fewer boys being born relative to girls in the U.S. and Japan, and that an increasing proportion of fetuses that die are male. They note that the decline in births is equivalent to 135,000 fewer white males in the U.S. and 127,000 fewer males in Japan over the past three decades and suggest that environmental factors are one explanation for these trends......."

Christmas Baby?

Apparently this baby thinks he's missing out this Christmas. He is trying his hardest to make an appearance before Christmas. Or maybe it isn't his fault, maybe it's just my wimpy uterus. Whatever the case is, I've started the Nifedipine early this pregnancy, which has reminded me why I don't like that silly drug. But it's pretty darn good at stopping contractions, and so is modified bedrest which is what the doctor ordered me to start today, along with Nifedipine every 6 hours. He said these next few weeks are crucial, and to keep the baby in at all costs. Don't anyone worry though, I'm a pro at this preterm labor thing, I'll keep this baby inside cooking, and he'll just have to wait until next Christmas. The good thing is that Dave has 2 weeks off of school, so he can really help me take it easy when the contractions come. Earlier in the day the contractions were coming every few minutes, and EVERY time I stood up. After the Nifedipine, and a few hours of laying down, the contractions had all but stopped, so this is a true blessing. I'm grateful for medical science!

Henry is officially back to walking. He removed his mental block, and is walking almost like he was before. We are so grateful for this wonderful Christmas present from him, the peace of mind in knowing that he is totally recovered from his nasty illness. It is a wonderful blessing, and we are grateful to our family and friends who have all been so concerned for him and us. Thanks!

Hooray!

Yes, this is Bubba standing up! Yesterday I saw him stand himself up in the middle of the room and walk to the couch. Since then he has been standing a lot more and taking more and more steps. He still crawls as his main form of transportation, but I think it will only be days before he has the balance to walk everywhere again. YAY! Thanks again for all your kind thoughts and prayers. I'm grateful to have a healthy baby now! (Although both our little ones have extremely snotty noses. Welcome to December I guess?)

For those of you who have only seen him through pictures, I'm sorry that you do not understand that this is the most beautiful baby in the whole world. **NO BIAS INVOLVED, I promise! :), It's purely narcissism because this is the first baby that looks like me!** It's such a shame his mother is such a terrible photographer, I seem to catch the worst shots of him, but I love looking at this baby with his cutest little nose, pouty lower lip, and huge blue eyes. I love to kiss and snuggle him too! Not that there ever really was a lapse in my gratitude for this kid, but I am more grateful than ever to have him after he was so sick.

For Family Home Evening we made this Gingerbread Train with a kit that some extremely nice people gave to us. It was so fun, the boys loved it!

Here's his smile!

Here is Bubba's smile after thoroughly enjoying the brownie batter spatula. This smile is what we see most of the time from Henry, but if he isn't beaming from head to toe he is either screaming for something he wants (He really needs to learn how to talk) or he has his head in his hands sobbing because his daddy left the room. He seems to be very dramatic these days, luckily it is generally on the happy side of drama!

Another long day at the hospital

We were scheduled only to go to one appointment with the Pediatric Rheumatologist, but ended up spending the whole day at Primary Children's Hospital. I must say, I LOVE that place, I wouldn't want my baby anywhere else! Henry was a doll, even with no nap the whole day, he flirted with every person he came in contact with, at least until he realized they were of the evil medical profession! I learned the meaning of SPECIALIST. These people truly are specialized, and I felt like we were in good hands. We met with some Neurologists as well as the Rheumatologists. By the end we had a whole team huddling together making sure they had left no diagnosis untouched.

In the end, the diagnosis that we were given was.... NONE! He actually took his first steps in the office (Proud moment to see your baby take his first steps.... again!), which he hasn't repeated since then. They said that his bloodwork shows that he was extremely sick! But his bloodwork has improved, as has his pain and movement. So they are just calling it a very strange reaction to a very bad illness. They feel very confident that he should recover fully in the next few weeks. As much as I wanted to have a diagnosis, a good prognosis like that made me feel just great! I am so pleased to hear that he will get better, and that they can find absolutely nothing wrong with him right now. Neurologically they thought he was fantastic, he has perfect reflexes, and of course developmentally he performed fantastically (well, he is extremely advanced if you ask me, not to brag! :). His joints are great which rules out any kind of arthritis (another sigh of relief) and his muscles appeared to be okay, although he is a little bit weak. So after all of his millions of tests, we find nothing wrong and just wait for him to get better!

I'm very thrilled to know there is no long term damage expected, and thank you all for your prayers! Hopefully he'll be walking again soon, although he is a lot easier, and a lot more snuggly when he's less mobile. I was feeling really excited that with his lack of walking, he had no bruises on his head, but his brother took care of that in a vaccuming accident. I guess that's what you get when you let your 2-year old vaccume. Oh well. I'll post a picture of his gorgeous, smiling face (even with the black-eye he is really cute) soon. It's so nice to see him smiling after the way he was last week!

Baby Bubba

So here is the update on my Bubba. He hadn't made any progress until last night. I was starting to get depressed. I admit I've had a lot of extreme thoughts including wheelchairs as I've wondered what the heck is wrong with this kid. We have made an appointment with a pediatric Rheumatologist at Primary Children's hospital. We are hoping that he/she gives us some clarity on things, but we'll see.

He doesn't appear to be in too much pain, but he still can't walk. I have tried holding his hands to walk him, and IF he will even let his feet touch the ground, which is a big IF, then he can't pick up his feet to walk. I put him behind a walker, and he took a few necessary, clumsy steps as he pushed it forward, but then figured out how to pull it back so he didn't have to step. The progress he made yesterday was standing alone. He actually let me stand him up, and he stood there by himself for a good minute! That made me feel good to see some progress, and to see that he had a little bit of balance.

The good news about Henry, and this was a proud moment in a mother's life, is that we learned yesterday that he has the "force." As the big boys were playing with their lightsabres, Henry stuck his hand out in the air and made a "chhhhh" noise as he forced them from my lap. Hopefully he'll be back on his feet using a lightsabre again soon!

I'll keep you posted after his appointment. Please keep praying for him! Thank you!

DISNEYLAND!

Disneyland was absolutely perfect! Isaac was the perfect age to soak up everything, and tall enough to go on all the rides. He loved every second of it. It was the perfect time of year to go as it wasn't hot, and there were hardly any lines to stand in. Only a few of the newer rides had long lines, but I don't think anything was over 25 minutes. My personal opinion is that if you go to Disneyland in off season, you don't need more than 2 days, we did everything we wanted to do... sometimes twice!

Our first ride was Space Mountain. Imagine taking your child on a dark rollercoaster! I freaked out, and clung to Isaac just to make sure he was still there. He wasn't scared at all, and I loosened up quite a bit after that! His favorite two rides were Star Tours and Autopia (The one where you drive the racecars.)

Here are Isaac and Matthew with their tickets

Isaac studying the map

The most important part of the trip. Isaac got chosen on the first try for Jedi Training, and he was in absolute awe. He did just great fighting Darth Vader. I think this is quite an amazing show.

Matthew preferred riding in a stroller, but Isaac was just happy walking with me. But Matthew did let Isaac ride with him once.


The kids meals are really cute there. The Mickey ears were little burgers, and the waffle fries were delish! We took the plate home with us. Gotta love free souvenirs!


No wait for the carousel! I wonder why?

The Monsters Inc. ride


In line for the Toy Story ride, which is REALLY cool!

The Toy Story Ride is a game, you shoot this cannon and see how many points you can get.


Looking at the Holiday Small World. It was so fun how they implemented holiday songs into the Small World song, and all the little people were dressed up for the holidays.


Isaac's favorite ride. He loved being able to drive!

He was a remarkably good driver. He hit the bumpers a lot less than the adults ahead of us. Only 12 more years to go, but I think I have a good driver to look forward to.


Eating a Dole Whip float while waiting for the Tiki Room. Does life get much better than this?


The only picture you'll se of me. I'm looking way too round for my own good. (Not just in the belly unfortunately!) And the humidity destroyed my hair!


We didn't see very many characters, but the main Disney Characters were around a bit.


The Buzz Lightyear ride. There was never a line, we loved it!


The castle was all covered in snow. Everything was decorated for Christmas, it was beautiful!


Brooke was nice enough to ride on the spinny rides with the boys. I didn't think my tummy could handle it.


I couldn't believe that Isaac wasn't scared of the Tower of Terror. He loved it.


I can't think of a better kid at a better time to take to Disneyland. Isaac enjoyed it so much, and we had fun going on all the rides together. It was so nice to not miss a thing since it was just us two. I was so grateful not to have any babies with me, although I saw my friend Ashley there and she seemed to be having a great time with her baby. We had a lot of fun going on a road trip with Brooke and Matthew, we just love them! It was the perfect trip, we loved it all, and thanks to the grandmas and Dave for watching the babies for us.

Thoughts on Christmas

We saw Santa Claus at Disneyland. Isaac said, "Mom, that Santa looks different than the last Santa I saw."

Santa came to our ward party last night. And after Isaac sat on his lap he ran back to me and said, "Santa forgot what I told him I wanted!" I don't think he even told Santa again what he wanted, he was just baffled that Santa wouldn't remember that he told him only 4 days ago that he wanted a Storm Trooper Helmet! Weird!

That kid is just too sharp, I don't know how long the Santa thing will last for him!

This year I bought my kids DVDs and video games. What mother buys strictly media for their children? But my kids have incredible imaginations, and are quite pleased with the toys they have, so I decided they didn't need any more toys, but we have very few movies, so that's what I bought.

It gets worse. I bought Isaac Narnia 2, which just came out. He wanted to rent it from Redbox, but I told him he had to wait until he got it for Christmas before he could see it. That makes it more exciting right? Last night I opened it up and watched it after he went to bed. How can I make him wait if I couldn't even wait? And what kind of person opens a gift and uses it before they give it? I hope he reads this someday and finds out what a terrible mother he has.

Those are my Christmas thoughts. Holding my breath that no more Santa curiosities arise, and excited to plant my kids in front of the DVD player with some new DVDs.

Sick Baby :(

I have been so busy since I got home from Disneyland I haven't even had any time to blog! On Sunday when Dave drove Henry home from Las Vegas and poor Henry had a terrible fever. When he dropped Henry off at my mom's house he told her to take him to the doctor the next day if he wasn't better. Well over the next five days Henry went to 2 pediatricians, Primary Children's hospital, and the Logan Regional Emergency Room. On Monday and Tuesday he wouldn't even move his neck, sit up, or walk or crawl. When my mom took him to Primary Children's the doctor was sure that he had meningitis! But luckily that wasn't the case.

So the poor kid had tons of blood drawn, a CT scan on his neck, a spinal tap, 2 ultrasounds, 2 sets of x-rays, and was spared a few other requested tests that I declined on. He had something nasty in his body, he had two tests that show signs of infection, the CRP is supposed to be under 1 and his was 14, and the SedRate is supposed to be less than 10 and his was 116! So he was definitely sick, but they couldn't figure out with what, and why he wouldn't walk or move his neck. The doctors were all pretty puzzled and in the end the best diagnosis they could give was called Toxic Tenosynovitis. Basically it means that he had a terrible viris that caused inflammation in his joints which caused extreme pain. I kept trying to tell people that this was the happiest baby ever, and for him to be crying and clinging to us was NOT normal and meant something was VERY wrong. The poor baby spent days just clinging to my Mom and then to us with his head on our shoulders and a rigid, tense body curled up in a ball.

He is doing a lot better now, which is the only reason I can take a minute to blog. He is a lot happier, and not in very much pain. He crawls around and plays. The only thing that is unfortunate is he is still unable to walk. He is starting to get bugged by it too, he tries to stand up, but just doesn't have the strength. This was a kid who didn't crawl at all anymore, so it's still pretty disturbing to me. My goal is to have him taking steps by Monday, hopefully he'll make it. If you have a minute, please say a little prayer for my Henry that he'll get better and be able to walk again soon.

And by the way. I want to give special recognition to my wonderful mother who took care of Henry in his extreme sickness. She was supposed to have the easy job of tending Henry who scarcely makes a peep, and instead she had a ridiculously sick baby that needed 24 hour care, and she spent her time up at the hospital. She used it as a bonding experience, and I'm sure it's something Henry won't soon forget. Thank you Mom for your help, we love you!

Heading off to Vegas in our BMW

When we were shopping for our Suburban my dad kept telling me to look for BMW's. I finally asked him if HE wanted a BMW, because I wanted a Suburban. He informed me of the acronym BMW for Big Mormon Wagon.

The truth is, I LOVE MY SUBURBAN! I feel like I'm driving a luxury car. I don't think there is anyone in the world who is happier to drive a Suburban than me. I love all the space, I love all the features, I just love it! And this is no fancy Suburban. It is used. We really didn't pay that much for it, and we don't know how long it will last us. But I love every second of it.

So as we head down to Vegas to hang out with some of our very favorite people, Jesse, Brooke, Matthew, and Drew (Yes, I like Jesse even though he makes fun of my BLOG!), I am excited to be driving down in the Suburban, yet hopeful the old thing doesn't break down or something! This will be our first family road trip in it, and I am looking forward to it.

Our kids can't wait to see their cousins, and I am looking forward to another laid back, delicious Thanksgiving dinner. We have so much fun with the other Low family (It's Dave's only brother), and it is probably the last time we will be able to visit them while they live in Vegas because Jesse is graduating from dental school in the spring. So Happy Thanksgiving to all, travel safe, eat lots of food, and I'll be back after my Disneyland trip!

Interesting Study

Boys Preferred Over Girls, Poll Shows
Americans Show Slight Baby Gender Preference for Boys If Limited to 1 Child
By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
July 6, 2007 -- People in the U.S. show a slight baby gender preference for having a boy instead of a girl if they were only able to have one child.

That's according to a new Gallup poll on baby gender preferences.

The telephone poll, conducted in June, included about 1,000 U.S. adults. They were asked: "Suppose you could only have one child. Would you prefer that it be a boy or a girl?"

Here are the participants' baby gender preferences:

Boy: 37%
Girl: 28%
Either/doesn't matter: 26%
Not sure/no opinion: 9%
The "either/doesn't matter" choice wasn't mentioned as an option by the pollsters. But more than a quarter of the participants expressed that view anyway.

We're Dish free!

Anyone who knows Dave and I knows that we have spent many years of our marriage without television at all, and even with television we almost never watch it. We have no "shows," we don't know when anything is on, and we only like having tv for events like: general conference, the olympics, the election, etc. When we moved to our new house there was no cable service. So we PAINFULLY signed up for the lowest Dish Network package (Still around $25 a month!) and have been using that ever since.

We ordered the government coupons for digital tv converter boxes and went shopping to Walmart for one today. We paid $9 for it. There was a guy there purchasing one who looked like he knew what he was talking about, so Dave asked him what antenna to buy. He laughed and said he wouldn't buy any of them. I thought, oh no we're going to have to spend like $100 on an antenna. The ones at Walmart were in the $40-60 range. To my surprise, the guy said drive over to Honks (A dollar store) and buy the loop antenna and the little transformer (Which was $4.97 at Walmart). So Dave worked on it, and we got our television working for about $11.00 total today. IT'S INCREDIBLE! The picture is fantastic, and it is SO all that we need for our television needs. We are now saving $25 a month and $300 a year on television service that we rarely used anyway. The only use we got out of our Dish service was Nick Jr, and that will be greatly missed, but PBS has some great reading shows that I'm excited for Isaac to watch, and I've ordered some movies for Christmas.

I had to share my excitement about our thrifty television service of Free-ninety-nine! It much more appropriate for a tv-clueless couple like Dave and I.

20 weeks!

I am officially 20 weeks now. Which probably means no more than 16 weeks left of pregnancy for me. I'm actually at a pretty good stage right now, I'm only slightly nauseous, I sleep well at night, and I'm not uncomfortable at all. Today was my 20 week ultrasound, and our little baby boy measured right on, and appeared to be perfectly healthy.

I learned two new things today. First of all, I have suspected I have an "anterior" placenta because I just haven't felt this baby move much, and it's mostly on the sides. Sure enough, the u/s tech said he's nice and cushioned by that placenta right on the front, so I was right!

And second my doctor told me that since Henry came at 35 weeks and I started into labor at 34 weeks with him, I qualify to get the steroid shot at 32 weeks. The steroid shot helps the baby's lungs develop in the event of premature delivery. Now even though both of my premies had mature enough lungs, with the steroid shot I can feel a little bit more peace about delivering another premie. I have spent my last two labors feeling VERY nervous until the moment they were born and able to cry on their own. It will be really nice to know this time that I have history on my side as well as a steroid shot.

Because of the anterior placenta I didn't get any great shots in 3-d of the baby, but it was still a fun ultrasound.

Classic Profile of face


Why do my babies always cover their eyes in the womb?


The hand moved a little bit for this one.

Mistakes come back to haunt you... and sometimes that's a good thing!

So I was looking at our previous taxes and I happened to notice a mistake on our 2006 taxes. A BIG ONE! It only lists Isaac as our dependent, but Dawson was born in 2006. So I called my CPA and asked him to amend it, and add Daws. We are now getting $1600 more back from our 2006 taxes. Sweet huh! I guess sometimes mistakes can come back to haunt you in a good way.

$5.00 skirts

I was shopping the Modbe site, and found that their cutoffs are on sale for $20 PLUS the 30% off, and also they have $5.00 skirts in limited sizes. Just thought I'd throw that out there if anyone is interested. Some people have already ordered, if you want to make an order you can do it any now until Saturday. Thanks!

Thanksgiving Divorce

A man in Jacksonville calls his son in San Diego the day before Thanksgiving and says, “I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing: forty-five years of misery is enough!”

“Pop, what are you talking about?” the son screams. “We can’t stand the sight of each other any longer” the father says. “We’re sick of each other and I’m sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Denver and tell her.”

Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. “Like heck they’re getting divorced” she shouts, “I’ll take care of this!”

She calls Jacksonville immediately and screams at her father. “You are NOT getting divorced. Don’t do a single thing until I get there. I’m calling my brother back and we’ll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don’t do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?” and hangs up.

The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. “Okay” he says, “they’re coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own way!”

Modbe Virtual Party

*EDIT* As far as swimsuits go, their new line of swim wear is scheduled for release in February and they are claiming it is hot! (Of course they are.) But really, their swim wear is really cute, and it will be fun to see what they come up with this year. We won't see more sizes of the current styles, just a completely new line. But I'll be sure to do another party when swim wear starts up, although the 30% right now is pretty awesome. *END OF EDIT*

So I'm not a salesperson. Really I'm not. I'm not quite as bad as my husband who seems to almost always give away things when he's trying to sell them. But I'm close. A few months back I signed on as a salesperson for Modbe Clothing. I love their clothes, and think they are very high quality, but a little bit expensive. So I signed up as a sales rep, not to sell it to people, but to hopefully get the discount for me and my sisters.

Well, Modbe Clothing currently is offering a sale that will give discounts to "party" go-ers that is better than the discount I get as a consultant. So I decided now was an excellent time to throw a party and offer that discount to anyone I know who wants to order some Modbe clothes. So I am offering a "virtual" party to anyone who reads my blog and wants to order.

Here is the deal. They have given me my own modbe website. It is https://www.modbeclothing.com/ericalow. When you type in the party code of 985, and order 3 or more items, you can get 10% off of your order. There is a 30% off coupon with the code of MSHM69DF that you can use even with only 1 item. So when they take 10% off of your already 30% off order, it equals 37% off. That is an incredible deal!

It is nice that it can all be done online now, although if you are wanting to try the clothing on, I will have all the sizes of their clothes at my house on Thursday, November 20th, and in Bountiful on Friday, November 21st. I will be closing the party on Saturday, so if you want to make an order, please try to do so before then. Orders can be anytime now until Saturday.

I am pretty excited about their fall clothes, I ordered some workout capris, the cowl neck shirt, the jeans, and the hoodie where you stick your thumbs through. They tell me that you can wear the jeans through pregnancy because they are stretchy, and I'm hoping they are right, because I am SO sick of maternity clothes.

Club Soda and a lime

My favorite drink, especially when I'm pregnant and sick, is club soda with a lime. It is probably one of the least desirable drinks to most people, but to me it is the best thing ever. My sister Jessica drank it all the time in the last years of her life because she was always nauseous too. I ran out a few days back, and was feeling really sick last night. Some time before I woke up this morning, my husband went to Macey's and bought me 3 2-litre bottles of Club Soda, and 3 limes. Is that true love? I think it is!

Here is a picture of my birthday drink. He splurged and bought Pellegrino for my birthday, but honestly I think I like the cheap Shasta Club soda just as much. Thanks Dave for my drink today, my stomach feels great now!

My latest soup obsession

My friend gave me this soup, and I couldn't stop thinking about it afterwards. We ate it in a breadbowl, and it was to die for! It makes a pretty big recipe, and freezes well. This will be our dinner tomorrow and I can't wait!

Cheddar Vegetable Soup
Leslie Pocock


4-5 Cups cubed Potatoes
1 Cup Chopped Cauliflower
2 Cups Chopped Carrots
1 Cup Chopped Celery
1 Cup Chopped Onion
2 1/2 Cups Water
4 Chicken Bouillon Cubes
2 Cups Chopped Broccoli

« Dissolve bouillon in water and boil & simmer all veggies
except broccoli for 20 minutes. Add broccoli and cook another
7 minutes.
« DON'T drain.

1/2 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Flour
2 Cups Milk
1 Tbl. Dry Mustard
1/2 tsp. Pepper
1 Pound Velveeta Cheese

« In a separate pan, melt butter then add flour and mix well.
Slowly add milk and stir well.
« Add dry mustard and pepper and cook until smooth and thick.
« Remove from heat and add cubed cheese.
Stir until cheese is completely melted then pour over veggies.

I'm going to Disneyland!

For at least a year we have been trying to find a time to take Isaac to Disneyland on a Mommy-son trip. Taking babies to Disneyland doesn't appeal to us at all, and we think having that one-on-one time will be priceless. We have mulled it around a ton and finally booked it. We wanted to try to be creative and find a way to do it without taking money from our family budget, and to do it as cheap as possible. We have been very creative to come up with "found" money and to shave off as many costs as possible, and I must say we've done a great job! It is all worked out now, and Isaac and I are going to Disneyland with Brooke and Matthew (his cousin) on December 1st and 2nd. We are so excited. We are watching videos of the rides, and the thing that he is most excited about is the Jedi training where you get to fight Darth Vader and Storm Troopers.

Isaac is a little sponge, he soaks up everything, and remembers detail I can't believe he remembers. I am so excited to hear him tell stories about this all the time after his trip. He is so enthusiastic about things, it's going to be a blast.

The Jedi Training on Youtube.com

Teacha!

I am teaching Joy School for my three week rotation right now. It really has been a lot of fun, although it does keep me busy. Dawson has loved almost every second of going to school. He has picked up on the school lingo, and during the school hours he calls me "TEACHA!" Isaac and I have a good laugh over that one.

Have you heard of Chacha?

It is a free service that you can call or text your questions to and they answer them for free. It's kind of a cool thing, I don't understand how they make money, but whatever!

Text Chacha or 24224 or call 1-800-2-Chacha and ask your question.

Disappointed

I feel really disappointed with the election. I was really hoping it would turn out otherwise. My husband HATES to have me be disappointed with anything. Anyone else just feel a little bit disappointed?

What? I'm an Esme?

Interesting, isn't it?
Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Happy Halloween!

I'm a little bit late on this, but don't worry, we weren't late for trick-or-treating.

We had a Joy School Halloween party at our house. Here are the kids singing "I'm a mean old witch with a hat."


I loved having my two little Buzz Lightyears. They were very cute, and those costumes are SO practical. They keep them nice and warm. It was a beautiful evening for Halloween, we've had such a nice fall, and we deserve it after our awful spring. We all wanted to go trick-or-treating together, so we left a bowl of candy on our front porch and left. We were gone all night visiting people and hitting a fantastic garage party in our neighborhood. When we came back, the strangest thing had happened. Instead of all of the candy being gone, our bowl was full of all different types of candy that I hadn't purchased. I wonder if someone felt bad for us because we were almost out of candy? It was kind of funny.





The two Buzz brothers and the two Hannah Montana sisters. Aren't they cute? Having the same gender has some really fun benefits!

I'm grateful for my children???

Today is one of those days when I wonder why I love my children. Sometimes it really makes no sense, but I really do adore them. Seriously, I had one of most horrific, yet hilarious hours of my life today. I went to vote, and figured while I was out I would renew my driver's license. (I didn't know it was expired until I tried to get on an airplane. It expired in March!) I thought I could handle taking a picture with my kids with me, and off I'd go. Wrong!

Because my license was expired for so long I had to take the written exam. 25 questions, no problem. They failed to tell me that they were 25 questions that had almost nothing to do with day-to-day driving, and that I would have to search through a book to find answers to. "The average person is too drunk to drive after 3 drinks of beer, 3 mixers, or something else, and maintains that by drinking one additional drink per hour, True or false?" WHO CARES! How about, just don't drink and drive and it doesn't matter! Or "Which type of signs are rectangular?" The answer was "regulatory." How about I read the sign, and tell you what it says, and the shape just doesn't have much to do with it! This was a good one, I think it really applies to the average person (sarcasm) "A military personnel licensed in Utah can keep their Utah license for 90 days when in another state." Why should I take a test about that. Why don't they put that on the military test or something. How many people really run into that scenario?

So while I was flipping through the 40-something page book looking for answers, the following things happened with my three kids running around.

-Isaac went potty... twice.
-Dawson thought he might need to go potty, and started stripping down.
-Dawson climbed up on the study booths, and was jumping from booth to booth.
-The grumpy lady asked me not to let my kids climb up on the booths or chairs. I wanted to ask her how I was supposed to do that AND take a test.
-Dawson dumped the package of Nerds that some nice lady gave him.
-Dawson opened up the door, and Henry crawled into the rain.
-Isaac asked me every question he could think of regarding the driver's license division.
-I told Isaac he was going to get in big trouble and possibly go to jail if he wasn't good in this place.
-Isaac asked the attendant if he really would go to jail, and they guy told him no.
-I considered begging them to take me to jail.
-I think I asked Isaac to be quiet about 40 times.
-I asked Isaac to go retrieve Henry after he crawled away, WITHOUT carrying him.
-Isaac retrieved him by carrying him, and then dropped him and Henry bonked his head.

And last but not least, the crowning jewel of the experience...................

As I was searching for the answer of question 24 of 25, the man came and told me I had 80% of the test right, and didn't need to answer the last two questions. I think I'll send him some chocolates, and maybe name my next child after him. He was my HERO! So I took a hideous picture, and went on my way.

I would have just left in the middle of the test, but I was scared they would call the police since I didn't have a license. I'm so glad I passed that dang test, I really don't know what they would do with me if I hadn't.

As for the election, I'm trying to stay positive. I'm really excited for tonight, but I hope I'm not disappointed. Isaac keeps asking me who the elephant is (My preschool lesson on the political parties had a huge impact on him!). And he says he would definitely vote for the elephant, whatever his name is.

And here is a picture of that "sweet" little boy whose name was listed so many times above. Luckily, he finds ways to steal my heart many times throughout the day, and that seems to counteract times like I had today. He was really proud of his new soccer shirt that I put on him today.

My body hates pregnancy, it's not my fault!

This body of mine just HATES having a baby inside it. I think it sees the baby as poison or something. Of course there is the sickness part during which my body tries to get the baby out via my throat? At least that's what it feels like. And now I'm in the part where my uterus voices it's opinion with harsh contractions trying to push that baby out the normal way. They hurt, and they bug me, and last night I dreamed I was in labor all night, I guess the contractions continued while I slept. The boys have come at 37, 36, and 35 weeks respectively, and it makes me wonder if this one won't come at 34 weeks. My goal with Daws and Henry was to make it to 37 weeks. With this one, I'm not even shooting for that, I'm just HOPING to make it to 36 weeks. Realistic goals leave you with less disappointment right? I felt like such a failure with Henry that I didn't make it further. It's a good thing he was healthy!

Not that I'm complaining (Okay, I kind of am) but how do some people's bodies LOVE being pregnant, and my body hates it? I mean how can people escape that "sorrow in thy conception" that resulted from the fall?

On a happy note, the nausea is SO much better. Completely controllable with some club soda and spearmint gum! I think I may not even throw up again in this pregnancy! And all these contractions toughen me up for the delivery. I'm actually thinking of going without an epidural this time. I figure nobody's body prepares them longer and more for delivery than mine! Mine gets a really early start.

And of course, it will all be worth it when I have another silly little boy with ridiculously blue eyes to kiss, snuggle, nurse, kiss, adore, show-off, oh and did I mention kiss? I LOVE kissing the brand new skin of a newborn!

I know it's unfair

That I somehow got the 3 cutest boys in the whole world. Warning: This is a pure bragging post. If that bothers you, please don't read on. But this is my journaling system, and I need to record these bragging thoughts!

These boys are the best, I just feel so lucky to be their mom. I can hardly wait to see what this fourth boy is going to be like, but if he's anything like his brothers, we can't go wrong.

I've mentioned before that Dave labeled our kids with "s". Each child has their own strength (They have weaknesses too, but that's not for this post!)

Isaac- Smart. Isaac is a fantastic oldest child, and we are learning that he is very smart. This is a typical trait for an oldest child, and that is certainly proving true for him. He amazes me with the things he remembers, puts together, and catches onto so fast. I am enjoying teaching joy school this week, and seeing how bright he is. He picks up on new concepts very fast, and is doing great with his reading lessons. I am so proud of Isaac, and hopefully his smarts make him a lot of money some day and he can pass some of that on to me!

Dawson- Strong. He is our hope for an athlete. He is strong and driven. He is a natural at sports, and can tackle Isaac down in a second. Maybe he can get a good athletic scholarship someday, and hopefully not break too many bones in the process!

Henry- Sweet. I know I've written plenty about Henry's sweet nature. It's amazing, I can't quite get over it.

My boys are cute and fun, and so full of personality and life! I can't wait to have four little boys monkeying around.

My apologies

My apology to the friend that I wrote about earlier. I thought my comments were witty, but obviously weren't received in the same manner I intended them. I felt like I was wronged, but I handled it very poorly. I dearly love this friend, and she already apologized and had no intention of hurting me. I also apologize to any others who might be offended. Please forgive me,
Erica

It's a....

I don't have anything creative or fun ready like I wanted to, but I do have this letter that I wrote to the baby last week. It is very long, I don't know how many people will read it, but I will post it nonetheless. I have been very hesitant to share this news due to my fear of people's reactions, but I think I am ready for all the tactless and insensitive things that people may say. You know, like, "Oh no! Not another boy." That kind of thing gets to me, so I didn't want to tell the whole world until I felt tough enough to handle all of that. Please know I am very excited and grateful for this news.


To my dear fourth son,

It is October 23, 2008, I am 16 weeks pregnant, and you are approximately 20 weeks from being born if history repeats itself. In non-pregnant time, that flies by pretty quick, but in pregnant time that seems like eternity. It was just this week that I found out it was you. Honestly, I hoped you would come fifth. My “perfect” family plan would have bumped you back a few years to separate the two sisters that I want you to have. Girls need space, and I thought our family needed that balance. Don’t get me wrong, I have always wanted you. From the time I got pregnant with your oldest brother, Isaac, I knew I wanted at least 4 boys, if not 5. And of course your father would have been disappointed if you had not come now.

On Monday the doctor performed an early ultrasound in which we couldn’t tell what we were looking at. He gave us a 60% chance that you were a girl! As I looked at the pictures that night I realized that you were not a girl. I scheduled another ultrasound for the next day at a place called Fetal Fotos. The ultrasound was incredible. It was so much clearer than the one I saw the day earlier. Like the day before, you lay perfectly still for the ultrasound, and we had the perfect chance to see if you were a boy or girl. It was very clear. You are most certainly a boy. I enjoyed the rest of the ultrasound, but was crying as soon as I got to the car. I didn’t even understand why I was crying, which made me want to cry even more. I drove myself straight to the mall to buy you the most adorable newborn clothes that you don’t even need. Dad called after he was done teaching his class. I told him we were having a boy. He asked me how I was doing. I never could spit out an answer. Tears streaming down my face in the middle of Gymboree, I listened to your father carry on about the tremendous blessing of having a fourth boy, and how this was the dream. His dream, not mine.

My heart ached for so many reasons. The first, and probably strongest being my protective “mother bear” instincts that didn’t and don’t want anyone else to be disappointed that you are you. Almost every person reacted to this pregnancy with the expectation or hope that you were a girl. It’s only natural. But I remember some of the reactions when I was pregnant with your brother Henry, and watching peoples lips curl up a bit when they realized we were having a third boy. Some even went as far as saying, “Not another boy!” Or apologizing. I can only imagine what they will say this time. And of course there is the ever present yearning in nearly every human being to experience the parenting of both genders. That shouldn’t bother me, I have always known that you have at least one sister who is yet to come. So I’m not giving up that experience by you coming now. And what ever happened to that 50/50 chance? I don’t think I could flip a coin and get the same outcome four times in a row! But then again I recall cheating on the penny experience in my statistics class. Instead of flipping the same coin, we decided to get “much pennies” and throw them all to save time. It wasn’t my idea, but it sounded good at the time. So maybe I could flip a coin and get the same outcome four times, I’m starting to think I would be pretty good at that ;)

I went back to Grammy’s house after shopping and asked her to come on a drive with me. She had 5 girls in a row. She understood me. She spoke loving words and listened as I cried. Even with her being my mother, I don’t think I would have trusted her as much as I did being that she has been through similar experiences. That night I went to Young Women’s, where there are two leaders with same-gender families. One with 5 girls, and one with 4 boys. I felt they were the only people who knew how to react, they understood exactly how I felt.
I have had two days to contemplate my thoughts and feelings now. I have looked at your pictures, and watched the DVD of you. You are absolutely perfect! I see you resting your face in your hand, with your feet floating in amniotic fluid. You are so still, calm, peaceful. You are beautiful, and I can’t wait to meet you. I want you now more than you know. I’m sorry that I wanted you to be a girl, and I am so glad that you are coming now! I can’t wait to see if you look like your brothers. What color of lightsaber will you want? Dad has labeled the other boys: smart, strong, and sweet. Which “s” will you be, a repeat, or a new “s”? Will you have that elusive dark hair that I’ve been waiting for, or will I give birth to another surfer boy with white fur on his head like Daws? Whatever you look like, whoever you become, that all remains to be seen. I know that in about 20 weeks we will bring you home in the world’s tiniest monkey suit after the whirlwind which will be your birthday. In the meantime son, it’s just you and me for 20 more weeks which I will spend vacillating between cherishing every moment, and complaining that you could never come soon enough. Probably a little bit heavier on the latter though.

Love,
Mom

Happy Birthday dear Bubba!

Happy Birthday to my sweetest little boy Henry. It's been one year of pure joy with this boy. I still believe that he is the most pleasant human being on this earth. He is practically perfect in every way, and so very cute! Here are some facts from his first year:

-Was shown "smiling" in the womb in his u/s
-Slept 7 hours at night when he was only 4 days old
-LOVED nursing
-Broke his first tooth at 6 months
-Started very early crawling at less than 5 months
-Just started walking a few weeks before his birthday
-Had ear infections all summer and ended up with tubes
-Cracked his skull a few weeks back, and never made a fuss about it (He just had a big bubble on the side of his head, luckily it's healed now)
-Is so quiet that we "lose" him frequently. He doesn't answer when you call him!
-Has slept as long as 16 hours at night (several times in fact)
-Usually sleeps 12-13 hours
-Uh-oh was his first word
-Waving was his first trick
-Has the cutest nose and the bluest eyes!

It's been no secret that we absolutely adore everything about this child. I figure I've told him at least 3,000 times in his life that he is the sweetest thing I've ever met. And I mean it.

Isaac's Interview today.

I saw this on my friends blog, and wanted to see how Isaac did. It's pretty cute.

1. What is something mom always says to you? You’re welcome

2. What makes mom happy? When I do good things

3. What makes mom sad? When I don’t do good things

4. How does your mom make you laugh? Make a funny face

5. What was your mom like as a child? I don't know. Tell me

6. How old is your mom? I don't know. 7359?

7. How tall is your mom? 39

8. What is her favorite thing to do? Clean up (Uggh, if only he knew the truth!)

9. What does your mom do when you're not around? Take care of my brothers

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Cause you love people.

11. What is your mom really good at? Taking care of people

12. What is your mom not very good at? Killing bugs

13. What does your mom do for her job? I don’t know.

14. What is your mom's favorite food? Salad

15. What makes you proud of your mom? That you get me chocolate milk.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Jet Fusion

17. What do you and your mom do together? Snuggle

18. How are you and your mom the same? Nothing

19. How are you and your mom different? You’re a girl and I’m a boy.

20. How do you know your mom loves you? Cause you’re my mom

Potty Training Himself

Dawson has been taking his diaper off for months now. It drives me crazy! He refuses to sit in a wet or poopy diaper and so without asking me, he takes it off. I've felt like I should potty train him, but I feel like he's too young. I've had a lot of great advice to wait until 3 to potty train boys, and my friends who have trained their kids early have all had a ton of accidents lingering way past training. I have very little tolerance, and accidents almost do me in! So I've been hoping to wait until closer to when the baby comes

But Dawson seems to be training himself now. The past couple of days when he wouldn't keep a diaper on, I let him wear underpants. He hasn't had an accident yet. Yesterday he was completely dry all day! Wow! But he didn't poop all day, I'm worried he's going to get constipated because he is holding it in.

I know we're not free and clear from diapers yet, but he seems to be getting himself off to a great start. Oh yeah, one more problem with it, he stands on the toilet seat and squats to pee. It's the funniest thing ever, it's just like what his cousin Matthew used to do too. The problem with it is you have to take your pants/underpants all the way off to do it, and at age 2 he can't put them back on. Oh well, I should be grateful for this, because I have proven myself incapable of potty-training in the past with Isaac. So far Dave potty-trained Isaac and Dawson is potty-training himself. I feel like I should be able to kick up my feet and drink a pina colada, but somehow I still don't have time for that?

Dawson has transformed from his monstrous self, to the sweetest little boy. He is still stressed out when situations change, but other than that he is very easy, and has a VERY sweet personality. He talks in the sweetest voice, says please all the time, prays by himself (always praying first for Isaac), gets really excited about things with the world's cutest smile (When he was born he was so grumpy he never really smiled, but he sometimes did in his sleep and I could see then what an incredibly cute smile he had. I love it!), and covers his eyes when you get mad at him because he really doesn't want to make anyone mad. It's amazing how far he comes, and it's a good thing because I have a feeling that this baby is going to be just like him, and I already declared that this family could only handle one Dawson. So maybe we'll survive since Dawson has become so sweet.

Here he is covering his eyes. His hands go straight up to his face as soon as he senses you're mad.


And here is that happy, smiling boy, I love how he scrunches up his eyes when he smiles. Isn't he cute?

What is it?

I had an ultrasound today, done by my dr. It was fun to see the baby, who looked very healthy and very calm. In fact I don't think the baby moved the whole time. I guess that's why I hardly ever feel the baby kick anymore. Anyway, we got a great shot of the baby's privates, and we (the dr. and I) had no idea what it was. He thought it looked slightly more like a girl, maybe 60% girl, but basically it was totally inconclusive. It measured way bigger than the last ultrasound, at 16 weeks 5 days instead of 15 weeks 4 days.

So I spent the whole day obsessing over the pictures, and have myself feeling more like 60% boy, but really the pictures aren't nearly as good as a live scan. I think I'm going to have to pay for an elective ultrasound so I can know sooner than my next appointment in 4 weeks!

Sooooooo, if this baby is a boy I have spent a lot of time thinking about why that will be great. Of course I would prefer a girl, but I'm thinking about how a boy will be just as good. First of all, maybe it will be good to have boys, and then have girls at the end. We do the boy thing, then the girl thing. That might be nice. Then I got on Gap and Old Navy and couldn't find one thing I wanted to buy for a newborn girl. I don't like the colors pink or purple. So it's not like I'm dying to buy girl clothes. And I LOVE my baby boys, so I'm sure I would LOVE another.

So I'm playing the "glad game" which I learned from the movie Polyanna, do you remember that movie? There are so many reasons why I will be glad to have a boy, even though I would prefer having a girl next. It still could likely be a girl, but I'm preparing myself either way. Whatever it is, I can't WAIT to find out..... we'll see how long I can hold out.

First Steps

The first steps that babies take are SO CUTE! I just love them. All three of my kids have taken their first steps before they turn one, but not exclusively walked until after their birthday. There is only a short period of time when they take those cute, drunken sailor, steps, and then they walk like normal. We hurried to get Henry's steps on video, and it wasn't easy. But here they are, and isn't he cute?

Funny Kids

I love the funny things that kids say. I always love reading about it on other people's blogs. I frequently forget to write those things down, so here is today's attempt.

Isaac has been really funny lately because he picks up on grown up words and phrases, but doesn't quite know when they are appropriate. He tells us he's "nervous" at the funniest times. Or for example today he was going to the bathroom, and I overheard him say,

"Common toilet paper, you can do better than that!"

I don't quite know how the toilet paper could have done better, but I thought it was so funny!

And my favorite thing that Dawson says these days is, "Ouchie, help me." It sounds more like, "Outsie, hup me." He repeats this over and over when he's hurt. I love it.

Last night he was feeling sick right before family home evening. He kept saying it, "Ouchie, help me." So I told him we would pray for him in our opening prayer. I was amazed that at the age of 2 he could have faith in a God that he can't see or hear, but he believed praying would make it better. After the prayer he kept saying, "Christ fix it." He really believed that the Lord healed him.

And Henry, doesn't hardly make a peep, so he doesn't say anything funny. But he has been taking steps by himself for a week or two now. He can stand by himself for quite awhile too. Hopefully he'll be walking soon. He's still the most delightful human being on the planet!

I love my kids.

Tag

Tagged, by Jocee. I was supposed to post the fourth picture in the fourth folder of my pictures. This is what I got. This picture is at Cafe Sabor for Natalie's bridal shower. The two on the left (me and Brooke) are the sisters-in-law, and the others are Dave's sisters with Natalie and her mom at the very right. So I guess i should tag Brooke and Trisha since they're in the picture.

Will you go to the dance with me?

Now that I'm the wise old age of 26, it seems like my blog title is the best way to ask someone to a dance. That proves how old and boring I am. When I was in high school, I too wanted to ask in the most creative, never been heard of, fun and exciting way. While I was down in B-town with my family, Lauren and her friends were preparing to ask to the Halloween dance. She asked me if I had any good ideas. Honestly, I couldn't even remember how I asked/was asked to the dances. So we got on the internet and searched and searched until we found the very best idea. Lauren did a great job, and is now like the coolest girl at Bountiful High School (She already was I'm sure). Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but really everyone loved her idea. I told her I better blog it so we won't forget how SHE asked to the dance, since I can't remember any of my experiences.



She filled the box with these "flying pigs" and put her name at the bottom. Presumably when he opened the box, the pigs flew out.... at least we hope so!

General Conference Weekend

I always love conference weekend. It is so inspirational, and so fun to be together as a family. I love our new Prophet, President Monson, and I loved all the messages that I heard (with one more session to go!) We kept our tradition of eating Ritz crackers with Easy Cheese and Guava Juice when he spoke. The kids love it, and I do too.

Yesterday, in between sessions, we went and picked out our pumpkins. Dawson wanted to take them all home. "Bah one! Bah one."




I've always been a Halloween humbug. But my kids are really excited about it this year, so I decided to decorate a little bit more. We're going to try to have some Halloween craft days so we can make some more decorations. But our spider web and spider were the first. It was made with random stuff that we had, the spider web is torn and tied fabric, and the spider was made out of landscape fabric and a paper plate. I never knew my sewing machine could sew through paper plates before. It's a very small start for Halloween decorations, but the kids love it.


Our conference tradition (What President Monson serves when his kids come over). We ate it while the Prophet spoke. YUM!


And the boys gathered around the laptop typing up their Christmas lists. Dawson wants a flashlight. Isaac wants like 10 big things, which really means 10 x 2 because Dawson will want them too (He just doesn't know it yet.) Any advice on how to choose what to get him? He is too sharp to just forget about the other things he asked for, he'll have a mental list of what things he did and didn't get. What do I do? I'm already embarrassed if we happen to see Santa this year. Two years ago he sat on his lap and just asked for a train. This year he'll sit on Santa's lap and ask for a Storm Trooper helmet ($29.99), a Storm Trooper Gun($19.99), an R2D2, legos(I'm not ready for tiny legos that hurt when you step on them and show up all over the house!), swords, and the list goes on. I can just picture Santa's eyes getting big, thinking, "Man this kid is a spoiled brat!" This will be interesting!


Lastly, we went to Macey's in between sessions yesterday, and it was a mob-scene! I bet they make so much money this weekend! Anyway, I walked past my neighbor who took one look at me and asked if I was pregnant again. I guess I'm big enough now that there is no more mistaking it. Wow, that happened fast!