Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Swimming and Partying

Riley's almost one and has a few buddies about her age so the parties for their first birthdays are getting started. Lincoln was the first to hit the year mark and we went swimming with him and his family on Saturday and then to a lovely birthday party where Riley could follow him around and take his new toys/packaging.

Linc and Riley feeling uncertain at first.

Koby, James, Megan, Lincoln, Riley, and me

We saw a lot of this face (see next)
After learning swimming was fun in the baby pool, here's some deep pool fun with Dad.

Little swimmer - she was much too willing to get her face wet.

Miss Grabby and the birthday boy. I've decided she needs cars.

Or maybe we will just get her some plastic for her birthday.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

For you, Mom

I saw this and thought of you! I was going to email it, but then figured everyone might enjoy it, not just those who love an instrument. Made me smile.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Hide and Seek


Riley does NOT get tired of this game. She gets tired and falls over, but we have been playing this game for a week now and it never gets old. The first video is from a week ago, the second is from today, because I can't help myself.
You get a nice view of the baby bump, complete with "snooze button." Someone in my prenatal exercise class said you can hide it by taping a quarter over it, but wouldn't that just look like a quarter taped to your tummy? And who cares anyway? Are outies hideous? Another classmate said that her three-year old niece asked her if that was the baby's nose. :) Now I like to think when ever I wear a shirt that shows it, my baby fell asleep with his face pressed up against the front, and it makes me smile.
Today was a good day. Dave had the day off and let me sleep in, we went to Zupas for lunch which hit the spot (I love it when lunch is exactly what I crave!), and then I went to see "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and thoroughly enjoyed it - cried a little, laughed a lot. Afterwards we went to Kneaders with the Don, Suzette and Chris and had an amazing thing called a "chocolate mousse dome" that was chocolate cream piled on top of a chocolate cake, covered with chocolate ganache - kill me now! Back at home, Dave and I played Scrabble and then hide and seek with Riley. Its the little things, isn't it?

Monday, May 21, 2012

Mud.

Family Home Evening tonight consisted of grilling out and letting Riley play in the mud and sprinkler. It was the best day of Riley's life.
Let her get as messy as she wanted and didn't break up the party till she started eating it.

Fresh out of the sprinkler bath. Dave got soaked but I don't think he minded - her excitement was quite infectious.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

My First Mom's Day Present

Dave got me this fantastic family display last week and we have finally got the pictures in and up on the wall. I LOVE IT! It doesn't feature all our our family - we don't have recent pictures/frames for everyone, but I love that it represents how we are connected to a lot of wonderful people. It gets me thinking about what a great support system we have and how the relationships we have are more important and beautiful than anything else. What a perfect Mother's Day gift.
Drat - now the pressure's on for Father's Day.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

TMI (*disclaimer) Pregnancy Post, Labor Prep List

Nine weeks to go: single digits and, I like to think, the home stretch! With the onset of the third trimester, the past couple weeks I have been slowing down and waddling more and, curiously, feeling more nausea. Funny how different this pregnancy has been from the last one, but on the whole, it has been better. It still has its challenges. Here, have a story:
   4am: Baby rolls on the bladder and I wake up and, exhausted, briefly debate wetting the bed. Out of consideration for Dave and our white sheets, I drag over to the bathroom. Shock and chagrin at what I contemplated wakes me the rest of the way and by the time I get back to bed sleep is a long ways off.
   4:30am: RSL (restless leg syndrome) has me stretching and tossing in bed. I've always been curious how RSL feels and now I know. Its not quite the cartoonish idea I had that my legs would dance on their own accord and thrash out kicking people (though remind me to tell you about the time we were horse playing and I accidentally kicked Dave out of bed and he got a fractured rib. I guess that's pretty much the story, though Dave likes to tell it, "One night we were fooling around in bed...") The sensation I get is just an intense urge to walk around and actively stretch my legs. Also, I'm starving, but I stoically ignore my grumbling tummy and tell myself to go to sleep.
   4:32am: Head downstairs for some stretching and a snack. Clumsily drop cereal box off the table. Sweep entire kitchen.
   4:45am: Eat cereal, stretch the legs, Google RSL for advice, find little.
   5:20am: Lumber back to bed, waking Dave for the umpteenth time. Toss and turn on my giant stack of pillows, about two feet above Dave and his one pillow (pillow stack negates the acid reflux).
   6am'ish: Fall asleep
   7am: Have a boring dream that Riley woke up and is babbling to herself and I wake up to get her bottle but she is still dead asleep. This time I instantly fall back to sleep and snooze till eight.

So yes, I am looking forward to not being pregnant in two months! Little Joe is a strong and active fetus and my belly frequently jiggles like a bowl full of jelly, especially when I (he) am/is hungry or when I lay down. Riley is too young to understand the reason my belly is growing, but she notices. I had her in the seat of the grocery cart yesterday and she made a game of wrapping both arms around my belly and kissing it as we strolled along. I had a very damp shirt by the time we checked out :) Anyways, in my anticipation of Joseph's arrival, I've gone and made a list of things to do before delivery - things that I wish I had done last pregnancy or ideas I liked from one of the other million prep lists on line. I'm copying it into this post for the benefit of my fellow pregnant friends.

Taking a rest on the steps of the capitol in SL
Baby Prep List:
1) Two weeks ahead: waterproof liner on my side of the bed in case water breaks. Don't want to soak the mattress - gross.
2) Nursing tops and yoga pants to live in the next few weeks (cute nursing robe and dress set so's not to get your style cramped :)
3) Freezer meals and crock pot meal kits at the ready. Also, clean out fridge/freezer ahead of time to fit meals and goodies from kind friends who look out for us. Stock kitchen with paper plates/utensils/cups/napkins.
4) Possibly hire a cleaning service to do a deep clean: tub/toilets, floors, windows, baseboards, faucets.
5) Kimono shirts for baby so we don't have to pull over his head.
6) Stock up on giant pads, or Always Infinity pads - are supposed to be less bulk but just as good.
7) Nursing pads. And some kind of waterproof/absorbent cover for nursing in bed. Puppy house training pads possibly, or P.U.L fabric - rubberized flannel you buy at a fabric store and cut to size of crib, bed, changing table, etc. to lay on top so you don't have to change fitted sheets in the middle of the night if there is an accident
8) Pedicure. Has possible labor-inducing powers, and they're pretty :)
Very grateful for this baby and fetus and maxi dress and short, heat-beating hair cut.
I feel like I might have forgotten something. Though to be honest I live in the state of feeling like I might have forgotten something - pregnancy brain is real! Ah well - anyone with other helpful baby prep ideas feel free to send them my way.
Also grateful for my stud of a husband who rubs my feet and picks up my slack. He is the best friend and spouse to me and dad to Riley that a girl could ask for. And we are all grateful for tuxedo t-shirts.

Friday, May 11, 2012

FIRST STEPS!!!

Today we babysat Riley's toddler friend, who earned her keep by TEACHING RILEY TO WALK! Riley was soooo excited she literally kept running herself into the ground but we managed to get some successful attempts on film.

Luckily, Dave dressed her in cutoff overalls this evening so when she dove we could catch her. And so she could look super classy on this momentous occasion.
 
After a little practice, that same night.
We are so proud, and just as excited as Riley, if that is possible. What a magical moment. I wonder if I will be as excited about little Joe's first steps. I think so - I get just as excited when I feel his little acrobatics as I did with Riley, and Dave and I are both really excited to meet him in ten weeks.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Mothers and Being Awesome

     I have a great mom - the best. We used to joke that she had it so easy, being able to couch out at home, watching TV and eating potato chips (very much a joke - we didn't have cable, or, usually, potato chips) while we slaved away at school all day (another joke - who ever slaved away in grade school?) Our mom worked extremely hard to create a nurturing environment for us and provide a good example in every way and I can't thank her enough. Riley, huge blessing that she is, has caused me to reflect even more on the sacrifices Mom made out of love for us. Its lucky I have such an example as a mom, because I depend on the answer to "What would Mom do?" a lot.
Mom, Riley, and I, just home from the hospital.
     When we flew home from TX in April we found ourselves with time to kill at the Dallas airport and so stopped at a Wendy's for a snack. Rather than the usual, "What can we get you," the lady behind the counter said to me, "Girl, you are so young, what are you doing?" My prepared response, "fries and a frosty," was on its way out before I realized what she had said, making my actual response, "fr...wha??"
   Clerk: "Honey, how far along are you?"
   Me: "26-weeks-fries-and-frosty-please."
Geez! But her question, her first one, is not new to me. In fact, I've asked myself variations of it from time to time. "What am I doing/ What have I gotten myself into/ How on earth will our kids survive me?" Jeffrey R. Holland, bless him, captured the struggle pretty well (If only I could have channeled Elder Holland to the Wendy's lady! I met him once, you know. I was working behind a restaurant counter myself.)
"The work of a mother is hard, too often unheralded work... With night feedings and night teethings, often the greatest challenge of all for a young mother is simply fatigue. Through these years, mothers go longer on less sleep and give more to others with less personal renewal for themselves than any other group I know at any other time in life. It is not surprising when the shadows under their eyes sometimes vaguely resemble the state of Rhode Island...it is clear that some of those Rhode Island–sized shadows come not just from diapers and carpooling but from at least a few sleepless nights spent searching the soul, seeking earnestly for the capacity to raise these children to be what God wants them to be. Moved by that kind of devotion and determination, may I say to mothers collectively, in the name of the Lord, you are magnificent. You are doing terrifically well.  [God] knows that your giving birth to a child does not immediately propel you into the circle of the omniscient. If you and your husband will strive to love God and live the gospel yourselves; if you will plead for that guidance and comfort of the Holy Spirit promised to the faithful; if you will go to the temple to both make and claim the promises of the most sacred covenants a woman or man can make in this world; if you will show others, including your children, the same caring, compassionate, forgiving heart you want heaven to show you; if you try your best to be the best parent you can be, you will have done all that a human being can do and all that God expects you to do."
~"Because She Is a Mother" or the short version video: Motherhood, and Eternal Partnership with God.
So trying my best will be enough? And God is going to help me along the way? Well okie dokie - I can do that. And maybe someday my kids will think of me like I think of my mom: like she is a rock star. To her and the other mothering individuals (teachers, friends, church leaders, to name a few) who helped me figure out who I am and who I want to become: Thank you and Happy Mothers Day! Bless you for your kindness! Hope you feel celebrated on your day and maybe enjoy some breakfast in bed. Or at least some potato chips on the couch.



 

Friday, May 4, 2012

Someday, this will mean love.

I've been trying to teach Riley how to blow kisses. Today she did, but totally out of context - she was simply smacking her lips out of food appreciation. Now we just need to transfer that to people appreciation!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Odds n Ends



 Last Saturday we attended an event hosted by our friend James' charity, Run for Innocence. The awareness walk, speeches, and family games drew a good crowd and the event was a complete success.


 We helped with a carnival for the youth last night and had a good time. Working with the youth has its perks - Riley is already 'in' with the teens (i.e. prospective babysitters).

Baseball has started up again! Dave's team switched to a closer league which is smaller and next to a highway so it comes with a unique rule: if you hit the ball onto the highway, you get the home run but also you are out and you don't get to bat the rest of the game. Riley LOVES cheering for 'Da-Da" - he got an excited double-armed wave and shout out every time he went up to bat. With baseball came the return of Dave's shoulder injury and he will start physical therapy next week.

And finally: we planted a garden! With peppers, tomatoes, and cilantro, it will be the most expensive salsa we will have ever gotten, if all goes well. We also threw in a few flowers for aesthetics and to deter the bugs. Our first garden! I am so excited to see if it works! Honesty compels me to note that Dave did 99% of the work - I planted about one thing and Riley just sat by eating grass and "singing". But it FELT like a fun family effort, and it was a nice way to kick-start my summer ambition list. Also on the list: play at Seven Peaks, hike to the 'G' (Pleasant Grove's letter on the mountain), finally try the strawberries and cream during the Pleasant Grove's Strawberry Days (the line was too long last year), have another awesome baby...its going to be an exciting summer ;)