Los Frost

picture overload: January

2012-01-23T14:00:00.002-07:00

This month: Playing in the snow. Rolling over. Exersaucers and Lay-n-Plays. Stuck inside. And few nice days of sunshine for a much needed walk. Playing with cousin Megan. Playing with diapers.

the wedding song

2011-12-28T15:25:00.000-07:00

There are few places that our wedding song is recorded. As I was singing to Nathaniel before his nap today, I decided to sing it to him. It brought back good memories and I felt the need to write it down.

Andrew wrote our wedding song. If you don't know, he is a really good song writer. He has a beautiful voice as well. He usually writes and plays for his guitar, but for our wedding he used the piano. Our wedding song is a story.

We met and began dating at BYU when I thought I was going to marry someone else. We dated and I got in too deep. Things moved fast. One thing Andrew would do is text me some song lyrics in the morning that would be waiting for me on my phone when I woke up. Before leaving for Australia for the summer, Andrew told me he wanted me to know where he stood: he wanted to marry me. I left with us both being unsure whether we'd get married or the whole thing would be called off. After receiving the most direct answer to a prayer I've ever had, I knew that marrying Andrew was the right thing.
While I was making my decision, Andrew flew out to New York to visit his brother. We still spoke via instant messanger every day. As he flew back home, he still waited for my answer. He got the inspiration for the song from this point in time, I guess. Shortly after that, I said I wanted to get married too. We got "engaged" and started planning a wedding on opposite ends of the world. Then we got "officially" engaged in August after he asked my dad in person.

Andrew wrote this song while we were engaged at BYU. There would be nights when he'd sneak off to some piano in some classroom to write and practice. He sang it to me at our wedding reception at my parents house the day after we got married. Needless to say I loved it. I love hearing him sing it even more. It reminds me how much he loves me.

I wish I could record the melody here, but these are the words. (I'm sure I'll record some of the little words just a little wrong.)

Well the plane touched down,
Right with the sun
People and voices rising to be the first one.
But I keep my seat,
'Cause I aint in a hurry,
With my backpack,
And memories,
And just a little worry.

Chorus:
It has the same familiar faces I've always known.
And the same familiar places, I call my home.
But I'm all alone.
Without your song, there's just something wrong.

As I walk in through the door.
And hang my coat up on the rail.
Don't hear your voice so soft behind me.
Or feel your arms that never fail.
Or look deep into your eyes as you stand there in the hall,
Saying things will be alright, when my back's against the wall.
Though it still has all pieces,
But when I'm back from where I roam,
If you're not there beside me, my darlin'
I'm not quite home.

Well, I wake each mornin' with a song in my chest
And no one to sing it to when you rise from your rest.
I drive around this town wonderin' how you been
Wishing long and hopin' on you coming back again.
(can't remember the end of this second verse... will come back when i consult Andrew)

Chorus

Well my darlin', heaven's brought you back somehow,
And with the winter fallin' all around me now.
I'm full of warmth and light and life about to start.
Cause you came like a sunrise,
Bursting into my heart.

As I walk in through the door
And hang my coat up on the rail.
I hear your voice so soft behind me
And feel your arms that never fail.
And I look deep into your eyes
As you stand there in the hall
Saying things will be alright
When my back's against the wall.
And though it still has alll the pieces
And now I'm back from where I roam,
Now that you are here beside me, my darlin'

I'm finally home.

changes over the last five years. happy anniversary!

2011-12-28T14:59:00.001-07:00

Wedding 12/28/06 at Washington DC Temple

First Engagement Anniversary. We hiked Silver Lake where we got engaged on 8/4/06.
Nice hair, Andrew.

First Anniversary 2007.

Second Anniversary 2008 at Mount Vernon where we had our wedding luncheon when we got married.

Birth of Nathaniel in 2009.

Third Anniversary 2009 living in Farmington, UT.

Fourth Anniversary (had no picture, but was obviously a few days after this picture) 2010.

BIrth of Jenna 2011.

The closest picture of us that I have right now on our Fifth anniversary. We look a little older.

Things that have happened since we've been married:

I graduated from BYU.
Taught elementary school and quit teaching elementary school.
Andrew got his doctorate from the U of U.
Andrew began working as a physical therapist at TOSH.
Had two babies.
Bought a house.
Used to take tons of pictures of the two of us together. Now they are all of the kids...

The best five years ever. It's awesome being married to your best friend.

cute

2011-12-09T15:02:00.000-07:00

Very drooly. Very kissable cheeks. I think she's just so cute.

wasn't that a mighty storm

2011-12-01T12:48:00.001-07:00

Andrew always wants me to put song lyrics on stuff. So here it goes:

Wasn't that a might storm? Yeah. Wasn't that a mighty storm in the morning. Wasn't that a mighty storm? It blew all the people away. (James Taylor)

Or in our case. It blew all the trees and fences away.

This morning was nuts. Andrew left for work around 6 and it was relatively calm. Around 6:15 it sounded like a freight train and my walls were shaking and it was so loud! That wind clocked in over 80 mph. Semis were turned over on the free way etc. I currently share one large backyard with two of my neighbors as all of the fences are down. Two of my pine trees were uprooted and luckily fell on the fence. My wonderful neighbors were there in the back cutting it up and hauling it away before I even knew what was happening! I love this neighborhood! However, I hate that fence so here's hoping the insurance company lets us get a brand new one. I'd like a nice white vinyl one. Anyway. Happy December 1!

missy jenna is four months

2011-11-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

I don't know how it happened. But it did. My baby is four months old. Meaning, I now have rice cereal in the cupboard. (She hasn't tried it yet). How did this happen? Here are some things I want to remember about Jenna-benna.

She has plump, rosy cheeks that make her little eyes look so teensy. It's pretty funny.

Her hair is more wiry and wild when dry rather than pretty little curls. It's still curly when wet, but as it is falling out (to my sadness) it is getting funnier and funnier. I can sense some unattractive male-pattern baldness coming on. All of the top center of her head is covered in yucky yellow cradle cap that doesn't scrub off. When you pick part of it off, a chunk of hair comes away with it. So, we'll just leave that be.

She has been sick nearly her entire third month of life. Croup and then a cold. Now she just is always congested which means she chokes when she eats. Which means her gas gets bad. Then she creams and cries sometimes. It's so sad. We love mylicon. Her acid reflux also gets worked up more when she's sick so she has been spitting up a lot. Also, when she is sick her stork bite on her chin gets all red.

She loves to smile, stick out her tongue and make funny faces to show that she's having a good time. Most of the time she's pretty silent and happy. We've gotten a few laughs out of her, though. And they're funny. She also has started being pretty vocal while playing.

She often just lays in bed when she wakes up. You don't know how long she's been in there awake... and silent.

She grabs everything. She especially loves grabbing the polar bear on the lay-n-play.

She loves watching Nathaniel do anything.

She hates bottles. She doesn't take them. I haven't tried EVERY day (like I should) to teach her. Part of it is that she's a temperature snob. The milk has to be warm. You have to warm up the bottle halfway through the feed because it has cooled down to room temperature again and she doesn't like that. It makes taking a bottle somewhere very difficult. It isn't warm so she won't drink it. We think she's allergic to formula too so we tried one soy bottle and she did ok with the ounce or so she was willing to drink. I don't think she particularly loved it though.

Her pants are usually running on the shorter side and the sleeves on the longer side.

She sleeps about 10-11 hours at night.

She hates getting her clothes on and off and hates getting into her car seat.

She holds her head up really well now.

She has rubbed a bald spot on one side of her head. I guess that's the way she always turns when she is laying down.

She has started to roll to her side. Prepping for the whole rolling over thing.

She loves sucking on her fists. She also is always holding her hands together. Sometimes it looks like wringing her hands.

She always smiles and laughs when she's getting wiped during a diaper change. Funny, but true.

She just has the most easy going, cute personality. I am so greateful for my little Nenna and cannot imagine not having her in our family! I can't help but smile just looking at her.

small celebrations

2011-11-15T14:09:00.000-07:00

I am so excited. Like super excited. Obviously everyone knows about my issue with Nathaniel and his naps/bedtime lately. Like he doesn't nap. And only his dad can put him to bed. Even if that means the speakerphone must be used.

NATHANIEL IS ASLEEP! WITHOUT HOURS OF CRYING AND CARRYING ON! WITHOUT DUMPING ALL OF THE DIAPERS OUT AND EMPTYING ALL OF THE CLOTHES IN HIS DRESSER ONTO THE FLOOR! AND I DID IT! (Well, he did it. But, I put him down).

I am going to celebrate the small moment. This is so great.

Speaking of celebrating the little things. Do you know what else I'm so happy about? My new spray and mop. I'm serious. I've mopped all of the floors in the house. Because it is so fun with that thing. No more hands and knees for me. This probably won't be surprising if you know that I find vacuuming therepeutic and enjoy fresh vacuum lines on my floor. I am enjoying the easy to make wet floors in my house at the moment. And they smell like lemon.

Happy day, everyone!

dinosaur park!

2011-11-14T21:25:00.002-07:00

way to go, dad

2011-11-12T14:18:00.002-07:00

So, we all know I'm having a hard time getting Nathaniel to sleep (read: my previous blog post breakdown). This child hasn't napped since Saturday. Ok, well he slept 5 minutes on Sunday. And that was because Andrew was home. Andrew has been gone a lot lately (read: part of the reason for my insanity). On Wednesday night, I had had enough of the bedtime screaming. I have tried my best and I am doing so good as far as patience and anger go. I'm also not feeling guilty. When I start, I am able to talk myself out of it and move on.
So anyway, I call Andrew and I say, "Talk to Nathaniel!" So, I hold out the phone on speaker phone and Andrew is able to get him to stop his hysterics and talk to him for a minute. Then I put the phone (still on speaker) outside of his door and leave. Andrew talks to Nathaniel, coaxes him into bed, sings him his songs and tells him to go to sleep. NOT A PEEP AND INSTANT SLEEP! This happened again on Friday night. Every night this week, Andrew has put Nathaniel to bed either in person or on the phone because I can't. He won't let me. He throws a fit. But bring dad into the mix, he goes down silently and immediately. We're 5/5 on this one.
Too bad Andrew isn't around today (even though it is a Saturday) to get him to take a nap.... I don't know how you do it Andrew, but I'm glad you can!

update and almost progress

2011-11-08T14:11:00.000-07:00

Thank you for the comments and for the phone calls I've gotten. I know it sounds really cheesy, but that post was actually a little liberating. I feel more free. So, thank you for letting me add my inner turmoil over a little parenting deal to the blogosphere.

So, we've almost had some progress today. Almost. Yesterday, as I finished posting, the baby gate in the doorway to Thanny's room got knocked down. Then Thanny found me down here. No nap. Last night I pondered what other approaches I could take. Mostly, being calm. So, we did a just mommy and Thanny quiet activity of reading before bed. Jenna was no where to be seen so he wasn't jealous. I sang and rocked him for a few minutes. Then I said last time. And I meant it. I left even though he was begging. He cried for a few minutes. Then just called my name. Then it was just bumping around in there and chattering. WAY better than yelling and screaming and sobbing. Just when I thought he was getting close to sleep (about 50 minutes later) I hear a blood curtling scream. Something had actually happened. I went running upstairs to find him standing at the baby gate covered in blood. Dripping from his mouth down his chin, all over his shirt, the baby gate and all over his hands. Oh, and a poopy diaper. Not a good thing to see!! So I got him cleaned up. All I could figure is he said he "bonked" (duh) on the lights and sounds. And in we went again. He wasn't happy with it- I think he thought it was his get out of jail free card. I sang and give him attention for a few minutes again. Then I left. We' starting all over on the banging, bonking, chattering... anything but sleeping. But once again, he's not screaming and wailing hysterically! Just a little whining now and again. Now he's silently reading some books he found in there. Atleast he's quiet and calm. We may be making progress.

I feel like I'm making some progress too. I don't feel upset or angry. Still a little weary. But, beginning to feel more patient with myself and with him. I'm really, really appreciative of the support. I also feel like I'm trying to be more in tune with the Spirit to know what to do and when. With those two things, I'm more hopeful and feeling buoyed up. Thank you!

my current life with than

2011-11-07T16:12:00.000-07:00

Warning: NOVEL. This turned into a thereputic novel/journal entry of sorts for myself. If you read, I will probably sound a little crazy. But, the quote by Elder Uchtdorf at the end is great.

I feel like these pictures pretty much sum up my life with Nathaniel right now. Words probably aren't very necessary. I love this kid to death. There are some days when I think that he will be my death. It's a good thing that he says funny things and has those big blue eyes.

Funny story about Nathaniel yesterday. He didn't want to nap (the new normal). He fell asleep 5 minutes before we had to wake him up for church. During sacrament, he was wired. During testimonies, he ran down the aisle screaming. I walked as quickly and calmly as I could after him and picked him up. We stopped in the doorway and I figured, we're this far up, we might as well go up and bear our testimony. He went up with Andrew the other month and did great. So I thought he'd be fine. Wrong. As I starting to bear my testimony, he's grabbing the mic. Then throws a fit. So I put him down. He's screaming. I lean down to tell him to wait for just a minute. Then he runs. I end my testimony right then. I don't even know what I sad- kind of embarassing. He got herded by a sister in the ward. I pick him up and we exit. I put him down on the couch in the hall to talk to him and he's just laughing and bouncing on the cushions. Oy. That one experience pretty much describes all of church. Crawling on chairs, banging things, yelling and whining. But, I didn't get upset or frustrated. It was one of those... Oh Well... moments.

That being said, I've been struggling with him lately. He's just being so... two. And I get frustrated with him a lot. Enter guilt. I struggle with my frustration with him. I just struggle. I am way too hard on myself. Lately, he has decided that he will scream and cry when it is nap or bedtime. Scream is the most important word here. And he does it to push my buttons. He tries the "poopy" trick to get me to come. "Tissue" is another one. Then he just sobbs and screams. Jenna, bless my angel baby, sleeps through all of this nonsense. Everyday. As it drags on for hours.

So what do I do? I get frustrated then I get frustrated with myself. I think: What kind of a mother am I? Why do I get so mad? Where did all of my patience go? I want to be patient. I want to be loving. Do I go in there and concede and let him stay up? Then he'll win the battle of the wills and will that set a new pattern? Do I let him be a beast for 2-3 hours for a nap for the sake of keeping the pattern? This only started a week ago so is it the new normal or just a phase and he'll go back to going right to sleep again? Do I let him stop napping? Do I keep insisting? Ughhhhhh. Parenting is such a feel in the dark. How do you ever know if you're doing the right thing? And that is only the napping part. He's a toddler with the selective hearing, "no", throwing tantrums and wanting to have things his way. And I can handle that usually. But this sleeping thing. It's my downfall. It's driving me up the wall.

I feel guilty because I do get frustrated. I usually think of myself as a calm and patient person. And over the last two weeks, I don't know if I can put myself into that category anymore. I feel so bad because I KNOW how blessed I am to have my boy and I want to just enjoy him while he's little. But I'm letting him get my goat (I think that's the expression). I know this too will pass. But, I don't want to just get through it -I want to enjoy him now.

Writing all of this down is therapy for me I guess. As I've been writing this, I've almost deleted it like seven times. I've thought of the older parents that will read this and chuckle thinking I'm silly. I'm thinking of my other family or friends that have similar struggles that will either say, "I totally feel you" or will say "Stop worrying so much about it- why are you being a drama queen?" I'm totally self conscious. I'm worried you will judge me. I always want to appear like I have it all together. No, I don't want to just appear, I really DO want to have it all together. And everyday I realize that I'm not. Some days I'm totally cool with that and others, I'm totally not cool with that. So with this Nathaniel thing I want to tell myself, we've got it all perfect. He's still totally trained well. I can totally handle these two kids without batting an eye while giving service, keeping my house clean and checking off every box on my to do list everyday. Right. So, maybe if I confess that things are good. That I'm happy. That most of the time my house is pretty clean and picked up. That both of my kids sleep 11 hours at night. That I make dinner the vast majority of the time and that I am patient and have fun with my kids. That I really do feel like I am competent as a mother. Maybe then I can confess that I am having a bit of rough go these last couple of weeks. And that I can do that without being self conscious, or embarassed or without feeling that I have to justify it or minimize it. I SO want to write, "But, I'm still doing good. It's not that big of a deal. I can't complain. I really don't get upset that often." Or whatever it takes to make it still seem like I've got it under control. Because I do but I don't. I don't want it to seem like I'm needy, because I'm not. But I do need help sometimes. But I never want to ask or admit. Does any of that make sense? I guess I just view myself on a continuum. And I see myself right on the super blessed end and feel like I have no right to feel like I've got it hard. Because I don't. I just have a tantrum screaming two year old. Some people would kill for a two year old, any way, shape or form. If I didn't have him, I'd be the one saying I'd take a tantrum throwing two year old if it meant I had a kid. If it meant I had him. I feel like if I whine about him, I'm ungrateful and that I'm not fit to have any more kids later. And I want more kids. Do I seem like I'm seriously just nuts?

So here are two things that I keep thinking about:

1. Yesterday, my Relief Society President said that if we're having some sort of thing that we're struggling with, we often tell ourselves it isn't a big deal. Or tell someone else it isn't a big deal. But it is. If it's a big deal to us, it's a big deal to our Heavenly Father. He loves me so it's a big deal to him. Yes, for about 4 hours a day I feel like a failure of a mother. But the other 20 I feel competent. Those 4 hours right now feel like a BIG deal to me even though I don't want them to (because I want to be perfect and seem perfect) and in the grand scheme, they are a very little deal. But, since this little deal is a big deal to me right now, it is a big deal to Him. And I'm grateful for that. Because when I pray about Nathaniel and pray to have patience and love and the Spirit to help me know what to do in the moment during those four hours, I know He'll help me because he's not going to brush it off as a little thing. For example, today I have been throwing my hands up saying, "AGAIN?" but I haven't had any sense of anger or real frustration. I feel calmer. I still feel bad but I feel more in control.

2. Elder Uchtdorf said in the Relief Society General Meeting that we need to be patient with ourselves in his talk, "Forget me Not". He said:

I want to tell you something that I hope you will take in the right way: God is fully aware that you and I are not perfect.

Let me add: God is also fully aware that the people you think are perfect are not.

And yet we spend so much time and energy comparing ourselves to others—usually comparing our weaknesses to their strengths. This drives us to create expectations for ourselves that are impossible to meet. As a result, we never celebrate our good efforts because they seem to be less than what someone else does.

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses.

It’s wonderful that you have strengths.

And it is part of your mortal experience that you do have weaknesses.

So, writing this post is me trying to help myself realize that it is ok if I have weaknesses. And if you know that I do, it's not a big deal. Because guess what, you probably already know I am not perfect. But, it doesn't change the fact that as I push publish I'm hoping that you don't change the way you view me as a mom or a person. Isn't that silly? I don't think it stems from vanity, just from a desire to be a good person.

The end.

Nathaniel turned two so he got two parties.

2011-11-04T13:55:00.001-06:00

I'm a little late posting this. He turned two on September 26.

Nathaniel had two birthday parties this year. One for each year... though that wasn't really intentional. He won't get three next year. Anyway, the first party was with the Frost side of the family. We had pizza and garlic bread (Thanny's favorite) and ice cream cones. We lit candles and put them in the cones. He had a lot of fun!

The second party was with the Rowberry side. We had chicken nuggets and french fries and broccoli. He got a road birthday cake with new cars on it. He's obsessed with cars (for example, he made car sounds the entire drive from our house to Grandma's house on Sunday). The frosting was gross but, it was fun for him.

He got really cute things for his birthday: clothes, cars, toy guitar, blocks, pretend cell phone and the movie Cars. It was lots of fun! We love Thanny.

Here are some things about Nathaniel at age two:

He lives for cars. They go with us everywhere, must be on his highchair to eat, he makes car sounds all the time etc. He even knows all of the cars he has. If one is missing from the bucket, he knows the exact one and won't rest until he knows where it is.

He is a chatterbox. He talks and narrates all the time. He's starting to say some really funny things too. Intentionally. He also is quoting movie lines. And you can guess which movie they're mostly from. (Cars).

He loves to "watch a show". He loves Cars the best. Then Toy Story. Then Tangled and Thomas the Train.

He doesn't really like to ride in the stroller anymore. He thinks he needs to walk.

He would live on Cheez-Its and milk if I let him. And maybe garlic bread. However, he's a good eater and will eat just about anything for dinner. Like stirfry, stroganoff and soups.

He loves to ride in our new minivan. Yes, we have a new minivan. I forgot to post about that, too.

He likes Jenna for the most part. He likes her stuff even more. Like climbing in her swing and taking her bear. Oh well. He likes her to be awake and likes that she sleeps in his room.

He whines and throws fits. He's a typical two year old who gets into everything. All the time.

He looooves nursery. He also loves to go to the grocery store and Target.

He loves to look at family pictures and videos on the computer.

Things he says a lot:

"hold you"

"with us"

"silly ____" (insert name)

"see mommy"

"three minutes" (wants more time to do whatever he's doing)

And his favorite movie quotes:

"That's Frank" (Cars)

"Knife!" (Tangled)

"Ka-Chigga Ka-Chigga" (Cars)

"Let's cruise baby! Low and slow." (Cars)

sunday.

2011-10-22T14:49:00.002-06:00

Today at the Doctor

2011-10-05T15:26:00.000-06:00

Today was doctor day. Both of the kids had a wellness check up. Thanny for 2 years and Jenna for 2 months. We scheduled the appointments together. First we weighed and measured Than then Jenna. Then we examined Jenna and then Than. Then Jenna got shots and then Than. Both kids were so happy and chipper when we got there. Ten minutes before we were ready to go, both kids were crying hysterically. Thanny fell down on the floor and cloncked (is this a word?) his head right before Dr. Evans was going to check him out. So I had to hold him while he wailed and wouldn't calm down- mostly because he wanted the sucker he'd get and being really tired, on top of falling- while the Dr. checked out Jenna who was screaming because 1) she was being messed with 2) she was sooo ready for her nap, too. Then we had to get an extra nurse to come in and hold Jenna while I held Thanny down while he screamed and flipped on my lap while getting looked at. He's usually so good... Oh well. Jenna then fell asleep. We put her back in the stroller. Then we got Thanny the sucker and some Toy Story stickers before his shots to calm him down. Then he fell down again and started bawling, again. We got Jenna's shots first- she woke up screaming. The nurse tried to calm her but had to put her back down wailing. Then I had to hold Thanny while the two nurses gave him his shots. By the end, the nurses all left and I had two screaming kids. It was really funny, actually. I didn't even get flustered, I was a little proud of myself! Anyway, Thanny got more stickers and once all of his clothes were on, he sat on the exam table happily while I got screaming Jenna dressed and calmed down. No children were shedding tears by the time we got to the elevator, or "el-gator" as Nathaniel calls it. He loves those things. Of course it was pouring rain as we were leaving, but hey, it was ok. Both kids got tylenol and put down for a nap. It's silent here, now. They wore themselves out. Here are the stats!

Jenna:

Height: 23 " 65%
Weight: 11 lb 6 oz (total shock to me! hooray!) 55%
Head: 15.5" 58%

Nathaniel:

Height: 34.5" 51%
Weight: 28 lb 6 oz 57%
Head: 93% (She accidentally wrote 93% twice and forgot to write the measurement- oh well!) He's got quite the noggin!

This is for you, Dad.

2011-10-04T15:18:00.001-06:00

Here's your cute granddaughter! New pictures of Jenna from Friday, September 30. 2 months old. She was napping right after she had finished nursing and was smiling and laughing in her sleep. The ones with her eyes closed are taken of her smiling while asleep. The last two are when she woke up. She's starting to fill in those 0-3 mo. clothes!

Jenna's Blessing

2011-10-04T15:10:00.001-06:00

August 28, 2011. Jenna's blessing in Kaysville, UT

My Uncle Jon (my dad's brother)

My Dad and Jenna's Grandpa.

Aunt Alisha and Cousin Megan. Jenna and Megan are 9 months apart.

Cute girls! Lexy, Aunt Larraine (who helped save the day when the crock pot pork wasn't cooked since sometime that morning Nathaniel had turned it off! by arranging a plate of cold cuts that we thankfully had in the fridge) and cousin Angela.

Cousins Carter and Lily.

Grandma and Grandpa Frost

Evan, Andrew and baby.

Newlyweds Brett and Kellie.

Nice face, Than.

No wonder Thanny calls him "silly grandpa".

Grandma Rowberry and Than.

Momma and the girl of the day.

Family photo infront of our house.

Wearing my blessing dress.

I love my little girl

Family of 4. Thanny loves Jenna.

He was so excited to hold her.

Seriously, he's cute.

Beaded socks made by my mom with cute shoes. Adorable feet.

This beautiful girl was given a beautiful blessing by her father. She was promised so many wonderful things that all center around the meaning of her name: Fair Spirit. It was a perfect day with family. I'm so grateful that we are a family forever and for the gospel of Jesus Christ that makes that possible.

pictures of Jenna's birth

2011-10-04T14:40:00.000-06:00

Just admitted and still convinced that I was going to be sent home.

I have such vivid memories of this. My mom and Andrew stared at the contractions. They did it when they were really hard before the epidural (until I made Andrew sit down and hold my hand) and when I had the epidural and blessedly couldn't feel them anymore so I could revel in the fact that I was pain-free during the big ones.

I was so mad. I didn't eat a very big breakfast because 1. I thought I was coming back home 2. I was getting ready to go and getting Nathaniel ready incase I didn't come back. So, I was starving pretty much right away. My mom brought Andrew McDonalds and I couldn't have anything since I was going to have her. I got this nice lemon ice that pretty much just made it worse. I didn't even keep it down in the end though as I got nausiated right after the epidural went in. All I wanted was french fries. During my labor all I talked about was what I was going to eat as soon as I was allowed.

New little Jenna.

Getting her measurements, Apgar and footprints.

Can't get this one to turn. But, I wouldn't hold her right away because I had the shakes so bad. I was afraid I'd either shake her too hard or drop her. So Andrew brought her to me to see her.

Finally feeling calm enough to hold her.

My sweet little baby.

what it looks like at my house right now.

2011-09-22T13:22:00.001-06:00

Two sleeping babies. Time to hit the shower. (yes, Nathaniel is sleeping in the drawer...again)

than loves jenna

2011-09-19T14:06:00.001-06:00

This was taken the day of Jenna's blessing. More pictures of that to come, when I get myself into gear. But I think this is so adorable. He always wants to hug and kiss her. This morning he was dancing around on his tip toes around the baby swing where Jenna was saying, "I like her. I like Jenna-Loo." Cute.

naptime in random places

2011-09-19T13:28:00.001-06:00

Every afternoon before Nathaniel settles down for his nap, he feels the need to pull out all of the blankets that are folded in a roller drawer under Jenna's crib. Usually he pulls out the blankets, makes a pile and proceeds to either sleep on the floor or bring a few into bed with him. Nathaniel is known to sleep on the floor, behind the rocker, half on and half off of the bed, or on the changing pad on the floor.

This one is new. I guess since the blankets were freshly folded from this morning, they just looked a little too comfortable to make a mess out of. Sleep on, Buddy.

choo-choo train

2011-08-31T14:36:00.000-06:00

My parents took the grandkids to ride the Heber Valley Railroad last week. Than just loved it! It was a really fun day! We walked around to see the trains, had a picnic lunch then took an 1 1/2 hour train ride. It was great!

Andrew and Than by a train.

One of the cars on the train we rode.

Eating lunch before the ride.

Two cute little boys. Thanny and cousin Johnny.

Eating lunch on the grass.

A school bus came and dropped off a group. Than loves school buses and had Andrew take him to go see it. The driver was so nice to let Than inside.

Driving a school bus. Than's dream come true.

Me and my little Jenna.

Getting ready to ride.

Outside our train.

Snoozin' with Aunt Lexy.

Cute face boy.

What I did for a large portion of the train ride.

At Soldier Hollow a train robber 'held up the train'. He got on looking for the cash box.

At first the kids (Thanny) were curious when he came in our car waving his gun.

Then a little scared and worried.

Then crying. The man must get that a lot because he was prepared with chocolate coins for all the kids.

Jenna just observing everything.

The ride was beautiful..

two kids.

2011-08-26T13:49:00.001-06:00

This is my bud. He'll be 2 in exactly one month. And he is hilarious. He talks all the time and over the past week, he's gotten so much better. He tells me the same 3-4 stories all day long (i.e. Daddy. Work. Ball place. Our car.) He is funny and likes to giggle and tell 'jokes'. He was teasing me yesterday and after said "kidding! kidding!" He screams a lot. Loud and shrill. He loves Jenna and always wants to hold her and hug her. He never sits still. He loves his toy cars. He always wants to "drive it" and make them "fall" off of stairs, counters, tables etc. He never sits still and loves to go on walks.

Nathaniel's most common words: Have it. Hold it. Get it. Milk. Jenna! I-she-is (there she is). Get you. Time out. Mama. Crackers. Truck. Car. A gasp followed by: What Happened? Nigh-Night Time. See it.

He loves to do what his sister does. He wants to be in the bouncer. He gets his binky (used only for bed time) during the day now when she has hers. When she gets a diaper change he wants one too. He gets a little jealous of her from time to time- but mostly if I tell him "it's her turn. your turn is next." He'll tell me "wait" and then wait for his turn. Not always- just mostly. But he always says "Jennnnnaaa!!! See her!" (or some variation: hold her, touch her etc).

Jenna is my angel baby. She is so good and sweet. Last night she slept for 9 hours. Straight. She's four weeks old. She is finally starting to fill out a little, probably because she always wants to be nursing now. She seems to like going on rides in the stroller with her brother. She loves her arms. They are always sticking out in front of her or to the side. She startles like nobody's business so they're always flung out. She needs to be swaddled a lot so she isn't constantly being startled. Her hair is still so curly. I love it! She tries to stay awake for more prolonged periods of time. She's allergic to formula. We've tried it 3 times and each time has brough hours and hours of vomiting. It is so horrible. We found out Andrew was allergic to milk and formular for a long time too, before he grew out of it. She could probably drink soy formula but I'm scared to try it. I'll just have to get back into the habit of pumping and freezing for when she needs to take a bottle. Jenna smiles a lot. She has since the very beginning. Maybe it's just gas or maybe she's just happy. Either way, it's cute and she's cute.

CMTC and Port Wine

2011-08-14T15:47:00.000-06:00

this picture makes her port wine stains look really light. the extended leg actually has quite a bit on the outside of the calf, which you can't see. this will darken back to a deep red at some point. her cmtc actually looks quite good here too. it tends to just look kind of mottled.

mild discoloring of her right arm from the cmtc. she is calm here so it seems to help the color.

fairly purple showing of her cmtc.

purple arm and fingers.

she has a spot on her elbow and here on her wrist/hand that are a clump of deeper purple vessels than some other places on the arm.

the variation of color. it is slightly pinker here but looks almost identical to her other arm.

Jenna's pediatrician wanted her to be seen by a pediatric dematologist 2-3 weeks from her birth to try to figure out her vascular birthmarks. He recommended a doctor at Primary Children's and referred us to her. We couldn't get an appointment with her until October 10 and so we called back Dr. Evans and told him. He tried calling down but there were no openings. He did catch wind that there was a new pediatric dematologist starting in the next week or two and they were about to open her schedule up. They told us to call back. Luckily, by some miracle, they called us two days earlier than we were told to call originally and they said to make an appointment now. We did and were able to get an appointment for August 12. It was a miracle!

On Friday, we took Jenna down to the Primary Children's Outpatient clinic in Riverton (less of a wait than in SLC). We met with Dr. Tripplett and her assistant who looked her over and gave us a diagnosis.

She has Port Wine Stains on her legs and left arm. They have lightened from birth to now (at birth they were a purple/red and now they're a light pinkish/red) but as she gets older they will actually darken back up again. There are some laser treatments you can do, but there are some drawbacks. It's mostly just a cosmetic issue. It covers a large portion of a thigh, down the outside of the leg and half of the foot on one leg and on the other it is more the inside of the calf.

Her chest and right arm are a vascular birth mark called CMTC (just as our ped. predicted). It stands for Cutis Marmorata Telangiectatica Congenita. This marking can be surface, down a few layers or even reach as far down as the vein level. Hers doesn't seem to be lymphatic/veinous but is fairly deep because it is reactive. Her arm changes colors when affected by mood and temperature. She gets deeper purple when cold or upset, for example. When she's warm and really calm, it often looks normalish. Luckily, the doctor doesn't feel there are any complications with her showing. (We'd heard about blood flow issues to different organs including the brain etc). She said to expect that she may have some intermitent pain where she just hurts in that arm from time to time from mini blood clots. She said not to worry about these though- she's not going to throw a clot or stroke from it. They are harmless. Thank goodness. She also may experience hypertophy, or some swelling in that arm. If that is the case, we will have to use compression garments or things like edema massage to get the fluid/swelling out. Mostly it will also be a cosmetic issue. She'll have to figure out how to be ok with it and how to answer questions from other people.

When we were in the hospital and unsure what complications she may have, I prayed really hard for some peace about it being ok. And I got such a calm and peaceful feeling that it would be ok. We worried a little (perhaps permaturely) how she'd cope with it emotionally. Would she be self conscious, embarassed etc? But I just feel like while she may hit some bumps in the road, that she'll be just fine. I feel like she has a very resiliant spirit. When I was pregnant with her, I just got the sense that she wanted to come to earth so bad. Andrew gave me a blessing right before her birth and told me that she was anxious to come and get a body and be here. I hope that she still feels that desire and excitement as she grows older and decides that her birthmarks are merely physical and that they don't matter. That she's still so beautiful and sweet. I just feel like she has come with a personality to deal with it well- or atleast that is my hope. What else can I hope for? I'm grateful that it is not on her face (she may have a tiny patch on a cheek, but it looks almost like a blush) and large portions of it will be covered by clothing. I'm also grateful that the color changes so that she won't always have 3 purple fingers- that at times they will look normal. But, mostly I'm just grateful that she's healthy. I'm grateful that she's here. I'm grateful that we have a diagnosis and that it is a good one. This is just one of the experiences that Jenna was given while here on earth and there will be things she needs to and will learn from it. So, I guess I'm grateful for that too.

jenna's birth

2011-08-14T15:13:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was my due date. I am so grateful that I've already had my sweet little baby for over two weeks now! I have been bad and still haven't recorded the day Jenna was born in my journal. I figured that maybe this would be easier for me to type and get it down before I forgot and then I can go back and finally record some of my more personal thoughts in my journal later.

My brother's wedding is scheduled for the 19th in Houston and I didn't think I'd be able to go if I had this little girl on my due date. That's when my wishing for her to come early began. I had Nathaniel at 38 weeks and so I knew there was at least a chance of having her early. One day when talking to my OB I reminded him about my last birth. It went really fast. I almost didn't have time for my blood clotting medicatin and the epidural. The epidural was put in when I was a 9/10... except they didn't know that because no one checked me ("It's her first, it will be hours yet." Yeah right). One nurse told me after he was born that she didn't think I was going to get my meds in time and was a little worried. So anyway, I reminded my doc of this and told him that if there is a chance that she'll come quicker, I want the hospital to have my meds ready this time so that we don't have to waste time doing a blood draw, testing then ordering the medicine. He told me that we'd just do an induction then. He set it for August 4th. I was not sure I necessarily wanted to be induced but was grateful that things might go a little less hectic this time. Well at my 36 week appt. I was dialated to a 3 and was 70% effaced. To me, I felt like I was going to go into labor any second. With Than, I was that far effaced and not dialated at all 3 days before he was born. Nothing happened with her though. I was kind of glad though because my mom and sister were flying in on the night of the 26th of July and I was glad that they wouldn't miss the birth this time.

My mom and sister's flight got canceled and they were to arrive at midnight on the 27/28 (whichever day you want to call it). I had a normal day on the 27th. Went walking with Thanny, told my friends to send labor vibes my way. I wanted this baby out. But, my mom was praying that she'd not come out until she got there. I was joking that I'd have her or be in labor before she got here, just because the dumb airline canceled the flight. I wasn't that far off. I began having contractions the evening of the 27th around 6:15pm. I was so skeptical that they were real. I told Andrew when he got off work that they were about 10 min apart. And had been that way for a few hours. So, we stayed up late watching TV timing the contractions. We were concerned that like last time, it would happen really fast. Finally, we went to bed. Then my mom and sister came from the airport and they were still about 10 min. I woke up at 5 with Andrew when he was getting ready for work and they were still about 10. So we decided that he should just go in, I wasn't alone now and that I'd just keep him posted. Well, the poor guy leaves and they start picking up. I had to call him pretty soon after he got there to tell him "They're about 7-8 min apart, so just in case, get ready for if you have to leave." I had to call him back like 5 minutes later and tell him they were 5 min. He came home to get me. My mom, Andrew and I went to the hospital and Lexy stayed home to watch Thanny (that was such a relief!).

I was so convinced that we were going to be sent home. They didn't seem as intense as they had been with Nathaniel when I went in. They said they'd monitor me for an hour and see if I progressed. I was only a 4 when I checked in. So my mom went home and Andrew and I did laps. I was determined to not go home! Luckily they kept me. Things got more intense. I got my blood meds and as soon as they were through, I got the epidural. What a difference labor is when you cant feel it! We just hung out. Well, I got stuck at an 8 because my doc hadnt been in to break my water. I knew that as soon as he did, I'd jump to a 10. I think he knew that too and said he'd be in to break me after office hours. I was really mad. I may have called him some names. So I basically just waited and waited for like 4 hours! I forgive him now- it was easier for me to just chill than cancel all his appts. because he knew once he came, he'd have to stay to deliver. But still... I had Than so fast because he broke my water early thinking it'd take a long time. Anyway, he finally rolls in right when I start feeling my legs and I started to panic. I pushed the button for a little more pain relief hoping I'd not over do it and not feel anything but have enough to not feel pain but be in control. He breaks my water, tellls me he'll be in the hall, a nurse checks me and helped me get to a 10 in about... oh 2-3 minutes! I did a practice push and she was right there! (I was a little bummed that I could have had her around 3pm instead of almost 8pm). I only pushed 3-4 times and she was here! My mom was there for the end of labor and the birth which was cool. They immediately said the same thing when she crowned as they did with Than, "Tons of dark hair!" only she has double the amount and it is curly! Aside from not anticipating the waiting and length, this birth was soo much easier. I didnt have to have an episiotomy so I felt great only a few hours later. The recovery has been so much faster and smoother.

Right before she was born, Andrew and I guessed weights. He said 7 lb 3 oz and that was going to be my guess, so I changed it to 7 lb 4 oz since 3 was taken. I was so right! She was 7lb 4oz. 20 inches long. Born July 28 at 7:52pm. She is just soo cute and sweet and easy going. I love her hair. They bathed her and put a little product in it with a bow when they brought her to me in recovery. I just about died- her curls are so adorable! I hope she keeps them!

We had lots of visitors in the hospital, which was fun. We also had a few nervous moments when a nurse came in the next morning and commented to me that did I know that Jenna looked like she had Port Wine stains on her body. What is that? I finally got a good look at her body in just a diaper and she had dark red/purple markings on each limb, chest and back. I was unsure what that meant. We had been planning on naming her Ivy up until that moment but when we realized she was covered in these rash looking birth markings, we felt like that just wasn't what we should name her (poison ivy). Her arm was also purple-ish. It looked really bruised. We thought it was at first but the doctor confirmed that it actually wasn't. That this was something else. When we first got pregnant, I knew she was a girl and I called her Jenna in my mind. It's the name Nathaniel would have had if he had been a girl. We've always liked it. So, it was a natural name change when we wondered what to name her. And I am actually so glad we did. I feel like it fits her and I love it. I loved Ivy but I think I love this better. So we talked with the pediatrician about her markings and he just didn't know for sure. We were referred to a pediatric dermatologist to get a real diagnosis. But we had to wait to get in. He had some guesses- CMTC or some other ideas but just wouldn't "diagnose". So, we weren't sure what we were looking at- as those can have some side effects that can be negative so we were a little concerned. All her tests were looking good though, so we tried not to worry about it.

From discharge to being weighed at a week and a day- she had only gained an ounce. I was a little worried about that. She had struggled to figure out nursing and would only nurse about 5 minutes before sleeping. She finally figured out nursing and was exactly her birth weight (7lb 4 oz) on Friday! Hooray! We also brought her to the dermatologist on Friday for her diagnosis- but I'll post about that seperately with some pictures.

Thanny has done well with her. He's gotten lots of attention from Grandma and Lexy which has helped. We try to make sure we include him and give him one on one attention too. He has bopped her on the head a couple of times, but he really loves to hug her. He always says "hug her, see her, hold her" etc. When he wakes up in the mornings the immediately says "Jenna! See her!" And when he does he yells, "HI!" Sometimes he loves her a little too much and we worry he'll squash her! He loves to go in the double stroller with her. He's gotten a little jealous from time to time when I'm nursing but for the most part he seems to really like her. He's gotten a little more insecure since right before she was born about having mom or dad nearby and always needs a hug from us- but he really is adjusting really well. What a relief!

What can I say? I love my little Jenna. She keeps me up at night. Her head is too small from any of the headbands I bought for her. She swims in all of her clothes and lately she throws up a lot (possible acid reflux, we'll keep watching it). And she is the most adorable, calm, sleepy baby. I absolutely love her.

Jenna Christine

2011-07-31T15:11:00.000-06:00

Meet Jenna Christine Frost! She was born Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 7:52 p.m. She weighed 7 lb 4 oz and was 20 inches long. She has tons of dark, curly hair and the sweetest face. She was born at 37 weeks- and came early before my scheduled induction! The labor and delivery went really well. My mom had flown in at midnight the night before so she made it in time to be there for the birth, which was really neat. She is (thus far) a very calm, mellow baby. We are so grateful to have her in our family!

update on the she baby

2011-07-22T20:26:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, my doctor and I finally pinned down a date for my induction. Wednesday, August 3. That's 12 days away! However, I feel like I'm a ticking time bomb (in a good way!). As of yesterday, I was 70% effaced and a 3 dialated. The dialation didn't happen with Thanny until I was in labor so it feels funny to be walking around knowing I'm dialated. I know some girls spend weeks like this but, I can only hope it means she's getting ready to come soon. She just has to wait until late Tuesday night or Wednesday until Mom and Lexy get here. Then it's game on. I'm getting so excited! We'll keep you posted!

our trip to St. George

2011-07-18T13:26:00.000-06:00

We went to St. George this weekend to get away. We drove down Thursday evening and just got back last night. We stayed with Andrew's entire family at my sister-in-law Alisha's parents condo. It was really fun. There was a park, pools, shuffle board, tennis, racketball, mini-golf, basketball etc. We ate too much junk, stayed up too late and had a lot of fun! Thanny loved being with his cousins 24-7 and had fun jumping on the bed and chasing Carter and Lily. He also loved crawling around on the floor and racing cars down the stairs with Megan. He also really loved the pool. And hated the kiddie pool. I didn't take enough pictures- probably because we were busy playing games or chasing Thanny around. My favorite parts were getting my date night out with Andrew and playing shuffle board outside at night with Andrew's siblings.

Thanny playing with Megan on the floor.

For our date night, Andrew and I went to the St. George Temple and then to dinner and ice cream. It was really fun to just be together the two of us. I'd never been inside the St. George temple so I was pretty excited. We had a really nice time and I did pretty well being as uber-pregnant as I am. All the people in the temple were really nice and helpful about my "condition". Although several women said I looked like I was ready to pop, another said it was a good thing I was having her in two weeks and another lady with some silly hand motion said I looked like I was ready to "go woo-wee". Whatever 'woo-wee' is, it sounds a lot nicer than the childbirth that is actually just around the corner!

We walked around the grounds after and saw a falcon sitting in the tree. We later saw him around the back taking a shower in the sprinklers. My bird-lover husband definitely enjoyed that. It was beautiful on the grounds.

We went and had fish and chips at Andrew's cousin's restaurant on St. George Boulevard and then had custard at Nielsens. Yum! A man at the temple asked how long we'd been married and after we told him almost 5 years and that this is our second child, he said we much have been child brides.

Than did pretty good on the drives. We actually drove straight through. He didn't sleep much at all- the way back was better than the way down. This is a picture I took after he finally went to sleep 2 1/2 hours into the ride after he had cried and cried because he just wanted a hug from us. Which obviously was not happening in the car. He had a lot of fun but was so happy to be home! He was thrilled to be in his big boy bed last night.

It was a really good, much-needed trip. Through Andrew and I are a little exhausted at the moment- we had a great time!

zoo, naptime and belly update

2011-07-13T14:09:00.000-06:00

Nathaniel with uncle Patrick and cousin Megan at the Hogle Zoo. It was Zoorasic Park and Nathaniel liked the dinosaurs.

My child is the biggest cheese ball. You pull out the camera and say "smile" and this is what you get. Every time.

Cousins Carter and Lily and Thanny stopping by a dinosaur at the Zoo.

Cousins with the sleeping gorilla.

After initially freaking out, Thanny is loving the "choo choo" at the zoo. He's smiling back at aunt Jamie, Carter and Lily. Thanks Jamie for taking us on the train! Everytime he sees a train now he says, "Jayyyy-mmeee".

Riding the train at the zoo.

Stopping to touch the water ball on the way home.

Nathaniel holding each and every one of his sleeping buddies during naptime. He's got blue bear (who now only has one eye), snuggle bear, snuggle puppy and big brown bear.

A not so cute shot of the belly. 35 1/2 weeks!

There she is! She's dropped lower this week. Only 2 1/2 weeks left until my induction!

Happy 4th!

2011-07-05T13:24:00.003-06:00

Pictureless Update

2011-06-29T15:11:00.000-06:00

Nathaniel turned 21 months on Sunday. I've been trying to catalog cute things he does and says in my brain to write down for later, but that doesn't always go so well for me. Especially being very pregnant. So, if I can remember, here is what my cute little buddy is up to these days.

1. Chatting, Chatting, Chatting. This boy knows so many words and is starting to string them together. Last night, he told me "Dig. Dirt. Thanny." He wanted to go out and play in the dirt. His most frequent words/requests are " By you" (come be with me, sit by me etc while I do x,y,z); "Up" (pick me up- getting a lot harder!), "Side" (outside or talking about things that are inside); "Am-ma, Am-pa, Eshee, Puter" (Grandma, Grandpa, Lexy, Computer- wanting to webcam with my family); "None" (Done), "Way" (away, take it away); "I-you" (I love you); "Yay!" (he says yay after anything that will be exciting to him such as 'cookie, yay'). The list really could go on and on and on. He names all of his toys, favorite movies, favorite people. The fun one is that starting yesterday he has started calling himself by his name. Only it sounds like "Hanny" or "Hunny" so it's hard to tell if he's for sure referring to himself. He also starts most of his words with the consonants H, B, D or S. He calls the counter "how-ner" etc. It is SO fun to have him communicate! He even points the direction to go on our walks and says "ah-way" (that way).

2. He still loves trucks, cars, trains, diggers, dogs and cats, Cheez-Its Duoz, milk, Super Why and blue bear. He also loves the Little People movie called "Happy Birthday" and Tangled, which he calls "Neigh-Neigh". He is learning all of his aunts and uncles and cousins names now and talks about them throughout the day. He also is known to start asking for "Ammer"- our next door neighbor.

3. He calls all "older" men and women grandma and grandpa. And all men and women guy and lady. At church when he wants someone's attention he'll say "Lady!".

4. He LOVES nursery. He wakes up from his nap right before we go to church and he wakes up saying "NURSERY!!" He also gets very excited when we walk or drive by the church.

5. He is sleeping great in his big boy bed. It is so awesome. Now that he's gotten comfortable with it, he's back to sleeping about 11-12 hours at night. Mom and dad are very, very pleased with this one.

6. He could live outside if we'd let him. He loves the park down the street. He loves watering the plants and collecting rocks.

7. He loves to dance (especially at the end of Super Why) and jump. He does funny little dances for us and loves to jump on his bed (and anywhere). He is almost able to get both feet off of the ground!

8. He is staring to play with his cousins, Carter and Lily. He used to watch them but now he chases them and tries to "get" them. He runs around cracking up and yelling "get-you!".

9. He doesn't "get" the baby is coming necessarily but he loves to talk about her. Anything we buy for her or that is pink he always says, "Ivy" (the name we're most likely naming her). He will go to her crib and say her name etc. He gets excited sometimes to have a baby in his room. We'll see if it lasts. But, I don't think he likes that the bump that he calls "Ivy" (my belly) takes up room for him to sit. He'd rather sit on the floor next to me than on my lap these days. I don't blame him- it's big and wiggly.

10. He knows almost all of his letters. He reads letters off of t-shirts, billboards, cereal boxes, books etc. He's one smart cookie.

11. He still lives for music. He loves when Andrew plays "row row row your boat" or "the itsy bitsy spider" on the guitar especially. We have to sing all day long. One funny is that we will sing him one song before he goes to bed. If he asks for another Andrew will tell him, "sing row row to yourself". So last night, I said it to him and as I was leaving the room I could hear him saying "Row. Row. Row. Row" Not in the "I'm asking for it" way but the "I'm singing it to myself" type way. It was so cute.

12. He frequents time out a few times a day now. He throws fits over silly things (like any toddler). But he responds pretty well to "1.....2....." and wants to be done before three. Because 3=time out.

13. And lastly, Nathaniel is one big copy cat. If you crouch to look at the plants in the garden, he does too. If you sweep, he wants a broom too. I know this is very typical of his age but it never gets old to me.

I love that he always has to run to get where he goes (except at this very moment, because it's hard to keep up with him since I waddle!). I love that his hands are still so chubby. I love that he takes his shoes off every 5 seconds (except when I have to retrace my steps in the grocery store because he's chucked them off somewhere) because I hate shoes too. I love that his head is so big for his body. I love that sometimes he'll come up to me and say "HUG" because he wants me to hug him for no reason. I love that he does that with kisses too. I love that he gets so excited when his dad comes home because he loves his dad so much. I love that he makes me laugh. He wears me out. He makes me crazy. But, when I go to check on him at night before I go to sleep, every night my heart just melts because I love that little boy so much and he is just so fabulous. It reminds me to be patient and loving at 5pm when he's throwing a temper tantrum and trying to hit me and how blessed I am to have him and that he's healthy and happy.

That being said- I can't believe he's 21 months because sister comes when he's 22! We're so close to getting baby number 2 and throwing this beautiful, set daily schedule of one child down the drain and starting to adjust all over again. I can't wait to meet her. That and I don't know if my tummy can possibly stretch out any further... she sits straight out and it is absolutely killing me.

pool party

2011-06-29T14:59:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, we went swimming in Andrew's parent's neighborhood pool. Dwight, Carter and Lily, Patrick, Alisha and Megan came with us. Nathaniel wanted nothing to do with being in the water. He cried big old tears whenever he was in the water. So he spent the whole time eating animal crackers on the pool chairs and throwing things into the pool. He played with Lily and Carter's floaties and noodle and a rubber ducky. It was really fun. Our tan lines are awesome from daily walks and gardening every Saturday. And my 33 week tummy in a bathing suit was glamorous.

FINALLY, I CAN POST!

2011-06-29T14:41:00.000-06:00

I have been a little irritated over the past few days with blogger. I couldn't get anything to publish! I was saving everything to drafts and trying to find the answer. Finally, on one of the blogger help question and answer feeds, I found my answer! So, now we're back in business! If you're having this problem too- let me know!

nap time

2011-06-29T14:38:00.002-06:00

Apparently, this is the newest in naptime comfort.

Happy Birthday to Andrew!

2011-06-13T12:36:00.002-06:00

Andrew turned 31 yesterday! When Nathaniel woke up, I told him to go tell his dad Happy Birthday. He ran into the room, yelled "BIRTHDAY" and ran right back out. The night before, Brad and Rosemary watched Than for a couple of hours so that Andrew and I could go out for a birthday dinner. We went to Olive Garden. Yesterday, I made Andrew his favorite breakfast: German pancakes. We had the usual type Sunday: watched Music and the Spoken Word, watered the plants, Andrew had presidency meeting, church etc. After church, we headed over to his parents. We made Chicken Tikki Masala, an Indian food dish, for him for dinner with Naan bread. It was good! I had also made him this year's version of a cookies and cream ice cream cake. This is probably my best yet! It's super yummy! Andrew got enough money from everyone to buy his edger for the lawn and I got him the movie "Get Low". He seemed to have a good birthday. When we got home and had put Thanny to bed, he said thanks for a good birthday. I asked him if it was good enough to take the sting out of turning 31. He said "No, but almost." He thinks he's old. I'm so grateful that Andrew was born so that I could have such a good husband, dad to my kids and friend. Happy Birthday! I hope 31 is a good one!

Free Day at This Is The Place

2011-06-13T12:20:00.004-06:00

On Friday, Nathaniel and I went to the free admission day (Huntsman Day- I think they called it) at This Is The Place Heritage Park. We went with Grandma Frost, Jamie, Carter, Lily, Pat, Alisha and Megan. It was a perfect day for being outside. We visited the little petting zoo. Nathaniel was not bashful at all. He walked right up to the 'baa-baas' (sheep) and started petting. He chased down the goats and wanted to touch the baby pigs that were in the pen sleeping. Then we went to a little play area where they had play houses and a wooden train. Then we got free ice cream. He loved it and hated when he had to get back into his stroller. You can see he's a little grumpy in his picture with cousin Megan. After the park, we met up with Grandpa and had dinner at Litza's Pizza in SL. Andrew got off work right when we left the pizza place and met us at his parents to eat the left overs. It was a fun day out of the house!

the baby update

2011-06-03T20:04:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I went to the doctor. I like that it feels closer to the end since I'll go every two weeks instead of four (for the next 6 weeks) and then after that, go every week until she comes! I had an ultrasound yesterday, too. The doctor says he's still seeing a girl- so that's good. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I'm still convinced that she has a possibility of being a he.

She's measuring a little bigger- but not enough bigger that it really will make a difference. I'm trying to remember if Thanny was like that or not- I'm thinking yes. She's measuring almost a week bigger than she is. If that means she comes a week earlier then bring it on. I hope it doesn't just mean she's a chunker! I'm just assuming she'll be about Thanny's weight or less, so lets hope I'm right.

I talked with the doctor about my concerns regarding timing this time. I delivered Thanny pretty quick for a first timer. When I got to the hospital, they had to double check that I really did have Von Willebrands. They had to take the time to take the blood, send it down, do the lab, order the DDAPT and then put it in. After that it had to cycle for 90 minutes. Then I could have my epidural. At that point I was already a 9/10 and they had to turn it off as soon as I barely got numb. Which was great in some ways- not too much medication so I recovered from it easily. But, I'm worried I won't have time for the blood meds to cycle and/or get my epidural. So I didn't ask to be induced, I just asked if we could have it on file that I need the meds so they could get it in me as soon as I get there. He brought it up and said we'll probably plan on a week early induction then.

I have mixed feelings about this. I know my mom was induced with Lexy and she liked it I think (and still didn't get her epidural she was too speedy). But I feel like I'd probably rather just start on my own and get there when I'm ready. I'm excited about getting induced early, but I guess where my mixed feelings come in relate to making some progress on my own. I hope that I'm already getting ready and making progress when I go in rather than having a complete cold start induction with all kinds of things to get my body ready. If that makes sense? I'm still hoping I go earlier than my induction date (which is still pending)! As I've told everyone though, it's a blessing as I'll be able to go to Brett and Kellie's wedding in Texas now with my little 2 week old (unless she or I have some complications). And that is great. I hated not being sure. Atleast I know she'll be here two weeks before the wedding at the latest. So Hallelujah! Also- it's nice to have one less week to count down! We're getting down to it! I'm getting really excited to finally meet this little girl and so glad that I can plan on one less week of a wait!

very particular

2011-06-01T13:43:00.002-06:00

Nathaniel has to have the door wide open when he is sleeping. We have the baby gate in the door frame so he can't get out, so you'd think it wouldn't matter. Today, after he fell asleep for his nap, I closed the door so that it was open about 1-2 inches so that I wouldn't wake him up when I showered. After I got out of the shower and was getting ready, I heard the door open. My immediate reaction was disappointment that he was already awake. I didn't make a noise, listening to see what he'd do. After about 5-10 minutes I went out into the hall to see what he was doing. He was plopped back down on his bed sound asleep. He must have woken up to roll over or something, noticed the door was closed, went to open it and then fell back into bed to finish his nap. What a cookoo.

formatting

2011-05-25T13:37:00.002-06:00

I'm getting a little fed up with how my blog is formatting things lately. I go back in to fix it and the spaces get bigger! Oh well!

May

2011-05-25T13:10:00.006-06:00

As the pictures show, this month we moved Nathaniel into a big boy bed to make room for sister. He was sooo excited to move to the big boy bed. As soon as it was in his room, he wanted nothing to do with the crib and screamed when we put him in it. We had to try a few different approaches to get him to stay in the bed for nap/bed time but he's adjusted now. We leave his door open with the baby gate in the doorway. He loves that and before he gets in bed, he drags his gate towards the door for us to put up. The only downside to this bed thing is that his sleeping has been affected a little. He used to sleep about 12 hours a night in the crib and 2 hours for a nap. Now we're looking at about 9-10 at night and about 1 1/2 for nap time. He wakes up a lot earlier in the mornings too. Yesterday it was 5:30am and today it was 6:30. And once he's up, he won't go back down. Hopefully, he'll get better at this sleeping in thing. Or maybe our days of being spoiled are over. We'll see. But he's so proud of his bed. He likes to get out for about 1-2 minutes at nap time before he goes to sleep and then get in however he wants. Sometimes it's on the edge or with legs hanging out- but it makes him happy! We have done up the crib in pink bedding and tell Thanny that it is baby sister's bed. I think he likes the distinction now: crib = for babies and toddler bed=big boys. He likes to be a big boy.

Nathaniel's vocab is growing a lot and quickly. It is so fun. He's a little parrot and says words back all the time. He's a busy boy and keeps me on my toes.

Andrew and I went to the Plant Sale at the Botanical Gardens on Saturday and bought a couple of perrenials for the big tree bed in our yard and then we bought a tomato plant and a basil plant. I just put those in pots on the deck since we won't get our garden cut this year. My first little tomato is growing! I bought a couple of annuals too and put those in the bed. We're making progress!

I'm 28 1/2 weeks now. If I have this baby when I had Nathaniel I have only 10 weeks left. That is both an eternity and so close! I have a panic attack every once in a while when I realize how close and think, "I have so much to do, I'm not ready!" But in the next breath, I'm saying, "Lets get this baby here tomorrow. We've got enough to keep her alive, even if she will be wearing lots of blue." I had contractions for about 2 hours this morning. They made me a little nausiated too. I didn't have any with Thanny until the real thing. I'm probably just a little dehydrated and tired. Luckily they stopped and I feel a lot better.

Andrew, Than and I had an awful stomach flu last week. It went through Andrew's entire family. It was miserable and I have a greater appreciation for good health after just having gone through that! I'm still working on getting back to complete normalcy. I lost some amniotic fluid I think, so the baby has been jabbing me a lot harder. I also am probably a little dehydrated still. Note: The contractions today. So I'm working on taking it easy while Than is napping and focusing on drinking more. I'm sure I forget to drink as much as I should with chasing my monkey around.

We still only have the one car. Car buying is coming slowly. We're mostly just trying to figure out what we can afford. We've got a lot of big expenses coming up this summer and so buying a car is a little daunting. I've gotten used to not being able to get around. But I'm not going to lie. I can tell I'm beginning to get into the nesting stage where I just need to get things done, clean, accomplished, stock piled etc. And that's hard to do when you can't get out and do it.

I've been working on getting my teaching license renewed and feel like I'm so close but just can't get it done! I've gotten bad information from a few people so that I think I'm about done then I realize that I can't do it that way. Boo. I should be done today or tomorrow though. Lucky Andrew, he just gave his paper to his secretary/receptionist at work and she did it for him this month.

Things are good. We're grateful for days when it is actually not raining and we can get into the sun. We're so grateful summer is on it's way. Especially me because, if you can't tell, I'm really anxious for August! Friends visiting, a wedding in Texas, my family being in town, having a baby (obviously the biggest one for me) and a baby blessing etc etc etc!

the mom's day

2011-05-09T16:03:00.008-06:00

For Mother's Day, I went shopping all by myself on Saturday afternoon. It was really nice to be alone for a couple of hours! On Sunday, we had a yummy breakfast of waffles with homemade strawberry sauce and whipping cream (Andrew had syrup). I got a pair of Champion black 'workout' capris (that are so comfortable that I'll be wearing them everyday) and pie plates from Andrew.

We had a really delicious dinner at Andrew's parents after church of BBQ ribs, asparagas, salad, red potatos and garlic bread. We also had angel food cake with strawberries and whip cream for dessert.

The shoe pictures are for my mother. I couldn't describe them on the phone, so here they are. I made these cans (from ourbestbites.com) for my sisters-in-law for mother's day as well. Way cuter in person, by the way.

I love being a mom- even though I know I'm far from perfect. I am just in love with my little boy and dying with anticipation for my little girl (I'm 26 weeks!). I am so grateful for my mom. And my mother-in-law. I'm grateful for my mom and yet-to-be mom friends that are such good examples to me of how I want to be as a mother. It was a lovely day!

good feeling

2011-05-05T19:53:00.002-06:00

I was having a little bit of a blue afternoon. Not for any reason in particular. Andrew got home from work on time today, which was great, and so we had a little time before my first tutoring kid came by. So to cheer me up, we decided to go to the new Harmon's over by the train station in Farmington. I've been getting the ads for a few weeks and figured I'd still be going to my tried and true Smiths. There were a couple of good things but nothing amazing. BUT, if you know me, you know I love grocery stores. Especially Wegman's in Virginia. It's seriously like the Disneyland for grocery stores. Anyway, so we went in and despite the crowds, which I hate, I began to feel a little better. There were the strawberries in front of me. Cheap for their grand opening. Then they had bread samples. And the lady at the bakery gave Thanny a free cookie. The bread was beautiful, the seafood section smelled like our vacation in Washington (that's a good thing- Andrew was in heaven- it was a salt water harbor dream), the meats looked so good (I've been on a red meat kick lately- way more being preggo with my girl than my boy) and who doesn't like looking at the big cheese counter. The other side of the store was less Disneyland-ish- just aisles and nothing super fun. But, we did get milk for $1.99 which is a lot less than I've been able to get my hands on, so I was happy. I even got a honeydew because since I got one on my Bountiful Basket, I've been craving that. On our way out of the store, we got gelatos. The bigger size was the price of the small size today. I got pina colada and limecello. Pretty good. On the way home Andrew asked me if I was feeling a little better. I couldn't lie. I was. I like grocery stores. And Harmon's charmed me. I feel like I'm posting an ad for you to go there- my testimonial. I'll probably still shop at Smith's- it'll still be cheaper (margarine .79 at Smiths and 1.29 there for example) but I'll go when I need a good grocery store adventure. And when I need a little motivation to get excited about cooking again. Which happened- I may or may not be about to restart a bread making mania again. Andrew will be pleased.

When we got home, my little tutoring buddy was waiting for me. I love this kid. Today was his last day for the summer. I was a little sad because he's been with me since September and holy cow he has gotten so much better! He was holding a pink polka-dot bag with pink tissue paper in it for me. I opened it right away. They got a pink blanket for little sister- thank goodness, all she has is blue thus far! It was so sweet. I tested him again to see what his final improvement was. Ok, this kid was on a frustrational level in Pre-Primer on the QRI reading tests. Today, he was Instructional on Level 3! That means he passed Pre-primer, primer, first and second and is at the top of the third! Amazing!! His mom heard me telling him how AWESOME he was and she started to cry because she was so happy! He was pretty dang proud of himself too. We played a game of hangman before he left and he picked the word. He chose "Hooray" because he was so proud of himself. This kid needed confidence and I've seen it come this year. By the time they left today, I was so happy. It was so refreshing to see that I made a difference in this kid's life! And, they'll be back in September to start again, which is great. Because their family rocks. That was a good moment. Plus, I got paid today. I'm gearing up for my second ever pedicure. But waiting until right before baby comes so atleast my toes will look good while I'm in labor.

So, needless to say, thanks to Harmon's and a sweet little boy- I'm feeling good.

easter egg hunt

2011-04-27T14:31:00.005-06:00

Three cute kids. Our backyard. Family. Easter. Lovely day.

love is in the air: kellie's bridal shower

2011-04-27T14:16:00.004-06:00

Last Saturday, Alicia and I threw a bridal shower for our soon-to-be sister, Kellie. She and Brett won't be getting married until August, but since she just left town to do an internship Texas and won't be back to Utah until after the big day, we did it a little early.

kellie and her mom

treats and drinks

key lime cupcakes

brownie bites and chocolate mousse

food: chinese chicken salad, croissant sandwiches, meatballs, veggies

the rowberry/johnson side

johnny-boy eating a sandwich

brett chowing down after the shower

brett and mom

There was a lot of really yummy food. It was so fun to talk with her and meet her mom and sister. We love you already, Kellie!

popcorn party

2011-04-20T20:02:00.004-06:00

This afternoon, I cleaned and organized and probably lifted things that were too heavy for me to be lifting right now. But, it felt good. Unfortunately, I did a lot of that while Nathaniel was taking his nap and so by the time he woke up, I was exhausted! I told him that Mom needed a little break, so we were going to have a Popcorn Party and watch "a clapping show" (what we call Who Wants to be a Millionaire because he loves that people clap every 5 seconds). Horrible picture, but you get the idea. We got crumbs all over the floor and since our ants are so prompt on finding the food on the living room floor, we ended the party by vacuuming the living room, stairs and Thanny's room. Oh well, atleast I got to sit for about 20 minutes!
These last two pictures are just funny. He seriously loves these jammies. He still usually wears sleepers with the feet but we were out Monday night, so I busted out the next size up ones until I could get the laundry done the next day. He's obsessed with the cars. Unfortunately, he wet through on them by the morning and so they had to go into the dirty clothes. He keeps fishing them out and talking about the cars and I have to keep telling him that they are yucky and he can't have them until I wash again. Then he says "ewww" and laughs until I take them and hide them in the bottom of the pile again. Silly boy.

April

2011-04-18T20:12:00.006-06:00

This month has actually gone by pretty quickly, which is good for me since I'm already hoping that August will be... well, tomorrow. We had an easy going conference weekend. The talks were great. Thanny slept through the afternoon sessions on Saturday and Sunday, so that we could actually listen! Sunday, the 3rd, was my birthday. We had dinner at Andrew's parents with my usual birthday dessert request. Crepes with strawberries, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. (I don't like cake and frosting.) It was super low key, but that was the nice part about it. I always forget how old I am. So on my birthday, I actually remembered. Ask me today, and I'll probably still hesitate and have to subtract 5 from Andrew's age. Which is 26, by the way (mine, not Andrew's). Andrew and I got to go on a birthday date on the Tuesday after my birthday- which was so fun! Andrew brought me flowers home from work, which were beautiful. We went to dinner at McGrath's (I'd been craving fish and chips- unfortunately they never measure up to all the Aussie fish and chips I consumed while living there) and splurged. We even got lemonades. We're big spenders. Afterward, we saw a movie. In the theater! Which is also so novel. We saw the edited, PG-13 version of The King's Speech and loved it! Then, we got ice cream at Cold Stone. We are usually so cheap that this date was like the ultimate. We stayed up too late for a work night- but that didn't matter- it was so nice to be on a date. My sister-in-law, Alicia, and I have been planning a bridal shower for Brett's fiance. Yes, Brett is getting married! That's the other news! They officially became engaged on the 1st and since she's leaving for an internship in Texas at the end of the month and will be there up to the wedding (which will be in Houston) we had to get cracking! It's on Saturday and should be lots of fun. Her name is Kellie. She and Brett are getting married in August. My mom is flying in on Friday to come to the shower and meet Kellie, which will be lots of fun too. My little sister is nice enough to let us borrow my mom on her 15th birthday, which is also Saturday. Thanks Lexy! Work is still going along for Andrew- he still likes it. He got a "new" calling- which is actually the same one he had before. He's still the Elders Quorum Secretary- just for a new presidency this time. I'm still tutoring my two kids and still serve as a Sunday School teacher for the 13-14 year olds. I'm also taking a class online to get the rest of my points to renew my teaching license next month. I also subbed a couple of days last month for my old team at Cook, which was fun. We're still a one car family. Some days I go stir crazy. Other days, it's totally fine. On days when it isn't actually raining or snowing we basically live outside so that we're not too cooped up. Luckily, I'm already starting to feel bigger and have less motivation to just go out and about for fun. Hauling Than and myself is beginning to be a little more work than it used to be, so it's probably good timing to not have a car now. Don't ask me why it won't put my paragraph breaks in there. Sorry that it's one big block of text!

2011-04-14T12:41:00.002-06:00

I'm 22 weeks. 23 weeks on Saturday. And so, I thought it was probably time for another belly comparison. Sister is growing and super active, which I love. I'm getting so excited for her to just be done cooking so I can hold her!

learning to smile

2011-04-13T20:20:00.003-06:00

These days, Nathaniel smiles whenever the camera comes out. Which means we say goodbye to his gorgeous eyes and hello to his funny teeth. I think it's way cute.

The pictures of him in the striped rugby shirt were taken on Sunday: Nathaniel's first day in nursery! He did great. He didn't cry or miss us. But, he was so wound up for Sacrament Meeting afterward (we have a reverse block) that he was 'meowing' during the prayers. I guess that's a good sign?

in less than 72 hours

2011-03-25T13:11:00.004-06:00

In the last 72 hours we've had some ups and downs, for sure. However, I will say that I have felt very fortunate and blessed over the past three days. I will not and am not going to complain- just record!
Warning: This turned long. I have always been long winded when I write!

TUESDAY AFTERNOON

On Tuesday, Andrew called me at 4pm to say he was on his way home from work. It takes him 30 minutes to get home, so I expected to see him walk in the door at 4:30. But, at 4:20, Andrew calls me and says that he's been in a car accident on I-15and that he'll call me when he can. I asked if he was ok and he said he thought so. I asked if the others were ok and he said they were trying to figure that out. Great. So for the next hour, I was so impatient. I was nervous, worried, antsy. Just dying to know what was going on! At that lovely point in time, Nathaniel decided to add a new trick to his bag: climbing on the kitchen chairs alone to get on the table and dump out the salt shaker. I was seriously like, "Now? You want to learn this now?"

At 5 Andrew calls and asks me to pick him up. So I pack Nathaniel in the car with some snacks and we head down to get him. I decided to go along 50 West/Frontage Road to Farmington to get onto the freeeway there. I kept thinking, "Drive carefully" to myself. When I was almost to Shepard Lane, I look in my rearview mirror and notice this big pearl colored car just inches from my bumper, like he had almost rear ended me. I had the distinct impression: "Put your hands on the wheel and don't change your speed at all. You'll be ok." I kept glancing back at him in the rearview thinking, "What is with this guy?" since he was swerving a little and I saw he was kind of rocking around in his seat. When the road curved left, he almost ran off the road on the right. Then he suddenly came right behind my car and drove into the other lane hitting a 4-door head on just parallel to me! I was already shaken by Andrew's accident and here is one just inches from my car from a person who almost hit me! When I got to the stop sign (just a few feet away) I called it into 911. We'll go back to this story.

On my way, Andrew calls to tell me just to go to Centerville, that he'd gotten a ride up to there. So I wait for him in the Target parking lot. Pregnancy nerves I'm sure at this point caused me to be a little more shaken up and luckily Thanny agreed to hold my hand for a few minutes :) We said a prayer together of gratitude for not getting hit and that Andrew seemed to be ok. Once Andrew got in the car, he told me what happened:

He was driving North on I-15 to get home and looked to check his rearview and right mirror. When his eyes were back on the road, he noticed everyone slamming on their brakes. Someone had dropped a floor mat or hot tub cover onto the freeway and everyone was trying to avoid it. He tried to get into the left lane to miss hitting the guy in front of him, but couldn't do it in time. His right front bumper hit the guy's left rear and they both spun. The other man hit two other cars. Andrew's airbag went off. He slammed his hand into the dash and obviously his body into the airbag. But, everyone was able to get out of the cars. The Highway Patrol had to ram our car off of the road and onto the shoulder since it wouldn't drive. The one man had some back pain and so they took him in an ambulance for a precaution. Finally, our car, the 93 Subaru Legacy, was towed away and a man gave Andrew a ride up to Centerville. His hand was all swollen, obviously his neck and back hurt but were fine and he had airbag burns up his right arm. We were so grateful that he was ok! Sadly, the Sub is totaled.

When we were driving home, I told Andrew about my near accident and we swung by to see if it was cleaned up yet. It wasn't completely, so we went by and I rolled down my window to tell the police man that I had made the 911 call and wondered if everyone was ok. He asked if I was a witness, I said yes, and he had me pull over. They had me fill out a witness statement and kept encouraging me to put more and more detailed info so that if it went to court, I could remember it clearly. Awesome. The girl that was hit was ok he said and the man who hit her was being arrested when we got there- he looked high or drunk. So that was wild!

We went to Andrew's parents for a little bit and Pat and Alisha made us dinner so we didn't have to. I told Andrew that even though he thought his hand was ok, especially being a physical therapist, I wanted him to have it checked out tomorrow. And I didn't want him to go to work.

He iced it and took ibuprofen.

WEDNESDAY

We woke up early to get working on some of the details. I wanted Andrew to get his hand x-rayed so I made him an appointment at Tanner Clinic. We took Than to his grandpa Frost and then I drove Andrew to the doctor. He got checked out to be safe and then got an x-ray. It's a good thing too because he broke a bone in his wrist! His dorsal capsule in his right hand got pulled off (a piece of the bone got pulled off) by the ligament attached on impact. The doctor said he needed a hard cast for 6 weeks. Andrew was so surprised and upset! How was he going to work with a cast? Plus, neither of us have ever broken a bone before. So they put it on and the whole way home Andrew was in disbelief! He couldn't write with the cast on since it is his right hand and couldn't move his arm in the way he needed to to do some of his manual therapy.

We got Than, went home and working on getting a hold of the highway patrol to see if the report was done for the insurance. Later, Andrew's dad came to get him to take him to the tow lot. They ended up just cutting a deal to sell them the car (since it was toast) for the price of the towing and storage. We wouldn't have gotten much from her even without the accident so, it didn't really matter. He met up with the patrol later. We got the insurance squared away etc.

I made cookies for my neighbor who had been at the hospital all the previous night with her little boy in the afternoon. I thoguht to myself, "babies are more important than cars" and it was nice to think about someone else! That night, we were exhausted from the letdown of the whole ordeal.

THURSDAY

Andrew went back to work. I had to wake up with him at 5 to help him get the bag on his arm to shower. Right after he left, Than threw up/spit up in bed. It didn't smell like sick and I figured it was kind of a fluke since he has a sensative gag reflex- he must have just coughed too hard. Than and I went on a cleaning rampage. We mopped and vacuumed and organized etc etc. It felt really good. But by the afternoon, I was getting pretty tired out physically! Andrew called me again to tell me the day went ok, better than he thought, and that he was done with his paperwork. But, he was going to stop by the hand therapist/surgeon to see if they could redo his cast since it was really poking at him.

He calls about an hour later saying he was just leaving. He was SO happy! Turned out he went down to the hand surgeon to chat. They redid all of his x-rays. The confirmed the diagnosis but said that he didn't need a hard cast. He cut it off and gave him a fancy brace. He can now write, take it off to shower etc. He was soo excited. I was so glad because he can more easily do his job. I told him I wasn't going to treat him as much as an invalid anymore and that he was going to be back to chores again :) When he got home, he took Than to his parents to watch the BYU game, since we don't get it here. I tutored my students and then Andrew came to get me. We had dinner there (Pat and Alisha fed us again!) and watched the game. It was such a crazy game! All of this was good but then:

We put Than to bed, watched the weather and then fell into bed ourselves. An hour later, Than is hacking in his room and screaming. I ran into his room and he had thrown up all over the bed again. This time it was sooo gross. I pulled off all of his clothes, wiped him down and put him in bed with Andrew. Andrew just rubbed his back and surprisingly lay there with him! It didn't get on the floor or anything so I changed the sheets, wiped down the crib and threw everything in the laundry. I wiped him off again with soap this time (since he still reeked), got him a little drink and put him back to bed. An hour later, it happened again! This time, I had to put him in the tub. Andrew stripped the bed and then got back in bed with Than after he was done being bathed while I put everything in the washer. I only have 2 sheets and the other was in the dryer, so I just put him in bed with us. He would only sleep cuddled right next to me so of course I didn't sleep since I was nearly falling off the bed. About 2-3 hours later I finally decided I'd had enough since he was starting to cry off and on at this point, remade his bed and put him down. It was about 3 or 4 am now. I still hadn't slept more than a few minutes. Luckily, he slept in until 8:30.

Once Andrew left for work, Than had only had a few ounces of apple juice. I got him to in the high chair to eat something for real when he threw up apple juice everywhere. So, we cleaned him up and stripped him down.. I fed him a little bland baby cereal. He wanted his binky and bear and blanket. So I put him down for a nap at 10:30 since he seemed like he wanted to go down. I was about to shower but decided I'd better wait a little longer incase he threw up again. Low and behold, he threw up. This time all over everything including the carpet. Bath. Wash carpet. Wash the sheets for the 4th time in 10 hours and wait for them to dry again. Thank goodness for washing machines! I'm so grateful!! I called the doctor just to talk about him not keeping anything down. She said probably is an intestinal virus and to just watch for dehydration. I gave him an ounce of juice then we waited. He got another one a half hour later. Then he got 3 quarter size bites of bread. A half hour later- another ounce. I kept him up for a little after and read to him. He had started the diarrhea at his point which was awesome. Finally, everything seemed calm enough to put him to bed again at 12:30. I don't think I've prayed for a child to not throw up and take a nap so fervently before! I'm already bushed! The good thing, though, is that I have finally gotten a hold of my stomach. Had this happened a few weeks before- I couldn't have done it! Thank goodness for the second trimester! We spent the morning in our underwear-both of us. I decided it wasn't worth changing our clothes every few minutes. I know that him getting sick is nothing new. All parents have done it. We've done this before. But man, tagged on to everything over the past few days it's almost funny! Just pray I don't get it- at this point I'm not sure if my stomach is a little queasy from the amount of cleaning on no sleep or the loveliness of the virus!

I just finished a book called Shanghai Girls and the narrator comments about how people say bad things come in threes. 1. Car accident. 2. Intestinal virus with lots of throw up. 3. ?

We'll see! But whatever comes our way- we'll be happy. Life is good. We have the gospel to give us perspective. We have our little family. And I still say that my life is great!

Here are some pictures of the car! If you hear of a great deal on a car, let us know! Now, I think I'll finally shower too.

drat

2011-03-17T14:11:00.001-06:00

I wrote a big update blog. Long. Detailed. Insightful. Internet hit a bump right when I went to publish. The draft didn't save. Now you'll just have to make up all kinds of exciting and amazing things that we've been up to. Maybe I'll try again later.

Big Boy

2011-03-08T13:11:00.002-07:00

going through pictures

2011-03-04T13:07:00.003-07:00

Not to draw attention away from the exciting GIRL post, but I found this video today and thought I'd share. Aren't those boys goofy?

PS: I hate those kitchen curtains and I need to put up my new ones this weekend!

It's a...

2011-03-04T12:23:00.002-07:00

GIRL!!!!

The little stinker was alive and cute and kicking and wiggling. And trying not to let us see her parts. But we think we got the shot. Hooray! Andrew and I were not surprised, but we are so excited to know and call the baby a her. On the 6th of April I'll have my big ultrasound with the hospital tech and so we'll get a confirmation. He told me not to buy anything pink yet until we're sure... I didn't tell him that I already bought girl crib bedding about a month ago! (It was on clearance and way cute! How could I pass it up?)

So, hooray! Thanks for voting, friends!

Than at 17

2011-02-28T10:24:00.003-07:00

Short and Sweet. No pictures because I've been lazy (I need to change that). Thanners is 17 months. He's hilarious. He's also such a toddler.

He says "NO" a lot. and it's a good no. Not the cute little "oohhn" he used to say but full fledged no... a lot. He even says no when he doesn't really mean it- just to assert his will. Luckily, there are a few "yeah"s in there, too.

He loves Super Why on PBS. Because of Super Why, he loves the alphabet and the alphabet songs. He loves the magnet letters on the fridge. He can say b, e, o, and u. He's still not sure which is which though, if you point them out.

He says please and thank you. His thank you is constantly evolving as he gets more practice. It started as "bite-chew" and is now more like "teint-you". It's super cute.

He is finally pretty much in 18month clothes. He's been wearing the shirts for a while, but the pants are still a little too long. But 12 month pants are high waters now. He wears a size 4 shoe and a size 4 diaper.

We're still in the midst of figuring out 1 nap or 2. We were on one nap last week then realized he was wayyyy to cranky and put him back on 2 and he's a little happier now. I think that was because he was sick though. So now, we're back on 1. Hopefully making it a routine. He wakes up like clockwork at 7:45 now too. It doesn't matter when he goes down.

He never stops moving. He looooves to climb. On everything. He loves to play chase with his dad. He pretty much loves playing everything with his dad.

He loves music. He wants the ipod plugged in and playing. He leads the music all the time. He likes to watch Music and Spoken Word on Sunday mornings and hymns are his favorite part of church (he kind of likes the sacrament too).

He loves to pray. He folds his arms and waits sometimes to remind us we need to pray before he eats.

He loves to run and read and laugh. He has two teeth on top and four on the bottom. I swear he lives off of cheese. He loves straws and loves to drink from straws. He's getting taller than we think he is, so he reaches things on the dresser or table that we thought were out of reach. He loves to mimick words, actions etc.

He's just all around cute. He's also nursery bound!

What's Your Guess?

2011-02-22T13:46:00.004-07:00

Boy? Girl? See poll on the side bar.

We'll find out on March 3, assuming the baby cooperates!

Week 13 and Other Updates

2011-02-08T11:53:00.004-07:00

13 weeks with Nathaniel

13 weeks with Baby 2

Well, here is the comparison. I've begun being asked by some of my friends and family who don't live in Utah if I'm starting to show yet. Depends on the day. Depends on what I wear. The pooch is definitely a little bigger this go around and I feel like this picture doesn't do it justice. My camera died (batteries) so I couldn't attempt to take another to try to show it better. No matter.

Assuming that I don't throw up today, this will be the 4th day since throwing up last. I think it may perhaps be over. I know I said that before and ate my words, but this time I feel a little better. I feel nausiated still from time to time or have the urge to throw up, but I can control it and just as an overall whole: I am starting to feel more like myself. Hallelujah!

Case in point: I've starting doing stuff. Today I cleaned my bathroom. Don't ask how long it had been since it's last cleaning. I also am halfway through my valentines day wreath. I've had a few snags like only one store still had a heart wreath foam or atleast still had it in stock, and that wreath foam is 9" when I wanted 12". It will be kind of a mini, but I'm actually doing.

Nathaniel has learned to say no. Sort of. He says "oohhnnn" instead. Kind of funny.

On Sunday we had my brothers up for Brett's 23rd birthday. It was really fun. Andrew and I made pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad, a green salad, beans and at Brett's request, a Funfetti cake. We got to talk and hang out and it was really nice to spend time together.

I'm in the midst of 4 novels at the same time.

I can't wait because on the 3rd of March we will (hopefully) find out what this baby is! We're excited!

His First Bandaid and a Health Concern

2011-01-28T13:25:00.005-07:00

Last night, I was feeling way too crummy to give Nathaniel a bath. So, I made Andrew a deal: you bathe him, I'll dress him. So, they're playing happily in the bath tub and I come in to say hi. Right then, Nathaniel grabs my razor which is on the soap dish/rack thing. We usually take it out of the bath before he gets in, but yesterday we both forgot. He firmly grabbed it by the head and someone (I don't remember if it was Andrew or me) got it out of his hand. We looked at his hand and said, "Well that was close." No blood, no nothing. Nathaniel whined a bit during the rest of the bath and we couldn't figure out why.

So, Andrew gets him out and brings him to me and I get him all dressed for bed. As I'm zipping up his sleeper I notice a little red line on his nose. Hmm... that looks like blood. I look at his pointer finger and see a little. I thought maybe this was just a tiny knick from the razor and wiped it off only to realize his middle finger was pretty bloody. It was definitely the middle finger that got it. So, Andrew takes him and gets a tissue and presses on it to get it to stop bleeding. To distract him, I brush his teeth while he's being held and we let him play with his good hand with the mirrors in the bathroom. After a few minutes, we take the tissue away and it immediately begins flowing blood again.

So, we try again. Still, it isn't stopping. I decide to get a bandaid so we can have constant pressure and let him play for a bit. He did not like the bandaid. It was just a plain brown one. We went to the kitchen and let him play with his toys. Every couple of seconds he'd look at it and go "buh-buh" trying to say "band aid" because that's what he told him it was. At one point he's pulling at it and we say, "No, it has to stay on for a while." And he gives the most pathetic look. He pops out that bottom lip, gets teary eyed and looks like he's going to cry. He pulled it together at the last second and didn't. Instead, he wanted to read a book on Andrew's lap. They're reading and the poor kid looks SO tired. So we decide, we need to hurry this along. We didn't really want to send him to bed with a band aid incase he bit it off or something so we decided it had been like 25 minutes, it had to be done. We take off the bandaid and the dang cut is still bleeding. Not just like a little red here and there. Granted, not a flood but a steady stream. We have to keep wiping it off.

That's when I bust out the Neosporin and the CARS BANDAIDS. I forgot I'd had them (one of our purchases when we were trying to drain our flex spending account before over the counters were no longer allowed). So, we convince him that this is a good bandaid because it has a car. Vroom Vroom. He's making the noises a little and keeps pointing to the car with his other hand. He still didn't love it but it was a little better. The kid is so tired that Andrew takes him into his room and rocks him in the chair. Thanny just laid his head down on his dad and drooled all over his shoulder nearly falling asleep. We decided to just chance it with him going to bed with the bandaid because we didn't know when the bleeding would stop. It was fine because he was so tired he didn't have the energy to mess with it. And it stayed on until this morning. He finally pulled it off around 11 this morning and it looks decent. It's 3 little cuts from the 3 blades and looks a little red. But atleast no more blood.

So, why tell this story? Other than the fact that he was so cute with not liking the bandaid and that Andrew got a really, really good cuddle from the boy-- I now have a medical question. Did I give my Von Willebrands to Nathaniel? Was it just a good cut and babies bleed more or does he have a slower clot time just like me? This is really good to know because I was under the impression that he was a good clotter since at his 6 week appointment they couldn't get a good bleed on his heel prick. But he did bleed well once they stopped using that little click poker thing and just jabbed him with a needle (it was an AWFUL day- it took like 9 pricks to finally get what they were looking for). So, sometime I'm probably going to have to get his levels looked at and see if he's got anything going on. I need to know this for if he has a serious injury, a bad broken bone, tonsillectomy some day etc. I'm not allowed to have surgeries or have babies without the medication and I'd hate to not know he needed it too if anything happens. So, I'm sure it isn't a super serious version- like mine isn't- but it's good to know. So, Andrew felt really bad about it being on his bath watch that he got razored, but I was a little grateful because now I know I have something to watch for. And thank you Cars band aids for making last night a little bit brighter.

16 months

2011-01-27T14:13:00.005-07:00

Than is 16 months. If you came by to see Nathaniel, you'd probably see him doing the following things:

1. Pointing at everything with his one pointer finger. Sometimes he just points and follows that direction, even if it is opposite the way you told him to go.

2. Has started whining a bit. Andrew and I have tried teaching him a few words to use instead and it's really helping. His most used word is "bite-uh" or "bite-ee" depending on whether Andrew or I are imitating it. He loves to stand below the cabinet that holds the crackers and point and say "bite-uh". He asks for them all day long. He's beginning to use that word in place of other things. For example, he has said 'up' to get up. But now, when you ask him what he needs when he wants up he'll tell you "bite-uh".

3. Sorry to you sensitive people out there (ha) but Nathaniel loves to say "pee pee". I'm often referring to what is in the diaper but he means the real deal down there. He has to check that it is there whenever his pants come off. He also says "pee pee" whenever you change his diaper.

4. He loves to overturn his toy crate in the living room, turn it over and use it to climb on the ottoman or couch. Once he's on the couch, he likes to pull all of the pillows off. That or hold the remote and pretend to watch TV.

5. He calls to the parent who is not there at the time. If I had a penny for everytime he said "dadda" or "dad" during the day, I'd be very rich. People then ask if he's a daddy's boy. He does adore his dad, yes. But, if Andrew has him guess what he's constantly yelling. "Mom!"

6. He suddenly has an interest in my belly. I don't think it has anything to do with the fact that he has a baby brother or sister in there. Maybe it's because it's getting more jiggly and he thinks it's funny. Not to mention my belly button is already a complete disaster from my last pregnancy- he likes to poke it and laugh. I don't blame him, it is weird.

7. He loves Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree. He will constantly hold his hands up and bob them up and down (for the popcorn move) or fold his arms and swing back and forth (for I can take an armful and make a treat) to let you know he requests a singing to. He also loves Old McDonald and if you sing "Old McDonald had a farm..." he'll finish the "e-i-e-i-o". Adorable. Will he ever do it for the camera or anyone on the phone? No.

8. Nathaniel just cut two more teeth on the bottom so he now has 6 teeth. He loves to get his teeth brushed at night. I think he likes the way the tutti-fruitti 'training' toothpaste tastes.

9. He officially began taking one nap a day- yesterday. It's going ok. But, he sleeps about 13 hours straight at night, so I guess it's only fair.

10. He likes to answer with "yeah" now. "Do you want more juice?" "Yeah." "Do you want to play with your phone?" "Yeah". It is the funniest thing. Only, he doesn't really get it because you'll say, "Are you done with your yogurt?" "Yeah" "Ok, you do want more yogurt?" "Yeah". Oh well. He's learning!

How many times can I say it? I just love this little guy.

Basket

2011-01-25T12:31:00.003-07:00

This is how Thanny helps me do my Monday laundry.

Step 1: dump out clean clothes on the floor

Step 2: put basket on head

Step 3: run around laughing

Observations About Pregnancy Two

2011-01-22T09:59:00.002-07:00

Well, 11 weeks is here. I know I'm spoiled for even assuming that I wouldn't be sick after this point as there are those out there that never get relief (aka my sister-in-law Alicia). But, I was hoping and hoping for it to be done. Not yet. Granted, I feel better than I have. I get up and showered. I clean my house sometimes. Sometimes I even take Thanny somewhere. But I'm still struggling to eat breakfast. Struggling to eat lunch. And often struggle to eat dinner. I still throw up every day (I'm sure you wanted to know) and if I happen to have one day that I don't, I make up for it the next day by doing it multiple times. I can tell things are improving though. This pregnancy has been a little harder already than my first. Some things I wanted to remember for next time were the following:

-My stomach is really sensitive to any pressure. Even my maternity jeans sometimes feel like they're going to make me sick because they push on it. I don't know how to explain it but sometimes I feel like I don't know how to "hold" my stomach. I catch myself trying to figure it out sometimes by trying to breathe out and relax it or sometimes I'm tightening my muscles and sucking it in. It's been very weird because that never happend with Than. I'll just have to get more pairs of lounging pants and only wear real pants when I go out.

-I'm more consistently nausiated. With Thanny I felt like I had highs and lows. I'd be fine, then have a sick spell, throw up be done with it for the day or atleast a few hours. Repeat. This baby is like nausea, nausea, nausea, throw up, 5 minutes of relief and then continue.

-I don't have particular "aversions" or "cravings". Last time I could make a list of stuff I didn't like. This time, I usually am all over the board. It usually has something to do with eating it repeatedly. If I eat it once (like dinner) I'm done with it and don't want it anymore. Basically, nothing really sounds great. Once again, I am sick of eating and sick of crackers. This time I get sick drinking water. So I'm always thirsty (and I'm sure dehydrated) but can't get myself to drink more. It's kind of a weird feeling.

- I've heard rumors that the second pregnancy goes faster than the first. Mostly because you're busy caring for the other kid. I don't believe it. This feels like it is going slow. Maybe when the weather warms up and we can do stuff again, it will fly a little quicker. Even Andrew commented yesterday that this baby is going really slow...

-We should find out what it is in 5 weeks! I can't wait for that. I want to be able to call it "he" or "she". I want to know if I need to go on a girl shopping adventure or whether I'll just be reusing and revamping a few boy things.

So anyway, all in all things are great. I can't complain- just observe, be grateful and remind myself how badly I wanted another little baby and that throwing up is totally worth it. Because it is. Especially if I get another one like Nathaniel. I'd hit the jack pot.

Love. Of. Babies.

2011-01-19T10:46:00.003-07:00

This is a common sight at our house. Nathaniel hugging and loving any one or combination of his "babies" or stuffed animals. If it is soft, it gets loves. Here he is with Blue Bear (still the favorite), snuggle bear and puppy. He sleeps with three babies at night now. He's a lover.

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years: A Quick Recap

2011-01-19T10:20:00.010-07:00

Christmas Eve:

We drove down to Riverton to have Christmas Eve with my siblings (minus Lexy). We made the usual Swedish Smorgasborg dinner which included swedish meatballs, cream noodles, beans, jello and the addition of roasted broccoli and mashed carrots-potatoes. We had rice pudding for dessert. It's tradition to hide a nut in someones bowl of rice pudding. Whoever gets it (in our family) gets to open (and keep) the new tree ornament. Alicia and I both tried to cover our bases and each got one for the winner not knowing the other person had. It's been long standing that Brett wins... everything. So, there was a lot of trash talk. Brad was the lucky winner. His tree has two new ornaments on it this year. On the way home, we stopped by a home in Herriman that had the crazy lights and music broadcast on the radio. It was very, very entertaining. Also, I began wearing my maternity jeans on Christmas Eve. I'm sure it was more bloating than actual growth, but I definitely grew out of my jeans a lot faster this time around. Pardon the goofy picture. I planned on doing a compare and contrast with it. (I was 7 weeks and it looked like my 12 week after dinner belly with Nathaniel.)

Christmas Day:

We spent Christmas Day at Andrew's parents house. Nathaniel got lots of fun toys and we got some nice things as well. He got trucks, which he plays with everyday, from Carter on the cousin Christmas exchange. He also got a fire truck from mom and dad that he can ride that makes sounds and music. He loves that! Cousin Lily was nice and pushed him around on it a little that morning. He got a cement truck mixer with jingly balls in it to keep at Grandma's house for when he comes over, too. A note on those jammies: I took Than to the store with me when he needed new 18 mo jams and held up two and said, "Which do you want?" He grabbed the monsters (that have monster feet) without hesitation and hugged them as we wheeled around the store. He likes his monster jammies.

New Years:

We spent New Years at Andrew's parents again. Aren't my brothers-in-law snazzy dressers? I barely made it til midnight this year- I was exhausted. We had an Italian theme dinner which was yummy. At midnight, we popped those streamer poppers from the porch and caught a glimpse of the annual Christmas tree bonfire down the street. Happy 2011!

Meet Baby Number Two!

2011-01-05T10:27:00.004-07:00

A little blurry and zoomed in- but here is baby!

Coming August 2011!

We're almost 9 weeks along and super excited!

15 Months

2010-12-21T11:21:00.006-07:00

Not Nathaniel at 15 months, but still a cute picture with his Rowberry cousins.

Nathaniel will be 15 months on Sunday. I figured that I'd better get some things down about him before the Christmas and New Years festivities start and I forget to record what he's been up to. *This is long: It's more for me than anything so beware the length and obvious mother infatuation.*

At 15 Months, Nathaniel:

weighs about 24-25 lbs
has 3 teeth: 2 on bottom and 1 on top
always has some bump or bruise on his head
never sits still (especially at church)
has a little pot belly
still has chubby little hands and feet
laughs and giggles a lot
pats on his tummy, claps his hands and leads the music
is still very, very high pitched in his squealing
loves animals and animal sounds
is experimenting with different sounds and sound combinations
loves to be chased by his dad
teases his mom
plays hide and seek with his hands over his eyes (and he peeks a lot)
gives lots of quick loves and hugs
began playing in the bath tub with toys
still loves his blue bear and binkie
loves using the rails to climb up and down the stairs like a 'big boy'
loves cars and firetrucks and makes sounds for them as he pushes them
loves balls and books
loves milk, clementine oranges, 'toast bites' from dad and cheese
likes pulling ornaments off of the Christmas tree, hitting the power button on the surge protector, gnawing on the side of the ottoman and whatever other mischief he needs to do to get some attention (dad loves this...)
likes to go "bye-bye" in the car and ride in carts at the store
loves opening the doors in the house that have handles
enjoys anything that involves putting things in a container and/or pulling things out of a container
loves sticking magnet letters to the fridge and dishwasher
is back onto sleeping about 11 hours at night without waking up (except when he wets through his diaper)

Some things Nathaniel says: "bye-bye", "hiya" and "hiyiya", "dada", "mama", "baba", "gama" (grandma), "gampa" (grandpa), "boo-beh" (blue bear), "oww" and "e-i-e-i-o"

Yesterday, Nathaniel was totally teasing me. He is very, very selective about when he says "mama". He knows that I like when he says it and so he is a stinker about it. So he was on the stairs and we were making sounds to eachother. I'd say, "na-na-na-na" and he'd sat it back. "e-i-e-i-o" (like Old McDonald) and he'd repeat it. "oww", his monkey noise "oo-oo-oo" etc. Then, I said "Say MaMa!" and he smiles and says, "DADAAAA!" and I said "No, say mama" and he says "DAADDAAA DDADDA". He was totally teasing me! He wouldn't say it and was smiling. He knew he was saying dada instead of mama just to be a stinker. Finally, about 5 minutes later he goes running through the kitchen saying "MAMA!"

His dad has been asking him to try to say words lately instead of whine, which is funny. And sometimes he listens! At dinner the other night he was pointing to dad's water and whining. So, I told him, "If you want dad's water, you need to say 'dada' to ask him." So he thought about it for a second and looks at his dad and says, "Dada!" Then he got a drink. He was pretty pleased.

Nathaniel loves puppets. We have a monkey and a girl puppet. He brings it up to you and makes a monkey sound. The monkey one squeaks and the girl one doesn't do anything. So with the monkey, he grabs his tummy and doubles over and giggles. With the girl he sticks his hand in her mouth and says, "oww".

Nathaniel loves his Jesus picture. One night, Nathaniel woke up for no real reason. So, Andrew picked him up and rocked him for a second before putting him back down. Andrew noticed that half asleep, Thanny wiggled his arm out of the blanket and started waving at Jesus. He does this lots of times now when he goes to bed. Other times he'll run up to the wall where the picture is hanging and wave or reach his arms up and start giggling.

A Mother Heart

2010-12-16T12:10:00.007-07:00

This morning I decided to reread Julie B. Beck's talk "A Mother Heart" from the April 2004 General Conference. One of the parts that always sticks out to me the most is this:

"She believes that to be 'primarily responsible for the nurture of her children' is a vital, dignified and sacred responsibility. To nurture and feed them physically is as much an honor as to nurture and feed them spiritually. She is 'not weary in well-doing' and delights to serve her family because she knows that 'out of small things proceedeth that which is great'."

Diapers, dishes and an hour of trying to figure out what Nathaniel will eat for lunch is an honor. This quote helps me to refocus and get back out of myself when the everyday threatens to become mundane. I love being a mother. I love my son. And when I do step back from cleaning up the toys for the 50th time, I remember that it is an honor- something I always wanted. I'm raising one of Heavenly Father's children in my home. And I hope that I have a genuine Mother Heart.

You should read the talk. It's a good one.

2010-12-13T10:28:00.003-07:00

Today is Santa Lucia Day. Growing up, my family celebrated Santa Lucia Day each year- just not in the "traditional" way. We would have swedish pancakes early in the morning together before school and seminary. My mom would light candles. The reason is probably because I, being the oldest daughter, could not get myself up in the morning to be "Santa Lucia" and bring my family a warm drink and sweet bread in the morning. We never wore the outfit, but my mom did buy me the American Girl Doll, Kirsten, and the Santa Lucia clothing. I put her up at Christmas time in her outfit.

So, I was full of big plans to begin celebrating Santa Lucia with my family this year now that we have our own house. I told Andrew not to eat cereal in the morning (unless I was too tired and then we'd have a cereal Santa Lucia breakfast). I didn't make Swedish Pancakes. Instead I made great grain pancakes (with whole wheat flour, cornmeal and oatmeal and white flour in them). The three of us ate together and I told one of the versions of Santa Lucia out there. Unfortunately, I didn't do any candles or anything very cute. And I realized this morning that poor Kirsten is still packed away! I'll have to get her out today and dress her up. I did snap some pictures of the boys eating breakfast, but we don't have the cable to plug our camera into the computer yet- so those will come later.

It's always been very fun for me and my family to celebrate our Swedish traditions. I guess it's that Elijah promise, the hearts turning to the fathers. I feel close to my family and heritage when we at least make an effort to celebrate and remember. My grandpa, Erland was Swedish and I think it is so neat that he spoke Swedish in the home as a little boy (right, Mom? I hope I'm remembering correctly).

Family and heritge and traditions- especially at the Christmas season- are so important. We celebrate with the Swedish Smorgasborg on Christmas Eve every year. This year, Brad, Alicia, Brett, Andrew and I are having our own on Christmas Eve afternoon to keep the tradition going. Meatballs, beans, swedish noodles, dopi gretin (if we can) and rice pudding.

Information about Santa Lucia and the celebration are sort of varying. Here are a few links with more information and songs.

The Santa Lucia Song in English

Santa Lucia Song performance

Saint Lucy or Santa Lucia on Wikipedia

The story I told Nathaniel is this:

Santa Lucia was a little girl that was a Christian. Christianity was against the law in Sweden at this time. When Santa Lucia's mother bcame ill she prayed for her. Her mother got better but the government found out and had her condemned to death. Santa Lucia Day is celebrated in honor of this little girl's faith. Sweden celebrates Santa Lucia Day by having the oldest girl in each family dress in a white robe and wear a wreath of lighted candles and leaves. The girl wakes up her family and serves them sweet rolls and hot chocolate.

I also read that obviously the candles represent light and her bare feet represent charity.

Near Excitement

2010-12-10T14:45:00.003-07:00

Well, here is my last post written from my borrowed computer. I hope. We have gotten our brand spankin' new computer in the mail. Last night we were super excited- Andrew especially. We unfortunately came to the realization that we didn't have anything to put said desktop computer on as we have always had laptops. So, after my tutoring last night (more on that later) we made a mad dash to Walmart and Target to find some sort of desk/table that we liked. Poor Than was super tired, but was very well behaved. I think he knew that his dad was uber excited. We hurried and found one, after worrying that it wouldn't fit in the car (this has happened before to us...many times...) we managed to squeeze it in and hurry home.

We got Than to bed and then while Andrew assembled the table, I tried to make a clear space in our abominable downstairs room (if you've seen it, you know what I mean. Disaster.) We made room. We set up the table. We unpacked everything. Andrew plugged in all of the gear and left our monitor for last. Only to discover that while it is DVI and VGA capable (I only know the letters, I still am clueless about computers)... it only came with a DVI cord. Our computer is VGA.

Andrew's shoulders sank. It was so sad! We debated a few times whether or not to have him run to the store but we decided not to since it was already late. Talk about lame. So, instead we had some mint chocolate chip ice cream and watched a Muppet Christmas carol. However, I was already so exhausted by this point that I fell asleep. Andrew will be purchasing that monitor cable on the way home from work this evening. Then, we'll have to call Digis and get our computer recognized by them to get internet and then... after much adieu...NEW COMPUTER! We can't wait!

Update

2010-11-29T15:10:00.003-07:00

Well...November. November was filled with this little guy. I've been really bad at recording the latest and greatest. So, in no particular order Nathaniel has discovered the joys of opening doors (levers, not knobs); turning in circles; walking backwards; playing on the stairs (and falling a few times); sort of being able to stand up from crawl to standing position without anything to pull up on; 3 teeth! finally! He has two on bottom and a snaggletooth on the top; running and running and running; growing out of his size 3 shoes; having a huge growth spurt and is now about 25 lbs we think; loves to laugh and be silly. He is such a happy little guy and he is just hilarious.

November was filled with our computer still being infected with viruses and probably getting a few more. Joy. Andrew and I decided a new computer is in order for Christmas. Paying bills etc online is kind of a necessity. (I'm closing pop ups left and right as I write this).

November was filled with Thanksgiving! I loved having Andrew home for break. Today I was a little depressed when he had to go back to work. So, we're trying to stay busy. While he was home we did some shopping, decorated for Christmas (AFTER Thanksgiving), decorated our Christmas tree and just hung around. Brett came to our Thanksgiving this year which was fun. We were all at the Frost's.

November was snowy. But, since I didn't really have to go out in it much, it was just pretty to look at.

I am grateful grateful grateful for my life. I feel like even though things aren't perfect, this is probably one of the happiest times in my life right now. And I'm grateful for that realization. Ends are meeting. Ways are being opened up. I'm grateful for a warm house. With a furnace at works. And a roof. I'm grateful for a wonderful husband who loves me. I'm grateful for my little boy who makes me so happy. I'm grateful for a body that works and can do what is required of it. I'm grateful for always having food to eat and clothes to wear. I'm grateful for the gospel and for Jesus Christ especially. I'm grateful that it is the Christmas season!

So, there may not be another blog post until we get the Christmas computer. But, we're doing well over here at the Frost home.

Nathaniel Loves Diggers and Naps

2010-11-04T11:15:00.002-06:00

Nathaniel is turning into a little boy. He loves diggers and any sort of construction equipment. They're doing lots of work up the street by the ponds and so we watch them working everyday, digging and dumping gravel and dirt. One of the truck drivers even waved and honked to him after dumping his load yesterday and he was in heaven. So now, there is a digger across the street and Thanny stands looking out the window a lot while laughing. It's really funny.

All tired out after going on a walk and watching the diggers.

Halloween

2010-11-03T11:52:00.004-06:00

This is Nathaniel this year on Halloween. Eating a little snack.

This is what Nathaniel looked like last Halloween. Snoozing in his bouncer.

Thanny and I made pies for Halloween. They were probably my best pie crusts yet! I made a chocolate one for Andrew, and a pumpkin one for me.

When Dad got home, we went over to Grandma Frost's house and showed off the Monkey costume that we borrowed from our neighbors, the Nielsens. Thanny didn't mind wearing it at all- he ran around like usual. At home, he was making monkey sounds but he wouldn't make them on demand while in his suit... of course.

Nathaniel is dwarfing his new little cousin, Megan.

Unfortunately, Halloween was rainy. We went to three houses in between two big rain showers.

It was cool to trick or treat with a rainbow though.

We went home and changed out of our wet clothes. We had a handful of trick or treaters who were brave enough to weather the rain. Everytime they would knock, Thanny would stand at the top of the stairs and freak out. He'd bounce and squat while squeaking and yelling. Then he'd try to get down the stairs in time to try to say hi... or get outside, when Andrew had the door open. Unfortunately for him, the door would close once he got to the bottom. But it was sure cute!

Then we had Pat, Alisha and Megan over for dinner: chicken and pumpkin pasta. Then Jamie and the kids came over for pie. We all watched The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Of course the next day, 'Sunday Halloween' was beautiful. We went down to Brad and Alicia's house for chili and cornbread.

Finally... The House Pictures

2010-10-20T20:41:00.003-06:00

I finally got outside and took some pictures of our 'new' house on Saturday. We've been here in Kaysville for about 3 months and love it! For those of you who saw it with that ugly fence, doesn't it look so much better? Come visit us!

(Those poor flower beds against the house need some serious love... at least they're not overgrown with weeds anymore!)

how can you not love this face?

2010-10-18T15:16:00.001-06:00

Megan Joy

2010-10-14T10:59:00.002-06:00

This is sweet Megan Joy. She was born yesterday morning. She was 6lb 15oz and 20 inches long. Congrats Pat and Alisha!

Pack's Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-11T15:20:00.004-06:00

On Saturday, the three of us went to Pack's Pumpkin Patch in Farmington. It was nice to get outside and do something 'fall-ish'. Nathaniel loved being outside, and since he was wearing his big boy shoes, he could walk everywhere himself. They had a hay maze for the little kids. Nathaniel started marching away, but then every 30 seconds, he'd try to turn around and go back the way he came. Andrew ended up carrying him through most of it. We walked around in the pumpkin patch for a while before picking a good sized pumpkin for Andrew. Nathaniel really liked walking off the trail to go pat the pumpkins. At the end, we rummaged through a bin of small pumpkins for Nathaniel. It was a fun afternoon!

Birthday Bash and 12 Month Check Up

2010-09-27T17:18:00.008-06:00

We had so much fun celebrating Nathaniel's Birthday. I think he knew there was something exciting going on and so he was really happy and silly all morning.

This was the face he gave us as we sang "Happy Birthday" to him.

Nathaniel carried the cake mix box around with him before we baked it, all the while making silly faces and goofy noises.

The infamous "Blue Bear" cake. Blue Bear was Nathaniel's first word. He loves that silly little bear. So we had to make a Blue Bear Birthday cake in his honor. Here he is before frosting.

Dad and Thanny playing with toys before church. We pulled out some forgotten new toys from Christmas and so it was like he had two birthday parties- lucky ducky. He loves them! (I know the 'curtains' horrid- they're blankets tacked up over the windows... hopefully real, cute curtains will be coming soon.)

We had dinner at Brad and Rosemary's. We had pasta and meat sauce, corn on the cob and salad for dinner. Thanny's favorites (except salad). After his noodles, he enjoyed eating some corn and then sucking on a corn cob. We really only had the corn on the cob so that he could chew on the corn cob.

Here's the bear with his fur on! Not an exact replica, but he served his purpose! It was really fun- more fun for Andrew and me than for Nathaniel!

The real Blue Bear with his cake twin.

Trying to get Nathaniel to pose with the bear AND the bear cake. Yeah right.

Nathaniel wasn't too shy, he picked up the cake, got dirty and licked the frosting off of his hands. It was so cute.

And then he was very finished and wanted to get down. I think he hated that he couldn't get that clump of cake and frosting off of his palm.

Presents! Everyone was so sweet and generous. Nathaniel doubled his toy amount in one night, I'd reckon. He loved this ball at the party the most. Now that the toys are home, I think he gives equal attention to all of them. He also got some cute clothes, and a pair of really cute shoes. Today he wore them to the doctor and looked like a little boy.

Cousin Elinor was there, as you can see! All of Thanny's cousins were there: Carter, Lily, Elinor, Johnny and soon to be born Megan (unless her name gets changed once she's actually born in a few days).

Today I took Nathaniel to the doctor. He is doing really well. In honor of being a year, he had scrambled eggs for lunch and really liked it. We got real cows milk on the way home from the doctor too- no more formula! Nathaniel got 4 shots today and he screamed until the nurse gave him a sucker. Then he took that sucker and started sucking on it like he'd had one before (he hasn't). He made such a mess on the way to the car and riding home in the car (don't worry, I was making sure he wasn't going to choke on the stick) and in Smith's to get more Tylenol- but it was worth it because he sure was happy! Here are the stats:

Height: 30 inches 58th percentile
Weight: 21 lb 9 oz 31st percentile
Head: 19 inches 92nd percentile

That's why he looks a little like a lollipop on a stick- because this little 31% body is trying to balance a 92% head! He's such a doll.

ONE YEAR!

2010-09-24T18:07:00.005-06:00

It will sound cliche. I know everyone says it. And, I know I've said something like this every month. But:

I CANNOT BELIEVE I HAD NATHANIEL A YEAR AGO!

It feels like he's been here forever, so how could it only have been one year? On the other hand, it went so fast and I can't believe we're back to September again. Last year, I never really said a whole lot about the day of his birth, so I guess now is as good a time as any.

My due date was October 4. I was still working full-time at Cook Elementary. I felt good. I still had yet to have a contraction.c I was really, really ready to have this baby. I had been to work all day on the 25th and the school threw me a baby shower after school that day. My sub plans were put out every day after I went home just in case I didn't make it back the next day. The next morning, Saturday, I still felt good. But I felt like we really needed to get some last minute things done. I wanted the carseat in the car. I wanted the car cleaned. I wanted laundry done. So, we got up and put the carseat in. We went down by Smith's to use the vacuum thing and cleaned out the car. Then we washed the car in the driveway.

I guess somewhere in there I began to feel a little crampy but I didn't know it. We went in and had some lunch. I told Andrew I had some cramps that came and went. I folded laundry. I told Andrew I still had them and he noticed that there seemed to be getting more and more and a little closer together. So, I felt silly but we decided to "time them". We began to write it down and lo and behold they were about 3-4 minutes apart. I called my mom. She said, "Contractions feel like cramps." Duh! I had started feeling them about 10:30am and it finally dawned on us that we were possibly in labor around 4:30 when the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart. We hurried and showered. We had to pack our hospital bag, just in case (we hadn't gotten around to it yet) and I had to paint my toenails really fast. I didn't want to go into labor without my toenails painted. We went up to Davis Hospital in Layton and I told the lady, "Hi, I'm not sure if I'm in labor or not." She took me into a room and checked me out and said I most definitely was- I was a 5 and fully effaced. Great! We laughed and said, "Really? We're having a baby tonight?" We were completely surprised. I thought for sure they'd send us home saying, "Not this time."

I had to have my blood medication for my Von Willebrands Disease and it had to cycle for 90 minutes before I could have my epidural. Dr. Spencer came in and broke my water and that's when the fun started. I was all happy and pain free (mostly) until then. Then the contractions were really hard. I was praying that the blood medicine would hurry up so I could get that stinking epidural. By the time I got it, I was dialated to 8 cm. As soon as my legs got numb, the nurse just happened to check me one more time and I was a 10 and he was coming! They hurried up and shut off the epidural and hurried Dr. Spencer back in. Everyone was scrambling because they expected me to be ready around 1-2am. It was 9pm.

Once everyone got in there it was about 9:15. It only took about 15 minutes of pushing and Thanny was born at 9:38 p.m! He had tons of thick, dark hair. Like all newborns, he was so swollen and puffy- especially his upper lip. I remember thinking his head was so little. I had been so afraid it would be gargantuan like mine and Andrew's siblings heads. It was in the 20%. He weighted 7lb 8oz and was 21in long. He immediately began to nurse with no issues which was great, since I had no idea what I was doing. The day he was born was General Relief Society Conference and it was 90 degrees outside.

I remember we went home that Monday morning (Sept.28th) and it felt really surreal. We really had a real baby in that carseat? We got home and Andrew put both me and sleeping Nathaniel on the couch in front of the TV and went out to get a Quiznos Sandwich, since neither of us felt up to making anything. I just looked at him and laughed and thought this just was amazing. I actually had him in my arms. A real baby. My baby. I think I will always remember that moment. It was overwhelming- in a good way. I'm sure it won't feel like that again with other babies because I've already done it once. It will be overwhelming in new ways, I'm sure.

All in all, Nathaniel was born about 11 hours after I went into labor. It was fast. It was a surprise, but it was such a sweet day. Andrew was the best. And now, every September 26 we have something- and someone- to celebrate!

So, speaking of Nathaniel, here are some things he is doing now:

Walking! (At 11 mo 2 wks)
Babbling.
Cutting his first tooth (11 mo 4 wks)
Giving lots of hugs and cuddles.
Making funny faces and trying to make us laugh.
Loving his blue bear and his puppy dog.
Loving walks.
Almost ready for size 4 diapers.
Finally making it into 12 mo clothes.
Loving books and babies.
Climbing up and down the stairs...and dropping things down the stairs.
Sleeping 11 hours at night + 2 naps.
Still making high pitched squeals and screams.

Birthday Party Pictures from last night to come!

Meet Nathaniel's New Love...

2010-09-24T17:37:00.002-06:00

The Vacuum.

He follows it around the house. He admires it. He loves to pat it. He climbs up on it. He screeches and screams in delight while it roars (it really does roar- it's super loud). Sometimes he cries when it gets put away. Sometimes he makes a quick break to the basement to go find it.

Six months ago, I never thought I'd be able to vacuum again with the way he cried and screamed in fear. Funny how things change, huh.

A Date

2010-09-21T12:28:00.004-06:00

Andrew and I went on a date on Friday. Hooray for dating! We had a great time. Baby-less and coupons in hand. We went to dinner at Guadalajara's Grill and both had a nice, big plate of Carne Asada- buy one get one free, thanks. Yum. Then we went to Cold Stone and used our gift card to get a free Cookie-Doughn't-You-Want-Some ice cream. And then, we had a buy one get one free mini golfing adventure at "Scary Hill" (Cherry Hill all gussied up for Halloween). We were silly, had deep conversations and enjoyed being together without having to keep a third body occupied.

Once we were done golfing, we went to pick up our sleeping buddy from Grandma's house. I absolutely melted once I saw Nathaniel sleeping soundly with his arm around a teddy bear.

Man, I love both my boys.

we're still very much alive

2010-09-17T12:12:00.002-06:00

I have become a really bad blogger. But, thinking about that, I'm not sure it matters. Saying I'm a bad blogger implies that maybe someone reads this blog. Who knows. But, I've been a bad blogger for my own sake.

I've been busy inviting various home improvement/repair men to the house. Pretty much one a day. We've been getting bids. First, for new windows. Then, for a new furnace. The old one was condemned last week. (He really used that word). So now, we'll be getting a new furnace and probably not the windows.

I've been reading my life away too. I go through reading phases where I just can't get enough and go through book after book. Then I put them away for a little while so that I can get back to real life. I've read 3 books this week. Luckily, I only have 3 more in my stack and then I can take a break. Unless the library emails me to tell me more of my books on hold have come in.

My sister-in-law Jamie and I have been pulling together a baby shower for our other sister-in-law Alisha. Tonight is the big night. Salads, sandwiches, treats, flowers, balloons, games and prizes. It should be fun. I hope my party favors are cute enough!

Nathaniel officially walks. Everywhere. He also officially falls a lot. He also loves to try to get down the stairs to the basement. He even has thought of "excuses" for having to go down. I know he can't talk. He just shows me he has an excuse. "Oops, my ball just happened to fall down through the railing to the bottom of the stairs... and so did that remote. I'd better go get them." I love that he walks. He gets into way more trouble now, but I just chuckle to watch his little Frankenstein walk with his arms straight out for balance. I also love that he likes to give hugs.

I won circus tickets on utahdealdiva. That was exciting.

I started tutoring one little boy who is in second grade. Yesterday was my first time. Don't ask me why I was so nervous. I used to teach 30 of these little guys and one was totally freaking me out. It was probably just that the grandma would be there within earshot, and I just assumed she'd be judging me. I'm so paranoid sometimes. Yes, it went fine. And it was a waste of worrying. (Like basically all of the things I worry about- they always turn out).

Andrew likes his job. He works hard and works late some nights. But, it's good. I'm grateful he found the job he did. He just got called to a new calling. Elders Quorum Secretary. He'll have to learn some new organizational skills. It'll be good.

Life is really good. We're happy. And even though I don't really post very much, we are alive!

11 months

2010-09-03T10:26:00.005-06:00

Here is my last monthly post before Nathaniel is ONE! He turned 11 months about a week ago, but life is crazy and I am never on top of my blogging anymore. I wanted to get these things down so that I remember what my little guy was doing.

Here are some things that Thanny-boy started doing or improved on this month:

He claps a lot. He waves both of his hands and arms back and forth when he's happy or excited (like a double wave) and often gets his feet going too. He has moved his wave from just a straight out arm salute to a real, hand shaking side to side wave. It's really cute. He still likes to wave to lots of things- alive or not.
Nathaniel loves puppies. Real ones or fake ones.
Nathaniel loves babies... at least in books and from a distance.
He still loves his blue bear- sleeps with it, plays with it etc.
Nathaniel learned how to climb up stairs AND goes backwards down the stairs by himself. He needs a little help getting aimed in the right direction to get downstairs on his tummy. He'll often flatten out somewhere in the kitchen and start scooting backwards, only to be headed in the opposite direction!
He still laughs and squeals and squeaks a lot! He makes the cutest high pitched noises. Sometimes he still practices his laugh. He also gives courtesy laughs sometimes, when he's done really laughing, just to make you feel good!
Nathaniel can stand up and could maybe take a few steps on his own, but he's too nervous. He wants you to hold onto him so he doesn't fall. But he loves to cruise and climb on things. He loves to push the chairs around the kitchen.
He loves the vacuum! It was so hard to vacuum before because he's scream and cry. Now it's hard to vacuum because he is always petting it and climbing on it. He sometimes will just crawl after it and park himself a few feet away and constantly reposition himself around it as it moves- all the while, clapping and screaming in delight.
He loves peaches and goldfish crackers the very most at the moment. And cheese. Cheddar cheese.
He absolutely loves bottles. It used to be my stress of how to get him to take one. Now I worry how to get him off of it.
Nathaniel still takes 2 naps a day. At 10 and 3. He goes to bed around 8:00-8:30. On his own. We just put a blanket around him, give him his bink and bear, turn on his sounds, put him down and leave. Then he plays and talks for however long and then goes to bed. No more tears and crying. But, he's been doing this for months. It's awesome. He still sleeps through the night too (except the last week or two he's been waking up for someone to come tuck him in again).
He loves his dad.
He still crosses his ankles- in the stroller, the carseat, the high chair, the tub or playing on the floor. It's so sweet. And goes to show, some tendencies are learned in the womb and they stick!
He loves listening to and watching the garbage truck on Thursday mornings. He loves going on morning walks. He loves balls and books.
He is such a ham. He likes to get the attention of people in stores by laughing loud, then waving or acting "shy" or "cute".
He loves playing in the bathroom! And has started wanting to play in the dishwasher and the trash can, but I don't let him do those last two things.
He loves the bath. He especially loves when at the end, I've let all the water drain out and then turn on the faucet to rinse him with clean water. We yell "Big Water!" and he just gets so excited that he can't hold still- everything twitches and he squeals and sticks his hands in it.
He's still chipper and happy and cheerful about 98% of the time. It's the best trait about this kid.

I am actually really excited about his first birthday. Guess what kind of cake we're going to have? A Bear Cake! But the question is, Brown Bear (like his favorite book) or Blue Bear (like his favorite stuffed friend)?

P.S. Sorry about the no sound and blurry videos. I'll try to re-post those in a little while.

we love you, Biggie Ma

2010-08-19T10:50:00.004-06:00

Andrew, Thanny and I spent a few hours at the hospital last night with many members of his family and extended family. We were there to spend a little more time with this sweet woman, Morene.

She will be leaving us very soon but will be reunited with many loved ones who have gone on before her. I'm sure her husband, one of the men named Bradley that Nathaniel was named after, is so eager to finally be with her again. We will miss her and we love her dearly. We're grateful for all of the memories we have of her. Some of the ones I've been thinking about today as I'm waiting for news are:

* Being so upset that no one told her for two days that Nathaniel had been born. And when she found out, no one could take her to see him until the day of this picture- October 4 General Conference- she was so mad that all she could talk about was how she was about to walk all the way from Murray to Farmington to see him. She couldn't believe no one told her right away and wanted to come up right away. She instantly loved this little boy.

* At Grandma's Christmas party, she still wasn't too keen on her new walker. So instead of using it to walk, she was smashing through a blockade of chairs that was preventing her from where she wanted to go.

* At her last birthday bash (96 years) she wanted to hold Thanny so bad. We let her and she insisted on carrying him in from the deck to the house. He was getting so heavy for her but she did it (with Andrew hovering to make sure she didn't drop him!)

* Her loud voice screaming about what a "biggin'" Thanny was as a little baby. And trying to rock him with his face on her chest when he only wanted to look out- then she would say "Hush! Grandma's trying to rock you. Don't you cry!" And he cried harder. Then she laughed.

The most precious thing to me though is her unconditional and immediate love. She loved and accepted me as one of her granddaughters from the moment I joined the family. She always made me feel loved and welcomed. I feel as if she is my own grandma. We love you Morene.

monday

2010-08-16T15:15:00.005-06:00

Have you ever woken up with the resolve to have a super productive day only to find yourself in the 3:00 p.m. slump with your house a mess? Yeah...sometimes that happens to me too.

Here are the talks I listened to today on my walk with Nathaniel.

And upon the Handmaids in Those Days Will I Pour Out My Spirit
A Mother Heart

"A good woman knows that she does not have enough time, energy, or opportunity to take care of all of the people or do all of the worthy things her heart yearns to do. Life is not calm for most women, and each day seems to require the accomplishment of a million things, most of which are important. A good woman must constantly resist alluring and deceptive messages from many sources telling her that she is entitled to more time away from her responsibilities and that she deserves a life of greater ease and independence. But with personal revelation, she can prioritize correctly and navigate this life confidently..The second general Relief Society president, Eliza R. Snow, said this to the sisters: “ … Women should be women and not babies that need petting and correction all the time. I know we like to be appreciated but if we do not get all the appreciation which we think is our due, what matters? We know the Lord has laid high responsibility upon us, and there is not a wish or desire that the Lord has implanted in our hearts in righteousness but will be realized, and the greatest good we can do to ourselves and each other is to refine and cultivate ourselves in everything that is good and ennobling to qualify us for those responsibilities."

I love that. I love that it puts me in my place, so to speak. I love that taking the time to read my scriptures this morning was a good thing. Playing on the floor with Nathaniel, feeding him, changing those diapers and taking him on a walk was a good thing to. They may not seem like "Productive" in the sense that I think of it. But I guess it is. It's ok if I'm still not showered and my bathroom is still half dirty, I'll get it done now that the boy is napping. I hope that I've tried to focus on the priorities today- the Lord and my baby.

Now that I've had someone to share with, I'm going to straighten up my kitchen, finish cleaning the bathroom that I started about 5 hours ago and finally take a shower.

1st Haircut and HPD

2010-07-27T11:25:00.005-06:00

On Pioneer Day- July 24- Andrew and I finally decided to do it. Give Nathaniel his 1st haircut. He needed it. It was so long in the back and he had such a funny shock of hair on top that stuck straight up. His hair was starting to bother him too as he would reach up and pull the long pieces that would tickle his ears. Here are some before shots. Action shots of course.

I sat Thanny on my lap on the back porch and Andrew buzzed him (with a No. 3- same as when I cut Andrew's hair). He was pretty cool with it since he was playing with his ducky but started to whine after a few minutes when he couldn't move around. When I had to hold his head still he started to full out cry. But it didn't take too long and he was rewarded with a bottle and a walk around the backyard after. I had to save some of his baby locks for his baby book. Now that his hair is short I think it is really cute... but it seems so much more like a little boy and less like a baby.

After the haircut, we drove down to American Fork and had lunch at In-N-Out with Jamie, Dwight, Carter, Lily, Corbin, Palisha and Rosemary. Then we went over to the pool that Palisha work at and went swimming. Poor Thanny didn't like the "raining mushroom of death" (as Carter called it) and was a little skittish of the whole water experience for the rest of the afternoon. Pool fun was promptly followed by pizza and a whole lot of packing! It was a nice day to spend with Andrew and my little monkey.

10 months

2010-07-26T11:12:00.003-06:00

All of these pictures are from his first time swimming.

Thanny is 10 months! He is turning more and more into a little boy and less like a little baby every day. It's both exciting and sad. Don't I say that every month?
Here are 10 highlights from Nathaniel's 9th month:

1. He got his first haircut: a buzz. His hair was just getting ridiculous and it was starting to bug him (long pieces going into his ears and tickling). He doesn't have a mullet anymore. It's the first time in his entire life- so it's kind of a change looking at him. Also, the little Alfalfa- hair sticking straight up- hairdo is gone. He's pretty funny about it. At church yesterday, someone was commenting how cute he is and we told them he just had his first haircut and no longer has the mullet. He got kind of a frown on his face and reached up behind his head where the mullet used to be and grabbed his head. It's like he's still a little grumpy at us about making him lose his locks. But, the look is cute. It looks older.

2. He was weaned this month and takes only bottles now. He has done really well. The only issue with the bottle is that he sometimes is too excited to move and crawl that he doesn't want to sit still and drink. He still wants nothing to do with his sippy cup but likes to take sips from real cups.

3. He crawls. Fast. He loves going where he wants to go and is really, really good at crawling. He's been doing it for about 3 weeks now. Because he can crawl now, he climbs up on everything. He also loves to open all the cabinet doors and get into things. He especially loves to walk while holding your hands.

4. He learned to clap his hands. He also learned to wave (two days ago).

5. He is attached to his Blue Bear. He found this stuffed animal upstairs a little while ago and has been in love with it since. He sleeps with him frequently, carries him around in his mouth as he crawls, eats with him sometimes, attacks him, takes him on stroller and car rides. He basically just loves Bears- Blue Bear, the Brown Bear Book and his bear finger puppet. Guess what kind of cake he's getting for his birthday?

6. He is trying to talk. He only says things that start with B's but there is a slight distinction. He says "baba" for his bottle, "boo beh" for Blue Bear, "bay-beh" for baby. He says "vah" for food and drinks sometimes. This month he has said "dada" 2x but has yet to repeat it. Still no "M" sounds... like mama...

7. He still takes 2 naps a day. He doesn't really like me to rock him to a sleepy state anymore for naps or bed time. I just wrap him up (sort of swaddled with free arms), give him his bink and sometimes his bear and put him down. He talks for a few minutes then goes to sleep on his own. It's wonderful but sometimes I miss snuggling.

8. He loves other kids. He watches them, waves and tries to hold their hands or climb up on them.

9. He loves to eat. Especially loves feeding himself. He still loves table food and doesn't care much for baby food at all. He'll eat baby cereal in the morning but it has to be with real fruit- pieces of plum or peach etc. His favorite is spaghetti but he eats everything: tacos, tuna noodle, roast and potatoes, rice, enchiladas, pizza, toast etc.

10. He loves to laugh and giggle. He is just so good natured and finds happiness in what he does. He squeaks and giggles as he crawls. Laughs and he climbs up the cabinets. Gets hysterical every night around 7:30 laughing at the littlest things just to be giddy (like his dad jumping up and down). He practices his laughs in the car seat in the car as we drive. Of course he has his crying and whining moments but 90% of the time he is just happy and smiley. It is such a blessing and I hope it's a characteristic that he'll have for the rest of his life.

Girls Weekend!

2010-07-20T10:43:00.004-06:00

This weekend we had a reunion. A roommate reunion. A best friends reunion. It may have been short but it was really good to see these girls. Kari is in Oregon. Allison is in California. Carolyn is in Georgia. And I'm in exotic Utah. At least I live in the magnet state- everyone has to come back for one reason or another so I get to see them more often!

I picked up Kari from the airport on Saturday morning. Allison joined us on Saturday night. But we were missing this beautiful lady. Thankfully, we were able to chat with her on Sunday.

I picked up Kari and we went to lunch right away. I was hungry! We went to good old Cafe Rio and then did a little shopping. And then had a Jamba Juice (which always reminds me of Freshman Year at BYU). Then she got to meet Thanners. We just chatted and chatted. Allison came that night we stayed up and talked way to late. But it was so fun to have girl time.

On Sunday, we all got ready for church. We all did our make up at the same time in the mirror- just like old times. We went to see Andrew and my new house (yay!) and then off to church. Kari's mom, Haylee, Haylee's friend and Nana came and picked up Kari. It was so good to see them again! Then David and Al's dad came to get Allison. We love David. And then, it was me and my boys again. Short and sweet but I'm so glad they were able to come! Carolyn and Al- we're flying up to Klamath Falls next to stay in Kari's new Grizzly Jamboree room in her new house!

PS: These are the most hilarious and ridiculous pants I've ever seen. Kari almost tried them on just to see what they'd look like on an actual person. We didn't though... we were to busy laughing until I cried. Seriously, gathering on the crotch even?

A special thanks to my husband who babysat and was kicked out of his space during girl time. He was so sweet about it. He said he knows everyone needs their girl time :)