Dinner with Friends

It was about time that we had our friends the Giffords over to our home for dinner. This is their one year old that we had never met, we are such great friends.


It was lot's of fun and I think the highlight was the kids entertainment at the end of the evening, it was hilarious!

Thanks guys, let's do it again! Sooner this time.

Backyard Campfire Fun

We recently had a fun time at a friends house with our Friday Date Night-babysitting exchange group. They have an awesome fire pit in their backyard so we roasted hot dogs and made smores. The kids had a great time playing outside too! I know it is supposed to be really cold this time of year already but I have truly enjoyed this long extension of summer! I just hope it doesn't mean that our winter will be especially cold...

Major "Ketchup" to do

I have some major blogging catchup to do. I don't know if it is just the routine that we are back in for school that has made me a lazy or if it is some sort of writer's block that has got a hold of me, but I have not been keepin' up.

Part of it is that not much has been going on. It feels so good to be back in a routine. I have been able to spend lot's of one on one time with Jasmine while Shay is at school and have been taking her to storytime, dance class and playdates with her friends. Plus she is in preschool 3 days a week which she loves. So I have found myself with alone time several times per week! It has been so heavenly, and it is going to be weird because with the new baby, right off the bat we will have time alone together periodically.

I pick up Shay and his friend from school everyday and then they have a little list (darn those lists I love!) that they go through, with their routine, and they have really fallen into it with ease.

We were having a really hard time with math homework, it was taking forever, but one thing that I have tried has been working. He gets 30 min of computer time per day to begin with and then I time him while doing his math. I actually let him choose how long it will take him, and he has been very reasonable. Then if he completes it under the time, he adds that to his computer time, over it subtracts from the time. He is happy to do these math problems. It has worked really well to get him on track and the other day he actually said to me "you're right mom, I am a math whiz!". I have always told him that, but lately he hasn't believed me.

The other thing that has been occupying my time, as previously mentioned, is that I am NESTING! I know it is kind of late, but as soon as school started I got this major bug to complete projects. I have this feeling like life as I know it is going to end in a few weeks (wait, am I going through a major life change or something?) and that I better get my home in order.

At eight weeks before my due date I started with a list of projects for each week. It has been great and so far I have accomplished some pretty big tasks like organizing my closet, the kids' closets, the coat closet and the bathroom cupboards. I created a better system for all my paperwork and got rid of SO MUCH CRAP! Last week I started tackling photos, yes the millions of pictures that are not sorted and realized that one of my new years resolutions is to create a baby book for Jasmine so I am on my way to complete that. But incidentally, I realized that Shayden's wasn't even completed so I just finished that one. This week I tackle the dungeon which is my office. Can I tell you how good this feels? Everywhere but in my back!

Pregnancy Update

Today I am 35 weeks along, and there are 35 days until my due date!

I went to the Doctor (well midwife) yesterday and I have gained about 25 pounds, and my belly is about 35 centimeters which is right on for 35 weeks. Right on for her, but I feel huge! I have grown so much in the last few weeks it is crazy. The only good thing is that, (and I admit this at the risk of jinxing myself) I have not had the water retention problem of the past...at least not yet. I wish I wish I knew how to use a scanner because I just ran into a picture of of my feet at the end of Shayden's pregnancy. Oh my goodness, just imagine two big burritos side by side and no sign of ankles anywhere! It was bad, with both pregnancies, my face seriously resembled the size and shape of a pumpkin. Hey, maybe since it happens to be pumpkin season this time around, nature just thought that would too cruel of a joke. :) Either way I am happy to have my relatively normal shaped face (which is already round) this late in the game.
I did find this picture of me toward the end of Jasmine's pregnancy. I think my hairdo only compounded the problem:

I shouldn't say that is the only good thing. This pregnancy has not been hard compared to so many others around me, you know who you are...so I can't complain too much...but I will a little. What is with this back pain? It is like my constant companion, whether dull and just kind of sitting there, or sudden sharp spasms that cause me to make embarrassing jerking motions in front of people. My friend actually pointed out the other day that I was waddling! And you know what? It feels good to waddle sometimes! I think I have been trying to do too much lately since I am TOTALLY nesting, and that only aggravates the problem.

Other than that let's see...I had a really great talk with my midwife and she seems right on board with what I want/need in labor, and I was truly impressed with the hospital tour that we took. It is the brand new hospital here (well about 5 years old?) and I have only heard bad things about it. That it is the epitome of a hospital. The last thing I need is a production line birth, where they are moving me along a conveyor belt, while I go through childbirth, one of the most important and sacred events of my life. My midwife said she didn't even think they had a jacuzzi which would have been tragic for me but not the case, almost all of the labor and delivery "suites" have a jacuzzi or at least a tub. That was a relief! One room even has a birthing bar, not that I will use it but I thought that was cool. I talked to the main nurse lady and she was so reassuring that they work with women who want labor in a million different ways and told me I could fax my birth plan and they will put it in my file and I can just ask that it be pulled out when I get there. It was a huge relief because obviously I don't want to progress in labor at home only to get the hospital with a bunch of fears and concerns and have to take a bunch of steps back.


Anyway, this is much longer than anticipated, most of these long and boring reflection posts go in my pregnancy blog, so sorry.

But one last thing, I mentioned that I needed a pillow early on in my pregnancy and I found the perfect one, it has been awesome. It's huge and I love it, it has helped tons. It wraps around my whole body. Jonas, on the other hand, has a different take on it. Here are some of his comments on it (and I edited them a bit):
Note from Jonas: That pillow has robbed me of my wife. She loves cuddling with it more than me. Whaaaaa!!!! I hate that stupid pillow. Sure it's more comfortable than me.....So what I'm a tiny bit wider than the pillow. BUT I'M CHOCOLATE!!!! It's just not fair!!!!!! From this day forward, I will protest ALL PILLOWS that rob men of their wives. It's Sick and Wrong!!! That's how I feel about that!!!!
**Sorry Jonas, I promise that I won't sleep with it forever! But I have talked to a lot of women who still sleep with one after pregnancy, so beware...:)

The thing about kids...

The thing about kids is that sometimes you can't help but scream at them and sometimes you just want to scoop 'em up and sqeeze them so tight!

That drives me crazy sometimes. Isn't motherhood great?

I have had this post in draft for a while and I need to record a couple of funny stories and cute moments.

While waiting outside the line at the National Archives in D.C. there was a man who's son (around age 6) was misbehaving, and the dad wasn't doing anything about it. Finally Shayden turns to me and whispers "That dad is making a wrong choice, he's not even giving that kid any consequences!"Then the even funnier thing is that he thought about it for a couple of seconds and said "I wish I had a dad and mom like that!" ha!

The other day Shay was playing at a friends house and when I went to pick him up my friend said that he had randomly said to her "Katie, being a mom is hard work huh?" I thought that was cute. Then another day he turns to me and says "mom, what's it like to be a mom?" I said, "it's hard because you are always worried about your children, more than yourself. And it makes your heart grow so big because you never thought it could hold so much love" Then he said, "Do you know what it is like to be a Dad?" and of course I said no, then "Well, someday I will tell you if I am one."

I caught Jasmine "reading" to Daisy who was grateful for the company:

The day after Shayden got his new glasses (the day after!) he took them off and left them on the grass at a yard sale! I was freaking out of course, I am very good at that. Mostly because he had just gotten them but also because the insurance that we bought only fixes them, not replaces them. He felt so bad, he said that he would use his own money to buy new ones. I suggested that we say a prayer and so we did. We went back to the sale and miraculously enough someone had found them and turned them in. Only after stepping on them though. So they were pretty beat up. But that's okay as long as we had them! Shay was pretty impressed and happy and when we got back in the car he said "I better thank Heavenly Father for helping me!" and he said another prayer. What a good lesson. Oh and a good lesson for a stressed out mom because I got to apologize later for getting so upset about the whole thing :) On a side note, since then he has really shown a lot of responsibility with taking care of his glasses and has had just a couple of close calls, not bad.

And one last picture of Shayden being a monkey in the doorway (caption: "mom, hurry and take a picture I can't hold it much longer!")

State Fair

We went to the fair with my work and my parents met us there, I had not been for a long time and we all had fun. The kids did a reading program where they got free coupons for the rides, so they enjoyed that of course.



Shayden finally caught his fish!

We saw a reptile show with this enormous turtle:

check out the legs on this thing!

Jasmine's favorite ride:

It was a fun filled day and we were all pooped by the end of it.

Then I decided to go back with the kids the next week to see the Veggie Tales concert that was happening and it did not dissapoint. We had a blast singing along to all of our favorite songs! We were about to leave a few minutes before it ended since we were starving but then decided to go up to the front to take a picture up close, and we ended up staying for the rest. Shayden was right up by the stage with a bunch of kids when they shot streamer cannons right over his head! We went home all covered in gold.

Girls Night In

Last Saturday Jasmine and I had such a fun little date. We went grocery shopping and she loved helping me, then we came home and had a picnic on the living room while we watched the Parent Trap, the new one, not the old one.

We painted our nails and made a little charm bracelet for her wrist and then had ice cream afterwards!

What a fun night, and I love that I have a daughter to share these fun "girly" moments with.

Jonas took Shay on a little date too, they went to Target to get a toy Shayden has been saving his money for, and then went to Hollywood Connection to play mini-golf. Sounds like they had fun too, but not as much as us girls, lol.