Just another Monday morning

It was windy last night.

Really windy.

That's our trampoline in the neighbor's yard.

I know.

We don't get it either.

Thoughts on baby boy

Just hangin' out.

Our house had been buzzing with excitement in anticipation of this ultrasound. John would tell me how many days we had left everyday, Rebecca's had a calendar on her ceiling above her bunk bed she would mark off every time I woke her up, and they were voting in her classes on boy or girl. Really everyone in the neighborhood has been up on when the big day was coming.

In the days before I was getting more and more anxious. Partly because of excitement and partly just because I was still not feeling this baby a whole lot and I always have by this point. It was so great to see all the baby parts there. Not just arms and legs but a brain and kidneys and a diaphragm and four chambers in the heart and even lips!

And just like I suspected he was moving all over the place on the screen and I still couldn't really feel baby. I have wondered if the placenta was in the front because that is something I've read about that can delay mom feeling movement and turns that is the case with me. So even though I have a baby approximately 3/4 of a pound and 10 inches in length doing flips in there I have felt very little, which has been frustrating!

I keep thinking about how I'm now going to be the mother of three boys! So strange! Several people have asked how I feel about having a boy when I was expecting this pregnancy to be a girl. For one thing I knew after I wanted to die for 2 1/2 months this was very likely not a girl. Now I'm just so excited that he looks healthy I really didn't care at all. It was such a feeling of elation when we walked out of the doctor's office I had to restrain myself from telling everybody I came in contact with, "Heh! We just found out we're having a BOY! And he looks GREAT!" So no, I'm not disappointed. I'm very, very excited.

Now people are asking if we have names. We don't. Boys are harder to name for me so I hadn't even wasted any brain power worrying about it until I knew for sure (which has driven John crazy.) Yesterday I looked at hundreds of names with Peter and we've made lots of progress on what we don't want to name our baby. For the record I'm not into Utah names like Radley or Brayden or Mormon ones like Nephi or Moronihah. Our family history lines haven't been hugely inspirational because there is so much repetition. I now know that I have an "Elmo" in my line though. Peter still thinks we should name him James so we'll have a Peter, James, and John. I'm not finding the humor.

I laid in bed this morning feeling tiny kicks and thought about how I'm going to go through all the super-hero phases again. How he'll probably grow into a teen with one-word answers and grunts. How I'll hopefully be sending him on a mission and be sad when he leaves. If he's anything like Nathaniel and John he'll have ear problems as a baby and toddler. I'll be doing shots and check-ups and diapers and wondering when I can go see a movie again.

As we are in the office Peter suddenly notes that I am "only" 4 1/2 months. (Why is he just connecting this?) Then he notes that we still had another 4 1/2 months (my eyes are rolling.) Then he says, "So in 4 1/2 months we are going to have a crying, pooping baby."

Well, that is the idea Peter.

Something tells me that even though we've been through this four times before we really have no idea, after eight years have sufficiently fogged our memories, what we are in for.

It's a boy!

Recipe Recommedation

As I mentioned we went to Carrabba's for my birthday this year and Peter got this lentil soup with sausage. I tried it and thought-- hmmm, this is yummy, I bet I could make this. Generally speaking I'm not super big on sausage but in the right amounts it can be really good. This is one of those instances. Found this recipe and made it today and it was absolutely delicious.

Multitasking

On Sunday Nathaniel announced that he had cleaned his room (in other words, stuffed all the clothes on the floor into the hamper.) I was thinking this was a strange thing for a Sunday.

I also knew he had recently asked me about where Peter's work projector was at.

I put two and two together.

Because doing Calculus is not enough . . .

he must also be watching Star Trek projected onto a blanket in his room

with giant earphones on.

Nathaniel discovered Star Trek this year. He watched all the episodes of the original and now he's onto Next Generation. I asked him which he likes better and he says the original because no one can stand up to Captain Kirk. His latest persuasion paper for his Honors English class was on why Star Trek is the best show ever made. We're still waiting to get that paper back.

Does my son waste an enormous amount of time? Why, yes, I'd say so.

That Eagle project? Still not done.

Bawling and Baking

Rebecca has this weird habit of watching movies that will make her cry with her friends. She put "Marley and Me" into our Netflix queue just for this purpose. On Wednesday she watched it with her friend Alecia and cried her eyeballs out. But that wasn't enough. She had to watch it with Brooke.

I'm down in the basement last night getting some rice for dinner out of our storage room. This is connected to our theater room and a little window space has been left for sound equipment and cables to go through to the storage room. The sound of wailing was enough to startle me into running in there to see if somebody died, which of course someone had--Marley the dog.

I didn't know whether to try to calm them down, or laugh, or worry, or what, but when I called Brooke's mom to warn her to set aside money for Brooke's future therapy she suggested I get a picture. So I did. Really I should have gotten some video.

What you are seeing here is not dramatized in any way. In fact it really doesn't do it justice. Then they came upstairs and the full blown sobbing continued on for another 20 or 30 minutes.

"Why did they do that to their dog?"

"Why?"

"Why?"

"It's. . . just. . . so . . . sad."

(Sob, sob, sob . . . )

I gave Rebecca an Advil and told them to go find something funny to watch.

Did you do this with your friends? Cause I gotta say I never did!

They kill me.

In other news . . .

This is the apple pancake I made this morning using the recipe I found here.

I I did double it but this is what it was supposed to look like here below.

Oh well. It still tasted like heaven.

Notes around my house

Yesterday Rebecca didn't want to spend the three hours before lunch sitting through the spelling bee so I said she could skip it. She left me this note on her door to remind me.

And here is her drawing of Nathaniel & Rebecca's bird's for Valentines Day.

Peter and I went to the temple the other night and she cleaned the kitchen and left me this note. Then Nathaniel went through it to correct all the spelling and add a self-portrait.

This is old now but SO cute! This Christmas John was fixated on knowing whether Santa thought he was naughty or nice and left this out in the mailbox for him. Right above Santa you will note that it says "nice." John claims he has no idea who wrote that. This one makes my heart melt.

Then here is the note Peter taped to the garage door on my birthday reminding me NOT to take the Civic. Couldn't figure that one out. Turns out he was hiding my new computer in the trunk.

It finally happened.

Nathaniel took the plunge and had his first date on Saturday. It was all pretty last minute so Peter and I were scrambling to buy him a suit hours before the dance. It was the Sweetheart Dance put on by the FFA, an organization his date is heavily involved with.

I can't say I understand it all but there is a big cake contest within the FFA. The girls decorate their cakes before the judges and they are taste-tested and so forth. Then the winners are announced at an assembly the following day and the cakes are auctioned. Some went for more than $600! The girls are all dressed up in formal dresses for this and Autumn won second, which puts her in the royalty line-up for the dance (hence the crown.) This also means Nathaniel didn't have to pay to get in--bonus!

Isn't she the cutest? He got lots of razzing yesterday at church for taking out an "older woman" (she's a Senior) but I don't think either of them was thinking about that. They've been casual friends through the years in our ward and it was just a good experience for him to get. I think he had fun and now at least he knows what these types of things entail. I was wishing his first date wouldn't have been a semi-formal event--Peter and I are down sixty bucks in addition to the suit. Good thing its tax season! Sounds like it's time for Nathaniel to find a job?

I love that he has an orange band on his braces to go along so nicely with the purple. Funny thing is her dad is our orthodontist, so they were understanding:)

I can't say what I think about this sudden change of heart with Nathaniel and girls but I thought he was brave. Course I sat at home and stressed for him all night!

Random February

Well, as Charlie so beautifully demonstrates, things have been rather lazy around here.

With the kids gone at school all day sometimes I don't know exactly what to do with myself. It isn't that there is nothing. I have quilting projects and crafty what-nots but I find myself at a loss for motivation. I've also found that if I take a short nap in the day I can sometimes avoid the menacing headache that hits me almost nightly. Then I feel both fat and sick so that's no good.

The girls and I have done some minor craftiness. this wreath above for the door was made by Sarah and her friend Leah. We got the idea from NieNie's blog.

Rebecca has taken to making cute little stuffed dolls. She designs them all herself.

This one is my favorite. Very Corpse Bride I'd say.

This is my Valentines Day project from Better Homes and Gardens.

Framed birds and hearts cut out of fabric.

I'm not a big Valentines fan but I like hearts and the kids think it's fun so I stretched myself.

The main thing I do these days is cook. My sister-in-law Amber introduced me to Pinterest and I'm always pulling recipes off the internet anyway so that's been really fun. I've made peanut-butter and chocolate dipped bananas, vegetable stew, zucchini fries, buttermilk chicken, and on and on. Last night I made homemade buffalo wings. A whole slew of them for six bucks-- baked in the oven and they were awesome! A little spicy for some of the kids that were over last night:)

I've tried new recipes for Orange and Sesame chicken and dinner rolls. Tonight is split pea soup. Isn't soup the best? Minestrone, potato, lentil, broccoli cheese, tomato basil, french onion, tortilla--it never ends and always brings me happiness.

Here is my new kitchen accessory. I bought a dutch oven for my birthday. It is blue and really cute but not quite as big as I had imagined. I've made bread in it thought and that went over quite well. I also made pulled pork for the missionaries and of course a cobbler. But I wanted something bigger and so I got this red one here with Christmas/birthday money from my parents.

My family suffers.

As Lily would say,

"False."