Ultrasound

We had our 20 week ultrasound last week. All the necessary parts seem to be there and ....


It's a girl!

Conspiracy Theory

Is it possible that these two are in cahoots, trying to systematically strip me of every last shred of sanity that I possess? Maybe it just seems like it. Surely they are too cute to do such a thing.

Mostly it is Emma that has been the...cahooter? the last couple of days. Yesterday I was paying some bills. The children were sitting literally two feet from me coloring with pens (not smart on my part, I know). After telling Emma multiple times to only color on the paper and after she colored on her leg, pants, chest, belly button and arm, I caught her coloring inside Matthew's ear. Like, as inside as you could be without some sort of surgical instrument. I told her to give me the pen and go to her room for a time-out. Shoulda' done that about 10 minutes earlier.

When I let her out of time-out she was rambling about a new potty that she had in her room. That reminded me that she hadn't gone in a while and had consumed a large amount of chocolate milk earlier. I said, "Well, let's go get on your old potty and go." She ran into the bathroom and when I went in to check on her she was just sitting there on the potty, not going. I asked her, "Why aren't you going potty?" and then the terrible realization started dawning on me. A new potty, in her room?

I left her sitting on the toilet to go check, and sure enough there it was. A BYU 5 Gallon Ice Cream bucket that had been filled with toys was in the corner, full of potty. Disgusting.

Wishful, Wistful Thinking

I was driving Emma to preschool yesterday. It was snowing and cold and I was mentally cursing everything snowy and cold. Emma was quiet for a few minutes and then asked me, "Mommy? After preschool can we go to the beach and build a sand castle?"

Amen, sister. Amen.

This is Getting Good.

It occurred to me while I was bathing the kids the other day that I do a lot for Emma that she could probably do herself, just out of habit. So I asked her if she wanted to learn to wash herself. She was thrilled with the idea, and now washes her whole body and her hair by herself. I am thinking this is fantastic, as it is getting harder and harder for me to work around my burgeoning belly as I lean over the bathtub.

Last night when I had them in the bath, Matthew stood up, (just like Emma) rubbed his little hands together as if he had soap on them, (because that's what Emma does with her soap), and proceeded to wash just about his whole body. I just had to do his hair and then we were done. Dreamy.



Then on Thanksgiving, Emma suddenly got over her fear of the central vacuum and asked me if she could vacuum the floor. I let Matthew play in the Tupperware cupboard to keep him occupied, and she vacuumed. I have to say that she did a pretty bang up job. Every day since then she asks if she can vacuum. All I can say is, it's a good thing that we're having another kid soon. With my older children already turning into my little slaves, what would I have to do all day?

Will I ever learn?

It happened again today. I left Matthew alone for a moment while I ran into my bedroom. I came back to find him in the bathroom, on the stool, liberally applying my blush to his nose.

Hi Daddy!

So, I have been accused of neglecting my blog. I have no reply to make, except that it's true. I never feel like I have much time here, which doesn't really make sense, because I always had a rule that I only do blog stuff (reading, writing) when my kids are sleeping and they still sleep so I don't know what my problem is!

I will attempt to catch up a bit - just beware. Any of you who know me at all know that I can really ramble once I get going. Jonny gets a chance to read our blog and look at pictures on Sundays, so I will probably put a zillion pictures on here so he has a chance to see our cute babies. Bear with me!

It has been dreamy weather here (dreamy for November in Utah), so I have been spending a lot of time outside with the kids. I have never actually seen so many leaves fall - every little breeze through the trees sends the leaves cascading down and I have loved having the chance to just sit and watch while the kids play.



Our cute, cute neighbor girls are so sweet to my kids and they always come out and play with them. They have a swing set and a trampoline, so Matthew and Emma are always looking longingly through the fence hoping the girls will come out and play with them.



Right after I took this picture, Matthew got his head stuck in the fence - like his head was on one side and his body on the other. I had a pretty panicky couple of seconds there, thinking "Who do I even call if I can't get his head out of here? The Fire Department?" I said a quick prayer, and realized that if it got through one time it could get through again. And it did. True to Matty form, he cried and acted all upset, and then was back sticking his head through the fence about 37 seconds later.




Halloween was fun. My Dad was going to go trick-or-treating with the kids and I, but had impromptu knee surgery instead (Emma was terrified of his crutches and would shrink away in fear every time he walked by) so my Mom and I left my dad all drugged up on the couch and ran out to hit some houses. Emma was Cinderella and Matty was a mouse. I wasn't thrilled about the mouse thing, I kept thinking, "So I'm dressing my child up as a rodent?" but it was the only costume they had at Target in his size. And I told Emma that Matty was Gus Gus from Cinderella, so she was happy as a clam.




We were walking around with the beautiful leaves crunching under our feet and Emma declared happily, "I love trick-or-treating!" and I cried for a little second because I wished so much that Jonny was there! At moments like that I have to remember what my mom told me when I was being all dramatic last time Jonny was gone for training (and I was pregnant with Matthew! The man keeps impregnating me and leaving - sheesh!). She said, "He's not dead Amanda, he's just gone for a little while." Very true indeed, and something to be grateful for, right?



My cute little nephew, Thomas, was born on Halloween so every year his mom does a big dress-up birthday party for both sides of the family and this is the first year we have lived here and been able to go. She made this fancy pirate cake...



My sister and her husband...


I was a little Scroogey about dressing up, but did manage to paint some whiskers on and wear some cat ears, and if they were Cinderalla and Gus Gus I guess that makes me Lucifer?

I decided not to wear the tail that went with the cat costume, mostly because I couldn't find a handy way to attach it. I was really glad I hadn't when I got to the party and my sister-in-law informed me that she had worn the very same costume a few years ago. She had dashed to the bathroom, forgotten she was wearing the tail, and pottied all over it. No amount of rinsing could make me feel good about that tail after that...




Matthew is finally walking...sort of. He can walk all over the place and sometimes does, but it's like he forgets that he can actually do it. If I tell him, "Stand up and walk," he gets right up and goes for it but often opts to crawl instead. So both of my kids have been 17 months when they started walking. Apparently they get their athletic prowess from me and not their dad. I keep trying to get some video of him walking, but he sits down every time I get the camera out.

Jonny called me yesterday and told me that his leave did not get approved for Thanksgiving, so he will not be coming home for Thanksgiving at all. Something about it being too far to travel in too short a time. This I do not understand, since a fellow we know that is in Arizona with Jonny and lives about about two miles from here did get his leave approved. I just know that I am bitter. I am trying to console myself with the fact that a month from today we leave to meet him in Texas to spend Christmas with his parents. It's not working yet. I'm still bitter.

Anyhoosers, that's a little of what's been going on. How's that for a blog update?

I lost Matthew today for just a second. I immediately panicked, because that child can get into trouble faster than I can say "red-headed menace."

I found him a moment later. Just standing on the stool at the sink, brushing his teeth. What can I say? Dental hygiene is very important in our family.

Glad Tidings

I am happy to report that my little Emma is no longer "the troublemaker" at preschool! Both times this week I had glowing reports from her sweet teacher. It could have something to do with the fact that I offered her a bag of Skittles if her teacher told me she was good. I'm not above bribery.

I had my concerns about how it would go. On Sunday she was in nursery and I looked throught the peephole to see how she was doing - you know, new ward and all that. Well, the kids were sitting at the table eating snacks and I looked and looked but couldn't see her anywhere. I was starting to get a little worried, so I opened the door and looked in. While all the other kids were eating their snacks like nice, normal children, Emma was under the table barking like a dog. I talked to her about it when we got home and she kept complaining that they were kicking her! I told her they were probably not so much kicking her as looking for a place to put their feet and that she was not allowed to pretend to be a dog at church or school - just at home. I felt kind of mean, squelching her little individuality (or whatever barking under the table is) but she also was on her hands and knees barking her way out of the chapel after Sacrament Meeting.

Then on the way to preschool on Monday she announced, "I think I am going to sing Ariel at preschool today." If any of you have ever seen this phenomenon, you know it can be funny/a little creepy as she walks about waving her arms around and singing really loudly and off tune. So I was the squelcher once again and told her she was not allowed to sing Ariel unless her teacher asked her too. Who's the party pooper here? I guess that's my job these days. But she got her Skittles. Except for all the pink ones, which I stole when she wasn't looking.


My little barking Ariel licking chocolate chip cookie dough from the beater...

Dazed and Confused

We are here. I have been meaning to post something forever, but I feel like I completely got my trash kicked by the move/pregnancy and am still kind of walking around in a daze. Also because Matty is teething and Emma is sick, so there is not much sleep to be had at our house!

The first night we were here it snowed 3 inches. I think I must have told Jonny at least 3 times how much "I hate the freaking cold!" as we were going into church on Sunday sans coats because I thought the weather was still nice here and we all needed new winter coats so we would just buy some here (run on sentence, I know...).

Emma went to her first day of preschool a couple of days after we got here. I completely missed her while she was gone! I'm sure once I get used to having her gone I will really appreciate the one on one time with Matthew. Apparently she had a little trouble obeying the teacher, and we are supposed to prepare for the next class by talking about how big girls listen to the teacher. My kid is the trouble maker. Yikes.



I had an appointment for the baby this past week and I got to hear the heartbeat and he confirmed my due date of May 7th, so that was fun. He said it was too soon to tell if there were one or two in there without an ultrasound. I was thinking, "Well, grab the machine!" but he did not offer and I did not ask. Basically, all the twin suspicions are based on the fact that Jonny had a dream that we had twins - a boy and a girl. We just laughed about it until we saw a friend and we hadn't told her I was pregnant. She said, "Amanda, I had a dream that you were pregnant! And you had twins! A boy and a girl!" So really, there is probably just the one in there, but it was weird enough to make us a little curious.

Matty is learning a lot of new words every day. He and Emma love playing with all their cousins. Still no progress on the walking - he just screeches at me when I try to get him to do it.



This picture was taken while Matty was playing catch with his cousins, and moments before he fell backwards off the steps and landed right on his noggin. Where was I, you may ask? Taking the picture of course! There was no way I could reach him in time...so sad.

Jonny has been gone for a week now. He is doing OK and we get to talk at night, so that helps. Emma woke up crying a couple of nights ago. When I went in she was saying, "Daddy! Come back!" over and over. Yeah, broke my heart. Today Matthew heard someone walk in the garage door and he started crawling back there saying, "Dada. Dada." So we are still kind of adjusting. I know a lot of people are separated a lot longer than us, so I can't complain. Well, maybe just a little bit. It kind of stinks.

Moving Day Ramblings

I've been up since 4:30am. My house is in shambles and even though we are moving, that bothers me because I am a neat freak. I was telling Jonny last night that the movers are going to get here and think we are slobs. He looked at me like I was crazy, and probably I really am.

I spent the day yesterday wandering around in circles trying to accomplish things on my FIVE to-do lists and shoving cookies in my mouth with dizzying speed while telling my kids to go watch TV.

Jonny left to take our Porter cat to the airport to go live with his Mom in Texas for the next five months. My Dad is horribly allergic and can't really have the cat around. And although that cat irritates me on an almost daily basis, I'm going to miss the little bugger. And maybe I'm a little bit scared he'll like living with Jonny's Mom more than us...

We don't touch sea lions' tails...

We went for a walk on Sunday between Conference sessions down by the ocean. It was such beautiful weather and we finally got see an up close and personal view of the sea lions that you can hear barking all over the bay.



We couldn't believe how big and smelly they were! And they had gross breath and nasty looking teeth - we were that close! It was really cool to see.



We got so close to some that Jonny reached out and touched the tail of one of them. Well, those things look fat and slow, but they are actually quite nimble! One of them stretched up and almost bit him and another kept barking and barking at him and was generally ticked off by his very existence. We also were surprised at how much they bicker among themselves and they growl like bears at each other and bite each other. Emma was really upset after Jonny's little run in with the sea lions. The whole way home she kept saying, "Yeah. We don't touch sea lions tails. We don't touch them, because they are bumpy grumpy crocodiles and we just don't touch their tails." The whole way home. Over and over again.

In other news, my stomach is huge. This is me at 8 weeks - what will I look like at 40 weeks, I have to wonder?

Nice.

Tonight after dinner I ran out of the house to hurry off to the bank before it closed and to the grocery store. I am a compulsive teeth brusher and never leave the house without brushing my teeth. OK, almost never. I was in a rush so I opted for a piece of gum instead. When I got home and looked in the mirror, there was a huge piece of black pepper stuck right in between my front teeth. Guess I should have looked in the mirror before I left...

Where to begin?

I am having total writer's block of the "It has been so long...where do I even begin?" variety. What can I say - it has been difficult to find time in my schedule, what with eating every two hours and honestly, feeling like crap, among other things.

Let me just throw some stuff out there...


Jonny graduated from his program and his Mom, sister, and brother came out for that. It was so great to have them!



We had a ball going to the aquarium. Emma and Matthew loved playing with their cousins, Ruby and Lars.



And we caught a scuba diver cleaning the windows in the kelp forest...Except for the fact that you are scuba diving, don't you think that would be a monotonous job? That's a lot of glass to scrub. Emma and Lars were so excited when he waved to them.




And all the kids loved playing with Jonny's Mom - "Mimi" to her grandkids.

It was the artichoke dip that tipped me off...

Every time I have gotten pregnant, my first clue has been ravenous hunger(which is really foreign for me, right?).

With Emma it was Crown Burger. I was meeting Jonny there one day after work and couldn't even wait. By the time he arrived I had already ordered and devoured my burger and fries.

With Matthew it was a lovely roast beef dinner. When Jonny got home at 6pm he couldn't believe I had eaten without him. I told him I was just really really hungry and by the way I thought I was pregnant and now that he was home we could finally take a test!

This time it was the artichoke dip. I made some last Sunday night and could not shove it in my face fast enough. I informed Jonny that he was not being a very good husband - that his job in life is to eat more than I do so that I feel dainty and feminine and if he was going to eat more than me of that artichoke dip he'd better get to it.

I had an inkling that night, but didn't want to get my hopes up so I just pushed the idea to the back of my mind, along with the slightly nauseous feeling that I blamed on having eaten too much artichoke dip.

The next day when Jonny was at work I took a test. When I realized it was positive I looked at the clock and saw that Jonny was at lunch so I threw the test in a gift bag and told Emma we needed to take a surprise to Daddy. Is that gross, considering what I did to that test?



We are so excited! I am due around May 7th - only a month and a half after Jonny finishes his training in Arizona. I asked him yesterday, "Tell me honestly. Are you excited you get to miss most of this pregnancy and therefore large amounts of complaining from me?" He immediately replied, "No!" Good Man.

When we told Emma I had a baby in my tummy she was thrilled. Then Jonny gave me a hug and Emma told him, "Be careful Daddy! Don't squish my Mommy's baby in her tummy!"

The next day I was eating breakfast and she sat there watching me with an intense look of concentration on her face. Then she asked, "Mommy, is the food getting all over the baby?"

Her prayers the last couple of nights have gone like this: "Please bless the baby in my Mommy's tummy to get bigger and bigger and bigger so it can come out of her tummy"(holding her arms out in front of her to show the growth process. No, my eyes weren't closed), "and I can hold the baby and it not squirm away" (moving around to show the squirming because she always wants to hold Matthew and he, you guessed it, squirms away),"and it fall asleep" (here, she starts snoring). She has big plans for this kid and tells us just about every day, "She's NOT a boy."

Confessions of a 30 year old drama queen...

I wish I was one of those super easy going people who just kind of roll along with life and take it as it comes.

I'm not.

I'm more of a be dramatic (even if only on the inside)and sentimental about every little change kind of person. And whew! Change! That's another rough thing for me.

We leave here 6 weeks from today. Jonny is going to Arizona for 5 months for training and the kids and I are going to stay at my parent's house with them for that time. I am trying to be excited about the whole thing, but it's not working so well!



Every time I drive into Monterey I think "Oh! This is so beautiful and we are leaving it!"



And the ocean...this one is for my fellow beach fanatics - Mom, Lara, Aubrey, and Kaedi. Sigh.



I told Jonny I was sad to leave the ocean and he told me to go do things in the mountains when I am in Utah. What? He is not a beach person. He doesn't understand. He is adorable, even if he is not a beach person...

But let's think positive, shall we? While I am so going to miss Jonny, at least I know he is safe here and not in the Middle East somewhere, right? And while I will miss friends I've made here, I will make new friends there and then I just have more wonderful friends. And I will miss the ocean, but there is always Utah lake! Just kidding, but there are always the majestic mountains - any time I see even a picture of them my eyes tear up a little because it is home.

And if I do start feeling a little down, I always have this to cheer me up:


Little Beach Bum


Warm, lovey baby fresh from a nap with creases on his face from cuddling with his favorite blanky.

By Anna Quindlen on motherhood,

...the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs.

There is one picture of the three of them, sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1.

And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.

Even today I'm not sure what worked and what didn't, what was me and what was simply life. When they were very small, I suppose I thought someday they would become who they were because of what I'd done. Now I suspect they simply grew into their true selves because they demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them be.

Today is our Anniversary!

Today is our five year anniversary! On the one hand it feels like the five years have flown by and on the other hand, so much has happened in the last five years that it feels like forever! A good forever.
Happy Anniversary Jonny! I love you!

The greatest Dad in the world...

I have probably the greatest Dad in the world. It was his birthday last week on the 7th. I missed giving him a birthday shout out - it was just one of those days. Picture Emma having 4 potty training accidents and the baby Doberman Pinscher that I am babysitting (I know, what?) having a couple as well and the dog chewing on my hose and car seats and digging up my flowers...anyway.
Happy Birthday Dad! My Dad is one of the most genuinely nice people I know. He is an extremely hard worker. We have a common love of gardening and his yard always looks impeccable. He used to drive me crazy because, after every time I would tell him about a frustrating/bad experience he would ask me, "Now, what have we learned from this?" So it drove me crazy then, but now I find myself asking the same question all the time. He taught me that no experience is wasted as long as you learn something from it. I love you Dad!


Here he is with Matthew and Jonny the day they blessed Matthew.

Uh Oh Peanut Butter!

My cute friend, Brittany, watched my kids for me a couple of weeks ago and she taught Emma this song...



Emma loves it and sings it all the time. My favorite is how she says, "His heart was all aflutter." It ends up being more of a "His heart was all dufuttered!" She loves to sing it to Matthew when he is sad and it always makes him smile. It makes me smile too.

Happy Birthday Jonny, Jenny, Mom, and Aubrey!

Today is my darling husband's birthday. He and his twin sister, Jenny (Happy Birthday Jenny!), were born 31 years ago. He is such a blessing to me - the best husband and father I could ever ask for. One of his friends was commenting the other day on how impressed he was with the relationship that Jonny and I have and I told him that we do have a great relationship, and mostly it is because Jonny is patient and sweet when I get snotty with him! It is so true. He is the calm steady one - truly my rock.



Some of the things I love about him...

-He had tarragon and thyme in his spice arsenal when we got married. I don't even have any recipes that use those spices, but apparently you can only make a proper bernaise sauce with tarragon...
-He says words like "proper" and "thingae," which is pretty much a filler word they use in England for any word you can't think of.
-He knows all the characters and songs in Emma's favorite cartoons.
-He can tell when I am having a not enough sleep or not enough food meltdown and gently says, "Why don't you let me watch the kids while you go take a nap?"
-He is crazy about our children, and they are crazy about him.
-He doesn't care how silly he looks, as long as the kids laugh.
-He makes us big plates of nachos to share while we watch TV.
-He has infinite patience for tedious tasks, whether it be untangling a little girl necklace or fixing malfunctioning electronic equipment.
-He has a passion for good food.
-I hear him say things to our kids like, "I haven't had a good snuggle with you since I've been home from work. Come here."
-He plays the guitar beautifully and sings and makes up funny songs for the kids.
-He has nearly every piece of sporting equipment known to mankind...volleyball, lacrosse, wrestling stuff, track stuff, football, rock climbing, biking, golf, you name it, he's got it.
-He loves me even though I'm so not a sporty girl.
-He tells Emma every day that she is gorgeous, and even though I'm not into raising vain little people, I know how important fathers are in shaping little girls' self esteem.
-He loves to research things and learn about new people, places, and ideas.
-He is a hard worker.
-He loves watching movies and can tell you within 0-5 seconds of watching a scene what movie it is from.
-If he accidentally wakes me up at night I snap at him to be quiet. If I accidentally wake him up at night he hugs me and kisses me and says, "I love you baby."




Today is also my Mom's birthday. How do I even describe all the things she has taught me over the years? Just everything I am and everything I want to be. Perhaps most important of all she told me, "Amanda, when you are getting ready to go out with your husband, be sure you always do your makeup before you get dressed. Because if you're running late, he can make you leave without your makeup on but he can't make you leave without your clothes on." I love you Mom! Happy Birthday! This is us in La Boca, Argentina where she and my Dad served their mission.





As long as we are talking birthdays, let's talk about my older sister, Aubrey. Her birthday was on the 21st. She is only 14 months older than me and has always been one of my best friends. We talk on the phone at least once a week and rarely does a conversation last less than an hour. We can tell each other stories and include all the mundane details that you usually wouldn't tell people for fear of boring them to death. We have had our last two babies three months apart and a week apart. She is an absolute dream - so supportive, a good example, sings like a nightingale...Happy Belated Birthday to you Aubrey!