Maxwell's Silver Hammer

Sometimes I really feel like I'm living for the weekends. Work went well this week, I was very busy, so the time went by quickly.

Felicity had Monday off from school for a teacher in-service. She spent the night with Nana and Papa on Sunday night and stayed over there Monday. Helen cut her hair last week so Jeff took her on Tuesday to get her hair fixed properly. She has a new pixie cut that is very cute. I was surprised at how brown her hair really is. I guess only the ends were blond, because what was left after the haircut was pretty brown. Jeff says she reminds him of Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music, so he's been singing songs from the movie to her all week. I'll be surprised if she doesn't start singing about how she has confidence in me.

It was my Friday off, and for the first time in a long time it wasn't all booked up. I went into Felicity's class in the morning to volunteer for their "Teddy Bear Picnic". The kids brought in their teddy bears and then had a picnic snack of berries and nuts and gummy worms. We are really blessed to have Felicity in the class that shes in. After meeting the parents of the little girl who Felicity has befriended in class it was apparent that they are in one of the other wards in our stake. It was a little funny they managed to find each other, not that it was probably too difficult, Felicity has five kids in her class who are also members.

After I got home from the picnic, I went to Wal-Mart and got some crafting supplies, including a pattern for the girls' Halloween costumes. I thought about buying them costumes this year, but just got sad over the idea they wouldn't have a mom-made costume. It took me a few minutes when I got home to decide what I was going to do. I really enjoyed some productive time at home.

Saturday morning the girls and I pulled up most of our spring/summer garden and planted beets, carrots, lettuce, green beans, and pumpkins for the fall. I tried to things I want to serve at Thanksgiving since I'm hoping to harvest around then. I was pretty tired when we got back inside, but I did manage to get the downstairs clean before taking a break. Jeff and Victor took the truck and a trailer to St. David and loaded Jeff's VW bug that has been sitting down there since before we moved into our house. They had quite the challenge getting it loaded as it was is waist high weeds and sand and the tires were all flat. Eventually the hooked up to a tow rope and used the truck to pull it out, roll it down the hill and load it up on the trailer. Jeff is ecstatic to have it back home, although a few years of sitting out in the sun has done some damage. I think he wants to work on it a little at a time and get it restored. I really enjoyed the General Relief Society meeting on Saturday evening and like so many others really appreciated President Uchtdorf's uplifting and inspiring talk. I'll have to post a link to his address when it's available, it was very touching.

We had our primary program at church today and Felicity and Gabrielle both did well. Felicity needed some prodding to get her started on her speaking part, but once she got going she was fine. I plan to work on the photo project we've been working on for some time this afternoon. I'm hoping to get more progress done in the baby's room this week; we've been making progress on getting our guest room cleaned out and painted. We have almost everything we need for the baby, I think the only things we still need are a crib, change table, and a fan for his room. We've narrowed down our name choices to Arlo, Jonas, and Jude for the baby, his name will be comprised of two of the three.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful week full of opportunities to serve others and show and express your love for those that mean the most to you.

I'll Cry Instead

So I'm going to do a little bit of venting. I love being pregnant, I'm not much of a complainer in that regard. I've so far been blessed to have easy, enjoyable pregnancies and I just really love the whole experience. That doesn't exactly sound like venting, I'll get to it. The short, short, version of the story goes that my first OB waited to induce me until 42 weeks and needless to say after 14 hours of unmedicated labor and an hour of pushing, I had to have an emergency c-section, Felicity was occipital posterior and 10 pounds 2 ounces. I was determined to have a VBAC with Helen, I went to a midwife instead of an OB considering my previous experience and loved it! At 36 weeks I had to have a consult with the supporting OB group to gain approval for a trial of labor. After an ultrasound they told me that Helen was already about 9 pounds and that it wasn't safe to try a VBAC; so at 39 weeks Helen was born via planned cesarean section at 10 pounds. With our newest little one, I knew it was a slim chance, but I met with the supporting OB group to talk about a trial of labor. I had an ultra sound and was excited that baby is still healthy and adorable, and still a boy! We also found out that he is in the 77 percentile for size (average for this gestational stage is 1.75 pounds, our "little" bundle of joy is coming in at 2.5 pounds). The OB was incredibly sweet and she commiserated with me over the problems I've had in past. She let me know that while the current recommendations are starting to lean more to allowing women a trial of labor after multiple c-sections there isn't enough good data to make definitive decisions about the safety. She basically said she would be hesitant if I had had two 7 pound babies before, but its almost certain that baby boy Davidson will be equally large. Here's where the real venting comes in...it sucks! I don't take medication while I'm pregnant and try to follow good dietary and exercise practices. I'm all about natural births and embracing the whole process; I feel like I've been robbed of those opportunities. Surgery is rough, when Felicity was born, I only saw her for a brief moment before they took her away to be evaluated. I spent the next hour in post surgery observation, when I got back to my room, all the family that had shown up had held her before me. It means a 4-5 day hospital stay, stitches, heavy drugs, oh and you can't lift anything over ten pounds (i.e. my infants). There's no holding my baby right after they're born, no helping give them their first bath. I didn't cry when she told me we'd be doing another c-section, after all, this isn't about me, it's about what is absolutely best for the baby. That's not to say that there hasn't been some mourning on my part over the loss of some of my motherhood hopes and dreams. We had a great talk and she reassured me that they would give me a good birth experience. That is the end of the venting, it was great to chat with someone that understood my disappointment and frustration. Here are the positive aspects of having another c-section, because it should be every one's goal to always look on the bright side of every situation. I get to pick the day (within reason) that the baby is born, this is great especially since the baby is due so close to Christmas. I can plan it so that I should be out of the hospital before Christmas. I get to deliver at 39 weeks, I don't have to go through the initial pain of labor (although recovery isn't necessarily easy). I can get a good night sleep before and it's over for the most part within a few hours of showing up at the hospital. It's going to be great, I'm so grateful that my babies have been healthy and happy. I'm grateful that we've not had any problems with fertility or problems during pregnancy.

Sorry for all of you who didn't really want to know that much about me! We had a pretty good week otherwise, we had a remarkable amount of rain this week. I got trapped at work on Thursday due to flooding and road closures, but it worked out OK, I just put in some overtime which meant I got to come early on Friday. Felicity got an outstanding owl award at school, she was proud to show it to us when she got home. Helen is also really enjoying school. Jeff had his first tests this week and did really well too. I'm grateful he's doing well and enjoying school. We had a "play Saturday" this weekend since the last two weekends we did work together. We went shopping and out to lunch. Jeff and I started to clean out the spare room so that we can prime and paint it and have a place to put the baby's things.

Helen cut her own hair this week, unfortunately it was in several places. She cut the front (where she has the least amount anyway) and the back and underneath...it's pretty bad. So she'll be getting a "Tinker Bell" haircut this coming week. Nana got her some new boots this week as well, and she hasn't taken them off since she got them...here she is taking a nap in them. We hope everyone is doing well and enjoying life, we are.

I Forgot to Remember to Forget

It was an exciting, but seemingly short week. I was so grateful to have Monday off for the Labor Day holiday and we really enjoyed some time together as a family. The Saturday before we spent time getting our front yard, back yard, and garage tidied up. So Monday morning we finished getting the house back in shape.

In the afternoon we got together with the Bryson's and made green corn tamales. We had so much fun and they really turned out great this year! We even used the green chilies from our garden as well as bell pepper from our garden. I'm glad to have such great friends and neighbors in our lives.
The rest of our week was pretty normal. It was actually my Friday off this week which meant for an extra short week; although, I really try to cram all the must-dos in that one day. In the morning I went to volunteer in Felicity's classroom. It was great to feel like I was contributing if but for only an hour. Then I headed into Tucson for an appointment with the midwife. It was a good appointment and actually managed to get a "way to go" on keeping my weight down this visit. The baby is starting to measure a little big, which unfortunately is pretty normal for me. He has found his way to the head down position so that is good (even a C-section goes much more smoothly if the baby isn't breech). I set up an appointment to consult with the obstetrical surgeon. I am not hopeful that after two previous c-sections and two babies over 10 pounds they will approve me for a trial of labor, but I figure it's worth asking. If I can't be cleared for a trial of labor, they'll schedule my surgery for December 20th. I'm not due until the 27th, but if they won't let me do a normal delivery, they don't want to take the chance of me going into labor naturally, so 39 weeks is safe enough to deliver (Helen was born at 39 weeks and was a very healthy 10 pounds!). Then before heading home I stopped by the thrift where I found my mom and grandma...not that it was a surprise, I would have been surprised if they weren't there on a Friday morning. Jan and I got together and made some hair bows in the afternoon and enjoyed some grown up girl time.
Saturday morning the girls and Jeff went out to do some service for our next door neighbors. They are an older couple and we figured we could help out with some yard work. Victor and his girls met Jeff out there in not too long and after a couple of hours managed to get all their weeds cleared, the yard raked of debris, and their bushes trimmed. I had a great picture of the girls helping, but alas, the computer lost it. Helen did manage to have a close encounter with the neighbors cacti. She stood up and turned only to walk right into a prickly pear. She got several spines in her chest and a few in her hand. After we managed to get her shirt off, we pulled all the cactus out that we could. I gave her a bath and could still feel some little spines that had broken off, so I pulled so more out and finally explained to Helen that anything left behind, her body would eventually push out. This whole weekend whenever we've asked her how her chest feels, she says "fine, when the pokies are ready, they'll push themselves out".

I made some cupcakes for a good friend's son's baptism in the afternoon. I made a ganache and covered mini cakes...they were so good. We drove to Tucson for the baptism and then had dinner with their family afterward. It was a great time and was only marred by the torrential downpour that started at around four and didn't let up until after we left.

We had a lovely Sunday today. I enjoy so much hearing what the girls are learning and doing in primary. Right now Felicity is practicing for the Primary program...Jeff is happy about that as he didn't have to prepare a lesson. He will however be teaching in Elders Quorum in the next few weeks as he was also called to teach on lesson a month in EQ.

We are happy and healthy and enjoying life. Can't imagine that there's much more we could want for. Hope this day finds everyone else happy and well, as they remember what is most important in life.

Blue Jay Way

August 29-September 4

We had a wonderful week this week. We're adjusting to our new schedule with Jeff and the girls in school. Felicity is loving kindergarten and we couldn't be more proud. She's taking great care with her school work and is especially enjoying learning sight words. So far she has learned "my", "I", "is", and "a" and she is sure to point them out whenever we're reading together. Jeff gets her off the bus every afternoon and she does a few pages of homework from a kindergarten workbook we have and then she practices piano. She is enjoying piano and I hope she continues to.

Helen too in enjoying school. Her teachers are very impressed with her maturity and ability to get along with the other children. He vocabulary is also increasing; she is quite the chatter box. Our only problem is keeping clothes on her. We are grateful that she keeps them on while at school, but as soon as she gets home she stripes down to her underpants. She stays that way for the rest of the evening and she humors us for a little while at bed time with PJs, but she always takes them off before actually falling asleep. We love her little independent spirit. She crashes pretty hard at nap time, here she is sleeping at Jan's who picks her up for Jeff on Wednesdays.

Jeff is happy to be back at school for the semester as well. His classes are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday back to back from 9:00 AM -1:00 PM so the time goes by quickly for him, but it doesn't leave him a lot of time for studying and doing homework while he's at school so it has to get done when he's home on Tuesday and Thursday. He's not working at the estate sale company anymore since we don't really need the money and we wanted to enjoy each others company on the weekends when we're both off. He did take Helen to Felicity's school on Tuesday and helped out in the classroom. He did some sort of letter matching game with the kids and actually like the time he was there. I'm grateful he was able to do that since I really can't.

We've been having problems with the little car we bought in March to replace our van. We paid cash for it and were hopeful it would be dependable for us until December when the baby comes. Our intention was to keep both little cars for commuting to work and school and buy an additional family vehicle in December after we had time to save a nice down payment. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, one of the little cars has been giving us trouble. On Wednesday on my way to work, it suddenly lost power and I was almost in an accident because of it. Wednesday night Jeff and I left the girls with my parents and went a hunting for a new to us family vehicle. We spent the evening looking and found one we really liked so we decided to sleep on it. Thursday morning we went back down to the dealership and traded in the little Kia and put what we had already saved down on a Chevy Suburban. It's a 2004 and in excellent condition. It seats 8 with lots of storage space and towing capability. I love being back in a truck. I had bought a brand new Chevy Silverado in college that was my pride and joy and we had to sell it when we had Helen since it only seated three. So this new one makes me feel at home again. We looked at mini-vans, but found that they were just as expensive as the SUVs and tended to have more miles on them. Before we bought it, we made sure that the payments, the gas, and the insurance were all in our budget and since we had a good amount to put down, and they gave us $2,000 for the car it worked out well. I couldn't be happier and am glad to have a dependable vehicle again. I'm going to continue to drive the other little car on days when Jeff is home and then he'll drive the car on school days to save on some gas.

We were also able to check off some things on our baby list this week. I went with Mom and Grandma last Friday to breakfast and the thrift store and was able to get a large bag full of baby clothes for a very reasonable price. I had to very sweet friends give me clothes leftover from their little boys and honestly I am set for clothes, hats, socks, bibs, and blankets for at least the first year! We went to look at cribs that were on sale at Babies are Us, but weren't impressed with what they had, but we did get an infant car seat that was on sale while we were there; I had a coupon which made it even better. I also got a new pack and play (our old one had holes cut in it from one of the kids and was no longer safe) from a "pinching your pennies" add on Facebook. I'm going to use the old Winnie the Pooh crib bedding and decorations and we still have a swing and other little necessities. I think all we still need is a ceiling fan for his room which for whatever reason seems to be the hottest room in the house and a crib and change table (you may recall that our old ones were destroyed in some sort of toddler Olympic high jump event a couple of years ago). I've definitely been feeling a little "nesting" and have crochet him some booties to go with the blessing outfit I'm going to make, and I've started on a blanket. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. I'm having some more blood work to check my iron levels, etc. this coming Friday and then will have my RhoGAM injection and glucose test at the following appointment, it's pretty much all down hill from there! I've been feeling great and the only down side is I've already gained all the weight I was suppose to and then some so I need to be more careful about getting my exercise in and snacking less. I love all the baby kicks and movements we're feeling at this point. Everyone has enjoyed that, Helen especially. I wish I had a picture of her face the first time she felt the baby kick her!

We are having a great holiday weekend so far. Saturday we got up early and spent time as a family working. First we got out in the front yard and pulled weeds, trimmed the bushes, readjusted the rocks, and swept up the sidewalk. We had an ice cream break and the girls ran in the sprinklers and then we picked up the back yard and Jeff mowed and edged and we cleaned up the garden a bit, pulled up any of the plants that are done for the season. We cleaned out the little car and cleaned in the garage and actually made enough room for the truck to fit and all of Jeff's musical equipment (it's going back out in the garage since the baby will be getting the extra bedroom). We were pretty hot and tired, but we did get some cleaning in the house done...I guess we'll be cleaning upstairs on Monday! Our Sunday has been great and very relaxing. Jeff made some great fajitas with peppers, onions, and chilies from the garden. We're hoping to finish up the cleaning tomorrow and make tamales in the afternoon.

We hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend. Love to all!