Family Progression in Photos

Dating:

Married:

Happy Family of 3:
Second Baby (Asher) is on the way!:

Happy Family of 4:

Third Baby (Isaiah) is on the way, but I'm still lovin' on Baby #2!:

Happy family of 5:

Random Note:

If you put Sprite in a sippy-cup. eventually it will start kinda spitting out the top in little splurts. Then, a minute later, you'll have a fountain. Or a water gun.

And then you'll have to mop the kitchen floor.

Bows

I'm learning to make loopy hair bows today! I printed off this great tutorial online (I wish I had saved the URL so I could refer you to it - but I can't find it!) and it's a cinch! They're certainly not perfect (translation: I'm not ready to list them in my shop yet) but they look cute in Naomi's hair. She needs some since she's started letting me get "fancy". BTW this hair-do she's sporting below is her fav right now. She usually picks it when it's her turn - which is fine with me since it's so simple.

Random Tangent:

The last thing I do before I hit the "Publish Post" button is click the spell checker button. I'm so proud when I have no misspelled words. Does it bug anyone else as much as it bugs me when the spellchecker doesn't like some word that's totally valid slang? I want to see that "No misspellings found"!!! Don't take that glory away from me just because you don't like the word playdate or naptime. Come on! Those are words, right?

Two Mommies

Mom: Come here and let me take your coat off, Asher. Only little boys who listen to their Mommies get cookies.

Asher: Mommies? ... Two Mommies? ... No two Mommies! Just you Mommy.

Absence and the Heart

Today Naomi is spending the entire day at Grandma Worth's house. Richard works very near to their house, so Naomi left with Richard this morning and won't be back until around 6 tonight when Richard gets home. She was super excited about it, but then had a little bout of cold feet around midnight last night. But she recovered this morning and decided to go. She packed her backpack with the essentials for a day away from home - Princesses, Ponies, coloring supplies, and the movie Barbie Swan Lake.

I was feeling pretty excited about it too. It's always easier with one less kid. And Naomi dictates a pretty large chunk of our schedule so things can be a little more relaxed without her. The boys and I went to the mall this morning (with no deadline of having to pick her up from school). The boys and I go to the mall often enough when Naomi is in school - so being there without her wasn't that unusual. But I missed her! Then as we were driving home it seemed so odd to not be stopping to pick her up. And when we got home it seemed very quiet without her bombardment of questions about what was happening next. I miss her! Now it's naptime. And it's always silent during naptime - but it seems a little extra silent today.

I'm sure she's having a blast with Grandma. I bet this will be a day she remembers forever. But she can't get home soon enough for me!

Grandpa Reads

Well, once Asher got better, he really got better. His recovery was fast. So we were really able to have a good weekend. Lots of fun playing, a little time set aside for Mom-alone-time and Dad-alone-time, family, etc. Grandma and Grandpa Worth came over for dinner on Sunday. We had a lovely chat and lovely dinner. After dinner Grandma played Barbie's with Naomi in her room and Grandpa stayed downstairs with the boys and I. Asher was playing with a whoopee cushion for a while, which is always good for a laugh. Then Grandpa read Asher's favorite book to him (Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go). That brought back great memories for me since when I was little we had a tape of my Grandmother reading Richard Scarry stories complete with "OK, now turn the page".

(Apparently there's a finger print on my camera lens again so forgive the blurriness.)

And since I'm putting up pictures I have to throw in this fun hairstyle of Naomi's for school today. Thanks to It's A Girl Thing. Pig tails into a braid and back into pig tails. Her hair wasn't quite long enough - there wasn't supposed to be an elastic at the bottom of the braid, but it wouldn't have held without it.

And this video of Naomi and Isaiah going a little crazy. They had a tough week last week since they both felt fine but were quarantined since I didn't know if either of them would catch what Asher had. Plus Mommy was all absorbed in Asher and took his side in every fight or discussion. So they were real troopers.

Turn Around

Asher made an abrupt change for the worse last night. It was actually hard to wake him up from his afternoon nap (which was 3 1/2 hours). I was really worried and debating taking him to the hospital. During my internal debate I said to myself "Self, if you take him to the hospital the first thing they're going to do is hand you a thing of Pedialyte and say 'Make him drink this'. You can do that here and save yourself some time and money." So I did. I went at him with a syringe-like medicine-giver thingy and made him drink it. And it worked. And I did that 5 times last night and then he ate his dinner and drank a whole cup of milk.

Now I must ask myself "Self, why didn't you do that before he got that bad?" And I have come to the realization that I am a softy when Asher is sick. I am total mush. I am softer than water. And I need to stop it. Because I am certainly not helping him by allowing him to get that dehydrated.

Asher had a great night, slept all night in his big boy bed, and woke up this morning perkier than we've seen him in days. So perky in fact, that we all went bowling this morning!

The sun seems to be shining brighter, the bird are singing, butterflies are flitting past (OK, not really) all because I am not in the hospital today and Asher is doing so much better.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Asher is still not himself. He won't eat or drink. I'm afraid he's inching toward serious dehydration. But at the same time, he doesn't have any serious signs of illness other than not eating or drinking and not "being himself". So I'm not sure what that means. But today I decided to make Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies and see if I could entice him to eat that way.

The history of the cookie:
Several years ago my mother spent hours putting all her recipes into one uniform format, printing them and laminating them. Then she sent a complete set to each of her children. They are fabulous. The best part about them is that on the bottom of each card is a little story or memory of that dish. The Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies say "These were a school lunch favorite for the Ashurst kids. Great dunking! As I remember the story, my mother Helen, created this recipe after my sister Ellen had encephalitis. They were nutritious and high in protein to help her gain her strength back." So I figured if they were good for encephalitis, they must be good for the flu too!

The recipe:
1/2 C shortening
1/2 C soft margarine
1 C sugar
1 C brown sugar
1 C peanut butter
1 egg

Blend the above, then add:

2 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

Blend the above, then stir in:

1 C oatmeal

Roll in balls and then smash with a fork to make a crisscross pattern. Bake 8-10 minutes at 350.

My version:
First off, cookies just are hardly cookies without chocolate chips - so I add chocolate chips to mine. And secondly, since I add chocolate chips, I don't squish mine with a fork.

After patiently baking these with Asher and Isaiah's help (Naomi was at school), Asher refused to eat any. Now if that's not a sign of a sick boy, I don't know what is! Who turns down a cookie fresh out of the oven?


See Mom's sweet little recipe card? And the "photo holder" that I use to hold my recipes is from my MIL so I channel both my Mom's when I'm cooking or baking!

The grumpy, non-eating, non-drinking, rash-faced-from-swiping-his-arm-across-his-runny-nose, boy himself.

And a close up of the cookies, just to make you drool!

Happy Baking!

Craft Therapy

Asher Update: There hasn't been any more throwing up since that first night, but he is still pretty mopey and won't eat much. Yesterday was a lot of crying and moaning and a blur of exhaustion (I'm trying to block most of yesterday out). He fell asleep last night at 5pm and we let him stay that way. Richard earned his Husband-of-the-Year Award last night by sleeping on the couch so that he would hear Asher crying and be able to deal with him while I slept all night. They apparently only woke up once around 1am and then got up for good at 6am. Asher seems a little more perky today but is obviously still not feeling well. I, however, am feeling much better with a full night's sleep behind me. Amazing what sleep can do for your attitude.
~~~~~~~~~

I believe in it. Therapy by crafting, that is. It works for me. And since I needed some therapy today to recover from yesterday, that's what I did.

I got these great fancy little measuring spoons from my mother for Christmas. I was so excited to bring them home and hang them in my kitchen just like my mother has hers. The only problem was that she has hers hanging from one of the knobs on her cabinet - and I don't have knobs on my cabinets. So I thought maybe I'd just hang them on the wall just above the backsplash. But they looked very lonely and random. So I thought I'd frame them. But they didn't seem quite artsy enough to be in a frame all by themselves. Then I thought of the scripture in Mathew about measuring, and the final idea was born. Of course, this all happened in January and it's now mid-February. And that, my friends, is how I came to be doing this today.

A little scrapbook paper, a frame stolen from something else, some wire, and wa-la!

Aren't the little birds just adorable? My neighbor actually brought me that piece of paper one day because she knew what my Chic Made logo was and thought of me when she saw the birds. Isn't that sweet? And then the measuring cups have little bird houses and birds on them too. Perfect!

I love the 3-D-ness of it.

A monkey wrench in The Battle

I guess Asher's transition to his big boy bed was a little too easy on me. So it was decided that we needed to throw an illness in just for fun. I'll spare you the details, but he and I were up all night. I'm exhausted to the point of delirium, but he seems to be doing better. The upside is that we're not in the hospital. Remember last years Rotavirus where Asher ended up in the hospital twice because he refused to drink anything but milk and I refused to give milk to a sick-o? Well, this year I nipped that problem in the bud and have been giving the kids juice regularly just to get them ready for any potential sickness. And it has worked! Asher is drinking Pedialyte and is not too dehydrated. It's nice to know that sometimes my worrying and planning works out!

She's been thinking

Naomi: How do babies get into Mommy's tummy's?

Mom: A Mom and a Dad get together and do something really special and then sometimes that makes a baby get in the Mom's tummy.

Naomi: I think when that happens I shouldn't come down from my room. So can you tell me when you and Daddy are going to do something special?

Mom: {giggling} You're just supposed to always stay in your room at bedtime. Remember?

Naomi: Oh. Yeah.

The battle continues

Well, Asher pleasantly surprised me by sleeping as late as 6:20 this morning. And he even let me sleep until 6:45. At that point we called it pointless and just all got up.

Asher and I made a special trip to Target, just he and I, to buy a big boy blanket and pillow. We found a cute truck-themed comforter and sham. It's twin sized and he has a toddler sized bed, but it was all they had so we got it. When we got home I tried to switch his convertible bed from crib to bed all by myself. ...Let's just say, it's a good thing I have a handy husband available. Anyway, I'll spare myself the embarrassing details, but after I quite sabotaging us, the bed switch went very quickly. We put Asher's twin sized blanket the long way across his bed under the mattress and then wrapped it around the mattress and that leaves just enough blanket on top to cover him up. Asher was very pleased and excited about his new bed (which was the whole point of the shopping trip, etc.)

As naptime approached this afternoon Asher was so excited to get to his new bed that he threw a fit about having to eat lunch first. But eventually he made it. Into bed he went, and there he stayed...for about a minute. But after about 45 minutes of trouble-making he settled down and fell asleep! He is, at this very moment, sleeping in his big boy bed! Eeeekkkkk!

I think it'll take him a week or so to get the hang of it, but these first few events were not so bad so I have high hopes of it not being any big deal. *Sigh* A girl can dream, right?

Now the only problem I'm having is that Richard and I are supposed to go out tonight for our Valentine's date. We usually plan to have the sitter arrive just after the kids are already in bed so it's no big deal for the sitter. Especially when "the sitter" is Richard's brother Kevin and his wife Kelly and they're doing it for free. And that's what we planned for tonight, but now I'm worried about leaving Asher on his first night in his new bed. It won't be as easy a night as Kevin and Kelly had planned for, I'm sure. I'm sure nothing tragic will happen or anything - I just feel bad saddling them with this issue.

And here it is: the big boy bed. The plaid you see is the underside of the new comforter. So see how it's under the mattress and then it comes up around the backside and goes on top of the mattress leaving just enough to cover him? Convenient, eh?

Looking at these pictures, I realize how lucky I am that the comforter matches their room so well. That's really just total coincidence. I wasn't even thinking about matching it to the room until we got it home. Ahhh, luck! I suppose I should really take all the credit for having such impeccable good taste.

The battle begins

Sunday, February 15, 2009: A Day to Remember

6:35pm: Naomi, Asher and Isaiah go to bed as usual.

6:55pm: I hear the soft scuffing of small feet coming down the stairs. I brace myself for Naomi's excuses.

6:56pm: The little feet coming down the stairs belong to Asher! He has just climbed out of his crib for the first time. After loosing it for half a second and almost laughing out loud, I get it together and have a collected chat with Asher about why he can not get out of bed anymore even though he can and how tomorrow we'll make his crib into a big boy bed and get a new big boy blanket and big boy pillow.

7:00pm: Asher is back in bed.

7:01pm: Asher is back out of bed but Mom waited in the hall for the inevitable and Asher goes straight back into bed.

7:10pm: I hear a door slam upstairs and go to investigate. Asher is awake, out of his crib, has turned on the lights in his room (which he shares with Isaiah) and has slammed his door and Naomi's.

7:11pm: Asher is back in bed.

7:12pm: Asher is out of bed.

7:13pm: Asher is back in bed.

****************
9:15pm: No more appearances by Asher as of yet. I have no confidence that I'll be sleeping past 5am tomorrow. Note to self: Lock the gate at the top of the stairs when you go to bed so he can't wander downstairs upon waking up.

To be continued...

Saturday

Ever since my little rant about how none of you blog on Saturday's, I feel somewhat obligated to blog on Saturday's myself. Oh well.

Today Richard and I took the kids to a nearby indoor pool. They were super excited when we told them where we were going, and they had even more fun than I expected. Asher spent almost the whole time jumping up and down in the water and saying "Hop! Hop! Hop!". Naomi splashed and jumped and floundered as much as I thought she would. And even Isaiah, who took a little while to warm up to the idea, eventually had a great time splashing around. Now if only it hadn't completely exhausted Richard and I!

Richard and I have planned our Valentine's Day date for Monday night. Our plans are to see Confessions of a Shopaholic. Well... those are my plans. Hopefully Richard will join me ... (just kidding...sorta). Tonight we are going to get some takeout and watch a movie at home. The discussion of what to watch is ongoing. One of us wants "Strange Brew" and the other wants "Wuthering Heights". Can you guess which is who's choice?

Pretty Valentine's (Or Handsome, as the case my be)

Naomi wasn't that excited about exchanging Valentine's today at school. But I was excited enough for both of us! She just didn't know what she was in for! And sure enough, she loved it and was very excited after school. We had fun looking at all her Valentine's together and reading the names of her classmates.

The boys got haircuts today. Isaiah looks like Asher and Asher looks like some older kid. I think the lady butchered Isaiah's hair a little more than necessary - but I'm sure it'll look good in a couple of weeks. I let them use the razor on Asher for the first time - like a real big boy!

Squirrel Watching

It's been absolutely beautiful around here the last few days. The kids spent almost all of yesterday in the backyard (or else tracking dirt inside). Today it's a little cooler, but we still have a couple of windows open to let the fresh, brisk air in. This morning I decided I wanted to make a bird feeder like I've seen people do with a pinecone and some peanut butter. What I quickly learned is that the key ingredient to those bird feeders is birdseed. Which I don't have. Duh. BUT, you can make a squirrel feeder with just a pinecone and peanut butter. Perfect. So, in a super crafty move, I spent 30 seconds tying a ribbon to and then slathering peanut butter on a pinecone. In another 60 seconds it was hanging from the large tree right outside our backdoor. And within 5 minutes there were 2 squirrels on the same tree. They are actually pretty hysterical to watch - the way they timidly climb to the branch with the pinecone on it then skitter forward three steps then back two before approaching the snack. Actually, we have yet to spy them really eating off the pinecone but we know they've been messing with it since the ribbon is a little messed up. Squirrel watching is a fun way to distract the kids from whatever fight they're in at that moment. All it takes is a "Look! A squirrel!" and they all go running to the window for a peek.

My MIL, Margaret, was here this morning. She played with the kids and made some Valentine's with them while I cleaned my room. I think it's probably cleaner and more organized now than it has been since we moved in. It sure does feel nice. What could be a better Valentine's Day present from her than a nice, clean, romantic room?

Oh, and as an extra little Valentine's gift to myself I found a bag in the back of my closet with a brand new pair of pants in it that I must have bought like a year ago. It was in the back of my closet because the pants didn't actually fit when I bought them and I was too bummed (no pun intended) to return them. Well guess what folks, they still don't fit well. But this time they're too big! Happy, happy day!

Sigh of Contentment

The baby shower went so fabulously! I think around 25 people showed up. That is a pretty respectable number considering the size of my house. And we were a chatty group! Naomi always has a little trouble falling asleep when I'm partying downstairs with girlfriends (she feels like she's missing out) but she had a genuine complaint on Saturday night. We were loud! But that was great - it meant everybody was having a good time! The food turned out really well and the decorations were highly complimented. I was running a bit behind on Saturday and really wasn't ready until right down to the minute. Still today I keep opening drawers and cupboards and finding things that I threw in there at the last minute to get them out of sight - dirty dishes mixed with clean in the cupboards, Naomi's art on top of the silverware, etc. But despite my rush, I don't think it could have gone better. The real thing that measures the success is that Stephanie, who the party was for, felt very loved and appreciated. She got some great clothes and diapers and such for the baby, and is loaded up with so much chocolate that she'll be on a sugar high for a year and a half. It was fun to open the gifts and see which kind of chocolate everybody gave. (The invitations said "Stephanie has lots of boy clothes (she's done this a few times before!) but one thing she can never get enough of is CHOCOLATE!)

Now I feel amazingly happy with my life. My house is practically spotless (at least in the main visible parts). The biggest thing on my "to do" list for the week is to make Valentine's with Naomi. A friend, whom I was having a large misunderstanding with, finally emailed me a kind note. I even went to the gym today, had a great workout and got totally checked out by a guy. I am definitely feeling good.

Sadly, I didn't take any pictures at the party. But Stephanie did! So when/if she posts them on her blog, I'll hook you up!

To Do:

Vacuum stairs
Clear off Dining Room table
Make brownie balls
Make giant cookie
Dip marshmallows in chocolate
Drizzle chocolate on cream puffs
Clean kitchen
Set tables with brown tulle, chocolates, fresh flowers, etc.
Borrow fancy dishes from fancy neighbor
Buy gift certificate as gift
Vacuum all of house
Glue chocolates to sticks to add to fresh flowers
Buy card for all who contributed to group gift to sign
Make some kind of big bow to put on big group gift
General de-cluttering of house
Organize the toys to look semi-decent
Wrap my own gift for Stephanie

Good grief. I don't think I should have made that list. I could just keep going on and on. But basically everything that's not on that list doesn't HAVE to happen. And I have the rest of today and tomorrow until about 5pm to work on that stuff - then I move into last minute prep mode. But I am happy to do all of it. Because this baby shower is gonna rock so dang much. I am so excited about it! I have 20 positive RSVP's and only 8 no's. Out of about 90 invites sent out. So I'm guessing somewhere around 30 people will actually come. I feel like I should warn the neighbors about the parking situation.

Fancy Hair

When I was in Texas over Christmas I was amazed to my see my SIL, Jessica, doing her daughters hair just for fun. Ginger just sat there for a pretty long time and let her Mom do this elaborate hair style for no particular reason! I was in awe! Naomi has never let me do her hair very fancy unless I bribe her or something. Which seems weird to me since she is the girliest of girls. So I started bugging Naomi about letting me do her hair. She finally came up with the idea that she gets to pick her hairstyle one day and I get to choose the next day and back and forth like that. She came up with this plan all on her own, so when she doesn't like what I'm doing to her hair I just remind her of that. And, what do you know, now that I've had a few days to do her hair my way, she sometimes chooses "my way" as "hers"!

This hairstyle was the best I could do to get her short-ish hair into a "ballerina bun" for her last Sunday.

And this is how her hair is today. It was also her choice. I had done her hair like this but only two braids earlier in the week and she liked it, but wanted more braids today. I can't even believe she asked for "more braids"! Hooray!

I'm still working on her letting me put big bows or other pretty things in it. She still just wants clippies all the time. The above hairstyle would have looked so cute with a big bow!

**While I didn't actually copy any exact hairstyles from these sites, I was inspired by

A Princess and Her Hair and She Does Hair , and of course, Jessica**

I'm Yours...and yours...and yours...and yours

I saw Jason Mraz on SNL this past week. He sang the song "I'm Yours". And I fell in love with the song. I'd heard it before, but never really listened to all the words. I think it is the perfect song for our family. You can find the complete lyrics here and the music video here, but my favorite verses go as follows:

Well you done done me and you bet I felt it, I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted. I fell right through the cracks and now I'm trying to get back. {This makes me think of just Richard and I, of course. No kids involved here unless you count...well, I think you get where I'm going...}

Listen to the music of the moment people. Dance and sing. We're just one big family and it's our God-intended right to be loved, loved, loved, loved, loved. {OK, so here the family comes in. We love to dance and sing and listen to music and be loved. There's even a "loved" for each member of our family right now!}

I guess what I be sayin' is there ain't no better reason to rid yourself of vanities and just go with the seasons. It's what we aim to do. Our name is our virtue. {Hello? Our name is Worth!}

I love it when I love a song like this. Now every time I hear it I'll have happy thoughts about all the great loves of my life. Richard, Naomi, Asher, and Isaiah. I'm theirs. You best believe. Best believe, I'm theirs.

Happy Thoughts

You must all go read my sister's blog post which she wrote in response to my last post. And then, if you haven't already, you should really bookmark her blog. She's very witty and genuine and a fabulous writer. And she doesn't get enough comment love.

Today we had our Stake Conference. Dallin H. Oaks was there. I didn't get to listen to him much today since I was in the hall with Asher, but luckily I got to hear him last night at the adult session. So I filled Richard in on last night's talk and he filled me in on today's. We both got great things out of it. My favorite part was when he was talking about "those three little words that every woman wants to hear". He went through several versions of what those words are, including "You are right", "You've lost weight" and "Yes, my dear". It got me thinking about what Richard says to me that I really like. This may be too much information for some of you, but I really like it when he says "Wow, Babe!" He says it in this very appreciative way when he thinks I look fancy or whatever. ... I like it. ... Nuff said.

Today is the Super Bowl. Neither Richard nor I are really big football fans. But we are big fans of food - so we have some fun food planned for today.