It's a ...

It's a...BABY!! Just kidding. Well, I'm not kidding, it is a baby. But what you really want to know is that it's a baby BOY!

Here he is with his hand up by his ear. Isn't he a looker?
And here's his profile. That big balloon looking thing on the right is his stomach. He had his head cocked to one side so that his ear was on his shoulder and we are looking down from above him kinda.
This guy is a wiggler. He was just in constant jiggly motion the whole time we watched him. A hand moved, a head cocked, a foot adjusted. He's a busy guy, even en utero.

Welcome to the fam, little guy. We've already been busily discussing names. We've already rejected Caleb, Samuel, Eli, Jacob, and Carson. We'll keep working on it.

**I want to make it clear to everyone (including this baby) that I am in no way disappointed by today's news. I am thrilled. I am overjoyed that there is a healthy, wiggly, baby, of any sex, in my tummy. We'll take whatever The Good Lord sees fit to give us - and we'll take if gladly!**

***Naomi, however, does not feel the same way. She cried when we told her it was a boy. And NOT with tears of joy.***

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

School Pics

I wasn't planning on buying school photos this year since we just did that professional photo shoot in the Fall and got those fab pictures. But have you ever seen such a stunning school picture? She looks angelic! She looks like a supermodel! She looks like she came with the frame! ... So I bought it. I had to.
Note to all Grandparentals: If you want a copy of this photo, speak up now. Because I'm not planning on buying you a copy unless you really are dying for it since I just sprung for pics for ya'll in the Fall.

Vote Now!

Tomorrow we get our Ultrasound and see whether this baby is a boy or a girl. So now's your chance to put in your vote! What do you think? Boy or girl?

I've mentioned before that we hope it's a girl. But on both sides of our family we have families who have all boys - so if that's a genetic trait we might be in trouble. Sure, we've already broken that mold by starting with a girl, but "they" say that once you have 3 boys in a row the odds of having a girl are pretty small. So does that mean our odds of having another girl have already diminished by having two boys in a row? ... I'm babbling.

So, we vote girl. How about you?

The Auction Fundraiser

It was a huge success! It was looking incredibly iffy right up until 15 minutes before it started, but it all came together in the end. Not too shabby for an event that I planned, pulled together and happened all within a single week.

In the end, it was a raccous party. The Young Women did a great job of singing songs, reciting silly poems, and telling their favorite jokes. The audience did a great job of hooting and cheering during and after each auctioned item. And of being generous with their "donations". The most coveted item in the auction was a plate of cinnamon rolls - followed closely by several Bolivian dishes. All told, we raised 70% of the money that we need for Girl's Camp. Which is far more than I was expecting!

There was some drama for me leading up to this fundraiser, but I learned some important lessons - about how to do a fundraiser and about life. I feel very good about my accomplishment and blessed to be in Young Women's. I love working with those girls.

Bugging Me

See that bug? I kill at least one each day in my house. It was like that all last summer, too. They don't bite or sting or anything, they're just annoying. They fly around buzzing and freaking out the kids. They don't come in through the doors or windows so I knew they were getting in through some crack or something somewhere - but I didn't know where. Until now. I have figured out that they're coming in through the chimney. We haven't used our fireplace in several years because the chimney really needs to be swept and I don't want to pay for it. So apparently an infestation is going on in there now. But what do I do about it? The chimney is three stories high, so I don't think spraying something up there is going to work. And the top of the chimney is totally unreachable even from the top of the house (if we had a way of getting up there, which we don't). The thought occurred to me to just build a fire - maybe that would smoke them out. But if they have a nest in there somewhere it seems like that just adds to the fire hazard that has kept me from building a fire prior to this.

What do I do?

Pitch In

So I'm planning this big fundraiser for our Young Women to raise money for Girl's Camp. The fundraiser is this weekend. I started planning it last weekend (because that's when we found out we needed a fundraiser). We're doing a baked goods auction and in between auction items our Young Women will be performing camp song and other silly little ditties. The idea with the songs and silly ditties is to keep the energy up. To bring the fun spirit of camp into that room so that people will be generous.

I've run out of ideas for the "silly little ditties" so that's where I thought you might be able to help. I'll tell you a few of what I've got so far, so that you get the idea.

We will, we will, CAMP OUT....CAMP OUT!
You will, you will, BUY CAKE... BUY CAKE!

Roses are red, violets are blue
We love camp,
So buy a pie or two!

Any commonly known song or poem would work. So whatcha got for me, you clever people, you?

A letter

Dear Baby #4,
I know you're in there! I can feel your sweet little life-affirming kicks. Wiggle and kick to your hearts content, Baby! Grow, grow, grow! Suck up all the nutrients you need. We'll see you next week (in black and white and gray on Ultrasound). We can't wait to see if you're a boy or girl. We'll be thrilled either way. Don't you worry - your job is just to grow, grow, grow, grow, grow!

All My Love,
Mom

Boggle

How about an online game of Boggle? How many 3-letter-or-more words can you get from this board? Basic rules: You can not use the same letter tile more than once in the same word. You can go diagonal and in weird patterns. The next letter in your word just has to be touching the previous letter on a side or at a corner. ... I just did a horrible job of explaining the rules, but I guess I'm assuming most of you already know how to play.

I K A H
X T E N
T L T N
A L A O

Don't list your words yet so that nobody can cheat - but give us a count. Technically you're supposed to play Boggle in one-minute rounds or something, but this way will be fun, too.

Flip Flops

The weather around here has been flip-flop friendly! So I had to go out and buy this years round of cheap-o sandals.
... But clearly nobody has their Summer tan yet!

I'm feeling...

Leg cramps

Grumpy

Way-too-frequent headaches - which are brought on by nothing at all. The other day I was sitting in total peace and relaxation and all the sudden my head was killing me. Apparently it's because of all the extra blood pumping through me right now.

Tired - no matter if I get 7 hours of sleep or 10.

Annoyed that people keep saying things like, "You don't even look a bit pregnant!" like I'm supposed to be happy about that. Because I sure feel pregnant. And if I'm gonna feel like crap all the time I want credit for it!

Hungry - this pregnancy is all about food for me. Not one specific food, just food in general. I want it. All the time. And it all seems to like me back! Food is my friend.

Non motivated and at the same time like there is something urgent that I should be doing that I'm forgetting. (It's probably to clean the toilet.)

Frumpy

Happy that I've still hardly gained any weight (and yet irritated by that at the same time since it's what causing #5 up there).

Basically... PREGNANT.

Asher's 4th Birthday

Asher had a grand day on Saturday. We celebrated his birthday a little early to take advantage of the weekend. He started the day with a Daddy-Asher date to see How To Train Your Dragon. While he was gone Naomi and Isaiah helped me clean the house and make the cake. After naptime, the party began!

Asher's favorite thing right now is swinging. He can pump by himself, but he loves to have somebody push him anyway. Aunt Ruth happily obliged for at least an hour!
My big present to him was this embroidered pillow that he calls his "Pillow Pet". The design was inspired by this painting.

We had a great dinner of Kraft Mac and Cheese (with steaks and asparagus for the grown-ups).
And then chowed down on the train cake.
The presents were all a hit.
And the company was great. (This is Aunt Kelly with baby cousin Ethan)
Everybody had a great time. Here's Uncle Kevin holding Isaiah holding Ethan.
In the end we were all fat and happy. ...Even the grown-ups.
I think we did a good job of making it a very special day for Asher. He woke up the next morning asking if it was his birthday again. We had to sadly answer no, but lucky him, it's his birthday again tomorrow when he brings cupcakes to school.

Isaiah Says the Alphabet

(well, sorta)

See the below video for some our favorite things that Isaiah says these days. And some rockin' bed-head.

Isaiah: Nobody get my stuff from Richard Worth on Vimeo.

At the very end you hear him say, "Now let me see!" And at the beginning I asked him to say, "Nobody get my stuff" because I just think it is adorable how he says "no-biby". He says that sentence often as he sets down a pile of this or that to eat a snack or something.

I love that you can see the shape of his mouth so clearly in this video. You can really see how he struggles to get it to make the right shapes. He's watching my face intently as I say each letter of the alphabet and then he's trying so hard to mimic it. He's learning to get the right sounds, but he's not really using standard technique yet. But we're thrilled anyway!

Patience Update

Well, after careful thought and consideration (thanks for all your comments) and after listening to General Conference, I decided that my problem with patience was really mine. My kids are at an appropriate stage for their ages. Sure, I could work on teaching them about patience some, but mostly what prompted me to feel impatient with their impatience was ME. Ya follow? So I'm working on that. I know that I get grumpy when I'm pregnant and I guess I can add "impatient" to that list.

So there you have it, my piece of humble pie.

Patience

I am at the end of my rope.

My patience is running thin because of how impatient my children are.

Someone is constantly hollering at me that they need this or that while I help someone else. It doesn't matter if I have already said, "Yes, just a minute" or anything similar. While I'm in the middle of our two-minute routine of getting breakfast for everybody (the exact same way that I do every other morning), three children ask me for at least 3 things each. I think they should know that I can't do anything else for them at that moment. I cannot dole out bandaids, go over homework, and play catch while preparing breakfast. Sorry, kids. Naomi is by far the worst offender. Just now I sent her to her room for impatience and within a minute she was hollering, "Mama!" because I wasn't coming up to talk to her as promised. It's bad. How could I have failed to teach this to my children? It seems that in a family like ours they would have learned to wait their turn, but suddenly I wonder if instead they've learned to forget waiting and yell their way to the front of the line. Has that worked for them in past? I don't think so, but maybe I haven't been strict enough.

So, I'm putting my foot down. Impatience will no longer be tolerated. I haven't decided yet how I will manifest this non-tolerance policy or what the appropriate punishment should be. But I just can't ignore it anymore.

Suggestions?

Spring Break

We've been living it up this week, on Spring Break. We haven't done anything really momentous or anything, we've just enjoyed playing and being together. We've been to the mall, played outside endlessly, bounce housed, dyed Easter eggs, picniced, etc. And we've done much of it wearing shorts and t-shirts! It rained the first part of the week, but the last couple days have been positively gorgeous. Today's high is 79!

Tomorrow we are all heading off to D.C. to see the cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin.

Pictures will follow when I'm not too busy having fun!