scattered musings of an overloaded mind

Scott claims that he has a hard time keeping up with my thought process sometimes. Apparently I have the tendency jump from random topic to random topic without any kind of real segue. And as I have sat down to blog tonight, I can kind of see where he's coming from. So, here's my simple disclaimer -- this is one jumbled up mess of a post.

First up. Nesting. To be honest, this term and the implications -- that a pregnant woman goes into this super instinctive, last-minute, organizing, preparing for baby over-drive -- bugs me. Hello. This is not some basic survival instinct at work here, it's called common sense! Of course, I'm going to try and get everything done that I possibly can before this baby's here. If it doesn't get done now, it's not GOING to get done anytime soon. Behold my to-do list for the next 2 weeks:


This list is comprised of cleaning and organizing the whole entire house (and yard and garage) from top to bottom. Every inch of it and every foot as Ethan asked me tonight when I told them they were going to have to help me. The goal is to get everything in as much order as possible before July is over. That way if this baby comes early, things will be done. A bit too ambitious? Perhaps, but we're going to try. Also on my list of thing to do?

* Set up an allergist appointment for Sophie -- if at all possible before the baby is due
* Do my visiting teaching
* Call to make a hair appointment
* Find babysitters for the rest of my weekly doctor's appointments
* Prepare next week's Relief Society lesson
* and Finish painting the kitchen


Next up.

fe⋅lic⋅i⋅ty [fi-lis-i-tee] – noun

1.	the state of being happy, especially in a high degree; bliss.

Ladies and gentleman I present to you Baby Jane's official name:



Jane Felicity. I like the way it flows and I love what it means. Let's just say I'm trying to send happy vibes this baby's way in the hopes that she will embody what her name means and not give us the hard time that Sophie did. Hahahaha.

I guess I should have double checked with Scott before stitching it on her baby quilt (his comment upon seeing it was "Oh, did we officially decide on that name?"), but I figured there weren't really any other contenders. I guess it's a good thing that Scott is not nearly as particular as I am when it comes to names. Haha. Speaking of her quilt, the fabrics may look a little familiar to some of you because they are all scraps leftover from the quilts I made for my twin nieces a couple of years ago. I think the 1930's reproduction prints are super cute, and I love that in making this quilt it was fashioned after the Depression-era motto of "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." The only thing I had to buy to make this quilt was a little extra fabric to do the binding. Not too shabby, right?

The Front

The Back

Alrighty then. Swimming lessons. Well, let's just say that it's always fun to blow 60 bucks on swimming lessons for 2 weeks at the end of which neither child REALLY knows how to swim and in which neither child progressed enough to advance to the next level. Although in Ethan's case he did manage to jump off the diving board and doggie paddle to the side all by himself on the VERY last day of class. And in Grace's case I have written documentation that in at least one class in her life she behaved for her teacher.

Grace's "Report Card"

Did you see that? "Grace is a joy to have!" said her teacher. And she even used an exclamation point! Let's just say this was heartwarming to read after the issues we've had with her in Primary the last little bit.

Getting ready to jump

Ethan especially has loved swimming this summer, and I feel slightly bad that I wasn't on top of things enough to sign them up for the next session of lessons in time. Oh well.

In other news, Ethan has been putting his birthday CD player to good use these days listening to books on CD that he's checked out from the library. So much so that I decided to buy Grace one as well to help keep her in her room at bedtime when all they are SUPPOSED to be doing is staying in bed and looking at books until they fall asleep. The last time we went to the library, I also checked out some longer chapter books on CD to listen to in the car with the kids. The one we started with has been pretty good so far. It's an Andrew Clements book called "No Talking," and the basic premise is that the 5th grade boys and girls at a school enter into a contest to see who can talk the least over a 2 day period. Ethan has seemed to be paying attention to it most of all, and here is a conversation we had the other night at bedtime when we were getting ready to read Book of Mormon stories:

Ethan: I was trying to be quiet today.

(after racking my brain for what he could possibly mean after a day where he had had quite a few meltdowns and yelled at me quite a few times and then realizing he was referring to "No Talking")

Me : [slightly laughing] Oh yeah? How'd THAT experiment go?

Ethan: [laughing out loud] BAD!

Indeed. Let's just say we've had a major problem lately with attitude and disrespect. However, since the last post when I was literally at my wit's end with the children in general and Ethan in particular, we've implemented some changes that have now lasted a good 3 weeks. Are the kids now perfect little angels? No, but I do think they're doing a little bit better.

Just what are these changes you may be wondering? Well, the main thing has been to start the day with a scripture, a primary song, and prayers with the kids. Since Scott has to leave for work before we're all usually up and ready for the day, I've been doing this on my own with the kids. Each week we have a new scripture of the week that we read together and then a song that goes along with the scripture. And then after prayers we've instituted a new rule that everyone has to hug everyone else when we're done. "Prayers and hugs!" is Sophie's favorite part of the routine. Do the kids pay attention, participate, and act reverently every morning as we've started this new system? Absolutely not. In fact, most mornings I would say there is still a struggle. BUT, there are the few times where they are all into it and seem to be really learning something from it that makes it worth it. We've also decided we need to be more consistent with reading Book of Mormon stories every night before bedtime as a family.

Along with these changes, some of the practical changes we've made involve chores, bedtime, TV watching, and dates. Basically, if the kids want to earn a "date" of their choice on the weekend, they have to do their chores every day and stay in bed at bedtime. And if they want to watch TV they have to earn it during the day by doing chores. Three chores equals one TV show, and although I've caved a few times and let them watch a little more than they've earned, the system has been working pretty well, and they have not been watching NEARLY as much TV as they were before.

Enough about that -- especially seeing as to how I am nowhere near being a parenting expert. Hahahaha.

Speaking of their "dates," though, I find it interesting as to what they choose. Based on their choices, I would say that both Ethan and Sophie share the love language of "Quality Time," while Grace's language is all about "Receiving Gifts." To date (hahaha), Ethan's "dates" have been putt-putt golfing and bowling with Scott. Whereas both of Grace's "dates" have been to Build-a-Bear workshop to get a new junk and then to pick out more accessories for her junks. It's kind of funny -- Ethan always wants to go and do something and Grace always wants to go and buy something. And then there's Sophie. All she ever requests is "juice and coloring." Hahaha.

These next pictures are for Uncle Dodo:








Grace is such an out-there child. I really don't get what goes through her mind ever. The other night when I went up to check on her before going to bed, the above pictures are what I found -- although I didn't notice it right away. I first noticed Doggie (the top picture) hanging from the night light finally wearing the dress Grace coerced me into making for it earlier that day and then showed no interest in after I spent 2 hours working on it. My first thought was "I'm glad I didn't COMPLETELY waste my time today" followed quickly by "Hmmm. This looks a little disturbing." Well, the disturbia continued as I glanced around the room and slowly realized that every single junk she had in her room (and believe me these pictures are a mere sampling) was hanging from a rubber band around its neck on a hanger. It was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen. I was literally laughing so hard I was crying as I called Scott to come in and see what she had done. When I asked her the next day why she had hung up all her junks she just looked at me in exasperation and said "They're just junks mom, they're not real."

In other news, Sophie is still majorly on a "play dress" kick. It's actually no longer kind of cute, but really annoying. Especially since she's already stained a few of her nice church dresses because she can be a real tyrant when picking out what she wants to wear in the morning. On Friday she had a slight deviation from the norm after naptime when she came running downstairs (after Ethan had gotten her out, and Grace had helped her change out of her diaper) in THIS outfit:

Fabulous Sophie

Who says stripes, florals, and polka dots don't go together? Of course, she insisted on wearing underwear with the outfit (ending with an accident about 30 minutes later) and I just have to state for the record that she may be ready to be potty-trained, but I am nowhere NEAR ready to deal with that hassle this close to having a newborn.

With Grace as her fashion role model, can we really expect anything else from Sophie?

Alright I'm winding down here. Yesterday and last night were fun times in our house as both the girlie bugs had some kind of stomach bug. Sophie woke up in an off mood and just continued to be ornery the whole day, whereas Grace was fine until we were driving home from the mall after our date and she kept insisting she was "homesick." I figured she probably didn't know what she was talking about and this was confirmed when she asked me a little bit later if "homesick" means you're going to throw up. Well, her "homesickness" didn't hit until she had already fallen asleep for the night. First she threw up in her bed necessitating a full load of laundry and a change of beds. Then about an hour later she threw up in the other bed, creating more laundry to do, and finally (after we got smart and had her set up camp in our bathroom) she made it to the toilet for the third time. Poor little Grace. She was too scared to go back to her room -- not to mention there were no longer any clean beds for her to sleep on, so I laid down some towels and a pillow on the bathroom floor, and that is where Grace spent the night. Comfy.


Fortunately, both girls were completely fine today -- although I did keep them home from church so they wouldn't contaminate anyone else -- and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I won't get what they had. Because the last thing I want to add to the litany of discomforts with my pregnant belly is throwing up.

And finally, while we're talking about this pregnant belly of mine, I'm feeling HUGE!!! What the bunnysauce? I still have 6 weeks left to go till the due date! This little girl is running out of room and letting me know it. Between the back aches, the near-constant rib pain, the Braxton-Hicks contractions, the swelling feet, and the occasional heartburn, I am SO done with this pregnancy. And the kids have the audacity to ask me when we're going to have baby Alex!

Alright, alright, I'm almost done. In a true confession here, I'll admit that I occasionally watch "18 Kids and Counting" on TLC. It's not that I find the show all that entertaining -- because it's not really -- I just find it strangely compelling for some reason. They really just seem like a nice, good family. Well, I taped it the other night and was watching it during naptime, finishing up Jane's quilt, when Ethan and Grace traipsed inside and sat riveted by the episode. I think it's their new favorite show. Although both of them seemed to need frequent reassurance that we will never have 18 kids in our family. And that, my friends, is one thing I can unequivocally assure them will NEVER happen.

THE END.