First Days Home and a Tale or Two of Chaos

First things first. Friday was our first day home from the hospital. Here are some going home shots:




Here are pictures of Ethan and Grace with the baby. They were very excited to finally have baby Sophie -- and mom -- home.






For the first few days home, we noticed a pattern in her sleep habits. Basically she has two modes of being. She's either can't-wake-her-up-for-anything-asleep or won't-let-you-put-her-down-no-matter-what-asleep. Unfortunately, she's got the day and night mixed up, so its during the night that she won't stay asleep in her bassinet. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. She'll be fast asleep in my arms, and I'll carefully transfer her to her bed, and JUST as I'm settling back in bed and getting comfortable, the crying starts. And of course, as soon as I pick her up and hold her, she falls right back asleep. And so the pattern continues until FINALLY she stays asleep.

So, basically as far as recovering from the delivery, I feel great but understandably sleep-deprived. On Saturday night, Sarah's boyfriend, Drew, offered to make dinner for us. How nice is that? Sarah helped, and Laura joined us as well. He made "french burritos." In case you're wondering what exactly that is, Drew explained that on his mission -- in Paris -- they are sorely lacking in the mexican food department. So, the elders would improvise by making their own tortillas and gathering up the rest of the trimmings. They were so good, and I still can't believe how what a kind gesture it was for him to make dinner for us!

Here's a picture of the spread.

And here's a picture of Sarah and Drew (with Sophie).

Here's a picture of the aforementioned can't-wake-her-up-for-anything-asleep mode. Isn't she a doll?

A lot of people have asked how it is having 3 kids to take care of now. Well, below is a picture that's a metaphor for what my life has felt like from time to time over the past week.



Monday was our first day back to reality. Scott had school, and it was one of his long days, so he was gone from 8 till 5. It was surprisingly not as bad as I was expecting it to be. Sophie was still sleeping pretty much round the clock, so it wasn't too difficult dealing with the other 2.

On Tuesday, the above pictures are what I woke up to in Ethan's room. Apparently he had a very busy night trying to fall asleep. The rest of the day was still fine, though. Sophie had to go in for a check-up and she is my first child not to be jaundiced enough to have to go under the bilirubin lights! So that's good. She's lost more weight since being discharged from the hospital, though, so I guess all that sleeping is interfering with her eating. She weighed only 6 1/2 pounds at the doctor's office! Thats so TINY! I'm not used to such small babies.

Seriously, look at how skinny those little legs are!

Now on to the chaos. For those of you who may check the blogs on my sidebar, you may have heard mention of the 5 Days of Valentine on my sister Emily's blog. This is a completely made-up extension of the holiday that I started a year or two after Scott and I got married. I decided that one day was not sufficient enough to celebrate love, so I decided to create the 5 Days of Valentine. Well, the week in between coming off bedrest and actually having the baby, I went into total nesting overdrive. I got all the little trinkets and Valentine gifts for the kids and I decided to include my brothers and sisters this year, too, and something for the girls I visit teach. Ethan has been REALLY into Valentine's Day this year, so he was more than excited to put together the packages and make cards, etc. and we managed to get everything sent out 2 days before Sophie was born.

However, the one thing Ethan was really looking forward to was decorating cookies to take to "the loved ones." So, what did I find myself doing the night before Valentine's Day? Well, in between trying to get Sophie to stay asleep in her bassinet, I was finishing up making cards for the girls I visit teach (I had already assembled a little tin of treats for them the week before) and making sugar cookies so that Ethan would be able to decorate them the next day. I figured it would be FAR easier for me to just make the cookies than to deal with Ethan "helping" me to make them the next day.

Here's a picture of the cards I made for the girls I visit teach.


And a picture of all those cookies I made.

Well, I think I'm probably insane, because I didn't get to bed until almost 1 in the morning. And Sophie was up almost every hour during the whole night. And Wednesday is Scott's other long day at school. And Scott's mom and dad had gone up to Salt Lake the day before for a PEF conference and wouldn't be home until that evening. And Ethan and Grace were out of control fighting with each other off and on all day long. And basically it was the worst day ever.

There were moments of okay-ness. The kids really liked their Valentine shirts I got for them and they really liked decorating those cookies. However, sleep deprivation makes me a very mean mom, apparently, and around 2 in the afternoon, I absolutely lost it with Ethan. He had been picking on Grace and hurting her for about 20 minutes -- all while I was trying to get Sophie to wake up so I could feed her -- when he finally pushed me over the edge. He pushed Grace behind the baby swing and then ran around to the other side so that he could push the swing as hard as he could at her and the swing smacked her in the mouth and busted her lip and it started bleeding everywhere. Well, I screamed at him so hard that I'm pretty sure he was scared out of his mind, and then just for good measure I erased about 5 of his kid shows off of Tivo. He was not happy about that and threw a fit, but finally after we all calmed down, I felt really guilty and decided we should get started decorating those cookies so we'd have time to deliver them to "the loved ones" -- i.e. Sarah and Laura -- before we had to pick up Scott from school. This was actually one of the happier moments of the day, and I have the pictures to prove it!

Decorating the cookies

Eating the cookies

One of the finished products.

Anyway, the day finally ended, and I was able to get more sleep last night. And as they say, "tomorrow is another day." And today was indeed MUCH better than yesterday (see the below pictures for the extended metaphor of my life today). Most likely because I got to bed before midnight.

Now for some more light-hearted fare. Here are some pictures of the kids in their Valentine jammies (one of their 5 Days of Valentine gifts). They REALLY like them. Scott thinks the jammies are hideous, but I think they're cute because they match.

A moment of loving kindness.

Here are the kids on Valentine's Day in their new shirts.

(Do you like how drugged Grace looks in this shot?)

Here is a sweet gift that Sarah and Drew brought by for Sophie for her birthday/Valentine's Day.

And finally I was so excited to discover that Sophie has dimples in each of her cheeks! Now why does this make me so excited, you may ask? Well, I have this theory about people with dimples. I think dimples give people certain advantages in this world. I'm being serious. Think of every person you know with dimples. Didn't you find them to be immediately likeable? Anyway, that's just my opinion. I tried to get a picture of Sophie's, but its kind of difficult since she doesn't smile on command yet. Below is the best shot I could get.



Well, that's all folks. Sorry for the gratuitous kid pictures. We really are enjoying Sophie. She's starting to wake up a little more in the last day or so, and she really is a sweet baby. I still can't get over how tiny she is! In closing I'll leave you with one more picture of her. This is the most recent, as it was taken just this evening when she was actually awake.

And the winners are...

Messimoo (guess: Feb. 14th) and Big Bellied Momma (guess: 7 lbs. 4 oz.)!

Introducing Sophie Lynn!

Here are the vital statistics:

February 7, 2007
12:31 PM
7 lbs. 3 0z.
18 1/2 inches

Trust me, I'm as surprised as you are that she was 3 whole weeks early. I mean, I was ready to be done with this pregnancy and all, but at BEST I was hoping for a couple of weeks early!

Here is a quick (I guess I should wait until I'm done writing this to make that claim!) recap of the last 24 hours. So, last night around 7, I started having semi-regular contractions that were starting to get more than uncomfortable. I wanted to wait and make sure that they were the real deal before going to the hospital, so we decided to finish watching American Idol to wait it out and see if they would get more regular and painful. We were all set to go, when they started slowing down, and eventually stopped around 10 or so. At this point I was tired, having been up half the night before with really bad round ligament pain. I was able to get a couple of hours of sleep in before I woke up around 12:30 with more contractions. So, for the next hour and a half I was timing contractions, and trying to decide if I should wake up Scott to head to the hospital. These contractions petered out as well, and I finally fell back asleep around 2. Well, at 5 I was up again with contractions coming about 4 minutes apart, and staying consistently uncomfortable bordering on painful. By 6 I woke Scott up to tell him that I was thinking we'd have the baby today.

I've realized that I have virtually no pictures of being pregnant this time around, so this will have to do


Settled in and ready for the baby to get here!

We got to the hospital and were all settled in by about quarter to 8. However, Sophie picked one of the busiest days EVER to be born (seriously, by the time they were wheeling her down to the nursery, there had already been 8 births that morning with 7 more ready to happen). Because of this, and I guess a shortage of nurses on hand to help out everywhere, our service -- so to speak -- was a little slow. I guess there's really nothing you can do about that though. Apparently its my lot in life to NEVER have an epidural work properly during my labor and delivery. I was really hoping 3rd time would be a charm here, but no such luck. My doctor came in to break my water around noon, and also had the nurses hook me up to a little Pitocin. This combo wreaked havoc on my poor little body, so that the said epidural did not have time to catch up to the rapid changes I was undergoing. I went from being 5 cm dilated to complete and ready to go in like 10 or 15 minutes. Let's just say I really don't know how all you ladies out there can do natural childbirth. I must have a really low threshold for pain, because basically I felt like I was dying. Luckily, the anasthesiologist came and gave me another dose of the epidural , and by the time that caught up with me, I was not in pain for the actual delivery. She was born so quick, though, that her face is a little bruised up.





Being born 3 weeks early, I was a little concerned about her lungs being completely developed, etc. But, fortunately everything looks good and I think we've finally gotten our mellow child! I've hardly heard her cry at all, and she's basically been sleeping since they FINALLY brought her in to me at 3 PM. Scott thinks she looks like Ethan, but I don't think she looks like anybody so far. Every now and then I'll catch a glimpse of Ethan or Grace in her, but for the most part she's got her own look -- which sometimes looks like a little old man, poor thing.

(Do you like how tired I look?)

Anyway, I guess this wasn't a very quick recap, but I wanted to write it all down since I've become such a non-existent journal keeper.

Here are some pics of the kids meeting her. To be honest they were a little more interested in the cookies that the nurse brought in, than in the baby, but that's okay. They were surprisingly gentle with her when they finally did go over to see her, and Grace was really excited to give her the teddy bear she picked out.

Enjoying the oreos






Presenting her with the teddy bear (it only looks like the cellophane is right on top of her face)

One more tired but happy shot of mother and babe

Well, that's all folks. Sorry for all the details!

One last shot of sweet baby Sophie

Free at Last, Free at Last

Hallelujah, I'm free at last! My bedresting days are officially over. I had my doctor's appointment yesterday and he released me from my housebound prison. I can't even describe how ecstatic I am. Thank you so much to all of you who offered suggestions of how to stay entertained, and especially to all of you helped out by taking the kids for me! I wanted to give a special shout out to my number 1 favorite sister (hahaha) Emily for sending me my very own Good Mail package. She sent me the hook up with several issues of my favorite celebrity tabloid magazines, as well as some conversation hearts (the candy), and some cute clothes for baby Sophie.


In retrospect, the time actually passed by pretty quickly, although each day seemed like it was a week long. The kids have pretty much been watching TV all day long for the last 2 weeks. So, we're gonna need to break that habit real soon. In other news, Ethan has finally caught on to the fun that is picking on a little sister. Grace has 3 stuffed animals that she is VERY attached to -- Doggie (a white dog), Puppy (a pink dog), and Ribbit (her stuffed frog from the Build a Bear workshop birthday outing). Ethan's new favorite thing to do is to grab one of her animals from her and then run away with it laughing maniacally the whole time. Grace gives the desired response by freaking out and chasing after him trying in vain to get it back. Its been lots of fun.

The irony is that right before going on bedrest they were actually starting to play together really well and nicely with each other and I was really excited thinking that perhaps they would continue to do so once the baby was here. I guess that was just wishful thinking. They still CAN play nicely together, but they're also at each other's throats half the time. Here is my favorite exchange from today. Ethan was doing something to bother Grace and she came crying to me and Scott saying that Ethan was bugging her, so I told her to tell him to stop. Here is what they said:

Grace -- (yelling) "Don't bug me!"

Ethan -- (yelling back) "You just can't worry about that!"

Huh? What does that even mean?

Anyway, I don't really have anything too exciting to report after my first full day back in the swing of things. However, since today I'm exactly 4 weeks away from my due date, I thought I'd follow in the footsteps of my friend Heidi and offer up a contest with actual prizes for the winners (well, as long as I know your address so I can send you something). I'll make it a 2 part contest for whoever guesses closest to the actual birth date and weight of the baby.

Now onto my reality TV commentary for the day. I know many of you out there watch American Idol. So here is my question. What is up with Paula Abdul this season? Seriously, all she does is make weird or crazy faces at the camera and she's making even less sense with her comments than usual. As far as the "talent" this year, I'm always really annoyed by all the bad singers they show. I wish they'd show more of the good singers. That being said, my early favorite is that teenage girl who was training to be an opera singer but skipped out to audition for the show. I LOVED her. I thought she was hilarious, and I hope she does well. Somehow I doubt she'll make it past the Hollywood round, but I thought she had so much personality I'm still holding out hope. Other favorites include the Jack Osborne look-alike who said he wanted to make David Hasselhof cry and the revolutionary-looking guy with the long hair and beard.

In closing I'll post a picture of how Grace utilizes her Mr. Potato Head set she got for Christmas.


That's all folks!

Bored, bored, bored

Well, folks. Here is the saga of my weekend. As most of you faithful readers know, our little bundle of joy is due at the end of next month. However, Saturday night while trying to fall asleep I start having some semi-painful contractions, which although not regular were still uncomfortable enough that it was hard to fall asleep. Well, all night long, each time I had to get up to go to the bathroom -- which is like 2 or 3 times a night these days -- I would experience the same problems with contractions and having a hard time falling asleep. By morning time I got up with the kids, mostly because I couldn't go back to sleep, and I was still continuing to have contractions which were starting to become regular -- anywhere from 3-5 minutes apart -- and slightly painful.

Now, by nature, I'm not really a worrier. This is my 3rd pregnancy, I've been having lots of Braxton-Hicks contractions for the last couple of months -- which I'd asked my doctor about and he assured me that this was normal with the more pregnancies you have -- and to be honest I really didn't think that I was experiencing true labor. I didn't want to have to go to the hospital just for them to tell me that it was false labor and to just rest and take it easy. I was also not wanting to go because I was supposed to substitute playing the piano in Relief Society, and I didn't want to let anybody down, AND most importantly I didn't want to miss Ethan's first day of Sunbeams (which was this week because we had Stake Conference last week).

So, I was just going to suck it up and at least go to church before doing anything drastic like going in to the hospital, until I started thinking about it and realized that I hadn't really felt the baby move all that much that morning. When Scott woke up and I told him what was going on, he BEING a worrier, immediately wanted me to at least call the hospital and see what they said. So, after laying down for 15 minutes to see if I felt the baby move at all, and not feeling any movement but still having contractions every few minutes, I finally gave in and called and since I'm still only at 34 weeks in the pregnancy they said to come on in for monitoring.

So, that is how we spent the rest of the day. Hooked up to monitors and being given a battery of tests and finally being put on BEDREST. Lovely. The important thing, though, is that the baby looked totally fine. Her heart rate was perfect and she was not in distress or anything, and shortly after checking in, she started moving around. However, I was still contracting -- at this point every 2-3 minutes -- and they were still a couple notches above merely uncomfortable, so they gave me 3 shots of Terbutaline (to stop the contractions) as well as a fetal Fibronectin test to determine if I was in any imminent danger of going into premature labor (the test did come back negative, so there's a 95% chance that I WON'T go into labor in the next 2 weeks) and they also did an internal exam to see if I had started to dilate at all (which I had, to a whopping 1 cm). AND they also gave me a shot of Betamethasone -- which is a steroid that is supposed to help speed up the development of the baby's lungs -- just in case.

Anyway, long story kind of short, they kept me in for the next couple of hours to continue to monitor me and the baby, and my doctor also ordered an ultrasound to check on the amniotic fluid levels. We were finally able to leave after about 6 hours with a prescription for Nifedepine (or something like that) to keep the contractions at bay -- which I was still having although they were much more irregular and no longer painful -- and instructions that I was to stay on complete BEDREST because I HAD already started to dilate. So there you have it. The reason for the title of this blog post. It has been exactly one day of bedrest and I am already bored out of my mind. Luckily Scott didn't have school today -- thank you Martin Luther King, Jr. -- so he was a huge help with the kids, along with my sister Sarah who babysat for us when we had to go back for my doctor's appointment today as well as another trip to the hospital to get the second dose of the Betamethasone shot. My doctor informed me at my appointment that he wants me to stay on bedrest for the next 2 weeks. Awesome.

So, apparently I'll need to figure out a way to "take it easy and lay down as much as possible" for the next 2 weeks with a 2 year old and a 3 year old underfoot. Its a huge blessing that we're living in the basement of Scott's parents house right now, because they've been so great about helping with the kids and making dinner, etc. but I'm already feeling SUPER guilty, and SUPER useless, and basically like a total bum. So, that kind of sucks. And seriously, laying down all day is not as fun as it sounds.

Okay, enough of that. I'm sure its been boring beyond belief to read about! I did manage to take pictures of Ethan before church yesterday so that I could at least document his first day of Sunbeams. I think he liked it. Although the classic Ethan response grandma got when she asked him about it was "It was long." And apparently he also managed to slip away from his class at one point to go back to the nursery to check on Grace. So, that's really good. He did say that they sang "Scripture Power" 2 times, which is his favorite song, so I hope that will give him a little more incentive to like Primary. He was quite adamant about not wanting to go before church started.

Here's my little Sunbeam!

Anyway, that's about all there is to report about that. Except, should I be concerned that the only Book of Mormon stories Ethan wants to read about every night are the really violent ones? It seems the only ones he knows/wants to read each night before bed are about Abinadi and King Noah burning at the stake, and Nephi cutting off Laban's head with the sword. I don't know. And then at Family Home Evening tonight when Scott was doing the lesson on reading the scriptures every day, he asked Ethan why we need to do this and Ethan's response was so that we don't kick, or scratch, or hit people, or cut people, or be mean. Hmmmmm. I guess these are good answers. But I was kind of hoping he'd focus more on positive actions like being kind, or sharing, or helping others. Oh well. He IS only 3. At least he was paying attention to the lesson which is more than I can say for our little party girl who was busy "making cookies" with her toy coins from the piggy bank she got for Christmas. Oh well. She IS only 2.

On a completely random side note, I thought I'd post some pictures of what our world looks like these days. Although these pictures were taken before Christmas, we've gotten SOOOO much snow this winter and its been so cold (hello, the high today was like 16 degrees), that this is what it still pretty much looks like from our backyard:

This is a shot of Ethan after he tripped in the snow.

Here are the kids making "snow angels."

Here is a shot of a finished snow angel.

And here is a shot showing how deep the snow is -- it was pretty much up to Grace's knees.

And one other random side note -- who else is excited for American Idol tomorrow night? Huh, huh? Go on its okay to admit it. We will be TiVoing it on Tuesday and Wednesday this week when it will be on for 2 hours each night. Yay!

Alright, folks. I'm officially done. Sorry, the text is so lengthy this time without a lot of pictures.

Oh and one final thing, since I'm going to be having so much down time for the next 2 weeks, does anyone have any suggestions for books to read, shows to watch, movies to rent, etc.? That would be fabulous! Thank you!

My 100 Things

Okay, so I've seen so many of these posts on other blogs, and I've enjoyed reading them so much, that I thought I'd think out my own list of 100 things that people may or may not know about me. Here they are!

1. I've never had braces

2. I've never broken a bone

3. I've never seen the original Star Wars movies -- and I'm okay with that

4. I had curly hair as a baby and toddler, but it straightened out as I got older. However, when I got a perm when I was about 10 or 11 the curly stayed

5. As a kid I wanted to be an Olympic gymnast

6. We used to watch the movie "Nadia" on auto-repeat when I was younger (see #5)


7. I always have wanted to be a brunette -- one day I might even be brave enough to dye my hair dark

8. I've been the same height (5' 2") since the 6th grade

9. I have double-jointed thumbs

10. I was the Mancala champion in the 7th grade

11. I've needed glasses since the 3rd grade

12. I've worn contacts since I was 12

13. I love my handwriting

14. I prefer writing things out as opposed to typing them

15. I only have 2 wisdom teeth (the bottom ones)

16. I could never go on a cruise because I'm scared of the open water

17. I'm not an animal person -- at all

18. I became our ward pianist for opening exercises when I was 11

19. I played volleyball for a year in middle school

20. I love my wedding ring


21. I took spanish for 4 years in high school -- and was kind of almost fluent for a while

22. I was nominated for "Most Likeable" and "Most Scholarly" my senior year -- and didn't win either of them

23. My favorite color is blue

24. I love to paint -- like walls and stuff

25. I have a weakness for LDS historical fiction

26. I was in the Engineering Club in High School

27. My first kiss was freshman year of college

28. I find the tribal odyssey shows on the travel channel fascinating

29. I have a strawberry birthmark on the back of my neck

30. I took violin for a year in the 2nd grade

31. I bite my nails

32. I tried out for cheerleading in the 6th grade -- and didn't make it

33. I love whole milk, but never drink it because I can feel myself getting fatter when I do

34. My favorite dessert is cheesecake

35. I hate store-bought chocolate milk

36. My feet grew a little bigger during my first pregnancy

37. My brothers and sisters called me "mouth" all growing up because I yelled so much

38. The first time I tried to hike the Y, I couldn't even make it to the top -- I wasn't used to the altitude yet


39. I've always wanted to go to San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

40. I rode the bus for all 4 years of high school

41. I would love to write and illustrate a children's book

42. I have no self-control when it comes to Quaker's Chewy Granola bars

43. I always wanted to have braces

44. I wet my pants in the 3rd grade during state testing

45. I always thought it would be cool to be left-handed -- which is why I'm really excited that Ethan is (so far)

46. I got poison ivy my senior year of high school and such a bad allergic reaction to it, that my eyes were almost swollen shut

47. I love my birthday

48. My 2nd toe is longer than my big toe

49. I sang in my high school choir my junior and senior year

50. I love cold pizza

51. I love school supplies -- Scott's first Christmas gift to me before we were even engaged was a huge Rubbermaid box filled with school supplies like cool pens, pencils, Post-It Notes, etc.

52. I am a total night owl, but of course my children are early birds

53. I love to read, and people say I'm a really fast reader

54. I'm the oldest of 7


55. I used to want a similarly large family, but after having my own kids, I don't think I could handle THAT many

56. I was an Elementary Education major -- I know, I know, very cliche

57. I taught Pre-K for a year after I got married -- right up until Ethan was born

58. Back-to-School time is one of my FAVORITE times of the year

59. I can't WAIT for my kids to start school

60. I've been married for almost 5 years -- and we'll have 3 kids by our anniversary. Crazy!







61. Although I love to read, I HATE reading out loud

62. I love doing crafty things and projects, but I often lose interest and move on to something else before I finish something

63. I'm naturally very reserved and shy -- I have to force myself to go out of my comfort zone whenever I'm in a group of people I don't know

64. Scott and I were friends before we ever started dating


65. I have a major sweet tooth -- I think it's my tragic flaw

66. I'm embarrased to admit that I'm inherently lazy

67. I wish I loved to clean, but I don't

68. Baby Sophie is due on my birthday this year -- February 28th

69. I'm already so uncomfortable that I'm really hoping she comes a week or two early

70. My favorite book is To Kill a Mockingbird


71. I will never live in a place without air-conditioning ever again

72. My dream car right now is a Honda Pilot


73. I was our Branch pianist from the time it was formed (when I was 13) until I left for college

74. I love TiVo

75. I probably watch WAY too much TV, but I really love my programs!

76. My favorite smelling flower is a gardenia

77. I've never owned my own car

78. I was a Physical Science T.A. in college -- which is crazy even to me, because I'm not a science person

79. I went to BYU

80. That's where I met my husband

Homecoming 2001

81. I love a good thunderstorm

82. I used to be a kind-of fast driver, but then I got a speeding ticket a couple of years ago, and we got into a bad car accident in April, and now I'm a paranoidly slow driver

83. I am VERY loyal to our diaper brand -- Pampers

84. I hate not knowing what time it is -- I would love to have a clock on every wall, so that no matter what angle you're sitting or standing in a room, you can see what time it is

85. I grew up in New Orleans, LA

86. We lived in Springfield, OR for a little over a year after we got married

87. I love words and their meanings and learning their etymologies

88. I like buying clothes for my kids more than for myself

89. I have a Gymboree Visa solely for the 1 % reward you get every November -- and we use the Gymboree Visa for EVERYTHING (but still pay it off each month like it's a debit card)

90. I hated coconut as a kid, but really like it now

91. I love The Malt Shoppe's banana cream pie shake

92. Sometimes I wish I'd gone to a beauty school and learned how to do hair

93. The shows I watch every week (that they're on) are: House, American Idol, Gilmore Girls, Bones, America's Next Top Model, Lost, So You Think You Can Dance, The Office, and Laguna Beach. Seriously. (see #'s 74 & 75)

94. I hate scary movies and shows -- I'm always afraid they'll give me nightmares

95. I can't wait to get Lasik eye surgery someday

96. I've never voted -- Yikes!

97. Although I have naturally curly hair, I usually straighten it


98. My hair is actually a lot less curly since I've had kids

99. I wish I were taller

100. I HATE amusement park rides, they freak me out -- especially the Tilt-a-Whirl

Well, there you have it. Anybody else up to the challenge?

Here's to a new year!

To complete the saga revolving around our little escape artist, Grace, here is the final story. (Hopefully). As I mentioned in the previous post, our little cooler king has managed to break out of her pack n' play by busting all the safety pins off the blanket that was her "tent." Realizing that we would no longer be able to trap her inside, we decided to do the super nanny thing -- where you put the kid right back in bed every time they get out without talking to them or looking at them, or in any other way giving them attention. Our thinking was that since it worked for Ethan when we moved him to a bed, surely it would work for Grace. Well, let's just say that Grace is amazing. The first night, it took TWO HOURS of her climbing out of her pack n' play (laughing almost the whole time) before she wore herself out enough to fall asleep. And at nap time the next day, you can forget about her ever falling asleep. Despite the fact that she was so tired, she still climbed out of her pack n' play for an hour and a half before I decided that it wasn't worth it anymore, and we'd just put her to bed earlier that night.

Well, the next night only took an hour and a half, but at this point we were questioning at what point we should give up and just buy a real crib tent. Well, we got to that point later that night -- at 2:30 AM to be exact -- when Grace woke up and got out of the pack n' play and decided it was time to party. I woke up when I heard her, and when I went into the living room, she had turned all the lights on and was not excited about going back to bed. Fast forward an hour, and Grace was finally down for good, after crying to me saying that she wanted her "tent." The next day I was more than happy to oblige. After doing my research online the night before, I went to Babies R' Us and forked over $69.99 to buy a crib tent. Expensive, yes. But can you really put a price on a good night's sleep? The answer is NO. It took forever, but we rebuilt the crib and set the crib tent up and by nap time, our sleepy little girl was ready for bed.




All I have to say is we should have just bought this back at the end of the summer when Grace first learned how to climb out of her crib. For any of you out there who have climbing monkeys for children, I would HIGHLY recommend this product. Grace has been sleeping again for her naps, which I was NOT ready for her to give up just yet. Especially since another baby will be on the scene in just 2 months. And she falls asleep quicker at bedtime as well. We're all happy campers, now!

Grace "The Cooler King"
(5 points to those of you who catch the reference)

In other happenings, we've been sledding a few times this last week. Ethan in particular has taken a liking to it. We've had so much snow this year and its been so cold, that Rock Canyon Park was the perfect venue for a little sledding. The first time we went, however, was almost the last. Actually the first run even was almost the last. Scott took Ethan all the way to the top of the hill with Grace following to the base. Before I could get Grace out of the way, Scott started sledding down and coming WAY too fast. Well, he couldn't stop the sled because they were going so fast, and Ethan was so freaked out that he couldn't even scream, that they barreled right over Grace and completely clipped her legs out from under her and she went down hard.

Scott finally convinced them to go down again, but this time he only started a couple feet up the hill. The results were much more satisfactory to the kids. Eventually Grace got tired of slipping on ice, though, and started crying to go home. It was fun while it lasted. Here are some pictures of the fun:

Right before the crash


After picking herself up from the fall


Scott had a few wipe-outs of his own


Enjoying the ride


Finally having fun ...

And ready to go home

We're enjoying the last few days of freedom before starts back up with school next week. I do have to say that there is something to be said for being a student during Christmas time!

Well, I don't really have any other stories to tell, other than I was able to spend time with one of my best friends from college this last week! Natalie and her husband and little boy were in town for the week and we got to see them and hang out like it was old times. And even though I feel like this is a completely unflattering picture of myself, I'm gonna post it anyway!

Here we are. I can hardly believe its been almost 10 years since we were BYU freshman roommates together!

In keeping with this time of year, here are my top 3 New Year's Resolutions (in no particular order):

1. Become better at showing gratitude,
2. Develop more self-discipline, and
3. Finally get back down to my wedding weight (of course I'll have to wait until after baby Sophie makes her appearance!)

Whew! That should keep me busy for a while. Hope everyone had a happy new year's!