A Glance at Baby

A new week for baby... since my blog is mostly about my darling husband's antics and my existing children, I thought I would post a quickie pasted off of my favorite pregnancy website about Baby3's development. Jason was able to feel him from the outside this week- the earliest detection by dad thusfar. I can feel baby move all of the time - by far my favorite part of pregnancy- the part I will miss the most, but will not continue to rear child after child just to experience. We have *mostly* decided to find out the baby's gender now... since we are building the house, I am promised painted children's bedrooms "only if I know which ones to paint which color"- plus I could girl-out Ava's bathroom (if I knew which one). I think it helps Jason to connect better with baby too... he gets right into "The Zone" the second the baby is born, but for now, he's more interested in the Big Kids and Yardwork.
Your baby's crown-to-rump length is 5.2 to 6 inches this week. Your baby weighs approximately 7 ounces and will increase its weight more than 15 times between now and birth! Most women can feel their uterus about a half of an inch below their bellybutton at this point of pregnancy (check). If you turn to the side, you can really tell that your body is changing(yep!)! Most women have gained up to 14 pounds now (check) and only 7 ounces of that is your baby (thanks for that reminder; like I couldn't tell my butt was bigger)! The placenta weighs about 6 ounces and the amniotic fluid that surrounds your baby weighs 11 ounces. Your breasts have increased in weight by 6 ounces each and the uterus has grown to 11 ounces! You may be gaining weight in places other than your abdomen (again, nice reminder) and this may be affecting your posture and sleeping habits. One of the most amazing aspects of your baby's growth and development is that of the fetal brain. Your baby's brain is one of the first organs to appear. Your baby's oversized head shows the brain's importance in his development. Because the nerves that connect the muscles to the brain have grown into place, your baby's movements are consciously directed. Your baby's ears stand out from the sides of the head and the buds for your baby's permanent teeth appear. Your baby's arms and legs have reached their relative proportions and his feet are approximately one inch long.

Easter Madness

Why madness? Getting the kids to pose for pictures is pure craziness. They see the camera and immediately behavior shifts. These pictures were the best we could get. When I photographing the kids, I am actually just happy if I can catch them in the same frame.

Larry and Sharon stayed through church and a quick brunch on Sunday. Then they were off to the airport and we waited for Dan and Family to come over for our 2nd annual Easter Egg Hunt. Those picts to be posted after the laundry is done etc...

The LAST Birthday Celebration for Sam

Since the out-of-town grandparents always miss Sam's birthday, we decided to have one last little party for him when Larry and Sharon were visiting over Easter. Sam was so excited- Sharon made gumbo for him (and the whole family)- and then he also got to pick out on of those gross decorated cakes from the grocery store. That's the part he likes the best... So much for homemade cakes, I guess.

The Snake Man

Sam is totally into snakes right now- we're not sure how it got started, but his buddy at school loves them too so he probably sparked his interest. Momma's sharp eye caught hold of a new book at the library 2 weeks ago... Snakes... and we have been reading it every night since. So, when the Snake Man visited the local elementary school last week, we had to attend. The snakes were all de-venomed but we did not stay around to be photographed WITH the snakes. The line was hundreds long.

The Roses Stink

Part of the deal with us living in Rob's rental is that we planning on shaping up the yard and making it more 'rental' friendly. Rob didn't specifically ask us to do this, but Jason can hardly sit still inside when the sun is out and there is work to be done outside.

Jason is working on the backside of the bushes- while Sam runs around supervising. Yes, he is wearing his new blue lifejacket (after being photographed dozens of times in Ava's pink jacket last year after we lost his).
Ava watched on as well. Jason took the bushes from 4+ feet down to 18", the height recommended by the Master Gardener (that would be my mom). More pictures to follow if they actually bloom this year!

The Dietitian's Kids

As you can see, our
kids are hardly deprived.



My friend brought Ava and me donuts the other day. Ava ate most of the frosting off of hers and then had to perform the ABCs for me to get the second half of my donut.

The Attack of the Drug Dog

I am blessed (I think it is a blessing) with a *very* acute sense of smell. It is exemplified while pregnant, also. It has its benefits-- I can sniff out a poopy diaper from 2 rooms away (this feature not currently in use), I can pull out one shirt from a row of 20 that Jason decided to re-hang rather than getting it washed first, I can smell mildewy bath toys instantly. Jason calls me his "drug dog", reference his Highway Patrol days- he says he wishes that he could have had me on the side of the road as I would have been able to sniff out the Wacky Weed from 30 yards.

So what does my Darling Husband do? First, he had a plug-in air freshener in his truck.... so it was HotStench... like it would keep me from smelling out that a smoker had ridden in his truck that day. Mind you, they didn't *smoke* in the truck, merely just inhaled and exhaled, and I noticed. I hate these artificial smelly things! Air fresheners, aerosol hairsprays that hang in the air for hours, perfumes- especially in confined spaces (like Church- why do women do that?), some deodorants, the smell of cooking hamburger, even Lysol is a bit strong for me.

We were in Jason's truck the other day and I could still smell that plug-in air thing. I said "why can I still smell that? Isn't it gone?"-- he snickers- and I look down-- attached to MY SEATBELT, between the seats, is an AIR FRESHENER! Not the little trees like they used in the movie Seven to cover up dead body smell- but an actual 'candle' shaped freshener... in WATERFALL scent. Now what does a WATERFALL smell like? Nice- outdoorsy- like trees and moss and aerated air- when you are next to one-- but a fake one?? HORRIBLE. So out the window it went. It did not survive the 55 mph ride back home.

Things I DO like the smell of : baby lotion (which Jason hates), Ava's breath in the morning (it hasn't changed to grown-up foul yet), bleach, vinegar when used to clean floors but not coffee pots, and anything that smells like food but won't make me hungry (like "vanilla" is good but "fresh baked cookie" might make me binge).

My friend says you turn into a true blogger when you start taking pictures of random stuff just so you can blog about it. I'd say I'm there.

Sam's Fifth Birthday Party!!

To celebrate Sam's fifth birthday, Honey bid on and 'won' an awesome package-- there is a guy that privately owns an 'old time' fire truck that he fitted with benches in the back. The deal included pick-up on the fire truck, a ride to the fire station, and then activities with the firefighters. We had 13? I think? little boys all under 5 1/2 there and they had a GREAT time. They are still talking about it, 2 weeks later. Sam on the truck
Sam and Friends
The line-up
Ride #2
The Cake

The firefighters ran the boys through activities including an obstacle course where they had to climb over/through things, rescue an animal, spray a pretend fire, and navigate through a course. They loved it! They also had a relay race where they had to wear the uniforms- which were SO heavy- it was pretty cute watching them trudge across the floor. The guys also included lunch for kids and all of the mommies and daddies that attended and provided a cake fit for any young firefighter.

You Want Heartwarming?

This is as good as it gets... my kiddos, cleaning along side their Mom with happy, joyful hearts. They were so excited to get to help. Does this last??

Just Ava, White Jacket

Just Ava in her white jacket. She looked sweet and was watching the bigger kids tear around, so she got her picture taken. This is 3 of 30? Loving the new camera.

Sam's Birthday at School

The "Nests"
Ava prays
Sam anxious with cupcake anticipation, inherited from Mom.

We're getting closer to the current date! I'm catching up!

At Sam's school all the parents take turns having snack day. Since we are not in the public school district yet (reference to Ava praying before cupcaking), we are allowed to bring cupcakes for birthdays. As the letter of the week was "N", Sam and I made 'nests'. Toasted coconut nest with jelly bean eggs and a Peep Chick in the middle. I never am 'clever mom'... but this time... I got one point.

Starring Ava Performings ABCs

Yes, I realize that this is sideways. I thought I was being clever by recording Ava with my camera- but you can't rotate it when it is a film. You can still hear her though! Super cute. She does Jesus Loves Me and her own version of the Itsy Bitsy Spider as well. AND this video was taken before (2 weeks ago) her brother TAINTED her singing... you are now likely to hear "A-B-C-D-E-F Tooty. H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O Farty". I told them that their Mimi will not be impressed by their versions, to no avail.

Portland Children's Museum with Grandpa and Nancy

After a few days with my mom's side of the fam, we headed on to see my dad... It was a little cold outside that morning and I had researched the Portland Children's Museum as a planned activity instead of fighting the crowd at the zoo (by the way- the best time to visit the Portland Zoo is on a rainy weekday- no crowds blocking the animals!). Here is Sambo inside the mouth of an alligator- the activity here was to brush the gator's teeth with a giant toothbrush.
The market inside the museum was AWESOME. The kids stocked up!
Their favorite part? May have been the first room... the water room. They wore full smocks and still soaked their clothes (which is why they are in different shirts at the grocery store pict). They played and played. The best part was watching Ava and my dad with a cup that had a hole in the bottom- she kept filling it up and then attempted to transfer it to another pool of water- and it would drain out on her shoes- until Grandpa showed her where the hole was.
Here is Ava taking care of her babies... always with the babies. She checked her blood pressure and then we played in the 'hospital' for .... well, forever.

There was a 'clay room' so we all sat down and played 'clay' for a while. There were pizzas made, snakes, balls... and I made a life-sized 3 month fetus for Sam (always a teaching moment) and handed it very gently to him and explained that this was the actual size of the baby inside of mommy right now. He looked at it, looked at me, and then squished it into his pile of clay. We'll work on the 'gentle' factor in the upcoming months.

Lastly, where there is anything resembling dirt, look no further, there is Sam. At the museum they had plastisized rubber chips (or something). He dug, flung, buried, loaded, dumped, transported the stuff for the last hour of the visit.

Momma's reward for coming up with such a neat activity... Mexican food. My dad takes good care of me. :)

Ava is Completely Day Trained

I will try to make this the last potty picture of Ava as you must all be getting tired of them.

This picture is of her telling me "you go out of baf-room", meaning she would like 2 seconds of privacy with no pictures before the indignity of having help with wiping, which she would love to have total control over as well but Momma isn't ready. I'm just so stinkin' proud of her... Sam was 2 3/4 before he 'got it'. Ava could have gone sans diapers at 20 months- but I got sucked into Pull-ups marketing.. so she peed in those for a while. About 6-8 weeks ago, I had the $4 off coupon for Pull-ups from Costco and decided to not rebuy. She peed in her pants three times in 2 days and that was it! She made it to Oregon with only one potty stop total and was bone-dry when we got there. Her favorite panties include Elmo and Strawberry Shortcake.

Fun at Uncle and Auntie's House

Uncle B graciously watched the babes for me so I could have some one-on-one time shopping with my mom. It was AWESOME (thanks again). The first time we had tried the mall and I didn't have much luck there. Then I took mom to "the other side of the street"- Old Navy, World Market, Nordy's Rack, Target... oh how I love Target. I loaded up on cheapo Target summer shorts for the babes while the kids napped the afternoon away.

Cousins Katy and Jess popped in from CA and Alaska to surprise their mom on her birthday (that was the reason we really went over there-- when K is in from Alaska, you drive 6 hours to see her!- we can see Jess at Auntie's in CA when we are there). It was really neat- she had no idea they were coming.

Sam's favorite toy at their house... the Tinker Toys! He loved them and played constantly. Adding that to his wish list... the never-ending wish list.

February 2008 Begins...With a trip to Portland

I am getting the hang of the blogging bit, and they have added the 'add another picture' feature, which either wasn't there or I didn't know how to use when I last attempted to blog 6 months ago. This speeds stuff up considerably as waiting for the pictures to upload is a drag. February 2008- marks our voyage to Portland to visit the relatives. Every once and a while, I get hate email from Uncle B and Aunt L saying that we had better get over to visit because when they have their own grandbabies, they will have no time or energy for us-- all of it will be saved up for trips to Alaska. The guilt trip works... but I hardly doubt that we will get the cold shoulder once their girls start having babies. They are too young to have no energy for Sam. No one can resist Sam.

The trip to Portland was... uneventful, per say. The kids watched movies, slept a little. Thank goodness for Papa's truck- the built in DVD player causes way less controversy than the handheld one (since we only have ONE). Honey joined us on the trip, which was great- she wasn't required to - like Jason was required to escort us over there. We were discussing our schedules all together one night and I asked Mom if she wanted to go with us. Jason said "Well, if your mom is going..." and Rob jumps in with "Quick- get out of it, quick!" as he may still have traumatic memories from his jaunts to OR with the fam. Daddy got off the hook and invited Uncle Marcus up for the weekend instead. I have no pictures of that, but I know there was ping-pong, running every day, and a kick-butt cheese plate that we put together for a Valentine's Day treat for them (since most of the soft cheeses are on the no-no pregnancy list, at least they got to enjoy them).
The first picture up there- Sam going nuts once we got to our hotel room. Bottom picture- me trying close ups of Ava with the new camera, recommended by Cousin Kim. I am not ready for the effort of the Rebel; this little guy will have to do for now. It fits in my pocket- so important at this phase of my life- I can't have a camera that needs its own backpack. Yet.

January 2008

Why didn't I cook Christmas dinner?? Because OUR HOUSE SOLD! Praise the Lord! After 4 long months of showings and the stress of keeping the house and carpet clean, we got an offer on our house on Nov. 8. It was not the ideal full-price offer, but we decided that in this current market to cut our loses (which weren't really loses) and to MOVE ON. We moved EVERYTHING the day after Christmas. READ THIS::: NEVER MOVE THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS. My in-laws were visiting, so they were able to remove the children from the premises. It was ugly- Ava crying saying "my bed. My bed." A long day with some help from the guys that Jason works with and then the cleaning... I paid someone to help me clean all day (well, 5 hours each) on the 27th of December- which ended up being a great move since the buyers moved the dates up on us by a week. We were ready. Ready to move out and on...

We are now living in my dad's rental house and are waiting for the last of our bids to come in to start building our new house. Lots to blog on in 2008.

There are no pictures from January 2008. I am a little sad about missing an entire month of my kids' lives, but I will get over it. I got a new camera that we didn't know how to use and we were overwhelmed by boxes and an expected blessing... the first months of pregnancy rocked the house, and momma didn't take pictures.

To compensate, February pictures coming soon. Lots of February pictures. Of kids, and house, and baby. Stay tuned.

December 2007

Let it snow! Snow in the valley... a big deal. The kiddos were out in full-force for some cold weather playtime. Sam even got Jason out to help him build a snowman! I love these boots Ava is wearing. They are actually waterproof covers for her shoes so she is more sturdy on her feet. I am saving them for Katy's babies (they live in Alaska).

Christmas at Honey's House

Here are the kids enjoying Christmas at Honey and Papa's house... farm set for Sam, dollhouse with accessories for Ava. Spoiled again! We celebrated early since the 'snowbirds' headed south for 3 weeks to be with Auntie E. I decided to let them go... she is my sister and I don't mind sharing them with her from time to time.

Here is the real Christmas day... Caitie was up from California to see us all. Auntie C very graciously prepared a Christmas Feast for all of us-- including Jason's parents who were up from TX. It was delicious! Why couldn't I cook? See January's blog.

November 2007

TWO pictures of my kids TOGETHER. This does not happen often. They are quick-moving targets and end up wrestling after sitting in the same space for more than 30 seconds. This bottom picture was in our Christmas card. I set up the tree the day after Thanksgiving, just to have Christmas background for my card.

Bleahhhh! I married a hunter! And look what he is letting my Angel touch! And NO, I don't eat it, either. She thought she was SO BIG, and mommy is gagging as I take the picture. Alas, it was part of the deal... move to Idaho... the Sportsman's dream come true. When he can find the time to hunt, that is. I guess this picture is appropriate... Ava is Jason's Hunting Season baby.

More October 2007

Can't do October without mentioning Ava's 2nd birthday. She lets Daddy in on the birthday fun and they agree on Ribs made with Love by Honey. Her big present was her tricycle and helmet-- it is hard work keeping up with her Bubba and we thought maybe this would help her. She also was given Victoria, a girl-tradition in my family. She actually got her at birth, but I held her back until 2. We called her "Vicky" and she calls her "Dicky"-- pretty cute, given our name!

Yes- a choking hazard... but a fave when Daddy and Sam are gone together.

I can't figure out how to rotate the photo -- but looking back, I would say we are well into the "I do it myself" portion of toddlerhood. There's no looking back now...

October 2007

Now that I am on a roll, I can't find the disk from September 2007. We'll get back to that later, lest I get waylaid for another 6 months.

FYI
To lie in wait for and attack from ambush. See Synonyms at ambush.
To accost or intercept unexpectedly

That is the definition of waylaid. I have been around kids for so long that I am losing my vocabulary and if I used a word wrong, English teacher auntie would correct me in the comments section. If I get behind in this blogging again, I can't guarantee I will ever catch up.

SO... Sam and Ava at the pumpkin patch. Holding hands. Not fighting. AMAZING.