Holiday Fun

I have to admit that I don't get that excited about Christmas anymore. Basically, this happened when we moved to Arizona. For one thing, it didn't feel like Christmastime when it was sunny and in the 70's outside. That was in Yuma, but here in Sierra Vista, it's a bit cooler which helps. Also, it wasn't fun not being around family and not knowing a lot of people. I like being around extended family for the holidays. Plus, Christmas has become more work for me. I have to figure out what we are going to do for Christmas Eve and Day and what we are going to eat. And then guess who has to prepare all the food. Me, of course. Then we have to find ways to entertain the children. Previously, we spent Christmas with family and had a potluck type of meal so I only had to prepare one or two dishes. The kids were able to play with their cousins, and the adults could socialize. This year, we are going to spend Christmas Day with some friends, and I won't have to prepare a whole dinner.  I am glad about that.  On Christmas Eve, we are probably just going to order take-out from a restaurant before Trent goes to work. Then the children and I will just stay home and relax until they go to bed.

Before December, I was telling Trent that I didn't want to do Christmas, that I was too tired and didn't feel like doing all that work. I said that he would have to do it. I think he was a little concerned because I wasn't joking. I was pretty serious. So at the beginning of December, he took some initiative and got the Christmas tree and decorations out of the garage. I actually ended up putting up the decorations around the house, and I let the kids decorate the tree. They did the whole thing themselves other than me putting the lights on. Brooke really enjoyed it, and they did a pretty good job. I was just glad that I didn't have to do that task. Anyway, I decided that I would have to do some Christmas stuff so that at least the kids would have a good Christmas. So I bought a gingerbread house kit to do with them. Today we started working on it, and Aspen was crying. Brooke and Jade were telling me how they wanted the house, and they wouldn't hold Aspen. I told them they could do the house by themselves instead. I wasn't mad; I just realized that they didn't need me to help them. Besides, I was tired and not particularly interested in doing the house anyway. So Aspen and I napped on the couch while Brooke and Jade decorated. They had fun, didn't fight, and did it the way they wanted. (I have to say that one nice thing about them getting older is that they are becoming more independent and actually even helpful at times.)

I also got an "Elf on the Shelf" for the kids. They named him Alexander, and every morning, they look to see where his new hiding spot is. That has been fun for them. Sometimes I can even get them to behave by telling them that Alexander is going to report their bad behavior to Santa.

The rest of this week, I am going to be wrapping presents. There are a lot, and I haven't even started. Tomorrow I am going to attempt some Christmas baking. I am only planning on making four things, but who knows if I'll actually accomplish it. It depends on how cooperative the children are. I would also like to get the house clean so that after Sunday we can just get back to our normal life and not have to try to catch up on housework. Trent is good about helping me with the kids and the housework so we should be able to do it. Hopefully, I won't get stressed with all the Christmas stuff and maybe even enjoy it.

This past Sunday after church, I attempted to take pictures of the kids, but Bristol wasn't being cooperative.  So Trent tried to sit with her in the picture.  Since there was a picture of him with the girls, I thought that we should also do one of me with them.  Now we just need a picture of us as a whole family.

Aspen Update

Aspen is almost two months old, and I am realizing how few pictures I have taken of her.  In the first two months of Brooke's life, I am sure that I took lots of photos of her.  I guess that when you have more children, you have less time to go around taking pictures of the baby.  So the past week or so, I have made a concerted effort to take more pictures of Aspen.  I need to do the same with the other children as well, but at Aspen's age, they change so quickly.  Here are some recents photos of her:

I have to say she has some pretty cute facial expressions.  Over the last few weeks, she has also started to smile more, and thankfully her crying has decreased.  She is sleeping fairly well at night now and wakes up about one time.  On December 1, she had her one month check-up and weighed eight pounds and was 20.5 inches (I think).  So she has been growing, and I am sure that she weighs more than that since that was about three weeks ago.  I feel like things are starting to get easier now that she is going to sleep better and isn't crying so much.

Sisters

I was curious to see how the three girls would respond to Aspen, and it has been interesting.  I was mostly worried about how it would be with Bristol since she is a little wild and crazy at times and acts very two-year-oldish.  (I was not prepared for her behavior even though it is perfectly normal.  Jade was very calm as a two year old and never really seemed to have the "terrible twos").  Well, Brooke likes Aspen but isn't too interested in her.  Once in a while, she asks to hold her, and she'll hold her if I ask her.  Other than that, she doesn't pay Aspen a lot of attention.  She is more preoccupied with her interests (reading, drawing, playing), and she has actually been playing with Bristol a fair amount also.  That has been very helpful at times.

Jade, on the other hand, has been very interested in Aspen.  She wants to hold her all the time.  If Aspen wakes-up, Jade will go and get her if we're not there first.  She also wants to pick out Aspen's clothes for the day and her pajamas at night.  Her interest isn't surprising, though; I remember that she was very interested in Bristol as a baby.

Bristol's response to Aspen has been the most "fun."  When she visited me at the hospital, she at first kept saying baby and giggling.  She soon lost interest, though, and started getting into things.  Then the first night that I was home from the hospital, Bristol woke-up at midnight and wouldn't go back to sleep.  It is pretty rare for her to wake-up at night when we are at home.  So we put her in our bed, and she was interested in the baby and not sleep.  This lasted on and off for about two hours until finally I had Trent put her back in her crib.  She wasn't happy about that and cried for about ten minutes, but then she went back to sleep.  The Monday after Aspen was born, Bristol decided she wasn't going to wear clothes anymore, including diapers.  She can be pretty strong-willed so she spent most of the day naked.  Thankfully, within a few days, we got her back to wearing diapers and clothes on a regular basis.  I am not sure if this behavior was just because she is two or if it was her way of dealing with a new baby in the house.  Either way, it was very frustrating for us.  Anyway, a few days later, Trent, Brooke and Jade went to Nevada to see family, and he left Bristol with me.  That was a big mistake.  I was trying to take care of a less than two week old baby, and Bristol was left with no one to play with since Brooke and Jade were both gone.  She was getting into everything, and I was getting very upset.  Other than taking care of Aspen, I was also hoping to get some things done.  However, I quickly realized that wasn't going to happen so I resigned myself to taking care of Aspen and just trying to entertain Bristol.  Things were a lot better after that, but I was kind of irritated that I didn't get to relax or accomplish much during those few days.  Since then, things have improved with Bristol.  She often asks to hold Aspen and will give her hugs and kisses.  Sometimes, though, Bristol will randomly hit her, pull on her, or try to pick her up.  I think she does that mostly because she enjoys our reaction.  When Aspen gets older, it will be nice for both of them because they'll have each other to play with.  Right now, Bristol and Jade play together quite nicely for most of the day while Brooke is at school so Aspen and Bristol will be able to do the same when the two oldest are both in school. 









One Month

As of this past Friday, Aspen is already one month old.  She still doesn't do much of course, but I can tell that she is definitely growing.  She already seems a lot bigger until I see other babies.  Then I realize that she is still pretty small.  On Thursday, she goes to the doctor for a check-up, and we'll see how much she weighs.  I know that she's gained at least two pounds, though. 

On her one month "birthday".

Aspen has also been working on her crying skills.  A couple of weeks ago she started crying a lot more.  Sometimes it is for as long as an hour and for no discernible reason.  That hasn't been too enjoyable, but it hasn't been that bad.  Sometimes it is just at an inconvenient time like when I should be making dinner and Trent is at work.  Then we usually end up having dinner late or eating something like cereal.  Luckily, Aspen doesn't do this in the middle of the night, and I had to deal with a lot more crying from Jade when she was a newborn (and I survived).  She would cry for hours, including in the middle of the night.  That didn't last forever, though, and I know this won't either.

Awake (and not crying!)

Baby Aspen

Aspen was born three and a half weeks ago, but time just seems to be flying by because it doesn't feel like it was that long ago.  She was born on October 25 at 3:58pm, and she was 5 lbs. 10.8 oz and 19 inches long.  I don't know why they didn't just round up or down and say 11 or 10 oz., but they didn't.  So now I feel like I have to say the .8, and it seems a little too specific but oh well.  Even though I was induced ten days early, I was surprised that she was that small.  I thought that she would be at least six pounds since Bristol was 6 lbs. 5.5 oz. and she was two weeks early.  Even the newborn size diapers were big on Aspen, and when we brought her home, all of her smallest clothes were huge on her.  I can tell that she's grown because now the diapers fit her just right and she fills out her clothes better.

The delivery went well.  I was actually a little nervous about being induced especially since I was only dilated to two the day of the induction.  I was worried that I would be in pain longer, but it went better than I expected.  We arrived at the hospital at 7:30am, and they started me on antibiotics.  This time around I had group B strep (which is part of the reason for my induction) so I had to have antibiotics so it wouldn't be passed on to the baby.  Since my labors are usually so fast, I wasn't even induced until 11:30am.  They wanted to make sure that I had the first round of the antibiotics (which takes about four hours to administer) before I was even in labor.  So for those four hours, we didn't do much.  The nurse took care of a whole bunch of administrative stuff with me, and then I napped a little.  Trent read, surfed the internet on his iPod, and went and ate lunch.  It was nice to have that time to nap and relax before labor.  Then at 11:30am, the doctor broke my water and they started a little pitocin.  For the next two hours, I had contractions, but they didn't hurt at all.  Sometimes I wasn't even sure if I was having one or not.  Then they started to hurt a little but just barely.  That lasted for an hour, and then all of the sudden at about 3pm they started hurting a lot more.  The nurse checked me, and I was dilated to a 4.5.  She checked me again at 3:30pm, and I was a 7 so she turned the pitocin off and called my doctor.  The doctor was there in fifteen or twenty minutes, and they quickly got the bed and everything else ready.  By that time, I was at ten.  The doctor told me to push whenever I was ready.  I was ready right then, and Aspen was out in just a couple of minutes.  So I was really only in pain for about an hour.  I just wonder how fast labor would have been, or at least the painful part of it, if I wasn't induced and went into labor on my own.  I am glad that I was induced, though, because I was able to have the baby in Tucson, and we were able to know when Trent's mom should come to help us.

Oh yeah, Aspen's middle name is Beverly.  Trent't mother's mother was named Beverly, and her birthday was also October 25.  She was killed in a plane crash when Gayle was a young adult so Trent never met her.  We thought that this would be a nice memorial of her.

Two Years Old

Bristol turned two years old on October 20, and we did nothing for her birthday that day.  Instead we waited until Sunday the 23rd.  Trent had to work (he leaves at 1pm), and his next day off was Sunday.  Since I was going to be having the baby two days later and I was trying to also prepare for that, I didn't bother making a whole birthday cake.  I just made cupcakes, and I am sure that Bristol didn't care either way.  While waiting to sing and then eat the cupcakes, Bristol was very funny.  She kept saying "cupcakes" because she was eager to eat them.

Bristol is getting to be more fun especially now that she is talking a lot more.  She frequently says "I love you" and gives lots of hugs and kisses.  She is also pretty tough.  Like many toddlers, she falls down or gets hurt a lot, but it often doesn't bug her at all.  Recently, she had her blood drawn to check for lead (tangent: I am pretty sure none of my other kids had this done but the pediatrician here says they do it at one, two and four years so I am wondering if it has something to do with this area), and when they did it, it didn't bother her one bit.  I was worried that she was going to cry and squirm, but she was fine.

One funny thing about Bristol is that she still doesn't have much hair for her age.  When she was one, she was still pretty bald.  She definitely has more hair now, but compared to most two year olds, she doesn't have much.  Although when I look at pictures of her from a few months ago in the summer, she has more now so I guess it has been growing lately.  I think that I expected her to have more hair because Brooke and Jade did (especially Jade), but at least I don't have to worry about doing Bristol's hair yet.

Just One Week

Well, for now, I am scheduled to be induced one week from today, on October 25.  I am a lot more ready for the baby now than I was a week or two ago.  I washed and put away all the clothes.  We got a new dresser, which we actually gave to Jade, and the baby is using Jade's old dresser.  I finally just bought the dresser from Target because it wasn't very expensive.  I was trying to avoid buying that dresser, not because I didn't like it, but because I knew we would have to assemble it ourselves.  So I put it together a couple of weeks ago, and it took me four hours or something.  It is cute, but I really hated spending all that time doing that.  However, there isn't a really good craigslist here since the town is small, and there is about one furniture store -- not very impressive either.  Buying something online would have cost a lot in shipping, and we still probably would have had to assemble the dresser ourselves.  Anyway, I have managed to complete some miscellaneous projects also.  So I think that by next Tuesday, I will be as ready as I wanted to be. 

Bristol's birthday is this Thursday, and she will be two years old.  The last two years have gone by so quickly; I sometimes find it hard to believe that she's not a baby anymore.  But she really isn't.  I think that will be especially evident when I have the baby and compare them.  I am kind of excited for her birthday, though.  Because of the baby, I actually have been planning way ahead and already bought/wrapped all of her presents.  Having it done by now is pretty good for me.  I believe that Trent's mom will also be arriving that day.  She's coming to help us with the kids, and we are excited to have her visit.

Lately

So we haven't been up to much lately.  Trent is just working.  Brooke is going to school, and Bristol, Jade, and I stay home.  I attempt to be productive, but really I just spend a lot of time feeding Bristol and keeping her out of things.  She eats a lot and gets into just about everything.  By the time she takes a nap, I have to take one also.  Bristol is pretty fun and funny, though, and she's picking up words quickly now (especially candy, cake and cookie).  She likes to say, "What's that?" and "See ya."
   When I see the baby ticker on the blog, I can't believe it already says 34 days.  I know that more likely than not, I don't even have that long until the baby is born.  I really don't have the baby stuff ready, but that's on my agenda for this week.  I have kind of been procrastinating it because I first wanted to get the garage and some stuff in my bedroom organized.  And I have been procrastinating getting that stuff organized because it's just not that fun.  Trent and I worked on the garage about two week ago and made some good progress that day, but we didn't get back to it until this week.  So we have to finish it in the next couple of days so I can get all the baby stuff out of there and get it ready ASAP.  I am trying to find a dresser for the baby (like I need one this week) so I have somewhere to put her stuff, but furniture options here are pretty limited.
     I went to the doctor on Friday, and she did an ultrasound.  I am measuring small (which is actually normal for me) so she just wanted to check on the baby.  That was fine with me.  I am happy to see the baby again before I get to see her outside of me.  The baby is on the small end of normal so everything is okay.  The doctor also going to checked to see if I am dilated at all yet, and I was a 1.  The baby's head is also down really low.  Since my due date is still about five weeks away, I am thinking I'll have her about October 21 (which would be at 38 weeks) or maybe even a little sooner.  Really, I would be okay with later than that, but that probably won't happen.  I just want to make sure that I have everything ready before the birth.  I go to the doctor again on Friday (the 7th), and we'll see if anything has changed.  Here is the baby's face from the ultrasound:

This is the side of her face.  On the right is her forehead.  Going left, you can see her eye, cheek and nose.

Recital Pictures

I finally found the girls' dance recital pictures that were done at the dance studio, and I got my own pictures of them developed.  They aren't smiling their best smiles, but some of the other kids in the pictures also have funny looks.  I do really like the photo that I took of them, though.  Those are better smiles.  Anyway, here are the pictures:

Jade's dance was to "Teddy Bear Picnic" so they are supposed to be teddy bears.

Brooke danced to "Stayin' Alive" (the version sung by the Chipettes).

Brooke and Jade together -- sometimes they like each other.



Miracle

Well, okay maybe this isn't really a miracle, but I am still happy about it.  Brooke's school had pictures about a month ago.  I was kind of nervous because so far her school pictures have not been great.  I hate spending the money when they don't even look that good.  Anyway, on picture day, I curled her hair and she wore a cute dress.  Since I wasn't sure how the school pictures would turn out, I took a picture of her before she left.

I think she looks pretty good here.

And this is her school picture.  I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it.

If I had the inclination and readily knew where her pictures from kindergarten and first grade were, I would scan and post them.  Then you would know exactly what I was talking about.  You'll just have to trust me instead.

     Brooke is doing really well in school this year so far, just as I had expected.  At parent-teacher conferences, her teacher only had positive things to say about her.  I am glad to know that with other people, she is always well-behaved.  At home that's not always the case, but I think that's pretty common for other kids also.  She really enjoys reading and read the first Harry Potter book a few weeks ago.  Sometimes, Brooke really gets into books and would continue reading until 10pm or later on a school night if I let her.  I am glad that she has such a love for reading.  We just wish she had that much enthusiasm for math.  She can do the math at her grade level just fine, but we are trying to get her to learn her times tables at home.  They haven't started that yet in school, but I definitely think that it is not beyond her capacity to learn them now.  She is making progress but sometimes is very resistant.  I think that it is partially because she would rather go read or play than practice her multiplication.  In general, things are going pretty well for Brooke.  It's nice knowing that she was able to start a new school this year without any problems.

A Valid Concern

Apparently, Sierra Vista's supply of eligible four year old boys is not quite up to Jade's standards. The other day she said to me, out of nowhere, "Uh! There are no boys in Sara Bista (that's how she says Sierra Vista). I can't find anyone to marry!" Yeah, that's definitely been on my mind too...

Here are some recent photos of Jade -- for some reason she's fond of putting her arms up in the air for photos:

Happy Birthday Trent!

So this is a little late, but Trent's birthday was about three weeks ago on August 22. We had a little family celebration for him. For dinner, we went to Texas Roadhouse, which is always fun. I am being kind of sarcastic because now that we have three kids, we decided that eating out is usually more hassle than it's worth. That's mostly because it costs more and because of Bristol. She can be a handful at restaurants so it's just not that enjoyable. I digress. Anyway, after dinner, we had chocolate cake, and Trent opened his presents. His main present was a new wedding ring. His original one has been gone for almost three years so I finally replaced it. This one is a lot nicer so he better not lose it. So that was pretty much his birthday.

Another tangent (but I think it's kind of funny and talking about Trent's ring reminded me of it): When I was in Tucson for a doctor appointment about four weeks ago, Trent came along but was at the mall with the kids while I was at the doctor's office. He was outside a jewelry store and an employee told him to come in and buy jewelry for me. Trent said, "No, my wife wants to get our student loans paid off." (Which is true. I am far more interested in paying those off than in getting new jewelry. Thankfully, we are almost done.) Then some lady nearby said, "No, that's what you want!"

Finally!

I know it's been about seven months since I last posted anything, but I've decided I need to start posting again and do so more regularly. I have actually been planning on resuming posts for months now but keep procrastinating. Today I am finally doing it! A lot has happened these past seven months (obviously). First of all, in March I found out that I am pregnant (hence the due date widget on the side of the blog). I am due November 4, and in June, we found out that the baby is another girl. I am pretty confident that the baby will be born in October since I will be having her in Tucson. So I will be induced (most likely early and most likely just stripping the membranes or breaking my water) to ensure a hospital delivery. We definitely can't count on me making it to the hospital in Tucson if I just wait at home to go into labor.
   Anyway, in March, we also found out that Trent was getting transferred to Sierra Vista and that we would be moving in the next few months. Sierra Vista is on the eastern side of the state (about an hour and a half southeast of Tucson) and is cooler temperature wise. The prospect of living somewhere not so hot was nice. Plus Trent's work gives the employees money to assist in the cost of moving. Since we were only moving about five hours away, the amount we were given was way more than we needed for moving expenses and we just got to keep the rest. Even though Sierra Vista is smaller than Yuma, it is not as isolated. Like I said, it is only 1.5 hours from Tucson, and Tucson is pretty big. So we have a lot better access to malls, museums, the zoo, good doctors and hospitals, etc. We ended up moving to Sierra Vista on June 15, and the moving process was very tiring and stressful. Thankfully, Trent's mom, Gayle, came and helped us pack, clean the house, and move. I can only imagine how much more stressful the move would have been if she hadn't been there to help.
   In March and April, Brooke had her Spring Break so we took a little family vacation to San Diego, mostly so we could go to Sea World. It was fun, and I decided that I definitely prefer Sea World to the San Diego Zoo and Disneyland. Sea World is just the right size for taking little kids, has animals and rides, and the lines for rides aren't too long.

At Sea World.

Bristol loved the animals.

Jade at the beach in La Jolla.

We were in San Diego during Brooke's 7th birthday (April 4) so when we came back we bought these cute butterfly cupcakes from Kneader's since I was too tired to make a cake.

Jade's 4th birthday was May 16th, and I made this cake for her. It's kind of supposed to look like her. I just used a Little Mermaid cake pan that I have, used light brown for the hair color, and gave Ariel a shirt.

   Brooke's last day of school was June 10, and the next day was Brooke and Jade's dance recital. I have pictures, but first I have to develop them and scan them into the computer. I had to use a disposal camera since around that time I discovered that my digital camera was taking odd-looking pictures. Anyhow, the girls did great in their recital and looked really cute.
   Like I said earlier, we moved just four days later on the 15th. Summer went by really quickly from the time that Brooke got out of school. Two weeks after our move, we made a trip to Colorado to visit Trent's family for a week. The drive was fourteen hours (in one day) each way so that part wasn't so enjoyable. Otherwise, we had a good visit with Trent's family. About a week after our return, we made a trip to Idaho which took two days of driving each way. Not fun. We did see my brother get married in the Idaho Falls temple, though, and then we went to Boise for the remainder of our time in Idaho. That trip was about a week and half altogether, and I was kind of cranky and tired by the time we got home. That much driving with little kids can get rather unpleasant. Brooke started second grade just two weeks after our return from Idaho and seems to really like her school and teacher. It sounds like she has made lots of friends, and I think that she is doing pretty well.  
   We have been home consistently for over a month so now we are just trying to finish unpacking some miscellaneous boxes and organize the garage. I have been kind of slow with that but need to get it done very soon since I also need to get all the baby stuff ready. I think I will be having her in about seven weeks, and I know that time will go very quickly. So that's basically what we have been up to for the past seven months. Next post, I will include more of what we have been doing the last few weeks. I'll share more about the kids since I kind of like them and am guessing the family would like to see more photos of them.

Pop Star

The week before last week, Brooke started singing and dancing around her room, making up lyrics to her songs. It was pretty hilarious -- the songs, not the singing and dancing because every kid does that. I can't really remember the specific lines now (that's what happens when I wait so long to post), which is unfortunate because they were pretty funny and I wanted to post them. So now I have learned my lesson just to post something right away because when you don't and you forget half it, the post is a lot less interesting. By the way, this isn't a great picture because I used the camera on our computer to take it.