I am 30!

In case anyone wasn't aware of this, I am thirty years old.  I say this because I still get comments about looking young.   Not that thirty is old, but it seems that I don't even pass for an adult.  I was really hoping that I was finally starting to look older since I have four children and all.  About two weeks ago, I was at the park with Bristol and Aspen, and a woman there asked if I was their babysitter.  She looked like she was within ten years of my age, and it wouldn't surprise me if she was actually younger than me.  Anyway, she didn't think that I looked old enough to have kids that age.  Well, Bristol is only three so I can't believe I don't look old enough to even have a three year old.  I shocked her when I said I was thirty and that I also have an eight and five year old.  She told me that I looked really good for my age, and that's nice.  It would just be kind of nice to not look like a babysitter or a teen mom.  Or maybe I should just be the babysitter and have the father of the children pay me for my work. 

Happy Halloween

For Halloween, Brooke was an Egyptian girl, and Jade was a bride.  Bristol was a bee, and Aspen was a butterfly.  For the last couple of years, I've tried to keep Halloween costume expenses to a minimum and buy as little as possible, but this year I did buy all of the kids' costumes.  I have to say that they look really cute.

This is really the only picture I have of them in their costumes, which is too bad because you can't see much of Brooke's costume.  Aspen was really good about keeping her antennae headband on her head for most of the night.  Bristol also had a headband, but she was not good about keeping it on.

We went to our ward trunk or treat on Halloween night.  Then Brooke went trick or treating with her friend Mercy and her family.  Trent and I took the other three to some houses in our neighborhood but had them back home at about 7pm so that they could go to bed at a reasonable hour.

Birthday Girls

Bristol had her third birthday on October 20.  We didn't really do anything special other than cake and presents, but Bristol was perfectly happy with just that.  She was really spoiled getting lots of presents, but she really loves them.  I also made her a red velvet cake.

 

Don't mind her being unclothed except underwear.  She usually ends up that way at some point almost everyday.  I don't really care when we're at home, and of course, I make her wear clothes out in public.

 

 

Aspen had her first birthday on the 25th.  I didn't want to make an entire cake again since Bristol's birthday was less than a week previous.  So I just made chocolate lava cakes.  They were way faster and easier to prepare, but they were also way messier.  Look at how chocolatey Aspen is!

I removed Aspen's shirt because I didn't want it to get all messy.  She was cute and funny eating the cake and ice cream.  At first, she was getting upset because she kept wanting to pick up the ice cream with just her hands, but it was too cold.  She didn't like that and would cry everytime she tried.  Anyway, she also was spoiled with lots of presents and seemed to kind of enjoy opening them.



Fall Break and More

This past week has been Fall Break for Brooke and Jade.  We started it out by going to a funeral on Monday.  Sadly, one of Trent's coworkers was killed on October 2.  He was also in ward until August which was when they changed our ward boundaries and that family was put in a different ward.  We didn't know them that well, but from what I did know of them, they were/are really nice.  I feel bad for his wife and two little girls.  Anyway, I was worried that my children wouldn't behave too well during the funeral, but I had a nice talk with them beforehand so they did behave pretty well.  We also opted to attend the broadcast of the funeral at our church building rather than attend that actual event at the stake center.  That way I wouldn't have to be so paranoid about the kids' behavior.

On Wednesday, we went to Mesa so that we could attend the temple.  We stayed in a hotel that night, and Trent went to the first session of the day on Thursday.  When he came back, I went to a session, and Trent took the children swimming while I was gone.  While it wasn't too much of a hassle having to go to Mesa to attend the temple, I have to say that I am really excited that there will be one in Tucson. It will be so much easier for us to go. I just hope that it doesn't take too long to get it built.

After we checked out of the hotel, we went to an urgent care center down the street.  Jade had been complaining a little bit about a sore throat for a couple of days, and it seemed to be getting worse.  I didn't want to make her wait another day to see our pediatrician.  She tested negative for strep, and the doctor said that she did have something.  He just didn't know what it was, but he did give us some antibiotics.  Jade has still been complaining about her throat a little, though, so I may end up taking her to the pediatrician afterall.  At the urgent care center, I was reminded of how it's such a small world sometimes, especially for Mormons.  The doctor was also Mormon, and he was telling me how he had just returned from visiting Nampa.

For the rest of the week, we pretty much stayed home and attempted to get some organizing done with kids' bedrooms and toys.  Unfortunately, we failed pretty miserably in doing that so I am hoping that I'll have more success with that tomorrow.  Since Friday afternoon, Trent has been feeling sick off and on so that hasn't been really conducive to accomplishing those things.

Today there was an October 14th miracle.  Bristol actually went to bed within about ten minutes of bedtime.  I only had to put her back in bed two or three times.  Then she actually stayed in bed and quickly fell asleep.  She has continued to be horrible at bedtime for the last few weeks.  She still gets out of bed over and over.  We did play at the park for a while this afternoon, and she didn't have a nap today.  Maybe that's why she was better at bed tonight.  I don't really know, but I hope she does this well every night from here on out, though I'm not counting anything.

Recent Outings

***Yay!  I was finally able to add pictures here also!***
On Labor Day, we decided to go to Apple Annie's to pick produce since the kids were out of school.  We also went there last year on Labor Day (I think).  The picture that is on the header was taken there.  It's not a great picture.  Bristol was way too interested in her drink, and Jade wanted to make silly faces.  That's what I have for now, though, but I am hoping I'll get a better picture there soon.  Anyway, this year it was hot when we went to Apple Annie's.  It was like 95 degrees, and the sky was pretty clear so there was no hope of rain to cool things down.  Bristol, Aspen, and I ended up sitting in a covered area for quite a time while Trent, Brooke, and Jade picked vegetables.  I don't think it was the best day to go, but it was kind of fun.  The best part (note sarcasm) was when Bristol managed to find the only mud puddle around, right after we arrived, and then fell in it.  Luckily, I brought her an extra outfit.

This past Saturday, September 15, we went to Oktoberfest in one of the parks here.  There were rides, and it seemed like it would be fun.  However, I was reminded of why I don't go to these things.  For one thing, they are expensive.  We bought $20 in tickets which paid for Trent,  Brooke, Jade, and Bristol to go on one ride.  There were enough tickets left for Brooke and Jade to each play one game, and that was it.  Also, it seems like there are so many smokers there, and I cannot stand cigarette smoke.  On our way back to the car, we let the kids play on the equipment at the park for a few minutes.  There was a merry-go-round, and it turns out that the kids liked much better (and it was free!).

 

We're Back (to blogging, that is)

***Yay!  I was able to add pictures!***
I am so infrequent about posting, and I wish that I wasn't because I don't really keep a journal (though I always intend to).  There are lots of things that we do that I would like to write about so we can remember them well, and then I never write about them.  Anyway, these are some things that have been happening with us lately.  On August 6, Brooke started third grade and Jade started kindergarten.  Brooke is doing really well in school and is reading on a sixth grade level.  She loves to read and reads several chapter books a week.  Sometimes we have to take away her books so she will do other things, like chores.  Jade was really excited to start school.  For weeks beforehand, she would ask me if school was starting tomorrow, and I would answer, "No, not for three weeks" or whatever.  Then the next day she would ask me again.  I think that school has lived up to her expectations because on a recent Friday, she was so disappointed that there would be no school the next day that she told me she was running away.  I'm not sure how that would have solved the no school on Saturday problem, but I guess it made sense to her?  Jade also goes around calling me Mrs. Delgado, the name of her teacher.  A great thing about her attending school is that it makes her really tired so that she goes to sleep quickly at bedtime. 

Bristol is fun, but she is certainly a challenging little girl sometimes.  At the end of July, we got bunkbeds for Jade and Bristol.  We decided it was finally time to get Bristol out of the crib since she is almost three.  I was really nervous about putting her in a bed because even though she could climb out of the crib, she stayed in it pretty good and usually went right to sleep at bed and naptime.  I was worried that she wouldn't stay in a bed the same way because it is so much easier to get out.  Bristol was actually really good for the first month or so of being in the new bed.  She stayed in most of the time, but unfortunately, that hasn't lasted.  For the last month or so, she has been getting out of bed more and more, and it has been making me crazy.  At first, it was just a few times a night, and she would do things like put on Jade's school clothes.  One night I checked on her after she went to sleep, and I saw that she had put on Jade's outfit for the next day including the shoes.  Anyway, last week, I decided to make a concerted effort to curb this behavior so I would put her right back in bed without any interaction (no talking, no eye contact, etc.).  That was kind of trying.  One night, I had to take her back to bed over seventy times.  Yes, seventy!  I have pretty much been doing this every night now, and I am not sure if it's working.  At this point, though, I don't know what else to do so I am sticking with it.  Tonight,  she only got out a few times before she fell asleep so that was nice.  She also wouldn't take a nap today so I wonder if that is why tonight was better.  Hopefully, the situation permanently improves soon for my sake.

Aspen is doing good.  She is cute and still so small.  Recently, at the gym childcare, another woman asked how old Aspen is and said she looked about the same age as her son.  Her son is four months, and Aspen is almost eleven months so maybe that gives an idea of her size.  She has been crawling around for more than a month now.  She actually does more of a scoot where she is sitting and uses her left leg to push herself around.  She can move really quickly this way.  She is also pulling herself up to things and can even stand alone for a second or two.  I think that she could stand unassisted for a few seconds longer, but it seems to scare her a little bit.  We keep waiting for Aspen to get teeth, but so far, it hasn't happened.  There have been lots of days recently where she has been fussy, drooling, and chewing on her hand so maybe it will happen soon.  I'm not counting on anything, though.

So that was an update on the kids.  I don't really have much to say about Trent and myself.  Nothing is really new with us.  If I think of anything, I'll post about it.  Maybe.
***I thought of something and actually added it:  Trent's birthday was August 22, and he turned 33.  Not super exciting, but it's something.

Lately...

I meant to publish this a long time ago, but I wasn't done with it.  Since it's been a while since I started it, I don't remember what I was going to add to it.  So I will just post it as is.  I meant to post it way back in February, but now I am really posting it today, May 27.  By the way, Aspen is about three months or so in these pictures.

Soccer

Jade is playing the winter session of soccer.  Now she has never played soccer before, and I am not really sure how she feels about it.  At games, she runs after the ball, but once she actually gets to it, I don't think that she knows what to do.  She just kind of stands there, but so do a lot of the other kids.  Sometimes she complains about it.  The other day, though, I asked her if she wanted to play the spring session, and she said "sure."  However, Bristol, seems to like soccer and can kind of dribble the ball already.  So as soon as she is old enough, I am going to sign her up.  I think she should be old enough to play in the fall.  Here are some pictures from one of Jade's games:

The name of Jade's team is the Bumblebees since they have goldish-yellow shirts.

Christmas

I know it's been a little while since Christmas, but I want to post about Christmas just to remember some things about it.  This year there was nothing particularly special about it other than that it was Aspen's first Christmas.

Aspen on Christmas Day in her cute little dress.

Trent had to work Christmas Eve so it was just me and the children that afternoon and evening.  We didn't really do anything.  I took a nap when Bristol napped, and the kids pretty much played for most of the day.

Since Christmas Day was on Sunday and we had a ridiculously early church time of 8am, we quickly got ready for church that morning and left.  The kids didn't even really have time to look at the presents.  After church, Trent and I would have preferred to just nap, but we knew the kids wouldn't go for that.  Of course, they wanted to open the presents, and they were a little too eager to do it.  When we got home, they ran in the house and were about to start opening them before I had even come inside.  Trent stopped them, though.  We were kind of mad that they were being a little bit greedy like that so we told them that now they were going to have to wait until after we ate.  So I cooked our waffles, and we ate.  When we were done eating and the table was cleared, we started opening presents.  Brooke got a new bike.  Jade got lots of Barbies, and Bristol received a play kitchen.  She plays with that kitchen (and the fake food that she also received) all the time now.  Honestly, all the kids play with her kitchen a lot.  Oh yeah, Aspen got some clothes, and we decided to get her a crib.  Bristol still sleeps in her crib really well, and I didn't want to kick her out of it.  We thought that it would be better to just get another crib for Aspen.  Besides there wasn't much else that we could think of to get her for Christmas. 

Bristol is wearing her new polar bear scarf.

Jade got a piggy bank which she actually broke later that day.  She knocked it off the couch while she was messing around.  At that time, she was actually supposed to be taking it to her room...

Bristol examining a gift.

Trent is modeling the sweater I got him.

Brooke and Jade opening presents.

Later that day, we went to our friends' home for Christmas dinner.  I made rolls and a cheesecake, and I was so glad that I didn't have to prepare an entire Christmas dinner by myself.



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.