conversation

Ana: I put that Jesus thing (the backdrop to the Little People Nativity) in my window so people will see it and want to go to church. I want to put up a sign that says, "We need to go to church."
Me: It's good to want to tell people about Jesus and the Church
Ana: Yeah, but I didn't want to hurt their feelings so instead of telling them, I thought we could put up a big sign that says, "Everyone should go to church. It's fun there. We do activities."

a few things about the baby in my tummy

(Photo Booth snapshot. I have resigned myself to the fact that I am either non-photogenic, or just funny looking. Oh, well.)

*I am 32 weeks pregnant.

*She is super wiggly. Not so much in the way Ana was - Ana was aggressive with hard punches and kicks - but more in a "I can't get comfortable" way. My tummy is constantly moving. Dave thinks it looks like an alien is about to burst out of my stomach covered in goo - very x-files/independence day/any other alien show-esque.

*I am measuring about 4 weeks behind. I was only 2 weeks behind, and 2 weeks ago they did an ultrasound and everything looked fine. But today I went back to the doc and not only have I not grown at all, but I've lost weight. My total weight gain at this point is 6 pounds. If the trend continues, they will do yet another ultrasound next time I go in. I am also anemic.

*I am way more uncomfortable with this pregnancy than I ever was with Ana or Jack. My pelvic bone feels like it's going to crack, I hobble around for the first 15 minutes after I wake up, I toss and turn all night, and I have been getting very bad lower leg cramps. (Though I generally use them as a reason to practice my breathing). Those things make me feel like a whiner, so usually I tell people that I feel great, which is mostly true.

*I am anxious to set up the crib, sort all my baby clothes and get everything ready for the little angel. But I am resisting. Mostly because we want to paint her dresser and the girls' room and I don't want to carry everything up from the basement by myself, and Dave gets done with school on Friday.

*We are super excited for our little girl!!!

an open letter

Dear babysitter I met at the park,

I met you the other day. You were tending a couple small girls. We chatted a bit, and you told me if I needed a sitter for the summer you had openings.

I told you I stayed home, and you said, "Ah. Built in babysitting."

I just laughed, said, "something like that" and the conversation moved on to something else.

I've been thinking about that. I said the wrong thing. I want to tell you that being a mother is so, so much more than built in babysitting.


I chose this career for myself, you know. It's the only one I ever really wanted. Because "no success can compensate for failure in the home."


These children are everything to me. I am happy when they are happy and when they make good choices. I am sad when they get hurt - physically or emotionally. I stay up worrying about sleep training and eating habits and bedwetting and what to do when they just won't mind. I worry about sending them to school and how they'll adjust to the new baby.

I try teach them to be kind and loving, hard-working and fun-loving. I want them to be smart and strong and active. I think about how to help them along. I wonder when to step in and when to let them solve their own problems.

I teach them about Jesus and how much He loves them too. I teach them to pray. I take them to church and try to be an good example for them.

I lay by them at night and hold them when they are sick. I pray for them. And for me.

I hug them, and kiss them, and tell them I love them.

I am not a built in babysitter.

I am a mother. And I love it!

-Erin

three

My little boy is 3 today.


Where has the time gone?



Although, he talks and acts like a 3 year old, so in some ways he's been 3 in my mind for a while.


Here is snapshot of Jackers at age 3:

*When playing pretend or asking something nicely, he talks in a really high voice.

*One of his favorite things to do is make up silly words and use them in songs he knows.

*He doesn't really watch much TV. He'll watch a show sometimes, but mostly he just wants to play.

*He loves cars. His favorite game is called "mom-car" in which there is a mom car and the cars interact. He also loves Lightning McQueen.

*He talks very well - full sentences all the time - and he is very easy to understand.

*He likes to cuddle, be carried and held, and someone to lay down by him at night to scratch his back and sing a song.

*He learned how to pee standing up while I was in OK City.

*He usually complains if I have to shower, wash dishes, or tell him "just a minute" to any of his requests. He is persistent and a bit persnickety about things.

He has me wrapped around his finger. He is silly and smiley and it is so hard to say "no" to him.

saturday girl time

(find Ana)

Yesterday Ana was in a program called "Hope of America" that the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial puts on every year. It was cute to watch her, even though she mostly was just distracted with her flag and her friend sitting next to her. It was a patriotic program that honored veterans. I have to admit, I got a little teary-eyed when the band played the Air Force theme song and all the USAF veterans stood. I love my Dad and wish my parents could have been there.

Just Ana and I went down, and it was fun to have some girl time. On the way home, we stopped at a McDonalds for some dinner. As we were sitting there I asked her what her favorite part of the day was and she said, "This Mommy. What we are doing right now! It's girl time."

That melted my heart. She also told me that she loves me the same as her new friend Ella, which is quite the compliment. (I almost didn't make the cut, by the way.)

sidetracked home executive

I'm having another one of those days weeks.

As I was leaving the house at 6:45 to pick Dave up from school I looked around and noticed that I had spent all day going from job to job and not completing any of them. Things I started but didn't finish:

*dishes
*the bathroom
*the laundry
*cleaning my bedroom
*organizing my summer sewing projects
*groceries put away

So I spent all day working and now I feel like the only difference is that there are different dishes in the sink than there was last night.

And instead of finishing any of them, I am going to sit down and watch Miami and Dallas in Game 2 of the NBA finals. Since I started so many things, perhaps tomorrow it will be easier to finish 1 one of them.

i love holiday weekends

Especially when they involve parades,


BBQs with friends,






and my favorite cake (which I will probably eat for breakfast).



Plus we planted our garden and I am so excited to see what grows....

Hope you had a great weekend too!

what's in a name?

Jack likes to play cars.

He usually has a car that is his favorite. His first love was a black truck. This was about a year ago. He started asking for it specifically. He wanted to sleep with it, take it places, and carry it around. I always had a mental note of where it was at all times. Then it broke. And he didn't play favorites for a while.

A few months ago "Jacky the Color Truck" came along. Don't ask me where it came from. It was a little beat up. But Jacky the Color Truck was the new favorite. But whether because of his mysterious disappearance or the appeal of something a little flashier, Jacky the Color Truck was replaced.

Meet Yellow-Like (pronounced "Lellow-like" if you want to get technical):


Yellow-Like goes everywhere with us. The park, the grocery store, quiet time, the library, play group, etc.


Today we were playing outside with Yellow-Like. We have a small alley/driveway behind our house. Jack tripped and fell down. He got a little scrape on his knees which I promptly kissed better and he was fine. Then he took a look at Yellow-Like.

"Clean him off, Mom. Yellow-Like is dirty."

"Actually Buddy, Yellow-Like's paint is scratched. I can't clean him up."

And then the real tears started to flow. Of and on for the next 15 minutes, Jack kept crying over Yellow-Like's scratch:


We finally convinced him that Yellow-Like still worked, and that this way he knows which yellow car is his.

He's back to being happy with this favorite tonight, and it is upstairs tucked in bed with the little boy.

Today was one of those days when I really felt like time was slipping from me and my kids won't be little forever. I love to see Jack's little hands wrapped around a his car. It is one of those things that I wish I could capture on camera that never looks as wonderful as the way I see it. But I still wanted to remember this little moment.

today

Today was one of those days where my kids found it necessary to yell everything. Jack was annoyed with, and therefore tried to sabotage, everything anyone Ana did. If she wanted to dance, he laid down in the middle of the floor right in her way. And most of the time he was saying something like, "Don't do the dishes, Mommy.... Don't take a shower, Mommy.... Don't drink your juice, Ana." And while running errands, the kids were all over the place.

It was overall an exhausting Mommy day. Some days are like that I guess. Days when a hot shower and a few minutes of silence can work magic. I may become an evening shower-er. There is something about the quiet house that makes a shower infinitely more enjoyable. Without the threat of children coming in crying, or telling you to get out, or throwing their bath toys in to annoy you...

Speaking of showers, have you heard? This spring has been rainy. Ana has started lamenting it. ("Rain, again!!!" She'll say when she wakes up.) Then I remind her she can use her umbrella. Then I send them outside and happily ignore my housework while I watch them play in it.

conversations

Me: Jack, don't pick your nose.

Jack: I'm not Mom. My finger just wants to look at my boogers.