Projects and Family Fun

I've been so busy this last week that I haven't had a chance to update anything. So, now that some of the craziness has died down I thought I'd finally catch up on everything.

Last week my kids were so excited about Easter. Hyrum wanted to make sure we left some carrots for the Easter Bunny. We actually did the whole Easter basket thing on Saturday, that way we could kind of separate the secular Easter from the real reason we celebrate Easter.


The kids didn't waste any time cramming as much candy as possible into their mouths before Mom and Dad would notice. Ella was excited to get her first Barbie, Sleeping Beauty. I didn't get any pictures of the kids all dressed up cute. I cut back on a lot of things this year actually, because I just didn't feel up to it. Like instead of doing a huge Easter dinner with ham or turkey and all that, we had steaks grilled on the BBQ. (They were so good!) We did actually color eggs, I just didn't get any pictures of them.

After our "Easter" morning on Saturday we began the huge project of repainting our living room. We have lived in our house for 1 1/2 years and haven't done any work on our house except painting Ella's room (which turned out really cute). Our house was built in 1942 and it was in some need up updating (although the previous owners did a ton of work) so I've been dying to start. Unfortunately, remodeling of any sort is really expensive and time consuming, so we just haven't been able to do a whole lot yet. I was really excited to finally start on something on our house.

Here's the pictures of our living room before we painted. The living room is actually in good shape, it's just kind of a blah color. It's a light blue color, but you can barely even tell because it's just so light and it didn't look really great with my light green couches.


I went against everyone's advice to stick with neutrals and decided to do something I really liked and thought would look good with the white crown molding and the light green couches. . . red. We downloaded our pictures online and tried out some colors and then when we went to the store we decided on cinnamon cherry. I was a little nervous because it looked really dark, but Ben was really brave and convinced me to take a chance.

I forgot how much work was involved in painting. Mind you I didn't really get to paint much since I'm on physical restrictions so poor Ben had many nights when he was up until 2 or 4 a.m. trying to finish all the painting. The red actually wasn't what took the longest, it was all the trim, crown molding, bookcase, and doors. None of the wood work was the same color of white so we got some powdered snow colored paint to re-do it all. What a project! But I love the finished product!

It's quite a drastic change, but I love how it gives the room some personality. We also got some blinds for the windows and some shelves for the walls. Now we just need a clock and something to actually put on the shelves.

On Thursday, Ben took the day off to finish the painting because my sister Kellie and her boyfriend Craig, and my sister Andrea were coming that night for a visit. Then on Friday my Mom and Dad joined the bunch. I didn't think we could possibly fit that many people in my house, but we did and it was so much fun!

We went to Ottavio's for dinner on Friday and it was so good. Then on Saturday we were planning on going to Thanksgiving Point to see the gardens, but it was terrible weather, so we went to Trafalga to go miniature golfing instead. I thought I was doing really bad, but I actually tied for second place with Ben. My Dad beat us by one stroke. That night we played games until like 2 in the morning. Games with my family really brings out the crazy! My sides hurt so bad from laughing, which probably isn't good considering I'm trying to keep this kid in for a few more weeks.

It was really sad to see everyone leave today. The house just feels so empty. Fortunately, I have the comfort of knowing that they'll all be back in a month for when the baby is born. :) We'll see if I can get any other projects done before they all come back, but I'm pretty sure we are going to wait on any more painting projects until after the baby is born.

31 Weeks

I'm getting closer and closer to the date, and still have avoided bed rest! Hooray! I had an ultrasound at my visit to check the placenta placement to see if I needed a C-section, and my placenta was right on the border. Fortunately, that means I don't have to have a c-section, which is extremely lucky, because if it was even 1 cm. over I would be getting one.

They also ran another fetal fibronectin test to see if it was likely if I would deliver in the next 2 weeks and it came back negative. More good news! My cervix still looked mostly closed so they didn't do any more poking around (much to my relief), so I'm not sure how effaced ect. I am right now.

So, although I've been having contractions alot lately and have had to take my terbutelin pills, it seems like my body is trying to hold together. I feel very blessed to have made it this far without having to be on complete bed rest or in the hospital like I was with Ella.

The countdown continues, with only a minimum of 5 weeks to go. I've been a little panicked trying to get everything ready for the baby in case I do end up on bed rest. The last 2 Saturdays have been spent trying to find stuff we still need.

I have to say I just LOVE Craig's List. We found a practically new double jogging stroller for only $100. The exact same model sells for over $200 in the store. I've been checking the site for some time now, and just haven't seen one I liked in a decent price range and then one just popped up days before we were just going to cave in and go buy a new one at the store.
The other big thing I've been looking for is a changing table. We only had the changing pad with Hyrum since we lived in a one bedroom apartment. With Ella, we were completely white trash and salvaged one we saw sitting next to a dumpster. So, for this baby I decided I deserved a new changing table. I found one I just loved at Kmart and despite the fact that most people think Kmart stuff is trashy, I really loved this changing table. Plus it wasn't over $400 like other changing tables we looked at.

So, Ben got a kick out of putting the thing together (he loves any excuse to get out his power tools) and I had fun filling up all the drawers with little baby things. I just can't get over how tiny those little diapers are. It still hasn't totally hit me that I'm going to be having a baby here pretty soon, but it does feel a little more real when you start setting baby stuff up. Of course getting ready for the baby is the easy part, taking care of the baby is the real work.

Return to Avonlea

I don't think there is a girl in the world who doesn't have fond memories of watching Anne of Green Gables and just wishing that Anne and Gilbert would hook up. I think I was in middle school the first time I saw it, and I just loved it.

Another favorite of mine was a spin off t.v series called Road to Avonlea which originated in Canada, (although I think they might of just called it Avonlea in the U.S.) I was babysitting for a family in the ward and they had taped a few episodes. So after the kids went to bed I found a tape titled "Avonlea" and was really curious. Needless to say I totally fell in love with it. My favorite episode was "How Kissing Was Discovered" (the picture above).

I wanted so see more of the shows, but you had to have the Disney channel to get it, and we didn't have cable at the time. Some time later we finally got cable and there was nothing on Earth that could move me from the t.v. on the night that Avonlea would come on.

They were already several seasons into the series, but I never missed a show from then on. A season or two later they ended the show and I was so bummed, because it was by far my favorite show. Maybe I was a nerd watching Avonlea when other kids my age were watching Friends, but I just loved the idea of simplier times. I always felt sad that I had missed all the earlier episodes and that once it went off the air, I wouldn't be able to see it anymore.

That was until my best friend Karen, who was sympathetic about my hormonal and out of control/possible bed rest pregnancy, decided to get me a membership with netflixs. They have a million movies and t.v series. I was curious if they would have the Avonlea series and to my delight they had all 7 seasons. So for the next month or so you can find me in Avonlea.

28 Weeks

Today was my 28 week visit to the doctor and I was a little nervous. With Ella, I was dialated to a 2 and 90% effaced at 28 weeks and was promptly put on bed rest. I've been dreading going on bed rest with this one, so I've just been praying that everything would be o.k.

The doctor said I was 70% effaced, which isn't good, but I'm still not really dialated (maybe 1/2 cm is all). I was so relieved! I have a million restrictions about taking it easy, but fortunately none of them included bed rest yet. YIPEE! I'm so excited to be making it farther than I did with Ella. I still have a long ways to go, but every week of freedom is going to be enjoyed.

My next visit will include an ultra sound to check on the placenta previa issue. Hopefully my placenta has moved up and out of the way, because I want a c-section about as much as I want to go on bed rest.

Fool's Movie, I mean Gold

On Friday night, Ben and I were finally able to go out for our "Valentine's Day" date. Our ward has no babysitting age youth in it so we had to plan our date for another day since our only option was to ask an adult in the ward to babysit or swap with us. We have the most wonderful neighbors, who volunteered to watch our kids for us. They are a young couple, who have only been married for a year or two and our kids just adore them. It's always the best feeling when you go out on a date and know you don't have to worry for a minute about who is watching your kids.

We decided to go to the movie Fool's Gold since we love the chemistry between Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. The first few minutes, which included girls flashing their breasts, should of clued us in that this wouldn't be a "got to buy" kind of movie. The story was o.k., but really a disappointment if you've ever seen the two in "How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days" or the well written "National Treasure".

The villain in Fool's Gold is a rapper named Bigg Bunny for heaven's sakes. The plot was weak and McConaughey could not look more ragged. Most of the time I had no idea what was going on since they unfolded the major points of the story in one 2 minute conversation on a boat.

My advice: Go see 27 Dresses. It was really cute and no nudity was involved. (although there might of been some language. . . I can't remember)

I will say though, that the date was a total success in that Ben and I got to spend some time together without the kids. We could of watched a blank screen for 2 hours (which might of been a better alternative) and still have come home happy. So thank you to the Jackson's for watching our kids and thank you to the screen writer's for not writing a sequel. . .yet. . .

Pre-school Postponed

Hyrum's pre-school took a break for half of December and all of January, which was fine, but then I got an email about a month ago telling me that they wouldn't be starting until MARCH! I think I'm starting to go crazy.

Next week I start my third trimester, which is the scariest and hardest time for me. It usually involves 100 trips to the hospital and bed rest. I was kind of counting on Hyrum being gone for a few hours in the mornings, but now I'm having to entertain him and Ella and wishing so badly that pre-school would just start again.

Fortunately, I haven't dialated any more than last time and they did another fetal fibronectin test which came out negative (the test basically means I probably won't deliver the baby in the next 2 weeks). I'm very grateful that I'm holding together so far, but things don't usually start getting really bad until 28 weeks, which is 2 weeks away. I'm still trying to hold on to the miracle baby theory in which I don't have to go on bed rest and I make it until at least 37 weeks. It hasn't happened yet, but maybe 3 is the lucky number!

The Power of Grandparents

Hyrum has insisted, like a lot of kids I know, that I cut all the crust off of his sandwich. Not only is this a major pain, but wastes a lot of sandwich. However, I have humored him and cut the crust off of all his sandwiches for the past couple years since he refuses to take a bite otherwise and it's just one battle that I got tired of fighting.

Little did I know that the battle wasn't over and victory was well withthin my reach. I just needed someone else to fight the battle. Enter GRANDPA!

My parents were visiting last weekend and my Dad was kind enough to make some toast for Hyrum during our frazzled Sunday morning routine. He of course didn't know Hyrum's "no crust" rule so he left the crust on. Hyrum just ate the middle of the toast being very careful not to accidently injest any crust. He then asked for another peice and informed my Dad that he had to cut the crust off. My Dad willingly cut off the crust but while he was doing it, he told Hyrum that the crust was the part that gave you all the muscles. Then my parents left later that day and I didn't think anything about the crust conversation.

Lunchtime roles around on Monday, and just when I'm about to cut off the crust on Hyrum's sandwich, he begs me to leave the crust on because he wants muscles like grandpa. Behold the power of Grandparents! I haven't had to cut a single bit of crust off since for either of my kids. Now I just have to fight the temptation to send my parents a huge list of other things my kids need to work on.