I'll get a post up here one day

Until then, go check out our family photo shoot. Elder Garebear made it home safely from Chile despite it's best efforts to earthquake him to death. We are so grateful:)

To commemorate the event we took some pictures. J'adore the photographer, Amy. With 9 kids ages 7 and under (including three newborns), she was lightning fast and nothing our kids threw at her took her off her game. Totally recommend.

ANyway, see them HERE.

and yes, that is me still needing to lose the baby weight from MILES...pay it no mind...

and also too yes, that is Cameron carrying on the time-honored Kilgore tradition of blindness...he had just gotten his glasses the day before this and he is thrilled with them. I think he looks like a cuter, less British version of Harry Potter. :)

Bilingual

The other day as Sophia was in the bathroom she looked up and said, "Pee first and then poopy. That's English mommy."

Today while eating lunch she said, "Humongous. Hu-mon-gous. That's spanish mommy."

Just thought I'd share the awesomeness.

Versatile who?

So my SIL Deb has nominated me for a versatile blogger award, along with my other SILs and sisters and people who are basically my sisters, and people who I don't know, but would probably like based solely on the fact that Deb likes them. I trust her like that.

So yes, the award. I'm pretty sure it's a high honor - right up there with Grammies and Oscars and the like. So I'm going to take this very seriously.

The rules stipulate that recipients must list seven things about themselves. Let me say that I'm glad it didn't add the qualifier that they be seven things NO ONE KNOWS. Because if you read my blog you know that there's not a whole lot of holding back with me. I'm a sharer.

1. I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Media Communications (fancy talk for journalism). A whole degree! And yet I struggle with the proper usage of commas, hyphens and occasionally apostrophes. And sometimes I screw up my syntax. And sometimes I do this knowingly because I just like the "feel" of the sentence. Now, I'm pretty sure this might drive my big sister somewhat nuts. Annnnnnnd that may or may not be one reason I haven't bothered fixing it. Love you, sis.

2. I am a big fan of made-up words and word combos. Like if I wanted to tell you that I'm tired, but also busy, I might say that I'm bired. And I would kind of expect you to just understand. Because really? Is it that hard?

3. In my last post I said that my life was hectic but not dramatic. And that lasted for about 2 minutes. And then life looked me in the face, spit on me and laughed for a good 20 minutes before telling me that I looked fat in those jeans. Life has gotten a lot dramatic lately. So dramatic that, in response to a completely rational email detailing some commitments Chase had during the week, I responded with one of those lengthy, whiny, irrational emails that all husbands love to receive. Sometimes I also too send them to Sara. I think she loves them. And as I was type-venting I stopped and thought, "If I'm really that busy how do I make the time to have feelings about being so busy?" And then I realized I might be brazy (word combo alert!).

4. I am extremely well traveled. I've been to Iowa, like, 10 times.

5. I don't like swearing. It bothers me a lot. Mostly because I, like Deb, love words. There are so many fantastic words out there! I like finding places to put those words, and I l-o-v-e when those words fall out of my mouth while I'm talking without me having to think about it. They're just right there in my arsenal waiting for use. The other day I was doing the dishes and thinking of someone I know who likes to tell stories, but in my mind I said it, "likes to regale me with stories." And that made me smile.

6. Going right along with that, I love to read. I can remember my brother Sam making fun of me one summer - I was probably 10 - because I would wake up and stay in bed with a book. He thought I was lame. And while that part is true, it has nothing to do with reading. Reading is radical.

7. Double rainbows. I know what they mean.

And Deb has pretty much taken all of the people who I would have awarded the versatile blogger award to. Thanks for that, Debi B. But I still have a few great friends/bloggers up my sleeve. Unless they stopped reading my blog. I don't blame them. There's only so much pregnant whining a person can take.

So girls, consider yourself awarded!

A "Versatile Blogger" brings everything to the table - a little of this and a little of that."
Now, here are the rules for the Versatile Blogger Award:

• Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award (Thank you, Debi B)
• Share 7 things about yourself
• Pass the award on to (up to) 15 other bloggers who you have recently discovered and think are fabulous
• Contact the bloggers you chose and let them know about the award.

Rena

Jessica

Jen

Meh

I just took Sophia to the potty and she managed to pee on the seat a little bit, at which point she tearfully said, "Oh no, I got pee on the potty. I didn't point my penis down!"

And that's when I realized I need to blog more often. Because what else do you do with that?

The problem with blogging, for me at least, is that I tend to think I need 'something to blog about." I've always leaned toward the side of the dramatic, and I really like to exaggerate. I do it about a bajillion times a day. So writing about the normal hum-drum of life doesn't always fuel my creative senses. And I don't like to blog unless I'm feeling creative-y.

Sigh.

So here I am. Mother of four with not very much drama going on. How is that even possible? Things are hectic for sure, but not dramatic.

Dear Grandma, send food. I'm starving over here.

In other news, The Haley has arrived (as pictured above and below) and it is FABULOUS. The mix of yellows, greens and blues is incredible. When Sara asked if I had any color preference for it I just told her I trusted her to make something beautiful. She delivered. Oh, did she deliver.

And speaking of deliveries, I have yet another niece!!!!! Jen had her baby on the 12th (Cameron's birthday!) and she is a juicy piece of baby. I still haven't figured out the physics of how such a big baby (9lbs. 4 oz.) fit inside such a tiny person. She honestly didn't even look that big at the end. But one way or the other, Courtney Lynne is here and we love her! So, for those of you who are counting, she is the THIRD Rawlins granddaughter born in the space of 8 weeks. Clearly we are a productive, hard-working group.

 

So yeah, that's about it. Not a whole lot going on aside from the usual, everyday biznass. But I thought my mom might appreciate knowing that I'm still alive.

That is all.

Go about your day.

Six weeks. Or day four. However you want to look at it.

Little Miss Haley is six weeks today! Since I'll be playing the role of Horrible Mother, I'll point out that at stage right you'll see the space where there should be a post titled "1 month!" That post should - but does not, since it is not in existence - contain a picture of Haley doing something adorable, perhaps while wearing a onesie with a big number one on it or something.

I wouldn't know. I didn't do anything like that.

Haley, here's the deal. You're not getting a baby book. I'll keep a journal for you because I'm good at that. But I was good at writing down detailed minutiae only once in my life and it happened between 2003-2006. Cameron will get to be the recipient of my Awesome Mother-ness. You, however, get me. Horrible Mother. So to fulfill this role I will go ahead and slap some pictures and stats up on the old blog and call 'er good. Deal?

Thanks for not being able to talk yet. Because I'm sure you'd be spewing epithets.

But really you should THANK me for sparing you the agony of seeing your empty baby book on the shelf next to Cameron's fat, binding-breaking, filled-to-the-brim baby book and Miles' acceptably full baby book. Sophia is already in thrice-weekly therapy sessions to deal with the heartbreak over having a baby book containing just her name, weight and length. I'm not sure I'd even get to that part with yours.

But I do love you. Great keebler elves, how I love you. You with your sweet smiles and chubby cheeks. You make being the mom of four a lot easier than I thought it would be. Though, let's be honest. Grandma Of Wonders just left on Tuesday so I'm still new at this. But so far, so good. The house is almost spotless, dinner has been on the table every night and the laundry isn't piling up anywhere. So in Newborn Years that's not four days, that's closer to four months. Can I get an amen also too?

 

   

 

Open Letter to Dad

Good morning, Pop. How are you feeling this fine day? You're looking rather well. Is that a new shirt? It sets off your tan nicely, I must say. Speaking of tans, have you been hitting the links? You look so well-rested.

How am I? Oh, just fantastic. Thank you for asking.

But let's get down to business. I have a proposition for you.

How about you let me keep mom. We can maybe arrange a custody situation wherein I get to keep her and you can visit her - here - as often as you like. Really, we wouldn't mind that at all!

See, I'm just not sure if I'm ready, or able, to give her up. I'm having a hard time picturing my days without a nap in them. And she's just so darn good with my kids, what with the loving and spoiling and all. I just don't know if I can bear to let her return to Pee-Yay. I'm sure you can understand this, as I know you're quite fond of her as well.

So what say you, Father? I really think once you've had a chance to mull it over you'll see my side of things and agree that, as usual, I'm right about this.

Love,

Your sixth (and favorite) child.

Baby heaven

  

To all those people who stared at me incredulously during my pregnancy.

IN YOUR FACE!

This is why I have babies. LOOK AT THAT GLORIOUSNESS! So much cheek kissing going on here at chez rawlins.

And...that's about ALL that's going on here. Because I still wear my pajamas every day. And I'm cool with that. Sometimes I wear makeup WITH my pajamas. But the uniform doesn't change much from day to day.

Haley is kind of an awesome sleeper. I mean, she's still a baby, so it's not like she's going six-hour stretches or anything. But compared to some of my other non-sleeping babies, she takes the sleeping cake. Of course, I expect that won't last long. Because my luck in that area never does. So I'm soaking it up now.

Haley is NOT an awesome nurser. Which bums me out completely. We've been through a lot in two weeks (cracks, bleeding, mastitis, thrush, visits with the lactation consultant, crying on the phone with said consultant, crying every few hours when she just won't nurse). And now she's a bottle baby and I'm pumping for her. I did this route with my other non-nurser, Cam, so it's familiar territory. Not FUN territory, but at least I know I've survived it once before. And hey, at least she's healthy and happy and adorable and perfect, right? I mean, that's a lot of good stuff right there. So no complaining.

People keep asking me what it's like to have four kids. And honestly they're asking the wrong person. They should ask my mom (who technically has 8 kids, 7 kid-in-laws and 17.75 grandchildren). Because she's running the show right now. C-sections are no fun to recover from and I've been doing my utmost to try and stay down and get better quickly. And my mom, bless her heart, is doing everything in her power to make sure I have nothing to do even if I wanted to. The sink is always empty, the laundry room is tidy and the kids are always cared for. And somewhere in there she finds time to read, like, a bajillion books. SUPER POWERS, I tell you! SUPER POWERS!

As for my older babes, they are handling this whole business swimmingly. Sure I have to remind them a lot to "Be gentle!" and "Don't run next to the swing!" But aside from that they are taking to the job very well. And grandma keeps them busy, which is nice. Yesterday they had a sweltering picnic at the park (100+ degrees!!!) and then we all went to the mall so they could ride the train with their little buddies Melanie and Preston.

And now my brain is tired. I think I paused a half dozen times writing that last paragraph. You guys are going to have to lower your expectations for the next couple of months (years, epochs). This whole mommy business makes my brain melt.

Because I'm a little bit tired...

This is what I sent out via email to my family. Remember that I'm on painkillers and forming coherent sentences is hard and stuff.

"Hey everyone! Sorry it's taken so long to get some pictures out. Chase's laptop doesn't have our camera software on it because it's a work laptop. Anyway, Haley Jayne Rawlins joined the world kicking and screaming at 1:52 on Friday. She weighed in at 8 lbs. 6 oz. A little bigger than Miles, but smaller than Soph. She was 19.5 inches.
The girl can wail. She also has a good sized head. You'd think that wouldn't matter for a c-section but it was low enough that they were practically wrestling me on the operating table to get her out. That was pleasant. But she got out and we're all happy and healthy. I came home a day early due to good behavior (on Haley's part, anyway) and probably because they were sick of me. Whatever works, right? Either way we're happy to be home and happy that Vikadon (sp?) and prescrip. strength motrin exist. Big round of applause for the inventors of those.
Here are some pictures of the Halestorm, Hales, HayJay (and sometimes I call her Sophie. I plan on putting a therapist on retainer for the future, no worries). She's gorgeous. We love every square inch of her and firmly believe she was worth all the pain and nausea of the last 9 months. The kids are also in love with her (violently so, at times). As we say in Primary, "we are a happy family."
Hope you and yours are all well. We love you all!"

That's Chase's mom giving Hales her first bath!

"How many bags of fluids does it take to make Anna look like that, anyway?"

The big kids spent their visits climbing every surface in the room. Sooooo relaxing for me:)

 

I do want to add that Mama K has been an angel! The kids are loving all the time with her and so am I. Thanks for lending her out, dad. I'll try to get her back to you in the same condition she arrived in. Also? The first thing I noticed when I sat down at the computer were the search results for the "Find a Grave" website. Awesome, mom.

90 and one half hours

So I was telling some friends last night that I've been trying to steer clear of my blog lately. I've been entirely too whiny and my summer gift to YOU has been to keep it to myself as much as possible.

You're welcome.

But now I have nothing to whine about. My mom gets here in t minus 24 hours. And that means life is wonderful. Good grief my mother is amazing. A saint, that one. And she's not even Catholic. But I'm pretty sure if the Catholics knew about her they'd fast-track her, like, yesterday.

What I'm saying is she deserves a Facebook fan page.

And guess what happens in 90 and a half hours? I have a baby. Now, the having part I'm not super excited about because it involves IV's (read: needles), scalpels, suction and sutures. All things I'm not a fan of, naturally. But I've accepted that this is part of how Heavenly Father made me: defective.

But I just go along with it because He has done lots of other stuff for me, too. So who am I to complain? I mean, if you don't count the last 8 months.

So, anyway, huzzah to impending fourth-time-around motherhood!

Oh What Do You Do in the Summer Time?

(Sung to the tune of Oh What do you do in the summer time?)

Oh what do you do in the summer time,

when you're big and wide and big?

Do you lay on your bed

and whine in your head

or silently curse a lot?

Is that what you do?

So do I!

 

Oh what do you do in the summer time,

when everyone else is thin.

Do you wear the same thing

but not your wedding ring

because you don't fit in it?

Is that what you do?

So do I!

 

Oh what do you do in the summer time,

when your pelvis is dislocated?

Do you waddle a lot

and sweat 'cause you're hot

and not cook for anyone?

Is that what you do?

So do I!

Shooting pigs

Having a six year-old is pretty much Heavenly Father's daily gift to ME. Everyone should, at some point in their lives, try to have a six year-old. Really. It's a worthwhile investment.

As we were driving down the road yesterday Cameron spotted a group of teenage boys walking down the sidewalk. He pointed them out to me and said, "MOM! Those boys are all by themselves without their moms!" I assured him that, since they were big, their moms were probably okay with them being by themselves. To this he responded that he couldn't wait until he was old enough to go places without me.

Insert knife. Twist.

Trying to play it off I said, "Oh yeah? Well, where do you want to go without me?"

Cam: "Somewhere so I can buy stuff."

Me: "Oh. What are you going to buy?"

Cam: "A bb gun."

Now, we had been at the pool earlier and I heard some bigger boys talking tough about their bb guns. So I just rolled my eyes at the gun reference/request.

Me: "Well, what would you do with a bb gun?"

Cam: (without missing a beat) "I would go into the forest and shoot a pig and bring it home to eat the meat."

Me: stunned silence

Me: now laughing uncontrollably

Me: So what you're saying is that you're going to bring home the bacon?

Cam: (in total seriousness). Yeah. And the pig.

 

ALLLLLLSO, during the same car trip Cameron tried to convince me that we should buy happy meals because "McDonalds does such a nice thing giving toys to kids. They're being so nice. We should buy them."

 

Anytime you want Cam to come over and say awesome stuff at your house just let me know. He's here every night.

Total Eclipse of the Heart

Sooooooo, I saw Eclipse. I got a babysitter last week and went to a matinee where Kathleen and I sat in entirely uncomfortable seats trying to ignore our back pain, contractions and loss of lung capacity.

So, you know, we had a great time. And the movie proved to be a raging success when compared to it's predecessors. Bravo, David Slade. Bravo.

But since my brain is getting all mushy and jello-like, I will turn you over to Eric D. Snider for his review, and as per the usual, his Rejected Eclipse Screenplay.

Enjoy.

 

p.s. You should also read  his Twilight and New Moon screenplays. The man is a genius.

Because it's safe to say that most people are on vacation and won't be reading this anyway.

And therefore, I may whine.

WHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

35 weeks pregnant.

Ginormo baby.

Seriously. She's actually ginormo. Already. Well, she was 2 weeks ago and I'm pretty sure she's gotten bigger since then since that's what babies seem to do.

And now moving forward.

Wait, did I mention that I'm also really hot? Even in my newly insulated, radiant barriered home I'm feeling like I'm in a sauna.

I blame that on the baby, too.

Also, I blame the weird rash on my face on her.

Clearly the poor girl is going to be born with a lot of emotional baggage. But I'm sure I'll forgive her as soon as she's done dancing the cha-cha on my spleen every night.

Okay, really moving forward. Have I mentioned that Eclipse comes out this week? Have you noticed a measurable difference in my level of excitement about this movie versus the past two movies? I can assure you that I am no less excited. I really think this movie promises to be the best of the three. I've seen my fair share of clips and it looks quite good, to be honest. And I DID have a New Moon watching party last week in which like 20 of my girlfriends came over and none of us really watched the movie (except for the kissy-face parts...oddly we all became somewhat silent during those parts). But we did have fun eating junk food off of Edward and Jacob plates (thanks, Jen) and I'm pretty sure no one realized that I had a cooler full of water bottles, so people were probably thirsty the whole time. Which is appropriate because vampires are thirsty all the time, too. So maybe it was a sub-conscious effort on their part to really relate to the movie.

This time around I've decided to forego the midnight showing. Because after approximately 9 PM I am basically disabled. I could probably qualify for a special handicap tag for my car, except that when am I ever driving past 9 PM? Never. That's when.

So on Wednesday I'm getting a babysitter, going to my doc appt. (because I go to those a lot), and then I'm going to a matinee. I may or may not be all by myself. And I'm truly okay with it. Me, a diet coke, a tub of popcorn and a frigid movie theater is probably the most romantic thing I can think of right now. I'm practically drooling just thinking of it.

Word to your father

This is what Chase got for his Father's day. The kids decorated some cute frames to put their pictures in. Are my children insanely cute or is it just me?

We had a great father's day here. Chase is a great husband, great father and a great man, so he deserved it. He got some golf with his dad and brothers (twice!), and a quiet night with his amazing wife. Then on Sunday as we arrived home from church I was making lunch and getting to work on my (killer) coconut cream pie when he started doing this:

I immediately chastised him and tried to send him from the room to go take a nap or read. His response: "The only real gift I can give you is to do something for you when I know I absolutely don't have to."

AWWWWWWW yeah. That's a well trained husband. Stand back ladies, this one is T-A-K-E-N.

But seriously, that's just one reason I love the man. He's selfless. I did think it was kind of funny that this was the shirt he had put on...

Mormon Helping Hands. Sweet. Thanks for rocking my whole world, babe.

You know it's hot when...

The weatherman stops giving you the temperature in actual degrees and instead just lists in which circle of hell you are currently residing.

That man is sure good to me

Over the weekend Chase got me this:

Not bad, right? Is he the best or what?

And the REALLY good part?

Claires, $9.

Yes. That's right, ladies and gentlemen. My fingers have officially started to swell to the extent that wearing my real wedding rings makes me feel claustrophobic and panicky. This has happened before. Once I realize taking them on and off is starting to get difficult I go into crazy-lady mode. I immediately envision myself having to undergo some emergency medical procedure where FULL ACCESS to my hands is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. And, of course, they have to bring in some kind of metal cutting machine to take off my rings because they are locked in place. But the machine doesn't work. So amputation is the only option.

So clearly my fingers aren't the only things swelling. My brain appears to be doing the same. But try as I might the vision never goes away.

So around this time with each pregnancy I usually give in to The Crazy and get myself a "fake while I bake" ring. Because I'm not a fan of walking around with three kids, a giant belly and NO ring. Call me old fashioned. Call me crazy. You'll probably be right on both counts.

So there you have it. My new, fake rings. I think they're actually quite pretty.

And Chase taught Miles to shave this weekend as well. We figured we'd start early, because imagining him with a sharp blade at any point in his life gives me more panic attacks than tight-ring-induced crazy.

Just kidding. Miles just thought it looked fun.

So did Soph.

(LET'S HOPE SHE NEVER NEEDS TO DO THIS FOR REAL)

7 weeks and counting

Oooh boy, seven weeks to go. And what a long and quick seven weeks they will be, I'm sure.

Does anyone else think time is starting to get really tricky? I mean, I could SWEAR that yesterday Sophia was born. Now, here we are almost 2.5 years later and I'm about to do this again.

In just a measly seven weeks.

I'm scared, excited and heartburn-ey all at the same time.

I had a lovely little moment earlier today where I was sitting on the couch putting my feet up after a crazy morning of gym, errands, pool, house cleaning, etc. The Offspring usually takes these moments of solitude and practices for the World Cup. She was doing just that when I looked down and realized that I can't wait to meet her. Not just that I can't wait to get her OUT OF ME. I just can't wait to see her and count her toes and nibble her fingertips (and reassure myself that she is, in fact, a SHE). Who doesn't need a warm, wrinkly little baby curled up on their chest? I know that's what I need right now. Or in seven weeks, rather.

Miles has been cracking us up with all of his crazy, baby-related questions.

Heading out the door to the pool: "Mommy, is Haley wearing her swimsuit to the pool, too?"

Watching me eat something: "Mommy, does Haley want you to eat that? Does she think it's delicious?"

Standing in line at the child care at the gym: "Mommy, those mommies don't have babies in their tummies. That's why they're running. YOU can't run, mommy. Your belly is TOOOOOOOOOO big."

 

In other news, have I mentioned how grateful I am for air conditioning? Because I am. A lot. I'm the grateful-est.

Just below the ankle

WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Christy, this is a post about F**t. The dreaded F word. So you're going to want to skip this post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is she gone?

Okay.

I don't actually have anything to say, except that Chase gave me a toe-paint job yesterday. I've been wanting a fun, summery pedicure. But I'm such a cheapskate. I have a VERY hard time convincing myself to pay for one. I actually never have. I've gotten them as birthday presents or when I got married.

So anyway, I knew I could still sort of reach my feet, so I was guaranteed at least some decent red toes. But I really wanted flowers. So I found a tutorial online, showed it to Chase and appointed him toe artist. And he came through, per the usual. I have yet to find something that guy can't do. He cooks, he can clean when motivated by my evil eye, he can whip out a spreadsheet and now he can paint rockin' flowers on my toes! How well rounded is that?

Observe:

 

 

 

Nice, eh?

As of late

I'm so glad to be done with major home projects for the time being. So glad. We've kept ourselves really, really busy lately. And while that's nice, and we've gotten a lot accomplished, I am plain worn out.

So here's what we've been up to.

Guest Bathroom:

I've painted this sucker three times now. The first time I painted it purple. Not sure what I was thinking. The second time I was trying to paint it a pebble color and it just ended up looking like a faded version of the purple. And, I realized that I needed to find something that actually matched our tile. We weren't sure if we were keeping our tile surround (I thought we weren't), but when we decided it was staying I knew I needed something neutral to match it. So I found a tan'ish yellow that seems to work.

In addition to the painting I scraped out the grout in the tile surround so Chase could re-grout. This has to be one of the worst home jobs ever on the planet. You have this little tool and you literally scrape away the grout. It's awful. But I did it and lived to tell the tale. And saved some bucks in the meantime. So it was worth it. Chase did a good job re-grouting, too. Now we just need to re-surface the tub.

Also in the bathroom I sanded and painted the cabinets and baseboards. And while they certainly look better, I'm not ready to say they look GREAT. I mean, they're 30 years old. Their days of looking great were over when The Brady Bunch went off air. But I can live with them.

We still need to put in a new counter, sink and mirror in there. But for the time being I'm happy to be at this point.

Master Bedroom:

New bedding, curtains, blinds, paint. I went with pale gray for the walls. I had the hardest time choosing a color because I didn't want something too dark/bright/overwhelming in there. And we have black furniture, so you can't just do anything. Anyway, after I found the bedding I was inspired by the sound of my sister's "Gentle Rain" paint in her bedroom. So I stole the idea and ran with it. I still need to get stuff up on the walls, but overall I'm very happy with the effect. So soothing.

Attic:

Chase has been a maniac in the attic. He put up radiant barrier, followed by insulation. The whole project took the entire spring (not the two Saturdays I thought), totaling over 70 hours. And that's including the 15 hour day he put in with my dad. The house has been SO much more comfortable this year than in previous years. Even considering the fact that I am a walking oven. Even if our cooling bill never goes down I could care less because it feels so much better! Definitely worth it.

Out-of-doors:

In April we put in a garden. I wish I could say that it's flourishing. But unfortunately the larger I get the less desire I have to go hang out in the garden. So it's fallen by the wayside. BUT the hardest part is done so I have full faith we'll be in full-on garden mode next year. Sorry little garden friend.

We also have attempted, yet again, to get grass to grow properly in our front yard. The previous owners were complete idiots. And I mean that in the stupidest, most moronic sense of the word. They just were. Everyone surrounding us who had grass planted at the same time (by the builders) and who has taken just the least care of it has a beautiful green lawn. Us? Not so much. Sigh. We're having to fight an uphill battle to get it to grow in some spots. Chase spent last week pruning the crap out of the tree in front, which should help let more light reach the grass below. Cross your fingers for us on this one...

Random:

We found a new kitchen table! Well, new to us, at least. We outgrew our old table, which made me sad. It was the first piece of furniture I ever bought at an actual furniture store and I loved that thing. But it was time. I found a Crate & Barrel table on craigslist for a steal and snatched it up. It's already "broken in" (it has some light scratches on top) so I don't feel like I can't let my kids sit there and do crafts like they normally do. But it's roomier, MUCH more sturdy, and a better color than the old girl. So that was a fun find.

Lastly, in the midst of all this craziness, we re-financed our home from a 30 to a 15 year mortgage. Chase just came home randomly and said we should do it and I just kinda went along with it. He's the CPA, after all. Anyway, now that he's shown me several spreadsheets (of his own design, of course, being the EXCEL JEDI that he is) and amortization schedules, I'm really glad we did it! It was kind of annoying to have the house inspected in the middle of all of our projects, but it was a good decision. Yay to Chase for being a rock star like that.

Terrible Twos

This is not a post about Sophie and her awesome 2 year-old-ness. That deserves it's own html. Come to think of it, her diva-liciousness deserves an entirely new internet. Get on it, Al Gore.

Anyway.

This is about the two things I want to do right now.

Hibernate.

Swim.

Is it so terrible that that is all I want to do? I just want to lock the doors, stay in my jammas and hang out. I don't necessarily want to sleep or rest. Not yet, anyway. I'd just like to not have to DO anything. I don't want to have to deal with actual PEOPLE. Excluding my kids/husband/family, of course. Them I like. And you know, it's not about not LIKING other people anyway. I LOVE people. People are fabulous. But getting dressed and leaving my house in order to talk to them is starting to feel somewhat overrated.

I don't know. Maybe it's my size (though, the doc informed me that despite my feelings of epic ginormity I'm measuring a little on the small side - not my BODY, just my womb...he didn't go into specifics about the size of my bottom parts, for which I thank him). Maybe it's the heat. Maybe it's the 10 billion things that happen in the month of May when school is ending and you're a certified PTA member. Regardless of the reason, I'm ready for it to stop. I'd like to take a day off.

And on my day off I'd like to be floating in a pool of glacial water. Al Gore might be able to do something about that, too. And why am I making Al Gore jokes?

I love the pool so much that when I showed up at my SIL's pool yesterday without my swim skirt (which I never, ever go without in public because of the cool Casper/Albino/Cellulite combo I've got going for me), I didn't care. I just jumped right in. Minus the jumping part.

It's almost June. Still too early to complain, right?

I swear this all sounded normal when it was in my head.

 

Bonus Blog:

Miles has been saying the most rad stuff lately. Yesterday after a total meltdown/tantrum in the car, he stopped crying, sniffed and said, "Mom. I love squirrels." Later in the day, on the way home from the pool, he dialogued WITH HIMSELF a conversation between himself and a bad guy who was "trying to take away [his] mommy." He was sounding super tough, like he could totally take the bad guy, until he corrected the bad guy's poor manners. He was all,

"You stay away from my mommy, bad guy!"

"No! I'm going to take her and get her!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Yes I am and I think you're stupid!"

"Stupid is a bad word. It's not sparkly best manners to say stupid!"

(commence sounds of a struggle between bad guy and good guy)

It was kind of awesome.

Can we all agree?

For the love of all that is gooey, crunchy and chocolate covered (read: holy), can we all just agree on this one topic?

Pregnancy is TEN MONTHS, people. TEN. Not nine. TEN.

I've been on the earth for approximately 364 months. And not one of them had 35 days in it.

So pregnancy leans much closer to ten months. It just does.

And I'm CONVINCED that the whole 9 month gestation idea came from someone who is uterus-less. How else would he have gotten the Mrs. on the baby train? Not with a double digit pregnancy, that's how.

Men. Whether it's a fart* or a pregnancy. They're always trying to sneak one past us.

 

* Fart was an illegal word in my house while growing up...I still have a hard time saying it. I usually just don't. It brings back memories of me being hoisted over the sink and soap deposited in my mouth. Shiver.

Cameron, why are you so handsome?

Chase has been training Cameron to answer this question, "because I have good genes."

So no one should be surprised when, today after church, Chase said,

"Cameron, why are you so handsome?"

only to have Cameron respond,

"Because I'm wearing nice pants."

I love having kids. Happy Mother's Day to me:)

Mark your calendars...

Saw the doc today and we scheduled the c-section! July 30.

Woooooo hooooooo!!!!!!!!

 

Also too, Cameron made this card for me today, totally out of the blue. Being a mom is a dream job:) Why didn't any of my employers ever give me performance reviews like this?

(translation: I like my mom. She is cool. I love my mom. I like my mom because she loves me.) (And I'll admit I was kinda hoping one of those superheroes was supposed to be me. It wasn't. I should have known I'm not THAT cool.)

And just for an update, Mom and Dad came to town last week. I love having them here. They're both big helps with the kids and I usually find a job to keep my dad busy - he's never been one to sit around.

Anyway, we ended up finding a B-I-G job for dad to help with. If you didn't know, Chase spent a ton of time putting up radiant barrier in our attic. He finished the job right before dad rolled into town. The next step was to put in a couple attic fans and blow in insulation. So dad got wrangled into that. Poor, poor man. It was a HUGE job. They spent the first day doing the attic fans and getting ready for insulation. The next day they spent over 15 hours doing the insulation. 15 HOURS! Wowzers bowzers.

At least they got started with some sweet golf...

Now if I can just convince Dad to ever come back:)

Excited-er!

Okay THIS is a trailer. SUPER excited now! Oooooooh it's gonna be good!

24 weeks

Here I am at about 6 months preggers with baby #4. I wish you could see the detail on this shirt, because it's easily my fave.

Ignore the Evil Emperor Zurg on the counter.

Also ignore the muddy color of the walls. I've painted them TWICE trying to get the color right. First it was chewed grape bubblicious purple, now it's faded chewed grape bubblicious purple. Neither is flattering in that bathroom. I'm starting over next week...

Annnnnnnnd a side pic. Because it's necessary to show you why I get the weird double takes when I'm pushing the cart down the aisle. I go FORWARD when I'm pregnant. At least until about 8 months when my body just goes all-over-round.

You may notice that while my stomach goes FORWARD my bum gains equally in the BACKWARD department. I feel like a giant, walking letter S.