timing is everything

I should have written about Dave's birthday weekend before the last post. Happy Birthday to my dear Dave on the 29th! My friend had her baby that day too. We joked about having our baby on Daddy's birthday as well and it almost happened. I started having contractions mid-afternoon. We had planned to go out to an early dinner and movie that night with Jen & Tom, and by the time we were sitting down at Red Robin my contractions were every 8-10 minutes. I really started to panic when we got into the movie though. I leaned over to Dave after the previews and asked to borrow his watch. I was distracted most of the movie because my contractions were every 5 minutes for the entire 2 hours. We talked about how nice it would be to have this baby early but this was too early! I was thinking I can't have this baby tonight! The house isn't ready, I still have to put Christmas decorations away, and I don't even have a bag packed yet. Dave kept looking at me with every deep breath I took to ask if we needed to go yet. I knew he didn't want to leave. As soon as the panic set in that this might really be it the movie was over. We got up to leave and the contractions promptly stopped. It was a heck of a scare.

Daddy with his chillies on his birthday. Kids and I went to the mall right before this to pick up a few gifts for Daddy. The kids were okay, except Coop was tired and should have been sleeping. I was having quiet a few contractions at this point and starting to wonder if this baby was coming 2+ weeks early. As soon as we got home from the mall the kids wanted to wrap their presents. We wrapped them up, sang Happy Birthday and gave gifts to Daddy. Daddy is wearing the shirt that Toby picked out for him in the picture. All the chillies got to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house right after this while Mom and Dad went on a date, so they were excited.

Sunday was the last Sabbath day that I was busy with Christmas stuff. One of the reasons I was panicking about going into labor the night before was that I was scheduled to give a 15 minute talk in church, then sing a duet right after, and then travel to Palo Alto to sing in a concert with Mom and Heidi as a trio. It was such a relief to have all those commitments over with, especially 9 months pregnant and tired. I'm glad I don't have to get dressed up or put on nylons again for a long time!

New Years Eve we planned to party at Dave's parents. We ate dinner with them and some friends and played games and watched movies until midnight. The kids had fun with their friends watching Happy Feet and Ninja Turtles and playing Mancala. Our Jessie is an accomplished Mancala player. She holds her own with the adults and beats her friends soundly. They were still friends afterwards which was a happy thing, especially at 11 PM. I don't think Jessie would have been as gracious at losing. Jessie and Logan made it to midnight, but Toby zonked out on the floor about 10:30. That kids doesn't believe in naps and when he is tired he crashes hard, so it was not surprise.

My Mom works every New Years Eve. She decided to stop by on her way home and walked in the door with 1 minute to spare before the new year. We banged pots and pans outside and had a family toast with our many varieties of sparkling fruit juices. It was then off to home and sleep in until past 9 am which was the best new year's present the kids could give us!

home improvement

So it's a day late but Happy New Year to all! We were busy all day yesterday rearranging our bedroom, purging and cleaning. It seemed to be a theme with all our family in town. Dave went up to help his Dad move furniture and replace a saw blade so he could lay new floor in their living room. We borrowed Arnold from his painting project with Denise so he could help Dave move our heavy desk to the other side of our bedroom. And even though we didn't see them, I know my Dad and brother Tom were busy working on their house remodel.

Mom and I had tentative plans to go to Half Moon Bay to buy crab for our traditional crab feed. We've tried to go get crab 3 times but the fisherman weren't selling it because of the oil spill in the Bay or bad weather. After waking up late in the morning and having lots of projects looming before the baby gets here we didn't go. Jessie wants crab as bad as I do. She would drive there by herself if she could. We could always go buy it from the store, but it's not as fun as bringing home live ones straight off the boat. The kids love everything about the day- except cleaning them. Hopefully we can sneak a day in to go soon.

There is so much on my to-do list before this baby comes. I have an evil battle going in my head that goes something like this.

Clean the house
Reorganize my room, the kids room, the living room
I can't take it any longer- this baby needs to come now
But first I want to take the kids to the zoo, the Jungle, spend time with each one

Birthdays ahead

I noticed the day after Christmas that the holiday was quickly discarded by some in the community. Little things like people taking down their lights (?) and the radio station that started playing non-stop Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving back to everyday programming. What happened to enjoying the Christmas holiday until New Years? We still turn the lights on and play the Christmas music, but we are looking ahead to birthdays in our house. Dave's birthday is the 29th. We plan on going out on a dinner/movie date with friends since it's been a long time.

Toby's big #5 birthday is the end of January. Since the baby is coming in between now and then I was trying to put together plans last night for his party. I asked Toby if he were going to have a party for his birthday who would he want to come? This is what followed:

Toby: Mmmmmmmmm. Breven and Jackson!
Mom: They won't be able to come, buddy. They live too far away.
T: Mmmmm- Gramma Grace........and Gramma Evie................Milo............... and Niah.
*pause*
T: Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Jetfire.
M: Oh yeah?
T: and Sam!
M: What about Ben and Brett?
T: Oh yeah, they should come too!
*pause* while playing the GameBoy
T: Oh, I know. Jessie and Logan too.
(Jessie leans over on the couch and says, thanks Toby)
T: Walks over to me at the chair and says, "Two more and that's it. President Hinckley and..................Breven and Jackson.
M: You said them already.
T: Okay, everybody else that I like. Like Baby Jesus and Heavenly Father..........................and Daddy.......................and you Mom.................and Great-Grandma.
*Toby goes back to the couch for a couple minutes then walks back over to me at the computer chair*
T: One more thing Mom. He leaned over and gave me a smooch on the cheek.


I think he is excited about the prospect of a big party for his birthday.

Merry Christmas! 2 days late.............

I haven't checked email or sat down at the computer for days. It's been nice. We worked our tails off last weekend attending Christmas concerts, church, finishing up food and gift shopping, cleaning the house for family to come over and hosting both families for Christmas. After all that I'm tired. Dave took the kids to Grandparents yesterday and I slept for almost 4 hours. It felt so good after staying up past 2 AM the two nights before.

Our Christmas recap:
Sunday
The kids did a live nativity at church and sang a couple songs for the congregation
I accompanied the choir for several songs and did okay playing the organ, which I was dreading
I sang O, Holy Night in Relief Society and bombed one part as I was distracted by a strong contraction
Came home and ate lunch and took a quick nap
Dinner at Gram's and then off to sing at the Stake Christmas Concert at church
Home to crash with Dave on the couch and wonder why I said yes to sing so much at 9 months pregnant- my tummy muscles are working overtime keeping this baby in and singing too.

Christmas Eve
Cleaned
Did 9 loads of laundry
Cleaned some more
Dave went out early to get 2 last minute gifts and toiletries
Baked rolls, sugar cookies and made garlic mashed potatoes for dinner
Dan, Lauren and Kristy arrived and helped set the table/play with our chillies
Waited for Mom and Dad and Tom and the turkey to arrive
Ate a wonderful meal with my side of the fam- we fit all 11 of us in our tiny apartment thanks to my cool new table from IKEA with both leaves installed
Exchanged gifts, ate dessert, decorated cookies for Santa and played with the chillies
Kids put out stockings, got jammied up and said goodnight to all
Family left and Dave and I stayed up until 2 AM wrapping presents and cleaning up

Christmas Day
Contrary to our hope of sleeping in a little, the chillies woke up early at 7 AM
We had put up a sheet in front of the living room so they couldn't go in until we were up
Got up to find all 3 chillies peeking through the sheet, "MOM, DAD! Santa filled our stockings!"-so cute
Daddy made everyone peppermint tea and we opened gifts together
Denise and Arnold came over to get Arnold's new guitar we were hiding for Denise. She put a guitar pick in a ring box as his Christmas present that said, "Will you serenade me?" then sent him to our house
Showered, dressed and made breakfast; french toast casserole (thanks Denise!), sausage, bacon, eggs, fruit
All the Bennett's came over for an impromptu gift exchange (and breakfast) at our house- it was so nice to not have to pack up kids and gifts this year. Everyone came to us.
Party adjourned to Denise and Arnold's apartment 3 doors down to play their new Wii
Chilled out as a family at home until dinner at Gram's house at 4 PM
Both sides of the family ate, exchanged gifts, played games and talked until 8ish

Dave and I both enjoyed our family Christmas. I know the kids have had a great week and LOVED having their Daddy home for 5 days straight. It still seemed like the holiday snuck up on me. I wanted to plan more service opportunities with the kids and I just didn't take the time. It's one thing I want to be better at next Christmas and through the year.

what's sleep anymore

You know that feeling when you wake up from a wonderful nights sleep? Your body feels relaxed and warm under the covers and your eyes gently roll open into consciousness. One big body stretch and a deep breath in and out later and your ready to conquer whatever comes your way. Yeah, I don't remember the last time I slept like that. Lately my routine is go to bed only to wake up less than two hours later with throbbing hips and sore ligaments, since this 9-month pregnant body can't sleep on its back. If the aching body parts don't get me up the incessant need to pee does- at least twice a night. I feel like a giant marshmallow with the amount of pillows it takes surrounding my body to get comfortable enough to sleep. Sadly, our big leather couch is more conducive to a good nights sleep right now so I end up out in the living room every night. Most nights I skip my bed entirely. Thankfully, hubby understands, but I mis him. I'm there now except with my feet resting on the couch while I sit in the chair nearby.

It wasn't my body that woke me up at 4:45 AM this morning. Something possessed Logan to wake up and demand that Toby give him his Batman blanket that was keeping him snuggly warm in dreamland. Logan sleeps under Toby on a trundle bed and he reached right up, screamed bloody murder about his blanket and commenced a tug-of-war with said blanket. Poor sleepy-eyed Toby didn't know what hit him. And now I can't get back to sleep no matter how warm and comfy the couch is tonight.

So, considering my alarm goes off in 24 minutes, I think I'll get up and hem those dress pants for Toby that never got done.

Sweet dreams to you. Somebody needs to be dreaming of sugar plums at this time of year..............