No pictures, please!

It's possible she's sick of me taking pictures...

But she's just so perfect in so many ways, I have a hard time keeping the camera away!

She's a really good cuddler...when she gets up at 5 or so in the morning, I just pull her into bed with me and we cuddle until it's time to get up - a few hours - she doesn't squirm at all!

Look at this perfect little mouth! That doesn't cry at ALL! She just sort of wiggles & hums to get my attention in the middle of the night!

We blessed her on Easter

Because family was in town.

Ross gave her a beautiful blessing. He spoke of the love her family has for her - and how she will use that love to help bless others with the gospel.

I'm so thankful that she came into our family. I know Heavenly Father loves her very much - and I feel it was very difficult for him to send her (and all of his children) away to earth to be tested. It just makes me love her even more!

Here's the only picture I got w/ her in her blessing dress (yep, once we get home from church - the clothes all get ripped off & thrown to the floor!)

A few of my favorite things....

Lets see if I can remember how that song from Sound of Music goes....

- tying my shoe laces
- climbing the staircases
- I'm bending over to clean up our spaces
Brown paper gift boxes strewn through all of the places

*** these are a few of my favorite aces....

- all of my organs are going back nicely
- my large intestines now working precisely
- heartburn and headaches now beg to come in - these are the things that won't happen again....

No more hemorrhoids!
No more back aches!
When I'm up all night -
I simply remember hormonal expense that my family paid -- a fright!

***It's so nice to not be pregnant right now!***
Cause lookey what I got...

YAWN! She's still pretty tired from "the move"...BUT

Happy baby day to ME! I'm sure I'll end up composing some sort of birth story, it will be long winded and clever, I imagine. But for now, my sit-upon has me limited to short stints - so I will post the vitals...

Coby was born March 19th at 4:58 p.m.



She weighed a heaping 8 pounds, 4 oz (beating the "CHowie" record by nearly a pound, who beat the previous Kiersten birth weigh-in record by nearly a pound)
21 inches long (and did I mention she's thick? Just look at that neck!)

So for now, I'm just going to get used to this whole "burping" thing...but the good news is - no matter how much she wakes up at night - I still get more sleep than I did when I was pregnant! Yippeeeeeee!

No update...sorry for the silence!

I've been laying around doing a lot of nothing - except complaining! I'm measuring 40 weeks - which -- well, it's normal for a lot of people but in the other 5 I've ever measured with - my "biggest" measure was 37 - even though I did go over my due date...SOOO I'm BIG and UNCOMFORTABLE!

I'll bring the laptop to the hospital and post the story when she gets here! Never you fear - I'll keep you all appraised....Latest doctor's office visit guarantees that I will have a baby in my arms by Friday...no more appointments - if I don't have a baby by Friday, the hospital will rip her out! YAY!

What baby wants, baby gets....

I've done research. Indeed. I'm trying to figure out how to get this baby out when I want her out, not when she's ready. I've gone to 100s of web sites...and here's what I've come up with...

1 - nothing you can say or do will coach the baby out, she'll come when she comes.
2 - eat pineapple (two days of eating pineapple, and one cracked tongue later, nope, doesn't work)
3 - "Cuddle" with the sperm provider...uh - yah BTDT, it's all part of an elaborate plot to get the poor deprived father of the baby in as much as he can before he goes into famine mode...
4 - long walks on the beach at sunset - okay - not necessarily on the beach or at sunset, but long walks. Yah - RIGHT - in the last 3 days, I've gone 13 miles...don't know how much longer it needs to be, but I'm not doing that any more. It's just getting to warm outside.
5 - Like trying to get pregnant - if you just forget about it, it will happen....yah, try forgetting about a boxing match when your bladder's involved...I double dog dare ya!
6 - Jump on a trampoline - (don't get me started on THAT one!)

So - what I've decided to do to help coax this little one out is the following.

1 - sit down and watch TV.
2 - occasionally get up to piddle.
3 - walk in a circle wondering if I should clean or do laundry.
4 - call husband at work and complain about still being pregnant
5 - tell kids that baby won't come out until they have clean rooms
6 - fold clothes
7 - make baby blanket.

So I figure since I've tried the first part to no avail - all the "professional" and experienced people who post on the web - no offense, but you web page guys are RIDICULOUS!!

All I have left is to make the baby blanket - I am going to do that right now - so expect me to be laboring with diligence in the next few hours...I'm almost done w/ the blanket...I'll edit to post a picture!

A baby is BORN!!!

Ha- yah right, SIKE! But doesn't it look like this could be a 15 pounder?

So - I didn't lie in my title...because 14 years ago this very day, I had my first baby - was hoping that I would have my LAST today, as well, but no such luck - apparently my doctor has joined an anti-labor club for all patients with the name of Heidi...BUT, I won't get into that - because today is a happy day!

My first born joined our family! I've got plenty of growing up pictures of him - but in trying to start a new tradition - so I have "updated" pictures with my kids, I am copying Kari and taking a picture with each of my children on their birthdays...since I'm not in any pictures with them anywhere else! (I'm always BEHIND the camera lens.)

So knowing how absolutely uncomfortably miserable I am - here is quite possibly the worst picture I've ever taken - but it's with my first born - who is such a good boy! Well, I guess he qualifies as a young man, a solid 6 inches taller than me with a deep voice, who stops me from emptying the garbage so he can do it himself because it's something a mom shouldn't have to do!

Total Score!

Thank you my "Little" Stephanie for blogging about this sale! She held my hand as we (and about 15 other ladies) dug through buckets of various sized children's clothes!

See, after Brynn was born, I thought "why do I need these baby clothes, I don't" So I got rid of all my baby stuff...clearly my thinking was muddled.

I filled a bag (grocery store plastic bag size) up with 30 outfits, two jackets (one denim & one leather - for Brynn) and 5 shoes (okay so there were a few fuzzy slippers) I also managed to grab some jogging pants for Kali & a cute dress for Brynn. I paid a whopping $12 for the bag! Whatabargainforme!


I figured since I saved so much money - I might as well go buy some other things. I took Kiersten shopping with the remainder of her gift cards from her birthday - and decided that we could made a headband cheaper than the $6.99 they were charging at Target, so we crossed the street to JoAnns - and got the 69 cents worth of material to make her a headband...but then I saw some really cute baby quilts and decided that I wanted to make one...well, I'm not crafty - in fact, Ross calls my crafty ideas "crappy" - and well, frankly, he's being polite! Because I am the opposite of crafty - in fact, I may be stretching it to make a headband for Kiersten - but I couldn't see buying 69 cents worth of material for $6.99 - yah - call me thrifty! Either way - I'm roped into using my sewing machine.

As I was shopping I wondered if, instead of nesting - being the "cleaning" stereotype it is - maybe MY nesting is more of a SHOPPING scenario? Lets hope.

Oh - and for the record -- I think that whatever ridiculous doctor decided that being "intimate" in the last stages of pregnancy - would help "induce" the baby to come earlier - was first of all - A MAN - and secondly - had a few children of his own - and knew the intimate depravity involved immediately after the birth of a child...furthermore, I think that he had heard enough women complain about comfort levels toward the end of a pregnancy that he realized a woman would do ANYTHING to speed up the due date - so this MAN "doctor" decided to throw in the "be intimate" bull-junk to help the baby birthing progress along...After testing this theory - not just on this baby - but --- well, everyone - I feel like I need to get a tattoo of
"gullible when pregnant" stuck on my forehead - because - YES, I will try it all - but quite frankly - I don't think a baby will come until a baby is ready to come.

Toxic Milk

Brynn wants a cup of "toxic milk"...in toddler talk...mom's understand it, uncles don't. She really tries to say it correctly, but is just comes out "toxic!"

you say toxic, I say chocolate....

Dr. Mom.

Okay - so I tried the antibiotic drops for Brynn's pink eye. 7 days (instructions said 5 days, but I did 7) and there was absolutely NO improvement. So last night as Ross was climbing into bed, I made him get back out (he really hates when I do that! LOL!) to run upstairs & throw some polysporin in the corners of her eyes (yes, both eyes have it!). The eyes don't necessarily have to be open, the body heat will "melt" the polysporin and as your eyes do the REM thing at night - it smooths it around - no yelling, no pinning the kids to the bed (btw, thanks for the suggestion, Ana, she did seem to get better at allowing the drops in - especially since she doesn't have to flinch and not know exactly when the drop will hit! What anxiety, eh?)

This morning - guess what - NO SIGN OF GREEN EYE GUNK! In fact, both eyes are clear, not pink, not swollen and no crusties! Dr. prescribed antibiotic eye drops $3.38; Polysporin $5.99, cost of a happy baby - priceless! I don't know why I don't follow my own advice...sometimes I think I'm loony.

Help me NEST!

"All I have energy to do is THINK about all the things that I need to do." I'm sure someone famous once said that - or maybe not so famous - maybe - it was just me who said that?

I'm ready to blow up - Brynn said the baby is going to come out of my belly button if I make her any bigger. She'll open my mouth & yell down to the baby to "come ouk to play with your friends, baby!"

I told her we had to finish the laundry before the baby wanted to come ouk. So she ran upstairs and cleaned the lint screen and called for me to finish the laundry. I think she may be just as anxious as I am...although I don't think she fully understands the implications a new baby would have on her "I'm the favorite sibling" status.

Okay - off to nest or something!