How to make a pregnancy fly by

1. Be your ward's Primary President: Actually, I don't recommend this. It's a lot of work. A great experience, but hard. It certainly took up time that could have been spent obsessing about pregnancy (or at least documenting it in a blog). I've been in Primary since Annabelle was born, and I'm going to miss those kids, their awesome comments, and wiggle songs. Relief Society chairs are uncomfortable. I'm not going to miss the Saturday night/Sunday morning emails and texts scrambling to find subs.

Our new house, Dave, me, and the watermelon I'm holding in my shirt.

2. Buy a house: When not spending Annabelle's naps doing Primary things, I've pretty much spent the last year watching the real estate market, waiting for the perfect house to pop up. We had narrowed down our search to pretty much 2 neighborhoods, and then kept second guessing ourselves when what we wanted wasn't showing up in our price range. We made two offers last summer; one was a foreclosure that we were outbid on, and one was regular sale we weren't willing to go up to what the seller wanted. With the pregnancy and the owners of our house getting ready to move back in, we were a bit more motivated this spring. Then a house came on the market that had a lot of what we wanted, but was much bigger and priced well over our max. I ignored it. But then we saw that they were dropping the price a lot every week. Figuring they were motivated, we low balled, they countered, and we were able to reach a middle ground. And while the price was on the higher end of what we were looking to spend, with the way interest rates have changed, our monthly payments are what we would have paid for the foreclosure I was so sad to lose last year. And we got a lot more! Definitely worth the wait.

In their new outfits Grandma Ostler made. Annabelle kept running
around saying, "I a pincess! Ooooh la la!"

3. Have two older kids: These girls keep me on my toes, but when they're not fighting and yelling, they are adorable and so much fun. I just look at Mabes and wonder when she got so big. And Annabelle has the funniest personality, I could (and sometimes do!) just sit and watch her all day.

Playing. On a makeshift slide. Because that's what you do on Saturday mornings.

At Mabes' end of year party at school. Annabelle was mildly happy to see Mabes.

4. Move into said house 2 weeks before due date: We closed and moved in the next day. I had originally wanted to take more time, but that just wasn't happening. And with the way my body is, I was having regular (but not painful) contractions the week leading up to closing, so I wasn't able to pack as furiously as I'd liked. But the baby stayed in, we closed, and had a crazy weekend of moving. In the week that followed (last week) we finished moving out of the old house--all the little things under sinks, in closets, etc., cleaned it out and turned in keys Saturday. It was a huge relief to be done with that. I'm still surrounded by boxes and we can't find lots of things, but we're slowly making progress. The upside is that I'm so uncomfortable, I can't sleep much anyway, so I have more time to unpack.

5. Stay active: At the beginning of this pregnancy, I wanted to try to be stay active and see if that made pregnancy, labor/delivery, and recovery easier. "They" say it does, but "they" say lots of things that turn out to be total crap. Plus, I was in a regular routine and figured I could modify it pretty easily. I'd been training for a half marathon when I found out I was pregnant, and my doctor was supportive of me continuing that. I had to modify my pace, but I did it. I had to stop running around 18 weeks, due to Braxton Hicks contractions, but kept up with cardio and weights. A few weeks ago, I was mad that despite regular workouts, I felt like crap and was getting huge. My belly is bigger than it was with Annabelle. I wanted my early mornings back. But now, looking over the last few months of craziness, I'm thinking there's no way I could have survived (especially running boxes up and down stairs) had I quit exercising early on.

So here I am, 39 weeks and 2 days pregnant. At my appointment last week, my OB said I was ready to go and predicted I'd go before Father's Day. That freaked Dave out a little, because he had some stuff he needed to wrap up. I assured him that Dr. B did us a favor because whenever a doctor says that, you always have at least another week or two. We needed it! At my appointment Monday, he admitted he was surprised to see me, said I'd made even more progress and he was willing to induce me if I wanted. (Both girls were fast and bigger; I was induced a few days early with Annabelle and it was a great experience.) Today (Tuesday) was the only day open, but I turned it down. As much as I want to hold my baby, I feel like this pregnancy has flown by and I'm not ready to force him out. I'm extremely uncomfortable at times, but not miserable yet. I still haven't packed my hospital bag, and I have plenty to do around the house. So I'm staying busy today and frankly, I'm pretty content to still be pregnant. It's really hot today and the crampiness/achiness has picked up, though, so I may start getting antsy soon.

We're on our way...!

to Target.  I hear they have Coke products on sale this week.  Where else would we be going right now?

Overheard tonight...

Allison: "I don't want my kid born on June 19th.  Prime numbers piss me off.  They think they're so awesome."

What's in a name?

People are always asking expectant parents if they have decided on a name yet.  With Em, we had decided on her name years before we were even pregnant.  With Annabelle, it took more than 24 hours past her arrival before we came to a decision.  To relive that fun story, visit this post.  FYI, we are the type of people (Dave mostly) who would not tell you the name, even if it were already set in stone.  He also hates it when siblings share the gifts they got others for Christmas before the gift is opened and I think Joel has his back on that.  He likes a surprise and will lie to you in order to protect the element of surprise.

With that, here are a list of names that we may or may not be considering for the coming manchild grouped by their characteristics.

Places

• Provo
• Wiltson
• Niles
• Khartoum
• Tlahualilo
• Eugene
• Pineville

Sports-based Names

• Lavell
• Dean
• Merckx
• Prefontaine
• Chipper
• Rick Flair
• Coach

Foreign Names

• Sander
• Mateo
• Boris
• Petronilo
• Lars

Historically Significant, Scriptural or Literary

• George Washington Carver
• Mr. Darcy
• Amalickiah
• John Jay
• Nebuchadnezzar
• Philo
• Faulkner

(In case you need a reason to not choose "Adolf Hitler" see this story from people who brought us Snookie, The Situation and the rest of the gang.)

Celebrity-type Names

• Gumshoe
• Androgena or Androgene
• Stargazer
• Squash
• Handlebar
• Kardash

So here's our starting point.  Or maybe we'll actually discuss names for real some time.  (But Dave won't tell you.)

From the Mouth of Mabes

In the past couple of weeks Mabes has lost 2 teeth -- 1 from the top, 1 from the bottom -- while at school.  Apparently, this is the height of cool.  (We're trying to get her to describe it with, "This is pretty boss!" or "Man, this is cherry!" but she hasn't taken to it yet.)  The most recent tooth fell out Friday during math and her teacher was able to turn it into a handy object lesson in subtraction.

 (Pictures taken around bedtime, thus the slightly more disheveled look.)

One of the more unfortunate parts of this experience was that the Tooth Fairy must have had a packed schedule after the second tooth because she forgot to make a financial transaction in exchange for the tooth that night.  It is quite a pitiful and somewhat wrenching sight to see your child return from her room one morning holding the ziploc bag with her tooth in it and then, with a solemn face and voice, asking why the Tooth Fairy didn't come visit her that night.  :-O

Schedules were amended and the situation was corrected the following the night.  She was upset after the first tooth fell out recently when she noticed that the dollar bill she received had a small tear in it, so agents of the Tooth Fairy made sure this was not the case this time around.  But Mabes noticed a blue mark on the back edge of the dollar bill to which she commented seriously, "I think this dollar bill was meant for someone who lost a bluetooth."  I love the technology vocabulary that she possesses at such a young age -- even if it is sometimes misplaced.

In other Mabes-isms, we were in church a few weeks ago and the speaker in sacrament meeting mentioned that he grew up in Alaska.  I pointed this to Mabes who had been coloring or reading or something to try to get her to pay some level of attention.

She thought that was very cool and -- of course -- had a comment:  "Wow, he must have seen a lot of -- "  Hold that thought.  How would you expect that sentence to be completed?  What would someone in Alaska probably have seen a lot of?  I was expecting "snow" but I could also understand someone in Alaska seeing a lot of water, polar bears, moose, mountains, igloos or even big trucks. 

But, no, that is not what runs, skips, hops and twirls through the mind of Mabes.  She was impressed by his home state and said, "Wow, he must have seen a lot of fish sticks."  Yes, he must have.

The _________ twos

So Annabelle turned 2 over two months ago. She's changed a lot in the last couple of months, so maybe it's best that I didn't do this on her birthday. A summary of Annabelle at two:

The bad
-She poops in the bathtub. She's only done it twice, but that's two more times than Mabes ever did. She preferred my sister's foyer.
-She likes to scream in public, and has found it effective in getting me to leave craft stores.
-She repeats what she wants until she gets it. She doesn't care if you ignore her.
-She hits Mabes. We're working on this.
-When holding hands and walking, she likes to play human obstacle course by jumping in front of me and laughing when I try to not trip over her.

I only mention these things to illustrate that she is a two-year-old. She can be a stinker and drive me nuts. In spite of the above, however, she is quite possibly the cutest (or among the cutest, Mabes) two-year-old ever. I want to rip my hair out almost every day, but I find myself saying "I love this age!" every day. Some highlights:

-She's funny. She has mastered the side-eye and give me looks that seem to say, "Okay, mom..." when they are well-deserved.
-She has the cutest run/dance/skip.
-She insists on wearing her sunglasses in stores. That, combined with her pigtails, gets her a lot of attention. She plays it cool, but it's an act.
-If she doesn't get the desired attention, she'll wave at other shoppers until they notice her. Then she plays it cool.
-She absolutely adores Mabes. The highlight of her day is when Mabes gets home from school. She looks forward to this all day, and it even makes her want to take a nap. From the time she gets up, she starts talking about her afternoon plans: "Eat yunch, take a nap, and TADA! Mabes home! Ow-side, PAY!"
-She's picked up Mabes' habit of saying, "Ta-da!"
-She's also picked up Mabes' habit/insistence of wearing cat ears ALL DAY
-She likes playing with balls and has a surprisingly strong arm and good aim.
-When we exercise at home, Annabelle likes to join us. She uses Lincoln Logs as her weights.
-She got a mini-trampoline for her birthday and I could watch her jump on it all day
-I know there's a bunch more, but I'm getting distracted by the cuteness of Annabelle "flying" outside and I can't think. And now both girls are covered in mud from "flying" into the giant mud puddle in the corner of the yard. *reverie over*



Sarah had commented that she was pretty sure Annabelle's pigtails could cure cancer or something. I would agree. I'm thinking pigtails+trampoline could be my happy place for labor:

Hey look, I still have a blog!

I'm still slacking on my blog. My excuses:

-Busy with church
-I'm ridiculously tired all the time
-Winter sends me into a funk (not the good kind), and I think pregnancy compounded that.
-Finally finished Sharon Kay Penman's Welsh Trilogy (aka 1,920 pages of awesome)
-Busy eating my weight in chocolate chip cookies
-Whenever I get online, I somehow end up looking at houses instead of doing whatever I had intended to do.
-My kids are actually doing pretty well (more on that in later posts, if I ever get around to it) and I'm afraid that posting that will change it.
-I just haven't wanted to.

So there you go. Spring is on it's way and my street will look like this in a few days:

So I'm hoping to find some motivation and post some pictures of the girls.

Not with a bang but a whimper

And so, this is the way the year ends.

I *meant* to blog more. I'll admit, I felt guilty after reading my cousin's post a few weeks ago about how not documenting things on her blog makes it as if things didn't happen. And while I haven't had the year she has, I somehow managed to not write anything for nearly two months. No good excuses--just the usual: busy, writer's block (I was asked to write 4-6 sentences about myself for the Relief Society spotlight and it took FOREVER), laziness, the desire to make batches of fudge and caramel, busy, and STILL working on a book I started several weeks ago (heaven help me, I will find out what happens to Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, Davydd ap Gruffydd, and Simon de Montfort).

Two weeks ago, I was going to end the year with a bang and crank out a blog post a day. That didn't happen. So now I need to catch up on the last two months, along with write about my parents' visit in September. So here's the last two months, in pictures:

My parents came in September. We showed them Charlotte, ate lots of food, took them to South Carolina (my dad had never been), and just had lots of fun. We spent a day at Historic Brattonsville, and though we went a few years ago, it was good to go again when it was green.

Mabes in the log cabin with Grandpa

Riding Papa's shoulders


With Grandma at the Bratton residence, built in the early 1800s.
This house was used in The Patriot.

TA-DA!

The girls had a lot of fun with their grandparents, and my dad really made an impression on Annabelle. A couple of weeks after they left, we had the missionaries over for dinner. Before they arrived, I was setting the table and as soon as Annabelle noticed the extra places, she got really excited and started chanting, "Papa! Papa!!!" She was a little crushed when I told her that Grandpa wasn't coming that day.

Moving on to fall, Annabelle was able to enjoy fall this year, complete with jumping in leaf piles and everything else Mabes had promised her:

Also, Annabelle is working on the art of fake smiling:
We spend Thanksgiving with Dave's family, and went to the local science museum the next day:

lot of mirrors

Annabelle got to meet Santa at our church's annual Christmas breakfast:

She still doesn't like him.

Mabes was thrilled when we got a letter from Santa the Monday before Christmas saying that as an early gift, we were going to go to the Great Wolf Lodge for a night. It's only about 30 minutes away, but we were a little worried that she'd be upset about leaving her best friend/our next door neighbor. They don't get to play during the week, so she was hoping to cram in as much friend time during the vacation as possible. However, the letter said to pack your swimsuit and that was all she needed. Dave showed her pictures of the water slides and pools, and she was ecstatic. We left Tuesday afternoon, spent a few hours at the indoor waterpark, spent the night, and spent most of the day Wednesday swimming, sliding, and just enjoying the 84 degree park. While we were there, it was rainy and cold outside, so that was an added bonus.

Swim diaper on, she's ready to go!

In the wave pool

It's hard to see her, but Mabes is on her way up to the slide

Mabes comes down a slide

Dave and his girls

I'll do Christmas in another post...sometime. But we took care of my big Christmas present in November: our first "real" family photo:

My amazing friend Lindsay (Hart to Hart Digital) did them and put up with our girls' craziness. Despite them running in opposite directions and trying really hard to not smile, she managed to somehow capture some smiles and make them look really sweet. I mean, they ARE sweet. They just weren't being sweet that day. It was SUPER fun:
But I'm very happy with the pictures we got. Here are a few:

I like this one because it's like, "Look, it's a mom and toddler, playing and having fun
together!" Really, the mom is just frantically trying to get a smile!

I'm so glad we took these pictures. I'm not going to lie, it was exhausting. And I appreciate Lindsay for saying that she's worked with much worse (even if I think she's lying, I appreciate her caring enough to lie). I promised Dave we wouldn't have to do that again for several years, but then a few days later we found out that #3 is on the way, so who knows...maybe we'll be taking family pictures again next year!