Lainey is here!

Lainey Kaye Stice was born Tuesday, March 24th at 1:11pm. She weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. I am VERY happy to be holding this baby in my arms and be done with pregnancy!

Labor went well, and was actually my fastest/easiest. I was induced and began pitocin at about 8:30 am. I was dilated to a 3 and 60% effaced upon arriving and having steady and somewhat strong contractions of my own. The nurse said I was in prelabor. Every time I've ever been induced they tell me I would have had the baby that day anyway! Works every time! I felt the strong pitocin contractions start around 9:00. The Dr. broke my water at 10:15.

When the contractions got uncomfortable I used the heat pad I had brought from home to relax my lower back. Which did a great job, I actually didn't feel pain from then on with contractions all the way up to a 5-6. The nurse anesthetist was waiting outside my room for nearly an hour to give me my epidural. But I didn't want to be such a baby that I got it before I ever even hurt. And I didn't want it to slow my labor down by getting it too soon. On the same hand, it stinks to get one when you're actually IN a lot of pain. And as fast as things were progressing for me, I'd hate to get the epidural too late or assume a 10 wouldn't hurt too bad if a 6 didn't hurt, and find out how wrong I was! So I gave in around 11:45 and the anesthetist came in. I was blissfully numb and happy in no time.

Less than an hour later I was at a ten and feeling the urge to push. The nurse called my Dr. who took about 15 minutes to get to the room, just in time. I couldn't wait much longer. I was blessed this time around, it took less than 8 minutes (3 contractions) to push Lainey out. They placed her right into my arms and everyone made quick bets on her weight. She looked pretty big! I heard some 9's thrown out there for guesses. She was 8# 6 oz. My biggest baby so far. And 4 days early, so I'm glad we induced early. They gave her a 9 on her apgar test.

My mother in law had watched the kids from the night before on and brought them to the hospital to wait in the waiting room while I pushed, and be there with Todd and I when she was just born. As soon as the Dr. was done doing everything she needed with me, the kids came in and Brielle just beamed so bright I would've thought her heart would have swelled right out of her chest. She was so proud and excited to have a baby sister. Ashton, on the other hand, was not so excited. In his defense, it was nap time and lunch time, but he would NOT sit by the baby and I on the bed for a picture, would not say her name, would not even LOOK at her. We bribed him to be in A picture with Todd holding him by giving him a Jolly Rancher. But that was all he was budging for us.

Lainey was a little fussy for the first few hours. She wasn't liking all the poking shots, prodding fingers, thermometers, goop in her eyes. But by the evening when the medical staff left her alone, she was much more peaceful. She slept all night with just one forced feeding, she might have even gone without that if I had let her continue sleeping!

The next day was Todd's birthday. He got his present a couple weeks ago- the online purchase of a book collection. So I didn't give him any other presents, but I did ask a lady who makes awesome cakes to make one for Todd and have it delivered the evening we came home from the hospital. She does an amazing job. It was a massive German Chocolate cake, Todd's favorite. And he got to take home a baby girl for his birthday.

She's been very sweet. She did have a stomach ache the first night home and kept us up most of the night trying to console her. But she's been an angel ever since. She also won't open her mouth very big- for the life of me I can't make her, so she's been a bit of an uncomfortable nurser. We'll work on that. We feel like, out of all our kids, she looks the most like an even mix of both of us. Brielle and Ashton were total Stice babies. They are all very differently looking from each other, to us, with their own unique looks. It's so fun to see how many looks two people can create! We are so happy to have her home and just stare at her sweet little baby face all day!

Brielle has been very helpful so far at home. Ashton took a day or two to settle down his sudden obnoxious behavior. He was testing us right off the bat. But he's more himself today and even full of kisses and loves for the baby. We've tried to be consistent with him by giving him the attention he feels threatened to have lost, but still being firm and not letting him get away with murder. He's taking it all in strides, but I'm proud of him for making some efforts. He's a sweet boy. We're all loving having Daddy home this week to help me and be with the kids. My mom will be here for a week starting Monday. Brielle is ecstatic about that.

We're really making our ward work this week! I guess three of us from the ward had our babies on the same day! I almost expected them to not be able to bring in dinner, but they're amazing. They've fed us all the same. I'm shocked that Lainey will have two buddies with the exact same birthday from church. How random is that!? And the Sunday we bless Lainey will be in sane. Two other babies were born last week. And several more are still due days from now. We may need to show up to church 2 hours early just for seats!

I finally finished the girls' bedroom

I finally finished the sewing projects for the girls' room. I was working on them up until about 7:00pm the night before Lainey came! I'm excited about it and kind of proud of it, being the first kids room I've actually finished and decorated before. We've painted until now, but that's all. I made everything in the room except Brielle's duvet cover and both of the girls' sheets/pillowcase. It got a little busy looking in the room so in the end I only hung the names and flower pictures. Brielle LOVES her room. She likes to show everyone that comes over. I'm glad she's so happy about it. She has begged for a cute finished room for a long time. Anyway, I purchased the sheets at half off and bought extra so I could make the projects- with some purchased fabric as well. It was the only way I could find bedding that matched for a crib and a twin bed, that I liked anyway.

I'm really excited about the furniture too. I found the crib on clearance for $99 with free shipping online. It's normally almost $400. And the dresser and small change table/dresser were also on sale at JCPenny for so low that all in all I spent less than $500 on all three pieces. Which is still less than just the price of a similar looking and similar good sized dresser I originally liked but didn't want to pay for. It's all great quality too. Just as nice as the expensive ones. The whole room was such a bargain with the cost of material and making things on my own with scraps and cheap sheets. Even the letters for their names were half off. Maybe I'm a little over excited about it, but it's nice to accomplish so many projects for so much less than I anticipated a nice and newly furnished room to cost.

I've painted Ashton's room, now I need to challenge myself to actually finish it off and try to be as financially savvy on it too. We didn't get him a new dresser, he actually got Brielle's old one. Which is our old one we used before having kids. Which is Todd's old one he used as a little boy up until he got married! It's been painted a bunch of times! So it's not "newly furnished", but what a bargain that dresser has been for us! It's black now, to match Ashton's crib. It's been nice to put his clothes in something and not have them folded and stacked on his old change table's shelves, just to get knocked down by ASHTON every day! Anyway, nobody hold your breath on pics of Ashton's room. But I'll be up to finishing it off for him one day.

We finished the Book of Mormon in family scripture time last week and decided to invite Ashton to try to participate starting it over again this week. Brielle always repeats after us when her turn to read comes. She's really good at it now. Ashton started last night just word-by-word, but did alright! Notice his chair in the video. We brought that in last week from storage for the baby and she may have some competition for it!

Here's a few pictures of my baby shower (3/12). I broke down and took some promised preggo pictures. I look so inflated! Especially my feet and legs.

























I had a blast at the baby shower! I have wonderful friends to do that. I felt guilty accepting one since this is not my first girl. But we honestly could use it and I'm excited about the things I was given. Marcee worked so hard and made the cutest little paper bootie hand-outs filled with Hershey's Kisses. They're sitting all in a row on the the mantle in the pic. So creative!

So I'm second guessing the sewing machine repair lady's opinion of my machine... or my ability to use it properly because it isn't working AGAIN. I still have so much to do to finish these bedding projects! But they're on hold again until I can figure out what either I am or my machine is doing wrong. So I moved on to a diff. project today, thank you cards for my shower.












I LOVE making cards and the process doesn't "break down" on me so I enjoyed my time doing that.

At the Dr. on Friday, I found out I've dilated to a 2, which is exciting! I don't progress in this way usually until I'm induced. But I am carrying very high still. I'd like to be a 3 by my induction date to make labor go more quickly. And I'd also like to make this baby drop more! So I've spent the weekend sitting and bouncing on my yoga ball! Why haven't I thought of this thing sooner? It's even comfier than my computer chair! Lovin' it!

Saturday morning, Brother McCurdy of the bishopric came over to meet with me and extended me the calling of Relief Society teacher. I was expecting a call when he said he wanted to meet with me, and happy to hear it would be one that I could do with a baby. Todd can watch her while I teach R.S. once each month, and I can watch her while he teaches Sunday School. I warned Bro. McCurdy it'd be probably until Easter Sunday that I be in church again with being sick and then having a baby. But that will all be fine. I've been in the primary ever since we moved into the ward. I've enjoyed it there, but it feels like time for a change and a new way to grow. And I enjoy teaching. I always learn so much more preparing a lesson. So I'm looking forward to that.

On a downer note, as just mentioned... I'm sick. I have a cold and I'm due in almost a week and a half! And either way I'll be induced in a week. NOT COOL. I'm chugging water like crazy in hopes to kick it fast. The kids are both sick too. I really hope I don't have to bring a brand new baby home to a sick family. And I'm pretty miserable just dealing with being this far along. The last thing I need is another contributor to sleepless nights and daily discomfort. Wish me and my water bottle luck!

So last week the car dealership we bought our Sequoia from called asking if we wanted to extend our recently expired warranty, and we declined. A few days later on Monday, the car wouldn't start. I have the most cynical imagination when it comes to auto dealerships. When we were looking to replace the car we had before this one, it worked fine, but was getting older- just still in good enough condition to try to sell for a good price. We took it to one car lot, got pretty close to buying one of their cars, but backed out at the last minute. When we went to drive off their lot, our car broke down in the car lot entrance. Conveniently, they got the job of fixing it for us for an astronomical price.

Anyway, so I was a little bitter about this warranty timing. We tried to jump the Sequoia and it wouldn't start. We were worried it was something big. Wonderful Geico had the car towed, fixed, and paid for in hours. It was just the battery being shot and needing replaced. So I can stop envisioning the dealership sneaking onto my property in the middle of the night before to sabotage our engine. :) I guess our kids do very often leave dome lights on or doors not shut all the way making interior lights stay on to run down the battery.

Yesterday was the kids' dentist apt. Brielle has a loose tooth! Two actually, one's just actually leaning forward and almost ready to come out. I thought 4 years old was way too young for this. But the dentist assured me it was completely normal... some kids lose them at 4 and some at 8. So, much earlier than I had anticipated, Brielle and I had the Tooth Fairy talk. She's pretty excited for the day the first one comes all the way out! And she's easy on the tooth fairy too! When I asked her what the tooth fairy leaves in exchange for the tooth, she said a penny! Maybe we'll be a LITTLE more generous than that.

Ashton loves to brush his teeth. At the rate he brushes, he could wear out a new tooth brush in a day. Actually, yesterday he did! The free one the dentist gave him was in his mouth pretty much all day. He seemed to remember how the routine at the dentist office goes from the last time Brielle had her apt. He hopped right on the patient chair and put on his earphones to hear the movie he was watching on the flat screen TV on the ceiling. He layed there going AHHHHH the whole time, and even held still for X-rays.

They gave Ashton a set of Dr. gloves to take home, one filled with air like a balloon that popped on the car ride home, and the other to wear like a Dr. Ashton has been quite attached to wearing it everywhere on his hand. He woke up in the middle of the night last night and when we checked on him, he was cuddled up to his hand, glove still on- with the long plastic fingers dangling over the edges of his fingertips. Something about this pet glove reminds me of Micheal Jackson...

My father in law told me yesterday about a sprint triathlon he and his wife are entering in this August in Emmett. For anyone who didn't know, a SPRINT triathlon is a mini version of the real thing. You only swim 1/3 of a mile, bike 12 miles, and run 3 miles. It's great for beginners. That would be 4 and a half months from when I have the baby and I thought that might be a great goal to have to get myself back in shape.

Anyone who's seen me would laugh inside to hear I want to do a triathlon 5 months from now. Aside from being the obvious PREGNANT, my body looks NOTHING athletic. I can't even recognize myself in the mirror! But it has ALWAYS been a goal of mine to do a triathlon, of any size, and I need something to work toward. I'll be doing physical therapy after having the baby to heal post partum-wise. I did that with Ashton and it made a world of difference. My crooked pelvis wants to heal worse and worse every pregnancy. Anyway, so that's my goal. To heal, then work hard, and make it to the finish line no matter how slow I go!!! Todd wants to join me in the goal and do it with me. It'll be fun to work toward together.

Todd is SUPER excited about a package that came in the mail yesterday. For his birthday coming up in two weeks, we bought him a large collection of new-in-plastic classic books off of e-bay for 15% the normal price we've seen the same collection for anywhere else. He looked like a kid in a candy store opening it all and putting the books on our shelf. I LOVE that Todd loves to read. When he was on his mission he fell in love with reading church books. He read the whole mission library in a few months and from there his mission president would allow him certain other reads outside the missionary library. He was a reading machine! When they started their company, Todd started reading a lot of books on business and self improvement books. The beginning of the election runnings sparked his interest in books on politicians and then the constitution and history and so on. Other topics would peak his curiosity and he branched out to what is now a full spectrum of reads. I love that he loves learning from all the best books out there. I wish I could say I was reading right along with him. But for now, I've taken on a couple of his favorites, I'm just much slower at getting through books.

I'm excited for tonight, my friends are throwing me a baby shower! It's amazing how I really do feel like I need a lot of things. We were poor college students when we had Brielle and she didn't have much. And of the things she had, I only kept the sentimental or well-kept items.

The girls' room is only lacking the last bedding projects to be done. We got it all organized and hung things on the walls. I'll post pictures as soon as I finish that bedding!

I've finally finished my crib quilt! I'm pretty slow, but it turned out great and fits well in Lainey's crib. We set the crib up yesterday so that I could measure it for the crib bumper and crib skirt that I need to make. The fitted sheet was the only piece we already had to furnish the crib so far! But I have the material now to make the other crib things. Off to work I go!

We've had a fun week of mild weather and lots of playing outside every day. I've caught Ashton coming inside with muddy shoes on, and crossing the new carpet. It about gave me a heart attack until I saw that you couldn't see any evidence of it. Hooray! We chose the perfect color for carpet! Not that it's allowed, by any means, but my heart can settle down.

I have spent most of this week sitting in my computer chair bored as can be because it is the most comfortable chair in my house and sitting/laying down is all I'm good for! My energy sort of plummeted and I'm swollen enough to not be up for doing anything really active. But I've not always necessarily been using the computer.

I've sat here planning a family vacation for this summer- a road trip through Washington State. Lots of time on the phone making reservations and changing them all up. I've tried to organize the time there and find places to stay that will allow our family to stay shorter visits (not all week) in each location during the peak tourism part of the summer. I'm really excited about it though. It'll be over the 4th of July and the week following. It's all set and reserved, and apparently in the nick of time as most of the places I called mentioned I was taking one of their last rooms left during those dates. We'll be visiting Seattle, Victoria, The Olympic coast/National Rain Forest, Great Wolf Lodge (water park resort), and Mt. Rainier National Park. I made sure what we'd be doing at each place was more kid friendly than Sarah friendly and Brielle is super excited to go. I shouldn't have told her about it so early in the game because now we'll be hearing about WHEN will we go for months to come!

I've also played with photos on my digital photo software program. I haven't done that since I got my new computer because the program install disk was far off in who knew where in the garage. But I unearthed it and remember why I love it. It's so much fun!

In pre-school, Brielle was assigned to make a paper doll sort of version of herself to hang in the class and fill out information about what makes up her personality. She and I really had fun creating it with orange yarn hair and a cute little outfit cut from pretty scrapbook paper. I forgot to take a picture of it before we turned it in to her teacher, but when she gets it back I will take and post one. I got a little carried away trying to draw a face on it for Brielle that made the features look somewhat realistic. I guess I'm one of THOSE moms. I can't just make it simple and have to draw the face FOR Brielle. But Brielle loved it, and had tons of fun drawing the pictures to go with it of her family and her favorite things.

I finally got out and did some shopping Tuesday for having a family over for dinner that evening. It took a lot of energy to be on my feet all day shopping, cleaning the house, and cooking, but it was worth it. We had a ton of fun. The Gibb family that came is still somewhat new in our ward and we've really enjoyed them. Their kids are all the same ages as our soon to be 3. So they all had a great time too. I LOVE company. Especially when I'm really not able to do any of the other things we used to do to have fun- sit through movies at the theater or do any sort of recreation. We had had the most boring weekend of our lives the weekend prior because we were stuck in the house with nothing to do, no where to go, and bad weather out. So we really appreciated the chance to mix it up a bit having friends over.

Tuesday was also the Presidential State Of The Union Address and my step father in law had a nice surprise. He was in Washington D.C. for a national Beet Growers conference- he's a farmer. And the state of Idaho found out, I'm not sure what individual made the arrangements, but that person had an extra guest ticket that upon hearing Galen (my step father in law) was in D.C. gave to him to attend. So Galen was present at the address and was on our local news for it as well as Todd's mom who the news came and interviewed that day here in Fruitland. Kind of fun for them to be celebrities for a day.

I worked on the trim of my quilt for the baby until my machine stopped working. It hadn't ever had a tune up, so I took it in and that was all that was wrong. The timing was off a little and it really needed lubed up as dry as it had gotten. So I can pick it up today and get cracking on it again! I'm probably less than 30 minutes from being done with the quilt, so stopping the project that close to the end when the machine stopped working was SOOOO frustrating. Sewing machines are so fickle! Before taking it in to be repaired, I had even gone to my friend, Marcee's house to borrow her machine and it wouldn't work for her or I either! Which was OK because we wanted time to go over some songs together and that left us plenty of time to sing.

One nice thing, though, is that the repair lady raved over how nice my machine was. I picked it out on my own, on a good sale, because my mom wanted to get me one for my birthday 4 years ago and wasn't close by to help me pick one out or familiar with new models. She sent the money with my dad who was able to come for my birthday and I did all the research I could to pick a nice machine out. So I guess I can't think too harshly about it for not working. It went 4 years with little use which, I guess makes them dry up faster. And she said it was super dry.

It's about a month before Brielle's birthday, so I've starting brainstorming for her b-day party. I LOVE LOVE LOVE doing birthday parties. But I was a little stumped on this one and I'll explain why. Last year, after her pirates and princesses party, Brielle randomly announced that next year she wanted to have a Rainbow party. I'm not sure where the idea came from, but initially I thought of a treasure hunt for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and thought that sounded like a great theme for a little girl! I even ordered a plastic black witch's brew kettle online at Halloween time to be the pot of gold. I thought they'd be harder to find in April.

Well, then I went online this past week trying to find party activity ideas and favors or party decor. Silly me, I forgot what rainbows are so famous for these days! Talk about gay pride! I'm wondering if parents will raise an eye brow at our theme! But everything online for the first few sites that came up on the search engine was adult gay party props/paraphernalia/decor. Marcee is in the primary presidency in church and they are doing a rainbow themed party (in light of the rainbow baptism primary song) for the 8 year-olds in a couple weeks. She was telling me some of their ideas, a rainbow arch made of helium balloons, rainbow candies for hand outs, etc. So those tips may have preserved the plan. But it was a rocky day of party planning last week!

I'm a day shy of 3 weeks until I CAN be induced. I haven't set an induction date yet but it will probably be set for after the following weekend of the day I CAN be because Todd will have his monthly class the evening of the soonest day I can be. Not too ideal to have your baby without your husband! So it's actually going to be more like 3 and a half weeks unless she comes early. Ah, wishful thinking!

"Mommy, look!"




Wednesday was my salon appointment with the new stylist. I'm excited about my hair! I liked the lady who used to do it, but I was shocked to actually get EXACTLY what I asked for, for my very first time. No more Barbie blond, now it looks more natural. Todd and I had apts. at the same time so Rachele babysat for us and we took advantage of the time alone and went out to dinner. We ate at the local Italian restaurant and tried their calzones for our first time. I told the waitress to remind me not to pig out and eat the whole thing because I wanted to save room for one of their delicious desserts. Then I regretted saying anything because the calzone turned out to be so good I didn't want to stop eating it! Not even for dessert! So we'll be back there again soon... I love food way too much.

On the way home we stopped at my friend Allison's house to see her baby. She had him Friday, the 6th (Three weeks early... so unfair). He was cute as a button and she looked great! I brought and loaned her my post pardum bands. They were so nice to have after I had Ashton. They just support a tummy that's been through the wringer and they really help tighten ligaments and bones back into place faster.

Brielle's Valentine's Day party in pre-school was on Thursday. She had fun decorating sugar cookies and making little Valentine tags at home to give her friends. We decorated a jar and filled it with chocolates for her teacher as a big Valentine/thank you. Her teacher had given us that jar filled with peaches to go with a meal she made for us that previous Monday. I've had a rough time getting up and going lately and she was sweet enough to bring dinner- the best potato soup I've EVER had! With home canned peaches and home made bread.

My family drove in from California on Friday morning. I was expecting them around 11:00 but they drove a little on the fast side and showed up at 8:30... I was still in bed! Kind of embarrassing. We had a good weekend with them. Brielle bawled when they left and begged for April to stay exactly 50 more days. I don't know where she came up with that number, but she was devestated to say goodbye. While they were here we went to my sister, Rachele's college choir concert. She sings so good. My parents met her boyfriend, John, for the first time. He's such a nice guy. I like seeing the way my sister glows now that they are dating. Her demeanor seems to reflect in her a deeper understanding of how special and full of worth she is. I guess that is how I gauge how I feel about her boyfriends.

My mom and Rachele also helped me tie the quilt I made for the baby. My mom was sweet enough to pick me up the boards and C-clamps to make our own quilt tying set up over the table. Makes me want to make a lot more quilts! I've really had fun with it. I'm just finishing up the satin trim around the edges and then it's done!

At my Dr. apt. on Friday, the Dr. said I was suddenly measuring a little big for my due date. I hear women getting that news all the time and it never seems to mean anything when the baby is born, they're all still the normal size for that family's babies. But I've NEVER measured off of my due date in any of this pregnancy or any previous pregnancy either. So it did make me raise an eye brow. I've had my passion for FOOD for sure over the last few months. And chocolate... and milk shakes... and... Whoppers at Burger King which I usually hate. So it's probably just ME being bigger, not the baby.

Valentine's Day was fun. Todd and I left the kids with my brother, Marty, and drove to Barbacoa's in Boise while my parents went to dinner and a movie. We had made reservations for Barbacoa's quite a while ago because it's a hot spot. We LOVE their guacamole. The food was great- especially dessert, a chocolate suffle. They give flowers, candy, and a poem while there on Valentine's Day. They make it a special night. Todd and I trade every other year to be in charge of planning our Valentine's date and it was his turn this year. He knows the key to my heart lately is great food.

In light of President's Day yesterday; I've been watching the news and hearing a little about Chavez, the Venezuelan president, soon to be dictator. I served my mission there soon after he was elected president. I saw how quickly fear hit the people. Several times we weren't allowed to leave our apartments because of violence from protesters and governmental abuses on the streets in many towns and cities. Instantly the country was divided by the poor who feared but needed Chavez and all his promises to take their freedom in exchange for being given the things required to live. And the rest suddenly dispised him. The middle class was gone almost over night. He has taken so much control of their means to live that they all fear him NOT being reelected because they fear losing all that they need to survive. He is 10 years strong running and now having the vote to have no limit for time in office. Which I'm sure people will fear voting against for the same reasons. It's a great example to me of what a little extra power given to the government and a few unconstitutional favors given the people will do over not very much time.

I've been making home made bread a lot lately now that I have my red wheat. It made all the difference! The bread turns out perfect... just the way I love it. Even the kids are begging for bread with honey and butter for treats. We're going through it fast enough, though, that I may need to start substituting some of the regular white flour from the store for part of the wheat or my kids will have some major cases of the runs for a really long time. They need broken in to all this whole wheat.

It's warming up just enough outside that my kids are playing outside again with no more than coats on. Snow gear was just such a hassle! And Ashton couldn't walk around too easily with tall boots on and deep snow to trudge in so he'd be done and back inside within 10 minutes of gearing him up and sending him out. With them out more, I can already see a significant change in how much easier it is to keep my house looking presentable. I can't wait for Spring! A new baby, lots of flowers, warm sun, happy healthy kids getting exercise, starting the garden, a clean house, it's all getting me super excited.

So Ashton was trying to fit in.....













We've had a week of painting! I'll get some pictures on here once the kids clean their rooms up enough to look nice in a picture.... After finally deciding on bedding I liked for the kids's rooms, ordering it, and receiving it in the mail, I was able to hit Home Depot and pick out matching paint colors.

Brielle's bedding is butterflies and polka dots in two shades of pink and two shades of green. So the room is now the lighter green on top, with the two shades of pink in stripes on the bottom. I really like it. We didn't have a Wayne's coat trim around the center of the wall to divide the colors, so I painted a vine and stamped pink flowers along it. Brielle LOVES it, which feels nice since the poor girl has had a drab room with half torn off wall paper hanging around its walls for a year now.

Ashton got a planes, trains, and trucks room in the primary colors. We left the yellow upper walls alone (from when it was Brielle's room), but we painted over the purple bottom with stripes of two shades of blue. It was surprising what a HAPPY room it became in those colors. Ashton loves his new bedding and room. For now, he actually LIKES being in his crib because of it too.

We only had one paint mis-hap. We were not thinking when we ordered bedding AFTER the new carpet got put in because that meant painting AFTER just getting new carpet. We painted the rooms after putting the kids to bed. One of the nights, we stayed up pretty late and slept a little sounder than normal that next morning. Brielle and Ashton were sharing a room while the other room would be worked on, so Brielle let them out of the room in the morning (there was a child proof knob on the inside to keep Ashton from escaping), and Ashton let himself into the other freshly painted room without us hearing anything. He had enough time to pick up a half dried paint roller and drop it on the floor before Brielle started shouting for us to wake up and come see. We used finger nail polish remover on the basketball sized spot of paint in the carpet and it all came out miraculously. But it was a big scare and we felt pretty stupid for leaving it all out. We were just used to getting Ashton out of bed ourselves and didn't expect any other scenario. Plus we were bushed and knew we weren't completely finished.

I love re-doing rooms, it's so fun to do any side crafts along with the painting. For Brielle's room I bought wooden letters for the girls' names and painted them. For Ashton's I bought on clearance some wooden picture frames and painted them red to hang some theme-matching art I got for his room. Now I'm working on the baby bedding. My very first quilt! I'm so green at quilts that I even forgot to buy matching fabric for the OTHER side of the quilt. I was so focused on the fabrics I'd use for the design on top when I first bought my supplies! But it's well on its way and I'm having fun doing it. I'm still waiting on back ordered sheets to start on the crib bumper and crib skirt projects.

I threw a Pampered Chef party for a friend from Todd's work that last week in January. It's always fun to have company over and mingle with friends. But I always feel guilty doing sales parties. At least Pampered Chef is a popular one, usually people are waiting to hear of one to come to because they like the products so much. But I vowed to Todd it would be my last sales party. Since I've lived here I've done this one, Mary Kay, Uppercase Living (wooden sticker signs), and Stampin' Up and I don't want my friends to get burned out on them! I am excited to get the items I received free for throwing the party.

That weekend was my new nephew's baby blessing. Ashton wanted to go up to the front of the church with Todd to participate in the blessing circle. So he made a little scene when I had to contain him in the back. We ultimately spent the blessing outside the Sacrament Rm., but I was able to hear most of it. After Sacrament, the relatives all met up for a meal. Every guy there was watching the clock because it was also Superbowl Sunday. Once the clock struck 4:00, they all snuck out to the car to get the goodies they brought and hid up in a bonus room glued to the TV. For the first time, Todd and all his brothers were rooting for the same team- the Cardinals. I should have warned them... Todd is cursed with always rooting for the losing team. So they were all disappointed in the end when sure enough, the Cardinals lost. Todd hates it when I point this quality out, but it's TRUE!!! I took him to a Denver Nuggets vs. Phoenix Suns game two years ago for his birthday. It was more convenient to go there than to Phoenix even though our team was the Phownix Suns, but they had about a 20 game winning streak so we felt safe not being at a home game. They lost by over 30 points!!!!! We were SOOOO upset that the ONE game we went to, they would get beat to smithereens.

Back to the Superbowl. My family didn't watch sports on Sundays, partly because we didn't watch sports period. But I knew where my parents stood on the Sabbath Day issue and I feel guilty that it occurs in my home. But I'm waiting for Todd to make that choice for himself. For now, I'm OK with sharing some of the cookies and sleeping through the game on the couch :)

This past Thursday morning I got a call from my sister at the salon she works at. She said the girl who did my hair was suddenly fired that day and she (my sister) didn't know any of the details yet and wasn't supposed to ask any questions or talk about it. Simply, she had to call everyone with appointments and re-book them with a different stylist. That was shocking. My stylist was well loved there. I still don't know what on Earth happened. And my apt. was already almost 2 weeks over due and set for THAT very next day. So I now will be seeing the salon owner, a pretty prestigious stylist in this area, which is kind of cool. But he's so booked I had to wait ANOTHER week to get in. My hair is really needing a change or some attention.

Thursday evening, I accompanied a friend in the Stake Young Women's Relief Society Presidency to a presidency meeting with the Spanish Branch Young Women's President. I was asked to translate. It was fun to polish up on my rusty Spanish. Afterward, they asked me to come to the Spanish Branch's branch conference the following Sunday (yesterday) to translate during the Young Women's portion of the hour. Unfortunately, by the end of the meetings, we discovered they only have 2 blocks of meetings in the Spanish Branch and only do Young Women's for the second block once a month. The other Sundays they have Sunday School instead. And all of the youth speak English. I would have still been needed if the Young Women's president had attended and spoken with us afterward, but she was not there.

Todd and I were assigned members of the Spanish branch our first 6 months living here and it was nice to say hi to old friends. But I remembered how hard it is to sit through their meetings. They sing the hymns at least 3 times slower than English wards because the pianist and chorister are usually untrained. And talks are often given by guests from English speaking wards so every single sentence has to be repeated in Spanish. Thus the talks are twice as long and I understand both versions. Which makes them feel a lot slower.

I spent several hours this weekend typing up 5 pages full of the ins and outs for a Disney World trip for a friend of Todd and I's. Her family is going in March, which is VERY soon and hard to plan such an extensive trip in so little time. We just went with Todd's family about this time last year. I really spelled it out for her in what I typed up so hopefully she won't be too stressed for what to do in so little time. If anyone ever plans a first-time trip to Disney World and would like the help or suggestions, I saved the file on my computer and would be happy to e-mail it. It was nice for us to have friends who had just gone to give us advice and explain a lot of their trip to us when we made our vacation plans.

Sunday I also substitute taught Relief Society in church. It was my first time attending Relief Society for a very very long time. I've had the same calling- Primary Worker, since we started attending this ward. I've bounced around within that title, starting as the Achievement Days coordinator, then a teacher, now a sub. So it was nice to be with the other women and also nice to be able to attend Todd's Gospel Doctrine class for my first time. Everyone always tells me what a wonderful teacher is and I'm proud to hear it, but didn't really know for myself. He did do a great job.

Brielle is very excited for Valentine's Day this week. She has been drawing Valentine pictures for her friends at school to exchange in their mail boxes. We bought some X and O cookie cutter shapes to make and decorate cookies to go with her pictures. They have their party at pre-school on Thursday.

Ashton likes to copy Brielle and draw scribbles on the paper and say "Mom, look!" over and over to get my approval. Brielle draws really well for her age. She teaches Ashton what he'll learn from her all the time.

Last weekend was a Jackman family reunion sort of get together in Salt Lake City. My mom was really hoping we could come because one by one, the siblings who were supposed to be able to go were finding out that they couldn't. I never really made a guarantee that I could go. I knew I wouldn't be able to drive either way because it would require sitting for far too long. And flying depended on prices. The week before the trip I had swelled up so bad that I told my mom to count us out. I could tell how absolutely disappointed my mom was. We have her only grand kids so far and if we didn't go, Rachele couldn't go. We decided to fly there after all, but to make it a surprise to my parents. We had to make it a quick trip because Todd and Rachele had to be to work the following Monday.

We flew out Saturday and got there with just enough time to arrive at my brother, Devan's house and hide in the living room for about 10 minutes before my parents showed up there. It was a good surprise! They were very excited to have two more children of theirs to represent the family. From there we all drove to Sandy to my aunt's chapel where the reunion was. We had a great, but short trip. We enjoyed visiting with relatives, but were bummed how quickly the event passed and was over.

We went to church in my Aunt Janin and Uncle Randy's ward with my parents on Sunday and visited with them all for several hours afterward at Randy's house. It was relaxing and VERY fun for Brielle to play with April and grandpa for hours. We flew home that night.

I am amazed at the night and day difference a car seat can make on a toddler when flying. HOLY COW. Ashton turned 2 THIS month, so he had to have a paid seat on the plane. Since that was the case, and we needed a car seat on our trip while in SLC, we brought the car seat on the plane and buckled him up in it. He was trapped all flight in his chair, no ifs ands or buts. It was normal to him since he travels everywhere in a car with one too. He was the devil on EVERY other flight we've ever been on trying to keep him in our lap or even if there were extra seats to allow him to have his own. He'd never stay in his seat and end up screaming the whole flight because we'd stop him repeatedly from getting away and running all down the isles! I may save up the extra for any future family flights just to take a toddler under the age of two in their own seat so we can always travel with a car seat in the future. Worth EVERY DIME.

Speaking of escaping, Ashton has been escaping out his crib every night and at nap time for some time now. He'd get out, turn the light on, and play with toys until we caught him. We kept a tighter and tighter watch on him until we were checking on him so much it became worth it to stand outside his door to open and bust him every 60 seconds or so. He never tired of climbing out! Up to 20 or 30 times. Spanking was no use, scolding no use, threats, bribes. The kid wasn't staying in his crib. It got OLD. Well, I started taping his light switch to the "off" position to see if he'd give up thinking there was no fun to be had in the dark. He started FREAKING out in fits when he'd try the light. We finally realized the kid was deathly afraid of the dark, but not panicking because he thought he'd found his solution. In a short time, this evolved to him getting out, turning the light on, playing a minute, climbing back to bed, and falling asleep with the light still on.

So after a month or more of head aches, we finally figured out, all he needed was a night light. I know most kids have them, but I read somewhere once that kids won't need them if they never had them to begin with. That worked for Brielle. She thinks night lights are decorations. She never used one. But Ashton slept like an angel last night with his very first night light. (HUGE sigh of relief for mom and dad.) We did buy a crib net online this week too so that if he starts getting out to play with the night light, we can trap him back in.

I helped throw a baby shower for a friend Thursday night. She's 5 weeks ahead of me in pregnancy time. That seemed SO close to me when we first found out we were pregnant, but now that seems like quite the enviable eternity! I figured out all I had to do was panic about not being prepared enough and I'd feel more like it was the end. So I starting adding up in my head all the things I need to do to be prepared; like paint the girls' bedroom, buy/make bedding to match, pack a hospital bag, buy diapers and wipes and bath stuff, paint Ashton's room while I'm at it (he's in Brielle's old PURPLE room), brake out, wash, and put away Brielle's old baby clothes, and get the baby things like car seat, stroller, and blankets out of storage, start tempting Ashton with the idea of potty training so I'm changing two sets of diapers for the least amount of time, buy a new Sunday outfit for going to church once I've had the baby since I think I'll be the biggest I've ever been! ... etc. That should all keep me busy for the next 8 weeks!

I did pick out some bedding for all of the kids since Ashton will be promoted to a toddler bed as soon as he learns to stay IN his bed. But the things I picked out for the girls only came in the fitted sheet for crib sizes. It was all on sale for 50% off so I just bought a couple extra flat sheets to use as fabric and do a crib bedding project- bumper and crib skirt. I've been craving a sewing project, so that should be fun. They had everything I'd need to finish off a twin bed for Brielle, so no sewing needed there. That little turkey (Brielle), ever since I ordered her bedding, she's been finding catalogs around the house that have kids bedding in them and has been telling me which ones she wants, none of which are what I bought. I hope she's not too disappointed when she sees her finished room. I asked her if she liked it when I ordered it, but apparently she changed her mind.

Friday was a big day for Todd at work. No, he normally doesn't work on Fridays anymore, just on Fridays when I purposefully scheduled some sort of appointment thinking he'd be home to babysit for me. I hadn't had a pedicure since right before Ashton was born, a Christmas gift from my mother in law, and I haven't been able to reach my feet, again, for a long enough time to cringe at my own feet. So I got a pedicure that day. It was wonderful.

But TODD on Friday was in charge of assigning company cars to the employees who qualified for one and wanted one. Heart 'N Home made the business decision to do company cars for their traveling staff, especially the nurses who travel from patient home to patient home. The government has a set requirement on the amount of money they have to reimburse their employees and volunteers for gas expenses. With gas being high and unstable in prices in the recent past, they discovered that they would actually save money by leasing highly economical cars and paying for all of the gas used in them on top of that. Plus they would be providing reliable cars for all of those employees, where some have not always owned a reliable or safe vehicle. It's crazy how much they are saving by providing MORE, and benefiting in every way.

Todd was the one in charge of the production since, as the finance guy, it was his idea. He was so nervous to deliver all the cars to their office parking lot and then to hand out all the keys. But he's back to sleeping at night again. They're being leased for 5 years so they'll make it a trial time period and go from there, but they feel like it was a great business decision and their employees are ecstatic.

Todd's first class for school met Friday night and Saturday. He's been reading tons to be ready for it. He LOVED the teacher and the discussions held in class to kind of broaden his understanding of the material he read. In case anyone reading hadn't heard yet, Todd is working on a masters in Liberal Arts, Political Economy at George Wythe University. They don't use text books, they read all of the original books usually found in the index of text books. They read TONS. Classics, Plato, Socrates, books written by or about founding fathers, all kinds of stuff. He typically reads each book with his new massive oxford dictionary by his side but I can tell his vocabulary is growing intensely.

Anyway, the university uses mentor style teachers who are impressively intelligent with doctorets in education and liberal arts who come here once a month for a weekend and also communicate one on one with students via the Internet. There are 17 people that they rounded up from our area to be in the class (you have to have at least 10 students in order for a teacher to come to you), most of which already have degrees, but want to have this style of education. Doctors, lawyers, etc. The school does not give tests, and is firm about not teaching WHAT to learn, but HOW to learn. They grade based on the student giving oral presentations entirely on what they have learned from each book and how it will change their thinking or their life. It was fun for me to hear all that Todd learned after he came home from the first group class and described it all. I'm liking playing that role of bouncing ideas off of each other and being his "student" to turn around and teach it all to.

Saturday night we had some friends over for a few hours. We feel like we can be less bashful about having company over now that our carpet isn't SO embarrassing! So we've got the company bug now.

Sunday we went to the Arnett's house to celebrate their little boy's birthday with them. They are a neat couple, our age, and have three kids; a girl that is Brielle's age and great buddies with her, a boy that is a little less than a year older than Ashton and they LOVE each other, and a baby girl, just like we're having. Needless to say, our family really enjoys spending time with theirs. Marcee is the wife and she is my singing partner in church. We usually get together frequently to do song practices for fun, and we sing in church several times a year. But we haven't in while since she had her baby. We talked about some songs that we want to sing and I'm excited to get back to singing with her again.

Also last week, I finally called the lady I ordered some buckets of red wheat from at least 6 months ago. She told me there would be a wait on it, but half a year!??? I guess she'd had it there waiting for some time but hadn't gotten out this way to deliver it. So I offered to come out there that day and pick it up. I'm so excited! I had hard white wheat before and it's just not the same. It makes a yellowish bread, better for bread sticks and garlic bread types. But I miss regular old red wheat that I can now get to using!

Also, if anyone out there ever struggles with knowing what to make for dinner, knowing they CAN make things, but drawing a blank when the time comes to cook, MAKE your own recipe book. You've probably thought about doing it several times before, like I had, but never gotten around to it. I can't even begin to explain how happy I am that I finally did it. What made me do it was doing a cook book for all of the women in Todd's family as a Christmas gift. Rather than submit just a few of my recipes, I went ahead and typed them all up and told the women they could keep what they wanted of mine and submit as many of their own as they wanted as well. I've now typed up many of theirs too for them. It is so nice to go to one book, and one only, and see nothing but likable recipes, and use eenie meenie minie moe, to make a quick meal plan each week and then hit the grocery store. No recipe hunting, no blank stares in the pantry when I'm already hungry. Anyway, take the plunge, make a mess around the computer for a few days, type them all up, and throw all those random recipe books filled with mostly bad recipes away!

Here's a few pics. that include the cookbook (it's getting chubby!), time with my family in SLC, the car lease ribbon cutting, and then there's one of Todd's company Christmas party that I was just finally given a copy of...

ALL ABOUT MY MAN!


1. Where did you meet your husband? I was on my first date with a mutual friend and he hopped into the back seat of the car to catch a ride where we were going.

2. How long did you date before you married? We really never “dated” until the last two months before we were engaged, but we were close friends upon meeting and through letters while on missions or via phone when home but far apart for 3 years before getting married.

3. How long have you been married? 6 years in March.

4. What does he do that surprises you? In the beginning I was surprised that he liked to hit the stores with me, and helped clean the house. Now, he is surprising me with how much he suddenly wants to be cultured. Last night he let ME pick the movie to watch and even suggested a “cultured” movie. Which means Shakespeare or maybe an older classic.

5. What is my favorite feature on him? His eyes. They can see through anything.

6. What is my favorite quality of his? Too many! He has an innate positive attitude, he can put himself in others‘ shoes and have such compassion for anyone, and I love his ambition.

7. Does he have a nickname for you? Babe.

8. What is his favorite food? Mandarin Chicken, any meat grilled in Jack Daniel’s sauce.

9. What is his favorite sport? Basketball, but he plays ALL sports.

10. When & where was your first kiss? Sitting in the back of my parents’ living room watching a movie with my family. :/

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Discuss what we are reading, even just for preparing lessons for church. Travel to new exciting places. Or go to the movies.

12. Do you have any children? A 4 year old girl, 2 year old boy, and a baby girl due in March.

13. Does he have any hidden talents? He grew up with a super-decorator mom and inherited great advice-giving for me in this area. He can draw really well too. Most people never see either of those talents.

14. How old is he? Almost 29.

15. Who said I love you first? He did.

16. What is his favorite music? Jack Johnson, Cold Play, and he really likes classical music when he’s reading.

17. What do you admire most about him? His spirituality, his love of learning. He is an amazing husband and father.

18. What is his favorite color? Blue

19. Will he read this? Probably not, he’s never read the blog!

20. Who do you tag? Whoever wants a new post! Shannon, this was fun, thanks for posting it!

Ashton had a great birthday. Adam and Katrina (Todd's brother and sister in law) came by for dinner with their new baby, Camden. We also had several family members stop by to wish him happy birthday and stay for cake and ice cream. He was a very good boy and loved all of the attention. We gave him some match cars and a little match car race track that he was actually with me when I bought it. How tacky is that. I hid it in my closet for a month and he was constantly trying to brake into the bag and make the little sounds go off on it. So he was thrilled to finally see it again and actually play with it.

I had my glucose test at my Dr. appointment last week and I passed! Yeah! That means I'm gaining weight because I'm naughty, not because of my pankreas! My swelling actually went down, finally. At the apt. I asked the Dr. about the swelling issues. She said I had a lot of veins in my lower abdomen and legs that were getting pinched off when I sat. And I do sit a lot to keep off my feet because vericose veins are surfacing. I had also spent a good deal of time sitting at the computer to type up family recipes for the book I gave as gifts. The Dr. said I just needed to sit intermittently with standing and laying down in the mix to keep the blood flowing and the swelling down. That's been working well so far.

We have some good friends who own a cabin in Tamarack that rented it to us and Todd's other family members for a very generous discount this past weekend. All in all it held four families, a total of 18 people. And it was a beautiful weekend up there. The kids were in a winter wonderland playing outside all day. The older guys had their fun on their 4-wheelers. They found a nice huge sledding hill to drop kids off at the top, then speed to the bottom to pick them up and do it over again. Hot chocolate water was in the pot around the clock and we played a lot of cards inside too. Just a very relaxing weekend. My favorite part was the breakfast for dinner at the Pancake House restaurant in McCall. They have giant cinnamon rolls the size of a large dinner plate for appetizers and massive plates of loaded hash browns to die for! I'm pregnant, I can't help but be all about the food!

The evening we got back, we had to move around a bunch of furniture to make way for new carpet the next day. I guess I wasn't thinking too well when we made the install apt. We wished we could just come home and relax. But the carpet is in and it really made all the difference! It amazed me how I could paint, decorate, and keep my house as immaculate as I wanted and STILL feel like it was shabby. Pale carpet full of impossible stains is just such a damper. But it's gone! Hooray! Except, I'm losing my voice from barking at the kids CONSTANTLY to keep their food and shoes off the new carpet. They've got to learn! I did color match the new carpet to the color of the stains we used to have, haha. In hopes that any possible new stains would just blend in....

The carpet took 2 days to be installed so we could move half the house's furniture to one side one day, and then to the other side to finish laying all of the carpet the next day. Our beds were all taken apart and crammed into rooms and everything was in crazy disarray. You couldn't get from the living room to the kitchen without rock climbing, which doesn't go over too well when you're pregnant. So at the last minute, we decided to get a hotel room. The hotel asked for my address at check in and the clerk raised an eyebrow. So I explained that, yes, I'm from around here, but had no place to sleep or function at home with the new carpet being put in and moving everything around. He looked so proud of himself when he replied that if our backs are stiff from all the moving, they have a room with a hot tub in it for only $20 more. My jaw hit the floor. He gave it to me at a discount and I was happy as a lark. Then I remembered that you can't use hot tubs when you are preggers!

SO. We got to the room and I was pleasantly surprised to see the hot tub empty. Which meant we could fill it to whatever temp. we wanted. So Todd used it first at a blazing hot temp. and then drained some water out for me to use it, filling it back up with some cooler water. It was just what the Dr. ordered and we were very happy to have chosen to stay there rather than sleep on the floor in a crazy house. I've never heard of a hotel with hot tubs in it, but we were happy to discover such a thing. The next night we had our bedrooms back so we couldn't justify going back to the hotel while the living room and office were out of order, but it was tempting.

Now, after moving literally everything we own on carpeted areas (everything but the kitchen and bathrooms), we are all the more convinced we have to get rid of some things. I've been at this for a while, but I'm clearly far from being done. So we put back into rooms what we knew we wanted to be in the rooms. But the rest is in mounds lining one of the living room walls. It's a little overwhelming, and of course, is mostly MINE. So I'm a pack rat and didn't know it! Most of it came from our office.

There's just not enough room in it to find homes for everything. I have a lot of scrapbook/card-making supplies that I keep in a suitcase and a plastic tub of more of it stacked on top of the suit case, then a few stacks of decorative paper and boxes of ink that were stacked in the corner of the room, a couple piles of bills that need to be filed away, but my file cabinet is too full, camera bags and photography supplies, drafting tools, drafting paper, the folding drafting table that I just got for Christmas, books that won't fit on the book shelf, etc. Too much stuff with no room for it! We already have 2 desks and a piano hogging the room. But it all really would belong in my office if it had room. Maybe I have too many hobbies. It's really just bills, books, and 3 hobbies. Either way, it looks like our office may have an "extension" into the garage from here on out. Maybe if my hobbies weren't office appropriate like snowboarding or something! This room wouldn't be so overwhelmed!