The day I fell in love...

I have to admit I have been a bit of a whiner this last week or two.

Up until this point I have been able to avoid most of the fun-pregnancy-related things that have afflicted my previous pregnancies. That is until about two weeks ago.  This last few weeks have brought on a wealth of fatigue, heartburn, nausea, swollen feet, stretchy joints, carpal tunnel and sleeplessness...need I go on?

My illogical pregnant mind fears that this might literally go on forever and suddenly a couple of weeks seem like unconquerable years. 

My ideal delivery would include a set induction date ( a week early?) with the anesthesiologist waiting in my hospital room. None of this water-breaking-at-home with a mad frantic dash to the hospital in excruciating pain. (We've done that twice...)  But I fear it is not to be.  

It seems I have the pregnancy version of the Plague. I am a VBAC.  (vaginal birth after cesarean) I have had two normal deliveries since Austin's large, posterior head and a failed forceps attempt forced a surgical delivery more than 11 years ago.  But still there is some increased risk of C-section if we induce labor. But not inducing labor increases the chance (and my worry) that I will have a giant baby and have to repeat the difficult labor that ends in the OR... So I wait and worry.

For some reason it has been hard to remember how much we have wanted and anticipated and looked forward to this little one...

So it was in this state of mind that I went to an ultrasound to check the size of the baby on Friday at 37 1/2 weeks.

Here's what we saw.

Instantly all my worries and complaints vanished.  I mean instantly.  My heart just wanted to burst with love the minute I was his little face. How could I have ever complained about carrying and sustaining the life of this cute little bundle?!

In that room I felt a rush of peace and calmness.  This little (7 lbs. 14 oz. !!) boy is worth any amount of discomfort.  Suddenly waiting a couple of weeks doesn't seem like such a big deal.  Not when I know what is to come.

37 at 37

I never thought I would be 37 weeks pregnant when I turned 37.  Crazy!  I am surprised how much I love the idea of having a baby now.  Back in my younger/wiser days I was sure that I would be the best mom if I have babies in my twenties when my body was healthiest...  While I agree that pregnancy and newborns were probably physically easier in my younger days, I love being a little wiser and more established.  Love it.

And I can not say enough about having older kids around to help out.  They can make dinner for themselves and me if needed.  They can clean their room and do their own homework.  And babysit.  Awesome!

We believe in being honest...

Today I walked outside into the backyard (actually I didn't make it off the steps...) where just two days ago I planned to plant so many beautiful flowers and trees...

I changed my mind.  I decided that it is all too much work.  I'm just going to buy a commercial size jug of season long weed killer and douse the whole place.  One look at the bumpy lumpy 40 year old lawn and all its faults sealed the fate.

Apparently our lovely pooch has taken his personal responsibility to recycle very seriously.  That big hole next to the soggy pile of mint is his personal attempt to assist me in my plantings.  He filled it with paper plates and {I believe} a naked barbie.  He didn't chew the barbie. Just took her on a sight-seeing trip.

It's a good thing he is cute and very sweet.  And soft. Because some days he is about to become a 'Lady and the Tramp" dog.  Any yes that is my belly in the way of the picture...

The Garden Spot.  Complete with squash that has been waiting to be harvested since last year. 

I have determined that growing babies and growing gardens are incompatible.  At least for now.

Bloomin!

Why is it that I am obsessed with the weather?

I love it when spring finally comes.  It distracts me from the inside of the house and gives me fun things to think about.  I  actually have a seed catalog that I often fall asleep reading.

I know just what vegetables to plant in the garden.  Last year we missed most of the garden harvest due to a really rotten case of morning sickness.  This year I can't actually reach the ground to plant any veggies but I have hope that I will have a baby here sooner than later.  Actually one month from now.  Crazy!

I have to admit I am looking at and planning flowers to keep my self from sinking into the last-month-of-pregnancy-I'm-sure-this-will-never-end state of self pity.

Here's what makes me smile...

1--A cutting garden.  Who needs vegetables anyway?  Especially when I have a father who cannot restrain himself from planting every color and variety of potato available.  This is going along the fence in my garden spot.  Cone flowers, echinacea, black-eyed susan, verbena, daisy, and I need some good filler plants.  I've actually rarely planted perennials because we have always moved so often.  I've decided not to wait any longer.

2-- Knockout roses.  I want these along the front of my house in front of the bushes we planted last year.  Ever read about these beauties?  Hardy, compact and disease resistant.

3-- Trees.  My boys are obsessed with trees.  I think they always have been. There is a beautiful weeping willow on the way to Dal and Land's school and they always say "Look at that tree!  How long will it take to get one of those?  I wish we could just transplant that big tree!"

London Plane

Look at that bark--it looks like a water color painting!  These trees are all over temple square in Salt Lake City.

Navajo Globe Willow

fast growing and not as messy as most willows.  Looks like a big umbrella!

Weeping Willow 

(though most landscapers insist that this is a messy disease prone tree.  It looks like a dancing girl and it is my first love in the tree world...)

And of course I can't go without a couple of 

Blue Spruce

I also need to thin the irises and plant some day lilies in with them so we can have blooms in the late summer as well as spring. 

Of course actually doing the work is harder than imagining but that's what kids are for right?!

What did that groundhog say?

Our computer crashed.  Thankfully we have a direct line to a good computer hospital.  (Thanks Sean!).  He managed to rescue our pictures. Yea!

The kids are playing hide-and-seek with all the lights turned off.  The darkness hides the dishes and laundry so all I can hear are sounds of laughter.  Good idea.

I secretly can't wait until basketball is over.  And I accidently "forgot" to sign up for soccer for Jen and Ben.  It starts the day after the baby is due...  Dallin and Landon had two days this last week when they were home less than 30 minutes between 7:15 am and 9 pm.  Exhausting.

Everyone had the flu one at a time over the last few weeks.  There are still remnants of yucky coughs floating around.  As Landon told me this morning (he and Dallin are studying viruses in science) "I have a cough now so I am probably getting better but maybe I need to stay home just for today".  Hmmmm?  Nope.  Sorry Lan.

Jenna has a fever again tonight.  Hopefully we aren't on round two...

In case you are wondering, it doesn't work to fill your ear (if you are using an ear thermometer) with really hot water in order to fake a fever.  It does work to fill your mouth with really hot water before taking an oral temp but the guilty look on their faces usually gives the deceit away.

Rustin and the three big boys spent the weekend at the winter Klondike camp-out.  I don't know why but it is the favorite camp-out of the year for them.  They built and slept in a snow cave and woke up warm and toasty unlike their tenting counterparts.  -2 degrees tends to blow right through tents...

The sun came out on Saturday and they all came home sunburned.  They loved it.

We have six inches of snow outside. The snow forced Austin's school to cancel his ski trip.  Ironic huh.   Last week we had a day when the temperature reached 65.  It made me want to put fake tan lotion on and go out and weed the flower beds.  Except I can't reach my legs or the flower beds...

I have reached that stage of hugeness when perfect strangers look at me with pity and say "oh how much longer until your baby?!"  My answer is always the same.  "A year or so I think."

Actually it is only six weeks but oh what a long six weeks it will be.  I am as big now as I was when I had Jenna.  No wonder I loved being pregnant with Jenna. Cute little less-than-eight-pounder.  Big babies are definitely harder to carry--good thing they are cute!

Pictures to come soon!

Love, bribes and other important things.

Because it's Valentine's Day I am starting with a picture of pretty flowers courtesy of Rustin.  I would show the chocolates he sent but they are gone...

Here's what I spent the morning doing.  It made my family happy.

There are a few things I learned from my years (7+) working as a nurse and I've used a lot of those skills in my life as a mother--bandaging wounds, dosing tylenol and deciding whether injuries were ER worthy or not.  

But I learned another skill that is just as important.  What would that be you might ask?  The power of a good bribe.

It's true.  I don't know what it is about nurses and health care providers in general but there is nothing like a little food to butter them up.  If you ever find yourself or your loved one in the hospital and you want to be sure to receive good care I have a tip.  Find out whether the nurses work eight or twelve hour shift rotations and put together a basket of goodies for each shift. {Candy, lotions, popcorn--anything good.}  Night nurses will be especially impressed because usually only the day shift workers get the goodies.
I have seen the magic work many a time.

So to apply this to my life--I try to send food/treats in to Rustin's office from time to time.  Not only to make Rustin's life easier but because I really do appreciate them.
They often spend more time with him than I do and they can make things easy or miserable.

So for Valentine's Day I sent in a pan of cinnamon rolls.  I have worked many years to get these rolls just right but this time I used a little different recipe.  I used the recipe from The Pioneer Woman.  I made the dough at night and I rolled out the rolls, placed them on the pans, covered them with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge.  I wasn't sure how it would turn out but they were awesome! I'm so glad to know that I can make the rolls ahead and still have them ready and hot in the morning.

I spread the rolls on the big pan out to where they were just barely not touching each other.  Perfect.  I smashed the rolls together in the little pan and the rolls were doughy in the middle.  I just put them back in the oven but next time I will spread them out a little bit.  

I have to say--I like my frosting recipe better than The Pioneer Woman's.  It is perfect.  Not too sweet.  Buttery.  It can make a mediocre roll heavenly.  Here we go:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tbs (about) milk

melt these together in a sauce pan until everything comes to a boil.

remove from heat.

add 1 tsp vanilla 

about 2 cups powdered sugar.

Wisk until it's smooth and a little thinner than cake frosting.  Frost the rolls when they are warm so it can seep into all the nooks and crannies.

Perfect!

Feeling Pioneer-ish?

It all started one lonely night when Rustin was gone and I found myself home suffering from post-book syndrome. (You know that feeling when you finish a good book and find yourself wandering around the house feeling displaced and looking for something that seems to be missing..?).
My sister suggested I read this online book--Black Heels to Tractor Wheels--on the internet.  It only took a minute and I was hooked!  I read the entire thing way too fast and quickly found myself back in that post-book syndrome again. 

Unfortunately I discovered that this particular story hadn't been published. So I quickly filled my time reading about photography, cooking and life on the ranch.

  

When I found out that not only was that awesome online romance story published, but that Ree Drummond was coming to Salt Lake City, I couldn't pass up the chance to get a hold of my own copy of both Black Heels to Tractor Wheels and The Pioneer Woman cooks.  And it was a good excuse to get out of town with my mom and sister.  After all, my days of easily leaving kids behind are numbered.

We had a great weekend and I love love love the books.

Ree was just as charming and down-to-earth in person as she is in her writing.  It was fun to hear her speak about needing static guard and about wearing two layers of spanks to try to hide all the "lumps."

Many thanks to everyone for a great night!  And to my sis--I got you an autographed copy!

Ree's cute kids watched from the balcony.

Did you notice I found my camera?  Now I've lost my phone. ugg.