Featuring: Manya Girls Accessories

When my daughter was born, my sweet sis-in-law, Marina, made a darling little bracelet for Lucy. It was so cute on her tiny, chubby wrist. Last Spring I made a dress for my niece and sent it to her and a week or so later we received another darling bracelet for Lucy as a thank you. So last year when 7 women in my ward were pregnant at the same time with their first babies, and they all happened to be girls, I asked Marina to stock me up with these dainty bracelets so I would have them for shower gifts. Of course, everyone loved them and couldn't wait to put them on their tiny girl's wrist.
Marina recently opened an online store called Manya girls accessories where she sells these little gems. She has 3 different lines, all reasonably priced. AND she offers free shipping!
I just placed another order today and thought I needed to share the love. Go check her out! And check out her darling model, my little niece!

Back in Action

I really didn't intend to not blog for so long, really, I didn't. However, a series of events added up to my long hiatus.
Here's what's been happenin':

We took n 8 day trip to Vegas/San Diego and had a wonderful time. Stayed with the Youngs in Vegas and got to see our favorite Petts in San Diego. We did all we could to induce labor in Marina while we were there but little Sasha wanted to stay nice and cozy in her mama's belly for awhile longer! We went to Sea World (2x) Legoland, the SD Zoo and the beach. We enjoyed every minute we spent there and wished we could have stayed longer!

Curtis and Noah finished their 3rd and 1st grade years and both did a great job. They are looking forward to a long summer break but already miss their friends!

Lucy turned the magical age of 18 months which every Mormon mother longingly looks forward to because the baby can then go to Nursery at church! Lucy loves Nursery (so do I!) and doesn't even look back when I drop her off. She's growing up so fast!

Our computer got a virus (or 12) and I couldn't even log on for a few days. Our friend Collin fixed it up like new and delivered it to us yesterday so we are back in action! Thanks, Col!

I fell down our porch steps and landed right on my tailbone, I couldn't sit for 2 weeks so the computer was out of the question! I was in so much pain! I finally went to the chiropractor because my back was giving me problems from trying to sit in weird positions to avoid the tailbone. After 2 visits, I was able to sit (thank goodness)just in time for...

Youth Conference. We had YC at the U of U this last week. It was really fun and spiritual and I am exhausted! We had great speakers (John Bytheway, Brad Wilcox, just to name a few) good food, fun dance, great service project and other activities. I love it when all the planning and preparation come to fruition. It was fun but I'm glad it's over! Thanks to Mom and Dad for taking such good care of my children while I was there. They didn't even miss me!

In other news: We received 2 new little nieces into our extended families this month. Troy and Rachel welcomed little Emma on June 3rd and David and Marina welcomed sweet Sasha on June 9th. We are excited to watch these little girls grow and get to know them! Congrats to both families!

There's the last month in a nutshell. I will post some pictures as soon as I get caught up on paying bills and reading the emails I missed while the computer was sick!

Super Nanny update

Wanted to let you know how successful the sleep tactic is. If Lucy cries at all, it is usually less than 5 minutes. I really don't even have to stay in her room anymore. It took some time the first few nights but let me tell you, totally worth it!!!

I love Super Nanny!

I took a little blog hiatus...life was crazy through the holidays and then after, everytime I sat at the computer, I had no motivation to blog!

Part of my reason of not blogging has been my lack of sleep. Lucy slept through the night for several months, then started teething. Ever since then, she has not slept well so of course, neither have I. Over the holidays it was especially bad as she was getting her molars and was in pain for what seemed like weeks. Finally the molars broke through and I thought I could finally get her back into a good bedtime/sleep routine. Oh no, then the poor thing gets a bad cold. She is finally healthy so last Friday (when it didn't matter when the boys went to bed)I pulled out the sleep routine a la Super Nanny. I don't watch the show very often but happened to catch it a few weeks ago where a young toddler would not stay in her bed. Jo had the mom sit in the little girl's room with her back to the bed. Everytime she would get out of bed, the mom would get up without saying anything and put her back to bed. The first night I think she did it for over an hour and was exhausted but the toddler finally fell asleep in her bed. The next night was about half an hour and both the mom and the girl fell asleep. The third night, no problems at all; she went right to sleep.
So, I figure I can handle this method.
Night One: I get Lucy ready for bed, cuddle for a few minutes, pray and read a book then put her in her crib. As soon as I let go, she starts screaming! I just reassured her that I would be right there and plopped down on the floor. Surprisingly, the crying didn't bother me all that much...I just started listing all the states in my head alphabetically and trying to figure out which ones I missed. That kept my mind busy and not focused on Lucy. She was finally calming down when someone came in the room and then she started freaking out all over again! After about 50 minutes, no sleeping baby.
Night Two: Lucy takes a late nap and is up till about 11:00pm.
Night Three: Sam takes over night duty, wears his headphone to block out the crying. Lucy cries and cries and cries. After 45 mins she is screaming because someone walks by the room and is noisy so she wants him to rescue her. I go rescue her because it is a school night and past Noah's bedtime.
Night Four:tonight 6:45: Bath and pj's. Nurse for a few minutes (we are slowly weaning), prayer and then I put her in bed. We read a book, I kiss and tell her goodnight then turn the light down and sit on the floor. She doesn't cry! I'm confused so I just stay there. She looks at the book for a few minutes then lays down. She plays with her nightlight/aquarium/music box with her feet. She whines for about 2 minutes. She plays with the nighlight again. She is laying down quietly but still a little restless. Then she starts to cry but not hard. She remains down but cries for 5-10 minutes. Then, SILENCE. Then, SNORING!!!
I quietly walk out of the room. After 40 minutes of sitting in her room, I declare: VICTORY!!!

I LOVE Super Nanny!

40 weeks

Ugh, 40 weeks. I had an appt. today with my midwife and things are not progressing. This baby's head is still floating above the birth canal and I'm still not dilated. Despite all the contractions I've been having, nothing is happening. IF I don't go into labor by Monday (which coincidentally is my Mom's B-day) I will go back for another appt. If the baby's head is still not in the birth canal, we will schedule a C-section for Wednesday. These were not the things I was hoping to hear today and I had a little breakdown while talking to my midwife. She said she still has 90% hope that everything will be fine and I'll go into labor naturally. But we have to be prepared. Also, she doesn't want to do an induction just to have me go through several hours of labor (like the 26 with Noah) and then have a C-section. And, I totally agree with her there. So, the plan is to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner and wait and see.

Last month I told you about the boys' pre-school teacher, Kellie. She sent me an email today with a link to a short video. Check it out here http://www.imagehiker.com/Videography/Client/shannon_galloday.html. She is one amazing woman!

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

38 weeks

Yes, today I have been pregnant for 38 weeks. I had an appointment with my midwife this morning and was really hoping that some labor progress was being made but, no. Nothing is happening yet. That's OK, we still have 2 weeks to go but I have been extra tired and emotional the last few days so it wasn't what I wanted to hear. I met my sis, Amy, for lunch at Chipotle's and when she walked in I started crying. Why? I don't know. Luckily it only lasted a second and I was fine. I also had a little breakdown on Sam the other day, freaking out about childbirth and saying let's just schedule a c-section. He talked me down and reminded me I didn't want to do that again. I've been pretty level-headed this pregnancy, not a lot of emotional tidal waves but this last week has gotten to me. This emotional state also is why there is no photo...just couldn't handle it today.
We have been very busy getting the house ready to bring this little one home and have had some great help from my parents and Amy. I appreciate them so much because with Sam gone so much, we wouldn't even have this house close to ready! I've still got a few odds and ends to wrap up but when don't I?
I have some other family news I've been meaning to post about but I definitely need pictures for that so I will try to get in gear tomorrow and snap a few pics so I can tell some cute stories of the boys and their shenanigans.
It is 8:42 pm and my house has been silent for the last 30 minutes. I think I will take the boys' lead and go to bed early...maybe I'll be able to make it through tomorrow without crying!

Ramblings

I received an email today from the boys' pre-school teacher. Kellie found out last January that she had breast cancer and she has bravely battled through. She submitted her story to foreverybody.com in August when they were asking for stories from women with breast cancer for a contest they were holding. She found out a last week that she was one of the 12 finalists and then last night got the call that she won the contest! They are having an "Evening in Pink" next week to honor her. Just wanted to share that great news and congratulate Kellie! We love her so much and are so glad she is doing well!

Today I had my 36 week appt. with my midwife. As she was measuring my impressive girth, I asked her to measure me around my waist. She kind of looked at me oddly and I asked her if I was the first person to ask her to do this. She replied that, as a matter of fact, I was. She asked why I wanted to be measured around my waist and I told her "I'm just wondering if I'm as wide as I am tall, yet." Thankfully, I'm not! We both got a little chuckle out of it, though.

She then proceeded to tell me about an anesthesiologist she used to work with that was pregnant and in a surgery. Every time she walked by the patient, she noticed his head would move. So she gave him more anesthesia to stop him from moving. This happened several times before she realized...the guy had PLENTY of medication, she just kept bumping his head with her huge stomach!!! I can totally relate as I have run into several things with my belly in the last few days...doorframes, fridge doors, countertops. It's getting big, I tell ya!

We went to Parent Teacher Conferences last week and got good reports from both teachers. They both are doing well. Noah is doing awesome with learning how to read and write and Curtis is a spelling whiz! He has got 100% on almost every spelling test! I really like both teachers and am grateful for their care and concern towards my sons. I told Sam that was the first PT conference I've been to for Curtis that I haven't cried. He has come a long way and I think we have too!

Along those same lines, Sam and I were asked to speak in church this Sunday. My topic? Parenting. Great. Not looking forward to that.

I cashed in my Service Auction certificate and had my kitchen and bathroom deep cleaned on Monday by a sweet lady in my ward. Get this, she said she thinks cleaning is FUN. What? I don't understand. I like the reward from cleaning but I certainly wouldn't call it fun! Anyway, she did an awesome job and I appreciate her so much! Thanks Dorothy!

Was "Ramblings" an apt title or what? Nothing profound to say, just wanted to share!!!

I have a Blog????

I think I forgot that I have a blog...actually, I have thought about posting almost everyday but for some reason could not work up the words to post. Lame, I know, but that's my story!
So, lots has been going on. But I'm not going to go back and do a whole month recap. Maybe just a few highlights.
Last weekend, Sam took off for the annual Elk Hunt with his dad and brother, Troy. I prefer to call this event "camping-with-guns-in-case-an-elk-attacks" because in the 11 years we have been married, not one of the participants in the event has shot an elk. Sam's nephew Garrett is actually the only one that I know of that has even shot his rifle. Anyway, I digress. While Sam was away, the boys and I played. My parents were staying in Park City at the Mountainside Resort and invited my siblings and I to come stay the weekend. Suzanne, Amy and I all made the trip and had an enjoyable time (aside from the fact that I wasn't able to sleep Friday night and my kids had a few bouts of disobedience). It was fun to spend time with Suzanne and co. since I really haven't spent time with them for several months. We all learned how to play Rook (which Suzanne and Amy rocked), did Karaoke and carved pumpkins in the activities center, swam and also watched Conference. Probably my favorite part was Saturday morning when the boys woke up, they opened the curtains and saw that it had snowed. My dad and I took them down to the pool where we found a nice, bathwater temp. hot tub that was safe for me to sit in. It was still lightly snowing and there was about an inch or two of snow on all the lawn chairs. The boys started making snowballs and throwing them at us in the hot tub and then joined in a massive snowball fight with a few other families and an employee that was caught in the crossfire. The snow was perfect, lightweight packing snow and the kids made some of the biggest snowballs I've ever seen. A fun time was had by all!
I had my 34 week appointment with my midwife today. She has been concerned that the baby was breech so at the end of my visit, she did an ultrasound and we saw this little girl's head down, exactly where it should be! Danielle (my midwife) and I both cheered and were very relieved to see her head down because if she hadn't turned, most likely I would have to have another c-section which we DON'T want to do! So, good girl...she is already obedient!!!
We are still trying to come up with a name for this bambina...funny how when I was having boys, I had plenty of girl names that I liked. Now that I am having a girl, we are really struggling for names. I guess we have 6 weeks to make a decision...any suggestions are welcome!
OK, my back is hurting from sitting here typing so I'm going to end. Hopefully there won't be as much time between posts as these last two!

Service and Small world

So, for several months now, I've had this perfectly good scrapbook room in the basement just waiting to be organized and I just haven't had the energy (ok, let's be honest, I haven't had the desire) to get it done. Well, Friday night, my cute sister Amy came over to go on a Sonic slushee run. Of course, I jumped at that and when we came back we ate the dinner I had made earlier. Then I took her downstairs to show her some of Sam's handiwork in our never-ending construction and she walked into the dreadfully disorganized scrapbook room.
A: "So, Kath, what's in these boxes?"
K: "Um, I really don't know. I just need to get someone to help me go through them and get this room organized."
A: "Let's do it right now."
K: "Seriously? You want to? OK."
Little did I know that Amy was going to help me Hitler-style. "Do you want to keep this? Ok, what are you going to do with it? Hang it? No, don't put it down and wait, hang it right now." She was relentless! We cleared out 5 or 6 "keepsake" boxes in a matter of 20 minutes and kept only a few items that had really sentimental value (like my diploma and wedding certificate). I even parted with old letters from college and Oakcrest, AND my decaying wedding bouquet. Amy didn't pressure me into getting rid of anything, she actually questioned me a few times when I threw stuff away. But she did keep me working for a few hours and we accomplished so much. There is still more to do but we got a huge chunk of it done. Thanks, Amy, for your service. It was just what I needed and guess what? I actually made a card Saturday in my scrapbook room at the table! It was so great!

Sunday, more service was rendered to me, this time by my hubby. I noticed my toenails were looking pretty hammered and I tried to touch up the polish. Unfortunately, this big belly makes toenail painting near-impossible. So I asked Sam to help me, and he obliged. Now, you have to understand how huge this is. Sam HATES fingernails and toenails that are painted, especially toenails. I don't know why, he's never really explained his disgust, he just hates it. So, I knew it was a long shot when I asked him but he actually did it, and did a better job then I have ever done! Now, that, I tell you, is true love!

Now on to small world...a month or so ago, a man walked into my dad's office at church and told him he and his family were moving into the ward. He said his name was Phil Banza and my dad immediately recognized his last name as an Elder's that I served with on my mission. So, he asked him if he served in the Johannesburg mission and Phil replied that he hadn't but his brother had! So, Sunday, Phil and his sweet wife spoke in church and then Phil, his brother Junior (who was my first zone leader and someone I love dearly) and two other men sang "I need thee every hour." Sam and I attended with the kids and had a little reunion afterwards. It was so fun to see Junior and his family. I just can't believe what a small world it is, especially when you are LDS. Imagine an Elder from the Congo goes to South Africa on his mission and meets a Sister from Salt Lake City and 13 years later, the Elder's brother is in the ward where the Sister's father is the bishop! Crazy!

Baby update: Today was my 30-week appointment. The same girl weighed me and put my weight down as 19 pounds less than last time!!! My midwife came in and looked at it and said, "that's not right" No, it isn't. The girl doesn't know how to read a scale!!! She put down that I weigh 10 pounds less than I actually do. Normally, I wouldn't complain about losing 19 pounds in 2 weeks but at this point in my life, weight gain is critical. I swear that girl needs weighing lessons!!! Aside from the weight loss, everything is looking good with this wiggly baby girl!
Oh, speaking of weight loss...Curtis was watching "The Biggest Loser" premier with me last night and he suggested that after I have the baby that I go on the show. What is it with my kids and my weight?!?

Good news!

Why is it so hard for me to take the time to post? I don't know...just lazy I guess.

Yesterday we finally went to have our ultrasound and guess what? We are having a GIRL!!!
I'm still a little in shock...Sam is from a family of 4 boys with 8 of the 11 grandchildren being boys so I didn't think we had a chance of having a girl. But, we got a very good look and it is definitely
not a boy! Noah was so excited, he just started jumping up and down saying "I was right! I was right! I was right!" It took Curtis a minute to warm up to the idea but then he was very happy.
Sam is already stressed thinking about having to deal with a teenage girl*(see paragraph below) but I told him he has several years before he needs to worry about that...of course, as soon as she is born I'm sure she will have Sam wrapped around her little finger!

Two weeks ago Sam and I both went to Girls Camp. Sam went on an overnight hike with the older girls and came home saying "Girls are so weird! The talk and scream and giggle all the time! They were putting on lipgloss before they went to bed!" Before his trip to camp, he was hoping our baby was a girl but he got a little glimpse of what our future could hold and changed his mind! I went up on Wednesday and stayed till the end on Friday. The camp we went to is owned by the Church and is called the Heber Valley Camp. It is beautiful and has great facilities. They discourage pregnant women from coming unless you are able to participate in all the activities and I knew I wouldn't be able to handle the hike so I went up the day after. I really didn't want to miss camp, my counselors worked so hard to plan and execute Camp and I wanted to be able to be there to help and support them. It was a lot of work but the Young Women were so appreciative of everything and were so cute and fun. Our theme was "Daughters of a King" and at the beginning of the week we gave them a charm bracelet with a charm for Virtue on it with the scripture reference D&C 121:45. Then everyday, we did a little devotional and gave them another charm to add to their bracelet. They loved this! The charms we gave them were Virtue, an oil lamp, Salt Lake Temple, a Sheild, a Crown. I got all the charms for so cheap from http://www.charmingldsgifts.com/. Each charm was only .69! I've seen several of the Young Women since camp and most of them have been wearing their bracelets. Hopefully they will treasure it and remember their importance and worth as a daughter of God.

Well, dinner is ready so I better wrap up...I have starving kids!

breathe

For Christmas, my sweet husband Sam gave me a gift certificate to Breathe Day Spa. Today I finally got around to using it. I received the Ultimate Spa Facial which was 90 minutes long and included hand and feet exfoliation/massage. It was pure bliss! If I had a lot of disposable income, I could see myself doing that about every other week! It was so nice and relaxing and I just felt so at peace when it was over. Thank you, sweetheart, for treating me to this pampering, relaxing time! I enjoyed it so much!

In other news, today we got a sneak peek at the little Preslar growing inside me. I had an appointment with my midwife and she couldn't get a good read on the heartbeat so she did an ultrasound. It was really fun to see this baby moving around...and boy did it move around a lot! No wonder she couldn't get the heartbeat! It was doing barrell rolls; she could barely get it to hold still long enough to snap a picture. So, our little avocado (the size of the baby) looks good and looks like it's in training to wrestle with it's big brothers!!!

Last Night's dinner conversation

Curtis: Mom, me and Noah can help change the baby's diaper.
Me: That will be great!
Curtis: Will we go to the hospital to visit the BABIES?
Me: Of course.
Curtis: And then the BABIES will come home when they're big enough.
Me (perplexed): Babies? You think there is more than one?
C: Yeah, how bout 3 or 4!
Me: No, that is way too many!
Noah (piping in excitedly): How bout a hundred! That would make you really tough!
Me: (sigh)yeah, it would.