The Dangers of Nesting

According to Wikipedia, Nesting refers to an instinct or urge in pregnant animals, including humans, to prepare a home for the upcoming newborn. In human females it is commonly characterized by a strong urge to clean and organize one's home.

There has definitely been some nesting going on around our house this last month as we are trying to get all the projects crossed off our list before baby boy comes. Some of these projects include redoing our entire bedroom with painting, refinishing furniture, new bedding, pretty much everything new. Moving Brynn down into Mason's room and reorganizing all of their stuff to fit in one room together. Dejunking and reorganizing our toy room. Moving all of our furniture out and getting our carpets professionally cleaned (thanks mom for the perfect baby gift of clean carpets). Repainting and setting up the nursery. Along with the neverending cleaning and decluttering of the rest of our house. The completion of all these projects sounds great, but there is definitely a dangerous side of nesting.

Last Saturday while attempting to wash all my blinds and windows, I found myself feeling very unbalanced and awkward trying to stand on a step stool and reach over the kitchen sink to wash the window. So I opted to just sit on the counter with my feet in the sink. While leaning forward to reach the far side of the window I shifted all of my petite little body's weight onto my feet which were standing in the sink, and suddenly our 200 lb castiron sink holding a very pregnant woman went crashing through the countertop.

Scott came running upstairs thinking I had fallen and was actually relieved to find a broken sink with shattered pipes underneath it holding his unharmed pregnant wife. So thanks to my nesting Scott got to add to his ever growing handyman skills and replace our kitchen sink including redoing all the plumbing underneath.
The most ironic part is that not 15 minutes before I had commented how I really wanted to replace our 1970s sink. Scott has asked that next time I want to replace something I just ask instead of breaking the old one and tripling his work. The good news is I love my new sink. Hard to believe only one short month until I'll be bathing our baby brother in it.

Family Time

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend that was filled with lots of family time. Brandon and Whitney came from Arizona with their kids and as always we took advantage of every second we could spend with them. With Kacie and Chris not living down the street from us anymore it is always extra exciting when we get to see and play with them, too. So this made for an ideal 4 days of cousins playing together. This left plenty of time for all of us siblings to catch up and laugh with (and sometimes at) each other. I love my family so much. We snapped some quick family pictures at Thanksgiving dinner. They turned out great, especially considering we just walked outside and had my grandpa snap some pictures. Grandma and Grandpa with their 7 grandchildren.

Mason (4), Brynn (2), Rachel (3), Andrew (1), Chase (1), Cannon (6), Kennedy (4)

This year I am grateful for so much, but I can honestly say that at the very top of that list is my family.

My parents are amazing. Words can't even begin to describe the strength I get from their love and support.

Still to this day, I have to put up with a lot of teasing from my brothers, but I wouldn't have it any other way. And they both have made up for it by marrying the most amazing women and giving me the 2 sisters I never had. For that I can never repay them.

My wonderful husband Scott never ceases to give of himself to serve me and our family. He is the most incredible Dad in the world and every time I watch him with our children my heart melts.

Mason is my sweet boy that will still cuddle up with me and smother me with kisses on a regular basis.

Brynn is my one and only little girl who is always excited to see me even if I've just been in the other room.

I haven't met our baby brother yet, but I feel his little spirit in me every day and am so grateful to a kind Heavenly Father who has sent him to our family.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by those you love.

One of a Kind

Our little Brynnie Bug is growing up so fast and everyday we see more of her individual personality shining through. There are so many things we love about Brynn but certain things she comes up with really seem to make her one-of-a kind. She is very silly these days. She loves to joke and tease and has her own sense of humor. While there are a lot of times she is trying to get a laugh out of us, there are plenty of other times she gets us chuckling unintentionally like when she yells,"Yoo Hoo!" to get someone's attention or when she exclaims, "I obeyed!!" after she does something we asked her to like she's just as surprised she obeyed as we are. It's not just the things Brynn says but how she says them with her tiny little voice through her puckered up lips and sometimes I hear a slight hispanic accent. She has definitely hit an organizational stage which I hope never leaves. She likes to have everything in it's place and is very orderly with her play, lining anything up in rows that she can. She is very quick to help unload the dishwasher and clear the table after a meal, but I do watch her a little closer after I found several plates in the garbage (to her credit we always use paper plates at lunch and she must have not been paying attention that we used real plates this time). Brynn thinks she is one of the big kids so much so that when you ask her how old she is she has changed her answer from 2 to 3 1/2 and will not budge when we try to correct her. Apparently she has done a pretty good job fooling Mason's friends, too, because they often ask Brynn to play with them when they come over, and believe me she can play transformers and star wars with the best of them. Playing isn't the only thing she insists on doing with Mason. Every day when he does his reading time she insists on doing her "reading" as well. She has her own set of flash cards and books we use to practice letters and numbers. She knows all her letters and their sounds and is really good at counting and recognizing numbers. Sometimes I think she honestly believes she can read as she opens books and points to the words and "reads" the story aloud. She is growing up so fast and I need her to slow down. There are times I look at her and just can't believe she is my baby girl. No matter how grown up she gets she will always be my little Bug.

Belly Shot

Okay, I give up. Some people have been giving me a hard time about not posting a belly shot. I'm not usually one to give into peer pressure, but since my family is having family pictures taken this week that will hang on my parents wall for the next year and probably end up on their Christmas card I might as well get over it and post one here first.This picture is the fine work of Mason who asked to take a picture of my big bubble after seeing some pregnancy pictures of his aunt Jenna and Becky who are having babies in February and April respectively, which we are so excited about. I went along with it and let him play around with the camera and snap some pictures. Other than the odd (and less than flattering) angle, missing head, and slight blurriness I felt like he did a fine job and decided to use his picture. Here is the 33 week belly.

32 Weeks

I realized I haven't done any posts about this pregnancy since 20 weeks, so for the sake of updating anyone who cares and to document a little bit about this pregnancy here is a quick 32 week pregnancy post. It is hard to believe that we have already reached the 32 week mark. I'm grateful to have had a very smooth pregnancy so far. I got to have another ultrasound a month ago at 28 weeks to check the position of my placenta (it was covering my cervix at 20 weeks). The placenta had moved, everything looked great, and as a bonus we got to see more of this handsome little guy.

Baby boy at 28 weeks

However, the adjective little was never used to describe him. His measurements showed him to be 29 weeks 5 days rather than the 28 weeks I actually was. This was a big difference from my 20 week ultrasound where he was measuring right on. They don't consider the dates very accurate at this point because babies vary in size further along in the pregnancy so they aren't changing my due date or anything, they just said he is a really big boy. He was over 3 lbs at that time (a month ago), which put him in the 85% for a baby of his gestational age. To hopefully avoid having too huge of a baby we decided to set an induction date for 39 weeks. So January 3rd will be the day unless he decides to come any earlier on his own. So only 7 weeks to go. While I don't feel ready to have this baby yet, my body has started screaming to be done with this pregnancy. The last 2 weeks I have been very uncomfortable. My back aches non-stop (thank you to all my 400 lb patients at work), I rarely get an hour of peace, day or night, without little boy beating my insides to a pulp, I get charlie horses in my legs at night that make my calves sore for days, and I have been getting migraines more and more frequently. Wow, was that enough complaining? Sorry. As far as names, we are stuck and don't really have any serious options at this point, but we're working on it. If you were hoping for a belly shot, sorry, I avoid being in front of a camera at all costs. But don't worry my belly is growing at a steady rate. Mason refers to the bump as my big bubble and Brynn gets frustrated when she tries to snuggle on my lap stating, "it's too big!" as she pushes on my belly. We are so grateful all is well and we are excited to meet our baby brother.

Crocodile Hunter

Mason has become quite enthralled with wildlife recently. A few months ago my mom took him to the Bean Museum at BYU and something inside him came alive. Since then he can't get enough of learning about these animals from all over the world. We have been back to the Bean Museum several times since (love that it's close and free... perfect outing) and every time he finds new animals to learn about. He asks me to read the little plaques in front of the animals over and over until he has them memorized almost word for word, then for the rest of the day he tells us all about that animal. We even caught the reptile show one time when we were there. Mason sat front and center and gave his undivided attention throughout the presentation. He loved the live animals they showed, and even asked if he could have the snake on his shoulders. (If the picture looks a little blurry it's probably because Scott was shaking with fear as he took the picture. He does not share the same love for snakes)

Mason also loves watching shows on the Discovery Channel that show animals in the wild and teach about where they live, what they eat, and how they survive. His favorite animals by far are crocodiles. Sometimes I cringe as I watch a crocodile attack a gazelle and pieces of it's carcass are flying all over, but Mason just watches in awe. He's very accepting of the circle of life.

He also has been intrigued by hunting. One day he requested to make a bow and arrow out of branches from our tree (no idea where he got the idea). He had me set up Brynn's stuffed animals around the house and he went on safari. Don't worry, he's not a poacher, he was living in the wilderness and the animals were attacking him. It was strictly for survival :) He definitely is our little crocodile hunter!

*Funny Mason Comment*

Mason found a deer hunt game on Scott's phone that he likes to play. One day he said to me, "Mom, I want to have a deer birthday party next year. We can all dress up like deer with antlers on our heads and Dad can chase us around with a gun hunting us. Isn't that a great idea?!" I laughed and told him I didn't know if that was a good idea. He then explained, "No, Dad would use a PRETEND gun." Well I certainly hope so.

Halloween Fun

I was never very big on Halloween until we had kids. I love letting my kids choose what they want to be and then putting together their dream costume for them. This year it was no surprise when the costumes started appearing in the stores, that Mason wanted to be optimus prime. It was by far the easiest costume I've ever done and he absolutely loved it.

Brynn on the other hand proved to be quite a bit more work. What's new? Brynn has never loved dressing up near as much as she loves stripping down and I don't think she really understood when I asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween. I actually told Scott about a month ago that I didn't know if she really cared what she was. HA! Who was I kidding? Brynn not have an opinion? Yeah right!! As Halloween approached she started to understand more. She started with the obvious choice of Minnie Mouse. My sister in law found a $1 deal at a garage sale and I was just going to put some finishing touches on it and we would be good to go. But in the weeks before Halloween Brynn became adamant that she wanted to be Captain Hook. When I would try to sway her back to Minnie she would firmly tell me, "I be Captain Hook!" So I began piecing together a Captain Hook costume for her. But, when the night of our first Halloween Party rolled around and I tried to get her dressed in her costume she was not a happy camper. "I don't like it!" was all she would say and we didn't even get all the pieces of the costume on before she started pulling it off.

So what did she want to be? Why a transformer of coarse. She put on Mason's costume and was happy as could be, but obviously that wasn't going to work. We suggested she wear her transformer costume from Mason's party, but she didn't want that, either.
No to Minnie, no to Captain Hook, and no to Transformer. What next? The only thing she wanted to wear that night was her piggy jammas. At this point I was just happy to have her dressed.

So off to our ward party we went with Optimus Prime and a girl in piggy jammas.

We've always carved our pumpkins to match our costumes, but Mason asked if we could make Jack-O-Lanterns this year. You know, the kind with triangle eyes and noses and teeth in their mouth? Scott was more than happy to give up carving optimus prime for a jack-o-lantern face. Brynn's only request was to have a baby pumpkin that she could carry around.

So when Halloween night rolled around Brynn woke up from her nap in a very agreeable mood and decided that she did in fact want to be Minnie. She enthusiastically put on her costume and started practicing her "Trick or Treat!" Can I just say keeping up with this little girl's mood swings is exhausting. You never know what you're going to get from one minute to the next with this little girl.

This was the first year that we have really and truely done Trick or Treating. We went around the ward with our good friends the McCanns and Ferrins.

We could hardly keep up with these boys all night! Mason had so much fun running around with his friends Tanner and Cache.

Brynn and Lydia had fun together, but were definitely worn out by the end of the night.

Happy Halloween... until next year!

Some Things Never Get Old

Watching my kids grow up is often times bitter sweet. It is fun watching them learn and grow, but I find it sad when something about them I love so much changes and is lost forever with their progress. Like when my babies are learning how to talk and say certain words in an incorrect, yet adorable, way, and then one day they learn how to say it correctly and I wish they would go back to saying it the old way because it always put a smile on my face. There are some things that seem to stick around a little longer, and for that I am grateful. One thing that has stuck around our house for the last 3 years is Mason's love of mowing the lawn with Scott. He was given a little lawn mower for his first birthday and fell in love instantly. Since then there has rarely been a time that Scott has mowed the lawn without his little shadow just a few steps behind. It doesn't matter how many times I see it, (every week for 3 summers) it never gets old. I probably have more pictures and video footage of this site than any other thing in our lives. It's just something that makes my heart so happy. This year it got even better as Brynn joined in. A little boy who wants to be just like his dad and a little sister who wants to be just like her brother.I just love it!

Practice Run

Today my mom babysat her neighbor's 2 month old baby boy and we spent the afternoon at her house using it as a little practice run for when our baby brother arrives in just a few short months. It made me smile to watch the loving and tender way Mason held and talked to the baby. He was just glowing as he spent time with the baby. He is so excited for his baby brother to arrive and I can tell you right now he is going to be an amazing older brother. Brynn on the other hand still has some room for improvement. She was more excited about the baby's binky then the baby itself and expressed on multiple occasions, "I don't like the baby." I guess they got off on the wrong foot when she said hi to the baby and after a long stare and a silent pause she pouted, "The baby didn't talk to me!" After watching Mason shake a little rattle and sing songs for the baby she decided to join in and give the baby a teddy bear... by throwing it at his head. It was with good intentions, but I'm very glad it was a stuffed animal and not a hard toy. She does love her baby doll (actually my old doll) very much these days and takes it everywhere with her. She seemed to do better when we focused on her taking care of her baby rather than focusing on the real baby. So I guess that teaches me to include her in things by letting her take care of her baby as I take care of our baby brother. Today sent mixed emotions running through me. Of course I am excited, but mostly I just feel incredibly nervous about the arrival of baby #3. I am already so in love with this little guy kicking around inside of me and just pray I will be able to give each of my precious children all of the love and attention they need and deserve. Thank goodness for 12 more weeks of preparation...I need every minute of it.

And since no post is complete without a picture, here is a picture of the first time Mason saw Brynn through the nursery window. I have no doubt Mason was sent to our family first to fill a very important role as an older brother in the lives of his siblings. And I think Brynn will feel this same kind of love when she meets her little brother.

The Red Dragons

Mason participated in his first official team sport this fall as a member of the "Red Dragons" soccer team.

The beginning of the season felt a lot like Brian Regan's "Lousy in Little League". (If you've never heard it or just want a good laugh go here ). Mason was more concerned about what they were having for the half time snack than where the ball was on the field. His little legs would tire easily and after a few trips up and down the field he would sometimes find a nice patch of shade to watch from rather than try to keep up with the ball. But as the season progressed, his confidence grew, and we started to find him in the center of action more often. He told us before each game, "I'll try to score a goal for you today." Each game came and went without a goal but Mason would proudly tell everyone that he helped his team score lots of goals by kicking the ball to them. In the final game of the season Mason finally got his goal... sort of. After a goal scored by one of his teammates the ball came back out on the field and before the coach could pick it up Mason kicked it back into the goal. The whole team celebrated his first goal with him. It was a perfect excuse for him and his best friend, Tanner, to given each other a chest bump, which they had perfected throughout the season. Mason had a blast playing soccer and is very excited to play with his team again next spring. We are so proud of Mason's great attitude and the improvement he showed over the season. It sure is fun being a soccer mom.

My Marathon Man

Scott has definitely caught the running bug this year. He had such a great time running Ragnar, that he decided if he was ever going to run a marathon, now was the time to do it since he was already in great running shape. So this weekend we headed to Logan for him to run the Top of Utah Marathon. Running 26.2 miles is challenging enough itself. Add in downpouring rain and hail for most of it, and you've got Scott's first (and very possibly last) marathon experience. As I sat in my car at mile 14 to cheer on Scott as he came out of the canyon I could hardly see out the window through all the rain despite my windshield wipers going at top speed. I felt so bad watching all the runners pass by SOAKING wet. I breathed a sigh of relief when the rain appeared to be letting up a little, but then it was just replaced by hail. I took a picture from inside the car to try and capture the conditions. You can't see the hail that is pelting the runners, but you can see it all over the road. Shortly after that, Scott came running along and informed me his headphones had shorted out around mile 8 due to all the rain. I had an extra pair for him, but it wasn't long before they started shorting out, too. So he got to run the rest of the race with no music, but luckily he met some nice people along the way he was able to chat with. The weather began to let up a little and by mile 23 it was sprinkling on and off. Scott was still running strong, but said his shoes were so water logged they felt like they weighed 10 pounds each.

The sun emerged from behind the clouds for the first time right as Scott crossed the finish line, but I think the smile on his face shone brighter. He said it was the absolute best feeling crossing that line and knowing he was done. Despite the difficult conditions (we heard people's times were about 20 minutes slower because of the rain), Scott still managed to finish in the incredible time of 4:15:34. I am so proud of him! He says this was a one time thing, but I'm still going to try and talk him into another marathon with me, hopefully in better weather conditions. Great job to my amazing marathon man!!

Back to School

This week was the beginning of another year of Preschool for Mason. I think his prayer the morning of his first day pretty much sums up how he felts. "..thank you that I can go to morning preschool and see Mrs. Young again. Help that I can make lots of new friends. Help that I can do my work and not scribble..." Mason went to preschool in the afternoon last year and thinks moving to morning preschool is a promotion for the kids who are 4. Not only is Mason going at a different time, but his best friends from last year, Kennedy and Benson, both moved and are no longer in his class. I was curious to see how he would handle all the change, and have been glad to see how excited he is to meet new friends and after just two classes he has made several friends that are already inviting him over to play after preschool. It's going to be a good year.While we definitely miss Mason while he's gone, Brynn and I are enjoying our alone time together. It is something I've never had with Brynn since Mason stopped napping when she was born and she napped during Mason's preschool last year. I am absolutely loving the one on one time with her. I just can't believe it will be her starting preschool next year and I'll be left home alone with the baby. Where does the time go?

At a Glance

Today I took some pictures of Mason and Brynn playing outside completely unplanned and unprompted. I wanted to capture them just being themselves, and I think I succeeded. Mason is a serious hoarder. He always has bags full of his favorite stuff that he carries everywhere with him. Anything he finds along the way, even leaves, are worth collecting. He still loves imaginative play and this particular day he was a transformer busy saving the world from the decepticons, but not without his bags. Brynn is still attached to her binky and is always twirling her hair. Her favorite thing to do is pull her hair under her nose and wrap it around her binky making a hair mustache. Not very cute and causes serious tangles. You might recognize these boots from previous pictures. Brynn insists on wearing her oversized hand me down boots everywhere. It always puts a smile on my face.

Just a little bit about my kiddos at a glance.

The Peoples

It's no secret that Brynn has had some serious stranger anxiety throughout her life. While it has improved considerably, she is still initially hesistent in situations with more than about 5 people. The only difference is now she can verbalize how she feels rather than just freaking out. So when Brynn finds herself in an uncomfortable situation I usually find her wrapped around my legs saying, "There are lots of peoples" or "I scared of the peoples" in a tiny whisper like she's in a horror movie being chased by "the peoples". Silly girl. At least she does warm up to "the peoples" most of the time.

Pool Time

I couldn't possibly end the summer without a post about our time spent at the pool. As always our kids loved all of our pool outings this summer. Mason preferred it when Scott came along so he could be more adventurous. After two sessions of swimming lessons during the winter Mason knew how to swim, but his time at the pool this summer helped his confidence in his swimming ability to grow. By our last trip to the pool Mason would jump in the deep pool without either of us around and swim around taking breaths when he needs them and then back to the wall. I love how comfortable he is in the water. Brynn is quite the little swimmer with her floaties on. She loves to kick around on both her tummy and back in the deep water. Her absolute favorite thing to do is jump off the side of the pool over and over. She has no problem holding her breath and going under water, but water in her ears really seems to bother her, so she prefers just to stick her face in and blow bubbles. Here are some pictures from our last Scera Pool trip of the summer.

A Child's Prayer

One day while playing at Grandma Nancy's house, Mason was looking for a specific marble he had previously played with there.  The marble was not with all the other marbles and my mom had no idea where it might be.  Mason, with total and complete faith suggested, "Let's say and prayer and ask Heavenly Father to help us find the marble." My mom was pleased that Mason had thought to turn to Heavenly Father for help, but was extremely nervous because she was not confident she could find the marble for him.  So while he said a sweet little prayer to Heavenly Father, my mom was saying her own heartfelt prayer asking that she could find the marble so Mason would know that prayers are answered.  Once the prayer was finished they resumed their search for the marble. Just minutes later my mom had a very distinct thought to go check in a bowl in her sewing room.  There was absolutely no reason why the marble should be there and she normally wouldn't have thought to check there, but decided to go check it out anyway.  Upon looking in the bowl, what did they find? The marble. My mom was very emotional when sharing this story with me because she knew that Heavenly Father had been listening to a child who prayed in faith, even if it was for something as insignificant as finding a lost marble, and had answered his prayer.

It's a BOY!

We got to spend a half hour today watching this little BOY squirm and wiggle around inside of me. I couldn't have asked for more. I haven't been feeling him move nearly as much as I remember with my other pregnancies at this point and honestly I have been a little worried the past couple of weeks. So today I was surprised, and very much relieved, when he didn't stop moving and kicking his little arms and legs around the entire 30 minutes we were watching him. Turns out my placenta is anterior which makes it so you don't feel as much movement early on. Phew! He looked so precious as he stretched out his arms and crossed and uncrossed his legs. Most importantly his growth and development looked absolutely perfect.

There is something about seeing him that has already made this pregnancy seem more real to me. Scott is very excited to be having another boy, Mason is thrilled to be getting a brother, and Brynn is completely clueless as to how her whole world will be turned upside down in a few short months. We are so grateful for a Healthy Boy!