Beading, the definition of motherhood and moving out

I have some friends that get together at 6:30 in the morning on Saturday to do beading. Before I had kids, I thought they were crazy to get up at such an early hour to make necklaces and such. Now I really think they are crazy for missing sleep but I think I can understand it. First of all, you are up at that hour anyway, so it's not like they really are missing any sleep. Second of all, you socialize when you can, and most likely the kids want to sleep during that time, so you can have some alone time. These particular moms have teenagers and younger kids, but not younger than 2 years. So this morning I got to see a great sight. Those cute babies sleeping. I had finished feeding them at 6:30 in the morning. They sleep so much better in our bed, (what's up with that, by the way. Why is the parents bed so much better than theirs. Seriously.) so I put them with Jim to keep sleeping so I could get completely ready for church before I had to get them ready. And I caught the perfect picture of motherhood at that hour. You'll note that everyone is sleeping and in the picture except Mom. She is doing something. I was getting ready for church, but for every mom it is something different. Cleaning bottles, cleaning the house, catching up on emails or Facebook, getting a surprise ready, reading, who knows, but capturing the moment when they are sleeping to do something.

This week our big adventure was getting my car safety and emissions done and then registering my car at the DMV. I somehow let my registration lapse. I have no idea how that happened. Usually I'm very good at keeping track of those things. Like Daylight Savings time. But somehow I didn't get the reminder in the mail last year. It might have to do with the fact that I have been taking one day at a time for a year or that we moved or who knows what. But the DMV experience was surprisingly pleasant. I got my number from the guy at the door and my number was called while I was walking in to find a seat. I didn't even sit down!! And I paid for the year that lapsed as well as the upcoming year at the same time. The staff at the Provo DMV were very helpful in taking my money, but at least in a timely fashion. No screaming babies.

After that adventure in the beginning of the week, we pretty much stayed home and did the eat, sleep, exercise routine for the rest of the week. My supervisor measured Whitney's head. It is offset by 6 mm due to one neck muscle being tight, so I've been working double hard at stretching her neck, making sure she is sleeping with her head centered or on her left side and doing activities toward her left. At 10 mm it is recommended that a baby have one of those clear plastic helmets to reshape the head.

Jim finished the planter boxes. That includes shoveling all the dirt. He filled 6 planter boxes of 8 x 4 x 2 feet full of dirt. The dirt pile was in our neighbor's yard (they wanted the rest of the dirt we didn't use to spread over their yard) so it required moving it then shoveling it. Jim is really tired and sore. He started Wednesday and worked on it until Saturday with his free time. That's a lot of dirt, but our garden is ready and very nice.

While Jim was moving dirt, I was moving Tucker and Whitney out of our room. Whitney is too heavy for her pack and play and Tucker is too long. They still wake up 2-3 times at night, and lifting them from a lying position from the bottom of a pack and play that often isn't going to do me a bit of good. So they moved into the same crib in the other room. I can't believe the phase of life where the babies are in our room is over already!!

Anyway, it has been a great enjoyable week with the babies and some good weather in between. The pictures are of Jim keeping the babies sleeping while I get ready for church, the babies and I playing the piano together, and the blank wall where the babies pack and play used to be. So sad!!

good weather

Isn't it amazing how much good weather can do a body good? We have had 3 days in a row of sunshine and a pleasant breeze. I think it's been in the 60's and almost 70's. I've been able to weed a couple of days in a row and it's been great.

Another thing that does a body good is getting consecutive sleep. I've been able to weed during the second baby naptime because I don't feel this incessant need to sleep every second I'm awake. The babies have been only waking up 2 times in the night, and one of them is around 5-6 am, which isn't as hard to get up for as a midnight feeding. It's been awesome. The babies and I have gone for a walk every day.

We've also been working together as a family in the garden. Jim has been working on the plantar boxes and the shed, making adjustments to previous plans, as we've figured out and paid attention to the amount of sunshine different areas get.

Jim turned 30-something this week. We celebrated by having some friends come over, eating wings and apple pie with vanilla ice cream. I took care of the babies that night so Jim could go to bed whenever he wanted. That's what it's like to celebrate when you are an adult. The simple things in life.

The babies have been getting better at cooing and talking, even Tucker. Whitney does it a lot. I love listening to her talk. She often talks instead of crying when she starts getting hungry. It is a lot more pleasant than screaming. Whitney also has a lot of voice flucuation. It is so cute!!

Tucker has been making "sad face". He has the funniest sad face that I start to laugh and then he doesn't know what to do. He laughs because I am laughing, but he is still upset, so he goes back and forth between laughing and a sad face. Poor child. He is probably confused about how to respond to emotion.

The county nurse came on Monday and measured their weights. Whitney weighed 11 pounds 1 ounce and Tucker weighed 13 pounds and 15 ounces according to her scale. We all know doctor scales are different. This time the doctor scale will most likely be in agreement with my biceps and back muscles. I'm SURE they weigh more:) Most important is that they are happy, healthy and gaining weight.

There is a picture of Jim giving Whitney a bath, Tucker working with Daddy (Tucker is working on trying to break Jim's patience by crying and Jim is really working), Whitney enjoying her bubble bath, Whitney being cute in her pink overalls, and us trying to capture Tucker's sad face when he puckers up his lips. We didn't quite get the sad face but you might get the idea.

aftermath

This week we had a low key week after having so much fun last weekend with everyone here. I had to laugh at the picture of the babies sleeping with their arms up. That was the morning after everyone left. It looks like they are being robbed.

I actually left them with a babysitter this week. Jim couldn't believe I actually was able to do it. I agree with him. It was very hard to leave them for 2.5 hours, but she has 4 younger siblings, very responsible, and her mom said she would be home during that time in order to be available if she had any problems. Her mom said she has called home a few times before when she has had questions during other babysitting jobs. It was very traumatic for me but the babies had fun. They were very happy when I got home and must have had fun playing with the babysitter because they slept well the rest of the day. I worried about them the whole time I was gone. Typical. New parent nervousness.

I got a picture of them in their favorite onesies. Very fun to see Thing 1 and Thing 2 on them, especially since those outfits were so big when they left the hospital and now Tucker is getting close to outgrowing it.!!

We made it to church as a family today. It went really well. No one pooped on the way out the door, but I did think there was a bird in my clothes dryer 5 minutes before we left. Jim checked it out and the bird was pecking at the lint on the outside of the vent, so we made it to church on time still. It really sounded like flapping and a bird hurt in the dryer. I was kind of mad at first that there might have been a bird in the dryer because all my clean clothes were in there, ready to wear. I would have had to do laundry again if the bird was in there. Not cool. The babies have plenty of clean cute outfits, but mommy has a limited supply of clothes that fit and look good on her.

We are still in the newlywed phase together, the babies and us. It is so fun to snuggle with the babies and they seem to like it, too. Whitney really likes to bounce. Daddy likes to bounce her, but his arms get tired. She cries to let him know she still wants to bounce. He wants to get a chair that lets her do it. I say let Daddy and Whitney bond.

The first four pictures are their 3 month photo op at home. The last two pictures are just fun and described above.

baby blessing

Everyone has left us. So sad!! This weekend was very fun. It was Tucker and Whitney's baby blessing on Sunday, Conference weekend, Easter and Scott's birthday. Party hardy!!! Paul and Cathy came in on Wednesday night, my parents came Friday night with Scott, Ryan and Noelle close behind, and Grandma Anderson and Grandma Cindy came Saturday night. Lindsay and Ryall plus Jesse and Asher came for the blessing and to visit another time. Izana and Jonathan, as well as Dave and Jill, came for the baby blessing Sunday. We had a ton of fun, but as my dad said during the last session of conference, "the natives are restless". There was a lot of fun noise and activity but not something the babies were used to. They got a little tired from staying up to socialize.

This week Cathy and Hannah helped me with getting the babies pictures taken in their blessing outfits as well as go shopping in preparation for the crowds. Good thing!! Having more hands to hold the babies and prep really helped, especially since in the beginning of the week Tucker and Whitney got off schedule at night 3 nights in a row. Jim and I were very tired. I think there must be a quota of how much sleep you have to miss as a parent, so the kids are very accommodating in making sure we meet this quota.

Now that everyone is gone, Tucker still wants to be held all the time and Whitney likes to "dance", something she did the most with Grandpa Henry.

Another great thing that happened this weekend was that the planter boxes were mostly finished, thanks to Paul, Jim, Ryan and Erik. Hallelullah!! The garden will be planted this year!!

Anyway, there is a small sample of pics available, but most of you probably got your own on your camera from visiting. Others should get a blessing picture mailed to you.

The pictures are of Scott and Ryan feeding their nephew and niece, Grandma Anderson feeding Tucker, and Jim and I with the babies after their blessing.