obligatory christmas post

Anyone else experiencing the post-christmas blues? Quinn went back to work after a spectacular 5 day weekend so I was feeling blue. Maybe if I tell you about the weekend I will feel better.

It started with Christmas lights at temple square. A fine time was had by all (except for poor Sara. You can read about her story here).



Here's Grandma and Grandpa



Lola sat on Uncle Andrew's shoulders and sang him Christmas carols.




It also included a trip to Santa who may have smelled like beef and cheese. Thankfully, Forrest forgot to ask him if he was a FAKE Santa like he was planning. Geez...that kid.




It also included some stocking-ed feet and it looks like there may have been some hurt feelings. Maybe the stockings were too tight...




It also included an awesome lego boat that I really had fun building with Forr.



Quinn's fav present. He said he wanted it to be tight to show off his muscles.



It also involved an awesome baby. We love our Eli.



It ended on Monday night with my sweetie taking me to the movies. We saw True Grit. It was fantastic.

If you should one day happen to find yourself…

With a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and a newborn, firstly you should consider yourself extremely blessed. Secondly, you should consider these things which might make your life a bit easier:

1. If aforementioned 4 and 2 year olds share a room and wake up in the wee hours (wee hours= any time before your sleep-deprived self would like to get out of bed) consider turning the channel of your tv to 16-2 (the channel that plays cartoons and Montell Williams commercials all the time) each night after you and the hubs finish watching episodes of Madmen. Also, teach your kids how to turn on the tv by themselves.
2. Put some food that they will eat (I would suggest goldfish crackers and chocolate teddy grahams) in a place where they can reach it. Warning: these items will disappear quickly and might constitute the children’s breakfast on some(most) mornings. However, this, along with suggestion #1 will allow you to sleep past 5 am. Also, don’t forget to put some plastic cups where they can reach them and don’t get mad when there is water all over the floor. Just be grateful you got to sleep past 5 am.
3. When you sit down to feed the newborn, bring the bottle of hand sanitizer with you. That way, when the other children immediately materialize and begin pawing at the baby you can kill the germs causing their snot waterfalls before they infect your teeny tiny baby.
4. Whenever the 2 year old asks you to “mawy” (marry) you must certainly agree to do it. Marrying or mawying means you go into the kitchen where the music is playing, join hands and dance. You must do this because your 2 year old is adorable, it really is fun, and finally, because she will grow up and someday mawy some guy for real.
5. Learn to appreciate the 4 year old’s…um…zest for life. Understand that his need to make random high-pitched noises and fire his toy gun repeatedly in your ear are a result of being cooped up inside for a month. Write down some of the awesome things he says.
6. Remember how quickly the newborn phase passes and snuggle this warm, soft piece of heaven all day long.
7. Also remember every day that life is a progress, not a station. Try not to feel so sad that these days aren’t going to last forever that you don’t properly appreciate and enjoy them.

Just so you know, I chicken-pecked this entire post while pumping.
Moooooooooo

Meet Eli

Elias Walker Evans born 11/12/10 at 1:30 pm 5 lbs. 15 oz.



He surprised us all by coming 3 weeks plus 1 day early. What a happy surprise!



Mommy loves him



Daddy loves him



Forr and Lo love him too



Some details:
I started having regular contractions last Thursday at about 7:30 pm. Considering my other babies were late and I had to be induced with both, I was sure I was in fake labor and the contractions would stop. Alas, they kept coming. Around 11:00 pm I informed my sweet husband that we should possibly pack some bags.

We arrived at the hospital around 2:00 am on Friday morning where my contractions decided to slooooooow waaaaaaay down. Frustrating. We hung out and hung out and walked around the maternity ward until the nurse broke my water around 12:45 pm. Baby came like a freight train! Neither the doctor nor the doula made it in time for the delivery. Two sweet nurses delivered the baby. It was exciting. Eli's delivery was a beautiful experience which I will never forget. Quinn was the best doula ever! He was truly amazing.

We have been home for just a week and our baby has been having trouble gaining weight. It seems like all I do is try to force food into a sleeping baby, pump, and wash bottles. He has another doctor appt tomorrow and I feel like we are on The Biggest Gainer. I hope he has put on some ounces. I'll keep you posted.

The Fabricators

I just got home from pack meeting where Fabricator No. 1 told the nice couple that lives down the street, "my mom has shawp knives. She cuts my fingews with them."



She also kept telling me yesterday that "Forrest threw Grant down the staiws." Grant is my cousin's toddler who was over here yesterday but absolutely did not get thrown the stairs by Forrest. Unless I totally missed it. Which is a possibility but I'm 99% sure it didn't happen.

Fabricator No. 2.



This one keeps telling me that I fed him peanut cake and that that is why he keeps coughing. Seriously. When I tell him that the only only only time he has had peanuts was when he was a baby he tells me that what I am telling him is just not true.

Nine Years??

Seriously, nine years?

It seems like yesterday these clueless lovebirds tied the knot.




At the tender age of 21, I knew I loved Quinn. I knew he was a good man. I also knew he was handsome, hilarious, responsible, courageous and kind. But I had no idea how I would feel about him 9 years into it.

I could never have imagined how much my love for him would increase in 9 years. How I would love the crow's feet that now creep up around his eyes when he smiles at me. Or how proud of him I would be for working his arse off to get his Engineering degree so he could take care of his family. Or how my heart would melt at the site of him staring into the face of a newborn baby. Or how he would wake up at 5:30 in the am on our 9th anniversary so there would be beautiful flowers waiting for me on the kitchen table when I woke up.



What can I say? I'm still head over heels for the guy.

Here we are today. A bit older but also a bit wiser.



Happy 9th babe. Here's to 999,999,999,999,999... more.

Love,
Mae

The Incident....and your opinion please

I had a doctor's appt today (I have just over 9 weeks until a child will be emerging from my body to change my existence forever). We got outta there around 10:30 and did NOT want to go home since we have been cooped up in The Vomitorioum (which has been my house) for the past 2 days.

We decided to kill some time at the library downtown. The kids section was pretty stinkin' cool and Forr and Lo were having a great time exploring. While they were playing Magic School Bus computer games I called my Dad to see if he wanted to meet us for lunch, which he did, and we decided to stay and play for about 5 more minutes and then we were going to head out.

Since it is still GLORIOUS weather we wanted to check out the outdoor part of the kids section on our way out. A few tables with chairs were set up and there were two huge walls with water cascading down next to the tables. There was a woman sitting at one of the tables and she was reading with her daughter who looked to be about 6. There were some pretend hieroglyphics decorating a little cave area with several doors to go in and out. Well, my kids were so happy not to be puking anymore and to be outside in the sunshine so of course they were running around and having fun which included some shouting. Big deal. We were outside.

Apparently it was a big deal because after about 2 minutes the woman at the table slammed her children's book shut and shouted something about peace and quiet. I was perplexed/shocked so I asked her, "Oh, are we bothering you?" She didn't say anything so I let me kids run around some more. She started huffing and puffing and packing all of her stuff up really crazy-like and so I said, "don't leave on our account, we have to leave anyway." to which she didn't reply...she wouldn't even look at me she was just slamming things around and pretty much throwing a childish tantrum. What could I do but laugh out loud...it was funny. She didn't think my laughing was funny and she growled at me. Really, she did. A grown woman growled at me today. I told my kids it was time to go meet Grampa and we left. I was bewildered and spent the entire walk to my car wondering what the heck just happened.

Okay, I get that it was the library and you're supposed to be quiet. But outside in the kids section????? Besides, my kids were being rowdy but it wasn't like they were jumping on her table or anything. I'm not sure what I would have done had we not had the lunch date with my dad. I'm not much one for fighting in general and by nature am not confrontational but I wouldn't want my kids to think that just because someone is being a jerk you have rearrange your day or go back inside or be quiet. I also thought of the saying about wrestling in the mud with a pig...

I don't know. What would you have done? Please share.

Some Very Important Items

Much to our surprise yesterday after 2 months of flat-out refusing to be in the primary program Forrest decided to join the other children on the stand in the chapel. We didn't pressure him or make a big deal about but I really did hope he would decide to it. He also waltzed up to the microphone to say his part when it was his turn which surprised the heck out of me and totally made me cry. Meanwhile, Lola was beating up my mom and calling her names in the pew.




AND...Lola's potty-trained. All it really took was getting her some tinkerbell panties and she was there. She spent 2 weeks carting around armloads of panties and studying them every time she sat down.



Lola also got some new glittery Sunday shoes that obviously hurt her ankles. She refuses to let me put band-aids on the parts of her foot that the shoes rub raw but also insists on wearing the shoes so she just sort of hobbles around in them. My mom came up to watch the primary program yesterday and we had to laugh because both she and I were wearing shoes that hurt our feet. The three of us hobbled out to the car after the block. What can I say besides: beauty hurts.

And I haven't called Cache Valley to complain about the unmeltable cheese because my to-do list is already too long:
1. Make DDS Appts.
2. Find out if Lola needs a booster shot for the flu shot she got last week.
3. Get Forr's bloodwoork done and get him into the allergist.
4. Get Lola out of her crib and into a bed.
5. Show Forrest pictures of what lungs looks like.
6. Many many household chores are also on this list but I am not going to mention any of them.

can someone please tell me why

the cheese didn't melt on the pizza I made for dinner last night?




I lovingly kneaded the dough. I seasoned and blackened the chicken. I chopped, seeded, zested, and squeezed the makings of the salsa. I was invested in this pizza.

It wasn't even cheap cheese either. It was decent cheese. Cache Valley Pepper Jack cheese to be exact. Cheese that I have melted on top of nachos and hamburgers and have even melted on this pizza when I have made it in the past.

I just might call Cache Valley and give them a piece of my mind about this unmeltable cheese they are selling.

my dream guy

Last night was pretty bad between the sick 4-year-old and the newly potty trained 2- year-old that woke up 2wice to go potty in the toilet (weird, right?? but I'm not complaining).

Even though he had to go work today and I didn't, he helped me with the kids last night. I mean pretty much all night -we both woke up feeling as if we hadn't gone to bed.

He called to check on me this morning and I told him I felt like I was moving through molasses. He asked if I needed to go anywhere because he had accidentally taken both sets of keys to work. I told him since I was pretty sure we had enough children's motrin to last through the day he didn't need to worry about getting the keys back to me.

As I was getting out of the shower I heard the kids running into the kitchen screaming, "daddy! daddy!" which they always do when he comes home. He brought me car keys, children's motrin, and a raspberry cream cheese danish from the bakery down the street. All this despite the fact that he is SWAMPED at work.

After lunch, I horked the entire thing down in about 10 seconds and then texted him to tell him thanks and that it was delicious. He texted me back that he loved me.

The truth is that this behavior isn't even rare. This is the guy I get all the time.

I have the best husband ever. ever. ever.

Girls Night Out

Tuesday morning my sister, Chelsea, my mom, and I (along with my chitlins) headed East for the Cherokee Ranch to go camping.

My mom was so nice to give me a break and hang out with Lola at the toilet (potty training.....argh). Forr and Grandma caught 2 horny toads. We saw a dead tree that had been struck by lightning and completely blown apart. I'm not going to mention any names but someone got walked-in-on by an old man while going to the bathroom at a gas station.

I am indeed blessed to have these two awesome women in my life. Love you mom and Chelsea. What would I do without you?

Q: What's big, hairy, and a bit scary?

A: Forrest's new pet, Flash the tarantula.

(sorry it's a sucky picture)

Quinn spotted the hairy arachnid on our front porch yesterday morning during the monsoon. I think he (I keep calling it a boy even though I have no idea how you tell if a spider is male or female??) was just trying to get out of the rain. When Quinn asked me to grab him a mason jar with a lid I had no idea it was so he could catch a tarantula.




It turns out that a tarantula is not a bad pet to have. Quinn did some research and apparently the biggest danger to your pet tarantula is being handled by a human so thankfully they don't need to be picked up and loved. However, they are very docile and when they get scared, their first instinct is to run- not bite.

All they require is a 5 gallon tank, dirt, water, occasional bugs to eat, and a place to hide. They don't even poop. Which I take to mean that they don't stink.

I have to admit that I keep imagining all the scenarios which would result in him getting out and being loose in my house---aaaahhhh! I am also wondering about who's going to reach their hand in his cage to give him a bug or more water. I can assure you that it won't be me.

On a completely unrelated note: my kids have been taking lots of pictures lately and amongst the pictures of carpet, curtains, and about 20 pics of some lady's plumber-crack at a parade, one of them happened to take a pic of my preg belly so here it is:


Can't wait to meet our new baby boy!!!

expensive lunch date

Today was doctor appts. Hooray.

Kidding. Wait, kidding about the hooray part, not the doc appt part.

Forrest had his 4 year old appt and Lola had a follow-up ear infection appt for an ear infection she had probably more than a month ago. That's how on top of things I am.

After the doc we met the hubs for lunch at Jimmy Johns. After we finished we were greeted by parking tickets on BOTH of our cars to the tune of $50 smackers apeice!! Apparently there were signs posted saying 'no jimmy johns parkers allowed' which I didn't see. Really, I didn't because I would have followed the rule.

Is it breaking the rule if you didn't see the sign?

For my revenge, I'm considering staging a stake out in that parking lot in order to find the secret spy who sits and watches for rule breakers in order to put tickets on their cars. I'm thinking I might just tell that secret spy how lame I think that is.

The end.

Forr is Four!

What!!!! How the heck did that happen?

I remember waiting anxiously for your birth. You were a week late. In August. It was brutal.

I also remember waiting anxiously for your birth in the hospital. Pushing for 3 1/2 hours and your chubby little self just didn't want to come out.

Finally....you decided to make your entrance into my life. I remember you laying on my chest immediately after delivery, all purple and your poor little head was so bruised and deformed. I remember that moment exactly. "We did it," I whispered to you. I thought you were beautiful. I still do.

You think you're so rough and tough now. Such a big boy but you are still my little strawberry. My little strawberry who gives me a biiiiig hug and kiss first thing every morning. I love the way you talk to and kiss your new little brother (who is still in my tummy). I also love your impossibly big blue eyes.

I often think about what you will be like as a grown man. I pray that I do right by you and am the kind of mommy you deserve.

I love you so much. Happy Birthday.

Love,

Mommy

anything but that

Just knowing that dr laura business was on there was making me way too embarassed. Here are some pictures from last fall that are a bit less embarassing.

Recent happenings that I blame on being pregnant

1. I have to cross my legs whenever I sneeze or laugh really hard in order to avoid peeing my pants.

2. I cry during any country song I hear.

3. I play a little gameshow I made up every morning when I get dressed that I like to call, WILL...IT...FIT??!!

4. The smell of dino nuggets makes me want to vomit.

5. I cried when my hubs left for scout camp.

6. I eat a bowl of cereal every night before bed.

7. I can't fit both my rowdies on my lap at the same time when I read to them.

8. I feel a little guilty when I drink Diet Coke.

9. I think I am moaning and groaning too much when I get up because I heard Lola let out a total old-lady groan when she got up off the floor this morning.

10. I may or may not have called (and talked to) Dr. Laura. Yes, true and embarassing as it is, I did. Would you care to know how the phone call went? If so, read on.

Well, I called her after one particularly stressful morning because I thought I had abused my child. She told me that I was justified in what I had done, that I wasn't abusive, and that my only mistake was apologizing to my little...treasure. Incidentally she also told me that my child didn't see me as an authority figure and that was why he was doing what had caused the incident. She also told me some long story that I didn't hear a word of because I was on a cell phone and I didn't dare ask her to repeat herself. She also told me a joke she thought was really funny and laughed really loudly in my ear. Then she told me to splash some cold water on my face because I was bawling. I am such a weirdo, right?? My mother was highly offended that I didn't turn to her before Dr. Laura.

You can stop laughing at me now...

Family Camp 2010

We went camping last week...

along with all of Quinn's brothers and sisters (except for Cade who lives out of state) so there was no shortage of kids. When I say 'no shortage of kids' I mean there were fourteen kids. Some of whom are growing into adults at an alarming rate. I had to double take when I saw Weston climb behind the wheel of his father's truck and drive to the lake. Wow. It made me feel really old.

We had an awesome time.

To say the kids had fun would be a gross understatement. The kids had so much fun. The played in the dirt, rode bikes, played in the dirt, threw rocks in the river, played in the dirt, waded in the stream, played in the dirt-- did I mention that they played in the dirt??

To sum it up: they went to bed every night after 10:00 pm filthy and full of sugar.

Here is my handsome hubby setting up our tent.


Throwing rocks into the lake is very serious business.



Forrest and Hayden: BFF's


Lola and Siera patiently awaiting their turn on Siera's big wheel


Uncle Jared playing Candyland with the rowdies


Ally and Lola


Even after 3 days without a shower (I did take a bath in the freezing stream-- does that count?) and 3 nights on an air mattresss in a tent I was really sad to go home.

But not sad to use a flushing toilet, take a shower, and sleep in my bed.

bodily functions

This afternoon someone (I wouldn't want to mention any names cough*forrest*cough)peed inside one of my living room cabinets.

I'm still not sure why.

This evening, I had a "chocolate or poop" moment involving a brown blob in my entryway.

Unfortunately for me it was the latter.

At age seventeen, I truly had no idea how much my late twenties/early thirties would involve poop and pee.

Some Baby News

Last Friday we had our ultrasound.

We marveled at modern medicine as we watched our newest family member wiggle around in utero on the screen.

Our baby's kidney function is great. Apparently they can tell this by the level of amniotic fluid present which I learned at this stage of pregnancy is actually just baby pee.

We got to see all four chambers of the heart pumping like gang-busters. According to the doctor they look great.

They were also able to tell us that our baby doesn't have a cleft palatte. Our baby has two arms and two legs and appears to be healthy in every way which I find miraculous considering everything involved in a developing fetus. My heart swells with love and I feel fiercely protective of this tiny being growing inside me.

Oh yeah, in case you're wondering...it's a boy!!!!!

My little Rock Starts

Rock Start is Lola-speak for Rock Star.



I swore I would NEVER buy my kids awful, plastic guitars. It was just a little rule I had like never buying them tennis shoes with characters on them. I don't know why, I just don't like them (sorry if your kids are wearing them).

We were at the DI the other day (I love the DI- go ahead and ask me if my shirt itches...'cause it did when you had it). Whatever, I love the DI. Anyway I let the kids each take $5 of their own money to spend (note: that was too big of a sum...next time it will be $2). Guess what toy Forr picked up and got all Tom Petty with? A huge, hideous, purple, Kawasaki toy guitar. He was into it. Man, was he into it. He was holding it all cool and just completely rockin' out. I was disappointed to say the least but turned it over to see if it was below the $5 mark. "Awe shucks buddy. This costs $10 dollars. That's more than you have." I acted sad when I told him but I sure wasn't.

Well, as luck would have it, a very sweet DI employee overheard this exchange and went to see what she could do about that $10 price tag on that guitar (no no no nooooooo nooooooooooooo I tried to mentally connect with her but she wasn't havin' it). She came back and informed Forrest that the Kawasaki "Mega Chords" guitar was really only $2. Her incredible kindness didn't end there. She also found a Hannah Montana guitar for Lola which was also $2. Lola could care less though. She has maybe picked it up twice since we brought them home a few weeks ago.

The kicker- the volume on Forr's guitar is broken. It's not broken on the soft end either- it's turned up all the way, all the time. It does not make beautiful music. It's mind-numbing and headache-creating and pretty much drives me IN. SANE. But what do I do? I pretend I love it.

The silver lining: I get to listen to the songs he makes up while he plays it. I heard one about an ugly woman who only wore her underpants and she was mean because she didn't want any playdates.

Summer 2010

So I feel so uncreative in my blogging technique lately. My brain has pretty much turned into oatmeal...not even hot fresh steel cut oats with butter and brown sugar...it's the stuff that gets left on the stove for hours and turns cold and globby. That's my brain. For example, yesterday I was getting so frustrated because the dryer wouldn't turn on. It took me a great while to discover that I was trying to turn it on with the door wide open...

Preg update: feeling great! Loving yogurt, fruit, and cereal. I think it's a boy but we will find out for sure in a few weeks.

Have you all been dying for another slideshow full of pictures of my children? Well, you're in luck!

To begin, did you all know that Lola is a princess? Well, she is. Thanks grandma and grampa for the outfit (SO ADORABLE!!) Notice that she is wearing her "ball shoes." They are called that not because she could wear them to a ball or something, just because of the balls on them.


Everytime I bake something, Forrest goes about the very serious business of washing all the dishes for me. As you can tell by his face, he takes the job very seriously.


These are all pictures of mommy's belly with a baby inside drawn by Forrest. Pretty good I'd say.


Mi familia. How I adore them...


Quinn was "moving the lawn" as Lola calls it and came around the corner to find these babies sharing a moment. So adorable.


Oh yeah. Here is our 2nd strawberry harvest. Crazy, right? Yep, crazy yummy.


Everyone have a great 4th!!

Losey turned 2!

Happy birthday baby!

Since we had a pm wedding to attend (THANKS again Sara and Ryan for babysitting- you guys are the very best) we had Lola's happy birthday in the morning and had cake for breakfast :) It was delicious (although lopsided).

A snapshot of Lola at 2 years old:

-Lola is possibly the worst hider in the whole world. When she knows someone's coming to find her she giggles and squeals so loudly it totally gives her away.

-Lola wants to be just like her big brother. She repeats everything he says and does everything he does.

-Lola has the most beautiful eyes of anyone on the planet.

-Lola calls root beer "root beard."

-Lola is a hopeless bookworm.

-Forrest names every box elder bug he catches "Gilbert" and Lola calls them all "yogurt."

-Lola loves to laugh and have fun.

-Lola, your family loves you very much! Thanks for being you.

my day

This morning I got rear-ended on the freeway (thankfully, nobody was hurt).

Then, I spent nearly the entire day having a "Jurassic Journey" at cub scout camp.

Afterwards, while trying to help a woman get her ENORMOUS vehicle out of a teeny tiny (I sure wish I knew how to make that word actually small) "parking space" (I put that in quotations because it wasn't a parking space at all. It was a gap between some trees) anyway, I was trying to guide her out of the space and she crashed her car into some trees. I felt really dumb and she was really mad.

When I told Quinn about it I started crying (I am blaming the pregnancy). He just laughed hysterically. When I got to my mom's house to pick up my kids I told her and my brother and sister-in-law and they all laughed hysterically too. I guess it was funny.

How was your day?

Lately our life has consisted of:

some pretty awesome outfits,



tender moments (luckily there are rewards for the not-so-tender-moments),



a camping trip,



Oh yeah, and we have some news


It's faint but there's a plus sign there. Baby number three is scheduled to arrive December 4th. We couldn't be more excited.

Sorry about posting a picture of something I peed on :)