3D Ultrasound

We got a 3D ultrasound of our baby this week. We've never had one done before, so we wanted to get one this time. It was so different than I thought! Maybe it's just our doctor, but I didn't realize that they basically paused the black and white ultrasound and switched modes to show the 3D picture. I thought maybe you would be able to see movement - apparently not. Live and learn! But, we did get some really good pictures. I'm so excited to see what our little guy looks like when he makes his debut! The ultrasound technician thinks he looks like Dave already. She clarified that normally she can't tell or doesn't make judgement calls about who the baby looks like - but she said she really can see Dave in him. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since both of our kids resemble their dad so much. What do you think?

This is my favorite! It's amazing to see this little person that we haven't met yet!

Here is his little profile. His arm is raised next to his head. When we showed Bria, she thought he was waving HI.

The ultrasound technician had a hard time getting a picture of his face because his leg kept casting a shadow. It took quite a long time. She did get very good pictures of his feet, which she said is pretty rare. The kids had so much fun counting the toes - yep 5 on each foot. =)

After she took this picture, I said - is that his head behind his foot? Yep, the top of his head. And if you look really close, behind the foot on the right, you can see two of his little fingers poking through. My first reaction was - WOW! - his feet are awfully close to his head. He's really squished! Now, I'm wondering if we are going to have a little gymnast or something. She switched in back to black and white and this is what we saw:

His legs are bent at his hip in a total V shape! His feet are right above his head!! How can that even be comfortable!!! And, he's sideways right now, so I pretty much feel all the movement on one side.

He didn't like getting the ultrasound at all! 3D ultrasounds work better the more still the baby is, but he moved the entire time! If she put the ultrasound anywhere near his hands or feet (which is right by his head - the only part we were really trying to see), he would kick and punch furiously! He wanted nothing of it! It's fun to see his little personality come through so early. We're excited to have him be part of our family!!

PLANTED!!!

YAY!! We finally finished getting our garden planted today! After several days of building, tilling and preparing (not to mention the weeks of tending to the starts inside) it is finally finished! Well, starting the garden is finished - the majority of the work is yet to come, I suppose. But, I'm excited! (Hopefully in the heat of August when I am 9 months pregnant, I won't be kicking myself for wanting such a large garden.....nah!!)

This year we are growing:

• Green Beans
• Tomatoes (5 different kinds)
• Lettuce
• Spinach
• Yellow Onions
• Red Onions
• Peppers
• Peas (regular, snow and sugar snap)
• Strawberries
• Corn
• Zucchini
• Butternut Squash
• Pumpkins
• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Cucumbers
• Rhubarb
• and finally - Raspberries

I know - quite the list. And I would love to add a couple of apple trees sometime this year. We'll see, I guess. Long list, and hopefully a bountiful harvest.

"Mom, you need to take a picture of me!"

Max really likes to swing. I mean REALLY. But, he doesn't know how to swing on his own yet. Every once in a while, but not very often, I'll go push him. But, even when I do, it usually only lasts a few minutes before something else takes my attention away. Today, I pushed him for quite a while. It must have been a memorable moment for him because in the midst of his smiling and laughing, he said "Mom, you need to take a picture of me!" So, either he wants to document his favorite outside activity, or he wants to document a rare moment when Mom actually took time to push him on the swings.....I wonder which?

I've never had an uncle who was a farmer before!

Today we went to Dave's brother Paul's house. We don't go there very often. He lives about an hour away - pretty much in the middle of nowhere. They were having a party to celebrate Kortney's (their daughter) high school graduation. Paul is a farmer. He has been a farmer for a long time. Apparently we don't talk about it very often, or don't visit enough because apparently Bria didn't know that Paul is a farmer. She got such a kick out of all the animals. Keegan took her on a horse ride (bareback!) and they got to pet the pigs and the calves. Max was a little more cautious than Bria and didn't dare get on the horse. But, they both had a grand time visiting the animals. On the ride home, Bria said - "I've never had an uncle who was a farmer before!" Ummm...Bria....you've had a farmer uncle your whole life and didn't even know it!

Max's new discovery

Max has been working diligently the last couple of weeks learning how to dress himself. He likes to change his clothes regularly, and often is in pajamas by mid-afternoon. This dressing and undressing takes a lot of his day - it takes him 15-20 minutes each time he decides to change his clothes. If you try to help, he adamantly refuses! He wants to do it "all mine self!" He often gets himself dressed backwards - both pants and shirt. I really wish I would have had a camera the night he came to me in defeat finally asking for help getting his pajama shirt on. We both had a good laugh when he realized that he was trying to put his pants on top (no wonder it wouldn't work right!).

But, he is getting better and better everyday. He is obsessed with becoming a grown up - not just a bigger kid, but a grown up like mom and dad. So, he is doing EVERYTHING he can to grown up every day!

Being a baby in the 1950s

My mom and I are working on a book that chronicles the life history of my grandpa. Actually, he pretty much wrote his own autobiography - it's over 200 pages long! But, we're trying to put it together with some pictures and other things like certificates that he also saved. It's been fun to get to know him better! Even though I knew him when he was alive, he rarely talked about his life experiences.

In this stash of memorabilia that we have, I found a pamphlet called "Your Baby". It was given to my grandparents when my aunt was born in the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City in 1958. I am SOOOOO thankful that things have changed! I can't imagine having this experience with our baby in the hospital.

Here are a few of the things included in the pamphlet:

• "All babies are kept under close observation in the nursery for at least twelve hours or until the doctor and the nurses feel that the baby is ready to come to you for his feeding."

• "Babies born by Cesarean section are fed in the nursery until the morning of the third day unless the mother feels well enough to handle the baby before this time. However, your baby will be brought to you for at least a few minutes each morning if it is advisable."

• "All babies who weigh more than 5 pounds 8 ounces will be brought to you for feeding at 5:30 am, 9:30 am, 1:30 pm, 5:30 pm and 9:30 pm. The night feeding will be given in the nursery so that you may sleep all night without being disturbed by your own baby."

• "Breast Feeding:
  Breast-fed babies are usually brought to the mother as soon after 12 hours as is practical. Before your milk 'comes in', or until the morning of the third day, your baby will come to you with a small bottle of water. The baby should not be allowed to nurse over three minutes at each nursing before the milk 'comes in', because prolonged nursing causes sore and possible cracked nipples."

• "Bottle Feeding:
  Bottle fed babies are brought to the mother for feedings as soon after 12 hours as seems practical. They are fed nothing but water until the morning of the second day, then formula is started."

Isn't that crazy!! I like having my babies with me, even all night. I can't imagine having the baby drink nothing buy WATER until at least 12 hours has passed!! And, not being able to see them!!Seriously!!

Garden Party

It's finally warming up here!! YEAH!! So, for Family Home Evening last night, we worked on our garden. Last year, we built 4 boxes for our garden, but this year we wanted to add on. I'm so lucky to have such a talented and hard working husband!! I never would have been able to do a project like this myself!

We added a fifth small box this year, and one very large box that we can grown squash and corn and other larger vegetables. I'm so excited to get everything planted!

The kids had a BLAST helping! Max especially. He was right by his dad's side all night working away. He is most definitely his dad in miniature.

The kids had so much fun shoveling a raking the dirt.

Here is the end result:

We have peas, strawberries and raspberry starts already in. We have a whole list of other plants that will be going in soon. I can't wait!! More updates to come, I'm sure. =)

A little bit of couponing goes a long way!!

Ok - I normally don't post anything like this, but I am so excited today, I just had to take a minute and brag. I've been kind of getting into the whole couponing scene lately. I've always heard of people saving TONS of money, but I never thought that WE could be those people. After learning how to coupon and seeing the difference in our grocery bill, I seriously don't think I could go back to shopping like a normal person anymore!

Here is what I got today:

2 boxes Kellogg's Frosted Flakes

2 boxes Kellogg's Rice Krispies

4 boxes Kellogg's Raisin Bran Crunch

8 boxes Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats

4 boxes Kellogg's Raisin Bran

4 tubs Betty Crocker Frosting

4 (4-packs) Yoplait Plus Yogurt

2 boxes Betty Crocker Sweet Potatoes

8 boxes Suddenly Salad

6 boxes Philadelphia Cream Cheese

8 GE Energy Smart light bulbs

Any guesses on what my grand total was?

$14.63 - and that includes the tax!

My savings was $177.09

Because I'm such a doubter when people tell me how awesome the deal was, I thought I better include copies of my receipts. The first was at Broulims, and the last 2 are at Albertsons.

YEAH! It's so exciting to save money!!

Mother's Day

Can I just say that I LOVE DAVE!!! He was incredible this year on Mother's Day. Not that he isn't ever other day of the year, but he really came through. We were still in Utah and weren't going to be home until evening, so I honestly wasn't expecting ANYTHING this year! But, he did the coolest thing! He called in and ordered a room service breakfast to be delivered to our hotel room. When we got a knock at the door, we thought they had made a room number mistake! The person delivering the food handled the situation really well. He insisted that he needed to come in and set the food down first. Then, he handed us a card and said "Happy Mother's Day!" We were all starving and the food was delicious! He got waffles topped with fresh fruit for the kids and yummy omelets, potatoes and fresh squeezed orange juice for my mom and I.

As if that weren't enough! When we home, I was so tired, I was ready to crawl into bed. I mean, I am pregnant....and anemic....and had just had a very long 4 days. When I walked through the door, Dave had:

dinner all ready,

the house cleaned spotless,

the laundry washed and folded,

and, a vase of roses for me!

How lucky am I to have such an incredible husband!!

Tyson's Graduation

Me and the kids had a WAY FUN weekend. My brother, Tyson was graduating from the University of Utah, so the three of us took a trip down. We were so sad to leave Dave at home. He had a concert he had to film over the weekend. And, we want to save as may personal days from work as possible so we can use them when the baby comes. I wish he could have gone...it's just not the same without him!

My mom flew up from Albuquerque and brought my sister and her new twin babies. (I don't know why, but I didn't manage to get any pictures of my kids with their new cousins!). We spent a ton of time with my brother and his adorable girlfriend (whom we are hoping becomes more very soon....cross our fingers). It was great!

I knew when Dave bought our camera, he was getting a really good one, but I never appreciated it until now. Anyone who has been in the Huntsman center at the UofU will also appreciate this incredible picture. We had to pick up my Aunt before the graduation, so we were running a little bit late. By the time we found parking and found the shuttle to take us back up the hill, we were about 15 minutes late! Luckily, there were several department scheduled to graduate at the same time, so they hadn't even started on reading names yet. But, we were literally on the BACK row of the balcony! I had no idea the zoom on our lens was so INCREDIBLE!!! I never dreamed we could get a picture of Tyson getting handed his diploma! Pretty cool!

Right after the graduation - my mom is right behind me and my aunt Ann is on the other side of Tyson.

After the graduation, we went to a celebration lunch at Red Lobster. Our kids were incredibly good! I got compliment after compliment. Not that I don't think we have pretty good kids - they are just very active and energetic! They were acting exceptionally well behaved at lunch. I finally decided that they must have been so sleep deprived by this point that they were just being lethargic!

We got to go to a park and play with one of their other cousins - Bion. He is the twin's older brother. The park had an stream and a little waterfall. It was cool!

But, as cool as the stream and waterfall were, Max couldn't get over the REAL popcorn tree!

We did quite a few other things, but I was lazy and didn't take very many pictures. My brother took us all to Ikea - none of us had ever been. The kids had a blast!

And, of course, we went to Temple Square to see all the gorgeous flowers. No matter how many times I go, I am always amazed at the gardeners that work there. Please - Help me with my backyard!!!

Tyson lives just about a block away from Temple Square - how cool is that!! He doesn't even have a car because he can pretty much just walk everywhere he needs to go. We couldn't resist taking some pictures of him and his girlfriend, Jalim.

Max absolutely LOVED staying in the hotel with Grandma. The plan was to have the kids share a bed with me so she could have her own place to sleep. When we were settling in, Max was very frustrated with me because I was taking all the room and there was no place for his dragon. I told him that either his dragon needed to find another place to sleep, or he was welcome to sleep on the floor with his dragon. (I mean, really, he was sharing the bed with ME not the other way around!) Max quickly got out of our bed, walked over to Grandma and very politely said: "Grandma, can we sleep with you in your bed?" It was so cute!! Who could resist! He cried for quite a lot of the drive home. He was so sad that we couldn't stay in the hotel and sleep with Grandma some more!

It was such a fun weekend! We all came home so exhausted, but it was soooo nice to get out of the house for a few days!

Blogging SLACKER!

I have been a total blogging slacker lately. I can't believe it's almost been THREE WEEKS since I last posted!!

It's not that nothing has happened, cause we've actually been pretty busy. But I really do have a good excuse.... I'm tired. I know.....I'm pregnant. But, I have been EXHAUSTED! I literally put the kids to bed and fall asleep myself every single night. At least I'm off my mid-day naps now. Even a month ago I couldn't go a whole day without some time to take a little afternoon nap. The DR thinks I'm anemic. I was when I was pregnant with Max. He didn't check my iron at the appointment, but he said that my iron has been lower than with my last pregnancy so far, so he took a pretty good guess and said that's probably why I've been so incredibly tired. So, now I'm on iron twice a day. It seems to be helping, but the "fine print" says it may take a few weeks to a couple of months to start feeling more normal.

So, good excuse or not....that's why I've been a blogging slacker.