Today

Here's the picture of the front of the house. It's hard to see all the landscaping, as this side of the house never sees the sun. But you can use your imagination and trust me when I say that it looks so much better than it did before.


Okay, quick recap of the day. Allie has had a herniated belly button since she was a baby, and we decided it was time to get it fixed. Partly because it was clear that it wasn't going to resolve on its own, and partly because I knew we had reached our deductible for the year, insurance-wise, and that it would cost us less this year than it may next year. So, today was the day.

Allie and I got to the hospital at 6:30 and were home by 10:00. Everything went smoothly, and despite the tough time she had waking up from anesthesia (typical Allie, she has never liked waking up), she has bounced back very quickly.

Here she is pre-surgery. She was actually quite excited.

And here's the belly shot. Stay tuned in a couple of weeks for the after pic. Hopefully there will be a slight change.


I guess Kyla must have felt left out today, although she got to lie around, watching movies and eating pudding with Allie all day. Tonight she found a pair of scissors....

...and tried to give herself a mullet.


It could have been so, so, SO much worse, but it looks like she is going to have to go short, and the ponytail she has been coveting will have to wait. And wait, and wait and wait, because her hair just doesn't grow very fast. She did cry when I informed her that her ponytail dreams were gone, so I'm hoping that is enough to keep her from doing it again (and a much more destructive job in the future).

Here is a quick video clip of Carter. He started crawling this week, which is so fun. I tried to film him crawling, but instead caught him doing something else that he loves to do: tapping. He MUST tap on every surface he comes in contact with. I'm not sure why, exactly, but he is always doing it. And I love how he has to use both hands on the vent, which he had never tapped before.



Okay, more to come. But enough for now.

Still Here

I haven't posted in a while. Mostly because we have been having some major computer issues and our PC won't even start unless it's in Safe Mode. We have also been extremely busy these last few days, picking out plants for our yard and then actually planting them. Jeff and I were the main laborers, but we also had a lot of help from my bro, Eric; Jeff's bro, Greg; and Jeff's dad. My right hand is so sore from gripping the shovels and digging through the hard, hard ground. But it looks awesome. I'll get some pics soon (the city is fixing the gutter in front of our house, so as soon as it gets poured on Monday, I'll get the camera out there).

I wanted to post a quick update, though, so that my few followers don't start to worry about me. We're still here and doing just fine. Kyla is still Kyla. When we were at the nursery picking out plants, we left Kyla and Allie in the golf cart while we were looking at trees. Suddenly, I hear Allie shrieking, "Kyla!" We looked over to see Kyla with her foot on the gas pedal, hand on the steering wheel, heading straight for the trees. Luckily, she ran the cart into a bank of sawdust, and we all got a good laugh out of that. I asked her how she knew which pedal to push, and she told me, "I just want to drive, I tried them both." Typical KyKy.

Also, a story from the "Daughter of a Dentist" file. I was brushing Allie's hair before school one day, and I was using the "soft brush," or the one that doesn't hurt (it also doesn't do much for tangles, either). I had to switch to a harder brush, one that would actually get the tangles out, and Allie asked me if I would go back to the soft brush. I told her that the soft brush wasn't working anymore, and that I needed a brush with some teeth to get the tangles out. She thought about this for a minute, and then asked, "Does the soft brush just have gums?" Apparently she is her father's daughter.

More to come. Hopefully from the PC, but I promise that I'll get back on the laptop if I have to.

Carter

Carter still has never had a professional take his pictures. Poor, neglected fourth child. One day, he and I were sitting on the trampoline while the kids were terrorizing the next door neighbors, and I decided to grab Jeff's camera and take some pictures of my own. I am no professional, but I did get a couple shots that I think are pretty cute. And maybe Carter won't feel quite so neglected when he gets older and his scrapbook is a fourth the size of Damon's (that is, if he even gets a scrapbook. Something else I need to get working on!).

I love the profile shot. Those chubby cheeks and tiny lips! Cute only on a baby!

The only one I could get of him smiling. In the future, I definitely need an assistant (meaning: one of the children) to get him to smile for me. He has a great smile and a cute little dimple, but you can't really see it here.

I think this is my favorite one of all. So serious. Yet I just want to eat him for dinner.

Labor Day + Domesticity

I know I'm behind. I just haven't felt very "bloggy" lately. That needs to change.

On Labor Day we took the kids on a short hike to Escalante's Cross up Spanish Fork Canyon. This cross marks the spot (the supposed spot) that Father Escalante stood at and surveyed the valley in 1776. Look closely, you can see Carter "waving."

Carter spent most of the hike riding in comfort. Here he is nearly asleep.

Also, people have been telling me lately that my hair is getting really long. I thought we'd use a comparison here. This was last June:

And this was recently. It's a little hard to see, but you can tell it's pretty far down my back. I may have 8 inches to cut off. We'll see how I feel about that...

With Allie in school in the afternoons, and Carter sleeping, Kyla is trying to figure out what to do with herself every day. We alternate between playing Starfall, watching kid shows, playing together and reading books. Today, after we watched Pinky Dinky Doo, I asked her to tell me a story. She told me three. They were all about someone going to the store to buy candy. Or gum. And sharing with everyone. Except for "the chubby bubby, because he would choke," as she put it. It made me laugh. Two Wednesdays a month I am going to help in Allie's class and she gets to come with me. Tomorrow is our first time. I know she thinks she should be in kindergarten, so we'll see how she does as a "helper."

Also, a word about Bountiful Baskets. I have been doing it for a while now, and I must say, it has changed the way we eat (in a good way). Because we get so much produce, we have to eat some every day so it doesn't go bad, and I am forced to figure out how to cook things we haven't ever eaten before. Today I made some Sweet Potato Muffins because we got sweet potatoes two weeks in a row. Tonight we're going to have Butternut squash with our meal, and I have to work in several other fruits and veggies the rest of the week. Jeff brought home some blackberries from work (someone brought them in) and so I need to make him a Blackberry Cobbler tonight.

AND, someone left a bushel of peaches on our driveway and so I spent yesterday making freezer jam. I have 12 small jars and 2 big jars of peach jam. Hopefully enough to last us until next year, and tasty enough to give the neighbors for Christmas. The goal is to can the rest of the peaches, but I need help with that, so we'll see if that gets done. Aren't I all domestic? Maybe I will make a good Mormon woman after all. Time will tell.

First day and Seven Months

Damon started school last week, his first day of third grade. He has a thing for the color yellow, so of course he chose this shirt to wear. Truth be told, he wore it again on Monday and tried to wear it again today, but I convinced him it needed to be washed.

He is loving third grade and has already started learning times tables. I remember third grade very well, so it's crazy to me that I have a third grader. Weird. Damon has several girls who like him, and he pretends that he doesn't care, but I know the truth. He loves the attention.

Allie didn't start Kindergarten until Wednesday, a full week after Damon started. She was so excited. And she has loved it. I knew she would. Allie has really amazed me this year, and is going to be great in school. She reads better than Damon did when he started Kindergarten, which really surprised me. She has picked it up so easily.

Kyla is the one who is left out this year. Poor girl, as soon as Allie leaves in the afternoon, she has to entertain herself. I made some play dough for her on Wednesday and the mess that followed the next two days have convinced me that we won't be doing that again for a while. Kyla needs a lot of work on her own academic skills, so I am planning on using a day or two a week to focus on "preschool" needs of her own. I just couldn't justify sending her to preschool this year. We'll worry about that next year.

Carter celebrated his seven month birthday by getting his six month shots. Boo. I hate shots, and Carter did too. He didn't smile for over 24 hours and slept a lot. Slowly, he's coming back to himself. I missed him. At his appointment, he weighed 21 lbs 4 oz, so slightly less than Damon at the same age. Still, 90th percentile. 27 1/2 in long (65th) and 44.2 cm for head (50th).

Carter has really enjoyed eating solid food. In fact, that is all he wants. The doctor told me he should be drinking 28-30 oz of formula a day, and it has been hard to get him to take 24. So, he is taking a break from solid foods, and only gets them as a reward for drinking all his bottle. Sheesh! Who would have thought that green beans or oatmeal would be a reward for drinking your milk?

Some of his favorites are things I put in his "net," like mangos, plums and bananas. But I think the very best thing I have ever offered him was a graham cracker. That kept him quiet for 5 minutes, and he devoured it. Yum!


I trimmed his hair after this picture, as it was getting a little long on top. He cried when he heard the clippers coming near his head. Yep, he's still a sissy.



He sits up great now, never falls over, and is getting closer to crawling. I set him up by Jeff's lizards this morning, and he really enjoyed his "Baby TV" time. He sleeps through the night pretty consistently, from around 8:00-7:30 or so. It didn't take long of him crying it out to figure it out. Occasionally he will wake up, but he'll cry for a bit and then fall back asleep. He takes 3 naps a day, one around 1 1/2 hours, one a long one, at least 2-3 hours, and then another short one in the evening. Boy likes to sleep. Just not at church (he'll fall asleep, but never sleep longer than 20-30 minutes. After he wakes up, he'll be happy for 20-30 minutes and then be ready for another nap. It's tiring for us all).

For comparison, I took a picture of Carter in the same position as Damon at seven months. One of these babies was breast fed, the other bottle fed. See any differences?

#2 saved

Dear Tiny Baby,

I made it to 11 weeks. I had my true "first" appointment on Monday, where we got another peek at you on the ultrasound. Your heart was beating at 171 beats a minute, and I have to admit, I was a little surprised that this past month wasn't actually an incredibly nauseating dream. You're measuring with a due date of March 23rd, so that's what we're going with.

We still haven't told anyone you're coming (other than Eric and the Sumners), and I don't feel any rush to announce it yet. I don't know why. Things look completely fine with you. I just want to keep it to myself for a little longer.

The nausea has been worse, but still mostly manageable. It's like having a headache--most of the time you notice it's there, and it's mildly uncomfortable, but it doesn't really interfere with your daily life. Occasionally, though (typically after 4:00 pm), it gets more and more noticeable and does interfere with life. I have probably only thrown up 10 times, but that is 10 times too many in my opinion! Again, the sickness is by far worst at night, although it can happen anytime. The best thing I can do for the nausea is suck on hard candy, most specifically, lemon heads. The sour usually takes the edge off, and I don't feel like I need to throw up anymore. Smells are still hard, though, and anything the least bit strong is offensive.

I am extremely tired during the day. I don't know if it's the unisom I take at night, or just the pregnancy, but I usually fall asleep during the afternoon. And sometimes I go back to bed in the morning if I am really dragging. The kids are good to put up with me. And good to play by themselves for a little while.

Although no one has said anything, my body is already changing. My tummy pokes out a little, and I am always trying to suck it in. One night Allie patted me on the tummy and said, "you look like you're pregnant again!" Ha! Observant little thing. I weigh 6 pounds more than the first appointment I had with Carter last year. Dang it for not getting rid of those last few pounds! They are going to come back to haunt me, I can feel it!