Party Time

The girl's birthdays are just 8 days apart, which means we have an ongoing party for about a week an a half. End of July = Party Time! Our sweet Melanie turned 4 on July 20th. We had quite a few visitors on her special day. Both Grandmas, aunts, cousins, and friends all stopped by and spent time with us, even bringing cupcakes. (We were without our family vehicle and kind of stuck at home, so we really appreciate everyone coming to see us!) The cupcakes were good, but Melanie only wanted to eat the frosting off the top. A few days later, we had a party at my parent's house for all of our July birthdays. I think that we ended up singing "Happy Birthday" 5 times. But the girls each had their own cake. My Grandmother celebrated her 80th birthday on the 23rd, right between my 2 girls. My dad tells me that I had 2 chances to name my girls after her. But my Grandma agrees with me, no one would want the name Nelda. It may not be the most attractive name, be we really do love my Grandma so much and I'm glad that my girls have their birthdays by hers! And of course we couldn't forget Ms. Savannah. She coped a little better this year that she was last, since her birthday is the 28th. I can't believe that she's 6! The girls had a few presents to open that night. As you can see, their favorite gift was their own Book of Mormon with their name on it. They also got pink CTR rings, which they love and we are continually losing and finding. My youngest sister crocheted a scarf for the girls, she also gave them some sunglasses, a purse, wallet, and some money. She then posed the girls and took their pictures with all of the presents that she had given them. The pictures actually cracked me up. We didn't do too much on Savannah's actual birthday, but we had a big party for both girls the next day. Unfortunately, I left the camera at home and didn't get any pictures. But we had a bouncy water slide again. That thing is so huge that we had to hold the party at my parent's house. We had about 20 little kids come. My mom and I were seriously sweating setting things up for the party. And then right at 3:00, when the party was starting, a nice monsoon storm blew in. The wind was blowing nicely and the kids were all cold. We had to ditch the backyard and head inside after about 30 to 40 minutes, when it started raining. Luckily, my mom has a bunch of toys that all of the kids loved playing with because I didn't have any back-up games or anything to keep them all entertained. The party was still great despite the crazy weather. And since we had the slide for the rest of the evening, we had some old friends come over and BBQ with us and let their kids have a grand time on the slide. Of course the weather was nicer that evening. But we had a great birthday week! I love my little girls! Happy birthday sweeties!

Owen's Blessing

On August 1st we were so happy to have all of our family come to our ward so we could bless Owen. Jon gave our little Owen Glen a wonderful blessing. It was nice to have everyone come and support us. We even managed to get ourselves a decent family picture. I love my little Owen. He is a happy little guy and brings so much joy into our home. I know that this isn't the best picture, but I am amazed at how quickly Owen is growing and changing. He is quick to smile and getting close to laughing. He can easily put a smile on anyone's face.Love you Owen!

Memorial Day

Being true to form, our little baby decided that he was ready to come on his due date, which happened to be Memorial Day. This is baby #3 that has had me up at 2 am with contractions on the exact day that he/she was expected to arrive. I got Jon up around 3:30 and after getting ready and the kids taken care of, we headed to the hospital around 4:30 am. Once I was checked-in and changed, a nurse came in to check me. Before she even hooked me up to any monitors or anything, she asked me if I was just there because it was my due date. I told her that I would have waited until a more reasonable hour to come in if I was just there because I expected my baby to come on his due date. But since I had dilated to a 5 and my contractions were about 5 minutes apart, they agreed to keep me. Unfortunately, since it was still so early in the morning, then my doctor wasn't on call and since it was a holiday when the clock reached 7 am, then he still wasn't on call. I reassured the nurse that the doctor had informed me that Dr. Tutt had nothing going on, since his wife was off at Girl's Camp. But she decided that she didn't want to call him very early and wanted to give him a chance to sleep in on his day off. So she called him around 8 am and he didn't return her page until around 8:30. Apparently he had got up early and gone on a bike ride, only about 16 miles! He said to give him an hour to get showered and changed and he would come and check me. He showed up shortly after 10 am and said that I was at a 7 . He broke my water then, which is what I was really waiting for. In fact, my contractions had slowed down so much that they had put me on pitocin to keep my contractions going. Since Dr. Tutt had nothing better to do, he sat and visited with Jon, my mom, and I about Girl's Camp and hiking at Camp Lomia, and also scouts and other random things. About 45 minutes after my water was broke, Dr. Tutt said that I looked like I was almost ready, so he went and changed. By the time he came back I was definitely ready and sweet little Owen was born at 11:07 am. He weighed 8 lbs 5 oz, which tied Savannah for my smallest baby. He was also 22 inches long, which was an inch smaller than Spencer. I was so happy to finally get Owen here and extremely grateful at how quickly he came. Of course, Jon was a happy daddy too. The girls were so excited to come and meet baby Owen. They love him so much and want to hold him all of the time. Here is our most recent family picture. Spencer liked meeting Owen, but wasn't as entertained by him as the girls were. The hospital was like a 2 year old's playground.I wanted to check out of the hospital the next day, June 1st, but Owen was jaundiced and so they had us stay longer. You can kind of see how yellow he was in this picture.It was really funny because the 2nd night, my nurse was someone that I knew from my parent's ward. She actually came and helped me out quite a bit when Savannah was very first born and was giving me trouble with nursing once I was home. So it was fun having Tracy check on us and she was too sweet to take Owen down to the nursery so I could get some extra sleep. Owen was still a little jaundiced the next day, but they let us come home and I took him to the pediatrician the following day just to make sure that he was doing alright. We've been doing quite well. Of course, I would love to get some more sleep, but Owen is quite a good sleeper. He definitely sleeps well whenever anyone snuggles with him. He loves being snuggled! The girls are always asking to hold him. Savannah is quite a good little helper. She seems to be able to keep Owen entertained too and can occasionally get him to smile. Melanie always has to be as close to Owen as possible. She always wants to kiss him and hold his hand. She drives me crazy when I'm trying to nurse. But Mel is a sweetheart and just loves little Owen! Spencer loves Owen too, usually. He's a little rough with him, so I fear for Owen's life sometimes. Spencer even tries hard to say Owen, which comes out as: O-hmm. Sorry, no pictures of Spencer and Owen. I don't trust Spencer with Owen long enough to take a picture. But we all love having Owen around. And I couldn't help but put this "Rad like Dad" shirt on Owen for Father's Day. He just can't wait to grow up and be like Daddy! We love our little O-hmm!

Wrappin' It Up

It's summertime and I can't believe how fast the school year flew by. Savannah has had a great year. She started a music class at the beginning of the year and I'm quite pleased with how much she learned. She had a recital a few weeks ago and she did a great job. Here she is with her teacher, Miss Melanie, and our little Mel-Bell (with such a clean face). And of course, Savannah finished up Kindergarten as well. Her class held a little Promotion Ceremony. It wasn't anything fancy, but her teacher presented her with a certificate of advancement to the 1st Grade. Jon wasn't able to come, since it was right during the middle of the day, but I was happy to have the help of my mom and 2 sisters, especially since Spencer was all over the place. We enjoyed some cake and Savannah got to leave school about 20 minutes early, which she loved. She has thoroughly enjoyed going to school and came home on the last day in tears because she didn't want it to be over and she already missed her teacher, Miss Born. Now I just need to figure out what to do with her during the day. I love having her home, but we're still trying to figure out things to keep her entertained and busy. Got to channel all of that energy into good and useful things.

Happy Birthday Dude!

I can hardly believe it, but my cute little dude turned 2 today! His sisters were so excited that it was his birthday. They doted on him all morning and both of them wanted to sit by him at breakfast. Savannah even made him a birthday crown, which surprisingly fit him perfectly. We celebrated by going over to my parent's tonight and having a little BBQ. Spencer's current favorite things are Dora, Diego, Waldo, and Spiderman (or just about any super hero) . So I talked my mom into helping me make a Spiderman cake. It wasn't high class, but we thought that it turned out well for us having no cake decorating skills. Spencer has even improved in his candle blowing skills since last year. He was quite happy to blow out his candles and he did a fairly good job too. We opened presents, which the girls helped a little too much. But they were very excited to give him the gifts that they had picked out specifically for him. Melanie gave him a Where's Waldo book and Savannah gave him a soccer ball. Jon and I got the little dude a Diego Tough Trike. He loved all of it. The kids even took a dip in the pool, even though it was quite cold. In the end, we had a fun time. Happy Birthday Spencer! We love you and couldn't imagine our family without you!

The Gig is Up

Savannah's tooth was extremely loose today. With the way she was going, I figured that she would loose it tomorrow. But it seriously looked like it was just going to fall out of her head.She totally babied that tooth all day. I told her that she needed to twist it or at least let me touch it. But instead she went and got herself a paper towel, folded it up, and kept it in her mouth. She said it kept the tooth from moving and hurting. It certainly kept her quiet for a few hours. But then we went over to my parent's house and she picked an apple off of their tree. A few bites into the apple and the tooth was gone. Not only did it fall out, but it was no where to be found. We tried to convince her that she probably swallowed it, but she's still not sure. All she knows for sure is that her tooth is gone and it wasn't as painful as she thought it would be and it didn't hardly bleed at all. Of course we had to leave the tooth fairy a not explaining the situation; hopefully she'll understand! In the end, we have a very happy girl. And she had to remind me that she won...still no baby, but she lost her tooth! Even though, she told me this morning that if I went to the hospital on the same day that she lost her tooth, then it would be a tie. So I guess that I have about an hour or so left, but I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to make that deadline.

The Race is On

For those of you that are anxiously waiting, still no baby. The 20th came and went with no hope of our little guy coming. I am currently shooting for the 24th-26th. A girl can hope, right?

Well I told Savannah that we would have a race. She has her first loose tooth. So I told her that we would see if her tooth would fall out first or if the baby would come first. I know that that sounds ridiculous, because you would think that it would definitely be her tooth. But I'm telling you, that she has been claiming that that tooth was loose for the last 3 months. There were so many times when Jon and I would feel it and tell her that it wasn't loose and she would say that our fingers were too big and that we just couldn't feel it wiggle like she could. Well, it is finally loose, but it's been about the same amount of looseness since Wednesday night. I don't think that she wiggles it at all during the day. So it remains in places. In fact, on Wednesday she was practically in tears because she thought that she could feel a hole in her tooth with her tongue. I told her that it was just the space under the tooth and that it was just fine. But what would I know? It's not like I've ever lost any teeth. Nope, she wanted me to schedule her an appointment with the dentist. Luckily Daddy walked in about 2 minutes later and was able to resolve her fears. But the tooth still sits there. She is afraid to loose it, even though she really wants the tooth fairy to come.

So the race is on. Baby vs. Tooth. Feel free to vote for who you think will make their appearance first. Jon's dad says that it will hands down be the tooth, but I have my doubts, especially at the rate that the tooth is currently going...not that I have any room to talk though!

Nope, not yet

For those of you that were wondering, nope I haven't popped yet. I guess that I technically have 2 more weeks, but I keep telling myself that I only have about 1. I don't go early. Both Savannah and Spencer were born on their due dates, and Melanie was only early because we had her induced since Jon was taking the Bar on her due date. But I'm secretly hoping that our little dude comes this Thursday, the 20th, because it would make all of our family birthdays line up so nice and neat.
Savannah: July 28th
Melanie: July 20th
Spencer: May 28th
So that must mean that this little guy is going to come May 20th, right? Plus Jon's birthday is August 20th and our anniversary is December 20th. So I guess that I'm slightly fond of the 20th. Just don't tell my mom, because she'll be out of town that day...going up to Utah for my cousin's wedding.
However, I'm thinking that I'll actually go around the 24th-26th, just because I think that this due date isn't quite as accurate as my other ones. Jon thinks I'm silly, but I keep telling him that my super power is willing the baby to come on the date that I want him to come. I guess that only time will tell. And I'll let you know when he actually gets here.

The Beach

At the end of April, Jon ran in his 2nd Ragnar for the year, in LA. I decided that I didn't want to just sit around here at home, while he was out having wild, crazy fun. So I talked my sister into coming with the kids and I to LA. We stayed with some friends from law school, which was so much fun (I know that Jon was jealous that he barely got to see/visit with them). But the highlight of our trip was going to the beach. Savannah was the most excited to go. She ran down to the water right away and started playing. Unfortunately, it was very windy that morning and so it was quite cool. And of course, about her 2nd or 3rd trip down to the water she tripped and got all wet and sandy. This made her upset and she whined for a good long while because she was cold. She did get over it towards the end of our stay though because it started to warm up. Melanie was quite the opposite. She insisted that she wasn't going to get in the water and so she wouldn't even wear her swim suit to the beach. But we'd only been there for about 20 minutes when she decided that she wanted it on and was down playing in the water too. She had a great time and was a good helper on our castle! Spencer loved everything about it...being outside, the water, and the sand. No matter what I did, he was always sticking his face in the sand and he constantly had it in his mouth. We seemed to be continually trying to wipe it off of his tongue. But he loved every minute of it.My sister, Andrea, just wanted to build a sand castle. After a little time in the water, we spent most of our time working on our castle. It was complete with moat and had towers in the corners where the water could go under them. The castle was basically 3 boxes stacked on top of each other. But it took us quite a bit of time to accomplish it. And it was a miracle what we did get done, because we kept running into this little problem...Yeah Spencer, he was all over the place and oh so helpful. Here he is sitting in our moat. But overall we had a great time and can't wait to go back again. Here's our little crew down by the water. Bet you didn't know that my girls are pirates! Arrrr!

What's in a name?

Spencer thinks that his name is Dude. Jon always calls him "Little Dude." And now Spence thinks that's his name. He doesn't say very many words, but here's how our conversation usually goes:

Me: Spencer can you say Dad?
Spencer: Dada (sometimes it's Dad or Dado)
Me: Can you say Mom?
Spence: Mama (sometimes it's Mom)
M: Can you say Savannah?
S: Nana
M: Can you say Melanie?
S: Mel
M: Can you say Spencer?
S: Dude!

Okay, he can't quite say Spencer or Spence, so we'll just settle for Dude for now. And now that we've shown this little conversation to a few people, he knows that it's funny and enjoys giving people a little laugh.

He also uses dude to distinguish between boys and girls. So you are either "a girl" or a "dude" and for some lucky people, they're categorized as monkeys, or "hoo hoo" as Spencer calls them. He usually calls himself a monkey; I guess that he's a Dude Monkey. I usually just call him a naughty monkey.

Pie in the Sky

Being the math nerd that I am, I totally wished Jon a happy Pi Day on Sunday, since it was 3.14. If I made pies, then I probably would have whipped one up for the day. But that's still a skill that I need to work on. However, my good friend Amanda also decided to take advantage of the day and officially launched her new photography company: Pie in the Sky Photography! She does a fabulous job, just look at some of the pictures on her site; absolutely amazing! Plus I just couldn't pass up this opportunity to help her advertise, when she's offering a free family photo shoot. And in case you were wondering, Pecan Pie is my favorite. I also love Banana Cream and Coconut Cream! Mmmm, yummy!

Basket Sleepers

The girls came up with a fabulous idea last night to not sleep in their beds and sleep in laundry baskets instead. I told them that I didn't really care if they did or not, but it was quite funny to see them actually do it. It really made Jon crack up when he came and saw them. Seriously, he had to walk away so he didn't wake anyone up.It reminded me of when Savannah was a brand new baby. She was born here in Arizona, but we flew back to Ohio for school when she was just 2 weeks old. Unfortunately, we were given a used crib which was missing a few parts. We had ordered the parts before we left Ohio (when the semester had ended) and had them overnighted, but they didn't get there overnight. So we couldn't assemble her crib before we left for the summer. Our flight back to Ohio was 4 hours and the drive to our little town was another 2 hours after that. So we didn't get back to our apartment until late at night and we were too tired to try and assemble a crib. So our first night back in Ohio, poor baby Savannah had to sleep in a laundry basket, because we didn't have any where else to put her. Luckily, the next day, a bassinet that my mom had ordered for us was delivered. At least then we had somewhere to put Savannah. But I wouldn't recommend sleeping in a basket, unless you really have to.

Growin' Up

Look Mom! I fell asleep within 5 minutes, no pacifier, no crying! It's a miracle! Jon and I have been discussing getting rid of Spencer's pacifier for a little while now. We were going to do it this past weekend, but decided that it would be a dirty trick to leave a baby that just lost his pacifier with a babysitter. We went out last night and were going to get around to getting rid of the pacifier either today or later this week. However, Spencer had a fit for the babysitter and took his teddy and pacifier outback and wouldn't let her bring them back in. Needless to say, he cried himself to sleep and Jon recovered his teddy from the backyard last night. I wasn't able to find his pacifier and figured that it was for the best anyways. So he never fell asleep during his nap time today because he didn't have it. This made for a tired little boy. I put him in bed tonight and didn't hear a peep out of him! It was fabulous. Both of our girls cried forever their first night without their pacifier. So I'm thrilled that tonight went so smoothly. I'm just hoping that the rest of the week goes so well. Got to get Spencer ready for the reality that he's not going to be the baby anymore.