Weekend Update

No baby, but I did get a lot done this weekend -- just checking off that list! (I am totally a list-maker). First on the list were haircuts for myself and the girls. I am so last minute and then once I decide, it's like I want it done NOW. Luckily, Amy's sister-in-law was able to fit me in Saturday afternoon and I chopped it all off -- pictures tomorrow. But in the morning I decided to take the girls to Super Cuts since I couldn't get them in to the person I wanted to. Savy's just a trim, but London got hers chopped off also. She's very excited to have hair just like mommy and Mackenzie (her new best buddy). Except Mackenzie's hair is short because I believe she had a scissor incident. Savy's haircut -- sorry about the blurriness, I don't know what I did wrong.

I didn't get a picture of London's stylist, but I must say that I was quite worried because she looked like she was in her 70's (can you tell by her hands?). Not quite the person I wanted to trust with my daughter's trendy haircut. It turned out okay, but I am thinking about going back and having somebody fix one side that seemed to get hacked up a little and with it that short, it's easily noticeable.

Very short, but very cute

I got home from my appointment just in time to make it an hour and a half late to my grandparents' combined birthday bash. (sorry G&G). The girls love love love Grandma and Grandpa Jones. Grandpa turned 93 in February and Grandma turned 83 in March.

I'm putting in a lot of pictures because I hardly ever get to see my Jones cousins and it always amazes me how much things change with them. I always have fun seeing them and remembering how much time we spent together growing up.

Cassi and Shaun. She is graduating this year and is an awesome basketball player and absolutely gorgeous. I wouldn't be surprised if some hot boy snags this girl quickly. Now when Shaun or Cassi get married, I'll really freak out and feel old because I actually remember pretending Shaun was my baby at the cabin as I begged Nina to let me feed him and help her with him. Then Cassi, I distinctly remember the day she was born. Crazy that they are that old, but I guess I am 30. Cousins watching a video we made for G&G. Savy, London, Orrin (Scott's boy), Evan (Corey's boy), and Camryn (Chris's girl). Aidan was the best during the video. Apparently the night we videod the kids, he was totally on a crazy kick and being silly. Well, Saturday night, he just loved watching himself on the tv and was cracking up so loud during the video. It was great.

Nina, Scott and Joanna. I haven't seen Joanna for probably over ten years. Daddy and YaYaI just like this picture of Chris - it's kind of creepy.

Chris and Emily have the cutest girls ever -- Camryn (left) and Amberlee (right). And that's Chad's new wife, turning her head holding them. I thought I'd document this one for Amy. D is cute no matter how his daddy dresses him for a party!

52 Blessings: Week 11

Week 11: Daddy-daughter time.

I love it (almost as much as the girls) when they have daddy-daughter time. This is London and Nate playing a computer game together one Saturday morning -- don't mind the bedhead. The girls love watching him play, watching movies with him and snuggling, doing yard work or washing the cars with him, but most of all -- they love wrestling with him. And I love the break.

40 Week Update

I realized that I haven't updated on any of my doctor appointments for a couple weeks. Everything has stayed the same - dilated to a 3, except that I am 80% effaced now instead of 75%. Yeah.

Today I went in and Dr. D. informed me that he has a conference to attend this weekend (I'm due on Saturday), but he wanted to know when I'd like to schedule an induction. At this point, I feel like I have a lot to do to get ready (before I'm completely zapped of energy with a newborn and housebound), so I asked for next Thursday. Of course, they are booked on Thursday so 5:00 AM on Friday is the magic date and time. Hopefully I'll be done by noon.

Now I will have time to finish the room which I have slacked on lately, get my hair cut, get the girls' hair cut, go on the last date for a while with Nate to my favorite place - Carrabbas, and get my house spic and span. Oh, and take lots of naps and go to bed early every night (yeah right).

I will be incredibly happy to be done with this:

My hands and feet seriously look like sausages every night and I'm constantly rubbing them, but it doesn't seem to help. So here's my huge hand that even my fake wedding ring used during pregnancy doesn't fit by the end of the day. Lovely.

Speaking of pregnant people, today I have Aidan for the afternoon since Amy's in Iowa helping out Megs and Sav and A had preschool today. They haven't seen eachother all week so I'm expecting this afternoon to be fabulous. As soon as they got home, they headed upstairs and pretty soon, I go up there and this is what I find:

I asked Savannah what was in her dress and she was gracious enough to show me:

This cracked me up for numerous reasons, but the main one because of a conversation I overhead last week. London and Savannah wanted to play sisters - Amy and Mandi sisters apparently. But then they start arguing because neither of them wants to be Mandi. I hear London, "I don't want to have a big tummy. Let's pretend that I've already had all my babies." Glad to know they think my belly's attractive. So they both wanted to be Amy and not me because of my belly and now, this week, Savy's a pregnant bride.

My, how quickly they change.

Word of the Week: nonplus

nonplus /vt. / to put at a loss as to what to think, say, or do. bewilder. to render utterly perplexed. puzzle completely. baffle. astound. dismay. daze. boggle. flummox.

nonplus /vt./ 1. After two weeks of slacking on the word of the week, I'm back on track. I haven't felt like blogging. Maybe it's because I'm completely nonplussed as to what to say because I am too tired and busy (more in my mind) getting ready for this baby.

nonplus /vt./ 2. Last Sunday we had the worst sacrament meeting of our lives which left me quite nonplussed. Literally. It had nothing to do with the meeting itself, just our children. I seriously do not know what happened, but London was hysterically silly like I've never seen before. We could not even get through to her. We had had a busy busy weekend so I chalked it up to exhaustion and had Nate take her home. He said she was in a deep sleep the minute she hit the pillow. Savy had been bad also, but I figured I could at least control her. She was fine during the rest of the meeting, but then she was a bit wild during Primary and I was so embarrassed. What can you do?

nonplus /vt./ 3. On another note about sacrament meeting last week, I noticed that one of the speakers was a girl in our ward and I knew for a fact that she was due on the following Wed -- three days later. I was, once again, completely nonplussed. I went up to her afterwards and expressed my feelings of shock that they would ask her to speak when she was due that week.

I cursed myself.

Monday night the phone call comes and we're asked to speak. Nonplussed once again, but of course I said yes. Then it hit me that we were just asked to speak on Easter Sunday. I felt even more nonplussed, I mean, people expect something fabulous on Easter Sunday. So I spent the week thinking, worrying, and working on my talk.

nonplus /vt./ 4. I am nonplussed at how men can get up Sunday morning and then write and deliver a great talk (well maybe not all men, but Nate can). His talk was amazing and truly from the heart. Mine turned out good except that I was nervous and kept pushing my belly into the pulpit, thus upsetting the girly inside into fits of movement which made it hard to concentrate on my talk, but it turned out good, I think. She moved even more when Nate was up there talking. This girl knows her dad's voice and absolutely loves it. Every night after the girls are in bed and we're talking about whatever, she goes crazy when she hears his voice. I love it.

nonplus /vt./ 5. I am still nonplussed and trying to figure out exactly what happened last night.

2:00 AM we hear both girls screaming bloody murder (seriously). Nate jumps out of bed before I can even register what is happening. They are both in London's bed screaming hysterically. Apparently there were "snakes" in Savy's bed so she went down to be with London and then woke her up and freaked her out. We got them settled back down, turned on the closet light for them, and went back to bed.

A half an hour later, Nate goes in there because we can still hear them and they're in the closet playing barbies. He decides to take them downstairs for a little snack. So there's our whole family (pregnant me can never resist a midnight snack) eating grapes and granola bars at about 3:00 am. Back to bed.

Half an hour later, they both come in and Nate lets them in our bed. Now this is serious because I NEVER let my kids sleep in my bed -- it's my one place that's mine (because even my own body isn't mine as a mom). But I was so tired I didn't care anymore. Ten minutes in our bed -- thank goodness for CA King beds - and Savy sees a "snake." Nate actually does too and the girls go hysterical once again. Before I know it, London is on top of me, holding me for dear life and calling my name.

Lights on and Nate explains to Savannah that she saw static in the dark and it did, indeed, look like a little snake, but it wasn't. Mystery solved. However, to Savannah, static electricity is just as scary as a snake, but sleeping next to daddy makes it all better and she falls asleep quickly. I, however, have London practically on top of me and jabbing and poking me so I finally gave up and went on the couch where I had lovely sleep while Nate and the girls were left to fend for themselves in MY bed. It was a weird night, to say the least.

I did tell Nate, though, that we are lucky this is the first time Savy's woken up completely freaked out about something. I mean, five years and we've had pretty good nights of sleeping compared to what I hear other parents say.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Cartoons hardly grace our tv anymore. Instead, my girls request to watch "making shows" which means Food Network. They will watch one or two episodes to wind down and have quiet time in the afternoon. It cracks me up how much they love it because they really don't like eating anything I make - unless of course it's cheese crisp or peanut butter and honey sandwiches. London will always ask: "will she wash her hands?" Yes, she's my child. Oh and they're a bit obsessed with raw meat and washing up. They always watch me make dinner and I am specific about them not touching the raw chicken or whatever it may be that day. When Kelly's daughter got sick from eating an uncooked chicken finger from a fast food restaurant and got really sick, I told them about it and they have never forgotten even though it's been probably 6+ months. Hence, the obsession with washing hands and not touching raw meat.

The obsession goes further than just watching "making shows" as I noticed a while ago at the grocery store. London sits in the front, facing me. Savy usually walks, but she wanted to sit in the cart with the groceries. Fine with me. Then I notice her doing her own little show with my groceries and saying little phrases from the shows: "now I like to use this" or "just add a little bit" or "oh this is delicious!" It cracked me up when I realized what she was doing.

When she was born, I remember we had basic cable so I didn't have much choice in what to watch and I would sit and watch Food Network as I nursed. Maybe it affected her more than I could have ever guessed.

A couple weeks ago she decided she wants to be a chef when she grows up (which I like better than the police-girl she was previously aiming for). Nate and I told her we'd pay for her to go to culinary school and then she can make us food when we're old.

Cyndee got her a set of play pots and pans and spatulas and Amy made (yes, by that I mean sewed -- I'm in awe because I am NOT sewer - is that even a word?) aprons for both girls for Sav's birthday. She is stoked. Previously she only had plates, bowls and utensils and the pots and pans have rekindle her love for "making" in her room with her play kitchen.

It also cracks me up that they call it "making" instead of "cooking." Classic Savannah and London right there.
Here's the chef in her element: Is it just because I'm her mom or is she not just the cutest thing?

52 Blessings: Week 10

Week 10: Caleb Allen Chambers

My new nephew was born last night and he is truly a blessing. Megan has known he would have heart problems the minute he was born, and she worried over not being able to hold him as he got rushed off after birth. But Megan and Tom were blessed last night that he came out and seemed fine and they were able to bond with their boy. He will still have the heart problems, but I have faith that the Lord will look out for this family. I am so grateful that he's here safely and so darn cute! Definitely a blessing.

Savy's Birthday

. . . was tiring.

And I thought not having a party would spare me from being worn out. Apparently not.

Savannah raked it in for her birthday, but mostly in the clothes department. It's a good thing her birthday's in the spring because every spring I go to her closet and she has no clothes that fit her for the warming weather. So I decided Friday to just take her out shopping on her own and my my my she has some wild taste. I had to hold her back a little and we compromised on other things. So she's set for her spring/summer/hopefully fall wardrobe which I'm hoping will cause no fits over what to wear since she picked most of it out.

Then when Nate got home, we went to our new Target as a family. Yes, a Target just opened not ten minutes away from us and I am thrilled! New shoes and a movie and we were off to have movie night. That was a bad idea, but we didn't realize it until Sunday when our children were hellions in church, due to the crazy late nighters Fri and Sat. Note to self: children who are on a strict 7:00 bedtime don't do well with two late nighters and two crazy-busy days in a row.

Saturday my cousin, Chad, got married. I love hearing the sealer's advice and remembering my wedding day. Of course, I teared up, being pregnant and hormonal and all. It's just so beautiful and peaceful inside the temple. My baby was going crazy and I hoped nobody noticed that my stomach was moving like crazy like an alien was inside wanting out.

Nate took the girls to the movies and a big day out while I attended the wedding then we went to the reception that night. It was gorgeous and fun to see my cousins whom I never see. I still can't believe that those Jones boys are all grown up and married -- although I shouldn't since I'm 30 years old! Gosh, this all makes me feel old. Chad is great and although I don't know his new wife, I know she made a good choice and will have a fabulous hubby!

On to Sunday -- Sundays are always tiring since we changed church times to 2-5. It's just not fun coming home from church at 5:30. We had a little dinner with Nate's parents, Jill and Marc, and Amy. (Jim stayed home with D who hopefully hasn't gotten the strep/bronchitis combo Amy had last week.) It was nice and relaxed and Savy was thrilled with the presents even though a bit disappointed at the cake. I am usually on top of it and enlist someone to make a cool cake (like my mom or Amy), but this year I just didn't want to do anything. So although I loved it and it tasted divine, Savy didn't buy it. But I told her we'd make pink cupcakes this week and she's happy.

Here are some cute pics from last night.
I guess if I were a five-year old that white, boring cake wouldn't thrill me either. It was great though - I'll post the recipe on Amy's food blog this week. Beautiful Sav
London and Ryan.
I think that Ryan looks so much like Nate's brother, Rob, in these pictures. Savannah and Ryan
Aidan and Savy. I absolutely adore this picture. Cousins. London, Savy, Ryan and Aidan. Dr. Savannah

One of the hits of the night was the doctor kid hand-picked by Aidan and Davyn. The kids had a blast "doctoring up" Grandpa Pat and daddy. Another hit were the aprons that Amy made for the girls. Savannah loves cooking and wants to be a chef when she grows up (I'll post about that later with more cute pics). I think they turned out darling. But at the end of the day, Savy told me her favorite thing was the glitter/princess color wonder book Jill got her. She loves coloring/drawing as we all know. My little artist.

I can't believe how fast time flies and it makes me a little sad to see her grow up so fast. When it was bedtime and I was hugging her tightly, I told her she'd always be my baby even when she was a "wedding girl" to which she replied: "I am not going to get married and be a wedding girl, mom. I am just going to grow up and be a big sister and stay with you."

I can handle that. . . for now.

5 Years Ago

My Savannah was born at around 5:00 AM

7 lbs 6 ounces

Today is a busy day so I don't have much time to post so pictures will have to suffice for now and then I'll add on tomorrow about my sweet Savster.

52 Blessings: Week 9

Week 9: An Artist and a Mother

This last weekend I held my mother hostage. Literally. I told her she could not go to Iowa to help Megan until she painted my tree for me. So she spent most of Saturday doing my bidding. Actually, come to think of it, she spent Friday doing my bidding as well. Sometimes being pregnant really is fun. I think my doctor's appointment helped things.

Friday was my first check-up to see if I've dilated or effaced at all. Mom took the girlies (I love that she doesn't work on Fridays!!!!) and I headed to Dr. D's office, expecting nothing. By nothing I mean the usual (for me) -- "oh, you're 60% effaced (I swear they always say that) and dilated to a one." After sitting in the little room for what seemed like forever (maybe it's just because you are half-naked that it seems longer and more uncomfortable of a wait), he comes in and checks me.

Surprise Surprise -- dilated to a 3 and 75% effaced.

Repita por favor?????

I'm four weeks away and have never gone into labor on my own so these numbers seemed strange to me who's expecting to have this baby the first week of April. And here's Dr. D telling me that if the baby comes they won't stop it because I'm far enough for her to be full-term and do I know where to go at this new hospital and that he can feel her head and she's totally dropped and am I feeling a lot of pressure and that he thinks this will be a quick labor because such and such. . . . I told him then that with London he broke my water at 6 pm and she was born at 8 to which he repeated with a laugh that, yes, this should be a quickie. Okay, I live 1/2 hour from the hospital so let's hope it's not too quick.

But still I deny that my body can actually start labor on it's own. I mean, two inductions and I just can't fathom what it would be like to wake up Nate in the night and say, "honey, let's go - it's time." That's not the way it works for me. Right? I guess we'll see.

So after the appointment I came back to mom's house and we ran lots of errands for getting the baby room together while mom just kept saying in amazement how low my stomach was and how it looked like a sack just hanging there (lovely thought, huh?). Then we met Amy at Paradise Bakery for a birthday lunch in honor of Grandma Jones who turned 83 (I think). I still can't believe how well she and Grandpa get around with him being 93. They are amazing!

Cyndee spent the night and in the morning we worked on the tree. I am very very happy with how it turned out. I honestly don't know what I would do without a mother who is not only artistic, but is willing to do anything and everything for me. She is a true blessing in my life.

Here's how the tree turned out. I love the simplicity (it looks just like the one in the Pottery Barn magazine!) and the clean look of the white/blue. I am just that much more excited to get this room together!

Words of the Week: maelstrom & ebullient

maelstrom /n. / a large, powerful, or violent whirlpool. a restless, disordered, tumultuous state of affairs. a violent or turbulent situation. bedlam. turmoil or chaos. pandemonium. fuss. flap.

ebullient /adj. / overflowing with enthusiasm and high spirits. bubbling. boiling with emotion. full of joyful, unrestrained high spirits. energetic. lively. very positive or happy.

maelstrom /n./ 1. Last week it seemed that everything was a maelstrom from my own personal emotional ups and downs. Call it pregnancy I guess.

ebullient /adj./ 1. This week is more ebullient for me. Call it pregnancy hormones. So these two words have fit well for my emotional state of being the last two weeks. I am now in better spirits and ready to (shocker) blog, get going on my baby room, do something for my visiting teachees, and even work on finishing my FHE lesson for our group. Wow! I even thoroughly cleaned my house all day Monday and am doing quite well with the daily cleaning so that it still looks good! AND I did ALL the laundry AND put it ALL away Monday AND got all Nate's work shirts ironed. That's a huge accomplishment since it usually sits in the basket for a few days and then it seems laundry takes all week long and then Nate will end up without an ironed work shirt and I have to do it when I'm in the middle of other things. I hate that.

maelstrom /n./ 2. Today I went to a parent orientation at the Benjamin Franklin Charter School near our house and left in maelstrom. I am almost depressed at the thought that Savy most likely will not get in for kindergarten next year and will have to go to the public school in our neighborhood. There are only two kindergarten classes (1 morning and 1 afternoon) and they are full already and there's a waiting list. I won't even know what number I am on the waiting list until the end of April/beginning of May, depending on what parents don't attend their orientation day. I'll just pray that some kids move and some parents forget their orientation date, but I don't know if the Lord works that way. I just feel that she needs the extra push that Franklin's school curriculum will give her. They cover k and 1st grade in kindergarten and then 1st graders do 2nd grade work and every year thereafter they're a year ahead. Plus the teachers do all the teaching rather than a lot of group work. I'm totally for the teacher being up there rather than students working together in groups -- maybe it's because I always hated working in groups in both school and college -- I'd rather do my own work and be responsible for it. I don't trust other people and that's probably due to my perfectionism that occasionally drives my hubby crazy (and myself to some extent).

ebullient /adj./ 2. I am SOOOO ebullient for Easter and it's not because of the candy. A couple weeks ago I found this awesome week-before-Easter layout on sugardoodle.net and then Amy got me some large eggs at the dollar store the other day and I'm ebullient to make Easter more Christ-centered this year for my family. I am printing and laminating the pictures for going inside the egg and am thrilled. I have eggs for each of the people I visit teach as well as my partner too so maybe I won't feel bad next month when I possibly skip out of visiting teaching with a new baby and all.
The large eggs are a little freaky by themselves, but put together with the pictures I think they're awesome. Last year Amy and I both got a book called "A Christ-Centered Easter" by Janet and Joe Hales that gives some great ideas for doing activities the week before Easter to teach your kids about the last days of the Savior's life before His death and Resurrection. Our family will also be doing some things from that book the week before Easter. If you want me to email either the outline and/or the pictures, just let me know and I'd be ebullient to help you have a more spiritual Easter too.