It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a ...

When I backed out of the garage today Braden tells me there is a bird in the garage. Of course I dismiss the comment thinking I didn't see anything fly in there or if I did miss seeing it I would have to shoo it out when I got back. When I got home and opened the garage, out waddles a duck. Thinking back I do remember hearing a quack sound while walking out to the car but it was faint and I dismissed that too. I wasn't expecting a duck because we don't have water extremely close to us. I thought he was talking about something like a sparrow or robin. At our last house we had a hummingbird get stuck in our garage and Brian had to help it out of the garage because it stayed too high to find the exit.

I did point out to Braden that the bird was a duck. I guess we haven't been to farms or ponds enough for him to know what a duck is. I did not get too deep and explain that technically he was correct by calling it a bird.

A few fun pictures

In these past 2 months we celebrated Braden and Macy's birthdays. I am a lame mom and don't throw friend parties every year. Lucky for me it was an off year for both Braden and Macy. Next year I might not be so happy. By the way, we only took video of Macy's birthday and I haven't taken the time to capture any still shots from it.

 Here is bubba's dinosaur cake. I had a little too much fun.

Brian gave Braden a remote control boat. Both were super excited. However, Brian played with it the most in the pool in St George.

 Easter fun. Macy doesn't want her picture taken and Braden is hard at work.

 Braden's masterpiece.

 Easter morning. The girls wanted their hair chopped right after dying Easter eggs.

 The girls were off-track in April so we took a trip to St. George. It was our first time seeing Uncle Russ's new vacation home. It was awesome. It had 4 tree houses and a pool heated to 89 degrees. I even got in when the air temperature was only 72.

Boys and their rocks.

 Here is my Top Gun on board the USS Midway. This was the type of plane Maverick flew so Brian had to have his picture by it. Take my breathe away baby!

I picture of me in a cockpit. There are so many things in this world that blow my mind. Aircraft carriers are one of them, along with the military.

Coronado. One of the only pregnancy pictures I don't mind.

In a Large Nutshell

I have a blog? Who knew. So much has been happening and some of it worth blogging about but lately I would rather stalk/read facebook updates or catch up on blogs. I don't even put status updates on my facebook page so my blog shouldn't feel too neglected.

I just checked and my last post was almost 2 months ago. Sorry Jeff for leaving you in the dark about our life. Jeff is my brother on a mission for the LDS church. He can read blogs so I thought my posts could count as my letters to him. Guess that means I am a terrible letter writer too. Just ask my sister, Emily. I don't think she received one letter from me the whole 18 months she was gone. I do love them and I hope I show it in other ways.

So here is my life in a 5 minute nutshell:

1. I have an alarm on my phone set for 10 PM because I am trying to go to bed earlier. Every night it chimes and instead of heading to my room I dismiss the reminder and still go to bed at 11:30. That alarm just went off.
2. I am reading Lord of the Rings and have had to re-check it out from the library two times (that is like 9 weeks that I have had the book) because I keep doing other things. I do like the story but I keep telling myself to just finish this one task then I can have some me time. I keep doing that until the kids come home or I waste my free time reading facebook or dumb internet articles.
3. My sister, Calee, and her husband were finally able to get an offer accepted to buy a home. I am their real estate agent and the market has been crazy. I think they were getting tired of looking at homes. I was worried we wouldn't find anything before the new baby came.
4. We still don't have a name for this little boy. I am feeling very round. By the end of the night I dread having to bend over to pick up the house and hate the stairs almost as much. The good thing is that in the morning I feel great and can get a lot accomplished. My only other complaint is that I can't stand clothing bottoms. My pants/skirts/garments are always sliding down because there are no more hips/waist. This is another reason I hate bending over because I always have to adjust when I stand back up. And no, I have not resorted to going around the house wearing nothing on my lower half.
5. The girls are almost done with another year of school (2 more weeks left). Both played soccer and the season is almost over too. They each have one more game. Braden was sad we didn't sign him up but he wasn't ready last fall. We told him next fall. The girls were both taking gymnastics and piano. Kelsey had a meltdown and want to quit everything. So we let her give up gymnastics. I am not sure what to do with her as she grows up. She can be so happy and nice but also the most negative, grudge holding girl. If you make her do something, she will hate it no matter what.
6. We are finishing the basement. It will be so nice to have it done. The sheet rock will go up next week. Once finished each child will have their own room, there will be a play room to house the mountains of toys, a family room to help alleviate the sound and chaos that abound in the main part of the house right now and there will be a second washer and dryer so Macy and Braden can do their own laundry. The laundry is what Braden is excited for. He even says they are going to wash their own clothes. Here's to hoping for the best. If you couldn't tell, the kids decided that it will be Macy and Braden in the basement. Originally it was going to be Kelsey and Macy. Not sure what happened but it doesn't bother me either way.
7. I am trying my hand at gardening again. It is going better than my attempts in AZ. The spinach did get burnt by Utah's crazy weather of one or two days of crazy warm weather followed by some really cold and rainy days. Everything else (peas, lettuce, carrots, green onion) seems to look good but only time will tell. The kids and I started some seeds inside (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, basil). I hope to get those in the ground tomorrow or Saturday along with some store bought plants (spaghetti squash, zucchini, watermelon and pumpkin). I had to wait to put these plants in because I had to do some major work on a flower bed to make more room and I went out of town.
8. Speaking of out of town, last week I spent 5 days in San Diego. It was wonderful. Brian had a conference for work and I joined him. The conference was only 2 1/2 days but we extended our stay so we could vacation and count it as our anniversary. Brian was pretty much booked those 2 1/2 days so I vacationed myself. I thought I would do tons of lounging but instead I pulled a Brian was going non-stop. I wish I had been able to log the miles I walked because I know it was a lot. I walked all over the gas lamp district and Old Town. The next day I rented a car and went all around Balboa Park (I still did not see it all and I only made it to 1 of the 15 museums). That same day I hit Coronado. I took a snooze on the beach and tried to get my pregnant body comfortable on the sand so I could read my book. I determined the only way to get that done was with a lounge chair and I didn't have one so I walked around Coronado. It was nice to do whatever I wanted but by the end I was grateful to have someone to vacation with regularly. I was ready to start carrying on conversations with myself. There were so many things I saw and wanted to share them with someone. I even dined by myself because Brian's boss is a networking fool (which is a really good thing) and he had events booked for Brian and himself all night. He wanted to introduce Brian to people so that deals could be made. Brian wouldn't come back to the hotel until 10 PM at night. Once Brian was free, we went to: the USS Midway, Little Italy for dinner, a Padres game (as we were trying to buy tickets someone gave us $50 seats for free), traveled up to La Jolla to sit on the beach, saw Point Loma light house, and drove up to Del Mar. It was an action packed few days. I am so happy I was able to share some of it with Brian.
9. I am finishing this post and it is now 10:50. So again the alarm thing didn't work.

What to do? What to do?

Today Braden and I get home at 5:20.  He heads up stairs.  Soon I hear the prancing of little feet.  I groan as I wait to hear he wet his pants.  I don't hear a thing so I get going on dinner.  He comes down and informs me he was tired so he changed into pajamas.  I ask if he really changed because he accidentally wet his pants.  Of course he tells me he did no such thing.  I ask about the prancing.  He said his legs wanted to dance.  I didn't have time to investigate and let it be.  There were more stories that I can't recall.  They came each time someone asked why he was in his pajamas.

Bedtime came (8:15) and I finally investigated.  The truth came out.  He didn't care too much.  I didn't get mad (something that has been developed through the first 2 children).  I reminded him about what really happened and said next time he can tell me.

When Braden got dressed he put on everything including his pull-ups.  He is such a good boy that way.  As we were reading scriptures before bed I catch a whiff of something.  I ask Braden if he has peed in his pull-ups.  He smiles and says no.  This time I investigate against his wishes.  The lazy kid had and he knew it.  Braden just laughed when I pointed it out.  Brian throughout the comment "You can enjoy that when you are an eighty year old man."

Now you may call me ruthless for calling him lazy but it is the truth.  This is not his first offense.  He knows that when he has his pull-ups on that it is easier than making a trip to the restroom.  He would sit in pee all morning and afternoon and it wouldn't bother him.  I would give them up except that sometimes he pees at night or at least he used to.  Right now I am not sure how often the nighttime accidents occur because he pees in them in the morning.  A couple of times I have caught him with a dry pull-up upon waking and then later on it is wet.  So I am stuck.  Do I stop the pull-ups and possibly have to wash sheets day after day or do I just let it go?  Brian teases that he will be in them until middle school and then he will try to convince his friends that they are cool.

Imagination

Just now Braden came in from outside saying, "There is a guy outside that can shoot me with gun."
Me: "There is not a guy that will shoot you with a gun."
Braden: "uh-huh"
Me: "No one will shoot you with a gun.  We don't play with guns."
Braden: "Yes they will. Macy said they will."
Me: "Macy is just teasing you."
Braden: "No she isn't."

Older siblings.  What am I going to do with those girls?  Another time they teased him, Braden came to me worried. 
He said "I don't want them to cut my weenie off." 
Me: "What? No one is going to do that. Who said they would do that?"
Braden: "Macy and Kelsey said there were going to cut my weenie off."

That one took a few days to dispel and the girls got a good laugh.

But that is not the reason I started typing today.  Braden's imagination has seem to explode lately.  He carries on by himself many different scenarios.  Zombies were coming after him earlier and then the ninjas came and got the zombies.  He attacks my pillows.  It makes me laugh some of the stories.  Two days ago I had to play "title fight" with him.  He had me in head locks trying to pin me to the ground.  That idea was thanks to one of his little friends that came to play the day before. 

If you want a great gift idea for a boy his age, get hair claws (at least that is what they were called a few years ago, I don't know the real name).  He has played with 2 clips for at least 48 hours consistently.  In fact, they are ninjas right now beating up on an empty water bottle.  He uses them to pinch things, grab items, carry items, act as his hands and now they are scissors on my hair.  Who knew that a hair clip could be so interesting.  In fact, I can't get him to put them away.  I keep telling him they are not toys and if he breaks them he will have some unhappy sisters.  But what does he care.  They are fun.

Thoughts of a 3 year old

Braden: "If someone threw me out the window and then a monster truck ran over me, then I would be dead."

Boy or Girl

I am now 18 weeks and everything appears to be healthy with the little one.  I had my ultrasound last Friday.  The technician, Brian and I saw 1 healthy spine, 2 arms and 2 legs, no cleft palate, 4 heart chambers, all the organs in the right place, everything measuring the right size and 3 knees.  3 knees? You read that correctly.  There was a right knee, left knee and a weenie.  We are having another boy and the kids couldn't be happier.  Some were concerned that the boys should not be outnumbered.  We are excited and now we have to come up with a name.  The most difficult part, in my opinion.  Below are the first peaks at the little guy.
* The 3 knee joke came from the technician who got it from another dad during an ultrasound the week before.  I thought it was kind of cute and funny.  Brian is probably groaning that I shared it.
* The 3D pictures didn't turn out as well because she had to look through the placenta because he was turned towards it and wouldn't roll over.  But if you look closely and use a little imagination it looks like he is giving the thumbs up or looks like Prince John from the animated film Robin Hood.