December 2010

I love the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season!!

We started the month of December off with another of Chris' dear friends; Dave Keller! It just happened that Dave had some business for the Army in San Antonio, so he flew to Dallas to spend Thanksgiving with his father, and we picked him up there on our drive home from Oklahoma. (Ever since Dave's short visit, Ezra asks frequently where "David" is and calls him on his Lightning McQueen phone. So cute.) This visit was especially exciting because Dave was looking at the possibility of being transferred to work in Texas for the army so Chris happily drove him around to show him some possible areas he might work and live. And as it turned out, (since I am blogging a few months later) Dave did get transferred to San Antonio! We are so excited to have the Kellers move to Texas some time this summer! Texas is getting better all the time. ;)


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I always wanted a train track around my Christmas tree so Ezra and I decided to make one together. It was pretty simple, but plenty fun to have.


I took Ezra to pick out a new battery powered "Gordon" train for our "Christmas track" because he went potty in the toilet and kept his undies dry for a few days and even stayed dry and used the bathroom when we took him to our ward's Christmas party. So we were thinking we were set on potty training. . . . But everyone warned us he would regress when we had a new baby. Ah sigh. It was exciting for the few days it lasted. Anyway, Ezra and I had many a fun evening together adjusting the train track and playing on this track with trains and cars before bed time. This is one of those simple things that I know I will miss when my kids are too big to care about building tracks so I enjoyed helping Ezra figure out how to get it just right around our tree, under presents, around the fireplace rocks, over wires, but not too far in the way, etc. It is fun watching his little mind reason and figure and the cute things he says along the process as he figures things out these days.

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At the park with Travis and Sophie LaPierre
Yay, we actually got some fall colored leaves and cold weather in Austin this year.

That night I took Ezra with me over to Travis and Sophie's house for my baby shower!! Lisa and Kristen, with the help of other friends, threw me a baby shower! It was so fun and I felt so loved and supported. It was really nice to have a fun party to celebrate this baby girl. It was a nice change of mood for me since I had been feeling so miserable physically, so it was a much needed reminder that pregnancy and babies are to be celebrated and they are exciting and fun too! I felt somewhat guilty having another shower for my second baby, and I know Christmas time is busy and costly for everyone, but I am learning that people really like to celebrate girls around here. It was amazing to me how many people showed support with this baby. Maybe it wasn't just because we were expecting our first girl, but because we had been in the ward a few years now so more people knew us. All I know is that is was humbling to feel so supported. People were just so kind and generous. I hope to pay it forward.
Thank you.

The food was all perfect and de-lish!

There were fun and creative games. I was surprisingly horrible at guessing the baby food. I was saying how sensitive my pregnant nose was, but I couldn't even guess some baby foods. Then there was molding a Starburst into a baby which was surprisingly artistic and cute by some people. And then there was who could be the fastest at putting shoes on and diapering a baby with a balloon in your shirt . . .



I might have had an unfair advantage as by this point in my pregnancy I had resulted to only slip-on clogs, because yes, bending over to put on shoes with a baby squishing your insides isn't all that pleasant or speedy. ;)

Best of all my heart was full of gratitude as I felt the support and friendship of women. I do miss having a mother and sisters near by to celebrate these times in my life, and sometimes I feel alone, but I was humbled by the sweet women that went out of their way to show me they care about me and my little family. I mean, it is surprising to me that someone would even want to come to my baby shower, let alone throw me one or bring food, and that people want to give gifts, and then the people that couldn't make the party and still stopped by with gifts, it was just so surprising and sweet and I felt so humbled that people even care. Thank you ladies! I am grateful for you!


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Another reason why I really want to learn to sew:

I bought this bassinet at Target. It's just a simple Carter's brand bassinet, but I wasn't loving the material with squares, monkeys and elephants, so I had to ask someone to sew this cover for me. I had seen this fabric when I was in Utah and thought it would come in handy some day for this little girl and then when I bought this bassinet and was staring at it, trying to figure out how to transform it into a piece of furniture that I wouldn't mind having in my bedroom for months, I thought Ah ha! That fabric would make a perfect bassinet skirt- and so it went. I considered trying to just figure it out myself, but then I admitted there are only so many hours in the day and we had plenty going on with the holidays and getting ready for baby to arrive and I didn't want to spend my last weeks with Ezra as my only child, holed up in my office trying to teach myself how to sew. It just pains me to hire someone to make what I envision though. A nice lady in my neighborhood did a great job though, and now I love my bassinet and it matches my room, lol. I really need to learn to sew.

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Ezra's new furniture was delivered!

He of course thinks it is very fun to climb up and play on the top bunk.
He sleeps on the bottom though.

We had to move this green chair from his nursery into his "big boy" room because his whole life he has been rocked in this chair before going down for a nap or bed time, and he doesn't seem to be able to fall asleep without being rocked.
Some nights when we would go to check on Ezra before we went to bed, we would find him in his nursery, sleeping in his chair. So maybe if the chair is in his room, he will stay in his bed. We'll see. He mostly sleeps in his bed, but every now and then he needs the comfort of his chair it seems.

I think I want to paint these letters a hunter green or red. Not sure yet.

The bed time routine: When Chris is actually home for Ezra's bed time, he is the one that gets him ready for bed so he can have that time with him, and then Ezra calls downstairs to me when it is time for prayers, and then he goes running into his room to hide under his blankets and we pretend we don't know where he is.

Then, "Here I am!" he squeals and screams with delight as if this is the most funny and surprising thing. He is so funny. I find it amusing that he has been doing the same thing every night, back from when he was in his old toddler bed in his nursery, to this bed it continues, and it hasn't gotten old yet.

There is still a lot I want to do in his room. I have yet to sew his quilts, so his bed isn't even complete yet. I want to paint his letters, get rods and drapery panels up, and a painted wood trim on the line where the two paint colors meet would be nice . . . . (but I'm not willing to put off holding Scarlett to pursue any of that right now so it is just going to have to wait.) I figure he will be in this room for a long time so I've got time.

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Learning about presents and giving to others.

It is funny how raising a child really makes me define why I do things, what I do, and what I believe. When I talked to Ezra about why we give presents at Christmas time, I'm not sure he at all connected the dots, but I figure all I can do right now is talk about it and someday he will hopefully understand just why we really celebrate Christmas. It gave me reason to pause and ask myself was I just celebrating the season of Christmas in the worldly aspect because it was that time of year again, and were we really celebrating Jesus' birth and life and all that Heavenly Father and Jesus gave to us? I tried to implement an attitude of gratitude and really celebrate our blessings in life. I tried to speak more of our Savior, and how grateful we are for him and what he did for us. It is somewhat confusing to me though, so I imagine it is to a three year old, just how all of the "Christmas" festivities have anything to do with Jesus' birth and life. They seem like two completely separate things most times. I tried to teach my son we are celebrating and giving to others to celebrate Heavenly Father giving us the best gift; Jesus, our Savior, so we love and give to others, and yet part of Christmas is watching Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman and eating candy canes and we are singing about Santa Claus coming down our chimney. So I have to have them separate in my mind; there is the season of Christmas and all of the fun and great things connected to it, and then there is the reverence of remembering and being grateful for our Savior and the redeeming gift from Heavenly Father that he was for all of us, which should really be in our hearts all year round. There are the fun silly things, and the true reverent things. Trying to find the appropriate balance of both was my goal. I realized I had some sort of conflict in my own head on how I wanted to celebrate Christmas. There are nights when I have fun frosting sugar cookies with my family while we laugh and watch "A Christmas Story", which is a fun family night of the season, and then there are nights where we are much more reverent and we read in the scriptures of Jesus' birth, and yet one has nothing to do with the other, and I wondered how confusing this message was to my 3 yr. old son. Do we really have to celebrate Santa Claus? Why am I getting my child excited about a lie, and why can't we just teach him that we give gifts to celebrate Heavenly Father giving us Jesus, to be our example and redeemer? Why can't that be exciting and fun? So anyway, Chris comes from a family where Santa Claus and Christmas morning were pretty big, so he thinks I'm somewhat of a Scrooge, but I didn't take Ezra to see Santa or sit on his lap and all that. I just couldn't do it. I know, something must be wrong with me. It was just too silly to me. I need to be better at compartmentalizing Christmas I guess. Any advice or tips from other moms?

So anyway, when we were discussing gifts and why we give gifts to people at Christmas time, I asked Ezra who he wanted to give presents to and he said "Kenzie and Madison". So then I asked him what he wanted to give them and he thought for a minute, and then decided upon what he holds most dear himself, cars of course. ;) So I took him to Toys R Us to pick out cars for them. It was a good lesson for him I thought, to experience going to his favorite store and not coming out with something for himself. We got Kenzie and Madi some Hot Wheels and Chris helped Ezra wrap them.

Ezra seemed completely excited and on board for this "giving". But when we had the Coopers over and it was time for the presents to be unwrapped, Ezra of course wanted to unwrap them and wanted to play with them, and then the reality of him being 3 kicked in and there were some tears. I have to admit I was a bit surprised by Ezra's tears and small melt down because he seemed really excited to give them their cars and had seemed to understand what he was doing. So I guess it was a good, humbling reminder to me that maybe I expect too much of my son sometimes, for his age. I don't know. All I know is that it is my responsibility to teach him. So I can help him learn and we will do these things, but then I need to remember to be compassionate and patient when he then he acts his age, and that's ok. We all start somewhere.

Ezra helped me make and deliver treats to a few people and he asked plenty of good questions, lots of "Well, why mommy?". That was probably a more age appropriate activity for talking about giving and wanting to do nice things for people. My favorite was when we were getting ready to go Visiting Teaching, and Ezra helped me remember what Visiting Teaching was all about. It really is a blessing to have a little person always asking "Why". Makes me clarify why I do what I do.
So we were trying to get out the door to go Visiting Teaching, which can seem the impossible task at times as Ezra tests my patience as I try to hurry him out.
So he of course asked me why he needed to put his shoes on, and I said we were going to visit Miss Stacey.
"Well, why mom?"
"We need to give her the special treats we made."
"Why?"
"Because we made yummy treats to give to her and we are going to give them to her and visit her."
"Why?"
"Because Jesus taught us to love one another, and one way we show people we love them is by visiting them."
"Well, why?"
"When we visit people we remind them they are important and that we love them and it is our job to remind Miss Stacey that Heavenly Father and Jesus love her."
"OK mom, lets go tell Miss Stacey that Jesus wuvs her!"
This seemed to make perfect sense to Ezra and he was happy about it as he then happily got in the car and off we went. He is like his momma; he doesn't like being told what to do, but if you can give him a good reason why, then he'll happily do it. And once again, I was grateful for my sweet son helping me remember why I do what I do, or at least why I attempt to do what I attempt to do.

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I got one of Ezra's favorite sitters, if not his very favorite right now, Rose Wilding, so Chris and I could go on what we assumed would be our last date night in a while, without any kids with us. Ezra was sitting up at the counter, eating his dinner when I walked in with Rose and it was so cute when he saw her he was so happy and he said "I love ya, Rose!" I'm so glad we have a sitter that Ezra is happy to be with so he isn't sad at all when we leave. Chris and I went to see the latest Harry Potter movie, and then enjoyed talking over a yummy Thai dinner. I'm so glad I married my best friend. I sure love our time together.

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Some Ezra funnies:

-I wake up to "Daaaaaddyyyyyy, come get me!" Ezra is calling to Chris from the top of the stairs and I just roll over and go back to sleep because I hear Chris get out of bed. But then my eyes shoot open when I hear Chris tell Ezra to come snuggle with us and Ezra says sadly "No, I'm wet!" ? What?! Turns out Ezra took off his diaper and peed on the carpet. Hmmm. . . . He seemed sad about it so I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he was trying to take off his diaper so he could go pee in the toilet when he woke up that morning, since we had been potty training at the moment, but I can't be too sure. Who knows. All I know is that I don't like hunting for pee in the carpet or cleaning it. I am just not cut out for potty training, at least not when I'm pregnant I told myself. (And now I tell myself I'm not cut out for it with a newborn and little sleep. I wonder what my excuse will be next.)

-The next morning though, I woke to the sweetest Ezra snuggling up to me in my bed, stroking my cheek and arm very softly, and then giving me hugs around my neck. So sweet. Ya know, in movies they make it look not so pleasant when kids go into their parents' room to jump in their bed and wake them up, but I like it when my kid climbs into my bed to wake me up. Everybody is happy and we get a few tender moments together, whether he is goofy and rambunctious or sweet and snuggley, and we get to stay in bed a few minutes longer. ;)

-Chris wasn't letting Ezra get his way on something so Ezra made his first attempt at tattling on his daddy to see if I would let him get is way:
"Mom, Daddy's being naughty at me and I don't like it." Classic.
It was hard to keep a straight face as I tried to seem sincere and sympathetic as Ezra tried very hard to play the poor innocent child that was being mistreated. He's got it down. Sweet voice, pouty lip, walking with slumped over shoulders and his head hung low. Such a little character.

- One morning I noticed Ezra's diaper was hanging a bit low, and seemed really full, so I thought he must really need a diaper change, how did I miss that. So I go to change him and he isn't wet, but has . . . . wait for it . . . . 8 Hot Wheels in his diaper! What the heck? I guess it seemed like a good carrying pouch. Still makes me laugh. For the next few days I really had to watch him on his monitor when he was going down for his naps because he would try to put more cars in his diaper. I'm so glad that phase passed in only a few days. I think he is a pretty obedient little boy.

-In past blogs I have mentioned Ezra getting into things while he is supposed to be napping, like the lotion and the baby powder. Well this time it was the Vics Vapor Rub. Oh my goodness, he put a whole jar all over himself. His shirt was saturated and stuck to him, his tummy then covered by his saturated shirt, his face goopy with vapor rub, his hair, his nose rag, his bed and pillow . . . globs and globs of vapor rub, and yes, the vapors were abundant. Ezra quickly learned that too much vapor rub was not a good thing as he was trying to wipe it off with his nose rag when I came into his room. Poor guy wanted to take a bath to get it all off and so we skipped his nap that day since he was in the bath and I was washing his sheets. I imagine he had fun though, rubbing endless globs of vapor rub all over himself. ;)

-One Sunday morning while I'm getting ready for church and Ezra is playing with his cars on my bathroom floor he says "I'm going to President Monson. He's at church."
Hmmm, Ok. Conference was a couple months ago and we don't talk about the prophet that often. Interesting what comes out of the mouths of babes sometimes.

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39 weeks and oh so ready



I was sure Scarlett was going to come before Christmas . . . . so we had everything ready for Christmas morning and we waited . . . and waited . . .

and Christmas morning came . . . .
All Ezra wanted was new cars, new trucks, "poppy whops" and candies. :)

Ah, it's Christmas morning, sure, you can eat a lollipop for breakfast, no problem. ;)


so Christmas came and went. We didn't plan anything much to do since we thought we'd have a new baby, or be having a baby, or be in the hospital . . . . but nope, no new baby. So I cooked a big meal and we just played as a family. It was pretty mellow.

The next few days I was somewhat distracted and almost had to be, to keep myself from going crazy from frustration and impatience. So Christmas was cut a little short for our family because as soon as it came and went, I was in clean up mode and all about getting ready for the baby to come. I was especially frustrated because my doctor had told me my entire pregnancy that she would induce me on December 27th, my due date, if I hadn't gone into labor yet on my own. I was a little antsy about wanting to get to a hospital quickly since I knew I had fast labors and I really hoped to get an epidural this time. But then my doctor told me at my last appointment with her on the 24th that she wasn't working on the 27th so she couldn't induce me. What? So no more induction date, no end to look forward to, no assurance that I'd be in a hospital and get an epidural? And now I'm not even going to have my doctor and at the very end I get a new doctor and no plan? I wasn't too happy with this sudden change of plans. I'm a planner. So I just kept at my check list of things to get done and tried to keep myself from going crazy with impatience, but I felt like I was very distracted, which is somewhat sad, because instead of having quality time with my husband and son, I was out running stupid errands just to keep my mind off of my due date that had now come . . . . and gone! AH!!!

It was all for the best I'm sure, now that I'm looking back on it. It turned out that Ezra and Chris got sick. So on my due date, instead of going in to the hospital to have a baby, I took Ezra to his pediatrician only to find out he had an ear infection, one side of his nose was swollen closed, and he had bronchitis. Poor kid couldn't breath, let alone sleep. So we got him hooked up on some antibiotics and this handy dandy little machine to help him breath in his medicine. We called it his special mask. We got him to sit still and wear it by turning on a Mickey Mouse Christmas show for him.


40 weeks
Since Ezra wasn't feeling well, I let him take his nap in my bed, and for some reason while he was napping I got the idea that I should take a picture of my fully pregnant belly because I was somewhat amazed by how large it was. (I was sure I was going to have at least an 8 pound baby.) Well the only long enough mirror besides the one in my bedroom where he was sleeping, is in this bathroom, so that is why I am in my little bathroom for this picture. Kind of funny to take a picture of myself in front of a toilet, but it's all about my huge belly.

So Christmas came and went, my due date came and went, and I even made it to another stupid check up with the other doctor at 4pm, Dr. Orth. I tried to ask Dr. Orth if she would induce me, but she was not at all interested. Ugh, drive me crazy already! She did say she could feel my water sack bulging, so I went home that night and bounced on my large exercise bouncy ball. I figured, if she can feel the baby's head and my water sack bulging, then maybe I can bounce my baby's head down to break the water, lol. Who knows if that was at all logical, but I was beyond logic, I was past my due date and about to go crazy! But apparantly, it worked. :)

I started having very light cramps, around 9pm, but thought nothing of it because they honestly weren't painful. I only knew what I had experienced with Ezra, which was incredibly fast, crazy intense contractions super close together. So since that was my first and only experience with labor, I was sure what I was feeling couldn't possibly be labor "pains". Intuition was trying to tell me differently though because I was restless and I made sure our hospital bags were packed and I sent a text message to our friend that had offered to come over in the night if we went into labor. I kept debating whether to go into the hospital or not. Couldn't I just say I was having cramps and maybe they'd keep me long enough that I could have a nice, calm and controlled labor in the hospital and get an epidural? I seriously considered going in. But it was 10pm and I really just wanted to go to sleep and I would have felt horrible for calling my friend over to sleep at our house, if I was sent home from the hospital for not really being in labor. So we said our prayers, I prayed for help to know when we were really in labor (doesn't that seem silly?) and to know when we should go to the hospital, and then I went to sleep. I figured if I was really having contractions they would wake me up, and I hadn't felt anything for the last hour or more.

At 2 am I woke up confused, not sure why I was awake, and then I realized I was wet. I guess my water ended up breaking after all. (Good thing we had gotten that new, water-proof mattress cover for our tempurpedic bed just weeks before.) I got out of bed and woke Chris, but wasn't feeling rushed because I still didn't feel that I was having contractions. I just felt excited! Yes, finally, we were having this baby! Yahoo!!

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November 2010

I got a new cell phone while I was in Utah so all of the pictures I took in November were with my cell phone. . . . it wasn't intentional, I just happened to forget my camera and happened to have my cell, so that is why the color and lighting in this month's pictures are not so great (accept for our family pictures taken by Aerial of course!)

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I was having a day and just needed to get out of the house to do something fun and spontaneous with Ezra and I remembered how much I loved it when my mom took me to Baskin Robbins when I was a little girl. Since Ezra eats a pretty dairy-free diet, I thought it might be a fun treat to get a scoop of ice-cream together. Ezra just liked the novelty of it and getting to pick out his own flavor and having his own cup, but he only ate a little bit. I've noticed that he doesn't really want to eat the foods that aren't ideal for him, so it was actually a silly thing to go do, and I didn't get ice-cream, but it was still fun just to get out and do something different. ;)

The sweetest part of the outing was when we were walking out. As we were holding and swinging our hands and walking to the car, Ezra said "We're buddies mom. You wanna be my buddy mom? You're my best fren forever and ever!" Oh, so cute! I love these precious moments with my Ezra buddy. It is nice to know he likes me every now and then. ;)

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Ezra's big-boy room.

I wanted to have as many projects done before the baby arrived as possible, and one big project was getting Ezra's next room ready. This bedroom had been my junk/project room since we had moved in, so I had a lot of cleaning out and putting away and throwing away to do. It was my room for saving things I wasn't really using but wasn't ready to throw away, and for wishful thinking - projects I never finished, or hadn't even started yet. So I cleaned out the closet and room and then kept going through the rest of the house and we had our first garage sale! And it was a success! Chris posted pictures for me on Craig's List the night before and we had a couple women lined up ready to go before I even had everything set up at 8am. Garage sale shoppers are serious! I was surprised how fast everything went. By 11am we were done and had sold everything but one box's worth of stuff. Nice. Good bye junk, hello Christmas shopping money. :)

While cleaning out Ezra's future room, I put away the contents of this box and Ezra thought the empty box made for a great hiding place.

He wanted to play this game over and over of him hiding in the box and then surprising me as I looked for him.

The future "Big Boy" room:
Yahoo, you can see the floor now! :) Honestly, it got to the point where you could hardly find a place to walk in here. We were just procrastinating on where to put things away, but we finally did it and unpacked every box! So now, 3.5 years later, we are officially moved into our house, lol. I thought I was clean and organized, ha ha, but really my procrastination had just been hiding in this room, but no more! It feels good to have that done. :)


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Family photos

A young woman in our ward wanted to earn money for an abroad program so she offered to take pictures for a great price so this motivated me to get some family pictures taken this year, even though I was feeling oh so large (and miserable) and we were feeling very busy. I keep reminding myself that someday I'll look back fondly at my pregnant pictures . . . . . I think . . . I hope . . . or so they tell me. . . . :)

Regardless of my feelings about my pregnant self, I knew I would appreciate any family pictures, especially pictures of my husband and son. So I am glad we had Aerial take some pictures of us, as everything was about to change for our little family. It was somewhat sentimental for me as I realized these would be our last family photos of our family as we knew it . . . . our time with only Ezra was coming to a close. Everything would change forever after. Time really does go quickly by. Had I given him enough time and love and attention? Was he secure and ready? Did he have a good foundation? Did I have any regrets? Would I miss our life with just him? Was I ready? Did I enjoy him while he was my (only) baby? All I can do is do my best at the time I am in because I am realizing more and more, there is no going back and I don't want to have regrets, especially when it comes to my children. While there is a sure joy when expecting and welcoming another child, there is also a quiet sadness in my heart as I realize Ezra is no longer my baby and that time has already passed. It is ok though, I tell myself. This is life, this is how it is supposed to go. Everything is ok. Just breath. It's all going to be ok.

So, back to the photos!

It's all about the big belly . . . .







. . . . . and my wonderful boys!!











Our Ezra sandwich.
Ezra loves it when Chris and I hug him at the same time. We can see it in his eyes how happy and secure he feels when he is engulfed by both his parents and we are all together in one happy embrace. (We should probably take the time to do this more often so it doesn't seem like such a treat when it does happen!) So we asked Aerial to take a picture of our Ezra sandwich . . . . . so we could remember. You never know how long your kids will enjoy you giving them a big squeeze and kiss!


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Our Thanksgiving Get-a-way!

We had enjoyed our visit in July so much that we decided to rent another cabin in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, for Thanksgiving. Everything went great. Ezra was a great trooper on the 8 hour drive and we arrived safely without any incident. (I have an issue with being afraid of car accidents whenever we go on a road trip, or really any time I am a passenger in a car. The whole time I am nervously praying and flinching as cars pass by. It is quite neurotic, I know. It's like I think life is too good and so I'm waiting for that big, horrible tragedy to get us sometimes. Or it could be I'm just crazy when I'm pregnant. It seems when I am carrying life, I am more aware of how tangible human life is and how quickly it can end.)


Had to get a picture of Ezra sleeping while keeping a firm grasp on two cars in each hand. He looks so big to me for a 3 year old. I have to remind myself sometimes that he is only 3.


The cabin was perfectly cozy and yet spacious for plenty of toys, running around, cooking, and relaxing.
Ezra had a good runway so he was happy. If we opened the back door into the sunroom he had even more room. It was a great set up for us.

I took a bunch of pictures of this cabin not only to document our trip but also to remember how much I thought having a sunroom off of the kitchen was a great idea - to have a homework/toy/project area that kept the associated clutter off of the kitchen counters but still so close - would be very convenient. I like the idea of being able to shut the door to the clutter and noise if I want, but yet being so close. Thinking down the line, when some day homework and school projects and papers will cover our house. I'm always accumulating ideas for building. Who knows, we may live in this house till we die, but my mind can't help but file away all these ideas if we were to build again. So anyway, it came in handy when I wanted to cook quietly while Chris took a nap, and Ezra wanted to be loud with his cars and wanted a show on. This way everyone was happy; it was quiet for naps, I had my rare moment of having my own space and peace while cooking (as opposed to having Ezra under my feet and crashing cars into me as I try to not trip over him or his various toys while cooking) and yet Ezra and I could see each other through the glass door while he played and honked and crashed his cars into each other instead of into me. :) I'm all for closeness and savoring each phase of my children, but a breather is good for my frazzled patience and pregnant nerves every now and then.



Our bedroom and Ezra's was connected by a bathroom and there was also a closet that connected the two rooms and I thought that would also be a convenient set up; having a nursery close to our master bedroom but not in it, and being able to get to it without having to go through public rooms.




I couldn't help but smile when I saw Chris so happily enjoying a rare moment to veg; playing solitaire with the hunting show on in the backround, lol. He makes me smile. We set up a race track for Ezra's cars and a train track, so Ezra actually gave Chris a break now and then and played on his own for a bit. We went on a couple walks together and explored a bit and enjoyed our surroundings. Mostly we just enjoyed having uninterrupted time together!! So nice! No drama, no stress, no business, no obligations, just relaxing and enjoying being together. So wonderful! My favorite!


I enjoyed having a fire to curl up in front of, with my hot chocolate and hubby, after Ezra was in bed. We joke that this baby is at least one fourth hot chocolate and dark chocolate.



Ezra had to warm his cold little hands on his daddy.
Chris continues to be such a sweet and patient daddy, giving Ezra as much as he possibly can with fun time together.


Our Thanksgiving Feast with the Gosney's!

Matt and Sharon joined us for our little get-a-way and I have to admit, we only benefited from their company. Matt enjoys cooking and I was only too happy to let him enjoy cooking as much as he wanted. I made breakfasts, and he and Sharon made the Thanksgiving meal; the best turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, brussel sprouts, pies. . . and I just made a few desserts; a sweet potato casserole, rolls, and apple pie. It wasn't fare at all, and they brought other goods with them. It is fun hanging out with foodies. ;)

Matt is the friend that set Chris and me up. And we love his wife Sharon. I have been so fortunate to gain some great friends as Chris' wife, as I get to know his friends and their spouses. I am appreciating friends more, as we are far away from our families I realize we have been blessed with good friends. I like the expression "Friends are family we choose" and that is how it feels. There are few people I feel completely at ease and relaxed around, and these are some of those few friends where I feel comfortable staying in my sweats with no make up on, not embarrassed to eat more pie, say whatever silly thing, we can talk about anything, be it heart ache, the gospel, or be completely irreverant as my sense of humor sometimes is, and we just feel at ease, and that is nice. We are grateful for the good friends that we have been given in our life.


Must include a photo of the Gosney's with their OU gear on. (One of their games was on that night.) They even brough us each a piece of OU attire; a shirt for Chris, a scarf for me, and a hat for Ezra.

We had this whole area to ourselves it seemed, as we didn't see another person down at the lake where we stopped to play. One of the nice things about having a young child is not thinking twice about playing on a playground and throwing rocks; you can stay a kid. ;)



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November Notes:

All things must be peppermint.

Enduring to the end . . . . the smell of my soap made me so nauseated. Even on other people it was nauseating. After Chris and Ezra would shower I couldn't stand to walk in the bathroom or be close to them with the smell of fresh soap and lotion permeating the air. So when it got to the point that I was trying to hold my breath while I was in the shower (yea, that didn't really work) and feeling so nauseated by the smell of my soap every time I washed my hands, I decided I had to make time to find some new soap, and voila, thank goodness for the holiday season because peppermint was abounding and all things peppermint were wonderful to my pregnant nose! I celebrated any small comfort I could find at this point. So our house is full of peppermint; peppermint herbal tea, peppermint hand soap, body soap, peppermint anti-bacterial lotion, peppermint shower gel, peppermint body lotion, peppermint spray, lip gloss, gum, mint leaves in soda water, peppermint extract in hot cocoa, peppermint ice-cream, candy canes . . . . mmmmmm.

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Ezra's First Kiss.
Yes, it has already happened.

We went over to see my friend Wanda's new house, and of course Ezra was so excited to play with Madison and Mackenzie as always. He is probably a little more excited, or enthusiastic to play with them sometimes, than they are to play with "baby Ezra". Not that they aren't anything but completely wonderful with him, but ya know, they go to school and have friends and activities and are older, and are girls, and Ezra is a little "baby" boy to them, who really, is like an overly excited puppy that just runs around them, barking non stop, in their face, tail wagging, panting with excitement, etc. So Madison came in the house crying because Ezra had poked her in the face with a stick (they were in the back yard) and I was of course not happy and sat him on time out and was somewhat confused because he had never (to my knowledge) been physically assertive or aggressive towards other children and had never hit another child or hurt another child and it just didn't seem like him. So when I went to talk to Ezra to get him out of time out, I first asked him why he did what he did (it just wasn't like him) and he said sadly "Well, Madison wasn't pwaying wif me and I just want her to pway wif me. . . " I almost laughed as I realized my "baby" was simply a typical little boy. He likes a girl and wants her attention and got frustrated so he thought he'd poke her because hey, that's going to make her want to play with him, in little boy logic, lol. I can remember the obnoxious boys on the play ground when I was a little girl, and being so confused when the teacher would say they just liked girls and didn't know how to act. Now that obnoxious little boy is my little boy, oh no. So I tried to explain to Ezra that I understood he just wanted Madi to play with him and that he was sad that she wasn't giving him the attention he wanted, but that poking someone wasn't the right way to get someone's attention and that he hurt her so she certainly wasn't going to play with him if he did things that hurt her, etc. (I always wonder if anything I'm trying to explain to my 3 year old makes any sense to him.) I tried to talk about how he could ask her to play with him and sometimes people just need a break or need some space. (I still don't think he really has any concept of anyone needing their "space" from him.) So when we were done with our chat, I said "So why don't you go tell Madi you are sorry and give her a hug." (In our family, when we tell each other we are sorry, we try to practice giving hugs and kisses because it is humbling and shows we still want to be close and loving and Chris is a big believer in this, that we need to show affection and show an increase of love after rebuking. I have to be honest, it is hard for me to want to hug or kiss anyone after an argument, but I'm glad Chris has implemented this practice in our family.) So I'm thinking Ezra is just going to walk over to where the girls are playing and mumble he is sorry, and Wanda and I stood and watched, wondering what would happen, but much to our mutual surprise he not only followed through on saying he was sorry but marched over to Madi and Mackenzie, reached out to Madi, who understandably was somewhat timid of him getting that close so she leaned away, but Ezra, not to be deterred, then grabbed her face with both hands on her cheeks, pulled her face towards his (mind you she is almost 2 years older than him) as he says "Come ere, I wanna kiss ya" and he gives her a big kiss. I about died, it was the cutest thing. I was surprised, and then Wanda laughed, "I think that was Ezra's first kiss." And then it hit me, it had happened, Ezra had already gone out and gotten himself his first kiss. Lol. I know it was completely innocent, especially as in our family we have taught him to make up this way, but we might have to do some explaining if he continues to grab girls and kiss them. ;)

"Come ere, I wanna kiss ya!" Love it.


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When we are in the car I hear Ezra "Where's the moon? Where's the train? I wanna see a train!" - over and over and over . . . . so we both get very happy when we finally spot a train or the moon because depending on how tired Ezra is, if we don't spot a train or the moon, it can be very upsetting. ;)


Ezra has a thing with not wanting to wear his pants lately. Ok, fine with me, as long as he puts them on when we go out of the house. So that is why in some pictures over the next couple of months, Ezra is without pants.

Craft time.
Ezra is into "crafts" these days. I'm not too creative in this department, so I just provide a few materials for him and he seems to enjoy having the freedom to do what he wants with his stickers, glitter, markers, tape, and water color paints. Those are the favorites at the moment. Ever since we decorated goody bags at his birthday party, he has liked to make new bags for carrying around his favorite cars and treasures.

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Talking about the baby, or, as Ezra calls her, "baby Scarwit".
We have checked out some great books from the library on becoming a big brother, having a new baby in the house, when I was in mommy's tummy, etc., and they have been great for Ezra. He seems to understand the basics. I have taken Ezra with me to my OB appointments and he has heard the baby's heart beat. I took him to the hospital one day and we walked in and looked at the babies in the nursery and I explained to him that this was where I would be when it was time for the baby to come and we talk about how fun it will be for him to go stay with some friends when that time comes and I assure him that everything will be fine and daddy will bring him to visit me and the baby, etc.

This baby girl kicks a lot, so Ezra has gotten to feel her kicking. He likes to snuggle up against me when I am reading him books before his nap, and he likes to feel her kick then. It is so cute! He'll lift up my shirt to see my tummy and say "Open your tummy mommy, I wanna see baby Scarwit." So then he looks, rubs and pats my belly and I just watch, amused. Then he says "Ok mommy, I'll close you now. I don't want you to look funny." Lol!
But sometimes she isn't kicking, which is very disappointing to Ezra, so I had to explain to him that she is just sleeping and taking a nap inside mommy's tummy. So now when Ezra doesn't feel her kicking, he just says, matter of factly, "that's ok mommy, she's just sweeping." So cute.
It's not so much the words he says, but the way he says it. His big eyes, funny expressions, and adorable little voice just melt my heart.

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(My spell check doesn't seem to be working at the moment, so this could be entertaining.)