Side by side comparison

28 weeks with Caleb....29 weeks with Brookelyn...(I think my ankles are smaller this time!)

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In case I don't blog for the next month...

So if I don't post anything for the next month, I don't want you to think we had some catastrophic baby event or something. Here's what we're looking at:

February 25th - Samantha Dance Spectacular

February 26th - Nash play date

March 2nd - Ultrasound, Dr. appointment, 2 parent teacher conferences, Travis comes home

March 5th - Cousin's baptism

March 7th - Samantha Vistaun Review

March 11th - Samantha Caprielle Review

March 19th - Samantha Hip Hop Workshop

March 22nd - Travis comes home

March 24th - Literacy Night at the kids' school

March 26th - Samantha possible piano recital

Plus, Samantha goes to dance on Tuesday & Thursday & then goes to piano lessons on Wednesday. Remind me why I signed Nash up for soccer? Luckily that doesn't start until April 11th & only lasts until school is out. Why am I thinking about signing that kid up for swimming lessons or t-ball in June?? Luckily I have insomnia so I should be able to get some more of my sewing projects/orders finished! I did tell Travis he only has 4 weeks of being home to get that basement bedroom finished for the boys before Brookelyn arrives. I think that might have jarred him back to reality about how close it is. Unfortunately for me, that means I will also be painting sometime (hopefully very) soon!

I'm beginning to think April is shaping up to look like March. Not quite so many dance things going on, but we'll likely have Sam's baptism then (details to come when we have them) and since Nash will start soccer I'm going to have to figure out how to divide myself in half. Maybe that's a good thing because it will make the last 3 months of this pregnancy fly right by before I know where it went!

So, now you know if you don't hear from me that we haven't had a catastrophic event. I'm just busy keeping up to my children!

Church humanitarian project & Cousin Day

A few weeks ago the Relief Society President caught up to me at the school while I was waiting for the kids to come out. She asked if I'd be interested in helping sew some stuff for the current humanitarian project. Apparently she's seen the pictures I've posted on facebook. I told her I'd be willing to give it a go. I've done humanitarian stuff for church before. That however, involved quilts & tying them. This time the project involved making baby gowns out of knit. 1-I haven't sewn on knit...at all.. It kinda scares me because it's so stretchy. 2-I don't usually do clothing projects without INTENSE supervision by my mother. Case in point - I started 2 dresses when we lived in Ephraim (1999-2001). I brought them home for help from mom one day. They are still unfinished! I found them again today & put them where I can hopefully finish them when I'm not pregnant anymore!

Once I got the projects home, I took them out of the bag for inspection (I had no idea what it was they wanted me to do). For the life of me I couldn't figure out the pattern directions or the pieces they'd cut out for me. So, when all else fails....take it to mom. So, I took my project to mom a day or so after I got it for help. Much to my surprise mom said she'd made these lots of times before and they were super easy. She showed me what to do and I thought I'd be set. So, that night I started on one. I got the arms put in, but when I went to put the ribbing in, I found that there was absolutely no way that was going to stretch as big as it needed to be. So, after a few days I went back to mom. She again showed me what to do. Instead of jumping on it that night though, I put it off. Travis was home & I don't generally get much sewing done then. So, it sat for a week and then Trav left and I thought to myself I'd better get those done...but, I had a baby shower and a birthday party to do. So, I put it off a little longer.

Finally last night I busted them out again. This time I got 2 of the 3 finished. I would have finished the 3rd, but I couldn't stand to sit at the table any more (my back was hurting). I finished the 3rd one tonight - mostly just because I know they need them on Sat. and I got a phone call earlier today telling me they'd be here to pick them up on Friday! So, here is a picture of 1 of the 3 baby gowns I made. In all honesty, I think I'd rather do quilts! These weren't quite as easy as they looked when mom showed me how to do them! They are cute though.
On Monday I didn't have to work since there wasn't any school. When my sister brought my niece over Friday night she said my nephew was dying to have a play date with Nash. She probably would have taken him home for a bit that night, but I had my aunt's little boy here for awhile too. So, Nash went over there for a few hours on Saturday and I told my sister that if she wanted to, she could bring the kids over on Monday while she was at work. Lucky for all 5 kids she took me up on my offer!

She dropped them off at 7:30 am and didn't get back until almost 5:30. Much to my pleasant surprise, there wasn't a single argument the ENTIRE day. They did polish off 3 boxes of fruit snacks (18 pouches), but hey, I think that's a small price to pay for happy, playing children for that many hours!

The boys played lots of Lego Batman and Lego Indiana Jones on the xbox. When they finally took a break, they decided to play....what else? Legos! Here is the naked trio in action.
When my niece and nephew were going to be here each day last summer I bought a TON of projects to keep them busy. One of the projects I bought was the sun catchers you paint. I bought quite a few of them because my kids love to paint them. The box of projects has just been sitting downstairs and every couple weeks my kids will ask if I'll bust it out. I haven't busted it back out yet..mostly because I didn't want to deal with it. But, while the cousins were here, we busted out the project box & painted sun catchers. Caleb did the two giraffes in case you were wondering! My niece and nephew also played with the beads that you put on plastic pegs and melt together with an iron (that's what the bright colored things to the right are). Nash & Jack did the fish. The girls did the butterflies. Now, to find a window that doesn't already have 20 of these things stuck to it!

The boys were also kind enough to take a break from the xbox long enough to give the girls a chance to practice their rock star skills. Jade was playing drums & Sam was singing. They are quite the duo those girls! I've had Beetles songs stuck in my head all day Monday & today because Rockband was played for so long!
This picture is of the boys painting their sun catchers. I love the look of concentration on Caleb's face. You can tell he SOOO wants to be one of the big boys like his brother. He was trying so hard to stay in the lines and not spill anything. He did "awesome" as he likes to say these days!

In other news, I made progress on my New Year's Resolutions today. I waddled downstairs and decided to start tackling my office again. The poor room has been in chaos since Trav started working on the boys' room down there in June. Today I was able to finish filing all my 2010 papers and bust out the new binders I bought for the 2011 papers to file. I also went through all my Lia Sophia stuff and found a ton of stuff that is unopened. I'm going to sell it to a girl I know or put it on ebay or ksl. I haven't done anything with it since 2009, so I'm pretty sure I'm done with it. Might as well get it out of the way! I also finally got all my sewing stuff that was in the family room downstairs in my office and all the scrapbook stuff that was in the family room back in my office! Now you can see both my desks and there's room to actually sit at the table and do something! I told Trav I can't move all my sewing stuff down there until he turns the outlets back on (he turned them off when he started sheetrocking in June). But, I'm excited to have a place to go down and work on catching up some baby books and scrapbook stuff! Samantha even helped (she was home sick from school today). She's super excited to get out all the new scrapbook kit stuff she got from my aunt for her birthday. She helpfully went through a bunch of scrapbook stuff I got from my sister in law and picked out what she wants for HER scrapbook collection. I think my husband might beat me if he knew I was encouraging that habit! Too bad!

A very busy week or two

If I had posted all the pictures separately, this post would be a million miles long! I threw my sister a surprise baby shower on Feb. 16th. She had been sick the week before so I was really worried she wouldn't be better by the time the shower rolled around. I was also worried she might go into labor early since her blood pressure had been going up. Lucky for me, she was neither! Unfortunately, despite all the beautiful weather we had in the days prior to the shower, it snowed 5.5 inches that night. It started the same time people started arriving for the shower. It didn't quit until almost 10 that night! I was just glad when I went out at 9:30 and started to shovel that there had been a bunch of cars in my driveway because it made it so there wasn't 5.5 inches covering my entire driveway! I was especially glad for that when I started shoveling and realized just how wet and heavy the snow actually was! Last night we had Samantha's friend party. I let her invite 7 kids over for a sleepover. We had 3 cousins, 1 neighbor, 1 dance friend, & 2 from school. One from school couldn't come & 2 didn't spend the night. Never the less, it was chaos central for quite some time! Lucky for Nash, my aunt had tickets to a concert so she brought Carson over to entertain him. I told her the boys sat & played xbox for 3.5 hours! Thank goodness for Lego Indiana Jones & Lego Batman! Those boys didn't even notice the girls running circles around them! I was glad Travis brought home our other dvd player & that I was able to hook it up in our room so we could start movies for the girls without bothering the boys! Samantha picked out Ramona & Beezus, Alpha & Omega, & Open Season 3 to watch. I was surprised that about 3 of the girls had already seen Ramona & Beezus. I guess other people go to the theater more than we do! I broke down & bought a cake for Sam's friend party. She really wanted me to do the stand up Barbie cake again this year. Which technically it's not that hard of a cake to make. It's decorating it that takes awhile. It uses all the hand decorating tips and you have to carve the cake some. Between the shower and piano class on Wed. and dance class Thursday, I just didn't have the time or energy. Lucky for me she was ok with a store bought one (I personally think store bought cakes are nasty & shouldn't be served to humans or animals!). We ordered pizza, opened presents, had cake & ice cream, made hair bows and watched movies to our heart's content. Most all of the girls were out by 12 or 12:30. Only Nash & Sadie stayed awake until 3 am! Sadie was quiet and just watched movies - Nash was a loud mouth & I was surprised he didn't wake anyone up! When he came in at 3 and asked me to put on another movie I finally told him NO! Much to my surprise those 2 were the first ones up at 8 am! This morning we had pancakes and eggs and just played until mom's got here to pick them up at 10 am. We ran to Logan today to do just a few errands before Sam had to dance tonight. Lucky for me Aunt Cass offered to keep Nash - the kid is making me CRAZY these days! He's got a BAD case of middle child syndrome! When we went into Shopko to get some prescriptions, Sam wanted to buy something with her money. She found this make your own mosaic jewelry box that she really wanted so I let her get it. After her performance tonight we came home and she got started on it. It took her almost 2 hours, but she sat and glued to her little heart's content & couldn't be happier with the final outcome. She needs a bigger jewelry box so perhaps this will actually come in handy for more than keeping her entertained for 2 hours! Uncle Zack was kind enough to keep the boys while I took Sam to her dance performance. She danced with LaShar's at the Caprielle Invitational. My understanding is they invite different dance teams from the valley to come perform & pretty much just use it as a fundraiser. It was only $3 to get in and only lasted 45 minutes. I was thrilled! Dance performances NEVER last that long! I fully expected to be there until at least 7:30! I'm hoping that the Caprielle Review doesn't last too long either! While we were there we learned that they will be hosting a "hip hop workshop" on March 19th. I asked Sam if she wanted to do it - she hasn't done hip hop before. They have 3 choreographers that have worked with a bunch of famous people coming. So, $55 later, we are now booked with events/activities through the third weekend in March. I told her piano teacher to hurry and schedule the piano recital for that last weekend in March before something else creeps up! My mom made the kids aprons for Valentine's Day. My boys were thrilled! Every time they want to help me bake they end up wearing one of their sister's aprons! Now Nash has a transformers apron & Caleb has a tractor apron. On the 15th when I got home from work I found all three of my boys (their dad) in the kitchen. Dad had on pj bottoms & a cowboy hat. Caleb had on a cowboy had, his pj bottoms and his tractor apron. Nash had on his pj bottoms (apparently we're lacking in the cowboy hat department at our house these days). Caleb & dad were making "cowboy cakes" for breakfast (pancakes). It was the cutest thing I've seen in a long time! I couldn't help but smile & grab my camera! It's no wonder the kids like baking with their dad more than me. I don't let them pull a chair up to a h0t pan and use the spatula to turn the "cowboy cakes"....dad DOES! Dad and grandma Terri also let them crack eggs and I don't! I do share the beaters though! That should count for SOMETHING! I'm hoping next week is a bit more mellow, but somehow I doubt it! We might have cousins here on Monday since there's no school. Sam dances Tue. and Thur. and goes to piano on Wed. On Friday night she dances at SV and on Saturday Nash is having a friend over to play! Who knew the weeks their dad was gone would turn out to be busier than when he's home! At least we don't get bored!

Time Flies When You're Havin' Fun

I can't believe my baby girl is going to be eight next Saturday! I swear she was just born yesterday! She is turning out to be quite the girl. She has her girlie girl moments, but she has just as many tom boy moments too.

This year she decided she wanted to go ice skating for her family birthday party again. So, of course we obliged. Mom of course WASN'T on skates though. I was watching from the sidelines, snapping pictures and finishing the binding on Aunt Cass's baby blanket.

Originally Sam wanted the "Brad Paisley guitar" cake. I regretfully informed her I did not want to do fondant and hand painting on a cake that was going to be eaten. Especially since I knew it would take me FOREVER to put together! I offered to do a guitar cake in any color she wanted, but when we went to go the cake pan from Michaels, they of course were out of that pan. After some indecisiveness, we ventured over to Kitchen Kneads where she settled on this:
I think it turned out cute - even if it isn't Brad Paisley's blue paisley guitar. I even made matching cupcakes to go with it. Of course, I was extra glad that I hadn't caved into the Brad Paisley guitar cake this morning. See, I always keep cakes in the oven - they stay SOO much fresher that way. After being married 11 1/2 years, you'd think Travis would remember this, right? No. He preheated the oven without checking to see if the birthday cake was in there first. Once the oven hit about 200 degrees, he could smell cake & shortly thereafter had an "oh *&#$" moment & got the cake out. Alas, it was too late. All the frosting had melted off the cake and I knew it would be recooked & go hard. Travis didn't understand why I couldn't just "scrap the frosting off & refrost it." I told him to just be glad it wasn't one like I usually do where I decorate it with all my decorating tips that takes 3 hours and that it was only 10:30 am and not noon (we were leaving at 1:00). Needless to say, I spent the morning making the cake AGAIN.

We went ice skating first, but I'm a spaz and put pictures in the wrong order. So, here are pictures from her party we had after ice skating.

Since the ice arena isn't far from Grandpa Scott & Grandma Kris's house, we had our party at their house again this year. It was relatively quiet - just us, Atkinsons, Grandma & Grandpa & Grandma Terri.

Caleb was super excited to bonk Sam on the head. In fact, he tried doing "heavy, heavy hangover" right after he finished helping his dad wrap her presents this morning! I love the look on her face in this picture:
She got a cute new outfit from Grandma Kris & Grandpa Scott & the Atkinsons. They also got her a set of Shrinky Dinks (she got those last year & absolutely LOVED them).
An awesome "I spy" quilt from Grandma Terri. She loves it. She told me it was the "Only thing I wanted and I got it!" and is in fact sleeping with it on her bed tonight. When I took Caleb back into their room after he got up, I caught her "spying" things on the quilt.
The ice arena wasn't too packed. When we go, we generally go on a Sunday because that's when there are a lot less people there. Nash used one of the walkers and since we had 2 strollers, Sam took turns with the stroller and the walker.

Caleb was as happy as a pig in mud to be on the ice again. We just strap him in & push him around in his stroller. He loves Uncle Robbie & was just in seventh heaven having him push him around and play with him.
I think this picture turned out super cute. This is "baby Jaxton". Sam sure loves him, but when I asked Caleb if we should take "baby Jaxton" home & Sam heard me, she was quick to respond with "NO! We have a baby sister coming!" She's not excited for a girl at all, is she!
Last week Caleb & I made Valentine sugar cookies. I've taught the kid well. He LOVES his cookie dough just like his mama!
This is how we watched the ENTIRE new Tinkerbell movie last night. Brookelyn was kicking like nuts so I was surprised that he stayed there the entire time, but he was happy as a clam. In fact, every time I tried to move him he got mad & went back to this exact same spot!
And last, but not least....here I am at 27 weeks. Only 13 weeks to go! 12 if they really start me a week early like they said they would. It seems like it's gone pretty quick this time. I probably won't be saying that in another 4 weeks though! When I went to the dr. last week I had gained 41 lbs. I'm afraid I'm going to hit the +80 lb mark this time. At least I know it comes off, right? Last week I also had my glucose test done. I think that glucola drink gets nastier every time I have to take it. I think it's pixie stick sugar colored orange! YUCK! Dr. Fowers said he wants me to come back in & get another ultrasound. I asked him if we needed to have another one done because when I had my very first ultrasound I had the beginnings of placenta previa. When I had my 20 week ultrasound they could tell the placenta had moved, but the couldn't tell how much. So, I'm going back on March 2nd for another ultrasound. I was glad they could schedule it for when they did so Travis will be home. He missed my 20 weeks ultrasound (it was the day before he came home). I'm fairly sure that all is well and I'm hoping they'll tell me she isn't going to be a 10 pounder! Doubtful on the 10 pounder part knowing how big of babies I tend to have!
Have a great week!

Personalize a free photo slideshow

So, in addition to the pictures (it was faster than loading them 1 at a time!) I also have 2 orders for a total of 10 Christmas stockings, and 2 pillowcase dresses. I'm also trying to finish a reversible bag for Sam for her birthday, as well as one to use as my new diaper bag & 1 for a pay it forward gift. I have 7 pillowcase dresses cut out & just waiting to be serged & ribbon added & then posted to my etsy site. I need to get the 3 baby gowns for the church humanitarian project done before Feb. 25th too. I also have another reversible bag that needs to be done as a baby gift & 3 reversible aprons (1 is a pay it forward, 1 a birthday & 1 a mother's day). If I could get those done, then I could finish the clothes I cut out for the kids before school started! HA HA! Good thing Trav comes home tonight! I told him the other day that he needs to keep kids entertained for about 3 days so I can finish all of that! We'll see if it happens or not! I'm guessing it will half way happen! Oh! I also need to finish binding the quilt for my sister's baby & mine! If Trav would finish the boys' room, I would need to get Caleb's big, new, blue & red tractor quilt done too! Guess it's in my favor he hasn't worked too hard on it yet!

We've had a rough two weeks since Trav left last time. The kids got grounded 2 days after Trav left because their behavior was atrocious at a meeting I took them too. I ungrounded Samantha on Saturday because she's been so much better. Caleb, well, he's really to little to "get it." Nash on the other hand, has tried my patience to the absolute end! He's been xbox & ds-less for at least a week. Why? Well, one night he intentionally spit on my floor for absolutely no reason. The next day, he called Samantha a s***head and laughed. I know where he's learned that word & I've let his dad know I know too! ;) Caleb's challenge has been that he's picked up from his brother the words buttcrack & butthole. So, he has had to put his nose on the wall and go to his room several times a day lately. I have told him I'm going to soap his mouth out if he wants to talk like a naughty boy. He thinks it's a game. I think I might have to actually break out the soap.

This weekend we are going to do Samantha's family birthday party since her dad will be gone on her actual birthday. That means I get to make a cake on Saturday. I think she wants the stand up Barbie cake again. She wants to go ice skating again too. So, we're taking the family out on Sunday and then having cake & ice cream at Grandma's house after. No, this fat girl will NOT be on the ice! For her friend birthday party, I told her she could choose some friends to sleep over again. Well, then I got a note from dance class saying she's suppose to dance on her birthday. So, I don't know if the sleepover will get to happen or not. If not, we'll have to just do something Friday or she'll be totally bummed.

Speaking of dance - for those interested, here is her performance schedule:

Feb. 19 @ MC not sure about time

Feb 25 @ SV @ 630

March 11 @ MC not sure about time

April 30 @ SV all day - it's a competition

May 21 @ SV @ 6:30 - their end of the year review

You'd think with that many performances left her dad would be here for at least 1. Nope. No such luck. Good thing they do a video of the year end review so she can make him watch her in that! Plus, I'm pretty sure she'll perform at Relay For Life again this year & Trav WILL be here for that!

I need to take another fat girl picture and post. I go to the dr. tomorrow. Pretty sure I've passed the 40 lb weight gain mark. I was +39 lbs 4 weeks ago. Tomorrow is the glucose test. Yay. She's been kicking me like nuts since the week before Christmas. I think she does aerobics in there like Sam did. I've also had tons of Braxton Hicks contractions. I'm not sure if they're coming on because I do too much (HA, right) or if it's because of stress (what stress?). My feet and legs have been swelling. It isn't terrible....yet. I'm just hoping they don't limit me when I go in tomorrow. Not sure that I'd actually be able to follow dr.'s orders since Trav is gone so much! Cross your fingers for me!