Rite of Spring

Strawberry pizza. Evelyn said, "Oh, yummy dessert Mommy!" Jilly said, "I want pumpkin pie." Guess some of us are still stuck on the holidays. Ben was proud of the pumpkin comment, the pie is his favorite (loaded with whipped cream). 

The Future

The girls have really enjoyed flipping through their baby books and seeing themselves as babies lately. I brought my book down for them to look at, and they had fun seeing me as a baby as well. I had fun looking through it with the perspective of what I did at my girls' age, and how some things seem to have come across in the genes. For example, I carried my blanket into nursery each Sunday almost until I graduated into Sunbeams, and still needed it on occasion. That would be Jilly today, Captain "I need security," who must always bring something with her out of the house, and World War 3 will ensue if you try to take it away. But as my mom wrote in my journal, "There is hope." So maybe around three she'll not have to take toys all over the place. I also found this picture:

I laughed when I saw this picture because we're going to be at this point really soon. And my sister is making a face that's so much like Jilly's picture expressions. That's me in the middle, kind of not paying attention, just like my oldest daughter. And the next Sunday, Ben wanted a similar shot of us on the couch. We changed our blog header to the best picture out of the four we shot, but these ones were funny. 

Great first picture girls. 

And every time I look at this one, I just about die laughing. I have no idea what Evelyn was doing, or trying to do. Jilly wouldn't stop chewing whatever it was. 

On Monday the hospital I'm delivering at held a 'sibling class/tour,' so I signed us up and a nurse talked about how to treat a baby, hold a baby, making sure they know to wash their hands, don't poke their eyes, play with the umbilical cord, and definitely no using the blue suction bulb. Ev and Jill loved holding the life-size baby dolls, and at the end they got their own gear to go and check out the nursery. There were two little boys in there, and the girls liked watching them. One was just over 7 lbs, while the other one was over 9 lbs. All you had to do was look at the fat rolls to see which one was bigger. When I saw those little babies, it really hit me that I will have one of those in hopefully two weeks or less. I'd kind of forgotten how little they are! 

Speaking of fat rolls, I had an ultrasound today to make sure this little boy is head down, and the tech said, "Whoa! He's sure got some fat little cheeks!" And from what she could see, not a whole lot of hair except on the back of his neck. I'm not used to chubby babies. The girls were two skinny little frog babies for the first 8 weeks or so, but still cute none the less. She took this shot for me, if you can make it out. The vertical axis of his face is tipped at a 45 degree angle, and his left fist is right up next to his left eye. The top left quadrant of the picture is the right side of his face and eye. If you can make all that out, you can see the cheeks. I feel like I'm spoiling my Christmas present by knowing this, but we'll see how accurate the description is. 

And for the last portion of this post, the long-awaited, hemmed-and-hawed decision has finally had its conclusion. We'll be moving here in early September. 

We get to go to church right next to the temple! The girls will be mad they can't go inside, but they'll just have to wait. 

Decision Time

Well, the time to decide where our family is moving for the next five years has come. Ben has been visiting both places (St. Louis, MO and Irvine, CA) and is finding great stuff about each college. I'm looking for info on the areas. So if you're reading this, and live in either of these places, have lived, or have good friends/family that live in these areas, I would love to hear your opinion. This is probably the biggest decision Ben and I have ever made. Not that it's bigger than the time we decided to marry each other, but we were able to take our sweet time (9 months) with that one. This time around we have the luxury of a week or two.

On a side note, I saw the doctor today and I'm already 70% thinned out! This is huge! I never thinned out that much with either daughter until I was 3 hours away from delivering. I'm very interested in seeing how this one will play out.

Update

We have now entered the last month of what I consider to be the most boring quarter of the year. Yippee! Even the weather was compliant for the last 2 weeks or so, and got outside to draw on sidewalks and dig in the dirt (yesterday the girls "planted" their socks and shoes, intending them to grow into trees. Obviously, I wasn't paying attention). Today it has snowed a little, but that's typical of this area. It could snow 12" on the 15th of April. No big deal. 

Ben spent some time in St. Louis, Missouri this week, visiting Washington University's campus. All the buildings on the campus Ben would be spending the bulk of his time on are done in this same Gothic architectural style. He said all the people were really friendly, and wishes he could  have spent more time seeing the city. He was there for less than 24 hours. Better than the 4 days he had to spend in Philadelphia. We actually found out today that he was denied acceptance at University of Pennsylvania, which was fine with us because Ben decided he didn't really want to attend there if he was accepted. University of Kentucky sent an email today telling him he had been accepted, so that leaves only 2 more schools to hear from. 

Two of the projects I finished sewing a few weeks back. They love dresses, so that's what they've been getting. I finished the last one for Jilly today. I'm glad to say that the sewing spree is over. I've had my fill for the next little while. I feel like I still have too much to do in the next month, or less, or maybe a little more. More than sewing at least. 
Here is the hiccpuy baby boy at 35 weeks. And the belly is lower now (a week later) than it was in this picture. I hope that means I don't go 10 days overdue? My sister is flying out for a few weeks, so hopefully he makes his appearance in that window when she'll be here. 

Towing update: We found out through city police we were towed because our Camry was unregistered, and apartment complex parking lots are considered under city ordinance that no unregistered/expired registration can be parked on city streets. So $300 later, we know better. The really aggravating part of all this was that all other unregistered/exprired cars recieved notices saying they would be towed if the vehicle was not brought up to date. Except us. And as far as I know, we're the only ones who were towed. So if you live in the city, beware. 

Another reason to own a house

You don't have to deal with parking enforcement towing your car for no good reason. Just because they want their $78. Just because it's sitting unlicensed while you are in the process of getting it ready to sell, and it's an easy target because it's not boxed in by other vehicles. The property manager is going to feel my very-pregnant-woman wrath in the morning. I seem to have a lot of it this pregnancy. Ugh. 

Since Christmas

Blogging guilt has finally caught up with me. It must seem like I live a really boring life, or am just plain busy. I like lists, so here is our life since Christmas. And the lack of pictures since the holidays is beyond pathetic. 

1. Nesting urge, creative urge, or whatever the heck it is has taken over my time in the last month. The sewing machine has almost constantly been on the dining table working overtime while I sew and sew some more. A lot of fun for myself, not so much for my children who freak out after being ignored for a while, or try to 'help.' I've made more stuff in the last few weeks than I have for 2 1/2 years. Kind of insane. I'm also de-junking like crazy, cleaning the house, the normal nesting stuff. The fact that we'll be moving in 5-6 months also has something to do with it. 

2. If you have carpet made out of recycled plastic bottles like we do, nothing does a better miracle on it than a good vacuum cleaner. Our Black and Decker was no longer cutting it. In comes the Dyson. Ben LOVES it. It's pretty hilarious. He's used it almost every day in the 10 days we've owned it. A remarkable piece of machinery in my opinion. 

3. We went to the Draper Temple open house last night with our friends, the Lanengas. Lots of fun, the kids were slightly crazy, but did as well as could be expected. It was pretty exciting for them, going inside a temple like they've always wanted, riding on a bus like Daddy rides to work, and getting cookies at the end. My kids liked the chandeliers and font the best. My biggest memory is the clear plastic flooring they had laid out on the carpet, because I was watching it while watching Jilly repeatedly try to run away from me. It is a very beautiful temple (aren't they all?).

4. I am ready for winter to be OVER. If I ran the universe, winter/snow would be from November 15 to February 1. Then weather suitable for children to be outside in (not dressed as the abominable snowman) would take over. No inversions, surprise freak snowstorms after tauntingly spring weather, etc. after this date. My children are suffering from incurable cabin fever at this point. 

5. Ben was accepted to a graduate program at Washington University in St. Louis. So as of now, we have two options for the fall. Ben was gone over President's Day weekend in Philadelphia interviewing for U Penn. He was smack in the middle of the big city, and said it was an interesting experience being treated like a VIP. He was the only married with kids (one other grad applicant was married) out of 17 students the University flew out. The other thing he really noticed is how comfortable he's become in Utah Mormon culture. It'll be a definite shift when we move out of here. He'll be going to Irvine and St. Louis next month to visit the faculty and campuses. As long as the traveling is done by the 20th of March, I won't fear going into labor while he's gone. 

6. Jilly's system of weights and measures. She grabs a measuring tape, walks up to my belly, measures it and says, "Hmmm. 39 pounds." Then she'll measure her belly, "Ohhhh, 39 pounds." Then she'll find Evelyn to measure. Everything is 39 pounds. And if we've been to your house recently, and you're missing an important piece of paper, it's probably because Jilly ate it. Any kind of paper is her new favorite snack. And she knows she's not supposed to eat it, she just gulps it down before I can pry it out of her mouth. Price tags (while we're shopping) are a favorite. She tried eating my Bath and Body works hand soap the other day. I don't think she'll repeat that one (hopefully). 

7. Evelyn has really started to get into the creative play mode. Jilly is a willing participant, and the princess dresses are the favorite "let's pretend" object. Evelyn will be saying something about being a princess and then very dramatically, "And all my dreams will come true!" Disney has their claws in my child's soul. 

8. New favorite kid music: Peter Tchaikovsky's 'The Nutcracker Suite,' because the letter T is for Tchaikovsky. I thought T was for turtle. But starfall.com says otherwise. I don't mind, it's better than listening to the "911 song" over and over. 

9. Baby Gordon is as active as his oldest sister was, and gets the hiccups all the time. I hope he's willing to make his entrance to the world closer to the due date than 10 days late, and I think I have a bigger shot at that this time around. I would really like to avoid being induced. 

So there is a sample of the smattering that is my life at this point. And it only seems to get more nuts. I'm slowly learning to find the small "treasures of time" in each day, and wish I could capture them all in a bottle, or etch them into my memory. The times when my kids are doing something funny together, or just want to snuggle on my lap, etc. I'm starting to feel the clock ticking down on the time I have with my kids while they are little and at home with me. It will be a time I will always remember. 

Get him out Mommy!

Tonight as I was relaxing on the couch with the girls, Evelyn plops over to me, yells a couple of times into my belly, and then tells me this really long sentence:

"Mommmy, I want you to go to the hospital now to get the baby out in the water and then I can put a diaper on him and watch a movie with him."

"You want him out right now?"

"Yeah, so I can hold him."

"YEAH!" yells Jilly. Anything remotely exciting is a cause to be yelled about with her. 

The whole "get the baby out in the water" thing comes from some video clips I showed Ev and Jilly on Babycenter.com. One was a water birth, very relaxed mom, no screaming, carnage, etc. So I figured I was safe showing it to them. I wanted them to know how this baby was going to get out into the world. They LOVED watching it. They thought it was so cool. Now one of their favorite pastimes is watching "baby movies" and movies of themselves as babies. Little kids are so cool.