Happy Halloween...

...we added a tail!

Rather Controversially/ Probably the Last One in the Series

Voting day is quickly approaching so this probably the last in the series. I have bashed Palin enough to let it swing the other way, if I want to be a true independent. One of my brother in laws, who will remain nameless because I really have no idea who it was, left an NRA magazine in my car. Today I got home from the store, and my son wanted to play in the car, so I picked it up to read.
The NRA does not like Obama and after reading the articles, I have to say I myself was a little freaked out too. (Not that McCain gives me warm fuzzies.) Being a constitutionalists, I think the Bill of Rights (and the Constitution) is an important part of our citizenship, our government, our country, our way of life. (For the record some people could say, my husband's family brainwashed me, but that's really not true, it was my political theory professor I had before I married into my husband's family who turned me into a strict constitutionalists.) When I first started talking to my husband I was pretty neutral on the whole "firearm rights" issue, but after hearing his side of things, taking my political theory classes, reading a lot of convincing evidence that personal firearms decrease crime and not finding convincing arguments for the gun control side of things, I believe very strongly that the Second Amendment is in reference to personal rights. Based on Obama's record in the Illinois Legislature, and as a US Senator, he does not agree. He seems to think local government can take way rights given in the constitution. I don't know where he learned about the Constitution, the states have rights to regulate what the Constitution does not strictly mention, the right to keep and bear arms is stated. States and Local governments can not legally take that away. In a world that seems to be on a downhill slope I sleep better at night knowing we have the right to defend our family. According to the NRA magazine, Obama wants to ban use of firearms for home defense, pass federal laws eliminating your right to carry, ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns, along with more. That honestly makes me worried about my family and myself. I honestly could care less about all my personal property when it comes to criminals, its just stuff, but when it comes to the safety of my family's lives I care. When I think about the second amendment being taken away, I think about the stories of Hurricane Katrina, with all the raping and pillaging. As far as I can tell the right to defend my family, and my husband's right to defend our family is the only that can stop that in a state of emergency.
(Yes, I know I can be death and gloom, but well I've read the Book of Mormon and it doesn't give me much hope for humanity, if you recall it ended in apostasy, while the Book of Ether ended with everyone killed. And no one try and tell me for one minute if we had stricter gun laws something like the end of Ether could not happen. If I'm too gloomy for your taste just be grateful, I have great faith in all those little old ladies prayers in the temple.)

Matching

My mom bought me a sweater mostly like this, for a jacket to wear over my wedding dress since I got married in December. I gave it away a few months after I got married, because my husband hated the sweater, he didn't like the fake fur at the top, and the rest of the sweater covered him in lint. When I found this sweater at kid 2 kid, for 9 month old girls I had to buy. It will be great next winter. Not to mention it won't cover my husband in lint.

Early Voting

This weekend I convinced my husband to take me early voting. Early voting is a joy, to walk in there sign up, fill out the ballot, get your sticker, and walk out, unlike election day voting, which is just a lot of long lines and waiting. My son came along too, and got a sticker at the end. Luckily his dad knew what he was doing, when he wouldn't let my son stay with me, I wondered why, once when we went to vote, it then made sense when he had to pick up our son to see the voting machine. I couldn't have picked him up to allow him to see what voting was, thank goodness for a husband with foresight. All day long I told him how proud I was that he had voted, at which he would look down at his sticker. I told Brent at the end of the day, if what they say is true, and what you say to a child in the first two years of life has the most impact, then our son will always have a positive view of voting, because all day long I've told him I was proud he voted. Brent replied oh good, that will balance out everything I told him while we were voting. The whole time I told him what a terrible state our government is in, if these are the people have to chose between for voting. I laughed at my husband's doom and gloom opinion.

Quite on accident, our Monday family home evening was a nice follow up to voting. We randomly choose to do a flannel board story on Moroni, the Title of Liberty, Helaman and the 2,000 Stripling warriors. We spent a long time focusing on the Title of Liberty, and why defensive wars are ok, but offensive wars or not. Well a long time for a two year old. He was very receptive, the whole time saying, "yes" after every statement we said. My husband tried to teach him the three most important things are, "God, Family, and Freedoom," for whatever reason my son refused to repeat the three things. He seemed uncomfatble saying God, I had to explain to him, God is another name for Heavenly Father.

Church Multitasking

My husband showed me this. Its the Church's Publications in Compressed Audio Format. It could be very useful for multitasking. To listen to while I'm sewing or something. I've had plans to read Jesus the Christ, by Talmage since I didn't serve a mission. I personally think my husband should listen to the Joseph Smith Lesson he has to give every month a few times. Then again maybe I should, since I'm behind in the lessons.

By the way as an update
Brent has two callings, Third Sunday Elder's Quorum Teacher, which means he teaches Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, once a month. He is also emergency preparedness leader/coordinator whatever it is called. We were pretty sure he was going to get that calling when we moved in, so we were really caught off guard when he was asked to be a teacher. Two weeks later the Bishop asked him to do Emergency Preparedness, right after we stopped expecting it. The bishop asked if two callings was too much, I said no way, these will take up far less time than Scout master did. Then later I thought, how could you tell the bishop yes, he spends way more time each week, then will be required of Brent each month.
They called me back to the senior Primary girls. Yes, I'm activity day leader again, although they call it Faith in God leader. I couldn't believe, I started laughing when they asked me to serve. (Literally I did, I was not expecting it.) I don't know if that means I failed in my last ward, so I need another shot. If I succeed so I need to do it again, or if my time was just not up. I feel so unqualified to be with girls 8-11 years old. I don't remember what it was like, and I don't have a daughter yet, nor do I have a child that old. I just barely felt like I was getting the hang of things about two months before we moved so this will be good. But I still can't figure out why the girls in my last ward liked me. I honestly was surprised when they were sad that I was moving. In a moment of anxiety two sundays ago I said to my husband, I'm not good with this age group. He said yes you are, as long as no one stops coming because of something you did you'll be fine. He said you never yelled at them, I said well I did to one girl (not really yell, told her off) but I think she liked me more afterward. He said of course she did, they aren't looking for a friend, they are looking for an adult to lead them. Anyway, he seems to think I can do my calling. I also feel a little more qualified after being set apart and sustained. I was never sustained in my other ward, so it took me a while to get over the hurddle of not feeling like the ward supported me in the calling, although I'm sure they did, I just didn't get the visual verfication. After being set apart, I realized that with the girls is where I'm suppose to be for now, and it will provide blessings for my family. There are only two active girls in this ward, so we'll see if that makes it easier or harder.

Needing love

As I think I've mentioned my son has had a hard time adjusting to this mom not picking him up. A few weeks ago I figured since he needed some love I would make him a bag. His grammy had bought him this material in fat quarter a while ago. I would have never bought the material I don't like it, but I guess that is what grandmas are for.

Unfortunately in my attempt to use every bit of material from the fat quarter I made the handles too long for him. I based it off the bag we use the most in our house for our son, we got it at a family reunion a year and half ago. All the kids got one. It is the perfect size for my two year to carry. He was very happy with is bag, he immediately went in his room and put treasures in it. It has not been the great second utility I hoped for, because he has deemed it for treasures.

P.S. 6 more weeks until my due date. I hoping I get all 6 weeks.

growing up

My grandfather gives a word of advice to new parents, "Don't teach them to walk or talk." Most of the time I totally disagree, first off, I doubt he wants to be in charge of his three grown adult children's every need, especially since the oldest is 60. (I do know he is joking.) Like today when my son decided he wanted to wear jeans instead of the easy potty trained sweat pants. I warned him they might be hard to pull off, an hour later I found him in the bathroom finishing his duties with no problem with jeans. Yeah, for big boys is what I thought. But then later I decided I agreed with my grandpa. I don't know about this growing up business. My son pulled a chair into the kitchen, climbed up, got a mini box of fruit loops, took it to the table, opened it up, pulled out the bax, broke the down the box, put the box in recycling, got a bowl, a spoon, and started to open up the fridge to get the milk. Since when does my baby have so much automony?! I don't know I feel about this. My husband would say, he isn't your baby anymore, that is why you are pregnant. He hasn't been your baby for a long time. In response to stories like this, my father will say, what you didn't expect to him to grow up? I think I agree with my sister's answer, I did, I just didn't expect it to happened this fast.

Baby Blanket Mania

I made two baby blankets a few days ago, for this new child growing in me. I really kind of hate the brown on the back of this but when I bought the fruit material it is the only stuff I could find that matched. I love the fruit and by the time I sewed them, couldn't imagine anything else for the blanket.

I bought this pig applique because its about the softest applique I ever did feel, (its also rather large). I decided it would go great with the pink ducks. Told you they going to show up again. Plus the blue eyes and nose, gave me a reason to brake up the pink on the front side with another color. They don't look this way in the picture but they are the same color blues.

Doggy Suit

My son wanted to be a dog, I wanted to make something else, but not a bee, so we settled on the dog.

He is a backward dalmatian, because after Halloween I'm going to pull off all the dots and then he has a black sweatsuit. A white sweatsuit on a little boy seems like a bad idea. He has a fake dalmatian, and he loves to tie the leash on the dog, then he is the "big dog" and the toy is the "little dog". Not my best work ever, but he loves the costume, and well isn't that what Halloween should be all about for a two year old.
Part of wondered why I made a dog costume, they are so average, but I couldn't find one for cheaper than I could make.

Funny Story

While we were up visiting family this weekend, a 5 year old nephew after church asked me this,
"Are you pregnant?"
I smiled/laughed and said "yes", I wondered if that was the first time he had noticed my baby bump, or if it was just the first time he had a chance to ask.
We then gave him a ride home from church, while in the back seating, thinking he was the coolest nephew around, since he got a ride with Uncle Brent, he said,
"Uncle Brent you need a bigger family."
We laughed, and I said, "We are working on it, I'm pregnant, we can't go any faster."
His response, "oh"
Then he told us that it is confusing to have two Brents. I told him to ask Aunt Pam why there are two. I don't think he will.

Wildest Dreams Came True

I must have voted for Pedro, because all my wildest dreams came true. Graco has made a swing that you hook your carseat into. I always wanted something like this. Not only is it easier to store when the baby is too old to swing, since it doesn't have a bulky seat. It makes for lesser clutter around the house during the infant stage. I wouldn't have a bulky carseat and swing in my front room. This really is my wildest dreams, the only question is can I justify spending an extra $30 to buy this new ($50 total), instead of spending $20 for a used swing. Oh the dreams of life....

Hmm...

I found this paragraph from this article, on birth order, really interesting.

The next born, or any youngest, can benefit from watching family dynamics play out before his or her eyes. "Observing is what youngest children do well," says Agati. "They are some of the best con artists you've ever met in your life, because they understand the dynamics of people. They are born into this family full of brothers and sisters, moms and dads, cats and dogs—hey, they'd better learn how to size up people real quick or they're not going to survive."

Halloween FHE

We carved pumpkins last night. Hopefully they don't rot in the next 10 days. I don't know when the standard time to carve is, and I was afraid if we didn't do it this monday it wouldn't get done next Monday. Plus since my son went down for a nap at 11:30 yesterday because he was so tired from cousin fun we had a late lunch, so we could carve before it got dark and eat after it was dark. My husband started off with drawing the face.
This picture is deceiving, my son only stuck his hand in the pumpkins twice, and he only touch the inside once. Don't I look 33 (out of 40) weeks pregnant? Once again drawing the face. For some bizarre reason I bought two pumpkins, I told my husband this is the last year I do that until our daughter is old enough to know what is up. I guess it was to make up for the lack of pumpkin I didn't bought last year. It was the only year of our marriage we didn't carve pumpkins, I blame it on apartment dwelling, it was also the only year we lived in a complex. Plus our front door didn't go straight outside.My son sort of helped carving, I think he helped my husband carve the whole first pumpkin, but got really bored quickly with my carving. This was the first year I was allowed to carve, normally I scare my husband with the knife and he takes over.My son was very proud of the finished products. One is a girl and one is a boy with a frown. My husband said they were replicas of us, and so with my son standing with them it was the whole family. The best part of carving pumpkins is cooking the seeds afterward. I'll let you in on a secret I never wash the seeds before roasting them in the oven. It was almost worth it to have two pumpkins because that meant more seeds. Bizarrely enough the cheapest place I found to buy pumpkins around my area was whole foods, they were $3 for each organic pumpkin. I could have gotten bigger ones for $3 but I didn't want to give myself contractions, even wally world cost more.

Lots Random Thoughts and Updates

• Last week in Lamaze we talked with our spouses what we thought the baby was going to act like or look like. Brent said, I haven't even thought about it, I don't think I've realized you are about to have a baby. I said well, I'm glad you realized you have yet to internalize this, because I've been wondering when it was going to happen.

• Since then, all of sudden my pregnancy has turned into our pregnancy. Sure my husband has had to deal with all my complaints over the last 7 months, but now he is finally getting excited and nervous about a new kid. The other day, I telling my son where to put his hand to feel his baby sister and my husband came over to share in the fun. I am so excited everyone in my family is into the pregnancy now. I hate when anyone touches my stomach except my husband or son (assuming he is touching baby sister and not elbowing me). Brent was always rubbing it with Josh's pregnancy but before last week rarely did it, now all of sudden Brent is being the husband I remember with Josh's pregnancy. Its all very exciting to me.
• Even though he had yet to internalize it, I wasn't worried about Brent being a parent to his daughter before a week ago anyway, because its one think I know about Brent is he adores his nieces. As it was apparent to me this weekend, when we were hanging out with the clan. When we are around the big family, he is always taking pictures of his nieces and telling me afterward how he thinks his nieces are some of the cutest little girls he has ever seen. I have been well aware since two nieces were born a month and two months after Brent's son, that Brent would love being a father to a daughter. Not to say he doesn't love being a father to a son. (I wish this picture would have been in focus. These two were so cute sitting on the hill. Not to mention, I think this cousin, looks the most like my son out of all his cousins, so pictures of them are always fun. She is over a year younger than him, but since we have moved closed to her and her parents my son has done such a good job of playing with her, I think. It makes me proud.)
• Speaking of this weekend the whole reason we saw everyone was the baby blessing of the newest niece. I thought great, Jobo will see his cousin's baby sister. In fact I told him the reason we were going there was to see E___'s baby sister. At first he wanted nothing to do with the baby. By the end of the weekend he still wanted nothing to do with her, but he would at least look at her, and he did agree with me that she was cute and sweet. Part of this was concerning to me, since I thought this would be great practice for when he saw his baby sister. But then again there was a lot going on and he was really shy (for himself) for the first half of the weekend, so I can't really compare this weekend to his future in the slightest. The positive thing he is did nothing mean to the baby, I would rather an older sibling ignore the new baby, then hit the new baby.
• My mother in law told me to tell him, when the new baby comes it is his new baby. I said oh I'm already doing that, I always refer to the baby as his baby sister. In fact I do this so much, when I am talking to my husband about the baby, I call her baby sister, even if our son is not around. That is her name for now 'baby sister'. I always have a hard time calling brand new babies their names, so its a good possibility that for the first few weeks of her life I will call her baby sister. I called my son, just 'baby' for a few days/weeks, until the name we had picked out months in advance grew to to be apart of the new human.
• My son was very sad to leave the fun of cousin's this weekend. Not only was it none stop fun, it was none stop rotting apples on the ground for the toddlers to pick up. Potty training went through the window this weekend, he was in pull ups the whole time after the first night. But he seems to have come back home without skipping a beat, totally back fine with potty time. I've reinstituted the potty treats he forgot about, about a month ago. Anyway, he was sad to leave, half way home he started to cry randomly, I asked him if he was crying because he had to leave his cousins, he said yes, through the sobs. At first I found this very sad myself, but then I remembered I was the same way with cousins or friends, so this is just a fact of life for him to realize, he'll get over it in about 10 years. Mind you I did try to be sympathetic to his sadness.
• This is why in the long run he will be happy to have a baby sister, in about 6 months from now when she can play with him. He will love her, I have been noticing over the past few months how much he needs a sibling around to be his best friend. In fact I told him this in the car, that he needs a baby sister to be his best friend. Before our little conversation I don't think he knew baby sisters could be best friends. I can't really tell him from experience, since neither my husband or me have baby sisters. But I was a baby sister, and I like to believe my older siblings enjoyed playing with me. Not to mention I spent most of my life playing with my baby brother, and my husband is a baby brother, who also spent most of his life playing with his older siblings, and younger for that matter. Sure when you are a child you would rather play with non related friends, but I can guarantee that I played with my brothers way more than any other friend, and I'm still in contact with my brothers unlike most of my friends.
  
• Part of me would feel a tinge bit of guilt that he had to wait 3 years for this, but then I remember its not my fault. Once I remember that, I go back to feel so relieved my child is potty trained and talking before the next infant comes.
• Seven weeks left, I'm hoping I get the whole 7 weeks, and she does not come early.

More Baby Blankets

In honor of this weekend, its that time again, my viewers favorite post. Baby Blankets!

My husband's cousin's wife had a baby at some point in the recent past, and I made them this for their shower. I LOVE the ducks, the back is flannel.

Both of the blankets are made out of favorite material. I told you this material would be showing up again. The blanket was shipped and sent to a niece. I realized on the second one of these blankets the ties look much better when they are darker bolder colors than pastels like I used on my sister's. If she wants darker ties she can order them.

Unsatisfied

Since we don't have TV watching the presidential debates can be tricky. I happened to find last night's on the radio. (In actuality even if we had TV it would have still be the first one I viewed. The first was on my birthday, and although I really love politics that's not really a birthday dream come true. The second happened during Lamaze class.) I was so excited to finally be viewing one, that I was sorely disappointed once I realized it was just each candidate bashing the other. (Although I have to Obama held off on the bashing for most of the debate, unlike McCain.) Not to mention they didn't say anything new, which is why I didn't really care I missed the first two. If you have been following the election, then the debates rarely bring out new information. After the debate my husband went to RonPaul.com, yes we still are fans. That's where the unsatisfaction came, there was a list of example questions that he thought would be better than the run of the mill questions. After my husband read them to me, I had to agree the debate would have been fascinating if they would have asked some like this:

1. What are some advantages / disadvantages of our current fiat money system?

2. Would you be in favor of a simpler, easier to understand tax code, where money is only taxed once?

3. Do you think we are getting our money’s worth in the war on drugs? What tangible benefits does this war on drugs have?

4. Which would be more beneficial to an individual, a properly managed mix of 401k, Roth IRA, CDs, bonds, money market funds, etc. or government run Social Security?

5. Are we getting fair value for the money we spend on education? Why are some schools falling apart? What benefits do teachers unions provide to our children?

6. Do you agree or disagree with the statement that our infrastructure is crumbling? If yes, why is this the case? Could private companies handle the roads, bridges, and jails without as much waste?

7. Are the wars we are involved in constitutional, and why exactly are we at war right now? To capture Osama Bin Laden? Secure our oil supplies? Promote our way of life?

8. Why are we in the United Nations and what purpose does a UN declaration serve if we ignore it?

9. Do you think free markets could set interest rates, or do we need the Fed to set these rates? In your opinion, has the Fed played any negative role in the current economic situation?

10. Is it a good idea to let third-party candidates participate in the Presidential debates?

On a finishing note, I could never be a politician's wife. It is surprising all the gains feminists have made, but yet, a politician's wife still stand there in overpriced suits like trophies.

Slippers

My husband has ghetto slippers he spent about a dollar fifty on in Buenos Aires. I know they were under three dollars because I bought two pairs of shoe each for that price. One pair doesn't really fit anymore, but the other pair I wear about a third of the Sundays of my life. Great deal considering I spent three bucks on them three years ago. They were nine in the Argentine currency in the poor part of town. Anyway, back to my husband's slippers-- they are ghetto. They are uncomfortable in my opinion, they feel like wearing cardboard boxes. He loves them, he calls them his Hugh Hefner slippers, why he thinks Hugh wears cardboard boxes is beyond me. They fall apart a couple of times each year, and he super glues them back together. Not only that when he glues them together they start to smoke, so I wonder what poisons they are giving us. The past time he glued them together was a few weeks ago. He put his foot back in them, and glued his toe to the slipper. I started laughing so hard, he knows I don't like the slippers. I told him I was going to blog about him gluing his toe to the slippers. Luckily he pulled his toe off quickly, so I didn't have to feel guilty for laughing so hard. (And no I don't feel bad about hating the slippers, there are plenty of things I wear that Brent doesn't like. I can tell when he doesn't like something, when I ask him about it, he responses saying, I don't care what you wear, you are the one that is going to have to look back at pictures and wonder what was I wearing. I say, nope, I'm going to look back and say man I was fashionable.)
By the way, his slippers have fake fur inside that is not soft, and blue fleece on top.

Two completely different thoughts

Am I the only who has noticed Cindy McCain does not have the ability to sound like she relates to the average middle class American? From what I've seen about her, she tries really hard to sound down to earth, but just makes herself that much more of heiress. Parents Magazine had a thing about her as a parent, and the Obamas as parents. Although Michelle Obama seems a little controlling as a mother, they at least seemed like average Americans; reading the interview about Cindy McCain was like reading a celebrity try to tell people she is just an average person like you who wears Gucci.

Next thought:
Yesterday morning, my son and I were up earlier enough to say good bye to my husband before he left for work. When we wake up this early, I always find monday mornings traumatic. We got a husband/daddy for 80 hours nonstop, but now all of sudden we are left on our own. My son and I usually get one quite stellar during the day, but it so much more exciting with a third in the house. When I said good bye to my husband I said, I'm going to miss you terribly. He said good, I said don't think I should start getting over this? He said, no, that would mean you are complacant with me. My thought: Isn't life grand?

Maternal Booklist

I just finished my second book about birth. It would have been an excellent book if I was a first time mom, and would totally recommend it to anyone pregnant for the first time. But since I've already had a baby the first half was old information that I just scanned quickly. The second half was great though, especially the last quarter, that was mostly doctors either talking about different experiences with women in labor or their own experiences in labor. I found it extremely helpful. Especially the parts where obstetric anesthesiologists were quoted. It is a strong possibility that I will need pitocin again, and if I do, I most likely get another epidural, so reading the book helped me be fine with that possibility. Also pointing out that epidural is safe for the baby especially if complications arise that the woman needs pain medication. It seems to me, a lot of "natural" proponents build up epidurals as evil, but that really isn't the case. I would have not been able to survive my son's birth if I didn't have epidural. If I was a pioneer my husband would have had to bury me on the way.
The book reminded me that childbirth is very unpredictable, so roll with the punches and be mindful of your doctors advice. Each woman and each birth experience is completely different so we really shouldn't make judgment calls on how other woman birth. The real thing is you have to be prepared for both pain medication situations, and relaxation (medication free) techniques, but you never know what is going to happen in birth. I am personally hoping all these contractions aren't in vain, and I progress beyond a one and half, after 12 hours of steady strong contractions.
Another interesting part was when the authors gave the history of pain medication in the last 200 years. Twilight sleep sounds awful, based on the book, it put the laboring woman out, and when she awoke she remember nothing, but apparently they had to tie her down, because she would scream and thrash about so much she would put herself and others in danger if she wasn't tied in bed. I feel very luckily to live in a day, where a woman can chose to have a medication free childbirth if she so choses, but also has modern medicine on her side, if she choses, or if she need it based on complications, or lack of progression.
(By the way, the book either neither pro-natural or pro-pain relievers.)

Done

I am done getting furniture for our new house. Yea! Today I got a recliner. Here is the picture of the nondescript whitish most likely vinyl lazy boy. I was planning to get a new one during my second pregnancy since we graduated, but the economy is not so hot, so it seemed ridiculous to spend more money on a chair for one, than we spent on our couches (We got a steal on those). So instead I checked out Internet classifies. Luckily I have a very nice brother in law, last night while at his house, I found the ad. His wife, told him to call for me, since my husband didn't want to call for me. Then he and my sister in law took me up to get the chair and brought it back to my house. It was a fantastic deal, because not only is the chair in good condition for less than $100, I didn't have to call or drive. Thank for all the help!
Now I have a nursing chair.

I'm almost all ready for the baby now.
I've gotten all my baby stuff almost.
I still need a baby swing
a bath tub,
and more baby towels (I know kind of pointless, but I still use them on my son, and we barely have enough as it is.)
But all of those will be less than 20 a piece.

Worth the payment

A month or so ago, I mentioned to my husband, if I listened to my mother, we would sign up for a Lamaze class. (She had not actually mentioned a Lamaze class this pregnancy, but I know she is an advocate.) He said well your last birth was so bad, we probably should take one. I figure he would not want to do anything of the sort, but since he said go for it, I did. The next day I signed up, which is super quick for me to do anything. It has been well worth the $75. Before going to class I figure as to not build up unrealistic expectations I would pitocin and epidural for all my births. So why I took the class is a quandary. But yet that first 12 hours before my epidural on my first birth was long and painful, might as well pay $75 to make it not to long right? Hopefully my labor will be under 12 hours this time, since it is my second. Well my class has given me hope, she tells us every class, to think, "I can have an easier safer shorter labor." At first I thought yeah right, but now I'm beginning to hope. It helps that my husband is being a huge help, and advocate for me. Every time I share fears with him, he says you'll do great, and then explains to me by it will be better than last time. Between learning techniques and talking with my husband, I have dreams of being able to have a baby without an epidural. (Not that I have any problem with women having epidurals, I totally think its the woman's choice, its just something I would like to do without.)
Last pregnancy I read a lot of books about natural childbirth, but nothing that really explained how to do it, as a result I figure it was as easy as pie, because that's what most books say. It in fact is not easy as pie, it is called Labor for a reason. This pregnancy I didn't want to give myself unsustainable hopes, so I had read nothing at all, until this past week. In attempt to find a yoga breathing through labor book at my public library (it was checked out) I found a half a dozen other books to read instead. (All about Lamaze or the Bradley method.) I just finished my first one.Thank you, Dr Lamaze by Marjorie Karmel. It was a very interesting and informative. It has been a great supplement to the class, and since she explains how she learned the breathing execrises I understand them a lot better than just going to the class. I've learned to breath into my lungs fully since the book, if I'm taking deep breaths I am usually a stomach breather.
In a way it has shown me just how far the "medical community" has come in letting woman have children, but in a way I think, its been 60 years and we still are doing this?! First off I wonder, why is the US's hospital system so behind the times when it comes to women birthing babies in comparison to other industrialized nations? It was behind in the 1950s and it is still behind today. Second off, I hate when nurses say, "do you want a little something to take the edge off?" Apparently this phrase has been in practice for over 60 years. I probably hate it, because demerol does not take the edge off for me, it made me nausea, out of sorts, and all sorts of yucky, with the pain just as strong. I couldn't wait until the something to take the edge off had worn off. I very much enjoyed the book. The book made me extremely nervous at some points, making me think a natural birth is impossible, because it shares horror stories, but it left me with the last impression I can do this! (Please no comments telling me I can, I hate that.)
I would totally recommend the book, to anyone considering natural childbirth. Although I also hate that phrase, it implies childbirth with drugs is unnatural or medical intervention is unnatural. I think the phrase should be drug free childbirth. Anything that keeps the baby and mother living is a good thing in my opinion, and unnatural sounds so negative. Another aside, reading the book would not be enough for drug free it is just a nice supplement.
I'm now actually really excited to go into labor after 37 weeks, not before, to see if I can do it.
Here is my other complaint about our hospital system. I quote from the book,

"A nurse has just taken your blood pressure and written it down, when one of them marches in, take it again, and writes it down again. Two minutes later the doctor arrives. He does not look at what the others have written but take it a third time. Nor does he write it down. This gives you plenty to think about."

I hate that part of the hospital. When we had my son after he was born, during the interval of two hours, three different nurses would come in and check me and my son. Of course if I was sleeping this woke me up, and since my son was almost always sleeping it woke him up. Even if he wasn't sleeping he was a few hours old, so he didn't like to be naked, cold or prodded with instruments, especially cold ones. One time a nurse came in 5 minutes after a previous one, I asked why are taking all our vitals again, another nurse just was in here doing all this? She very sternly, almost yelling told me, something to the effect of she the previous nurses superior so she doesn't care what vitals the previous one took, since she was higher up, she needed to take them again. I didn't ask more questions, because I was extremely tired and did not feel the need to be yelled at again , but I thought so why the heck did you send the previous nurse into see me, if she is incapable? Oh the woes of bureaucracy in an America.

Proud

My son has been escaping from bed recently, as previous mentioned. Not only does he come out at 5:30 in the morning, he comes out about 20 minutes after we put him to bed. (Once he gets his full dose of thumb sucking with the blanket.) I quickly take him back to bed, well actually quickly say, Brent. If I go in there, I'm stuck for over an hour, until he finally falls asleep enough, he doesn't notice me missing. His dad gives him the courage he needs to be independent. Last night we were watching a movie, and I told my husband that he was out of bed. We turned around, and there he was sitting on the landing in the staircase smiling. His dad went to put him to bed. He cried, so first he got a hug from his mom. Ten minutes later my husband came back down, I was surprised he came back so quickly. He said he had enlightening discussion with his son. I asked what about, here is how it went.
B: what's wrong?
J: eh (I have no idea what it meant this time)
B: are you scared about something?
J: yes
B: is it something outside? (I can't remember the specifics of what my husband said)
J: no
B: another few questions about things a child might be scared of
J: no response to all of them
B: are you scared of being alone?
J: yes
B: well lets find you a friend?
J: eh (meaning yes)
B: where are your babies?
J: box
B: do you want this one?
J: no
B: asking about another couple of stuff animals?
J: no to all of them
B: (pulling out the rhino) how about this one?
J: yes
B: ok good night

I was proud of different levels, one that my husband and my son did such a good job of communicating with each other. My kid is pretty good at communicating for a his age (i think) he just doesn't know the words to express himself, but he will tell you if you are guess right or wrong. I can communicate well with my son, because I am around him all day but, my husband can't always interrupt as good as me, since he is gone during the day providing us with a living.
I was also proud that my husband solved the problem, I have been trying to solve for weeks. Thank goodness parenting comes in twos.
Finally I was proud, because my son did not get out of bed before 7:30 this morning. When he did wake up, he brought his rhino first then went back for his blanket.

(My child can definitely sense a change coming. Whether its a new baby in two months, or fall turning into winter, I'm not sure. It is suppose to snow today, maybe he'll calm down after that. But I doubt it, I'm sure its the baby sister.)

My bed

I love my bed, it is mine and my husband's, not my children's. I learned early on as a mother, I hate having a third member in my bed. My son rarely slept in my bed as an infant, he would eat and then go back into his bed. It was amazing, it took a lot of work, but by the time he was 9 months he was sleeping on his own, through the night. I loved it. Occasionally that didn't always happen, I recall a few nights when my son woke up and was scared for whatever reason. I would hold him for over an hour trying to rock him to sleep in a computer chair. Seems like some work, but it was worth it to get an full 8 hours to sleep without him 99% of the time. I totally think it was worth it, to teach him to put himself to sleep as a young baby. But now, he is in a big boy bed, and is spending most of his life being fussy for whatever reason, I am tired, and pregnant. Recently, my bed has been shared more than I like to admit. My plan was if my children woke up in the middle of the night, I would go back into their room with them, until they fell asleep, but when my son wakes up at 5:30 and comes out of his room, I don't have the energy. He gets in my bed with my husband and I, and sucks his thumb. I can't believe I've given up so early, I like to believe in another 6 months from now, I won't be so lax. Who knows?! I really do not want 4 people in 5 square feet of my house for half the night once the baby comes. If my son woke up at midnight, I would go in his room, but when he wakes up at 5:30 I don't have the energy to get in his bed for two more hours of sleep. Here is the problem, my son doesn't sleep with blankets, he still sleeps in sleeper pjs when its cold. So to get in his bed, I have to get warm pjs and a quilt before getting in his bed. Here is the other reason I've become lax, when he was a baby I couldn't sleep if he was in our bed, I was scared to death he would be smothered by blankets, or my husband or I would roll over him. Then he got bigger, and he was too kinetic of sleeper, rolling around in circles, body slamming my husband or I, it was just plain annoying and I couldn't sleep with him. Now he has sort of grown up, he just lies in between his parents, cuddling up between us, and once I fall back asleep, I don't even notice him. And since I'm pregnant, and tired after chasing him around during the day, I sleep like a rock at night, never even moving.

Grandparent fun

phenomenon

An amazing phenomenon in my opinion is, when you put things off that you want to buy, normally life has a way of simplifying itself. Half the things you thought you needed, you realize you really didn't need. Which then makes it possible to afford the other half of the things that you've decided you really do need. Even though you don't need them, because people survived thousands of years before the stuff was ever created, but yet, the things you decided you need do make life easier. So it was worth it right?


I wonder what the relation is between amount of junk in someone's house, compared to the amount of consumer credit owed?
I mean sure I have my fair share of stuff, but if paying the bills in full wasn't a priority then I would have a lot more. But maybe I'm an outlyer.

Blast from the Past

As I was trying to find some pictures from a couple of years ago, I came across these two:

My husband invited his 3 nephews (that lived across the street) over for breakfast. This nephew in the picture is probably pretty similar in age of my son now. Crazy!

Enough said

Thats a bubble mailer on his head.

Best Part

The best part of my birthday weekend was I got a rug for my living room, and my parents weeded our front gardens.  Ok, so that probably wasn't the best part both make me very happy everyday.

I thought I wanted a geometric patterned rug, but when I went back there was only floral. I looked in about two dozen stores and decided I couldn't find a rug this soft (requirement given by my husband) for under a $100 anywhere else, so I went back and got the floral.  It matches well with the room, so the floral has grown on me.

These are the ducks that guard our front door.

See how neat the bed looks.  Before, it looked awful, the owner of our house isn't much of a gardener. There was a three foot tall oak tree sprout about 18 inches from the house foundation, which can turn out very bad for the foundation. My son wanted the scarecrow, I let him get it because it was only a dollar at the dollar store. I personally would have never picked out a craft scarecrow. My husband planted the paisies while my mom and I were at conference.  
This bed I thought was full of weeds, turns out its over grown tiger lilies.  Luckily my parents came out, I thought a lot of things were weeds that were just overgrown.  I had mentioned I wanted their help, and since my son wanted to play with them instead of wake me up, I got to sleep in until 8:30 and, they did it all before I got up, including planting my tulip bulbs. 
By the way this tree is fake.  Rather cheesy I think, but it would look barren without it, and I don't own the house so oh well.

Cute

Last night I asked my son if he was cute. He said yes. I asked him if I was cute, he said no. I asked him if his dad was cute, he said no. I asked him if baby sister will be cute once she is born, he said yes. Apparently cuteness is based on age according to my son, and I am just too old.

land line

We have now had a home phone for about two months, since we moved into this house. This is the first time I've ever had a home phone since I got married. I hate it. It is not worth the $10 for a land line. I drives me nuts, no one I ever want to talk to calls me on it, and it rings all day long. I was trying to sell something on craigslist and I took it off, because I got sick of people calling me. We also haven't taken our name off the no call list, and since 90% of america has, we exact same telemarketers calling ever day at the exact same time. My son loves when they call because he gets to talk to them. Apparently the person that had our number before us had terrible credit. Not to mention, he hasn't told any of his friends he got a new number. The other day I got a call saying, this is the last notice that your factory warranty is about to run out. I told him husband I might believe them that my car had a factory warranty if that wasn't the 25 time they told me it was my last notice. As it is, there is no factory warranties on our cars. Long story short I hate my land line. If it wasn't for the fact that our cells our long distance for ward members up here, I would cancel the phone line immediately, I still might consider it, because my husband uses skype for work, and every person but one, that I have to call for visiting teaching has a long distance cell phone number.

My Happy Birthday

We forgot to buy candles, even though we were at the store about 20 minutes earlier.

Me and my presents.  My son was a very faithful helper opening all my presents for me.
The pearl necklace my husband made me.
Gotta love grandma's birthday money.  
Ah presents.

In the words of Brent..

"this pretty much sums up our child."

The Busy Reason

The reason I was so busy and tired is because my parents came to town, over my birthday none the less. The last time I spent my birthday with anyone I grew up with, was my 19th, and this time I turned 24, so its been a few years. They really came so I could take my mom to the Relief Society Broadcast. She had never seen anything in the conference center, and she is the type of person to really enjoy something like that, unlike my husband who complains about the crowds and traffic.My son absolutely loves all of his grandparents. But he really had a good time this weekend, because he doesn't see as much of his maternal grandparents. He cried when they left, it was sweet, but sad, especially because I was pregnant.

10 weeks

I have 10 more weeks until I become the mother of two. I am so not ready. 10 weeks is way too soon. I felt like pregnancy took so long the first time, now with each passing week during my second pregnancy I say, no slow down, I'm not ready for two. Or in another words, nine months the first time around seemed like a near eternity, 9 months this time, is like a blink of an eye, its not even a third of my firstborns life. My sister said, don't worry you will get more and more miserable and want the baby out, by the time 10 weeks passes. I said no, I know the secret now, the baby is easier in the womb than out of it. I told my husband maybe she'll be late and we'll get 12 more weeks. He had already said he isn't ready either, and 10 weeks is too soon. But when I mentioned late, he said no, you want her to come on time since people are coming for Christmas. I said true true. Dang conception date that put the due date in December.

Circus

You may recall we went to the Circus. It was last Wednesday. Ringling Bros. Barium and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth. This pregnancy has made me a big activist for Elephant rights, their social interactions fascinate me. I really didn't research the people against the circus, but the circus website sure sold me. I like that the circus people have breeded 20 babies successfully, apparently baby elephants born in captivity rarely survive. (Yes, I realize I said I was an activist and liked what the circus told me, it was a joke, but I do like happy elephant stories this pregnancy and sad ones make me want to cry.) Which means I didn't believe the protesters outside, because when we saw the elephant up close he or she looked so pretty and well taken care of, plus I read this. Well maybe not pretty, their funny long peach fuzz hair makes me laugh, but huge and neat and well taken care of.
Here is all of us. My son really liked the circus. My husband said it was fun, but it was too much of a musical for him. I could see his point, I expect less song and dance numbers and more animals.
We really didn't many more animals, than elephants, one porcupine, dogs, horses, two goats, and... tigers.
Here are the clowns.Like I already said, my son enjoyed the circus, but he is a very serious kid so most of the show he was very straight faced. He didn't crack a smile until the elephants came out and I said is there a baby down there? (It wasn't actually a baby but it was smaller than the rest.) And he finally let out a huge smile and said yeah!This is what he looked like until the elephants, do you see those creases above his eyebrows. The above picture made me sad, my baby boy doesn't look much like a baby anymore. I said that to my husband during intermission at the circus, and he said, he isn't a baby anymore. Seeing that, that comment made me sad, he then said, that is why you are about to have a new one. It was a fun time had by all. We got home very late for a boy who decided to skip his nap earlier in the day. My son tries to skip his nap about once a week, and it is making his mommy very worried. For at least another year I will have the rule he has to go lie down in bed and either suck his thumb or read books. He didn't want a nap one day, and I knew he was tired so I told him he just had to do one for a few minutes, he was out for 3 hours after that. By the way, I'm not trying to force him to be a baby, he cries way too much for either of his parents to effectively deal with him if he doesn't take a nap, or at least go lie down and suck his thumb.