Worth the Wait

No, I'm not talking about our baby, because she's not here yet. I'm sure she also will have been worth the wait whenever she does arrive. What I'm talking about is my birthday present! Okay, I only waited one extra day, but it would have been worth it to wait a whole lot longer than that! Last night as I was doing something (worthwhile and productive, no doubt) on the computer, Troy was messing around in the kitchen. I stood up, turned around, and this is what I saw on the kitchen table:



Do you hear the angels and the harps? The choirs singing its praises? I sure did! A Viking Stand Mixer. I thought I was going to have to wait many years before one of these graced my kitchen counter. And by "grace" I actually mean "dominate." Move over bacon, here comes something really big. The kitchen now needs some serious rearranging, which I will enjoy doing while I'm waiting and waiting for a contraction to show up.

Thank you, sweet husband, for fulfilling my dreams of mixing joy. I can't decide what to start with. I really have no need for whipped cream at the moment, but the sight of the giant balloon whisk attachment is pretty tempting. And come on, how often have you been unable to find a use for a quart of whipped cream?

Due?!?

Here I am, on the eve of my due date, and I'm realizing that I'm a big fat baby. I have never made it to my due date before. I'm always early, and so I really really thought that after three other pregnancies I'd totally go early with this one too. Waaaahhhhh! I am trying to remind myself that people go up to and past their due dates all the time and it's normal, natural, survivable and I'll be just fine. I really don't like being induced; I like the baby to come when she's ready to come. Except that now I'm ready and I'm getting really impatient. See? I'm a baby! I think after the whole "your baby is turned the wrong way and we might have to induce or do a C-section this week" thing made me really ready. And still, nothing! Also, with this nice long weekend where everyone, from babysitters to my midwife to my husband, were perfectly available and ready for action, I felt like it sure would have been convenient to deliver some time in there. Guess not. It's a school day tomorrow and I'm wondering if I just go ahead with normal life like usual. Guess so!

Oh yeah, it's also my birthday today. Happy Birthday! I think I kind of wanted to deliver today because I think that May 25th is the most wonderful day of the year. It would have been fun to share the day, I think, though maybe in the long run the baby would like her very own day. I guess the 26th would be okay too.... We had a really fun day today. Because we really truly thought we'd have a baby by now Troy and I made exactly 0 plans. So when we woke up this morning we were like, "Uh, I guess let's do something for your birthday!" And we proceeded to eat ourselves silly for the rest of the day. Troy went and brought me breakfast from Eggs in the City, a great little joint. Nothing better than eggs benedict, I'd say! I was pretty satisfied with that, especially since I got to eat in bed while finishing up a pretty good book. But then a couple hours later a friend showed up with a giant cup of my favorite frozen yogurt - Luna Berry - you must try it next time you're on 4th South and 7th East. I recommend the plain yogurt with mangos and almonds. THEN Troy considered sending me off to lunch with a friend but decided he'd rather be with me instead (awwww) so my kind sister took the kids while we went to RedRock Cafe downtown. I must admit I was still a little full from the morning, but I managed to enjoy my sandwich - French Onion Steak Sandwich. Another must. Luckily I got a little afternoon nap after that before another friend showed up with a nice little gift and an invitation to dinner. Okay!!! You know, I've noticed that if you eat out all day long and neglect your children there are very few dishes to be done at the end of the day. Awesome! I still feel a little full, but hey, I'm still eating for two, right?

Good Baby!

Thanks everyone for your "flip that baby" energy and prayers that you sent our way, 'cause guess what. After a long night of yucky dreams and little sleep, I went into the hospital this morning for my version (baby flip) and they discovered that she had turned on her head all by herself like a good baby should. Now, she may not stay that way, so keep that "head-down" energy coming. I'm going for a walk now, though not with any pogo-sticking like the nurses recommended. We don't want any tinkle on the sidewalk. :)

Put That Thing Away!!!

Holy Crap. That's about all I can think of to say. I asked Troy if we could snap a few pix tonight to show off my highly blossomed belly. Now that I look at the pictures, I'm not sure it was such a good idea. Woah. Well, that's how it goes, I guess.

An update: our daughter (not Bitty, the next one) is already turning out to be disobedient. I had an appointment today with my midwife to see how things were coming along. It turns out that our child has decided to stretch out side to side in my belly, like she's hanging out in a hammock. I'm sure she's very comfortable, the little stinker! I wouldn't mind so much except that I'm now past 38 weeks and could go into labor at any time. A spine-down baby is not a good thing for going into labor, just so you know. So on Monday morning we're going to go into the hospital and see if the docs over there can flip her around (from the outside). Hopefully that will work. We're looking at a possible C-section if she won't flip or won't stay flipped. I will confess that a C-section is not a part of my ideal birth plan. However, getting a baby here safely is higher on my list of priorities. I'm feeling calm and good we'll see if we can get this little gal turned around. She's squirming right now...maybe she'll do it all by herself!

I couldn't help but include a picture or two of Bitty,who already loves the camera. She sees it come out and instantly starts posing.





And me. Because I look funny. I will not be including the shot Troy took of my feet. Now THAT is scary.



Okay, friends, keep your fingers crossed that our gal starts somersaulting!

The Last Hurrah -or- You Know You're Pregnant When...

I have never been a major Star Trek fan, especially of the original series. I can appreciate it, and I did watch many many Next Generation episodes with my dad. But as soon as I saw the trailer, I knew I'd want to see the prequel movie that came out this weekend. I remember watching the trailers, and the date it would be released and wondering if I'd be able to catch the movie before this baby was born. Well, we made it. Troy and I don't go out on a whole lot of dates with just the two of us, but we pulled this one together. For one thing, my sister's girls have grown up and become great babysitters. We hired the eldest for the evening. She even put my kids to bed, the super girl! We called our friends, the Mayfields, and bought our tickets a week ago. And lo and behold, we made it out on a date. Dinner at Biaggi's in the gateway and then Star Trek. I am not sure if Troy and I will make it out on the town again pre-baby, so we were so excited for this fun evening. It really was fun. I have promised my brother to say NOTHING about the show, so I won't review it here. I do have to tell you that at the very beginning of the show there is a rather traumatic birth scene and I just had to laugh at myself. I'm pretty sure I'm pregnant because I sobbed through the whole thing. This is STAR TREK, right? Action/Adventure? SciFi? Not a lot of girly stuff going on. I couldn't help it. I had tears pouring down my face. I have a head cold so I'm pretty stuffy, and my nose decided to drain right then and there, and throughout the remainder of the show. Luckily Misty had some baby wipes in her purse or I would have had to leave the theater. Funny. Great movie, and that's all I'm going to say.

Bitty's New Hair-Do

I think every parent has gone through this. I waited and waited for Stomper to do it, but he never did. (Or hasn't yet, anyway.) So when Bitty gave her self a little hair cut (with my razor! Hello!) in the shower last night I wasn't really mad at all. When I got her out I noticed hair everywhere, and when I asked her what happened I think she thought I was going to go berserk, because she started crying, wrapped her little wet arms around my neck and sobbed, "I'm so sorry!" It took me a minute to find the hair cut's location, because I thought she would have just scraped the razor along the hair by her face or something. Finally I parted the hair on the back of her head and found quite an impressive bald spot back there. I'm surprised that she got it so cleanly shaven without cutting herself. She's actually been pretty happy to show people her new bald spot. I thought she might get upset about the lack of hair back there, but it seems to be a badge of accomplishment or something. I think I prefer the back of her head to a bang-snipping like so many other kids do. I'm just glad there was no blood involved.

New Toy

Troy and I have both been wanting a new camera for a long time. I used to have a little Nikon point-and-shoot, but it got destroyed somehow. (I swear it wasn't me.) I've been using Troy's work camera for anything I've needed for a while, but it doesn't really take the kind of pictures we've been hoping for. Well, Troy simultaneously got a bonus at work and had a trip to (tax-free) Oregon, where a camera shop is located not far from where he was staying. Of course Troy had been researching his camera choice for who knows how long. This is something I love about him. I hate doing that kind of research - I'm so lazy and impulsive. But when Troy shops he always ends up buying exactly what he really wants. It's great. So, we splurged and got the camera. A Nikon D90. Uh, it's so fancy I'm a little afraid to pick it up. The instruction booklet is novel-length, and I fear that I'll never really know half of what there is to know about this amazing piece of equipment. Troy's currently going at it a little at a time and then giving me lessons. What I do know is that when I push the button it takes really good pictures. We're in danger of filling up our hard drive in a few days with how many pictures we're taking, and they're so fun we're having trouble deleting any of them. Here are a couple of my favorites so far:





Troy did a blessed thing yesterday and took the kids up Emigration Canyon for a little stream-side playtime for a couple of hours. I think he took about 75 pictures. Don't you love kids and streams together? It's a wonderful match. And I got the house clean. Too bad I was so wiped out by the time he got home all I wanted to do was lie down...

Anyway, I'm looking forward to some better pictures showing up on the blog from now on!

Happy Birthday, Our Boy

Yesterday was our special Matthew day. Two years have now gone by since we said goodbye to him, and it's crazy to think about how much has changed. How mind-boggling that we're now counting down the days until a new baby arrives in our family. I have to say that our Matthew experience has made her arrival much more poignant for us in such a good way.

We had some plans to really celebrate Matthew, and we were able to pull a few of them off. Let's just say that Stomper and Bitty really make the concept of 'quiet reflection' next to impossible. And in some ways, that's a blessing. They certainly keep us grounded and moving forward. No wallowing here. And we didn't feel like wallowing anyway. We're in such a different place this year than last, that really, all we wanted to do was celebrate a little. So, like I said, some of those things happened, and some didn't. That's okay. We can turn our "Matthew Day" into "Matthew Week" and keep enjoying the process.

I think the thing I'm most excited about is that we made a paving stone in his honor, and bought a plant; a bleeding heart - my favorite. We have never had a place to go to remember Matthew. Due to the fact that he passed away before he was born we didn't think we wanted a grave for him. I'm not saying that I regret that decision, just that I never imagined how much I'd want one special place to go when I wanted to honor or think about him. We contemplated a tree for a long time, but that can be kind of a big deal. So, we made this stone out of concrete and had the kids decorate it with beads and rocks and stuff like that. We'll plant the bleeding heart in a shady spot by the house and put the stone next to it. I love this idea. Then if we ever move, we can take the stone with us and plant another bleeding heart. I'll post a picture of the spot when we're done.




We also did what is becoming a tradition for us - writing notes, tying them to balloons, and letting the balloons go. Gosh. It was kind of a comedy of errors. The kids just really made the whole day kind of frantic and the writing notes wasn't as quiet and peaceful as I would have hoped. Then when we went into the back yard to let them go, three of the four balloons got stuck in trees or power lines in our yard. Slightly anti-climactic. Super-hero Troy saved the day by unhitching two of the three, but his own balloon may still be lodged in the big tree it got stuck in. That's okay. We know Matthew knows what we wanted to say, and really the note writing itself is very therapeutic, even with kids bouncing all over you while you're trying to do it. Just taking a moment to say what you really want to say helps a lot.

So, little Matthew, to you I want to say that having a new baby makes you an even more special part of our little clan. I am sure that each time I hold her, wrap her and rock her, I will be both so grateful that I'm getting the chance to do that for her and missing the fact that I couldn't do it for you.

The Great Outdoors

Wow. I guess I don't blog much these days. Seeing as how I'm now 37 out of 40 weeks pregnant, I guess I'll cut myself a little slack.

I just had to post a couple of fun things. After and amid torrents of rain, spring has finally sprung in Salt Lake. We're getting some good outdoor time. Last week Bitty went on her first school field trip. She was supposed to have gone on one earlier in the season, but it was just too cold and snowy or rainy. So finally the class made it out to the local gardening store: Cactus and Tropicals. For an adult, 25 minutes of walking around a garden store can be fun but might not be that exciting. But for 10 little three- and four-year olds, it was a trip through a magical kingdom. They were convinced that they were actually walking through a tropical forest and the hot dry desert. Pretty fun. We nearly had one bystander get pushed into the koi pond, but her dad made a quick rescue and all was well.



Also fun to witness has been Stomper's foray into the world of all things slimy. On Friday he had a playdate with a girl in his class. This is actually the first time he's really wanted to play with one of the girls instead of a boy. I wondered how it would go, as in the past when he's played with gals in the neighborhood he's gotten really frustrated when they didn't want to play dinosaurs. Well, the two couldn't have been more compatible. Despite a cloudy and somewhat drizzly day, they spent their entire playdate outside. For at least three hours. It was awesome. Though some time was spent in the apple tree, their real fun came when they found a snail, and decided it needed some nurturing. Oh, the time they spent finding it a good home (a large empty plastic planter box) and giving it what Stomper called "its habitat." Grass, leaves, water, of course. But they really went above and beyond and gave the thing some toys (the plastic animal variety) and some friends - other snails, a worm or two and a millipede-looking thing. Amazingly enough, the snail even survived all the attention. His name is Slimy. Appropriate, don't you think?



The next day Slimy's nuturing was continued. Bitty had a playdate with a gal from the 'hood, but they weren't getting along too well. Instead, the friend and Stomper spent a very rainy morning on the back porch playing with the snails. They actually had snail races going for at least an hour. I'm sure the snails were running for their lives at that point, but to no avail. The other snails were eventually dubbed "Sticky" and "Fred." Apparently Fred is a biter, so look out.



And now at this moment, the day is drawing to a close. Homework has not been done, dinner has not been eaten, but I cannot bring myself to call the kids inside. They are out in the back yard digging in the dirt, finding additional creatures to add to the mini-zoo in the bucket. They are completely filthy, and that is how it should be.

Buck Up! (or) Look Honey, I Did Something!

Miss Hannigan is feeling better today. (See previous post.) I'm trying to suck it up a little, and I thought it would help to mention some happy things.

Happy thing #1:

Today is laundry day, and by some miracle, this blue bucket is still sitting, empty, on top of the dryer. I'll explain. The blue bucket has been dubbed "The Oxi Clean Bucket." (You may notice the huge tote of oxi clean sitting right next to it.) The fact that I have not yet this week filled that bucket with nice warm water, a generous scoop of oxi clean, and some disgusting article of clothing that is nigh-uncleanable is a total miracle. Just think! Bitty didn't poo in her undies even once this week! (Of course, she hasn't pooed much at all, but that is depressing to think about and I'm trying to be positive here.) Also, I have not ruined any shirts of mine by splashing, spilling or drizzling something greasy on them. I'm a rather drippy eater by nature (Troy calls this quality 'endearing,' but I think he's just being nice) and now that I have a huge shelf jutting out from my midsection there's no way for any errant grease to escape landing on me. And look! No shirts in the bucket! Yay!

Happy Thing #2

I actually accomplished something! I have really wanted to get my emergency preparedness supplies going before our babe gets here. It's so overwhelming to think about not only a 72 hour kit but getting a 3 month supply of rotate-able items. I'm not ready to think about the year's supply yet. Anyway, I finally got the bare minimum of a 72 hour kit put together. And then I thought about how I could make a three month supply of food work for us. I decided to make a list of foods that we use regularly. It's not a list of absolutely everything we would use in three months, just a list of things that we always do use and that, if worse came to worse, we could survive on for a few months. I then went and bought a whole bunch of those things. The plan now is that I keep that list on the fridge, and every time I use something from the supply, I mark it off so the next time I go shopping I can replace the item in storage. It's actually working really well, and I'm super satisfied that I actually accomplished something. Most days lately I just look at my to-do list and decide I'd rather go sit down instead.



Happy Thing #3

Stomper had a couple of play dates last week - during our freezing cold, wet and rainy spring break. (It's going to be 80 today...) One day he and his buddy went in the back yard armed with nothing more than a roll of masking tape. Their goal was to make a fort. I think they did a pretty good job. I am just filled with warm happiness when I see my kids inventing things in the back yard, despite the often increased requirement for the use of the oxi clean bucket.


Happy Thing #4

Bitty's love of bike-riding has resurfaced after the long cold winter. Every day she straps on her helmet with only minor assistance and heads out to the back porch for a spin on her little bike. She prefers you to be out there with her, being her spectator. This duty is comprised mainly of applauding for her and shouting, "hooray!" every time she passes you. It does get a little tedious, but her super happy grin is worth it.

Okay! See? I'm not totally bitter about everything! This is good! (Of course, it isn't even noon yet, but let's show a little optimism, shall we?)

My Inner Miss Hannigan

I didn't actually know that I had one inside me. But I do. Miss Hannigan (of Annie fame - come on, you remember her!) is alive and well and living deep in the most bitter corner of my soul, and boy did she rear her mussy little head today. I don't think I'd better give you all the gory details. I'll just say this. How is it possible that the more pregnant I get and the worse I feel, the more my kids need me and are less and less able to help or entertain themselves at all? Can they not find one tiny bit of compassion, empathy or understanding inside themselves? I know, I know. Of course not. Nor should I really expect them to. (Hey there, 3-year-old daughter, let's close our eyes a do a little maternity visualization so you can feel my pain!) It would be nice, though, wouldn't it? I'm sure that they can feel what's coming and have already begun the rat race for mom's attention. Elbows are flying. I guess my question is, with how grouchy I was today, why on earth do they still want my company at all? (Oh. One other question. WHY do my kids like to join me in the bathroom? Can anyone explain this phenomenon? You'd think that's the last place they'd want to be with the things that go on in there, but no, they're pounding down the door. I guess it has something to do with getting their grips on the last shred of dignity I'm still clinging to.)

Well, I should shut up now. Do a little blessing counting. Like the fact that no one got out of bed tonight once they were tucked in. Like that fact that no one actually called me 'mean mommy,' or said, 'you're just like Cruella DeVil' or any of the other things that were running through my head. Or the fact that I probably won't hear the dreaded, "Mommmm-eeeeeee!!!!????!!!!" until tomorrow. Okay, let's face it, there's a good chance I'll still hear that tonight, but maybe it will be from only one of them at a time instead of that trick they have where one of them says it, then starts telling me what they need me to do, and in the middle of the sentence, the other one starts off, like they're singing a round of Row Row Your Boat or something. I think they practice that technique while I'm not around.

Okay. Deep breaths. I feel better. Well, better minus the perma-contraction I've had all day today. Time for a drink of water and a little shut eye.

'Night!

A Tribute to my Father -or- Happy Easter

This is perhaps a little mean. My father is currently living in Belgium and I just can't help but make him twitch a bit, all the way from Salt Lake City. And to make him twitch all I need to do is give him a peek at his worst enemy: Easter grass. He hates the stuff. It is not allowed in his house. It's kind of funny. But dad, guess what. I can feel your pain. This year I was pretty surprised at how easily the stuff spread itself around the house and managed to avoid my vacuuming attempts. It took many days to make our house completely grass free. It just keeps coming back!


We had a nice Easter. I was able to hold off the kids on the egg-dying all the way until the Thursday before Easter. I was then faced with the annual dilemma of determining how many eggs are enough for the kids to make without me having an entire fridge full of hard boiled eggs. It's a hard number to reach. I don't think the kids would ever get enough of coloring eggs. As it was they each got a dozen (I know, I'm kind of crazy) and they had so much fun dying them the first time around that they pretty much re-dyed all of them. Thus most of our Easter eggs ended up being an odd spotty greyish color, but that's okay. They had a great time.


Troy also took both kids to his boss's annual neighborhood egg and candy hunt. Seriously, I don't think the kids got this much candy at Halloween. I couldn't believe the caches they came home with. Fine with me - I got my bribery bowl restocked! (I've been doing a little nibbling myself...)

The big day itself was pretty mellow. Troy has church meetings early Sunday mornings, and we didn't want him to miss seeing the kids find their baskets. We devised a clever plan wherein the Easter Bunny leaves a note for the kids telling them to hurry and get ready for church and when Daddy got home (he planned to sneak away for a few minutes) he'd have a clue for them as to where to find the baskets. The plan would have worked great except that Stomper woke up at about 5:50 and wasn't to be dissuaded from getting his basket then and there. It made me fear this Christmas a little bit. So, fine, Troy helped him find his basket and all of my efforts in doing the notes was wasted. Oh well. Luckily Bitty woke up about 2 minutes before Troy came back and he helped her find her basket too. In the afternoon we enjoyed dinner with Troy's parents and playing with the kids. Nice day.

I have to say that I think it's kind of funny how into dinosaurs Troy and I have gotten. There's this one brand (Papo) that makes really cool dinosaurs. And when we found out that they had come out with a new one (the Allosaurus) of course that is what Stomper found in his basket. He's clearly shown a preferance for toys more squishy in nature, but we couldn't resist. And luckily Stomper's dinosaur passion has reignited and at least for today he's willing to lower his standards and play with a "non-squishy." Phew. (Allosaurus pictured at bottom of picture below...)

Axel Lives On

It turns out that Stomper has a passion for music. He's been begging me to purchase from itunes the theme from Jurassic Park. Trust me when I tell you that I should have bought that before, or perhaps instead of, my most recent purchase. It came about when Troy took Stomper to go see Monsters vs. Aliens. I guess there's a funny little part where the president of the U.S. is trying to communicate with aliens and plays for them "Axel F," the theme from Beverly Hills Cop. Stomper went nuts. He couldn't get enough of it. We tried having him listen to just clips of it from the itunes store. 30 seconds just wasn't quite enough for him. And then, oh then. I thought to myself, "I love to make my kids happy! I know that spending a measly little 99 cents on one song would thrill my child, so why not?" Why not? I will tell you why not. I think that on that day we listened to Axel F for approximately two hours straight. You have to admit that it's a catchy tune, but after two hours it gets a little tedious. Okay, Stomper couldn't have been any cuter. He just sat there, on top of the garbage can, with Troy's makita stereo on the counter next to him. He sat there and bobbed up and down in time (sort of) to the music, humming (sort of) along with the tune.


After two or three days of watching him bop around the house in a rather twitchy epileptic way with Axel F blaring throughout the house, we finally dug out the headphones and plugged them into the ipod and set it for repeat. I confess, it is much cuter to watch Stomper's little dance and listen to him hum along minus the blasting tunes. I really thought he'd be over it by now, but he's still asking to listen to it all night long. Like sleep with earphones in and the music going. I think it's time for me to buy the Jurassic Park soundtrack, don't you think?

Return of the Radish Legs

When I was on my mission in Korea, I had this wonderful companion named (forgive the strange spelling…) Eee Young Mi. We were in the same apartment for a couple of months before we actually became companions. She was a terrible tease and also a hard worker. Well, Sister Eee thought I was downright chubby. (Think of what she'd say now….) And actually she was a little jealous of my chub. She was a total stick. She used to call me Sister Potato, because that's how I was shaped. (In her eyes only, I'm sure.) So in return I called her Sister Snake, which actually kind of ticked her off because she hated being so skinny. (Awww, don'cha feel bad for her?) Anyway, we loved each other and only served together for a very short time. I think maybe it was just one month. One day we were walking around together in the outdoor market. We passed a lady selling big plastic bins of radishes. Not the cute little radishes we have here in America. These things are HUGE. Big fat long white things. I think here they're called daikon radishes. In Korean they're called "moo." As she glanced at them she paused. Then her eyes absolutely lit up with delight and she turned to look at me. "I know what you are! You're a 'moo-dadi!'" (When you say 'dadi,' it's kind of like saying 'darri' but you're flipping your r's, k?) That word, dadi, means legs. Yes, I have radish legs. Big white lumpy things. Isn't that nice?

The reason I'm thinking of this memory is because I looked down at my legs today and this story jumped instantly to my mind. I had to start laughing. I am certain that my moo-dadi legs of today absolutely shame my moo-dadi legs of the past. Pregnancy has settled into my ankles. Not a pretty picture, I know, but I'm hopeful it's only going to last a couple more months. I had an ultrasound yesterday. I'm 32 weeks along (only 2 weeks away from where I was when Stomper showed up!) and I think my midwife just wants to help me feel secure and at peace. I've never had a late term ultrasound before. It's kind of crazy – you can only see one little part of the baby at a time and it's a little harder to tell what you're looking at. I thought it would be easier. Big long feet, all the right parts and pieces, and we could even see some fuzzy hair on the back of her head. And oh yes, it's no longer a question if she was hiding any boy parts in her last ultrasound. She wasn't. I'm actually getting pretty excited for this little gal to show up! It makes bearing the radish legs a little easier.

This is a page scanned from my mission album. Sister Eee is the gal in the blue jumper next to me in front of the fire trucks. (That was an interesting morning...)

The Morning Funnies

Memorable quoteables from each of the kids this morning:

We'll take Stomper first. He was begging and begging for us to go buy him a new toy. I was trying to help him understand that I didn't think buying him a toy was a good idea since he didn't seem interested in playing with any of the other billion toys we already have. Basically, if you want a toy, show me that you're interested in playing with toys! He tried to resolve my concerns by assuring me that if we went and bought him a new toy he'd play with it for one whole hour. He made my point for me, I think.

And Bitty? Well, the story can't be told without me first explaining that Bitty has had a very hard time with some discipline issues lately, and I've had a very hard time finding her motivation to do better. She's an absolute expert on figuring out what carrot I'm dangling in front of her - be it a punishment or a reward - and removing the power of the motivation by not caring about it. There is not a toy, t.v. show, playdate, outing, or chart that is reward enough for her to care; nor is there a time out, favorite toy taken away, banishment or whatever that is punishment enough either. And so, she has had a couple of spankings lately, administered by me. I'll just say that it works. It works so well that it actually works on both kids at the same time. As much as I hate it, I'm chuckling a little thinking of Stomper's most excellent behavior when his sister is in trouble. Well, this morning Bitty was in a full-on wrestling match with her daddy. He had her by the ankles and was dangling her behind his back. I said, "Bitty! Now's your chance to spank daddy!" And she replied, "Oh mommy, I can't spank him! You'd never spank anyone you love!" Whereupon I was instantly reduced to a 1 inch tall and very wilted mommy. Okay, it was pretty funny. That little stinker.

Three Little Maids

One of my favorite musicals....(okay, Anthony, operettas,) is the Mikado, by Gilbert and Sullivan. I've always loved it. You may remember one of the numbers, Three Little Maids from School are We....

It's going to become a popular tune on my side of the family over the next few months. I may have mentioned that we're expecting a baby girl in May. I think I've also mentioned that both of my brothers' wives are expecting also - in fact, they're due one day apart from each other in August. And guess what. They're both expecting girls too.

Get ready for some additional estrogen, family! On my side of the family there are three granddaughters, then Stomper and his male cousin (luckily the two of them were born less than a year apart, so at least they have each other!) and then there are two (correction...) THREE more girls. And now there are three more girls on the way. We need some more boys around here! I guess our fetus could surprise everyone and be a boy, seeing as how the ultrasound wasn't exactly definitive, but I'm pretty sure we've got a girl in there. And of course I'm not forgetting our Matthew, but he's keeping an eye on things from Heaven. So it looks like for now there are just girls girls girls everywhere in this family like crazy! It will be fun to have these three little girl cousins all together, though. Ours will be the oldest of the three, so I'm assuming she'll be the boss, right?

My Best Friend

I never would have dreamed how much I would come to love and depend on this little bottle of glue. As a kid I found the stuff kind of fascinating, as an adult I found it useful, and now as a parent I find it absolutely essential. That is mostly due to the needs of my very creative and somewhat destructive son. I'm sure you can understand why his destructive nature would call for a little super glue. I guess I shouldn't even call it destruction. He'll just play really aggressively with a toy and then be very upset when it doesn't hold up forever. I've glued more arms on dinosaurs and splits in rubber animals than I can count. Thank you, superglue, for saving the day time and time again.

It's the creativity part that really makes me laugh. I will admit that sometimes I feel a bit like an assistant to the infamous Sid, the toy mangler from the first Toy Story movie. Stomper doesn't mangle his toys out of spite, as did Sid; he gets these ideas about changes, or shall we say improvements he wants to make to his toys and isn't happy until we perform extensive operations on them. I've always felt a little guilty about the time he asked me to cut off a rubber lizard's tail and glue it into his open mouth to create a very long tongue. It just seemed cruel. But Stomper could not rest until the deed had been done. Without my trusty bottle of superglue the procedure would have been impossible and I would have had one miserable little boy. Here are two of our latest creations:

This poor creature was once nothing more than a humble spider monkey, purchased from Hogle Zoo. Then Stomper saw a cartoon, The Secret Saturdays, featuring a large ape-person type guy named Fiskerton. He just had to have a Fiskerton toy to play with. Problem? Fiskerton has no tail. Off came the poor monkey's tail. I felt horrible just chopping it off. Then Stomper decided he'd like to transform Fiskerton into this dinosaur creature thingy and he insisted that we needed to shorten the monkey's arms and add a head and tail crest. So we cut out the middle secion of both arms, reattached the shorter arms with superglue and a little duct tape, and glued Stomper's homemade crests on. Now it kind of gives me the creeps.


This guy used to be a lizard. Just a plain old lizard. Now he is the mighty Godzilla. I guess it's kind of great that Stomper's desire for the toys he's interested in isn't satisfied only with a trip to the toy store, which is lucky. I don't think anyone carries Fiskerton toys, or dinosaur creature thingy toys, or any of the other myriad things bouncing around in his head. We just create them! Godzilla has taken over life at the Preslar household. I have to say that I don't know where the first exposure came from, but at this point Stomper is pretty well versed in all things Godzilla. Fortuneately (for Stomper) and unfortuneately (for the rest of us) Troy's oldest brother has a son who went through the same stage, and recently delivered right to our door approximately 15 Godzilla videos. Oh my. At first the only one Stomper would watch was the latest one, from 2002 or so, with Matthew Broderick in it. He thought the covers of all the others looked scary. They're all the old Japanese shows from as early as the 1950s and 1960s. Finally he decided to watch one and now he's totally hooked. I have to say that they are some of the funniest shows I have ever seen. But Stomper loves them. And now I spend a good deal of my time cutting out paper teeth and neck spines, glueing and re-glueing them to a variety of small rubber toys. What a parent won't do for their kid. Just keep the superglue coming. I panic when the bottle gets low.

Au Revoir

I'm totally behind. I think I started this post...oh, I don't know, multiple days ago. I keep pulling it up on the computer, looking at it, and then getting up and walking away for some reason or another. I'm feeling a little tired, people! So anyway, like I was saying....

I think it was all the way last May that my parents got a phone call from...huh...I don't know. Someone from our church inviting them to serve for another length of time in a mission-type capacity. They would be doing something along the lines of government relations, living in Brussels, Belgium, and traveling around Europe. Sounds awful, doesn't it. Well, they were very excited to go - they started studying French and learning about European politics, but they never really got a firm departure date. Then suddenly, about 10 days ago, they found out that they were to hop on a plane in just seven days. It was a little crazy, but luckily they had been preparing a little here and a little there for months so it wasn't too overwhelming. It was just so strange to say goodbye so quickly.

We had a family dinner the Monday before they left, and then I managed to see them three times the next day, and then suddenly on Wednesday they were gone. Crazy! I'm excited for them, though. I really admire my folks for how active and involved they are. I'm hoping to visit them sometime - they'll probably be gone about 18 months, but that time could vary a little bit. What with a new baby on the way, I'm really not holding my breath, but I haven't given up all hope that I could actually make my first trip to Europe. That would be great. It might kill me to be so close to Italy and not make it there, but I think that's a trip for the future.

I can't believe how long it took me to post those few little paragraphs, but there you are. Here are my parents with my kids from last Monday, a week ago today:



So, Mom and Dad, I hope you are doing great! We love you! `And let me just say, I've become a huge believer in skype. I can call my parents! And see their faces! They could see mine too if my huge belly didn't keep getting in the way. Actually, it's pretty much hanging around my knees at this point, so the facial obstruction is diminishing.

My goal? Blog again before another entire week has gone by!

The Budding Artiste

I am so enjoying Bitty's drawing skills. Stomper never cared much for drawing - he only really started adding any detail whatsoever to his drawings over the past few months. Before that it was pretty much scribbling. But Bitty, probably in part from watching her brother, has really gotten interested. She even likes to write her name. This particular work of art she told me is about "a man in a mouse suit riding a skateboard in the Himalayas." Didn't know she'd ever heard of the Himalayas, but I guess she has. I asked her what they were, and she said, "Someplace very far away. In Africa." Well, at least she knows it's a place no where near here.

I Believe in Tractors!

I just have to record a story here. It happened several weeks ago, and isn't especially significant to the story line of our lives, but every time I think about it I keep on laughing. I decided that I just have to keep it here to always remember it.

In our ward is a young couple who have a little girl. They are a very sweet family. The father was raised on an onion farm in Oregon, and he's just about the nicest person you'll ever meet. Anyone who lives in our neighborhood will know exactly who I'm talking about. This man has a passion for John Deere tractors, like no one I've ever seen before. He's like a little boy about them - he has model tractors in his house, tractor t-shirts and even a clock that chimes each hour with a different tractor engine sound. I love it, although it kind of scared me one day while I was over there babysitting. I could not figure out what kept revving at me.

Well, one day in church this guy was sitting behind us. Bitty was in one of her classic grumpy tempers, you know, the kind where she is disagreeable about absolutely everything. I was trying to make her happy (why do I try?) by offering her a cracker. She took the cracker and looked at it disgustedly. She let me know just how she felt about my efforts by saying, "I HATE crackers." Well, my friend behind us got a rather stricken look on his face. He then smiled, leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially to Bitty, "You know, every time you say that a tractor dies!" I could not figure out WHAT he was talking about, until I realized that he had thought he heard Bitty saying, "I HATE tractors!" and he had to have been deeply upset by her opinion, so much so that he had to pull off a Peter Pan-esque feat and have us all clap for the tractors. Clap if you believe in tractors!

Perhaps this isn't funny to anyone but me, but I'll always find it very endearing of our friend the tractor man.