Boy inspiration

Boy #4 is a KICKER! I have never had a baby move so much (that I can remember - and that's not saying a lot these days, I suppose). You can feel him on the outside now, which is fun.

We're getting used to the boy idea. Tonight I realized something that has made me actually QUITE excited.

See, I've been building this in my mind for some time:

But I realized that I don't need to be so moderate any more. Now there is no holding back! The ultimate boy space could be ours (if we just figured out how to turn on the wood saw ...)

 Ta-da! Isn't it beautiful? I want. I suppose I may have to stretch a wall to accomplish this. But if your house doesn't have a wall this wide (how silly of it) you could settle for something like this, too:

See, some things are very good about having 4 boys :)

PS- I love you Pinterest.

Little Boy Blue(s)

Anyone reading this post probably already knows, but I should record it anyway right? Last week we found out we're having ... another boy! Boy #4! Gah!

Everyone told us we were having a girl (except my midwife - curse her). I was sure it was a girl. I thought Tessa had prayed hard enough that no matter what, this was going to be the sister of her dreams. After all, I had been just like her - one older brother, two younger brothers - and so it was only natural that this baby would be a sister, just like I got. There is nothing like having a sister!

I wonder if God is chuckling? He got us good. We went to the ultrasound appointment and took the kids, but I had them step out of the room at the end so Dave and I could find out first and then I could reveal the baby's gender in a fun way. The sonographer paused her fuzzy picture and typed "B-O-Y" on the screen, with an arrow pointed to a hazy-looking triangular shape. I was incredulous, but then quick as a flash the kids were back and I barely had time to process the shock. NO. WAY!!

I went to the party store and made the kids stay in the car while I took a big box inside. They inflated some blue balloons for me and taped their strings to the bottom of the box, then taped the lid shut. All the while I was remembering how I had planned this out in my mind before, but the balloons had always been pink! lol. I took it back to the car. When we got home I made a sign for it.

I stuck the box in the front yard, and when everyone was home we got the videocamera out and had the kids open the box. Caden is heard saying, "Please let it be a girl! Then Tessa will have someone to play with and won't bug me so much!" Tessa also swears that she saw on the ultrasound picture that is was a girl. Heh heh.

They tore open the box, saw the ballons pop up, but didn't really get it until Caden read the printed balloon and said, "It's a BOY??"

Tessa stood there silently contemplating for quite a while.

Then Davin and Koen conspired to pull the balloons out of the box, and off they went flying into the sky before I could get a decent picture of the group like I wanted (I was rather ticked).
About 5 minutes later the waterworks began for the poor only girl :( She looks like she's smiling here but those are tears. She shouldn't have worn that blue shirt today!

Remember those days, like back in biblical times, when they didn't even count the girls as part of the offspring? They seemed to really just want boys. My how times have changed. The lure of ruffles, hair bows, tutus and tea parties is just too much for today's moms to resist! We want our cute little mini-me to dress up and parade around. I wonder why the value of boys seems to have changed so much ... or am I reading this trend wrong?

I later asked Dave how he felt about it, because I really didn't know. He said if he'd had to pick one he would have picked a girl (we all wanted Tessa to have a sister), but it doesn't matter and we don't get to pick! And he's right, and it doesn't matter. I actually feel quite honored to be the mom of boys! I think it's a very important job, to prepare good and worthy young men to marry the righteous and virtuous women of the world and be prepared to raise families. Who knows what these boys will be called to do in the future?

Above all, we know that four boys and one girl is a great blessing from God! We will love this little baby so much, we're glad to anticipate him joining our family! I can't wait to hold my snuggly newborn!

Now I have to go take down all the baby dresses I already hung up :)

New camera cord purchased = old one found!

Of course, the day after I finally bought a new camera cord to download my pics ... I found the old one. I'm embarrassed to say where, but let's just say it was still attached to the computer :S I looked at it many times but thought I had located the source  as our backup drive. But this cord went UNDER the drive. Bah.

So here is a re-cap since Christmas (really? Christmas? I will try to keep the photos minimal.)

 Another sleeping picture, this time covered in cereal (looks like Raisin Bran? How odd.)

 Tessa's Christmas ballet recital. We took this semester off - it's been so nice (for mom!).

 The kids working on their gift for Daddy - a T-shirt with our favorite spots and a road on it, so he can wear it and they can drive their cars on his back and he gets a back rub at the same time. Thanks, Pinterest.

 Christmas morning with some of the gifts. Aside from Tessa throwing up (which Dave kindly got on video) it was a great day!

 Look what Santa brought Mom and Dad! And he didn't even wake us up! (Dave is actually trying to sleep on the left here - NO SLEEP FOR YOU!)

 Koen recently came into some money - looks like maybe he found the greatest prize ever found in a cereal box.

 Fake teeth. Always a winner.

 Davin had a birthday! We went to the fire station and had a great time (despite the POURING rain).

 Baby Avery's car seat cover. I had this vision in my head for about a month, trying to figure out how to do it. It turned out to be VERY heavy but I think it worked!

 The egg on top was like 2 eggs fused together. It even had a double yolk. Poor little hen; that had to have hurt!

 Our Valentine's Day table spread. Don't tell me I'm not a good mom! ;) Yes, those glasses are even sugar rimmed! My kids really love Valentine's Day.

 Caden did it! In March he completed one whole year without eating candy, and earned himself a hundred bucks. Here he is fanning himself with it :) He did a great job and easily refused any temptation (especially that last week when I was trying to get him to break and thus save me some money). He was constantly checking with me: "Mom, are Rice Krispie Treats candy?" (we decided yes) "Are chocolate chip pancakes candy?" (we decided no - it may be a little random but he stuck to it!)

 The scriptures will keep you balanced. Read them and discover your spiritual strength :)

 Mom and Dad got terribly sick with the flu and were in bed for a whole weekend. The kids were SO good -- playing together, not fighting, helping each other. Tessa made everyone dinner one night. Can't beat pb sandwiches, cut up celery (with a fancy piece stuck on a toothpick in the bread), large marshmallows and lemonade.

 Koen decided he was going to take matters into his own hands and NOT get sick no matter what!

General conference set up - each of the treats/activities have an apostle's face on them. When that person speaks, the kids get the item. We did this last year too, and the kids were SO excited to do it again. As he was climbing into bed Davin said, "Oooooh! I just can't WAIT for conference!" Can't beat that! And they were excellent and watched all the sessions. It was wonderful!

So maybe I didn't really keep the pictures to a minimum, but that's us, for now!

Lost camera cord = no blogging

Our cord that connects our camera to our computer has been missing for a few months now. It's a real bummer. I am sure I know where I put it ... so once again, I blame others who live in this household :) We have 4 different ports on our computer for memory cards, but of course our camera's card does not fit any of them.

So I have no blogging motivation, because I have lots of fun pictures that I can't post. Oh, that and I've been sick with something or other since about the end of January. Oh, and I'm also growing a turnip.

At least that's what this week's Baby Center newsletter told me I was growing - a little person who is currently about the size of a turnip. Sounds delicious.

If I hadn't been so sick with colds/flu/food poisoning, it would have been the greatest first trimester ever. Only a few moments of nausea (caused by pregnancy, at least), no real signs of the varicose veins brought on by Koen, no sciatic nerve issues yet, and more energy than expected. In fact, things were going so well that I started to freak out that I was having another miscarriage, so at 8 weeks I went and got an ultrasound, which confirmed a heartbeat. Then at 12 weeks the midwife couldn't find a heartbeat again. Then I got my 9-day flu bout, and started to freak out that we hadn't heard a heartbeat, and I had to take several doses of nighttime flu medicine to sleep, and I was sure I had killed the baby. I called my midwife crying, and she was so sweet and made a house call at 15 weeks just to make me feel better. We heard a heartbeat. The relief was so great.

Oh, yeah. I'm also really excited to anticipate a planned home birth this time. I'm a little apprehensive that it won't be as easy as Koen and I'll be wondering why I am not allowing myself the epidural option, but I'm also really excited to know I won't have to make the mid-labor drive to the hospital. Because that is THE. WORST. And I remain optimistic that it will be as easy or easier than my last :)

The kids are so excited. Koen has come to an understanding that babies grow in mommies' tummies, but he is quite sure that ours is always "sleeping" because he cannot see it. Tessa is sending out hourly prayers that this is a girl. We did the baking soda gender test and the red cabbage test on Saturday, and the results were both definitely girl (we even did a control test using Tessa's pee and the boys' pee - and the boys' turned ruby red while Tessa's and mine stayed blue-purple). Apparently you're supposed to do it before 10 weeks, and now I'm 17, so it's possible that the test simply confirmed that I am a girl. But we shall see, I guess!

Not for a while, though. My midwife wants me to wait until 27 weeks to get my next ultrasound - something about ear canal development being affected by it. I've searched though and can't find any studies talking about that - anyone else know of any? I may have to defy her ... I'm getting very curious myself. Especially after seeing my cute, brand-new niece this week; we definitely need one of those around here! And I admit it: I bought a cute outfit on clearance at Old Navy with big red poppies all over it, and I'd really like to keep it :)

Quick update

 Koen was very quiet one afternoon. Most makeup artists are quiet, I do think.

 We got to meet Neil Moore, creator of Simply Music, which is the piano program Caden is learning through. Neil is from Australia. It was fun, and he sat through Caden's long, random, on-the-spot composition and was very encouraging :)

It's been a month of falling asleep in strange positions! These are only 2 of about 5 or 6 incidences. We're struggling with naps - he won't fall asleep until about 2 or 3 pm, and then he's up until like 11 pm! So I tried to make him go without a nap, but this is what happens. I think the answer is to wake him up earlier ... but I never like that answer.

Americanized

It's been almost a year since I first brought this up, but the process is finally complete, and on Wednesday I took my Oath of Citizenship and am now a true-blue United Statesian (see, I was always American, since I have always lived in North America). (Although I guess it's technically called United States of Mexico, so we'd have to be United States of Americans. Oh. I get it.)

The ceremony was the first time I was treated with dignity by immigration officials, which I greatly relished. I thought it was really interesting and enjoyed it - there were 53 countries represented out of 144 people. They had a floating mike and asked people to share their stories and I thought that was very cool.

But can I just say: Glad. It's. Over!

Who knew?

You so rarely hear about the giraffe who visited the manger scene. Or Noah -- he was there, too. Good thing kids know this stuff.