It is true! After 2 and a half years of wanting another little one on the way, we are finally having another baby! He or she is due on March 16th, so I'm 8 weeks along and feeling great!
Alice wants a girl, everyone else wants a boy for a change, but of course we are just thrilled to meet whomever comes our way.
I finally broke down and made an appointment with an OB with lots of experience in fertility (Sommer's dad) to get started figuring out more about the reason behind the lag, and of course, I found out maybe a week after I made the appointment, that I was already pregnant.
Waiting for this wasn't that hard. I focused on being grateful for my two beautiful girls and I trusted that it would happen if it were meant to happen.
I am so glad that it did!
We will find out what we are having, but we won't probably share our names until closer to the due date, which is half of an eternity from today.
Ruby wants me around her all the time, she says, "I want the lady with the baby in her tummy to put me to bed.", or "Can I sit by you and the baby?". What fun. We've had to watch videos of babies in the womb and talk about how the baby is currently the size of one of their teeth, etc. It has been fun!
Anyway, I feel great and am really enjoying the anticipation!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Carseat Safety...
I often get weird looks when I strap my almost seven year old (only barely hit 50 lbs last week, and she's average or tall for her age...not small) into her Britax 5-point harness. Sometimes people even say things to me, which I welcome, because the under use of 5-point and the over/misuse of the booster leads to many child deaths in the United States every year.
Take my four and a half year old for example. She is off the charts for her height and for her height has average weight. She only weighs 35 pounds. Most 4 and a half year old weigh less than she does. So that means that many kids her age may not qualify for a booster seat at 4 and a half, but they've been in a booster since they turned THREE YEARS OLD! This is such a hazard to their health!!!
Even when they do weigh the recommended 40 pounds, relying on a seat belt is not enough to protect them. They make seats that go up to 85 pounds, and they are secured through the LATCH system to the seat in such a way that they cannot be budged. Ruby is in her seat that can hold her securely until she weighs 65 pounds. She will remain there until she weighs 66 pounds, as will Alice.
Here is a video from an organization started by parents of a three year old who died when the seat belt he relied on to save his life failed during a roll over. He is one of many victims of poor car seat safety. This little guy even weighed over 40 pounds, but he is dead because he was in a booster seat that relied on a seat belt. A 5-point harness properly installed using LATCH would have saved his life.
I know for a fact that most people who read this will be aware after this that their child is unsafe in his/her car seat, and still not change anything! Don't be that person!
Take my four and a half year old for example. She is off the charts for her height and for her height has average weight. She only weighs 35 pounds. Most 4 and a half year old weigh less than she does. So that means that many kids her age may not qualify for a booster seat at 4 and a half, but they've been in a booster since they turned THREE YEARS OLD! This is such a hazard to their health!!!
Even when they do weigh the recommended 40 pounds, relying on a seat belt is not enough to protect them. They make seats that go up to 85 pounds, and they are secured through the LATCH system to the seat in such a way that they cannot be budged. Ruby is in her seat that can hold her securely until she weighs 65 pounds. She will remain there until she weighs 66 pounds, as will Alice.
Here is a video from an organization started by parents of a three year old who died when the seat belt he relied on to save his life failed during a roll over. He is one of many victims of poor car seat safety. This little guy even weighed over 40 pounds, but he is dead because he was in a booster seat that relied on a seat belt. A 5-point harness properly installed using LATCH would have saved his life.
I know for a fact that most people who read this will be aware after this that their child is unsafe in his/her car seat, and still not change anything! Don't be that person!
The Importance of a 5 point harness car seat from Laura Bower on Vimeo.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Effective advertising...
So we were on a road trip to McCall, ID and we stopped at Arby's in Pullman for lunch. Right on the counter by the register was a Plexiglas display case with some pastries inside.
Ruby said, "I'll have that for lunch!", pointing to the pastry.
"Oh no you won't!" I said.
"But Mom, the commercials for those are BEGGING me to eat them!"
Ruby said, "I'll have that for lunch!", pointing to the pastry."Oh no you won't!" I said.
"But Mom, the commercials for those are BEGGING me to eat them!"
Sunday, July 12, 2009
10 days in Colorado...
We are so blessed to have family cabins on both sides of our family! This was a trip for ten days to Colorado. We started in Ft. Collins staying at Mike and Sage's beautiful home, and then made our way down to Manitou Springs where we met up with Pam and Matt's family and Doug and his new girlfriend, Heather (stay tuned).
I couldn't believe that I left my camera behind! Chris came three days after I did, so I missed taking pictures of our stay at Mike and Sage's house. Thanks to Chris for bringing my camera for the rest of the trip.
It was an eventful arrival at the cabin, as it was infested with like 200 "millers" (aka: moths). It was like 11:00 PM, and I was envisioning putting my kids straight to bed, but they were horrified by the flying pests, and it took me and my mother-in-law with two vacuums and one central light and more than one hour to rid the cabin of the unwanted creatures. Gross.
The next day, we had serious things to attend to for the hair contest. Most people showed up with their hair grown kind of long so they could groom themselves into competition shape. Chris however, was all ready to go...because his game hair was on his chest (not much on the head to work with). Here's the group pic...Doug's hair was shaved into "Douglas Firs" with tree shapes all around the head, Matt went for a slick skater do, Pam relied on a trusty wig, Sam on a hair net, Doug's Heather wore rags in her hair, Perry went generally crazy with spikes and sweet Porter sported a mohawk...the winner of the bunch?? Need I say it was Mike, with his balding mullet. He shaved his already recessed hair line to a true bald head with just a ring of hair around the head, then he glued a mullet using rubber cement around the back. It was GROSS and FUNNY.
Here are some individual shots:
Grandpa Perry and Porter
This is a classic pose from an old picture of Doug that Mike and Chris decided Mike needed to reenact.
Mike had some deep thoughts on a bridge whilst wearing his new style
Pam needed a new facebook profile pic...this one is IT.
We had many fun things for the kids to do. They played in the stream in front of the cabin, made puppets, made up little skits to perform for us, jumped on the trampoline, went on hikes and much more. Here they are on a money/candy hunt through a pile of sawdust.
Doug and Heather: What do I say? Doug has all green lights for this girl. It was funny because Chris flew in an hour before Heather, and got to be with Doug and Heather when they first saw each other after a month of separation. He sent us some funny texts from the car: "there's a lot of knee touching going on in here" and "no one is talking to me".
Here is a great shot captured by Pam (she took many of the pictures in this post) showing Chris' general reaction to Doug and Heather's displays of affection...
Baby Beckett, Mike and Sage's little one was such a sweet highlight for me. It was fun to hold him and see his sweet coos and smiles. (Pic by Pam) 
We went to the lake by the swimming pool one day with the intention of putting Mike's kayaks in. We've done it before, but this time, the community manager saw the boats and said it was a big no-no, so Mike got creative and took the kayak up a big hill and sent the kids down the hill in the boat. I'm sure there are no covenants to prevent this kind of boating! The kids loved it.
Ruby and Mattie fishing.
I couldn't believe that I left my camera behind! Chris came three days after I did, so I missed taking pictures of our stay at Mike and Sage's house. Thanks to Chris for bringing my camera for the rest of the trip.
It was an eventful arrival at the cabin, as it was infested with like 200 "millers" (aka: moths). It was like 11:00 PM, and I was envisioning putting my kids straight to bed, but they were horrified by the flying pests, and it took me and my mother-in-law with two vacuums and one central light and more than one hour to rid the cabin of the unwanted creatures. Gross.
The next day, we had serious things to attend to for the hair contest. Most people showed up with their hair grown kind of long so they could groom themselves into competition shape. Chris however, was all ready to go...because his game hair was on his chest (not much on the head to work with). Here's the group pic...Doug's hair was shaved into "Douglas Firs" with tree shapes all around the head, Matt went for a slick skater do, Pam relied on a trusty wig, Sam on a hair net, Doug's Heather wore rags in her hair, Perry went generally crazy with spikes and sweet Porter sported a mohawk...the winner of the bunch?? Need I say it was Mike, with his balding mullet. He shaved his already recessed hair line to a true bald head with just a ring of hair around the head, then he glued a mullet using rubber cement around the back. It was GROSS and FUNNY.Here are some individual shots:
Grandpa Perry and Porter
This is a classic pose from an old picture of Doug that Mike and Chris decided Mike needed to reenact.
Mike had some deep thoughts on a bridge whilst wearing his new style
Pam needed a new facebook profile pic...this one is IT.We had many fun things for the kids to do. They played in the stream in front of the cabin, made puppets, made up little skits to perform for us, jumped on the trampoline, went on hikes and much more. Here they are on a money/candy hunt through a pile of sawdust.
Doug and Heather: What do I say? Doug has all green lights for this girl. It was funny because Chris flew in an hour before Heather, and got to be with Doug and Heather when they first saw each other after a month of separation. He sent us some funny texts from the car: "there's a lot of knee touching going on in here" and "no one is talking to me".
Here is a great shot captured by Pam (she took many of the pictures in this post) showing Chris' general reaction to Doug and Heather's displays of affection...Baby Beckett, Mike and Sage's little one was such a sweet highlight for me. It was fun to hold him and see his sweet coos and smiles. (Pic by Pam) We went to the lake by the swimming pool one day with the intention of putting Mike's kayaks in. We've done it before, but this time, the community manager saw the boats and said it was a big no-no, so Mike got creative and took the kayak up a big hill and sent the kids down the hill in the boat. I'm sure there are no covenants to prevent this kind of boating! The kids loved it.
Ruby and Mattie fishing.
Everyone swimming in the community pool
One day, we went to some waterfalls. At the beginning of the little hike, we were met by growing rain and thunderstorms, so we all went down to the little visitor's center and waited it out. Alice didn't want to venture back up, so I stayed with her while the others went up. I was experimenting with my camera, and she was a willing subject.
This "straight line smile" is a classic Alice expression. The eyes, the mouth...the whole face is just totally her.
Pierce, Chris and Ruby coming down from the top.
Ruby and Mattie love holding hands everywhere they go. I was glad to see them continue the tradition even though a year had passed since they last spent time together. (Everyone was in church clothes, we went after church...notice above that Chris forgot his church clothes!) 
Alice, Mattie, Ruby and Pierce. Unfortunately, Porter wasn't interested in being in this picture.
One day, we went to some waterfalls. At the beginning of the little hike, we were met by growing rain and thunderstorms, so we all went down to the little visitor's center and waited it out. Alice didn't want to venture back up, so I stayed with her while the others went up. I was experimenting with my camera, and she was a willing subject.
This "straight line smile" is a classic Alice expression. The eyes, the mouth...the whole face is just totally her.
Pierce, Chris and Ruby coming down from the top.
Ruby and Mattie love holding hands everywhere they go. I was glad to see them continue the tradition even though a year had passed since they last spent time together. (Everyone was in church clothes, we went after church...notice above that Chris forgot his church clothes!) 
Alice, Mattie, Ruby and Pierce. Unfortunately, Porter wasn't interested in being in this picture.The trip was a great time for us all, Alice cried as we drove away, "I want the cabin, I want the cabin!"
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