Month: October 2015

The most exciting thing that happened today was that the bank Mary and I tried to go to got robbed right before we arrived. We had to go to another bank, and Mary fell asleep en route. I got to hold and cuddle her through the entire forty minutes I sat at the bank, and that felt precious. Soon Ammon will be here and I will need to hold him a lot. I am glad that I got to hold Mary today.

I lost my temper at Lydia in the middle of the day, but we ended the day on a strong note. She was perfectly lovely after recovering from her middle-of-the-day tantrum, and I apologized for being too harsh earlier. Parenting feels so full of pitfalls some days.

I didn’t take any pictures. I cleaned, cooked, and complained a lot to Abe. He is so supportive and kind.

I was up all night with braxton hicks contractions, so I spent most of today in bed. I feel like I write that phrase a lot.

Here’s a picture of Lydia cuddling her dinosaur. She was rocking it and shushing it like a baby.

And this afternoon we all took a tour of American Heritage School. I was blown away. We absolutely loved everything about the school.

Here is a video of their high school orchestra playing I Need Thee Every Hour. The orchestra has won the Best of State Arts Organization seven years in a row.

This clip also shows their orchestra with the Piano Guys. It was recorded in the school’s auditorium. Mom and Grandma, I don’t know if you saw these links yet, but I’m including them in case you had trouble finding them!

I got to go to Sunday school and Relief society today because I am now off of the nursery rotation. It was nice to attend my classes.

After church we had the Greens over for dinner. Arielle made the most amazing dessert, and we all enjoyed each other so much. Their kids play so well with our kids, and that makes it very easy to visit. We forgot to take pictures, though.

We did take a picture during night time stories of Mary using the new head massager you sent, Mom! My swollen ankles got caught on camera too. Tomorrow I will be one week away from my due date!!

This morning we took the kids to the Provo Rec Center’s swimming pool. I did laps while Abe and the girls swam in the river.

Then we swung by the farmer’s market before heading over to Lucas and Kim’s house for a team barbecue. We stayed a couple hours visiting with everyone, and then we headed home to nap. After we got up I played pretend with the girls for an hour. Last Monday we had an FHE activity where we lined up some chairs and pretended to drive to all of our favorite places. Ever since the girls have loved pretending to drive places, and in today’s pretend game I got to be the driver. It was fun.

Then I did grocery shopping while Abe took another nap (he was working until 2am last night)…and cut me flowers from our garden.

These roses have been blooming since spring! I can’t even believe their longevity.

This morning I made waffles, bathed the girls, went swimming, took the girls to the library, met Abe for sushi, went grocery shopping, read to the girls, and lay down briefly before tidying and vacuuming the house.

The best part of the day happened when Rich, Misty, and their kids joined us for dinner. We just love them so much, and it was fun to reconnect. After dinner we headed to Provo for the Halloween river cruise. A pirate tried to board our ship–much to the girls’ dismay–and ended up giving us all candy. Afterward our guide told us the legend of Sleepy Hollow. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and we all enjoyed ourselves a lot.  Abe and I took pictures, but we both have our eyes shut. Oh, well.

Then we came home and opened our package from Nana! Thanks, Mom! If I can keep my eyes open, I might start reading the Ben Carson book you sent me!

This evening Lydia commented for the second time that I spend all of my time in bed. Those comments always make me feel bad and guilty for not being a better mom, but then I make myself take a step back and assess the day. Also, I try to remember that I get up all night long to go to the bathroom, and two of the nights this week I have barely slept at all.

Credit I am giving myself for today:

In the morning I dropped the girls off at gymnastics and went grocery shopping. Then we went to a sushi restaurant before heading over to Lydia’s preschool.

I read to Mary while Lydia was at preschool and made some important phone calls. Then we picked up Lydia and headed home. I proceeded to take my two hour nap.

I did make dinner tonight, and after dinner I had more phone calls to make. There is a lot going on in my extended family right now, and so I spend a lot of time on the phone.

After the phone calls, I cleaned up dinner and tidied the living room and upstairs before reading more to the girls before bed time. In July I started keeping track of how many books we read, and we’re closing in on 400.

That means I can’t be the World’s Worst Mom, right? My instinct is just to sink into the comment and think I fail at motherhood, but these are the times I give thanks for blogging. Thank-you, Grandma, for being my initial motivation to blog regularly! This exercise has saved me from many a downward emotional spiral.

Today we started off with a play date with Arielle, Alora, Niles, Ever, and Galilee. I enjoyed chatting with Arielle while all the kids played so well together. My phone went missing and so I didn’t get any pictures–darn!

Afterward we visit taught and came home for lunch and quiet time before ballet. Then we headed over to Qualtrics for free flu shots, after which I took the girls to Dairy Queen because I didn’t feel up to life.

When we got home, we discovered Lydia’s Halloween costume had arrived! While Lydia tried on her costume, Mary fell asleep in her car seat. She was almost done with her ice cream when she nodded off.

This morning I took Lydia to her Let’s Play Music! class. I am always so impressed by the class, and I always leave with grand resolves to be more diligent about practicing all of the skills at home. Here’s a video of Lydia on the auto harp.

Then we had a short play date with Olivia and Chelsea before preschool. After preschool, I napped because I did not sleep last night.

When Abe got home we all went to the gym. Abe and I swam laps together and then fetched the girls from child care so they could swim too. By the end, we had all worked up an appetite and headed over to Maria Bonita’s for dinner. (I cleaned my oven today and could not cook. That’s my excuse for not cooking dinner…yet again!)

To top it all off, we headed home and opened a present from Clark and Swathi. We couldn’t believe our eyes. They sent us the most fabulous device–a Momaroo! I had no idea such a thing even existed, but after setting it up and reading all about it, I can’t wait to try it. Abe said he wants a bigger one for himself.

My mom had her bathroom remodeled for safety today. The girls and I stayed home while the workers ripped out the old tub and put all the new stuff in. It turned out great, and the day felt very relaxed and peaceful because we didn’t go anywhere.

The girls played pretend all day again. They also spent an absurd amount of time eating. They took a couple hours on breakfast, two hours outside eating lunch, and then another hour at dinner. Since I didn’t have any big plans for the day, I just let them eat at their own pace.

We had a little scare today because I only felt Ammon move twice in five hours. I woke up at 5am and then at 10 we went to the hospital. Thankfully, the minute we pulled in to the parking lot, Ammon woke up! Phew. We felt grateful for that. I’ll have to go back and watch the talks the three new apostles gave today because all that happened during their talks.

But we loved all of the other talks. Abe and I felt spiritually rejuvenated and recommitted to trying not to care about anyone else’s opinion except for God’s. I personally loved Elder Christofferson’s talk too. I get a ton out of my personal prayers and scripture study, but sometimes I wonder why church. His talk is one I will go back to the next time I feel daunted by Sacrament meeting with young kids or get a calling I find distressing.

The girls stayed in pajamas all day and were SO GOOD. Abe and I were so happy with them. They literally played pretend all day long, and Abe and I basically just watched conference and rested the whole day. Mary fell asleep at 6pm and hopefully will sleep through the night. Pretending to be a baby bat, putting on puppet shows, hosting imaginary candy parties, making food art, and playing chase really tired her out.