Name and Date

A big thanks to everyone who gave us baby name suggestions! It was really fun to hear all of your ideas (all great names, I must add). After contemplating for months now, we've finally decided on the first name (still deciding on the middle name). Now I know why it was so hard for us this time--I was focusing on Bible names to continue our pattern, but something beyond the Bible was meant to be for this baby. Still meaningful of course, as we like our kids' names to be. So this baby boy will be named Blake, which is my maiden name. My Blake ancestors have left a very strong, faithful, and honorable heritage, and I hope our Blake will one day understand how special the Blake family and his name are. We are having fun calling him by name now which is helping us bond with him already. I'm going to give myself an out by saying this is still subject to change, but likely will not.

My C-section has been scheduled for Thursday, October 9, so if all goes as planned this is the day baby Blake will be making his big appearance. The countdown is on!

Work in Progress

Today we gave up a perfect day at the beach with great friends :( to work toward finishing Annie's and baby's room :). When we bought our home nearly three years ago, we needed to convert the den to a bedroom (by closing up a wall, framing a door, and putting in a closet) before Annie's arrival so she'd have a place once she joined our family. Chris worked really hard and got her room to a "functional" stage, but we never finished it. Now that I'm nesting, we've been motivated to finish the room before our next baby's arrival. So this weekend our goal is to really finish it by completing the inside of the closet, texturizing the new wall, and painting the walls (didn't like the first color we put up), door, closet, and trim. We are also painting the crib and changing table to match Annie's new big girl bed (when we get it) so that we don't have a rainbow of furniture in the room. With everyone helping out today, we made a lot of progress and should complete the project on Monday. We sure are looking forward to our day of rest tomorrow after a long day of hard work today. Stay tuned for pictures of the finished project.

8-24-99

It's Josh's 9th birthday today! We are so happy Josh is in our family, and we just love him so much!

In honor of his 9th birhday, here are Nine Things I Love About Josh:

1. Josh has an amazing memory. It's almost scary what this kid can remember. He reminds me of details from when he was really, really young. My memory can be horrible at times, so I'm always astounded at his memories.

2. Josh is very observant. He picks up on patterns and makes connections that I neglect to.

3. Josh has a great head of hair. We've had "fun" with his hair since he was a newborn and we gave him his first haircut at 9 days old (the tail really had to go). This kid has got some serious volume and body. You should see what I get to deal with every morning when he wakes up. It takes a whole lot of water and work to calm his hair and make it semi-presentable. Josh loves having it a little long on the top, and he loves it messy. I love how he tries to inconspicuously mess up his hair when I drop him off for school in the morning.

4. I love Josh's vocabulary. I'm sure this is a result of all the books he devours and has devoured over the past five years. He is a great reader, and it gives him some serious word power. He correctly used the words vague, refer, and specific in the same sentence last week.

5. Josh has a great sense of humor. He's got a quick wit and is great with puns and jokes. He has always been a funny kid, and I love this about him.

6. I love that Josh loves his sleep. He likes to go to bed when he is tired (something that I and his siblings have not figured out yet), and as his mother, I truly appreciate this about Josh.

7. Josh has a lot of passion when it comes to his interests. First it was dinosaurs (age 3-4, I think), then robots--including Transformers (age 5-6), and then it was Legos, then more Legos, and now more Legos--Bionicles, Lego Star Wars, Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Exoforce, Lego Aquaraiders, Lego Agents, etc. This is the third year he has asked for a Lego birthday cake (I don't mind--much easier than a dinosaur or robot cake). When Josh is interested in something, he throws everything into it, and it is fun to see his passion.

8. I also love Josh's artistic talents and creativity. This kid draws amazing pictures, he writes and illustrates books, comics, and magazines, and he's just basically good with any kind of artistic medium. I'm sure we've killed an entire forest with all the paper we go through in our house. Josh discovered this talent and hobby at the young age of 3 when he really colored for the first time (like trying to stay in the lines) with his Grandpa. He hasn't stopped ever since. Along with his artistic talents comes his creativity--he is super imaginative and can visualize things in his mind that he then creates, especially his unique Lego creations. I love Josh's creativity!

9. And last but not least, I love the easy-going nature of Josh's personality. He is pretty laid back and easy to be around. He is a great big brother and a great son, and I love his personality.

Happy Birthday Josh!!!!

Opposition in All Things, Specifically Two-Year Olds

I'm writing this post to help me remember how much joy my little Annie brings me. I truly believe she was sent to our family to bring us so much joy, and we just love her to pieces. But on some days, I really need a reminder of this. Especially these days when she is doing things like:


1. Climbing up to the top bunk in the boys' room. Without a ladder.


2. Climbing out of her crib.


3. Climbing on top of the kitchen countertops to get into the cabinets.


4. Climbing on top of me and all over me--anytime, anywhere. Not so comfy in my 8th month of pregnancy.


5. Washing her hair elastics down the sink.


6. Tapping her toothbrush against the sink as hard as she can to splash as many drops of water as possible onto the mirrors. She does this with pride and satisfaction as she asks, "Mommy washed it last night?"


7. Hitting the panic button to set off the car alarm and then running through the house with the keys so that I can't turn it off. And she's faster than I am right now.


8. Hiding important things like the TV remote, the library cards, the computer mouse, the car keys, etc.


9. Turning off the refrigerator.


10. Saying "I hit Mommy," or "I bite Mommy," or "I kick Mommy," or "I lick Mommy," or "I break Mommy's _______," and then trying to actually do whatever she just warned me of.


11. Unbuckling her carseat while we're driving.


12. Turning off the computer.


13. Chewing up library books (If she's going to eat books, why couldn't it be our books? The library charges the cost of the book plus an outrageous processing fee. In return we get a chewed up, germy, slimy book with library stickers all over it.).


14. Taking a bite out of a hymnal page at church and swallowing it before I can get it out of her mouth.


15. Designating herself as my personal bathroom supervisor and assistant.


16. Dumping laundry detergent on the floor.


17. Unfolding and piling up all of her clothes and blankets and toys.


18. Climbing into my bed while I'm trying to make it. Or un-making my bed within minutes of me making it.

19. Refusing to sit and/or be buckled in a grocery cart.


20. Drawing on the floor, or the table, or the bookshelves, or the cabinets.


21. Getting the phone and dialing random numbers. Lucky for us she's only accidentally dialed 911 once.


22. Yelling "Hey yo Daddy!" or "Hi Daddy" to Chris during our sacrament meeting while he's sitting up on the stand.


23. Insisting on "her way" in general and being extremely unhappy when it doesn't happen.





So my challenge is to remember her as the joy she was meant to be and brings to me when she:


1. Snuggles for reading time.


2. Says "thank you bery much."


3. Says "really, really please?" in her sweetest voice.


4. Takes her daily four hour nap.


5. Says prayers to bless her Costco samples.


6. Sings songs she composes herself.


7. Reminds us to "relax!" or to "focus."


8. Helps clean up without being asked.


9. Asks for and freely gives "tisses (kisses)."


10. Says "I hug Mommy" and then gives me a big squeeze.


11. Says "Mommy beautiful" or "Mommy precious" or "Mommy nice."


12. Reminds us to have family prayer and family scripture study.


13. Reminds us of common courtesy like "ladies first!"


14. Shares with a friend or her brothers.


15. Dresses herself, even if the outfit changes many times daily and often includes her "biddies (swimming suit)."


16. Says "great job" or "I try again."


17. Flashes her cute smile, giggles, belly laughs, and gets excited about simple things.


18. Looks at me with her beautiful blue eyes and tells me "I lub you."






I love you too, Annie.

Confessions of an Olympics Junkie

Am I the only one who can't get enough of the summer olympics? I don't know how long I can keep this up. Staying up sooooo late each night to watch all I can get from NBC primetime coverage (since when did primetime last until 12:30am?) is starting to take it's toll, but how can I turn it off when the gymnastics teams are competing or when Michael Phelps has another race coming up? TiVo would be really great to have about now (yes, we're stuck in the dark ages here with no cable and our ever-faithful bunny ears bringing in the picture), but even if we had TiVo, I doubt my self-discipline.

I have always loved watching the olympics--they are thrilling to me even though I'm not an avid sports-watcher. My favorite summer events are gymnastics, swimming, and track and field. There is just something special about the olympics. Good thing they only come around every other year and last for just about two weeks!

The Name Game

Just two months to go until we welcome a new baby boy to our home. One problem--we are the type that HAVE to have a name chosen for our babies well before they come into this world. We are not ones to wait until after the baby is born--we must know well beforehand, and we're running out of time. We are struggling with the decision this time around, so I'm going to open it up for suggestions. What are your favorite boy names, and what do you think would be a good fit with the other names of our kids? We do have a few names that we're working with, but we still haven't decided on anything. We are pretty traditional and conservative in our baby naming, and we like to name our children after people that have lived exemplary lives. Any ideas? And please remember not to use our last name in your comments. Thanks!

Mom Guilt

I experienced another dose of what I call "mom guilt" yesterday. I was busy cleaning the house when Seth asked me to get down the craft supplies. Although I couldn't give him a good reason why, I denied his continued and tearful requests for this. I just didn't feel like getting the box down and dealing with the clean-up. I didn't want to stop what I was doing (I was in mad cleaning mode), and his craft time wasn't fitting into my schedule. On the mom guilt-o-meter I was registering at about a 3 (10 being the guiltiest).

When Chris asked if I minded if he got the craft supplies down for Seth, I couldn't really object. The guilt went down a notch or two, probably at a 1-2 now. Next thing I know, Seth is handing me a smiley face made of construction paper, pom-poms, and pipe cleaner. Oh, how could he be so sweet to me after I wouldn't even get the craft supplies down for him? Now I've jumped to a 7 or 8 on the guilt-o-meter. And then within a couple of more minutes I get an "I love you mom" note. Now the guilt is reaching it's max, and I'm wondering how this kid can be so loving and forgiving. Seth then proceeds to make love notes for each member of the family and for his grandparents.

Sure there was a mess to clean up, but I didn't mind. These sweet kids teach me so much, and I'm reminded anew that we are to become as little children, "for of such is the kingdom of heaven."