Sleeping like a baby.

Sleeping FOR your growing, in-utero baby is NOT like sleeping like a baby! Of course it's hard to get and stay comfortable and random appendages fall asleep. It's definitely frustrating to have to get up every few hours to go to the bathroom. Then there's heartburn to contend with, and weird, random leg cramps. Speaking of legs, there is also restless leg syndrome that can get pretty darn irritating! But this pregnancy, those things seem like cake to get over compared with the dreaded INSOMNIA!!

I am tired. I am overly tired. I am exhausted. I go to bed and it can take HOURS to actually fall asleep! Then, when I finally get to sleep, I wake up several times a night for NO REASON and then can't fall back asleep right away!! AGH!! I used to find solace and relief in my daily nap, but now INSOMNIA has ruined that too!!

Being pregnant is a wonderful, happy blessing. I love my sweet little unborn. :) I love that my body can nurture and support this new life. I just wish it were easier to get some rest!

6 weeks left and counting!

Oh No!

The other day, we actually got enough snow to warrant shoveling. I sent Sebastian, Fiona and Elijah out to get it done. About 10 minutes into it, I saw the above image. Oh no! Has Elijah fainted from over-exertion?

Are we experiencing another round of stomach flu and he is about to throw-up?

Oh...huh...he's just taking a bit of a break to hork down as much snow as possible without actually having to do the work of picking it up and bringing it to his mouth. :)

Sebastian and Fiona, on the other hand, were hard at work making another snow curve to keep kids from going into the street when they sled. Sebastian had most of the sidewalk shovelled and had used a lot of the snow for the wall.

The girls were busy playing while all of this was happening. Then they came out and saw the kids outside and, of course, wanted to join them.

When Elijah saw the above picture of Scarlett, he said "aw, she's so cute!" Elijah is her buddy. He came in shortly after the pigging-out-on-snow feast. Being her buddy, he helped Scarlett get ready to go out into the snow. What a nice big brother! All of the kids are just so sweet and helpful...they impress me every day with their willingness and desire to help one another!

Back to the snow scene outside: Once Sebastian caught onto the fact that, while he was still shoveling, Elijah was taking an extended "break" to eat snow, he came over to "encourage" Elijah to help out some more.

And on a completely different note: I have been letting the kids use the camera pretty much whenever they'd like to. It's getting older and not taking nearly as nice of pictures as it used to, so I am not all that protective of it these days. When I was downloading the snow pictures, the above picture caught my eye. When the boys saw it, they both started giggling. Everyone is so good at playing with Brighton and love to think of different things to make him giggle. I guess Brighton thought it was funny to sit on Elijah's head. :) I'm sure he didn't get *any* encouragement from his big, silly brothers! :)

The kind of day we're having...

Brighton just dumped a nearly full bag of Honey-Nut Cheerios and I don't really care....in fact my first thought was "awesome, they can have a snack and be entertained at the same time!" instead of something more sane like "oh geez, there went $3 and now I have to clean it up!"

That's just the kind of day we're having. Or, more specifically...the kind of day I'M having. There have been some days during this pregnancy where I have been a normal, productive person; doing normal, productive things like cleaning and feeding people. I have to admit, though, that the majority of this pregnancy has consisted of days like today. I'm tired. I don't feel like cleaning. I let kids sleep in late. I'm just sitting around. The house is a pig sty and a half. I am not really "making" kids do chores and clean stuff up. The kids certainly aren't complaining. The dogs (who now get to eat hundreds of cheerios off the floor) are certainly not complaining. But I am...it never really feels good to not be productive day after day. It does feel good to get things done and to have a clean house and yummy, healthy food to eat. The motivation and energy just aren't there most days. Some of my pregnancies have been super productive times....when I was pregnant with Haven, my house was so consistently clean that I ran out of things to clean every day and resorted to washing couch cushions and such! I had a lot of energy and, I think just as importantly, tons of drive to get things done. Not so this time around! I guess I have plenty of years ahead of me of having a clean house.....that's what I am telling myself, anyway! :)

Budding composer

Fiona has been taking piano lessons for a few months now from an adorable teenage girl in our ward (our church congregation.) She has been learning a lot and really loves to practice and loves playing the piano. This week, she started writing her own songs. With hand-drawn lines on a blank piece of paper, she meticulously wrote in the notes as she selected and played them. The next day, I printed off some blank sheet music from this site.

She went right to work on some new songs! She really gives a lot of thought to how she wants her song to sound and tries it out several times before writing down the notes.

This particular afternoon, Brighton was having a hard time taking his nap, so she voluntarily played a few octaves higher and pressed the keys very lightly. :) I love seeing her play the piano and hope that she will continue to love it and achieve a comfortable level of proficiency as she gets older.

My Dad taught me how to play the piano when I was little. I practiced very little and had whole years at a time when I hardly played. I did manage to continue learning, though I never tried very hard. I really enjoy playing the piano now, but am sad I never took the time to reach a more serviceable level of proficiency; I play only a few songs well enough for myself or anyone else to sing along to and I do not play well enough to be an accompanist at church...both things I hope to accomplish one day! I guess I should follow Fiona's example and practice more!

Happy Valentines Day!

Err, or was that Happy Chinese New Year? Or wait...I guess it was both, but at our house, we sort of only paid attention to the Chinese New Year part. :) Dave brought back the girls some lovely Chinese dressed last time he went to China, so the girls wore those to church on Sunday. Above is Fiona in her dress, with a Chinese shawl and even holding a Shitzu! (we were doggy sitting...)

All three girls (and Brighton.) Dave wore a Chinese tie, I wore a skirt he brought me back, Elijah wore a Chinese vest, and Sebastian wore a silk Chinese jacket type thing.

I put chopsticks in all three girls' hair. It was pretty darn adorable...though Scarlett and Haven's kept falling out at church, so we just left them out. I guess they need more hair...or less slippery chopsticks!

Out of pure desperation...

No, that is not a picture of one of the girls when they were younger....it is poor Brighton! I have been soooooo neglectful of the laundry that tonight after his bath, all I had to put on him that would be warm for bed was a purple "Big Sister's Rock!" shirt. At least he had some "manly" sweatpants with fighter planes on them to balance it out. Now to go tackle the mountain of laundry...

true to form

True to form, I have procrastinated the kid's valentines until the very last minute! Tomorrow is their school day and their valentines class parties. I've known about it for weeks, but, like usual, I didn't help them do anything about it until this afternoon. I didn't feel like going to the store to buy valentines, so I used this idea from Family Fun magazine. Now, I knew our version would not turn out as dainty and cute as the magazines...it's the thought (and the process of making them) that counts!

Above and below is what it looked like in our kitchen while everyone was hard at work cutting out all the little hearts...we cut out a LOT of little hearts!

You may have noticed the bench and all the chairs tipped over on their sides and people standing up or sitting on the table rather than on said bench or chairs....this is all for a very good reason named BRIGHTON. Except at mealtimes, we have to keep the bench and chairs lying down to prevent Brighton from climbing on them and using them to climb onto even higher things. He is very adept at moving the chairs to a desired location and then climbing up to get into things or to sit on the table...all not too safe things for him to be doing. The little kids don't take up enough room on a chair to prevent him from climbing up on it with them, so they can't sit on a chair unless Brighton is busy or in his highchair (which he also can climb out of...) It will be nice in a few months when we can all sit down again...and not have a bunch of chairs lying around!

Here is our finished valentine. All the kids worked together to cut out the hearts and assemble the valentines, then they all split them according to their class sizes. They used the petals to write "From..." I think they are pretty adorable...and the kids really enjoyed making them!

So have I learned my lesson about waiting until the last minute? Probably not...I think that's just how I function best, actually. Even though it would more than likely be less stressful and maybe even more enjoyable, I am a procrastinator...I get some of my best ideas and inspirations at the last minute...I get the drive and motivation to get things done at the last possible second...I'm not good at planning ahead; it's just who I am and I guess it works for me! Well, most of the time it works...