Snow and Some Craftiness

Paul is HOME!!! He got back Friday morning, and we've been enjoying doing nothing and just being together at last. Paul was pretty sick too while in Argentina, so I think we all needed the rest!
I feel like we were set on pause all week last week. I had sick kids at home Monday through Wednesday, then school was cancelled on Thursday and Friday because of snow. So it felt a little strange this morning, saying goodbye to Paul as he left for work, and getting Benjamin up to the bus stop. I think Peter is glad to be back in his routine. He's been off playing by himself all morning. He nearly had a melt down when I suggested we go tot he fabric store to find material to make ties (I'm leading a Relief Society mid-week meeting on how to make them in a few weeks and need to get a little more practice under my belt). So I guess that will have to wait until tomorrow when he heads back to preschool. Funny little home body.

 Nora enjoyed playing in the snow. It has a layer of ice on top, so it was funny to watch her take slow steps, crunching and sinking, crunching and sinking.

I didn't get any of Peter out there. He caught the flu right before the snow days, so he's been slowly on the mend since then. Benjamin has been getting all the snow time he can though.

One advantage to having sick children who want to nap all day (and not being sick myself!) was having a little free time to finish a painting that I was commissioned to do a long time ago. My friend who asked me to do it is funny and sweet and WAY too flexible, hence my putting it off for far too long. Her daughter's eighteenth birthday (and her husband being released as our bishop after five years) was finally my impetus to get it done, and to turn it into a gift.  I used oils, which is by far my favorite medium. The only problem is, I was constantly cleaning up rogue paint, since I have nowhere safe to do my thing. Someday...

So done...

It's funny how when Paul left a week and a half ago, the thought that ran through my mind was "at least we're all healthy now and all that virus stuff happened while he was still here!"
It's funny how wrong I was to assume we were out of the woods. It was funny how the first Sunday we were getting ready for church and literally heading out the door, Nora grabbed a bucket and threw up in it (bless that girl a)for her timing and b)for using a bucket!). It's funny how that episode lasted a few more hours, then seemed to disappear until Tuesday when she had it all over again.
It's funny how I thought maybe her recurring stomach bug was more related to teething, but then how Benjamin got something (maybe different?!) on Friday night. His kept him (and me) occupied for a good part of the night, cleaning, disinfecting....Funny how I again thought we must be done this time, but then on our Monday holiday, the day started at 6 a.m. with Benjamin throwing up. This strain seemed a bit more serious though, like an actual flu. He was out all day and slept for probably 36 hours straight. Funny how I kept him home from school today "just to play it safe," but then how he got sick again this afternoon. Funny how my empty bed has not been empty at all, with sick children to keep me on hyper alert all day and night. Funny.
Except it's not. I just want Paul to be home. I am so tired of everyone getting sick. But at the very least I do feel abundantly blessed to have been kept healthy myself. Just a few more days!!!
On Saturday, we were having a healthy day, so I registered the kids for a new siblings class at the hospital sort of last minute. Nora and Benjamin really enjoyed it, Peter refused to wear his name tag and stood defiantly in the middle of the room for most of the class. I felt a little out of place there, all alone with three kids. Everyone else had their one child and most had their spouse in attendance with them. I was glad we went though.

 The kids learned how to hold the baby's head with a "muscle arm." We saw a real newborn through the glass in the nursery, which I think was when Peter started to warm up. We saw the recovery rooms and the kids got to move the bed up and down. They learned some new songs and got to put pictures of baby gear up on a felt board.
We've got a calendar count down in their bedroom too, so Peter especially can visualize when the new baby will come and not ask me twenty times a day. Five weeks from today!

So another upside to Benjamin's flu these past few days (I'm trying to stay positive, can you tell!?) has been watching Peter and Nora bond. This has never happened before...him actually letting her into his room? Hugging her in an affectionate way?

Now that Nora uses the potty (nearly accident free!) and playfully interacts with him, he must be seeing her more as his contemporary and less as a baby.

Peter was excited to help get Nora in her jammies tonight so they could be "twins."

Whatever the cause, I am glad that this bonding has finally started to happen. Maybe they're beginning to sense that they'll have a lot in common in another month, sharing the role of middle child. It's a special place to be, as Paul and I both know (he's 3rd of 7 and I'm 4th of 8), and one where you really do need an ally. :)

Valentines Day

The afternoon before he left for Argentina, Paul went out and bought the Heritage 575 Hollow Body Guitar he had been pining for for weeks.

I honestly don't remember a time when he was so excited about buying something for himself.

He did a ton of research before picking "the one," but kept going back to play this one.

It really does sound amazing, although I have no ear for discerning different quality in instruments.

We don't have amps for it yet, but it is pretty cool that it can convert into an electric guitar.

I already nicknamed it his "mistress," although I'm sure he'll come up with a better name for it later. At least he told me last night that he misses me more. :) I give him a hard time about it, but he totally deserves it! It will be fun to have something new to do in the evenings together.
I'm sure missing this guy today. He left last Friday and he'll be gone through the end of next week. These long business trips are lame.

Something cool from this morning was the 3D ultrasound they gave me (some of the perks of having gestational diabetes are the extra ultrasounds). Will you look at those pouty lips and pudgy cheeks?!

Even though I'm measuring small, she's measuring in the 70% percentile. She's over 5 pounds already! I've been playing around with my diet to just see where my limits are at, and it doesn't seem that my condition is very severe this pregnancy. So it's been nice to not feel so restricted all the time. My induction date is just around the corner!

 Also, this just happened tonight: my first real kitchen table and chairs! The old table drove me crazy with the beveled leaf and edges that constantly collected filth, and the set of broken, impossible-to-keep-clean craigslist chairs are no more! I found these on Overstock for a pretty good price and finally decided to jump on it. The chairs are comfy enough to hang out in and super easy to wipe off. The simple parsons table has NO leaf (which was a plus for me) and is long enough to seat eight if needed. It's a hard mango wood, so hopefully it will hold up a little better to kids banging. It's perfect.
My visiting teacher must have been inspired to stop by this evening to help me flip it over.  I was able to assemble the legs on my own, but this thing is heavy! And way too heavy for an eight month pregnant lady to lift.
Doesn't quite make up for the fact that Paul is gone, but it did brighten my day a little bit. :)

To Health!

The past week and a half have felt like a blur to me. I'm still coming out of the haze of exhaustion, but I think we're all better. When I reported on Nora's vomiting incident last time, I didn't expect it was anything more than food poisoning. Mostly because she was so happy and cheerful, there was no sign of any fever, and the stomach pyrotechnics only occurred at night. 

I was wrong. First Benjamin got it, but again, it was in the evening, and he seemed to easily sleep it off. Then I got it, but my version was a lot more violent and harder to recover from (and on more than one occasion, I fantasized about just checking myself into a hospital and sleeping while they hooked me up to anti-nausea meds and fluids...and maybe just get the baby out while they were at it. ;) Just kidding about the last part...in my head I do realize how complicated and hard that would make my life to have a preemie). Then Peter and Paul got it. Then those who seemed to be over it apparently weren't a few days later. Needless to say, we spent a very long week at home, disinfecting, washing an endless mountain of laundry, and generally just trying to contain what we think was a norovirus. And we are so, SO grateful to have our health back!
The other reason I feel like I've been coming out of a coma is because during all of this, Nora decided to go full force into potty training. I am fully aware how awesome this is, but I've been cleaning her little potty, pulling her pants on and off and enduring hour-early wake up times so that she can proudly keep her diaper and underpants dry and clean. She fully caught on to what the urge feels like, so she's been going non-stop (though in tiny amounts). I certainly don't take this independent little girl for granted! Here's hoping she keeps it up and learns to extend her bladder's limits! :)

Recent Happenings

On Thursday afternoon, Benjamin came home from school and informed us that he was going to lose his first tooth that night. He was anxious to get on with his bedtime routine, and soon brought me a piece of floss to tie around his tooth. Wiggly teeth sort of make me squeamish, but I really tried to get a loop around that tiny tooth. Finally he gave up on me and disappeared into the bathroom. Minutes later we heard him exclaim, "I lost my tooth!" Sure enough, he had wiggled it out on his own.
He was a little nonplussed with the tooth fairy's dollar that she left during the night though. Apparently she's a lot more generous with some other kids in his class. Oh, well!

 In other tooth related news, Peter still has his! It's pretty solidly in there, and no visible blackening anywhere so far. I don't have a picture of the tooth, but I do have one of Gandalf the White playing Angry Birds on the kindle. This picture just makes me smile.

 On Friday night, as Paul and I were finishing up watching a show in our room, we heard someone pushing something down the laundry shoot. We came out to discover Nora back in her bed, trying to rearrange her blankets. She had thrown up and was just trying to take care of her business (and apparently trying not to bother anyone). We spent a long night with her, cuddling and cleaning up multiple incidents. She is a sweetheart, and is especially sweet when she is sick.  The next day she seemed her normal, cheerful self again and even wanted to work on her princess puzzles. She's getting really good at them!

Also this week, I discovered an awesome breakfast that works with my gestational diabetes. I'm so used to eggs and meat, that something a little sweeter was like manna from heaven. I used this recipe for Cream Cheese Pancakes and made whipped cream (sweetened with just a little Truvia) and strawberries to top it off. Not only was it filling and completely satisfying, but when I checked my blood sugar an hour later, it was lower than what my fasting limit needs to be at!

I'm still trying to decide how I feel about using artificial sweeteners. I guess I use them with a lot of moderation, which I think is fine. They can be really nice to have around!

Winter Weekends

This winter hasn't been too bad so far. We've had our share of really cold days and one snowfall, with just enough for a snowman and a snowball fight before it all melted.

 We've found ways to keep occupied when there isn't any snow and it's just plain cold outside. We got out toothpicks and marshmallows one Saturday morning, and had a great time building things.

Nora is a genius baby! Just kidding. Hers were all the sticky toothpicks lying on the table.

I've gotten back into a project groove lately (it always seems to hit around this time of year). I finally got two scriptures printed to hang up in our forgotten corner next to the fireplace, and spray painted some frames we already had lying around. Here they are, hanging behind me for my 30 week shot. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm feeling huge this time around. Always a nice feeling when you know you have 10 more weeks of this to get even bigger. I failed my one-hour glucose test, so my doctor spared me the three hour test and regular hospital monitoring, and is just having me do what I did in previous pregnancies with gestational diabetes. I'm cutting back carbs as much as possible and checking my blood four times a day. So fun! Also fun are the compression hose I've been wearing every day for the past month to keep my newly formed varicose veins in check. At least it's winter- because those things sure keep you toasty!

We had beautiful weather today, which allowed for lots of play time outside. The boys played frisbee, football, baseball, and Benjamin even learned how to ride his bike without the training wheels! I think we'll be needing to find him a bigger bike in the near future.

Nora 2.5

It's funny how differently you can perceive your children at the same age. I think with Benjamin, I always felt (and probably am still guilty of this) like he was older than he was. I know I've done the same with Peter, almost lumping him in with whatever Benjamin is doing. Plus, Peter became a big brother before he was even two, so I've always expected him to be big. Somehow, Nora has avoided all of this. Maybe it's because she's the only girl, or maybe it's because she's had a little more time as the baby of the family, but somehow she's always remained little in my mind.
I'm starting to realize how mature she is becoming, and how much she is capable of. Even at two and a half, she is becoming her own little person.
Her hair has been kind of straggly for a long time, and so I finally decided it was time to cut it. I have no problem doing my boys' hair, but girl cuts are not yet in my vocabulary. So I took her to a kid friendly place, and paid close attention to what they were doing. We'll see if I have the confidence to try it myself next time. I'm not sure I want her to have any cognizant memories of wearing a cape that says "Sassy Diva." :)

She sat perfectly still the entire time, just looking around at all the glitter and pink. I was just a little bit sad watching those big chunks of strawberry blonde dropping away.

 And just like that, she looked so grown up:

 She picked her own bow and lollypop on her way out...

...and enjoyed being admired by her older brothers and Daddy.

 Also this week, she has started using the potty. She really wanted to buy some princess underwear, so I went ahead and got her some to try. Although she hasn't fully committed, she's starting to get the concept and the mechanics down. She's done a great job on her own, running to the bathroom when she needs to and has only had a few accidents. And she refuses to receive any sort of adulation for her successes. :) No stickers, no cheers.
I have been in full blown nesting mode lately, trying to figure out how to transform our modest three bedroom home into a comfortable place for six people. So partly for my own sanity (to configure the new layout) and partly because Nora has been asking for a princess bed, I went ahead and found a toddler bed for her (I still need to make a princess pillow or something so she'll believe it's really a princess bed). She hasn't had any issues with it so far. She takes her naps and goes to bed without getting out at all!

The nicest part is that when she wakes up in the morning, she no longer yells across the house, "Mommy! Get out!" She just comes out at the regular time on her own, and into our room to greet us.

Nora seems excited for a new baby sister, and appears to grasp the idea that she's in my tummy right now. She likes to explain to me that the baby is "getting bigger and bigger and then she comes out!"

She's a compassionate little girl, and if she senses that I'm at all irritated by something she did, she'll gently take my hand and pat it, saying cheerfully "It's OK, Mommy!" And somehow, it just is.  She's a wonderful little girl, and so far, I'm really loving her at two and a half.