Well hello there!

I hate those blog posts that are just apologies or excuses for why I haven't blogged much... lame-o. And truthfully this is one of the reasons I've stayed away so long. What to say? Where to start?

Times and seasons, I guess.

I'm actually (I think, anyway) handling pregnancy and toddlerhood fairly well. Just totally exhausted. Otherwise I'm happy and generally optimistic about it all. I feel healthy and according to my midwife have excellent blood pressure, glucose and iron levels, and "look good"... albeit "big" (measuring about a week or so ahead... just like with my last two).

For the most part I (more or less) am staying on top of keeping my house in semi-order (dishes done, etc.) and we are gearing up for a move in about three weeks (yes, two days before my due date to be exact). I try to not stress about how all that will work out (pack, clean, move, have baby, keep track of two very active toddlers...). But it will in the end be SO worth it. It's a house! With a yard! And a place for a toy room! And a kitchen that will fit a table! And it's only about a block and half away and in out current ward. I feel blessed.

Did I mention it's been in the upper 90s every day for the last two weeks? With no end in sight, it seems. But despite that, I am packing boxes. Hooray for box fans and living in a basement where it's generally cooler than outside.

In happy news, Raymond and Ginny are actually more adorable than ever before (is it just my sentimental pregnancy hormones that makes me constantly enamored by them?? Or am I one of those parents?) Raymond is way into costumes lately. He lives in his Super Raymond cape. Ginny is into interrogatories. Everything is repeated as a question and it's  killer cute. She also is all about colors lately. "Wook! A red one, Mama!" etc. She's right about 75% of the time too... which astounds me.

Anyway, friends, I give you my sincerest apologies for letting blogging slide. And for not actually feeling all that guilty about it. Hopefully I'll at least send word when this little fellow makes his debut (before the move? after? only time will tell...).

All my love,

cj

37 weeks today! Full term!

Practically perfect in every way

Sigh. The last three days have been a bright burst of sunshine and happiness in my life.

Thursday afternoon my favorite little sister, Paige Christine-y, and my mamma-cita knocked on my door about six hours earlier than I was expecting them. And have camped out (along with my necessary-for-my-sanity-sister, Tasha) on my living room for the last two nights. They didn't even complain about having to share a bathroom with us (that you have to go through our bedroom to get too...).

I have loved every single second of it.

Oh the fun we have had! We kicked off the party with a trip to the newly opened City Creek Mall in downtown Salt Lake City. Very fun. (Minus the Disneystore trauma. I learned my lesson.). The next day we headed to Provo for some hanging out with Chad (my bro). I finally got my hands on a maternity bathing suit that fits (my life is complete. Swimming anyone?). Today we went to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. My mom treated my kids and I (and Jeremy when with us) to fun foods and events all three days.

It was a whirl wind of fun. I think Paige takes the cake for keeping calm despite the many toddler tantrums and requests for "tasty treats" that occurred. Chad wins for always being willing to hold one of my children wherever we were. And Tasha wins for being the cutest. (She was actually the reason for the trip... but not to hang out with us so much as to go to a Blog Conference at Thanksgiving Point. So we only really saw her in the mornings and at night). And my mom wins for being the best "mother dear" I have. She was so generous, fun, adventurous, and happy happy happy to be with!

And because other people were there to take pictures... I have proof that it was a wonderful three days (ok so this is all from today, but whatever):

The Pony Ride: Ginny loved every blessed second. Raymond (true to form--he's afraid of heights) was terrified and went between nervous smiles and attempts at getting Aunt Paige to save him by pulling him off.  

 Man do I love this girl. Love love love.

 Aunt Paige rocked it. (Isn't she adorable??) Raymond was so brave!

 It took all three days for Raymond to finally attempt to do "no hands" while on Uncle Chad's tall shoulders. He had to slouch and keep his elbows in. I laugh looking at this picture. This boy kills me. He was so scared!

Friday night the girls headed to the boutique at Tasha's conference... and among other valuable finds was this pink frufru skirt. Ginny walked around all morning saying "pretty baby." Yes, baby girl, you are one pretty baby! 

She was there! Both at my house (hurrah!) and at the SNAP! conference. And she looked so cute every single day. I love this lady. 

Sigh. It was a breath of fresh air. I LOVE MY FAMILY! Gracious me. They fill me up with sunshine. Happy, happy, happy. That's how I feel. 

See, I really am pregnant

Lest you were starting to not believe me (since it did take a while for me to even post about it on the blog, and since I haven't posted a single picture up to this point...)

25 weeks, 4 days

Yep, definitely pregnant.
(You know it's obvious too when random moms at the park ask your due date and grocery store clerks exclaim, "wow, you look like you are about to pop!")

But what you should also notice about this picture is 1. the fact that Ginny is adorable (pigtails! My baby finally has hair long enough for pig tails!) and 2. that on the wall behind me is an enormous dragon that Jeremy drew for Raymond. Both of my kids regularly pick up sticks, vacuum accessories, spatulas, and anything else long and hard in order to "fight dragons." Yay for an artist dad who makes those dragons real (even if Ginny is scared that it will "getchu dragon!")

Oh and since you can't really tell that Ginny is adorable in that picture or that there is a dragon behind me... here's more proof for you:

Hello there. Wasn't it a lovely weekend?

A big thanks for all your insights and help on the last post. We ended up buying an IKEA bed. It's perfect. (Except for the fact that Raymond won't stay in it all night long... But it's a work in progress).

So I really love General Conference. It always seems to come at just the right time. You know, when you are about to lose all sanity ever granted to you and you need a loud dose of (righteous) reality thrown in your face.

Conference never fails me.

This year I was determined to make the weekend meaningful for all of us (including the two-and-under crowd). We set up our tent (which has never been slept in outside... or anywhere for that matter) on Saturday morning. It was a hit. We loved pretending we were Nephites listening to King Benjamin. We also did "subject jars" with pictures of general subjects (family, prophets, temple etc) and candy inside. It was the ploy to get Raymond to try and listen for key words. (It worked pretty well. Until he was so sugared up he just starting to throw fits for more candy...).

I also put together a simple little coloring book of conference themed pictures for the kids to color on. Ginny loved this most (which I was surprised about). Oh and we set up the easel right by the computer (since we don't have TV that's where we watch conference) with the spreadsheet from a previous conference Ensign of all the General Authorities taped to it. Every time a new speaker came up we found their picture and colored over it. This kind of petered out at the end, but was great while it lasted. Raymond loved to hunt for the picture (which he was only once successful at finding on his own, but coloring over it always made up for getting help finding it!) Lots of fun (ahem, junk) foods readily available also worked as great ploys to distract the young, and keep awake the old.

I feel like conference was a success for the mere fact that Raymond can now recognize by face all the first presidency. And because Ginny can say their names (so cute) and would chant over and over "prophet time" and point to the screen. What can I say? I am wooed endlessly by the cuteness of my children.

And it was a success because it helped me to put my feet back under myself a little bit. So far (of course I need to go back and read/watch a few that I was too distracted during) my favorite talks were President Packer (never fails to unashamedly say it like it is. Rock on.), Elder Holland, and Elder Ballard.

Being in the midst of a(nother) pregnancy and sometimes feeling a little stressed about day-to-day living, and what lays ahead when this little fellow comes, it was comforting to hear so many messages about the family; so many reminders that choosing to have children (even when it seems extremely unpopular to do so, not to mention down right hard) is the right choice; so many uplifting words about the happiness and blessings that will come from adding another to our little flock.

Isn't it amazing how we always hear just what we need to hear? I'm sure some of you are wondering when there were even messages on the family since it wasn't what you needed to hear most. But they were loud and clear for me. And I feel buoyed up and grateful for the "lot in life" that is mine right now.

I hope that conference weekend was uplifting and "successful" at your house too.

Bigger and better / HELP

So sweet Mr. Raymond has more or less decided he no longer needs an afternoon nap. It's pretty much the saddest thing ever. But I am coming to terms with it.

So much so, that I've decided since he won't take naps anyway,  we might has well move him out of the crib (that he has never climbed out of. Yep, he's scared of heights) and into a "big boy" bed. The other motivation for this is that I am a lazy mom and don't always get him out of his bed right when he wakes up in the morning... and thus he still has to wear a diaper to bed. Bad mom. So this might help with that.

Anyhow, thus begins the great debate at our house (ok so mostly in my  head except when Jeremy is around and then he pretends to listen to me debate it out with occasional "mm hmmm" comments). Do we get a twin bed? Or an IKEA "children's bed" (which is slightly longer than a normal toddler bed)?

The issue really is space. You see, the kids' bedroom is, um, more like the size of a big walk in closet. A mere seven (!!) feet wide. So a twin bed happens to be about six and half feet long... so it would, in fact, fit in the room. But it means we would not ever be able to fit three children in that room (and we will have THREE children in less than six months!!). Of course, we are also still debating whether or not we stay in this apartment... but that deserves another post altogether.  Sigh. I love my w/d hookups and three minute walk to the law school.

So in my late night debating, I finally decided to make a scale model of the kids' room and play with my options. Here's the visual of the two options:

OPTION 1: an IKEA Children's bed. Note that if we switched the crib to the other side of the room, there would still be space for a pack-n-play for the baby.

OPTION 2: A twin bed (either a standard twin, or an extra long--which we saw at Sam's Club)

These models are actually pretty accurate and according to scale (with my limited scaling abilities...). We don't really play in their room much, nor do we keep toys in there at all. Currently there is also a rocking chair in there, but it's falling apart and will go sometimes soon, regardless of the bed choice. If we do the smaller bed, it might stay longer, however.

So, THOUGHTS?? What would you do? I am at a TOTAL LOSS.

And then there were five

So call us crazy (we are!) but excited. 

I definitely am wearing maternity jeans. And craving crazing things like Chinese food (orange chicken, please) and Cafe Rio salads (sweet pork, please). And am so tired I might not even flinch in my sleep when you call at 8:45pm. 

But it'll be worth it around this time...

...when another little boy joins the family.

Ho hum here a little there a little

Tonight we re-enacted Samuel the Lamenite for FHE. Raymond was Samuel. He loved jumping off the wall. Ginny loved hoarding the beanbag (aka stones) and making piles.

I even got myself in gear and made a "treat" (lemon bars). It's maybe the third time in our whole married life I've made a treat for "family evening" (as Raymond calls it). It was a proud moment for the mama.

Between yesterday and today Ginny learned to say: Woody (we have a little Woody doll from Toy Story), Raymond (May-mon),  spider ("pider") and probably about ten other words I can't think of right now. I swear she already says some complete sentences ("where da dog do?" --Where (did) the dog go?). And she says things contextually correct 99% of the time. My favorite is "tan too" (Thank you) whenever she is given anything. She doesn't even need me to prompt her, she just says it).

Yesterday I said the prayer in Relief Society, and Ginny, right on cue, said "amen" at the end. The whole room smiled and cooed at her. She also (not as cute) screamed for "melk", applesauce, and "nanas" during the closing song and prayer in sacrament meeting. I need to bring more snacks to church, apparently. We are counting down until nursery (it will be an unbelievably long two and  half months of waiting).

With Raymond we have entered--with trepidation--into the realm of "games" on the "puter." He could hang out on sesemestreet.org as many hours of the day as I will let him. I just want to know: what did I do to deserve a child completely smitten with the wide world of media?  It seems quite unjust.

Excluding today (which we pretended was a normal Monday, not a holiday) we had an entire glorious weekend with Dad (aka Jeremy). No homework, no library runs, no law-school discussion even. I'm not going to lie, it was nice. Thank you Mr. President for creating a holiday weekend that allowed such a thing to be possible. We took drives, had date-night, enjoyed Dad's cooking, and watched movies just because. It was fun, laid back, and oh so needed.

And all-in-all, by-and-large we are happy and doing well. I still wish it were swimming weather here. But am coming to terms with snow instead. There are toys strewn everywhere always. But I've managed to read two books (and started another!) in the last week. And read a board books in between. So all is well.

What to do

(source)

So yesterday, in our Bountiful Basket, I got three (yes THREE) things of celery. Two of which were in the fruit section?

Anyhow, I'm at a loss. I like some celery and peanut butter now and again. Celery in my chicken noodle soup. Even celery in my salad is just fine.

But what am I going to do with three (heads?) things of them? I really can't imagine.

Do you have any stellar celery recipes up your sleeve? Everything I've found via google pretty much made me want to gag (fried celery? No thank you. Likewise to the braised celery. Even celery soup does not look or sound good).

I swear I remember Hermana Zalaya--the Relief Society president in Catacamas--on my mission in Honduras, making a celery sandwich in which she blended the celery--leaves and all. And, much to my surprise, it was good. But I can find (so far) no such recipe online.

Excuse me while I go eat some ants on a log as my before bed snack.

Dear Spring,

Oh, I know, I know, I know that you are at least two (or three) months away, dear friend, but I want you to know you are eagerly being awaited at our house.

I miss you so. Your blossoms. Your sunshine. You wonderful, beautiful, warmer weather. Please come quickly. I might go crazy if you don't. We (the kids and I anyway) haven't left the house for more than Wal-Mart and church in over a week. We are--literally--bouncing off the walls. The couches. The beds. And it's been like this for weeks and weeks.

We just want to go outside, you know. A little trip to the park would be nice. A walk round the block without scarves and mittens. 

A decreased fear of getting yet another head cold would also be nice. We are on round three and a bit tired of coughing and sneezing. 

Pretty, pretty, please (with a cherry on top!) come soon. I promise to enjoy your beauty and bounty with my whole heart.

Your faithful friend,

Carly

(source) 

Let the hearting begin

So I really love Valentine's day.

As in, I love it. It just might be my favorite holiday. So much less stressful than Christmas. So fun and RED and lovey. Low key, but choc full of fun and great traditions. And I sure love me some conversation hears. And chocolate. And anything else sweet that can be shaped into a heart...

Last year we made heart garlands and heart cut-outs, valentines of course, and heart sugar cookies (on the day of) which we walked around to all our friends and neighbors. I love sharing the love.

This year I have a whole slew of plans. Some of which include:

1. A new garland for sure. You can never have enough heart garlands. I'm still debating between some of these:

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2. We also definitely need some hearts hanging in our windows. I like these options:

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3. Then of course while we are hanging hearts, I think I'll just hang some from my ceiling (since it's so low... you know, basement dwelling) above my table. I love this chandelier:

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4. And for the giving of valentines this year (we have the tradition of making and giving to each other--both in our own little family, and with my brothers and sisters), at home I want some of these darling things:

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5. And well, for the food... I think all of February should be littered with heart goodies like some of these...

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And really, that's just for starters. I'm a little excited about this holiday this year. Tomorrow is my husband's birthday (during which the house will not be decorated with pink and red hearts...) but you better believe the festivities begin shortly thereafter! 

Sigh. I just can't wait!