The Habit I Wish I Could Break

What is it with the 4 o'clock in the morning hour? For some reason, I can NEVER sleep through it. Every morning, I wake up sometime during that hour, and I lie there wondering why. By the time I fall back to sleep (usually around 5:30 or 6:00), it's almost time to get up again. Is this hereditary? I know Mom says she usually wakes up around then, too. In any case, it's annoying.

Life Lessons

Some are learned the hard way, others, not so hard

• Snorting while you have raspberries in your mouth never results in a pleasant experience (this one was actually Michael's lesson today).
• Whoever said, "Love means never having to say you're sorry," never had a real relationship.
• No matter how carefully and attentively you watch your children, at some point they will fall down the stairs, draw on the walls and/or floor, and get outside without you knowing about it.
• Putting your hair in a ponytail is not the same as taking a shower.
• Your husband will never have the same idea of "clean" as you do. Never.
• You should thank him for cleaning anyway.
• Sometimes, taking a nap is more productive than cleaning the house.
  
• You get what you pay for.
• Whoever said, "There is no sting in death," never lost a child.
• Maybe they did. If they did, they are a lot stronger than I am.
• When your three-year-old is having a meltdown, a hug is more effective than a time-out.
• Don't mess with nap time.
• No matter how much you hate the mess she makes, you have to let the one-year-old feed herself.

• When your husband says you're beautiful, don't argue.
• He really does think you're beautiful.
• But he probably wishes your hair wasn't always in a ponytail.

Happy Mothers Day

Yesterday after church we went up to Huntsville for dinner at my grandparents' house. My parents were there, as well as Callie and Gary. It was nice. When we left, I told Michael to give my grandma a hug and to tell her Happy Mothers Day. He did, which was really sweet. But then he proceeded to give everyone hugs and tell everyone Happy Mothers Day, including Grandpa, Uncle Scott, Paul, Sadie, etc.

Michael sang in his first Mothers Day sacrament meeting, too. I was worried that he wouldn't even go up on the stage with the other kids, but he did. And he actually sang! Some of the words, anyway. It was cute.

Mothers Day was nice. Jeff tried really hard to make it a fun day, and to do most of the work so I could enjoy the kids rather than have to take care of the kids. So thanks, Sweetie! I'll try to return the favor on Fathers Day!

Long Night

I finally fell into bed at 1 AM, only to be woken by a horrible sound from the kids' room at 3 AM. Faith was having a hard time breathing. It sounded like croup. She's had croup in the past, and they've always told us to take the kids outside, because the cold night air will lessen the swelling in their airway. So I carried her outside. Ten or fifteen minutes later, she was still sounding terrible, so it was off to the emergency room. I was worried that she was having an asthma attack or something.

No asthma. She has croup (again). The doctor said it's really late in the season to see croup (he hasn't seen any in about two months). And apparently, it has to be so cold that you can see your breath in order for the outside air to help with the breathing. Our balmy 50 degree air wasn't going to do it.

Anyway, they did a breathing treatment in the hospital, and gave her some medicine to reduce the swelling, and sent us home. Faith was back in bed sleeping by 5 AM. What a night.

The Big Official Announcement

Since most of you already know, and since I went to the doctor today, I'll just make it official: I am pregnant. I am 9 weeks along, due December 8, but since I have to have a C-section, we will schedule it for either November 30 or December 1. That's the plan, anyway.

To answer your inevitable questions:

No, this was not planned.

Jeff is excited. I, on the other hand, am still getting there. I was sort of planning for a few more months of non-pregnancy.

I'm not really sick, but I am SO tired. And it is hard to find something that sounds good to eat. Although once I do, I eat a LOT of it.

I think it's a boy. I think that, because I never really was sick with Michael, but with both of my girls, I was very sick. And I'm craving veggies and fruits rather than French fries and ice cream. Why do girls make me crave bad things?

Yes, this is part of the reason that we are getting our house sold (soon, hopefully).

Yes, we will be "upgrading" (if you can call it that) to a minivan or SUV.

Did I miss anything?

Good News!!

Faith has finally started taking some steps on her own. Check it out!!





And, as (sort of) promised yesterday, a photo of the bunkbeds:


Aren't they beautiful?

Michael has gotten comfortable climbing up to and down from the top bunk. He's so funny. He throws his clothes up there and climbs up to change. He loves it. He says he's going to sleep up there tomorrow night. I'm not so sure that I'm comfortable with that, but we'll see. I can just see him getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and forgetting that he's up high, and falling off. Lovely.

It does get better

Reading my last post, I felt bad that I was complaining about having a bad day. I need to go on record and just say that once Faith woke up from her nap, and once Michael had some lunch, they were both great and happy. Faith was like a totally different child. It's probably a good thing no one offered to take them for the day. Whoever did would have thought, "What is she talking about? They're great!" They usually are. We just have our moments.

So today Jeff set up the bunkbeds in the kids' room. No, Faith will not be leaving her crib yet, but we figured we'd have a lot more space in our back room if we were storing only a headboard, box springs, and bed frame, rather than bunkbeds. And we were right. There is a lot more space in the back room now. Tomorrow, if I'm feeling ambitious, I'll take photos of the bunkbeds all put together and post one. But I don't think I'll be feeling ambitious. I have joy school here tomorrow, then Michael goes to pre-school, then I go to my Front Desk meeting at work. It will be busy, and I will be tired. Maybe on Tuesday? Nevermind. Tuesday is looking pretty busy too.