Dr. J's Baby Bucketlist

So our baby is going to be delivered via c-section in just two weeks and a day from today and so Dr. J took a good ten days off so that we could do one big blow out before school starts and the kids go back to school.

We started with a camping trip with Great Grandpa Wid.  The day after J's last day of work we loaded the van up with all our camping gear.  Turns out it didn't fit very well so we had to pull one of the seats out.  I don't know what we would have done once the baby is born...I guess not gone.  We drove down to Utah and picked up J's new to us truck.  With all the "farm chores" we now have a truck just started to make more and more sense so his dad kept an eye out and when a good deal came in he called him up and let him know.  J went to the grocery store to stock up on food that night and then loaded all the camping gear into the back of the truck.  How/why have we gone so many years without out a truck.  It is seriously awesome, oh yes we were always broke.  But now that we aren't always on the edge of financial ruin it is quit nice to own one, although in two weeks we will have outgrown the truck as well.  It has only six seats.  Time to get a suburban?  That night my mother in law said to me, "So I was thinking we could keep Cheetah here with you and then we could maybe drive her out Friday to camp with her dad."  "What do you mean here with me?" I asked.  "Well surely you aren't going camping?"  I had a good look when I saw her face when I assured her that yes I was going camping, although truth be told in private I told J that if I had my baby up in the middle of the woods I was taking zero responsibility for it and I was going to kill him...like dead.  Luckily I did not have to make good on that threat.

The next morning we loaded the kids in the truck and drove up to meet Grandpa and my husband's Uncle Steve.  Then we followed them up into the Uintas.  A mountain range somewhere in North East Utah.  If any of you have ever been to Mirror Lake then we were close to that.  Wid had picked out a nice little primitive area for us to set up in.  He put up his potty rocket...a tall tent around a bucket with a toilet seat and TP.  We set up three tents and put up a big pavilion cover where our water, tables, chairs, and food sat except at night when we loaded all the food into the cars to try and reduce the chances of attracting unwanted guest.  After that J took the kids for a quick hike and Wid and I got started on dinner.  That night I read a little to the kids before turning off the flashlight and then we all lay down to sleep.  We'd left the cover off the top of our tent and the stars were AMAZING!  I mean seriously there were so many of them.  Unfortunately I spent a lot of time looking at those stars because sleeping was nearly impossible.  I'd fall asleep for half an hour then wake up, try and get comfy, stare at the stars some more, and finally maybe two hours later fall asleep for another half an hour.  At one point I finally said, "Screw it," and climbed into the truck next to all the food.  I sleep for maybe an hour in there but because there was no room on the seat to put my feet they got super swollen and I woke up again.  I swore at that moment I was heading home tomorrow.  Finally daylight came, the rest of the family woke up and we ate breakfast.  We then went to a little mountain lake to fish.  Between J, Wid, Steve, and I we managed to keep the kids in bait and the lines relatively untangled.

All went well until Wid fell at the lakes edge, bruising his side on a log and breaking a porcelain veneer.  He'd had a lead weight in his mouth when he went down and apparently bit down on it really hard when he hit the log.  Luckily besides a bruise, a little gap in his smile, and a little wounded pride he was ok.  He did spend the rest of the fishing trip sitting though to avoid having another mishap. This was one of the main reasons that J wanted to get this trip in.  His grandparents were phenomenal backpackers and campers and when he was about the age of Cheetah they started taking him along on their trips.  He hiked with boy scout troops, ward groups, family group, friend group, the powder puff and huff, which was a yearly trip backpacking trip that Wid took the teen age girls of the ward and their mothers on, and other ward powder puff and huffs because when other people heard what he was doing they wanted to do it in their wards as well and asked him to lead it.  J has been all over those mountains and also mountains in Southern Utah, desert, and slot canyons with his grandparents.  As they've aged though they've had to slow down.  The last five years have been particularly hard for them and J realized this was probably the last opportunity he would have to camp with his grandpa and so he took it. 

Wid's fall must have brought good lucky though because after that the kids were reeling in fish left and right.  We ended up with seven that made it to the shore and were grabbed by an adult before they slipped off the hook.  J taught the girls how to clean and gut the fish.  Our son had zero interest and found that whole part seriously distasteful.  Definitely not a surgeon in the making but on the other hand probably not a serial killer either so I will just take comfort in that.  The girls on the other hand, well it could seriously go either way.  Cheetah was scary with the bonking stick and even at one point tried to bonk her dad.  After clean up we took those fish back to camp and had a yummy dinner of rainbow trout, buttered rice, fruit, and potato chips.  Although I had sworn I wasn't going to stay another night by the time night came around I was ready to try it again.  This night was really no better but at least this time I tried to switch my position every 30 minutes or so so that no one part hurt more than any other part.  I also manged to only have to get up two times in the night to pee.  That seemed like a relief.  The next day we broke camp and did a short hike around mirror lake.  Then we headed back to Wid's house to unload his trailer and then to my mother in laws to shower.  After my shower I sat down on the couch and promptly feel asleep.  When I woke up my mother in law had started all my laundry and I realized there was no way we were driving home that night, so instead we went to a cool little water park they have in their town, at pizza, and then I had the first good night sleep I'd had in three days.  The next day we were able to head home with our van, our truck, and all clean clothes!  My mother in law is the best.

Sunday I had to give a talk at church.

Monday we got caught up on chores, I went to the doctors (you know that annoying, you have to go in every week time in your pregnancy, well we are there) and we went out to eat.  While I was at the doctors my sister had teased me I should mention our camping trip and our water park plans.  My OB's face went white when I told her about camping.  "Are you crazy," she said, "I'm so glad I didn't know about this before the fact, I would have been a wreak."  She then made me promise I would go on zero water slides, "Haha, I said, "You know they wouldn't let me."  "You are no longer trustworthy," she teased.

Tuesday we took the kids to Roaring Springs.  J took the three older kids on all the big water slides.  I spent my time with cheetah in the wave pool (which by the way pregnant ladies were not suppose to be in), the lazy river (which she loved), and the baby splash pool which had three slides which were just her size to ride down alone.  There was a purple and blue one she'd ride down on with a tube, a yellow one that was a big straight slide that non pregnant moms could go on with their kids, and a green curvy one that you rode with no tube.  She was hilarious and fearless and probably went down those slides 100 times.  We also meet up with J and the kids a few times to eat and then he took all the kids several times on a huge magic carpet ride slide.  She loved that as well and the other three kids had a blast on all the slides they went on.  Originally J and I thought we'd leave at around five but at eight when the park shut down we had to be pried out of there. 

Wednesday we drove to this tiny little state park that had a short hike to a water fall and pool.  The kids loved it and J swam them all out to touch the water fall a few times.  We then drove to Silver City.  I'm not going to lie that trip was terrible.  We'd been there zero times and the road going out there is 20 miles of dirt path/rode.  You aren't really sure you are going to a real place and at one point I finally just lost it.  I had to pee so bad and all the bumps were killing me.  J pulled over and I peed on the side of the road only to a mile later find a real toilet and the "town".  It apparently was a mining town that in the 1930's dried up.  Now there are just a few summer residents who give tours and sell rocks, and jewelry and stuff.  In the winter everyone leaves and one lone guy gets snowed up there until spring when they come dig him out.  The lady running the jewelry shop we were in told me he was a little crazy...can't imagine. 

Thursday we took the kids to the petting zoo to meet up some friends from Indiana who now live out here.  We then came home, had a relaxed lunch, watched a few episodes of Merlin and then worked in the garden and the orchard.  My kids picked three giant boxes of nectarines and J says we have probably twice as much of that still out there.  I don't know what else J wants to do before the baby comes but he is certainly keeping our last week of summer busy. 

My bucket list before the baby comes included putting up the bassinet.  Captain E and Peach did it for me.  Getting an infant car seat.  Target.com delivered it last week.  Washing some baby clothes.  Done.  And finally getting my eyebrows waxed because this lady has let them go so long they are beyond the help of plucking.  Hopefully I can make that happen before my next week ;) 

A Beautiful Mess

 As the weather has warmed up, the kids are spending more and more time outside.  I love it because they are running and being creative and our TV is on a heck of a lot less.  A favorite activity for them is writing on our patio with a huge bucket of chalk I bought that was on clearance at the end of last summer.  They also really enjoy filling a watering can and watering all our dirt.  Yesterday I went out and the patio was a disaster.  There was paint and chalk puddles everywhere and almost all the chalk had been ground down and was covered in splashes.  I was feeling sort of annoyed with the kids thinking that they'd really "wasted" all this good chalk and then I took a closer look and realized that what they'd been doing was making paint.  They had ground up the chalk, poured in water, and then when they had a nice thick paint they had made colorful hand and foot prints all over the patio.  I don't know what it was but seeing their colorful little hand prints touched something deep inside me.  I guess they reminded me of cave paintings like these in Spain which scientist think are over 40,000 years old.  Just like those ancient hunters my children were marking they were here, that they existed.  Our mops theme for this year has been "A Beautiful Mess" and every time I hear it I just groan inwardly because I always think, "Who honestly thinks there is anything beautiful about a mess?  I mean really people, who?"  Yesterday I was folding up the last bits of my laundry and while I was glad to finally have the stack put away the realization that today was laundry day was extremely demoralizing.  Messes are messes.  They often involve time consuming, monotonous work that falls on me to take care of and they are rarely gone for long.  That is how I feel about messes right now in this raising young children part of my life, but yesterday I saw the beauty in the mess.  It was hidden among puddles, ground up chalk, and a dirty kitchen floor, but it was there.  It is the existence of my children.  Sometimes demanding and dirty but also colorful and full of vitality and life.  Long after I leave this world they will carry me on, generation after generation, putting out their hands to prove their existence.  

Do the Math-Uh-Oh

1+1=1+9=5

The answer...1 mean girl+ 1Dr. J = 1 family + 9 years = 5 family members, mean girl, Dr. J, Captain E,
Gigi, and Peach.  My neighbor asked me if I was pregnant today...I realized I wasn't clear enough on this equation :)

Day 19 Alone

Today I'm Thankful For: My daughter Gigi.  Gigi is such a fighter.  I don't mean the fact that she is in that stubborn three stage, I mean the girl honestly loves physical fights.  She's my own personal Million Dollar Baby.  Pretty much since birth her physical prowess has been amazing.  At six months she would hold herself up on the monkey bars.  She would also push herself into a standing position in the middle of the room.  One day we watched her climb on top of a bin of toys and then stand up on it.  Not an ounce of fear.  At seven months she took a step and then then two days before she turned eight  months old she put two steps together.  That week she walked across the room.  I told her dad she was walking.  He didn't believe me and I had to film it and put it up for debate on the blog.  I won, even by his admission after that.  When she was two I put her in gymnastics.  She would lead the class in dare devil stunts.  She's always been a brave girl.  In new situations she walks forward, head up.  She likes new situations and new people.  She knows what she wants and she isn't afraid to make that known.  Gigi has a great smile, and she loves a good joke.  Captain E is her best friend.  She follows him with a followers devotion.  She is a great big sister and is so loving to her baby sister.  I was raised in a family of four girls and so I can honestly say that my life would not have been complete without a daughter.  I'm so grateful for the joy G bear brings to my life.

Today I didn't:

-pick up my room...yup it is still a mess.  Luckily no one is here to see it.

-get the perfect fall picture of my kiddos.  I spent tons of time picking out cute outfits and checking the camera to make sure I had enough room on my memory card.  We drove twenty or so minute to Allerton.  When we got there I took two pictures and my camera died.  My batteries were GONE!  OH!!!!  I was so frustrated.  I managed to get a few more pictures.  I found a decent spot.  Posed all three of them and got six more shots before it died for good.  Oh the frustration.  What can you do?  We still had a good time exploring and then Captain E and I had a race.  I was ahead in the beginning but the little devil ended up beating me.  Quiet impressive considering he fell down midrace and had to start again.

Today I:

-vacuumed, because I'm still holding to that crazy belief :)

-negotiate The Great Breakfast for Dinner Treaty of 2010 between my two oldest.  I asked what they wanted for dinner.  One wanted nested eggs, the other waffles.  I asked the first can we have nested eggs tonight and waffles in the morning?  No!  I asked the second can we have waffles tonight and nested eggs in the morning?  No!  I was about to say that I was going to pick and then it hit me...french toast!  Both were happy.

-talked to my husband while he was finding sand dollars in Seaside.  I'm not going to lie, I was JEALOUS!

-watched Alice in Wonderland.  It was weird and quirky and I thought Anne Hathaway's character was a little annoying but I definitely enjoyed it.  Somewhere in Portland hubby was watching it as well on netflix.  I wonder what he thought.

All the cuties...

School has started again and our little town is once again overrun with college students.  Yesterday I went to pick my hubby up at school and the kiddos came with me.  We were sitting in the car waiting for daddy to come out.  Captain E says, "I like this place, there are lots of cute people."  "Cute people," I ask him, "What makes cute people?"  "Girls with long hair." he says.  And then he smiles a sneaky little smile.  Then G bear yells out, "No, boys."  "No, girls." "No, boys!"  This goes on for a few minutes until they get bored.  A tiny girl in skiny jeans, blond hair to her waist, carrying an umbrella walks by.  "She's a cute girl," he says.  And I have to say, she was.  Although I'm not going to say my stomach didn't get tight with axiety.  I'm not ready for crushes.

Everyday Bio

It has been eight years since I graduated from school but the world is biology and I can't help but notice it.  I'm constantly amazed at how we are creatures of biology.  Recently my mother was in town loving on my children.  She wears a musk scent perfume.  It isn't overly powerful.  I kind of like it...well I did that is until I'd pick up my kids.  After a full day of nana love mom would swope in to take her chicklets off to bed and that is when that perfume smell would drive me nuts.  Instead of smelling like me, they smelled like her, 13 years after leaving home something foreign.  Yesterday I found myself rubbing my head on my daughters neck.  I started to laugh when I realized I was subconciously trying to erase the smell of the babysitter off of her and it replace it with my own, dare I say scent.  For the record humans are animals.

A Birthday Letter to My Daugther

This letter is to my daughter.  I realize it is long and tedious so if you prefer just skip to the end and look at how much she has changed.  Amazing.  Without further ado...

Darling Peach,

It has been 1 year, 52 weeks, 356 days since you entered our lives.  You are my third child, my second daughter.  This year has gone so fast.  Before you were born your father dreamed of you.  He told me you would be my child, the dark one, dark hair, dark eyes, round cheeks.  He told me you would be a mamas girl.  He was right.  Peach since the moment of your birth you have been the love of your families' life.  Your brother, your sister, your mom, and dad, we all love you so much.  You are our brown eyed girl, brown hair, olive skin.  You are our littler talker.  For months you have called your dad, mom, and brother Ezra by name.  You point.  You clap hands.  When you blow kisses you enunciate each kiss with an "um".  You love to stand.  You walk along furniture.  You've taken running steps in between mom and dad but for the most part you won't strike out on your own.  You have one little tooth on the right bottom.  You have a second little tooth on the left bottom just waiting to poke through and two bulging gums on the top.  You love to eat fruit, especially berries, grapes, melon, and apples.  You want to eat your apples whole.  You use that one little tooth and gnaw away until you get a little chunk off.  You hate sitting in your car seat.  I think it has something to do with the fact that you despise having sun in your eyes.  The irony of course is the fact that you love being outside.  When the door opens you head for it.  You want to be outside.  You love outside.  You have no fear, you are totally confident in your ability to be outside.  You love crawling in the grass, eating dirt, throwing sticks, riding in the bike trailer.  You are artistic.  You have a thing for music.  When music is on in the house or anyone sings you start to dance.  When it is on in the car you tap your feet against the back of the seat..  You yell out when we sing.  You already know how to hold a crayon and you love to draw.  Everything you see gets put in your mouth but when you see crayons you pick them up and start drawing. You are a flirt.  When someone smiles you, you smile back, then you look away sly, and then rush back to look again, this time with another big smile.  You are a horrible sleeper.  When I put you down for a nap, you instantly jump up and start crying for me.  You prefer to get your sleep in the car while we are running endless errands with your siblings.  I love you so much girl but you are killing me with your sleep habits.  You still love the mama milk and you don't mind waking up in the middle of the night to get it.  Then you want to have a party in bed.  Oh girl it is wearing your mama out.  You are the apple of your brother's eye.  He carries you everywhere, he gets you out of bed, hikes you up the stairs, hikes you back.  He brings you toys, halves grapes with you, sings you songs, jumps hoops to entertain you.  You are your sister's playmate.  You play tornado in the doll house with her, you chew on her, you play instruments.  You empty drawers together, another favorite activity for you.  You love listening to books together, and then you try to sit on them.  You always want to be held.  You love to snuggle with your family.  Darling daughter when you were one day old your brother named you Peach.  When we asked him why he simply said because Peach was a good name.  When I was 15 we went to Seattle.  One early morning my mom and I went to Pike's Market.  I can't remember everything we bought, but I do remember a gigantic peach, the biggest peach I'd ever seen.  The peach sat in the bag through our shopping.  It made it back into the car.  Then I had to pull that peach out of bag.  I bit into it right there sitting in the car.  Juice went down my chin and onto my fingers.  It was worth it.  That moment, the green of Washington, the smell of the ocean, the sweetness of the peach, the early morning sun, the excitement of the Seattle, the joy of having a moment alone with my mom, that day was one of the best of my life.  You are like that day.  A Peach is a good thing!  

Peach at 0 months :)

Peach at six months.

 I wanted to try and recreate these two moments to show how much she has changed in 12 months.  She is huge now in the basket and two old to leave the bow alone.  Wow it has gone by fast. 

This one is my favorite.  It is like looking in an egg.