Super girls

This is how my children entertain themselves:


They run around the house in capes and little else. In the case of Analee, VERY little else.


She didn't seem concerned.

Miriam's baby book

My awesome and talented sister-in-law, Rachel, thought she owed me a favor because I took some family pictures for her a while back. So when I mentioned on a blog post that I needed to buy a baby book, she offered to make one for me.

That's right. MAKE one. 'Cause she's that awesome and talented.

I used some very nifty digital scrapbooking software to create the pages (using my other girls' store-bought baby books as templates), and then I handed them over to Rachel. This is what she brought over tonight:


How cute is that?! I bought the little butterfly in the corner so it could go under the book leather, but Rachel provided/took care of the rest.

Here's a closer look:


And here are a few of the pages I made:


I tell you what, I am NOT a scrapbooker. I have no patience or space for all the necessary scrapbooking materials, but if I can use a computer, templates and some software, it's a go.

And you can tell how excited I am about this book because I have wasted no time in blogging about it. Again, gotta love the templates and 'puter.

Baby Bennet

The girls were excited to learn that they have yet another cousin to love. My little brother Tyson and his wife had their first baby Saturday. We took a quick trip to the hospital yesterday to give Baby Bennet a little Grover love.

Ana was very excited to hold the baby. Good cropping, Seth. You can't even see my hand holding up the baby's head. But I promise it's there.

Bekah was very eager to hold the baby. "Is it my turn yet? Is it my turn yet?" Then after she posed for a picture of two, it was, "Okay. I'm all done."

The girls are now anxiously awaiting the birth of their own baby sister. This mama's anxiously awaiting it, too.

Congrats, T and McKall. He's one beautiful baby boy!

Ana's date

So after Bekah's excursion to the bunny hill, Seth and I asked Analee what she'd like to do for a parent-daughter date. She told us "rollerskating and ice skating." The ice rink is now closed for the year, so we told her we'd go rollerskating instead.

Bekah got to spend the afternoon with grandparents and cousins in Rexburg, and Ana went with us on our adventure to Starlite Skating.

Mind you, Seth has been rollerskating about one time in his life. And that was when he was 11 or so. And I haven't been on roller skates since I was a teenager. And I'm 37 weeks pregnant. And Ana is a mere 2 1/2 years old. So you'd think we would have realized that this would be an ill-fated journey. But apparently we're just too dumb.

Proof that Ana actually wore skates for 5 minutes. And proof that our mommy camera overexposes images when it's shot in the near-dark.

So after arriving at the rink, writing a check, getting our skates and lacing them up, we took one slow, painful trip around the rink. Ana's feet kept slipping out from underneath her. Seth and I had to keep pulling her up by her hands/arms that we were holding. And by the time we had made one trip around, Ana was sad and in pain.

"I don't yant to do dis!" she yelped.

Knowing that nobody could possibly benefit from the situation, we promptly took off our skates, returned them, and asked hopefully if we could get at least a partial refund. The darling girl at the skate counter actually brought us our check so we could rip it up. And then we asked Ana, "What do you want to do? What would be fun?"

"I yant to doe to da mall."

So rather than spend $12 to roller skate, we spent $0 to read picture books at Barnes and Noble, $0 to play on the toys outside JC Penney, and 50 cents to ride on the mechanical ice cream truck.

Two quarters well spent.

After we all arrived home, Bekah implored us to take her skating on her next date. Ummm ... yeah. Not for a couple of years, kid.

The big girls' room

As promised, here is the completed transformation of what used to be Analee's room to Rebekah and Analee's room. We made the big move before Christmas, but it's taken me months of sewing and waiting to finally have Ana's bedspread done and therefore deem the room finished.

Ta-dah! More on this later ...

So, here's the complete look:

View from the doorway. Love that blue carpet. It's the only blue carpet in the entire house.

• Bekah's name tags from preschool adorn her bedpost. Of course, we put the older child on the top bunk.
• Analee's dresser that was a hand-me-down from my sister-in-law to my sister and then to us is in the corner. Bekah's dresser is a hand-me-down from my parents. The big stuffed animals are perched in the corner.
• I made the valance with leftover fabric from both girls' quilts.

View from the closet corner.

• Both girls' beds and quilts.
• I found the little fence bookcase at D.I. for $8.
• The curtain rods and pockets next to each bed were bought on clearance. The girls put their treasures that they don't want the other girl to get to in their pockets.

View from the dresser corner.

• I can't believe the number of clips/bows we have accumulated with two girls. They have their own home hanging on the wall.
• Each girl has her own coat rack. Ana's is the shorter one to the left of the door. Bekah's is the taller one behind the door.The girls' shoes hang on the back of the door.
• I made the bulletin board (again, out of leftover fabric from Bekah's quilt) that hangs above Bekah's coat rack.

View from the bed corner.

• The girls' princess calendar hangs on the wall.
• The doors that were on the closet when we moved in were pretty worthless. They only allowed you to have half of the closet open at a time, and they were constantly falling off the tracks. So we bought some fabric and a curtain rod and came up with this solution. There's a hook next to the princess calendar that the girls can hang their closet curtain on so they can get to the toys inside.

View from the closet wall.

Even though we've already gone 360 degrees around the room, I had to include this picture for two reasons:

• (1) The stripes. I love those stripes. When we first moved in and I painted this room yellow for the then-baby Rebekah, I had yellow and darker yellow stripes on this wall. When Seth and I decided to move the baby's room and make this the big girls' room, I had to keep the stripes but make them green to match the bedspreads.
• (2) The art clothesline. Since Bekah's preschool experience, she has been super art-happy. She's constantly asking us to hang up her pictures and projects, so I got this idea off the Interwebs. We put a few eye screws into the wall and tied some ribbon on.

And last but not least, the quilts:

Before Ana was born, Seth and I reasoned that someday, the two oldest kids would share a room. So I started planning. I wanted to paint their room green, and I would make each a bedspread that included two main colors: the bright green and something else. I didn't let Bekah choose her purple and green bedspread (the pattern or the colors). She wasn't even two yet when I made it. But when I started Ana's bedspread a few months ago, I told her she could choose pink, orange or turquoise to go with the green in her quilt. Ana chose turquoise (I think because the word sounded cool to her).

So after months of picking out fabric and a pattern, piecing the top together, waiting for the quilting to be done and then cutting, sewing and stitching the binding, it's finally finished. In fact, I finished it last night while Seth entertained the girls by playing Legend of Zelda on the Wii.

I love the way both turned out, three years apart from each other. And I LOVE the quilting. The lady who did it (she lives in our stake) did an awesome job. If you click on each picture, you can see the details. Ana's white squares have little swirlies. Bekah's white squares have loop-the-loops. So adorable.

Even though it wasn't necessary (Ana obviously wasn't suffering without her bedspread because she's been without it for months already), I must say it's a relief to have the quilt finished before Miriam gets here. Now if only I could get all the trees pruned before then, too ...

Family portrait comparison

As per my mom's request, here is a then (2 years ago) and now comparison:


Major differences:

• Ana has hair! And it's outrageously curly! And she can walk!
• Andrea's smile is forever altered! Hooray for jaw surgery! Oh, yeah ... and I'm pregnant!
• Seth has new glasses! And it's been longer since his last haircut!
• Bekah grew out her bangs! And apparently she's shy in front of a camera!

Major similarities:

• We're cute! And we love each other!

Family portraits

I'm told that pregnant women usually wait until they're no longer "in the family way" before they get pictures taken. But it's been two years since we had our last family portraits, so I couldn't wait any longer. And besides, we were multi-tasking. Not only did we get our family shots, but we also got some maternity pictures.

Props to my awesome photographer father for these beautiful pictures. And to my wonderful mother for helping with the equipment and entertaining the girls.

Here are our favorites. These are the ones we'll be getting enlarged to display in our living room:


To see our other favorites, click here.

Getting ready for Baby Miriam

Months ago, I spent hours preparing what had previously been Analee's room for its transformation to Rebekah and Analee's room. This post isn't about that. I haven't yet finished Ana's bedspread, so I haven't yet taken the final "after" pictures.

But after we moved Bekah into the girls' shared room, I spent hours preparing what had previously been Bekah's room for its transformation to Miriam's room. It's been finished for a while, but I've been negligent in photographing and blogging the finished product. No longer!

View from the door.

• You can see the Pack and Play parked next to the white dresser. I haven't put it away because Miri will sleep in our room for about a week after she's born.
• The white dresser is an old piece that my sister and I used to share when we were growing up. My parents let Seth and I have it when we got married, and I just barely repainted it and put new drawer pulls on for Miriam.
• The car seat and Miriam's bag is sitting on the floor, ready for our trip to the hospital.
• The red dresser is a piece that Grandpa Wirkus painted and gave to us about a year ago. In the baskets on top, I've got toys and hats/hair accessories.
• The crib is pretty self-explanatory, but we'll take a closer look at that in a minute.
• The three framed pictures on the wall are pieces of fingerpainted "art" that I created when I was in kindergarten. I gave them to Grandma Wirkus after their creation, and she carefully saved them for decades. When she passed away and my mom and her siblings sorted through her old things, Mom rescued the pictures and gave them back to me so I could frame them.
• The rocking chair is one that my parents bought for us when we were expecting Rebekah. Ana (obviously) enjoys swiveling it around.
  

View from the rocking chair.

• Learning from past experience, I finally caved and bought a clock for the baby's room. It's hard to know how long you've been nursing your baby when you're extremely sleep-deprived and it's two in the morning.
• On top of the white dresser, I've got wipes, burp cloths, diaper rash cream and blankets. I haven't yet cracked open the new box of newborn diapers; they're peacefully residing in the closet for now.
  

Closeup of the corner.

• My mom found this picture among some old things and gave it to us for Miriam's room. It's a painting of the Biblical Miriam taking care of Aaron and Moses.
  

Closeups of the crib bedding.

• Unbeknownst to me, my mom decided to make a complete set of new crib bedding for Miriam. She had done the same thing for us when we were waiting for Bekah, so I hadn't expected her to make new stuff for kid #3.
• I love the fabrics she picked out. I'm all for gender-neutral crib bedding, and the fabric on the inside of the bumper pads and on the quilt is super-soft. And the colors match the walls that I spent so many hours painting.
  

View from the crib corner.

• The rocking chair, closet (stocked with baby shoes, nursing pillow, books, diapers and clothes), jackets hanging on the wall and framed pictures from the original Curious George book.

Now all we need for this room to REALLY be complete is a baby!

Hard work pays off

Months ago, Seth and I decided to implement a chore/allowance system for Rebekah. She is in charge of putting her dirty clothes in the hamper, picking up books and toys, putting away the clean silverware, making her bed and dusting the furniture. As a reward for her work, she receives 50 cents a week.

Yes, we're cheapskates. But what four-year-old needs more money than that? And besides, if we start with a small amount of money, that gives plenty of room for raises without us having to go broke.

We decided to start this for two reasons: to teach Rebekah about paying tithing and about saving for things she wants.

At first, Bekah just kept her money in her piggy bank and periodically handed her tithing envelope to the bishop on Sundays. But a few months ago, she decided to save her money for something specific: a Tiana doll.



For those not in the Disney princess loop (poor souls ... it's the ultimate loop to be a part of), Tiana is the protagonist in Disney's latest animated movie The Princess and the Frog. Bekah hadn't even seen the movie when she decided to save for Tiana, but you can be sure that when she finally saw it, it only fueled her ambition to save even more.

Tiana cost $11. Bekah still had weeks to go. To show her her progress and help her understand, I helped her count her money, told her how much she would have to earn to have enough, counted up the weeks that it would take to get the rest, and circled the date on her (Disney princess) calendar. At first, she faithfully crossed off each day. After a while, she seemed to forget.

Still, she continued with her chores as expected. And she continued to save her money and pay her tithing.

Then last Friday, Bekah looked at her calendar and said, "I can get Tiana on 2-7. Ma (that's what she's been calling me lately), when is 2-7?"

"It's tomorrow, Rebekah."

You would have thought I just told her that tomorrow was Christmas. She was so eager for the next day to come that when it finally did, she ran into our room at 7 a.m. (she knows she's not allowed in our room any earlier unless it's an emergency ... I need sleep, people!), ran back out, got dressed all on her own, and started asking when she could get Tiana.

Seth and I agreed that we could stop by Target on our way to skiing (see earlier post). We parked the car, went inside, walked straight to the Disney princess aisle, and let Bekah carry her doll to the cash register.

"This is all we're getting today," she announced to our cashier. Then she proceeded to list all the chores she had to do and how long she had to wait in order to make this purchase. He patiently listened to her and waited as I counted up all the bills and coins in Bekah's Elmo lunch box where she had emptied her piggy bank for the purpose of paying for her beloved Tiana.

As for her next chore money purchase, she is currently undecided. When you spend several months anticipating and then finally acquiring a princess doll, it's hard to even fathom what might come next.

Bunny hill

Seth and I PROMISED Bekah that we'd take her to the bunny hill this year. We knew that Ana wouldn't be a fan of the cold for so long, so she got to stay and have a date with Grandma Susan and Grandpa Dennis while we had a date with our eldest child last Saturday.

Bekah decked out in her skiing garb. We rented the skis, boots and "Edgie Wedgie" (that keeps the tips of the skis from coming too far apart) from the rental shop, and Bekah fretted every time that darn Wedgie came off. By the way, we forgot the "mommy camera," so these were shot on the cell phone, which means that black blur on the lower left is the phone case.

Mind you, Seth has been on skis for decades. I have only been on them a dozen or so times, and only after I starting dating Seth. So when Seth said that Bekah was old enough to go skiing, I relied on his expert alpine opinion.

Not that I'm trying to prove Seth wrong in any way. We saw kids younger than Bekah going up the rope tow and down the bunny hill without any assistance. And we saw kids only a year or two older than Bekah going down hills steeper than I've ever dared try. But this is BEKAH that we had with us--you know, the girl who refuses to put her head under water, the girl who refuses to be carried piggy-back up the stairs, the girl who refuses to climb the toys at McDonald's because she's "afraid of heights."

So it's safe to assume that she was quite timid on the slopes. In fact, she got to the point where she refused to have me let go of her so she could ski the five-foot gap between me and Seth who skied backwards and slightly ahead of us.

Andrea and Bekah coming down the hill. Note the look of trepidation on the four-year-old's face.

Not to say that the day was a waste. Bekah now knows that in order to slow down or stop, she needs to make a triangle with her skis. She knows that she would much prefer to go up the hill on the tow rope than come down. She knows that it's hard to stand back up after falling down in skis. And she knows that, no matter how slowly she begs her mom to go, she'll always beat her daddy in a race.

Little bookworms

Yesterday, I picked up Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox at the library. And yesterday, Bekah made us read more than half of it to her. Apparently she likes it. Or she likes that she gets to watch the movie after we've read it. Either way, she insisted that Seth read some more to her before bed last night. And, for some reason, he ended up snuggling with our two girls in our bed while reading.

It was a sweet scene, so I stole downstairs to grab my camera. Unfortunately, Ana saw me coming and dove under the covers. Bekah was too enthralled with the story to duck in time.

Ana (under the covers), Seth and Bekah enjoying Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Ana attempting to re-hide after I threw the covers off her.

Bekah trying to hide under her blankie.

33 weeks and counting

What I thought would be a typical check-up at my OB/GYN's office turned out to be slightly non-typical. Everything was as expected at first. The perky nurse asked how I'm feeling ("Tired, but otherwise fine, thanks."), took my blood pressure (normal), weighed me (not gonna admit what I'm up to, even though I have a perfectly good reason) and deposited me in an exam room.

Then the doctor came in. He asked if I had any questions ("Can I please fill this prescription so I can breathe?"), looked over my chart ("Looks like you're at 33 weeks." "Yup.") and told me to climb up on the exam table. He pulled out his trusty measuring tape and I pulled up/down my various layers of maternity clothes so he could see/feel my belly. He felt around for my uterus, measured it, felt around again, remeasured it, felt around YET again and re-remeasured it. "Hmmm," he said.

Just as I was about to yelp, "What?! What's up with my baby?!" his phone rang. If he were anyone else but my doctor, I would have picked it up and thrown it across the room, but I suppose that doctors need to answer calls while at work. He finished his phone business and turned back to me.

"You're baby's measuring at 29 weeks. Is this your first?"

"No, my third."

"How big were the other two?"

"My first was 6 pounds, 12 ounces. My second was 7 pounds, 9 ounces."

"Is this one a boy or a girl?"

"Girl."

"Hmmm. Girls tend to be a little bit smaller, and your first baby was a little small. It's probably nothing, but I'd like to make sure that this baby isn't TOO small. Is it okay if we do another ultrasound?"

"Yessir, doctor, sir. Whatever you say." (Or something like that.)

So away I went to the ultrasound room.

My super-ultra-perky ultrasound technician took one look at me and my chart with the "growth assessment" sticky note attached and said, "Dr. Baker just likes to be careful. My bet is that your baby's fine. You're just tall."

I lay down on the table, once again burrowed through my layers to expose my belly, and received a generous helping of "slime," as the technician referred to it. She whizzed through everything: "Whatcha having. A girl? I'll double-check that for ya. Water looks goods. Baby's sitting low. Head down. Yup, definitely a girl. Wow. You're baby's head is big. Can't see her face. Her arms are crossed in front of it. Femur's the right size. She's right on target. Right now she weighs 4 pounds, 10 ounces. Due date doesn't change. She's just so low that her head is wedged in your pelvis. Everything's perfect."

Whew.

I didn't really expect anything to be wrong, but every "hmmm" from a doctor to a pregnant woman sends her into a tizzy. And as far as the head being wedged in my pelvis, I could have told you that. By the time I'm finished grocery shopping, I'm limping like an 80-year-old arthritic woman.

Only seven(ish) more weeks to go!

chocolate strawberries

The other night I got home from work and sat down to eat dinner with Andrea and the girls. Andrea had undertaken, with the Bekah and Ana's "help," to make a batch of chocolate-covered strawberries as her Valentine's Day present for me. She had, of course, sworn the girls to secrecy.

As we sat at the table, I asked, "So girls, what did you do today?"

Bekah reported some of her activities to me, then Ana excitedly blurted out "And chocolate strawberries!!!"

Andrea put her finger to pursed lips and said, "Ana, shh!" in hopes that I hadn't heard or understood.

Ana, confused, lowered her voice and whispered "Chocolate strawberries." The poor girl was bewildered about why Mommy wanted her to say it more quietly.

Slowly, however, it dawned on her what she'd done. Her brow furrowed and her little mouth turned into a pout. Despite Andrea's attempts to prevent the flood, soon big, round tears were rolling down her little cheeks. She eventually calmed down and her usual smile returned, and Andrea and I had a good laugh later about it.

Anyway, it doesn't have to be Valentine's Day for me to realize I'm the luckiest man in the world, with the three best Valentines a guy could hope for.

A little pre-Valentine's Day love

We're suckers. Or, at least, we're impatient. We couldn't wait until tomorrow to give the girls the Valentine's Day surprise that Seth had lovingly picked out for them. So this morning before we got dressed or ate breakfast, Seth unveiled their present: little frog princes (accompanied by heart chocolates) that make smoochy noises when you squeeze their knees.

We had watched the new Princess and the Frog movie just last week, so the girls are on a frog-princess kick. And Seth well knew that they'd be head-over-heels for the dolls.

After lunch, the girls had to change out of their jeans and T-shirts so they could play the part completely. Out came the oft-worn princess dresses that Grandma Scott made for their birthdays last summer, and consequently, out came my camera.

Ana inspecting her frog while Bekah shows me hers.

The girls giving their frogs smooches.

Ana and her prince.

Bekah and hers.

Open mouth, insert foot

You'd think Seth would have realized by now (after more than six years of marriage and three pregnancies) that you never EVER make comments that can in any way be misconstrued by your wife as being derogatory in the weight department. You'd think. Then why has he made the following THREE comments on THREE separate occasions?

#1
Me: "I wish I had some bigger pants."
Seth: "Bigger than MATERNITY PANTS?!"
(The maternity pants fit me just fine, by the way. I was referring to pajama pants.)

#2
Me: "I look like a beached whale."
Seth: "You're not beached."

#3
While sitting on the couch after the girls' bedtime watching T.V.
Seth: (Scoots closer to me) "I'll come over to be in your orbit."

So apparently now that I'm seven months pregnant and my girth has exceeded what even super-stretchy maternity pants can handle and I've adapted to living out of the ocean, I now have my own gravitational pull. Swell.

(But honestly, after shooting him a crusty and pointing out the error of his ways, we have both had a good laugh over Seth's slips. I'm not posting this to exact revenge or tattle on my husband; I just think that these are too hilarious to remain unpublished. Love you, Seth. ;-))