37 and 5

This baby has finally made it to 37 weeks! I feel like everyone has told me "she could come anytime" for months now but now there really is an end in sight. Today my doctor said that this baby will maximize her growth at 39 weeks so if she doesn't come on her own before that she wants to induce. I definitely would rather go into labor myself so I'm crossing my fingers and saying lots of prayers.

Last week I had another ultrasound and the baby weighed 5 lbs! She's still very small, only the 15% overall but a 5 lb. baby sounds great to me after weeks of looking at a 2, 3, and 4 lb. baby on the screen.

It is strange to think that a baby really will come at the end of all this. I think I've told some of you that I don't feel pregnant I just feel like I'm sick, that something's wrong with me. A healthy baby would sure be a nice prize!

Birthday #2

Trevor's 2nd birthday was a few weeks ago. Here's a few quick shots of his big day:
Little party at home with mom and dad. This year he definitely knew that birthdays meant cake and candles!

This is what we got Birch, I mean Trevor, for his birthday: a 7-ft. racetrack that's meant to attach to the top of a door for the ultimate vertical drop. The black thing on the door is an elevator to get the cars up that high. I guess Birch had a similar toy growing up and has great memories of it so now we're passing it on to Trevor. Luckily it's a toy he will grow into, right?

Where the track usually stays: on the couch or the floor. Those of you who know Trevor well (or who have sat by us during church) can imagine the droning, motor sound he's making as the cars race down the track.

We celebrated with a barbeque at a lake by our house. This lovely pinata is homemade--fun to do but took a lot more time than I expected. Next year I'll just pay $10-15 bucks for one at the grocery store.

Trevor's friends and their parents. Sorry I didn't get a picture of everyone!

Maybe a Cow Would Be Cheaper

For weeks I've been resisting the need to buy ANOTHER gallon of milk when I go grocery shopping. This brings our grand total to FOUR gallons of milk for a family of three per week. Isn't that a little excessive? It seems like you should never be buying more gallons of milk than there are people in your house.


I can't say I wasn't warned by Birch's parents when we got married. I've often heard the story of how much milk they had in their fridge for weeks when he left for college before they realized who the milk guzzler in the family was.


In my own family, I remember grocery shopping with my mom and loading eight gallons of milk into the cart for our family of nine. We were VERY happy when Sam's Club came to town! Once my mom even assigned a separate gallon for every person in the family to show us who was drinking more than their fair share. A name was written with marker on every gallon and by the end of the week, my teenage brother was buying milk off the younger kids. My middle sister had the idea to add chocolate syrup to her gallon but wasn't sure that was such a great plan after a few days of chocolate milk on her cereal.


I guess it could be worse. My boys could be asking for 4 bags of chips per week, 4 containers of ice cream or 4 frozen pizzas. And the price of milk has gone down from a few months ago so it's not quite as expensive. But it's probably not as necessary to be buying orange juice fortified with calcium.


Does your family eat a ridiculous amount of any food?

Raisins Only Go in Our Mouth

I'm sure most of you can guess the end of this story. Our church had an evening meeting last Saturday night that we took Trevor to. He and I were looking at books while he snacked on raisins and then came the innocent question: "Where the raisin go? Raisin all gone!" Not too concerned, I looked around on the floor without any clues. Trevor touched his nose with his finger and I remembered the many times he has tried to put peas, corn, etc. up his nose and in his ears during dinner. We've always caught him but this time it was too late.

Birch and I left the meeting and did what all child care books tell you NOT to do: tried to get the raisin out ourselves at home with tweezers. The main problem was keeping Trevor still while the raisin got pushed further and further back.

Eventually we did go to the emergency room. Fortunately everyone there was sympathetic and loved seeing a toddler in the ER with a simple problem like a raisin up his nose. Right away Trevor scored ice cream from a new friend in the waiting room and in the end got a popsicle when the whole ordeal was over. Luckily he didn't have to be sedated, just wrapped tightly in a sheet and held down by several doctors and nurses while his nostril was held open for the tools to get inside.

We had several conversations with hospital staff about this being a "rite of passage" and I think it was as much for me as it was for him. I already know I don't do well with blood or any body trauma so visits to the ER for my kids will be mainly Birch's responsibility. I think this was a good start for me: we went through the process without too many tears and at least now I know what to expect.

I just hope Trevor remembers the tight sheet and not the ice cream and popsicles. The ER staff who helped us were great but I'd rather not see them ever again. :)

Not Quite As Manly

I think Birch lost a few man points today when he sold his truck. Since we can't fit four people in a 3-seat pick-up it was the car that had to go when we bought our Highlander a few weeks ago. We've been meaning to post it on Craigslist but when the engine started smoking over the weekend we realized it really was time to go.

The funny thing is, Birch has always been a small car guy. When we were in high school he drove an old BMW so I was surprised when he wanted to buy this truck a few years ago. But in his mind it qualified as a "small truck" and it's been handy for lots of projects. And even though it wasn't the prettiest thing in the world, there's something I still like about being picked up by a man with a truck.

Book Stack

I'm slowly making my way through the pile of books by my bed. Some have been recommended to me by lots of people, others were given to help me pass the time in the hospital. The best part is they were all easy to get through and with my history of not finishing books it's been a small victory! Let me know if you've found any other good reads lately.


I started out thinking my language was Words of Affirmation but now it might be Quality Time. This one I'll definitely read again in a few years.





The Five Love Languages and Love and Logic were the most recommended and both I would buy to have handy on the shelf. My favorite thing about this book was the emphasis on keeping yourself in control and even happy as you discipline your kids.



This was written by Emily Watts, an LDS Church member. It's full of funny stories mixed with advice on parenting.





This was my first Nicholas Sparks novel and I REALLY liked it. I've been nervous to read his books because I'm so cautious about what I read but this was a sweet story about an older man's plan to make his wife fall in love with him again.




Christy is one of my favorite characters because she is so REAL! She's kind, ambitious and also judgmental, like any of us would be. I also liked this book because of what I learned about history in the early 1900's. 500 pages, but if I can make it through, anyone can.