Babies, Babies, Babies

Warning: This is a birth story so if you don't like that kind of thing, go ahead and skip this post.

And, uh, it's a little long.

Friday morning my dad came over bright and early so he could be here for the kids while I went in to get induced. Maybe. First I had an appointment with my doctor to decide if we really wanted to induce me or not.

After a few hours at the doctor's office, being hooked up to some monitors, getting an ultrasound and a blood test, we decided it would be better to wait. I was dilated to 4cm, though. That was good news, but I kind of thought it would be more after having contractions all Wednesday night that were 3-4 minutes apart. We had actually planned on going to the hospital Thursday morning if they were still going, but they weren't.

But, it wasn't like nothing got done on Friday! The guys came and put the new window in the girls' room downstairs, and my dad brought a door that he put on! It was so exciting! Since my dad was here with his truck, I had him take me to Home Depot so we could get the rest of the stuff for the room. I ended up spending a lot more than I had planned!

Pete and I got to work painting that night after the kids were in bed. We did one coat of the pink that night, then another coat in the morning. I also painted the downstairs bathroom blue, and, oh, it's so pretty! I love both colors! (pictures to come... sometime)

My dad came back Saturday to help us (Pete) put wainscoting up on the walls, and we got my brother to come help too. I helped out a little, but I mostly stayed out of the way, cleaned the house and watched kids.

Watching a movie with the cousins - they were really happier about this than they look! (Our next project is to fix that wall behind the couch.)

It was probably 8 or 9 by the time everyone left, and the girls were all set to sleep down there for the first time. They were so excited! (I wish I would have taken more pictures!!)

Anyway, just before everyone left I decided I should start timing contractions because I was starting to have a lot again. They were the same kind I was having on Wednesday: not painful, just really tight and uncomfortable. They were about 4 minutes apart, but I wasn't too concerned. I figured I'd just go to bed and have a repeat of Wednesday night.

I woke up during the night several times, still noticing the contractions, but they were about the same. Then at about 5:00, Ethan woke up with a bad dream. I got him calmed down, and when I got back in bed I started timing again. My contractions were still about 4-5 minutes apart so I woke Pete up and told him we probably should go to the hospital soon, but that I wanted to wait just a little longer before we called anyone. I just hate calling people so early in the morning!

So, I laid in bed for about an hour, and I was just thinking, "I should get up and get something to eat before we go because it's probably going to be a long day and I'll need my strength." Plus my stomach was growling.

Then, all of a sudden I sat up, saying, "Woah!" because my water had just broken! I probably scared Pete to death! He jumped up and grabbed me a towel. I could not believe how much water it was either! Yikes! By the time I got to the shower, I had my next contraction, and BOY what a difference that water breaking makes. It was already really painful!

Pete called my dad and our neighbor to come over until my dad got there. She was very nice to come over so early in the morning! She got here at about 6:30.

We were all settled in our awesome, huge room at the hospital by about 7am. My contractions were really strong and close together, but I really wanted to try to do this one naturally. I kept telling myself, "I can do this. I've done an Ironman - I can do this." At one point, Pete reminded me of this, and I said, "An Ironman is a lot more fun!" He was a great coach, though. He also kept having me think of the contractions as one more mile I could tick off or just a hill I had to get over, and he kept having me imagine all the people cheering at the finish line.

I made it until 9 (2 hours), then I was crying and shaking and saying "I can't do it!" and I was hardly getting any relief between contractions. When the nurse checked me again, I was only at 4.5 cm so I told her, "Ok, Epidural then." Now I could understand how people on TV get to the hospital and want an epidural right away. I've always just had it get painful so gradually that I've been able to wait a while.

The nurse told me that with the epidural I might progress a lot faster because I would be able to relax and let the contractions do their work. I was NOT relaxing before the epidural. After I got it, I was so happy. I just laid there thinking about how this was the first time in 9 months that I was able to just lay there without feeling any pain in my belly, back or hips.

It was kind of funny because I was just laying there texting my sister for a while. I thought my phone would have kept better track of the time of these texts, but it only shows the time twice. I'm thinking there must have been more time passing than it shows. (maybe Katie's phone shows the times and she can get me that info...) Anyway, here's part of our conversation:

8:57am

me: I'm in the hospital. We'll get to meet George soon!

katie: What happened? All that work yesterday

me: I guess so! My water broke while I was laying in bed this morning. It was pretty crazy!

...

me: I just got an epidural. I like.

katie: Well, now you know what it's like to go into labor

me: Yeah, I'm so happy about that!

...

me: She just checked me and I'm 8cm! Wow!

katie: Two more to go!

me: !

...

10:02 am

katie: Is he here yet?

me: Not yet but I'm at a 9 now. We're really close!

I loved my epidural and was glad to just be excited now. I was sublimely happy from here on out for the next few days. I did start feeling nauseated again right before they had me start pushing, but once I started pushing I felt better.

I don't know how long I pushed for, but it was a little while, and at one point my doctor said, "The baby's not doing great so lets try to hurry and get him out." That made me nervous, and helped motivate me to push really hard. They had set up a mirror for me so I got to watch him come out which was really surreal, and it was such an awesome feeling to get him out! I don't think there's anything that's more of a relief than to have your baby come out, see how beautiful he is and hear him cry.

George was finally born at about 11am, 5 days after his due date. He was 8 pounds 4 ounces - my biggest baby. My others were all in the 7 pound range. Only 20 inches long, though. I think that's shorter than Ethan was. He has reddish blond hair, almost exactly the same color as mine, and he's just so sweet!

(first bath)

I love that I was able to go into labor myself! It was so much better that way! I'm also so glad I didn't have to have another C-section. Those really hurt! :)

Recipes!

Just so you know, I've updated my Ironman post, adding in pictures. I don't know how I can call myself a blogger and not have put pictures in there in the first place!

Also, just so you know, I haven't had the baby yet. :)

While I'm sitting here timing contractions, I thought I'd share some fun recipes I've been enjoying lately! (I'm so happy to have my appetite back!)

Aloo Gobi

This first one is an vegetarian Indian recipe that is actually from the bonus real of Bend It Like Beckham. If you haven't seen that movie, you should watch it. It's pretty good, and while you're at it, watch how to make Aloo Gobi, then use this recipe to make some for yourself sometime.

It is so good. I've tried making this a couple times, but this recipe is the best I've tried and it turns out so good! It's like you're eating at an Indian restaurant (minus the naan. I just need to learn how to make that good now). Plus, you can feel good about what you're eating while you enjoy it, especially if you make some brown rice to go with it.

Now for Dessert

I actually have two kinds of cookies I've really enjoyed making recently. I need to cut back on making cookies, but at least these cookies are healthy-ish.

First: Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Craisin Cookies

(adapted from Nestles Choc-Oat-Chip Cookies)

These were also slightly inspired by RubySnap (formerly known as DoughGirl) with her Audry cookie: "Almond dough packed full of adoration, almonds, cranberries and white chocolate." I usually hate it when people put nuts in cookies, but these cookies are an exception! Anyway...

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
3/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/2 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup craisins

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat brown sugar and butter in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs, milk and vanilla and almond extract. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats, morsels and craisins; mix well. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 10 minutes for chewy cookies or 12 to 13 minutes for crispy cookies. Cool on baking sheets for 1 minute; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Second: Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies

(adapted from Martha Stewart's recipe, thank you very much!)

Oh. My. Gosh. These are so good! My mouth is watering just thinking about them...

I made these one day when I happened to have some left-over cream cheese frosting and grated carrots and Elle wanted to make cookies with frosting. They were perfect!

Ingredients

Makes about 25 sandwiches

1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots, (about 3 large carrots)
1 cup raisins (I did not put raisins in mine. Yuck! But, please feel free to put them in yours if you wish.)


Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpat baking mats or parchment paper, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugars and butter; beat until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat on medium speed until well combined.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger; stir to combine. Gradually add flour to butter mixture; mix on a low speed until just blended. Mix in oats, carrots, and raisins. Chill dough in refrigerator until firm, at least 1 hour. (I didn't chill mine. They were thick enough for me for some reason, on the reviews people said it was really thin, so use your best judgment here)

Using a 1/2-ounce ice-cream scoop, scoop dough onto prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies. Transfer to oven, and bake until browned and crisped, rotating pan halfway through baking to ensure even color, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat baking process with remaining dough. Once cooled completely, use an offset spatula to spread about 2 teaspoons of cream-cheese filling onto a cookie. Sandwich together with a second cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

(We didn't store these in the fridge because they didn't really last long enough to store. I did only make half a batch with just enough for everyone to have one for family night. And one for Elle and I to "try" beforehand.)

So, there you go. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did! And I'll try to stop think about them now. I mean, now. NOW.

40 Laps for 40 Weeks & The Plan

Thank you all for your support and encouragement! It really does help me out a lot to know so many people are thinking about me. :)

This morning I decided I didn't want to sit around waiting to go into labor again so I went to the pool and swam 40 laps - one for each week I've been pregnant. It seemed only fitting. Plus it was a good little workout.

I broke it up into 10 sets of 4 to help me keep track, and here's what I did:

1. 4 kick board/fins
2. 4 free
3. 4 pull buoy/paddles
4. 4 free
5. 4 pull buoy/paddles
6. 4 free
7. 4 butterfly - I've never even done a full lap with butterfly, usually just a few strokes at the end for fun, but the guy next to me was doing it and it looked like fun so I thought it would be good to mix things up a bit. It was painfully slow, though! Plus, it felt like it was going to use up all my energy so I switched back to free after 2 laps. Then I felt like a big ol' quitter and switched back to butterfly for the last lap.
8. 4 pull buoy/paddles
9. 4 free
10. 2 kick board/fins + 2 backstroke

It took me about 40 minutes to do all that, which isn't bad considering I was taking it easy and all the belly drag and whatnot. It was so nice to be able to do this while Elle was at preschool so I didn't feel rushed or anything. By the time I got out, though, I was having some pretty bad heartburn. Yuck. I will be happy when that's all over! I'll be happy to get rid of this big belly too. Pete likes me when I'm pregnant and I have to say I like some of the added curves, but the belly's getting old. It's so weird to think that there's a baby in there!!

I feel really good today. Too good! I'm really going to to try not to worry about it. It will happen when it happens. Later will actually be better because then we might actually get the girls' room done before George comes!

Anyway. We had a nice little teaching moment last night with the kids that I wanted to write down.

We've been reading The Book of Mormon as a family, and last night we were in Mosiah 3 and we got to verse 11 which says:

For behold, and also his ^ablood ^batoneth for the sins of those who have ^cfallen by the transgression of Adam, who have died not knowing the ^dwill of God concerning them, or who have^eignorantly sinned.

Pete stopped to explain to the kids what that means. (I love that he does this!) How some people believe that if someone dies without knowing about Jesus, they go to Hell, but that that's not true. The kids were asking questions, and Elle said, "If there wasn't Hell, then people wouldn't go to Hell," or something like that. (That sounds kind of funny coming from a 4 year old.) Pete decided he had some more explaining to do so he drew a diagram of The Plan of Salvation that looked almost exactly like this:

He explained that there isn't really just a Heaven and Hell, that all the kingdoms of glory are really nice, and that Outer Darkness is very small and not very many people will go there. We want to make it to the Celestial Kingdom because that's where Heavenly Father and Jesus will be, but you have to be perfect to live there so there has to be a place for everybody. Pete explained that even people who do bad things, can repent and get to the Celestial Kingdom. (For more info about this click here.)

We talked about how George is right on the line between Pre-Earth Life and Mortality. Isn't that exciting? Of course, we don't really know when you actually leave pre-earth life and when you enter mortality. I mean, he's definitely alive and moving around right now, but he's not born yet so it's hard to put a label on that.

Then, when Pete asked if anyone had any questions, Ethan asked, "Why did they make this world anyway?"

Elle pipes right in, "So we could live here!"

It was so cute, and such a perfect answer! Leave it to a child to keep things plain and simple. As adults, we tend to over-analize everything and make things more complicated than they need to be. I mean, I'm sure the Plan is much more complicated than we can ever understand, but all we really need to understand is that Heavenly Father and Jesus did make the Earth so that we could come live here, and so we could get our bodies and our families. It's a wonderful plan. I'm so glad I know about it and that I can teach my children where they came from and what we're trying to accomplish in this life.

Last night I also got released from my calling in the Primary at church which is really sad, but it will also be good to be able to just focus on the baby for a little while. I'm so excited to meet the newest person in our family! Hopefully it will be in the next few days!

1-11-11

Well, today came and went just like any other day with no signs of labor whatsoever. It would have been too good to be true to have my baby ON my due date, though.

I had a doctor appointment yesterday and at least I am progressing! I'm dilated to 3+ cm and 50% effaced. I did tell her that I really don't want to be induced so we set up an appointment for Friday morning so she can monitor the baby and do an ultrasound just to make sure everything's ok to wait. However, she doesn't want me to go more than 7-10 days over so if we don't induce on Friday, we will between the 18th and 20th.

Now I'm feeling really torn about being induced or not. I know it's safer for me to go into labor myself, but I just don't know if I can do that. I was induced for my first two four days after their due dates, then had a c-section with Elle because she was breech, so I don't know what would have happened with her. So, we're thinking maybe we'll do the induction after all. I do want my doctor to check me out first on Friday before we decide, but it would be a lot more convenient since my dad already has the day off and is planning on coming to watch the kids. Crazy?

I can't decide! Hopefully I'll just go into labor myself Friday morning, then I won't have to worry about it.

1 Week to Go!

Are we there yet?

Wanna know something weird? The past few days (not counting yesterday), I've been feeling so much better! It's weird. I've had this surge of energy, I haven't felt sick very much and I'm actually getting a ton of stuff done! It's so nice. I've been nesting like crazy! The house is cleaner than it's been in a long time, we got the crib set up in our room, we got a car seat, I've been happily making dinner every night and I even made bread today!

That isn't to say that I'm not terribly uncomfortable, but that kind of goes without saying, doesn't it? I mean, I think I would explode if someone poked my belly with a pin like they do in cartoons!

Watch out for that little orange, poky dinosaur belly! (?)

Sunday night, right after bragging about feeling so much better, I had the worst night! I get this pain in my left ribs that feels like something is pushing on them (which is probably exactly what it is), and sometimes it gets so bad it even kind of goes numb. I usually only get this when I'm sitting up, but Sunday night I had it all night and couldn't find a position to make it go away. On top of that, my hip kept hurting, I was feeling sick and my mind would not let me rest! Ug, it was terrible. I finally got up at around 3 for a little while, then I was able to go to sleep for a couple hours after that. Luckily, the kids were back in school on Monday so I was able to take a nap pretty much the whole time Elle was in preschool. I did feel a little better after that.

Last night I slept so much better, and I have felt really good today! Taking advantage of feeling good, I took Elle to the childcare at the gym and went for a nice easy swim. It felt so good to be back in the water. I haven't been swimming for probably 2 or 3 weeks (Or more?), not counting taking the kids swimming twice during Christmas break. I just love that I feel like a normal person again when I'm swimming.

I swam for about half an hour and did a total of 1550 yards.

Tonight I also got to go out to dinner with my sister-in-laws. They brought me cute baby presents and we had a nice time talking about all things baby. One of them just had a baby and the other one is newly pregnant so it's on all of our minds!

It was a great day. I can do this!

Happy New Year!

Wow, I can't believe it's already 2011! I'd like to say that this year just flew by, but then I think back to all my long days feeling sick and I can't decide if it did or not. It does seem weird because I'm now planning for the same race schedule (almost) I was last year at this time, so it's like last year didn't happen.

Looking back at my New Years post from last year, here are my resolutions for 2010 and how I did:

1. Pay the credit card off (We DID have it paid off before Christmas... I don't dare look at it now.)
2. Have family home evening every Monday (I'd say we had family night most Mondays, and the kids now expect it so that's good!)
3. Read from the scriptures every day (I may have skipped a few days)
4. Finish the whole Bible (Um, yeah, the Bible is really long! I'm still in the middle of Psalms. Pete says I'm crazy and that nobody reads the whole Bible, but I'll keep plugging along.)
5. Be more patient with my kids (... this one's hard to really track. I think I'm getting better though)
6. Give my kids more positive feedback (Also hard to track. I'll keep working on it.)
7. Go to the temple more often (This really didn't happen. We only went a few times. Sad.)
8. Finish a marathon in under 4 hours (No marathon for me last year.)
9. Qualify for Age Group Nationals at BAM (No BAM either.)

Getting pregnant really changed a lot of my plans for the year and made it a lot less eventful, but it was still a really great year! I am just so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and fun children, and I'm excited for the new baby who we'll be meeting really soon now! I know 2011 will be a great year too, and I can't wait to get started!

Last night I went out for New Years Eve for the first time since y2k I think! We have some awesome friends who offered to have the kids sleep over at their house so we could go out, and I'm so thankful to them! We had reservations with some friends at a fancy restaurant called Forage where we had a 9 course "tasting" meal. It was so cool. They brought us the menu, but we didn't have to make any decisions. The waiter just started bringing us food. Each course was really little, but very beautifully presented and very good, and we had a lot of time between courses to chat with our friends. It ended up taking 2 1/2 hours for the whole thing, and we were all just amazed at how delicious some of the things were. We even got to try squab ("What is a squab anyway?" "You know what a squab is. It's kine of like a pigeon I guess.") which was delicious, and Elk. I've eaten Elk a ton, but our friend had never had it before, and this Elk was like a really good steak. It must have been farm raised. Everything was local and seasonal which is really cool. It was so much fun! It might have to be our new tradition.

We got home at around 10 so we just watched a movie and had cheese and crackers. The movie ended at exactly 12 too! It was a fun night, and since we didn't have kids this morning we went out to breakfast. We wanted to go to The Park Cafe which is our favorite for breakfast, but it was closed so we went to Coachman's instead which was really good. I'm excited for the kids to get home, though. Oddly enough, I miss them! I even dreamt about Elle. I hope she had a good time and didn't wake up with any nightmares like she is prone to do.

iCal - how I've missed you!

If you didn't hear from my last post, I got a new laptop for Christmas!!

It's really nice, and really more than I deserve or need right now, but I'm going to put it to good use! It came with the new iLife and I'm excited to use that to make some awesome photo books so I don't lose any more photos! It's also got iCal. One thing I really missed about having my own computer was iCal. Sure, I know I could have gotten an old fashioned analog calendar and used it to keep my life organized, but let's be realistic here. How could I ever go back to paper when I've experienced the ease of using iCal?

In the last few days, I've gotten 5 Calendars going: Training, Dinners, Food, Finances, and Appointments (and that's the order I created them in... where are my priorities?).

It's probably too small to really see, but here's my training calendar: (click on it to see it bigger)



I've got myself starting running about a month after the baby's due. I might have to push that back to 6 weeks or just start out a little easier than I've got planned, but we'll see. I'm flexible, but I still like to have it all spelled out there for me. :)

I've also got myself going to a Cycle and Core class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and swimming on Saturdays. I like to think of that swim as a nice recovery for the week, and I can bring the whole family with me since we now have a family pass to our nearby rec center! Yay! Sundays, as usual, are rest days.

There's also something called TriWater on Monday and Wednesday mornings. I might just have to find out what that's all about, or I can just go swim those mornings when I feel like I need to add in more swimming. Really, I just need to focus on running for a while, though, to get myself ready for Utah Valley Marathon which I'm pretty sure I'm going to switch over to the Utah Valley Half Marathon. That just sounds a lot less stressful and I know I can be ready for that on time without hurting myself in the process. My sister likes this idea as well since she'll be working and going to school full time and doesn't feel like she'll have time to train for a full marathon right now. That's cool. Half will be my distance this year. Full next year.

Onto the food! Here's my Dinners calendar:



This one is my favorite because now I've got dinners planned out for the whole month! Yay! I also have each dinner repeating every 4 weeks so I don't have to go through and plan this out every month. If we don't like something, I'll just switch it with something else. Also, if 4 weeks seems to be to often to eat everything, I can always go in and add more things later.

The hardest thing for me about cooking dinner is knowing what I'm going to make and having the ingredients to make it when dinner time comes. I've been really bad about this lately, especially because when dinner time comes around, usually nothing sounds good to me. I'm hoping that will change once I'm not pregnant anymore. Of course, then I'll have a baby to add into the mix.

Anyway, this calendar is really handy because I put the url of the recipe (if it's online, which most of them are) in the location section of the event so I can just pop over to Safari and look at that when I'm making my shoping list and when it's time to make the meal. I'm really excited for this, and I hope it helps keep us eating healthy dinners and also save us money because we won't be so inclined to eat out as much if I've got a yummy dinner planned.

Speaking of babies, my friend who was due the same day as me, was induced today. She's in the hospital this very minute having her little girl! (Congratulations, Sara, I hope everything goes well!)

I have a doctor appointment tomorrow so we'll see how things are progressing for me on that front. I've been having a lot of contractions and just feeling super uncomfortable, but I don't know if that means labor is in the near future or if it just means I'm 38 weeks pregnant.

Our Christmas

We had such an amazing Christmas this year! It could have been the best one yet. George even got some stuff, and he’s not even born yet! Lucky guy.

The day started off with Pete waking me up at 3am because he sat up to see what time it was. I guess he was too excited to sleep which has to be pretty excited for him! At the time, though, I thought it was more like 6 for some reason so I just kind of laid there waiting for the kids to wake up. Eventually, I realized how early it was and went back to sleep for a little while. They ended up getting up at about 6:30 which isn’t too bad. I think we told them 7, but we got up anyway since we couldn’t sleep any longer either.

Opening presents was fun and crazy of course. I just managed to take a few pictures:

Ethan got a book that they learned the song to last year in school so that was just perfect! He sat down right then and there and read the whole thing! We're so proud of him, he's getting really good at reading! At 3:00, all my family came over, and the excitement began again! We had a really yummy dinner, then opened more presents:

Shane, Heather, and Aria

Baxter

Grandma Angela, handing out some pretty freaking awesome handmade presents for all the kids.

Katie trying to get Mindy to smile. This is the best we could get! It was such a fun day. Everyone got WAY too spoiled, especially me since Pete got me a Macbook Air! It's so beautiful and little! Plus, we got the kids a Kinect for the Xbox360 and some fun games to go with it. It's like a wii, only without controllers. You just move around to do everything. We had quite a good time playing that with everyone, along with Rockband 3 to finish out the day. Wow, what a Christmas!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

We love you and wish you all happiness this Christmas, and in the year to come!

Love,

The Lasko Family

Staycation

For the last few days, Pete and I had a wonderful "staycation" (as they call), where you just take time off and do fun things or relax around your house. The kids were at my dad's and we did both fun things and relax, and it was really nice. I told you about Monday night, when we got a new couch and put it together. Well, here's the couch in all her beauty:

I couldn't quite get the whole thing, it's so big, and the boxes were in the way so I couldn't back up any more! The kids have now made an awesome fort out of all the boxes!

Tuesday I had my doctor appointment, and Pete went snowboarding. I'm happy he got to go, and he said the powder was unbelievable! When he got done, I picked him up with our swimming stuff and we went to a near-by rec center that has a hot tub for him and a lap pool for me. We had to pay because my membership is up. So sad. Maybe I'll get a new one for Christmas. (hint hint). Anyway, I took it really easy, and I was glad to not be doing a serious workout because the pool was really warm! It felt nice to just swim a few laps in, though. I think I did a total of 800-1000 m or something like that. I had a few contractions, and the baby kept kicking me while I was swimming. That's just a weird feeling so I was happy to get out when Pete was done with the hot tub.

After swimming we went out to dinner and got Pho. I'd never had it before, but Pete's always talking about it. It's a Vietnamese soup with beef and rice noodles that you put thai basil and bean sprouts in. It was so good! I think I'm going to be craving that again very soon!

Yesterday we drove to Heber to pick the kids up. It was raining here, but snowing and so beautiful there! It really made me miss Heber, but Pete reminded me that that was because I'm not the one who would do the shoveling! Very true.

They were all out playing in the snow when we got there, which is good since we don't have any snow at home, and look at the awesome Dr. Seuss snowman they made:

While we were driving around they kept playing my running songs on the radio, and it just made me want to run! I'm getting so excited to be able to start training again so I started looking into a training plan for the Utah Valley Marathon. I know it's a little early, but I'm just a planner!

I think I want to do the FIRST marathon training plan. It just has you run 3 times a week, which I like because then I have time for other things (swimming, biking) that I like to do. The only problem is that it puts my first long run at 8 miles, the second week in February! That's exactly a month after the baby's due so I don't know if I'll be able to safely pull that off. Maybe it would be nice if he came a little early... (just kidding!)

I'll leave you with a picture of a delicious salad I had on Tuesday after my doctors appointment:

It has a handful of baby spinach, a handful of baby spring mix, a whole avocado (what? There was no one to share with, and I couldn't let it go bad! Personally, I don't think there's ever too much avocado!), chicken from a freshly roasted chicken I brought home from the store, some chopped up almonds and some craisons. I did put a little, tiny bit of poppy seed dressing on there too. It was so good! I'm planning on making it again for everyone for Christmas, and I can't wait!

3 Weeks to Go!

I had my 37 week checkup today, and everything went well. I'm dilated to 1 cm, and my doctor said that was good progress from my last visit! She set up an appointment for me to be induced on January 14, but it's just tentative, we might have to cancel if she doesn't think I'm ready enough by then. I really am still hoping to go into labor ON my awesome due date (1/11/11), but if I don't get that day, I'm ok with waiting a little longer. Though it would be nice to have a for sure day to plan babysitters around, let him come when he's ready.

My doctor said, "You've only gained one pound this week. Congratulations!" I'm not too surprised since I'm still not really eating that much. Even when I do feel hungry, I can't fit that much food in my stomach. I feel bad that I'm probably not getting all the nutrients the baby needs, so I finally went in and picked up my prescription for prenatal vitamins today. I had a ton of samples so I used those up until maybe a month ago.

So far, I think I've gained 22 pounds, but that's a lot when you step down from a car bumper and you're not used to the weight. My leg was hurting for a few minutes after doing that last night while helping Pete tie some big ol' boxes onto the top of our car:



Have I mentioned how much I love our car? Seriously. Especially in the winter. I'm always so glad to have the all-wheel drive and traction control. It is sweet!

Yesterday we dropped the kids off with my Dad and he took them to Heber where the good snow is, and they're having a grand time. He had taken the days off to watch them while we went to St. George, and they were so excited to go, we decided to still have them go even though we aren't going to St. George anymore.

Since the kids were gone, and we were able to fold all the seats down in the Jeep, we decided last night was a good time to go get the couch we've been wanting from ikea. Merry Christmas to us! It was actually a really fun date night. We had an early dinner at Bombay House, went to ikea and got our couch, and took the long, slow way home so we wouldn't lose it. Once we got home, we couldn't find any instructions so it took some thinking to figure out how to put it together. Then we opened the slip covers and found instructions! So, if you ever order a couch from ikea, make sure to look in with the slip covers for the instructions!

It took us a few hours to put together, but it was fun, and made us feel like furniture builders! Now we have a nice big couch in our basement just in time for having everyone over for Christmas! Yay! (It's even red!) I'll post a picture of it once I can get passed all the boxes to get back down there!

Speaking of Christmas, it sure is coming up soon, isn't it? Here's our cute little gingerbread house:



(it came pre-assembled from Costco, all we had to do was decorate! That was stressful enough with 3 kids trying to help!)

PS - sorry about all the unintentional ads in this post. First Jeep and Ikea, and now Costco! Jeez!

Thank you!

Thank you so much to everyone who left such sweet comments on my last post, or otherwise sent me messages. You're support and advice really made me feel so much better! I feel lucky to have so many awesome friends, even if I don't know most of you in real life! :)

I feel so much less stressed now!

What we're going to do is just skip the window, keep the baby in our room, and get me a new tri bike! :)

JUST KIDDING!

What we've really decided to do is go with the cheaper window that's big enough to be safe, but not necessarily to code. We've told the contractor that we want to do it, but he's been busy so who knows when it will actually get done.

I'm not going to worry about it any more.

Several people suggested just keeping the baby in our room, and I guess I had just ruled that out since I'm such a light sleeper and have trouble sleeping with a baby in the same room as me. I just wake up at every little grunt or movement the baby makes, and end up constantly checking on them all night. If they're in the next room over, I can hear them cry, but at least get some sleep in-between feedings. Maybe this baby will be a really quiet sleeper, or maybe I'll just get used to it. If not, it won't be for very long since we will get the window in and move the girls downstairs eventually.

Besides, won't it be so cute to have a little baby in our room with us?! He's going to be so little!

Birds Nest, Humans Stress

I'm at 35 weeks and counting (5 more to go!!). Here's what I look like today (Well, last night...and thank you, Pete, for telling me there was a sticker on my belly!):

I would say I'm officially to the "nesting" stage of this pregnancy. Actually I've been there for a while, but there's really not much I can do right now. Here's the story.

Right now we've got all 3 kids in the same room, upstairs, next to ours.

We're not really wanting to squeeze a crib in there too.

There is a bedroom in the basement, but the windows (like all the windows in the basement) are not to code. What that means is that if there was a fire, the windows are too small for a fireman to get in to rescue someone. Not an ideal place to put my precious little girls.

No big deal. When we found out I was pregnant, we started getting our debts paid off and saving up to put a new, bigger window in. We were thinking we would need about $2000 to do this. Well, the first guy came in and gave us an estimate of $1500 so we were really happy with that. We even told him we'd do whatever work we could to keep the price down, like digging the hole outside.

In digging the hole we found out that this house (built in 1914) originally didn't have a basement. It just had a shelf foundation (I think that's what it's called). Someone went in, dug the basement out and poured in a huge cement footing. This kind of gets in the way of the window, and it would also mess with the structure of the foundation if we cut it without pouring more cement.

The first guy had another guy, who specializes more in this kind of thing, come in and look at it, and the estimate suddenly turned into $4,200!

Um, ok, that's a lot more to chew on.

So, now we're wondering if it's even worth it to put that much into this house (just for a window!), and how much we could get if we tried to sell, then we could just rent a bigger place for the same price we're paying on our mortgage.

We talked to a realtor who went to run the numbers, but haven't really gotten any answers back. We're just kind of in limbo, which is a place I hate to be. I want to get stuff done!

We've also talked to the first contractor and he's still willing to put a bigger window in for the price he gave us, but it might not be strictly to code. This seems ok to me, as long as the kids are safe down there.

Still waiting to hear back from the realtor to see what he thinks about that.

What would you do??

I just hate sitting around waiting. Like I said, there's really not much I can do. I'd love to show you the crib set I made, but we have nowhere to put the crib yet so you'll have to settle for a sneak peak:

I'd also love to show you the matching car seat cover I made, but we don't have a car seat yet.

I have sanded 2 dressers and painted one. The second one is waiting for the paint. Ethan wants it to be red, but I did the first one white and it looks so nice I just want to do the second one white too. It will be for the boys though. I can't decide. What do you think?

Icing On The Cake

Yesterday I had a doctor's appointment, and everything went just fine, but I asked her about our trip we had planned to St. George (about 5 hours away) in 2 weeks. Pete's business partner and company is down there and we were going to leave the kids with my dad, go down for the Christmas party and to see our friends. Um, yeah, I wasn't really thinking about the fact that I'll be 37 weeks pregnant at that point when we made the hotel reservation. Sadly, my doctor said it would probably be fine, but that she doesn't recommend I go. (Shocking, hu?) I was so looking forward to one last trip alone with Pete before the baby's born. I guess it's better for us to listen to the doctor though.

Also, yesterday, I found out that I did not make Team Trackers. I'm not really surprised, and it's probably better this way since I'll have a new baby and won't be able to train, travel or race too much, but it's hard not to be a little bummed about it. I am really excited for my 2 blog/twitter friends, MAraul and Tribirdie, who did get in, though! Congratulations!

So, that's about it. Less than 5 weeks to go and we have nowhere to put the baby.

*dramatic sigh*

And I have a hangnail.

No, I'm not stressed at all...

(Seriously, though, we have 2000 square feet in this house! We will find somewhere to put the baby. Worst case scenario, he'll just be in our room for a while. Hopefully he's a quiet sleeper.)

Thankful

What a wonderful holiday weekend this has been! I can't even tell you how nice it's been to be able to sleep in until 8 or 9 every morning for 5 days! I'm so thankful to my children for letting me!

This year we had Thanksgiving at my house which was a first, and it did make me a little nervous, but it was also really good to have a deadline for getting the house clean! The kids helped out a lot with the cleaning, I was pretty impressed and happy about that. On Wednesday they cleaned the bathrooms and the downstairs while I made pies. Yeah, sure, they didn't get everything clean to the standards I would hold for myself, but I don't think I could have gotten everything done on my own either. Besides, the best way to learn how to clean a mirror or a toilet is by doing it yourself, right? I'm very thankful for my children and that they (can be) so sweet and helpful. I'm sure they'll be really great little helpers when the new baby is born.

We had my dad, stepmom, two sisters and brother-in-law over so it was nice to have family around, but it wasn't too overwhelming. Plus, everyone brought something so all I had to make was the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (without the whiskey), and pies. I did an apple pie (which my sister voted to be the best out of all the deserts), two pumpkin pies (made from our halloween pumpkins!), a french silk pie, and mini pumpkin cheesecakes. I think I over-calculated how much pie would get eaten because we had a lot left over! But at least there was a good variety for everyone to choose from. Even my sister who doesn't like pie liked the french silk one so that was a win! I'm so thankful for the bounty of food we always have, along with the bounty of love in our wonderful family.

I'm thankful for a wonderful husband and that he has a good job where he doesn't have to work on the holidays and is able to spend time with his family. We had a lot of fun as a family this long weekend from going to the Children's Gateway, ordering pizza and renting Toy Story 3 on Wednesday to going to Tangled 3D and out for Indian food yesterday. It's kind of sad that the weekend's almost over and we have to go back to our regular, up at 7am, routine tomorrow, but it will also be good because we have not been eating very well this weekend, and I'm hoping the routine will help get us back on track!

I'm also very thankful that, because Pete has such a great job, I don't have to work, and that I'm able to stay home with my kids every day. What a blessing that is! I've been blessed to be a stay at home mom ever since I had my first child, but for the past 3 or 4 Black Friday's I've gone to help out at The Children's Place where my sister is a manager. It's crazy and tiring, but it's also fun and exciting to be working all night amidst all the excitement. I was glad I wasn't working this year, but I had a hard time doing nothing on Friday. We put up our Christmas tree and I did a bunch of cleaning before I realized that my feet hurt and that I was doing more than I'm used to anymore, so I sat down and read my book for a while. I'm thankful I was able to do that! :)

I haven't been to the pool since last Saturday, but I think I've been busy enough to justify it. I'm thankful that I'm healthy and that this pregnancy is going so well. I really don't like being pregnant, but I know it could be a lot worse! I'm thankful for this pregnancy, and that we will be adding another person to our family in 6 weeks!

I'm thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm grateful that I have his teachings in my life, that I know about the atonement and have his example to follow. I hope, by following that example, I can be a good example to my children.

I have a lot to be thankful for. I try to remember these things year-round, not just on Thanksgiving, but I do love Thanksgiving and think it's wonderful that we have a holiday where we celebrate all the blessings we have. I hope we can all keep our hearts thankful throughout the year. It really makes for a much happier life!

Pete taught the lesson in Elder's Quorum today in church, and the lesson was from President Thomas S. Monson's conference talk: The Divine Gift of Gratitude. I wanted to share that with you:

Click Here to read this talk.

Now, who wants to come over for pie??

Meals This Week

Thank you everyone for all your suggestions - I mean, Alexis. :) She gave me the great healthy meal idea of stir fry, which is always a great way to go! She also told me about the trainermama blog which I already know about and follow. Trainermama is quite amazing, and does have a lot of really yummy and healthy recipes along with other tips for working out and staying healthy so go check her out!

Here we go with the meals!

Tuesday

Stir Fry

Since my first, and only, suggestion for what to eat this week was stir fry, I made sure to make that the first day. I fried up some chicken in a little olive oil, then added some carrots, zucchini, and bean sprouts (was that all? It seems like there might have been another veggie, but I can't remember). For the sauce I used a little soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and chicken broth. Served with brown rice.

Pretty simple, healthy and yummy.

Sorry, I forgot to take a picture, but it turned out really good, and the kids even pretty much ate everything on their plates! It helps when you call the bean sprouts snakes, and each different color of vegetable fights a different kind of monster: green fights ogres, orange fights dragons, red fights vampires, etc. (The colors are antioxidants and the monsters are free radicles, if you want to get technical)

Wednesday

I didn't end up giving myself enough time to make what I wanted on Wednesday so I made these little muffin omelets with spinach, mushrooms, orange peppers and cheese that no one (except me) ended up eating for dinner since Pete brought pizza home so we saved them for breakfast the next day. No on (except me) ended up eating them then either. Fail.

The reason I didn't have time to make what I had planned was because I had to take Mindy to her ballet field trip which was a dress rehearsal for the University of Utah's ballet company. I was lucky enough to get to stick around and watch it with her, and it was pretty amazing! They were really good. Here's my attempt at a photo with my iphone:

Haha Yeah, didn't really work.

Thursday

Moroccan-Style Stuffed Squash

This is one of my favorite things to make, and it was very appropriate for fall. I just love squash. Of course, the kids won't touch it, so they just got the stuffing. Even then, though, Ethan was the only one to really eat any of it. Pete and I liked it though, and it has a really cool presentation so it's fun to make when you have company. I'd even say you could make it with 3 or 4 squash because there's always a ton of stuffing left over, and just have it as a side.

We had squash left over (since the kids wouldn't touch it), and I just dug it out of the shell and saved it for lunch the next day where I smashed it up and mixed it in with some of the stuffing.

I actually liked it better this way because you get more squash mixed in, and the more squash the better for me!

Friday

Rotkhol with Brats and Potatoes

Pete served an LDS mission for 2 years in Germany so he has a fondness for German food, which he has passed on to me. Rotkhol means "red cabbage" and you make it with vinegar, a little sugar and apples. It's got a sweet, tangy flavor and is so yummy with the sausage! This is a pretty simple thing to make, but you have to give yourself a couple hours. I used this recipe except I started out with 8 pieces of bacon, diced, instead of just using bacon fat (where's the fun in that?) and I forgot the apple jelly, but it turned out really good - I mean "sehr gut!"

Pete made the potatoes, and cooked the brats which was really nice because I really wasn't feeling very good come dinner time last night.

Saturday

Almond Crusted Pork with Apple-Rosemary Sauce

This probably would have been better as a Sunday dinner, but I just didn't want to let that lovely tenderloin sit in the fridge for another day so I made it tonight.

This one is another one that's good for company because it has a really good presentation, and it's just so good! My sister was asking me for this recipe a little while ago, and I never gave it to her. Sorry, Katie, here you go!

I just steamed some asparagus to go with it, which was a little hard to get the kids to eat, but they managed.

Sunday

Chili

It wasn't fair when I said Alexis was the only one who gave me a suggestion. I did get a suggestion from someone on twitter also. Thanks Laura! She suggested soup or chili so I'm going to make Chili tomorrow. It should be really good because I can put it in the crockpot before we leave for church and we can have it when we get back. Plus, it's supposed to snow tomorrow, and what's better than chili on a snowy afternoon?

This is supposedly Barack Obama's Chili recipe. Well, whosever it is, we liked it last time so I'm making it again. Maybe with some cornbread.

And for Dessert: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made this with whole white wheat flour and applesauce instead of vegetable oil. They are very chocolaty!

Calling for Recipes

Man, it has been a crazy couple of weeks! I was sick with a nasty cold all last week, and the week before that (starting on Halloween) Ethan and Elle were sick. Mostly Ethan, though. He missed all 5 days of school and had a fever almost all week. It was not fun for him, and having a sick kid almost feels like I'm sick too since I can't really go anywhere and end up sitting around a lot so it feels like I've been sick for longer than a week! Luckily,I didn't get the fever and nausea that Ethan and Elle had, I just had a bad cold.

The good thing that happened during all this was that Mindy got her casts off, and boy was she (and I) happy about it!


Today I was going to try to get out of my sitting-around-the-house-all day funk and get back to the pool. Of course, Ethan wakes up crying about his throat and ears hurting. I gave him some Motrin and almost made him go to school anyway, but he started crying again about how his teacher says not to come in if you're sick so I felt bad and kept him home. He seemed totally fine after a couple hours though, I should have had him go! It's so hard to tell sometimes!

Anyway, with Ethan home sick I wasn't able to go swim, but I was able to take a nap, buy a used dresser at D.I. that im going to sand and paint for Ethan and the baby to share (the dresser Ethan and Elle are using now tipped over today, luckily not onto anyone, so im just done with tall dressers! Plus this one will double as a changing table! Win!) and make some throw pillows for our couch downstairs! Yeah! And can I just say that my new favorite thing is iron-on Velcro?! It sure made making those pillows a snap!


Plus, after school, I took all the kids to the doctor where we got a prescription for Ethan's ear infection and they all got their flu shots. Elle was just as calm as a summer's day and hardly even flinched when she got hers. Mindy was a little more tense, but managed to stay pretty calm. Ethan, on the other hand, was hiding under chairs and trying to get away and the nurse and I had to hold him down. He does not handle needles well! I'm glad I got that over with, though, since my doctor recommended anyone who is going to be around the baby much for the first 6 weeks get a flu shot. I got mine at my last appointment. The kids still need to get a booster shot for theirs, and Pete needs to get his, but we're getting there. I'll make sure Pete's with me when Ethan gets his follow-up, though!

Next on my list is to plan out dinners for the week so I make sure and get everything I need when I go grocery shopping and we can start having healthy meals again! Its hard to want to cook much when half your family is too sick to really eat, and then again when you're too sick to want to do anything. The good thing about being sick, though, was that it helped me forget about being pregnant for a little while because I had something else to feel sorry for myself about. Now I am mostly feeling better (though I still have the dang cough!), but I'm still finding it hard to think of meals that sound good. I'm hoping it's the pregnancy doing this and that my love of food is not gone forever!

So, I could use a little help thinking up meals for the week. If you could leave a comment with the recipe or link to just one of your favorite, healthy meals that would help me out a lot! I might even get ambitious and blog about what I make this week (or however long your recipes last), but I'm not promising anything. It's kind of a pain to blog from my phone (note any weird words or spelling is because of this), and I seldomly have a computer handy. Thanks everyone! I love you!

Done

I tried to go running again on Thursday. I went about 2 miles, and maybe ran 1.

After less than half a mile I started to get that side ache/belly pain and had to stop and walk. I had asked my doctor about this pain and she said it was fine as long as it goes away when I stop and walk. She asked me if the pain felt like contractions, and I wasn't sure. I still wasn't quite sure while it was happening, but my belly did feel a little harder and it sure did hurt. I decided there was no point in trying to run if this keeps happening, and that I'd just stick to walking from now on. I decided I would just finish walking to the restroom on the bike path then turn around. I got to the restroom, and it was closed.

Dang.

I turned around and started walking home. Like usual, though, I started to get sick of walking and tried running again. I was able to run about half-way home really slowly. I actually felt really good for this part even though I didn't get to use that bathroom. I was going over my spanish in my head in case I had to stop in one of the shops with Spanish signs to use their bathroom., but I made it home just fine and set about stretching.

My pelvis was really sore the rest of that day, and by the end of the day so were my legs. I was frustrated that 2 miles, in which I only ran half of, would make me so sore.

So, I think I will just be done with running for now. I'm just going to take a little 3-month break, then I can come back nice and strong.

Swimming with Paddles

Here is the latest belly picture. I'm now 29 weeks along which means I'm fully into the third trimester! Yay!

I have been having a really hard time sleeping lately. I really love sleeping on my side, but when I do, I wake up several times with sore hips, back and/or ribs. It's not really fun. My doctor has suggested sleeping on my back with a pillow under one side. I really don't feel as comfortable doing this, but it has helped. I haven't been nearly as sore when I wake up in the mornings if I can manage to do this.

If I am still a little sore when I wake up, swimming usually will fix that. I didn't swim on Monday because of my doctor's appointment, but I did go on Wednesday.

I did my usual warmup and workout, but this time I decided to push it a little on my 500 and see how long it would take me. To my great suprise and excitement, I was able to finish it (10 laps) in 9:52! I know that's not spectacular, but that's with belly drag and everything. :) It also wasn't all out, and I was so happy to be able to keep my laps under a minute. I felt really strong and like I could pull really hard.

After that set, I did another set of 500 yards with the pull buoy and paddles. I took it pretty easy and I did it in 9:48.

I've been trying to use my paddles a lot lately, and since I'm not really doing any speed work, I think it's helping. It improves my strength and technique, which in turn helps improve my speed. Sweetness!

Here's a little video of Elle demonstrating how to use the paddles. Notice how obvious it is when she's not doing it right. :) That's how it is in the water too - you can really tell when you're doing it right or not, and I love it! I also love how fast it makes me (see above time differences), and I think that's got to be helping my speed mentally.

Any other success stories or suggestions with using paddles?

Pumpkin Patch

On Monday, for family night, we decided to go up to the pumpkin patch in Farmington. Elle had gone earlier in the day with her preschool and had a lot of fun so we thought we'd give the other kids a chance to see it and to pick their own pumpkins.

It was really cool to see that huge field full of pumpkins, and it was fun for the kids to pick their own. Ethan, of course, picked one so big he could hardly carry it!

They also had a little hay maze that the kids had a blast running though several times. Elle knew her way around it really well from coming earlier, and took me right though it. It was really cold, and we didn't stay long, but it was place to go.

After we got our pumpkins, we decided to drive up Farmington Canyon to where the snow had fallen the night before. It was a beautiful drive and the kids had fun pretending they were scared that we would fall off the cliff.

Every time we go on little drives like this, or in any way get into the mountains, it always makes me feel very grateful to live here in Utah. It is such a beautiful state!




This is looking down on the Great Salt Lake.




THe next day, Elle had me help her decorate her little pumpkin like a kitten. Her name is Freckles, and I think she's just the cutest pumpkin in the patch!



Here's the back.