The Twin Belly Profile Picture

To say that things have been crazy busy would be an understatement. I am now almost 33 weeks pregnant with the twins. The doctors want me to go at least until 35 weeks and will induce if I get to 38 weeks. So, at minimum good case scenario, I have about 2 1/2 weeks and at max, I have 4 1/2 weeks to go. Everything is looking good right now & at our ultrasound a couple of weeks ago the babies were measuring at 3lbs 3oz and 3lbs 10oz. I feel very blessed that I haven't had to deal with any of the issues that I had an "increased risk" for, because of the twin pregnancy & being "old" (over 35 -- I turned 35 during the pregnancy).

I feel pretty miserable, pretty much all the time. I can't do too much or I start having lots of contractions. And I am pretty much ready to be done being pregnant. I say "pretty much" because when I'm not pregnant anymore, that means I'll have 2 babies to be taking care of, so that scares me a bit!

Due to popular demand, here's a picture we took tonight. People are all the time surprised when they see me & hear that I am having twins NEXT month which definitely makes me feel good. I have gained between 20 & 25 lbs depending on the day (the trick: no room in my stomach to eat very much, 2 babies sucking calories from me, sugar/chocolate give me terrible heartburn, I've been sick to my stomach a lot more this time around). I also have always carried inside (this is the closest I've ever had to a basketball-belly) which is nice for the belly but very miserable for all the organs that are being smooshed!

Evie turns 2

So, I haven't blogged in a long time . . . too many things to do around here! But I just had to post some pictures from Evie's 2nd birthday. We celebrated a couple of days early while Grandpa & Grandma were in town.

My New Love -- Pinterest

My new love is Pinterest -- thank you to my facebook friends who got me intrigued with this new tool! I've found some fun, new recipes, used it to completely design the way I'll decorate the kids' bedroom when they move in together (I was really struggling with that one), and found a lot of great inspiration there.

Its kind of a social media tool like facebook, but oh so much better, I think, because you can be so productive with it and its just a much more positive and inspiring place! Think of it as a virtual bookmark center. You have "pin boards" and you add the pictures you like (those pictures will usually link to the website they come from) so you don't forget about this recipe you want to try or that decorating idea or the hairstyle you want to try.

If you're already on Pinterest, come on over & follow me!

Ultrasound results; Its A . . . .

What a fun appointment we had for the ultrasound today. The tech and the doctor that we saw are both twins. And we had about an hour & 15 minutes or so of watching the babies on the screen while they got all the measurements, laughing at silly things & having a great time. And without any doubt at all, clear as day . . . Baby A is a BOY and Baby B is a GIRL!

Of course we would've been happy with whatever we got, but I really wanted one of each -- it will make a lot of things simpler for us, including that we'll be able to double up on rooms in a couple of years instead of putting 3 kids in 1 room and 1 kid in their own room.

But the best part for me was in the first 60 seconds when we saw the heartbeats & saw them moving around to know that everyone is healthy & doing well, which means I can put my worrying to rest for a little while. Both babies have strong heartbeats in the 150's (154 & 158, I believe) and the doctor was amazed that they weigh the exact same amount (about 1/2 pound each), which he said he's never seen with twins before - usually one is a little larger than the other. And all the measurements they took looked great -- no problems so far! Baby A gave us a big huge grin that we got on a 3D picture -- it looks pretty creepy & we all had a good laugh at it! Seriously, he looked like the Joker!

Now to come up with names . . . . .

I wonder if I'll get a "basketball" belly

I've never had one before, with either of my two single pregnancies. While most pregnant women get that cute basketball out in front, my babies sit very differently. They sit inside of me, widening everything and just making me look fat. Even just a few weeks ago, I had several people tell me that I didn't even look pregnant. But, I was much larger & couldn't fit into any of the clothes I was wearing pre-pregnancy . . . yup, fat!

With 2 babies, I can't imagine that they could both fit like my singles have done, so I am hoping to actually get that basketball belly this time so that I really look pregnant instead of just fat. Well, besides the fact, that its really uncomfortable to have them sit inside, crushing everything, making breathing so difficult as early as 20 weeks (which started much earlier this time).

Wish me luck!!!

Paranoid in Pregnancy

I've wondered if its just because of my personal life experiences or if all pregnant women go through a difficult time with this. The last few nights, I've had dreams of something going wrong with the pregnancy leading up to last night's dream that was about losing both babies and left me emotionally drained this morning.

But it doesn't stop with dreaming. I think the dreams are a symptom of the way I feel all the time. Its like I have this constant fear within me that something will go wrong. And I wonder if it is magnified by the fact that its so difficult for me to get pregnant in the first place, costing thousands of dollars and lots of preparation with Invitro. Or is it due to the fact that I had a lot of problems in my first pregnancy, including 2 hospitalizations of several days each and a month of bed rest after a scare that could have resulted in a miscarriage at week 20.

So, I wonder . . . do those who get pregnant easily & those who have had no "scares" during pregnancy go through this same emotional roller coaster?

P.S. I can't wait until my ultrasound on Tuesday so that I can see these babies moving around & hear that everything is okay. It brings such comfort to actually see them alive & doing well on the screen in front of me. If I had my wish, I would have an ultrasound machine at home that I could use on a daily basis!

To find out or Not to find out . . . the sex of the babies

Our ultrasound is coming up in about 2 weeks. With both of my previous pregnancies, we've found out what we were going to have, but I think it would be kind of fun to be surprised this time, especially with twins! I haven't told Jeff yet, and I think he's pretty set on finding out, but I'm really waffling on this.

The other problem is that I'm a real planner, by nature. It would be very hard not to have everything completely ready when these babies come home, especially considering I'll have 2 babies to take care of when I come home on top of our 2 toddlers. And then there's the name dilemma! We'd need to come up with 2 boy names & 2 girl names if we don't know what we're having.

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Should we find out at the ultrasound or be surprised?

1st Day of School

Chase had his first day of preschool last week! He is going 2 days a week for 2 1/2 hours each day to a preschool that a woman does out of her home. It is a 3 year old class . . . earlier than I thought I would send my kids to preschool but I think it will be good for all of us. Chase has been asking to go to school since the beginning of the year so he was very excited.

Evie was pretty upset when Chase left & she had to stay home, but she got over it quickly & now has fun standing & waving & yelling goodbye as Chase leaves with his carpool in the morning.

That first day was very strange. We sent Chase off then went to do some errands I had planned. The errands were done in no time at all & then Evie & I stopped for doughnuts and came home. We still had about an hour and a half left until we had to get him, the house was quiet & I had nothing more planned to do. It was kind of an eerie feeling. But we got over that quickly and I have found that shopping with just one kid is so easy. I will definitely enjoy the quiet & my alone time with Evie for the next few months until the twins arrive!

Chase's first day of pre-school

Evie with her celebratory doughnut after Chase left!

The Twin Diet

Today's Lunch Menu: Cheetos & ice cream

Yes, I'm not doing too well at the healthy eating to keep down my chances of gestational diabetes. But sometimes you just have to eat whatever makes you not feel nauseous.

The good news? No weight gain in my first 12 weeks of pregnancy. That's never happened to me before and I think I can attribute it to two things. One: I've been too nauseous to eat consistent or large meals. Two: there are 2 babies sucking calories out of my body -- yippee!!! I definitely LOOK larger - no question about that, but I've started noticing my face getting thinner. In the past, I've always gained about 5 to 7 pounds during that first trimester, so this is a great start!

Poor Jeff is feeling bad that I can eat junk and not gain any weight, while he has to watch what he's eating. Poor guy :( However, I'm the one that's needing larger & larger clothes, so he shouldn't feel too bad!

At least they're polite about it!

Mom: "Chase, you're supposed to be in bed."
3 yr old Chase: "Hi Mom, nice to meet you. I like you."

Mom: "Evie, come here please."
18 month old Evie: "No thanks."

Sick Mom, laying down in her bedroom upstairs sneezes.
Evie, hanging out downstairs with Dad yells, "Bless you, Mom."

These are the moments that make it so much fun to be a mom!

Last day of fertility meds!

Yesterday marked the last day of fertility medications for me! The medication protocol has governed my life for the last 4 months and included dozens of intramuscular injections, definitely the worst part of it all. There were 2 medications given by intramuscular injection -- one dosage that was an every day shot & the other was ever 3 days. I was lucky that I had a reaction to the every day dose -- a painful welt on my hip that was as big as my hand -- so those were replaced by a different medication and the only shot I was left with was the every 3 days dose.

I would prepare by icing down my hip while Jeff got the shot ready. Then he would apologetically say, "I love you" before stabbing me with that needles (yes, the whole thing had to go in). The medication is oil based, so it was literally like injecting vegetable oil into the body -- nice & thick & painful.

Yep, that's why the end of fertility medications is a HUGE deal for me -- time to celebrate!!!

Enjoying the little things

Its the little things that made me happy today! I felt well enough to:

• set up the blow up pool in the yard for the kids
• pull some weeds
• get a little housework done
• go for a walk (first time in a month)
• do a little grocery shopping (first time in a month)
• cook dinner
  

I also found the BEST pants for pregnancy! They aren't maternity, but I am loving them more than my maternity pants right now & just went back to buy a 2nd pair. They are Danskin Now Relaxed Pocket Pant . . . I got them at Walmart with the exercise clothes & they were only $11! They are soooo comfy!

Just saying "no" to gestational diabetes

When I went for my pre-natal appointment last week, the doctor was going over everything with me & brought up the glucose test that is done to test for gestational diabetes. She said the chances of developing gestational diabetes are much higher with twins. I told her of my past experiences. In both pregnancies, I failed the first test, but passed the 2nd one - meaning that I didn't have gestational diabetes - yea!!! But the doctor told me that since I had to take the 2nd test previously, that my chances are increased even more.

I asked about what I could do to avoid it and she talked about eating a high protein, low carbohydrate diet, using whole wheat breads, lots of fruits & veggies, etc. That definitely isn't happening right now since I have just been eating whatever won't make me too nauseous and just thinking of any kind of meat makes me gag (seriously, its happening right now just from typing this!).

Anyway, I'm hoping that I will soon be able to resume a regular diet & would love if you would share any recipes with me that would fit into this healthy way of eating for me. I do have a few really good ones that I love, but would love to introduce some great new recipes that will help me stick to this & stay away from the junk.

Note: I will not eat seafood of any kind, so no seafood recipes, please.

Finally Getting Out

I think its been about a month since I've been out of the house -- other than for doctor appointments. I've just been way too sick to feel good enough to go anywhere. But this weekend I hit the 11 week mark for the pregnancy and . . . no morning sickness on Thursday!

So, I made plans for a date night/afternoon with my husband for Friday. Come Friday, I was sick again, but decided to just deal with it, so we went ahead and went out to a movie (Harry Potter) and dinner. We tried out an Italian restaurant called Armandos & it was delicious -- we'll definitely go back again!

Saturday, I felt good again & so we went out did some shopping for some trees and I was able to do some dishes, get the kids dressed & take care of a few things. (more on that in another post!)

It was so nice to get to go to church today after not having been for a while! But by the third hour I was feeling pretty nauseous again.

So, its getting better but still lingering a bit. And I'm still so tired and dealing with some pain from the trauma my organs went through with the incarcerated uterus. But how nice it was to actually get out of the house & to WANT to get out of the house. That has been the biggest struggle, I think, is that I haven't WANTED to do anything other than sit in front of the tv or take naps because I just felt so crummy. So, I am very glad to feel like I'm starting to come back to life!

Hot Dogs for Breakfast, Anyone?

It takes me a while to get up & going these days. Today, I told Chase (3 yrs) I'd be down in a few minutes to get breakfast for him. When I came down a few minutes later, he was already eating . . . he got into the refrigerator and found his leftover hot dog from dinner last night.

Hot Dogs for breakfast . . . yep, I'm a good mom!

Naptime!

Naptime for our 3 year old has been a struggle for a while. If we could get him to hold still for 2 minutes, he would fall asleep, but that involved having to sit on his bed & continually telling him (very sternly) to "hold still, close your eyes, go to sleep". After our most recent trip to Arizona, we gave up and let him quietly watch cartoons during naptime. He was also going through multiple meltdowns each day & every little thing would set him off.

Last week, I managed to get him back onto a nap schedule & he was actually going down for a nap pretty easily, without crying and complaining. And the meltdowns have stopped . . . until today :( This morning, we went through major trauma over some very little things & I knew he was feeling extra tired. So, the greatest thing in the world happened when he finished eating lunch & then told me that he was a little tired so he needed to go take a little nap -- TEARS OF JOY going on around here!

Naptime tip: I put him in bed & tell him that he has 10 minutes to try to go to sleep himself otherwise I will have to come sit by him. He's usually still awake at the end of 10 minutes so then I just go sit on his bed for a few minutes until he falls asleep. I think he appreciates the opportunity to lay down by himself first because he does a lot less complaining about it now.

Twin Pregnancy: is it really a "2 for 1" deal?

When the news spread through the family that we were expecting twins, I can only imagine the booming laughter that came from my brother . . . who has twins of his own! When his wife called to congratulate me, she said that my brother had told her not to be too "doom & gloom" when she talked to me! My sister-in-law is a very positive person & wasn't "doom & gloom" at all. She gave me some great advice & then told me that the thing that bothered her when she was pregnant was that everyone said it was so great because she got to get 2 babies while going through only 1 pregnancy. She said she was so glad that someone in the family would finally understand that the pregnancy with twins was double as difficult as a single pregnancy so the "2 for 1" comment wasn't very valid.

I'm definitely finding her to be right, so far. This first trimester has made me twice as nauseous and at least twice as tired (probably more) than with my other pregnancies. I've also never experienced the feeling of always being hot with my pregnancies that I hear from so many others, but this time I am definitely feeling it. I think I am also twice as emotional. Pretty funny how all of that works! I guess 2 babies, means 2 times the hormones & 2 times the effects!

Another appointment today & an ultrasound are showing that everything is going well at this point. The babies are now one on top of the other instead of side by side like they were before they shifted the uterus back into place. At 10 1/2 weeks, you can see a definite baby outline with legs, arms, body & head and they were wiggling around quite a bit today -- it was fun to see!

Meanwhile, my poor kids are spending most of their time in front of the tv these days as I struggle with the nausea and energy so much that its tough to do much of anything. Today, I did get them out in the backyard into the little playpool for a bit, but I'm paying for it tonight as the sickness seems worse. I'm so grateful to my worn out husband who comes home from work & then takes over for the evening so that I can relax. And I'm also getting excited to get closer to that 12 week mark & hopefully feeling better once that time comes!

Twin Pregnancy: 10 weeks

Today, I feel better than I have all week. I'm still far from 100% & still nauseous, but I was able to get my kids dressed, Evie's hair done and even wash a load of dishes which is a lot more than I have done any other day this week. My head seems clearer today & I feel more motivated to not just sit or lay around. However, I've started having some similar symptoms to when I ended up with the incarcerated uterus problem. I have a regular scheduled doctor's appointment tomorrow & an ultrasound so I am hopeful that they will find that everything is still in its correct position and that the pregnancy is going as it should be at this point.

A friend brought in dinner for us on Monday (thank you, De Anne!) and Jeff has done a great job of taking care of everything & everyone, including me (this includes late-night errands to get slurpees and whatever else I NEED at the store). He even, unexpectedly, showed up at home earlier than expected yesterday which was a huge blessing since I was pretty much done. Wow, definitely so grateful for everyone taking care of me!

Incarcerated Uterus . . . yet another "rare" medical condition for me!

Well, my rare medical experiences struck again yesterday! Since I've been married it seems like whenever a doctor says, "its very rare & only happens in 1 out of every ..... people", that I am that ONE!

It began a week ago when I went into my OBGYN with what I thought was a urinary tract infection. After 24 hours of antibiotics, the pain got so horrible and was constant (unlike a UTI). The on call doctor (it was Saturday) prescribed a stronger antibiotic and they thought that it could possibly a kidney stone. The pain started subsiding Sunday night and was much better all week long. But I still couldn't lay down (horrible abdominal pain) so I was sleeping sitting up & eventually bought a recliner, resigning myself to sleeping that way for the rest of the pregnancy. Other pregnancy symptoms seemed to multiply this week & my stomach was growing so quickly that I was half expecting to see 3 babies instead of just 2 when we went in for a scheduled ultrasound yesterday.

Before they even started looking at babies on the ultrasound, they noted that my bladder was hugely distended. When the doctor saw me, she drained 1 1/2 liters from my bladder (thus, the 3rd baby effect that I was having) and found that my uterus was in the wrong position. I've always been told that my uterus was tipped back but it has never caused any problems before. I guess that with the rapid growth with a twin pregnancy, it had tipped way back & and had lodged itself into the cavity that holds the bladder, bowels, etc. so it was pinching everything off. It needed to be moved, not only to stop pinching everything off, but so that it would continue to have room to grow & avoid some very serious complications later on.

The doctor tried to move it in the office. And let me tell you that having your organs repositioned inside of you is a miserable experience! When it got to the point that I couldn't stand the pain any longer, the doctor left the room. She came back about 30 minutes later after talking with several doctors & they decided to admit me to the hospital to have it done. At the hospital, the doctor who saw me admitted that no one there (including the at-risk OB specialist) had ever dealt with or even seen this condition before because it is so rare, so they were "reading up on it" to determine the best course of action. They had a full plan mapped out . . . try this, then this, then this & if none of those work, then finally surgery.

I'll save you the gory details, but luckily, the first attempted method worked and when I left the hospital, I was 4 lbs lighter & my maternity clothes that were getting quite filled out were actually loose (thanks to my emptied bladder). I was also able to lay on my back & side without pain & suddenly felt a huge decrease in the pregnancy symptoms that had been increased in the last couple of weeks.

I am in bed for the weekend, laying on my stomach to keep gravity from pulling the uterus back down to that other position. They hope that after a few days of that, the uterus will have grown enough that it will be too big to get lodged in that position again. Wow! What an experience and I am so grateful that it was found now instead of later in the pregnancy when it could've caused some serious problems. I'm also grateful for all the prayers in my behalf (I know they worked) and the comfort of a priesthood blessing from my husband right before we headed to the hospital that promised me that everything would be okay.

Comfortable sleep during pregnancy??? Is that even possible?

With my first 2 pregnancies, about the time I get to 7 months pregnant, I have such a hard time getting comfortable to sleep at night. I always wish that I had a recliner to sleep in, but no such luck & 2 months of pregnancy hardly seems worth the expense of a recliner, so I just suffer.

This time its going to be different! I'm just 2 months into this pregnancy & I am growing larger by the day. When I got sick last Friday (we think it might've been a kidney stone), laying down in any position became extremely painful & I've been sleeping sitting up in bed ever since. So, today I got to go & purchase my very own "congratulations/condolences on your twin pregnancy" gift - LOL!

I found the perfect chair. When I sat down in it, all of a sudden I felt a huge relief of pressure in my lower back - I hadn't even realized it was hurting! It will also make for great "putting my feet up" time as the pregnancy progresses. We also figured that it will be good to have around when the babies come & we need a 2nd rocking chair for when there are 2 of us taking care of fussy babies.

What are your suggestions for more comfortable sleep during pregnancy? Is there anything that works?

Help! 3 year old Perfectionism???

After spending the weekend in bed with horrible pain (they're thinking I have/had a kidney stone), I went ahead and sent Jeff off to work today & told him I could handle things even though I'm far from 100%. Dealing with that kind of pain without the wonders of pain medications (because of being pregnant) was just plain rotten, but compared to that, I am feeling much better today.

So, I decided that in the middle of all the tv & movie time for the kids today that I would get out some big pieces of butcher paper for them to color on. Evie (my 18 month old) scribbled all over her paper, then wadded it up & wanted to throw it in the garbage! Chase (3 years old) couldn't even begin anything because he wanted to draw this or that but kept saying that he didn't know how. Its the same thing when using coloring book pages. He doesn't ever color much because he's afraid of doing it wrong.

I know that some of that attitude must be genetic (coming from ME), but I don't think that I was doing that at his age because I have all sorts of paintings, etc. that my mom saved from when I was a kid.

So, how do I get him past this perfectionism idea? I keep telling him to just try and that however he does it will be great, but it doesn't seem to work.

Expecting Twins

Its amazing how 5 years can change everything! 5 years ago, we had been married for 8 years and were deep in the process of fertility treatments, seeing no success & getting those dreaded calls from the clinic that "no" it didn't work . . . again. At that time, there was not even a glimmer of what would be, that we would soon have 2 children & 2 more on the way . . .

It was a couple of weeks ago that we made a very nervous drive to a radiologist for an ultrasound. We had done invitro and had 2 embryos transferred . . . the same as we had done with our previous SINGLE pregnancy. We were hoping for the same results but when our first blood test results came back, the hcg number was reading twice as high as it had for the last pregnancy & the 2nd test not only doubled (which is what they want it to do) but it went from 1100 to 2900, showing a pretty big chance of twins.

So, here we were, across the country from our fertility clinic & going to a radiologist with strict provisions that they don't tell you anything . . . they report to your doctor & the doctor then gives you the results. Jeff insisted on standing where he could see the screen & when he saw the labels "A" and "B", he held up 2 fingers so I could see what was going on.

Excitement, overwhelm, and amazement! Yep, we're feeling all of those things, but mostly overwhelm and definitely gratitude that we went ahead and bought the mini van 3 years ago when we only had 1 child! At the beginning of next year, we'll have 4 children UNDER the age of 4 since our 2 new additions will most likely be born in January and our oldest won't turn 4 until February! Crazy stuff!!!

Recipe: Banana Shakes

We enjoyed Banana Shakes along with our lunch yesterday. They were a favorite from when I was a kid, so I got this recipe from my mom. I made a 1/2 batch which gave the perfect portion size to share between the 2 kids & myself, and I used a little less sugar than called for (wasn't brave enough to do it without any sugar!).

Banana Shakes

2 bananas, sliced (or broken into pieces)
2 tsp vanilla
14 ice cubes
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup milk

Mix in blender until well blended.

Do you Love BOOKS?

Okay, for those of you that love to read & have books in your home, I found a new website that I absolutely LOVE! I've been using it for a couple of months & it is soooo cool!

What you do is find the books in your home that are in great shape but you don't want anymore. You list them on this website & when someone requests a book from you, you mail it. When they receive the book then you get a "credit" to request a book from someone else. You can also purchase "credits" for like $3.45 each so you are basically buying a used book from someone else. The really fun part is that when you sign up & list 10 books, you'll get 2 FREE "credits" to get 2 books immediately. You have to pay shipping on the books that you send, but you don't have to pay anything to get a book from someone else if you're using your free "credits". Its like the BEST used bookstore out there! I've already shipped a few books off & also received several books & am loving it!

If you'd like to check it out, use this link.

What I really love about this is that I have been able to really add to my book collection & fill in a few missing books that I've wanted at such a low cost. So far, I have received 2 free books for posting 10 books that I've been willing to give to others and I've had 3 requests for my posted books --- after I spent less than $3.00 each to mail those books, I received a free book of my choice in return. I've also purchased credits from the site (1 credit for $3.45 = 1 new book) to get more books that I wanted.

YW Activity: Culture Night

Our Mia Maids were in charge of the combined Young Women activity last night & we had a lot of fun. We did a culture night. We asked for volunteers to bring a food from a foreign culture, set up a display table, or give a presentation. Those that set up tables got to share what was on their table & we had a couple of our girls give great presentations on places they had visited (Panama & France) and we got to try out some delicious food!

While I was busy with other parts of the planning, my husband put together a Culture Quiz that you can download here. He gathered together some fun facts and we passed it out to the girls as a quiz. I put a list of the countries/cities that were the answers on the board for them to guess from.

Caution: he gathered this list from the internet, so while we know that EVERYTHING you read on the internet is true, use this list knowing that its not first hand knowledge but was pulled from internet sources ;)

Adventures While Dad was Away

Jeff was out of town for work last week so I got to handle things alone with the kids. We did pretty well . . . even managed to have some fun & definitely some unplanned adventures!

While Jeff was gone we managed to . . .

• find out that our fire alarms work. This was totally not on purpose! And the sight of my cheese crisp coming out of the oven ON FIRE was crazy!
• get stuck in a car wash. The car wash grabbed on to our tires & pulled us through to the first stop & then got stuck. So, we were stuck being covered in soap & having those long strips of whatever brushing over us for about 5 minutes before I called Jeff in a panic for some advice. His answer of "just drive through" seemed so simple but I didn't know what would happen or if we'd be able to make it all the way through. We did make it through, got a profuse apology when we went inside & explained what happened, got a refund for the car wash & got sent through again AFTER they fixed the conveyor belt that had gotten stuck.
• find ourselves in very close proximity (within a 1/4 of a mile) of the evacuation line for a wildfire that was burning in our town. SCARY while I sat there & watched the coverage wondering if the evacuation area would be pushed further to include us & knowing it would be difficult with the two kids by myself.

But, despite it all, we made it through & definitely had a memorable time. (We're excited to have Jeff back home now!)

FHE: Bully or Superhero

Thanks to all the comments on my previous post, both on the blog & through facebook! I especially liked the suggestion that we need to teach that as members of our family, we should be each others' protectors. In that spirit, we are using a family home evening idea adapted from another blog. I'm printing out 2 pictures (one of a bully & one of a superhero) and putting them on popsicle sticks (each kid will get their own set of pictures to hold during the lesson). Then we'll talk about how we're supposed to take care of each other (like the superhero). I'm going to attach a superhero picture to a jar & each time the kids act like a superhero to each other we'll add a bean to the jar; when it gets filled up we'll go out for ice cream. With only 2 kids & them both being very small, we're going to use a small jar so we can fill it up quickly!

Click here for the lesson that inspired my adapted lesson, as well as the pictures that I'm using.

Parenting Help, Please!

We're going through a difficult time here. When the new baby was brought home from the hospital (over a year ago!) there really weren't any problems with the 2 year old. Now that one year has gone by, he's having some serious problems with her . . . she takes his toys, he has to share things with her & we're just plain struggling. He even starts throwing a fit when she wakes up from a nap or wakes up in the morning (after him); he starts crying, "No, Evie's not awake!"

What to do? We've relocated a few of his toys to his bedroom (the ones that he has a really hard time sharing) so that he can play with some things by himself. We've done occasional one-on-ones - where mom takes one & dad takes the other on an errand alone. And we've given Chase a couple of grown-up jobs that he really likes.

Do I just have to wait for him to grow out of the stage or is there more that I could be doing? Help, please!

Job Charts to the Rescue!!!

We've really been struggling lately with recently turned 3 year old, Chase. Seems he's just now hitting the "terrible two's". The first problem that cropped up was refusing to eat, especially breakfast. And then there have been lots of "no's" being yelled. I don't know about you, but a toddler yelling "no" to my face really gets my blood boiling.

The issue isn't completely resolved but last week we introduced a job chart and it has worked miracles. Chase gets to put a sticker next to each item after he completes it and he loves to get those things done so he can mark them off the list. His job chart includes -
Morning: making his bed, eating breakfast, brushing his teeth, reading scriptures, and unloading the dishwasher (with a little help from mom)
Evening: cleaning up the toys, brushing his teeth, saying his prayers

He is loving having something to be responsible & especially loves unloading the dishwasher & I have been amazed at how great he is doing. On only the 2nd day, he knew where just about everything went as he unloaded.

I used some super cute graphics found here.

More Toddler Book Recommendations

We're getting lots of books from the library & a lot of times they turn out to be ones we read just once. But we've recently found some winners that Chase wants to read over & over again. Here's our recommendations:

Dr. Seuss's ABC
Frog & Toad series by Arnold Lobel
Harold & the Purple Crayon series by Crockett Johnson
Chicka Chicka 123 by Bill Martin Jr., Michael Sampson, Lois Ehlert
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault


ENJOY!

FHE: The Sabbath Day

Thought we'd have a short little lesson on the Sabbath day for family home evening on Monday. Chase is really talking about the days of the week these days & loves to go to church on Sunday but always asks to go to the store while we're on our way to church!

I'm going to print out some pictures of places & things: church, store, playground, Jesus, man with a briefcase (to represent going to work), etc. and we'll talk about what we do on Sunday & what we don't do on Sunday and that we should do things that help us to think about Jesus.

I also stole this idea from a blog a while back & made it my own. I put together these shelves that we're going to hang in their rooms. On Saturday night, we'll hang their church clothes up on the hooks & put their shoes on the shelf to make sure we have everything ready for Sunday without any scrambling on Sunday morning. The shelves were purchased at Hobby Lobby during their 50% off sale - still about $25 each. I just added pictures of the kids in their Sunday clothes, pictures of Christ, and vinyl lettering with a cute paper background.

Family Home Evening: Gratitude Lesson

Last night's Family Home Evening was on gratitude. We talked about how when someone does something nice for us its important to say "thank you". Then we talked about all the nice presents that were received for Christmas and that it was so important to say "thank you" for all those nice things we received. We took pictures of the kid with the presents they got from their grandparents (each picture was with what they got from one set of grandparents) and then this morning I used walmart.com to make thank you cards that have the pictures on them. When they're ready, we'll write a thank you message inside, help the kids to sign them & send them off to the grandparents. Here's the pictures we took - and yes, the puppy was a gift of sorts from grandparents. Not exactly a Christmas gift, but we were given a puppy from my parents' recent litter and got to bring her home after our Christmas visit.