Time flies when you are having fun!

Greetings from the wilds of the far north!  It has been a long time since I've updated our blog, but it seems like the day to day living is so much to keep up with, and I do not have down time like I did at one point.  We are all still alive and healthy, and living in Alaska.  We are now a family of 5, and have had an amazing adventure over the last few years, and the last 9 months especially. Our biggest girl is a third grader, and is looking forward, enthusiastically, to fourth grade.  Our next girl is 3, turning 4 at the end of the summer. She is a great helper, and keeps us on our toes.  Our last girl is almost 9 months old, and is such a sweet personality.  Her new developments are teeth and mobility! Really they all keep us on our toes.  Logan is still working for Lowpete construction, and after the craziness of the last year it is really a blessing to have a paycheck.  I have started taking some classes, and am enjoying the challenge to my brain in different ways than I've had to use it in recent years.  We seem to be juggling lots of different needs and activities, but we love being together!  One of my goals is to get back to updating our blog, and I hope to share some of our stories.  I seem to remember more when I am up to date on writing things down with pictures, and I find that I share those memories with our kids better if I write them down as well.  We hope all is well for our family and loved ones, and are glad for this summer's adventures!

Beautiful Girls!

They are both fast movers, so it is hard to get pictures, but here they are!  They LOVE being together and are lots of fun and full of energy!

Random June 2012

I know it has been a while since we posted, but between one thing and another, life got a bit busy.  So, I am going to try to get caught up with things pretty quickly, which should be interesting with a 6 month old on my lap doing her best impersonation of an octopus......So, here goes: 

Here are some other random things from June 2012, just so I can remember some of our random fun:

My big girl with her tree building toy from Grandma Sue and Papa. 

Trying her first hamburger from McD's (I know, not a great milestone, but something to remember nonetheless).

Sidewalk Chalk Fun.....outside....something that is rare these days!

A quilt I am working on.  I am finally using my favorite flannels from my stash, to make a blanket for new friend and me to snuggle with while waiting for big sister to get out of school when fall arrives.....Sometimes it helps to have something to look forward to, and I have loved these flannels for YEARS and have been saving them.....and have finally decided they need to be used, so I can love them more, and not just store them and wonder when they'll be useful.  This feels good (even if it is taking me a long time to finish a small project at this point), because this project is about hope!

This is the dinosaur egg from Aunt Tifiny and Uncle Adam, which hatched in the water.  She LOVES dinosaurs!

Painted Fingers and toes...always an adventure!

Story time and resting time with Daddy!

And some of her recent masterpieces:

The Silent E from the Leapfrog movies - notice the x over the mouth, so it is silent...

a tomato plant

and a Zigongosaurus, which likes to come play at our house.

 Fun times this month!

Working in the Yard with Daddy June 2012

My girl loves to help her Daddy.  They decided to plant some potatoes in some tires for the summer.  So, Logan and our girl went out with their wheel barrows and some dirt and got to work....while I got to sit on the porch swing for a few minutes in the rare sunshine.  

What a helper! And at the end, she brought me a flower!  Oh how sweet!

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery June 2012

My girl is a source of joy and happiness everyday.  As I struggle with the challenges that seem to have arisen with this special new adventure in our lives, my big girl is a wonderful cheerleader.  She LOVES the idea of a sister.  She wants to help get everything ready, and to pick the toys and clothes to share with her sister.  She finds it a bit tricky to be patient, and prays to give thanks for our baby who is coming "soon" every chance she gets.  It has been a challenge to be so limited physically, since we are both used to doing lots of fun activities together.  As we've been experiencing so much nausea and other physically limiting symptoms, my girl has been understanding, and willing to play games or read stories as I lay down on the couch.  She loves to help me move my pieces, or draw my card, or spin the spinner.  We have learned that some games like Candy Land can be played while Mama is laying down on the couch, and that Clifford Uno and Elmo Phase 10 are great card games while Mama can sit up or lay down.  She has also taken to wearing a ball under her shirt, and telling me all about her baby and how she is going to take care of her.  

What a doll!  She helps me move past the guilt of not being so active or taking her outside for adventures very much.  It makes me feel good having such a great girl as my helper everyday! She sings to sister, reads to her, and is so excited to meet her! I felt the baby move a couple weeks before the ultrasound where when found out her gender, and Logan felt her move right around the time of that appointment.  Our big girl has been excited to feel the baby kick, and never gets tired of feeling her wiggling around.  She wants to know if it is a hand or foot or head, and she loves to talk to sister and sing to her, and then to feel if she is moving.  When she moves as Elise talks with her, Elise gets very excited and proclaims that, "the baby loves me, and is happy to hear me!"  She knows her sister loves her and is already practicing being a great sister.  I love having a big girl to share this with, (and with Logan as well).  There is just something magical about seeing this adventure through the eyes of my grown up girl, as each new development happens, and we get to talk about the miracle that a human body is, and how the baby is growing, and how it was when she was inside my tummy, and how we got ready for her to join our family.  It is really special and such a blessing to be sharing this all together as our little family!  Logan and Elise have agreed on a name, and I want to try out some other options, just to make sure we picked the right one for our girl...but as I try different ones out, Logan gives me his gut reaction to them, and some are hilarious!  And we come to realize, we have got the right name for this new one when she gets here!  I am working hard on enjoying this experience.  I feel this may be my last chance to have this kind of experience, and I want to savor each moment, and remember what a miracle it really is.  I find each day is easier as I try to be grateful for the challenges, since it means things are progressing and little one is healthy......but it is a challenge and I am grateful for my cheerleaders, including Logan, my big girl, and my mom and other family from a distance!

Another Car June 2012

With all the new things that will be happening this fall, including a new friend, and our big girl starting school (which means we will have to be driving outside everyday, rather than hibernating all winter), our special thoughtful man decided we needed a vehicle with a bit more space in the back seat, and with four wheel drive.  He found this little buddy to go on this new adventure with our family: 

I am so grateful for a wonderful husband who makes sure I am taken care of so we can take care of our girls and be safe doing what needs to be done - and he only laughed a small bit when I expressed the concern of being camouflaged in the snow.  I love this car!  It is a Vibe, and is a wonderful car!

Logan Birthday June 2012

Logan's Birthday last June was so fun.  My big girl wanted to surprise Daddy with some special things including: streamers, balloons and flowers, and a special new friend.  She also helped me make a measuring tape that said, "You rock Daddy!" which she did all the writing for herself (with a bit of help).  We made him a hug poster, just like we do every year.  It is fun to see how much she has grown, and I love to see her best guess spelling and practice writing things, and trying to interpret them afterwards!  We sure love our favorite boy!

 

And the Results....

My girl has been practicing a new version of one of our favorite songs, to sing for our new friend:

 

(the volume is a bit low, and the pictures I'm holding may be hard to see.  One is Logan, me, and our girl, and the top one is our ultrasound picture.  And at the end of the video, my girl says, "toot," because some of her favorite dinosaurs make music by hooting and tooting with their crests...so she is adding to the music!)

My Grown Up Girl Figures It Out

My girl is such a smart cookie!  Over the last several weeks we have been talking about babies in a general sort of way.  Back in February, our girl saw a Blue's Clues episode where one of the characters had a new baby in their family.  She was fascinated with this, and acted it out repeatedly, taking trips to the pretend baby hospital to pick out a baby to bring home.  Usually the baby ended up being one of her dolls, and she would take care of it, or ask me to take care of it.  I asked her at one point if she would like a real baby, and she told me, "No, I'm just fine.  I don't want a real baby, just pretend ones."  I asked her why she didn't want a real baby, and she told me she didn't want to share.  OK.....

Well, for the last several years as we've had lessons and discussions about families and siblings (like in church when they talk about being nice to your siblings), we explained to our girl that it was ok to be just her, that there are all kinds of families, some with lots of kids, some with one, and some with just parents, and that each is ok and special.  We would tell her that it was ok to not have brothers or sisters, and that it made her special to be the only kid in our family.  So, I guess this being okay without a real baby wasn't a real shock.  However, now that things are changing a bit, we have started talking more about babies, still in a general way.  We tell stories about what it was like when we had our girl, how it was to have her in my tummy, and how things were when she was a little baby.  We pulled out her baby book and showed her pictures.  She started warming up to the idea of babies in general, but we still wanted to wait to talk about bringing home a specific baby to be part of our family until things were a little farther along and hopeful.  All she really knew is that Mama has been sick a lot lately.  She is so helpful and great at playing on her own, or getting me a drink of water at the right time, or reading me stories, or reminding me to take a deep breath...all very helpful things.  Still, it has been a challenge, since we aren't able to do many of the things she has been used to doing, and it has been hard on Logan as well.  They both have amazing amounts of patience and are wonderful!

So, on Monday, my girl wanted to make a floor poster.  She was insisting that I needed to get down on the floor to color with her, and I was trying to explain that it wasn't really comfortable on the floor for Mama.  She kept insisting, and I finally asked her to look at my tummy.  I asked her if she thought it was getting a bit big.  She looked at it, and said, "Mama!  Your tummy is getting SO BIG!  Maybe there's a baby in it!"

I was a bit surprised that she had made that logical jump, but asked her how we would know?  She responded that she didn't know.  I suggested we could go to the doctor's and they could tell us if there was a baby inside, that they could listen and maybe feel the baby move.  I had already been feeling little movements for about a week, and thought it wouldn't be too long before my girl would be able to feel them too, and we had a doctor's appointment the next day.  My girl was so excited.  She thought having the doctor find out if there was a baby inside Mama was a great idea.  I then told her we could even go to the hospital and have a picture taken with a big machine, and they might see if the baby was a sister or a brother.  She was really excited about that prospect.  I asked her if she would like a brother or a sister, and she quickly and enthusiastically replied, "Mama, I've always wanted a little sister!!!!"  I was a bit surprised by that, and asked, "But what if it is a brother instead?"  She replied, "Well, then I'll change my mind and want a little brother instead!"  So, I felt a bit relieved that she would be ok with whatever the outcome was.  When we went to the doctor the next day, they did all the normal check up stuff, and found the heartbeat with the little doppler.  My girl was so excited!  She also recognized the little machine as being like the one we have at home, and realized that we could listen to the baby heartbeat at home (Logan got me a little handheld fetal doppler for Valentine's day, and I had been able to hear the heartbeat once or twice a week from week 10, which was a huge reassurance for me).  So, my girl was WAY excited and looking forward to the next day when we could go for an ultrasound, or go to the hospital to take a picture with the big machine.  I was glad that she had figured out the whole baby thing, to an extent at least, and was happy about it, and looking forward to being the grown up big sister.  What a great girl!!!!

So, the next day, we went for our ultrasound.  Our girl was so excited to see pictures and to see the baby moving around.  We were hoping for a 3D picture of our little one's face, but first one and then both arms ended up in front of the face, and weren't budging, so we didn't get a very good view.  They were, however, able to see that everything looked good, and that baby was healthy and a good size for 19 weeks.  Logan told me he know right off from seeing the first images, but it took me a bit to figure out what was what, and it took the tech a bit to make sure about gender.  Or course our grown up girl was really excited, and kept asking about when she was in my tummy.  After we got a couple pictures, we came home and our girl put them on the fridge and then requested to see the pictures of her in my tummy.  She also started announcing the news to everyone she could, "We are going to have a new baby soon!"  It was pretty neat that our big girl can be part of this whole thing, and is old enough to understand parts of it, and to be interested in her own story as well!  What great memories, and what fun to share with her and feel her enthusiasm!

And, since my girl has so many questions about when she was in my tummy, I want to do better at documenting this one, so I can have stories to tell this next one....so here is our progress at 19 weeks, 4 days (the day of our ultrasound):

Latest Project

We have been working on something special for the last few months, and it has become time to share with our family and loved ones.  We wanted to involve our grown up girl, who agreed that we could make a special shirt for her.  She was very excited about wearing it, even though she did not understand what it meant at first.  So here she is, in her new shirt:

My Little Planner

My girl is a planner.  She has started making pictures as her 'plans' for how she wants you to make things.  She is certain that her parents can make whatever it is she has drawn out.  She has made plans and instructions for clothes she wants me to make for her.  She included the colors and designs on fabric choices as well:

After seeing a cool play set at Costco, she decided her Daddy could make one for her.  She came home and drew up the plans.  She included all the things she would want, including a slide, swing, sand box, and water table.  When Daddy told her it might be too much to make, she drew another picture that was a little scaled down (there was no water table).

She also wants to be a helper for Daddy.  She loves that he builds houses, and decided he needed some plans.  She drew several pictures of houses, and had me staple them together to make a book so Daddy would know what kinds of houses to build.  She even told me she hadn't colored the insides of the houses, so he could choose the colors himself.  The houses included a rainbow house, kitty house, doll house, slide house, balloon house, ice cream cone house, and many more.  After she gave it to him, she asked him which house he was working on.  When he told her he wanted to do the rainbow house, she asked when she could come see it.

She has also made a lot of books lately, some with ideas for things she would like to do, like parts of a party, or sometimes with letters she knows and numbers and shapes.  Sometimes she draws the pictures for a story and has some help from Mama to write captions, and sometimes she writes the captions herself.  I love seeing her writing.  She has been really brave about sounding things out and trying to spell them phonetically.  At first it was a bit hard to figure out what the words actually were, but we are starting to get better at reading them.  And she has been learning to leave spaces between words, which really helps out.

She also really loves to write notes.  She writes notes for her friends, family, and teachers.  She writes notes to welcome Daddy home from work.  She writes notes to tell me she loves me.  She writes notes to say thank you.  She puts her notes in envelopes. writes the names on the front, and then puts a sticker in the corner for a stamp.  She goes through a LOT of envelopes, and since most of the notes are invitations to pretend parties, they don't get mailed, but she certainly has a lot of fun writing them!  We got a huge stack of paper on craigslist and it has made it possible for her to practice writing, drawing, cutting, pasting, and use LOTS of paper, without my feeling like it is all the printer paper getting used up.  

She is a great girl and we love to see how grown up she is getting.  Even if we as the parents can't always do all the things she has planned, it is fun to see all the creative things she comes up with plans for!  

Easter Extravaganza!!!!

Ok, so it may not have been an extravaganza exactly, but we did try to do somethings that were fun all together as a family.  We got together with some friends on Saturday, April 7 out at Sunshine Cove (WAY out towards the end of the road), and roasted hot dogs and had an egg hunt on the beach.  This was the first time we've done an egg hunt for our girl, and she had a great time.

 She also had a great time digging in the sand, making sand castles, and 'fishing' with rocks (this is where she picks up a rock and throws it into the water).  We had a lot of fun, and were glad to enjoy some sunshine and be together.  As I sat in a folding chair near the sand, my girl decided she needed to share with me.  She brought me a bucket of sand, which she dumped near my feet, and told me she wanted to share with me, and explained that she "brought me some sand, and love!  The bucket holds sand and love for you, because I love you!"  How cute!!!  She did this three times, and was great at sharing!

On Sunday, my girl got to wear her new special Easter dress that Grandma Parker made for her.  She looks so grown up in this dress!!!!  I love the length, and my girl loves the twirly factor!  She also loves the little purse and found it to be a good place to carry her scriptures on Sunday, and all kinds of things every other day of the week.  Many thanks go to Grandma for making the dress and sharing her talents with our little family! 

The forecast for the day was 'plentiful sunshine,' which is a rare thing here, and we enjoyed it!  Much better than the 'occasional sunshine' or 'moments of sun.'  And one of the funniest parts of the day:  Logan got some pink peeps for us to share.  My girl took me over to them and said, "Look mama!  Aren't they cute little chickens?"  Now she asks if we can have 'chicken time' when she thinks it is time to eat one.  Admittedly, that is not the kind of chicken that first comes to mind when she says this, but it is cute!  She even drew me a picture of one:

Valentine's Visitor!!!

We had a great visit from Grandma Parker for Valentine's.  We love to have her come all the way up North to see us!  My girl especially was in need of some grandma time, and took full advantage of having a play mate to do lots of fun things.  The girls got to make great treats for the big day, which also included a special breakfast and dinner by Daddy, a balloon chandelier and streamers (left up from our girl's birthday, also by Daddy), and a skirt made by Mama (the only thing I've been able to sew in the last several months!).  The girls even made hearts, cut them out and put them up around the house.  My girl will latch on to any excuse to party, but really we love to celebrate love!!!

They played dress up and did lots of coloring (my girl used her stickers for heads and then drew bodies for each friend, so cute!):

 And of course there was lots of pretending, singing, and playing games.  She even brought an extra train and more tracks for all the dinosaurs!!!!  

We had a great visit, and would love to be closer so we could visit more often!  Hooray for Grandma!!!