It's been a 'blah' day, but I finally got up the nerve and did the dishes, and had the boys help me clean Cohens room and the living room. I was sweeping the floor, and Cohen gets out these Finding Nemo 'go-fish' cards and throws them all over the place. . .not a big deal. The two of them proceed to pick up a few, hide behind the computer cabinet door and then on Cohens prompt, they jump out yelling 'Surprise!!!' and throw the cards all over. I go into the bathroom, and Cohen follows me in there with a big pile of cards and throws them at me and yells 'Surprise!!' and then runs into our bedroom and shuts the door. I tell him to come back in the bathroom and clean up the cards and he opens the bedroom door, looks at me, and says:
"Oh yea?. . .take THIS!"
and then he runs over and head-butts me in the leg!!!
What?!! I didn't teach him that!!!. . .I don't think. . .Where does he come up with this stuff?!!
So, I've been meaning to do this post for a long time, so that I have a record and can remember what this pregnancy was like. I guess it will also include what I remember from the first 2, because I didn't keep a record of either of those, and I find myself wanting to remember!!!
I was so exhausted my 1st trimester this time around. I don't remember being so tired with the other 2, but I guess with Cohen I was working, so I had a distraction, and with Evan I'm pretty sure I took 2 naps a day still, because I could!!!! This time around, I would wake up in the morning, and immediately start counting the hours until Evans nap time. I just needed MORE SLEEP!!! Nap time would roll around, I'd stick Cohen downstairs for TV-time, and I'd go sleep for 2 hours. Then Evan would wake up, and wake me up, and I'd feel worse than I did when I laid down!!! What?!! It was aweful!! I know I've got it pretty good that I only get tired, and not pukey, but I could honestly not believe the level of exhaustion! And then, miraculously, along rolls week 13 and I start to feel better. I woke up one morning an thought, 'I don't feel like I need a nap today.' It was AMAZING!!
After having gained 45 lbs with Evan, and then feeling the repercussions of having to LOSE it, I promised myself that the next time around I would eat better and exercise. Well, I've eaten. . .better? Do the holidays count? And I've exercised. HA! Sort of. I walk on the treadmill maybe once a week since my 2nd trimester, but that's better than nothing, right? I'm 28 weeks now, and I've gained about 25 lbs already, so I'm pretty sure I won't just gain 30. . .but I'm hoping for something between 35-40. I gained 35 with Cohen so we'll see how this one turns out.
And in the last few weeks, my hip joints have started to, what shall we call it? Relax? Loosen? Spread? Whatever. I'm OK most of the day, but when I get out of bed, I can hardly walk!! Oh my hips!!! This happens every pregnancy, and turns me into a 'waddler'. I used to be naive and think that pregnant women waddled because they had gained so much weight. Nope. It's because our dang hips 'relax' and walking is just less painful when we waddle!!!!
OK, here's the crazy part. I've always been one of these women who thinks that women who birth their babies naturally are a bit crazy. Why wouldn't you get an epidural if it were available to you? I just didn't get it. But. . .
I've decided to birth this baby naturally. Don't ask me why. I can't tell you. I think I'm crazy 1/2 the time, but for some reason, I'm feeling a strong pull towards it. Cohen, my 1st, was only an 8 hour labor, and I was induced with Evan and that labor was only 4 hours. I know I can do it. Ha! I say that now, right?!
I'm back to seeing Nancy Mooy, who delivered Evan. She moved down to LDS hospital over a year ago, and since I'm lazy, I had just decided to see an OB here at the Lakeview clinic. Why drive 20 minutes to all my Dr.'s appointments, and to have the baby, when I could drive 5 minutes? Well, once I really made the decision to have a natural birth, I decided that I would want a good midwife to help me labor rather than hoping for a good nurse and maybe getting a crappy one, right? I've only been to 1 appointment with her, but I felt so much better afterwards. Just knowing that I'll have that support made a lot of my fears go away.
So, check back in 3 months and I'll let you know it goes!! What am I in for?!!! AHHHHH!!!!
So, me and the boys were just playing ball with the Lighting McQueen ball, just bouncing and throwing it back and forth to each other. Cohen says 'Lets bounce it and bounce it and throw it in the hoop!' I tell him that it's too cold to go outside, but they can bounce it around in here like a basketball and he says "YES!!! Evan, come on!!! Lets bounce it and throw it in the hoop and be dads!!!!" We went and watched Jared play church ball. . .TWO weeks ago!!!
Now, they are playing basketball across the living room with imaginary hoops at each end, and Cohen will dribble it across the floor, then throw it at the curtains shouting "HOOP!!" or "SCORE!!"
On Christmas Eve, Julie and Melissa came over, and we were supposed to go with my parents over to a retirement home and take some treats. . .but thats another story. Ha! No good cheer spread by us on Christmas Eve, but we did wrap some presents and we had fun waiting for mom and dad all night. Oh well, we had good intentions.
After they all left, we lit a fire and read some Christmas stories. Here are the boys watching the fire. Perfect.
Then we continued a tradition that comes from Jareds family, that we all open a present or two, typically the ones from us to each other. Cohen had been waiting for weeks to open the present from Uncle Davids family (it was the only present under the tree for a long time, so he was really anxious to open it!), which was a package of 'Zubbles' which are high-tech bubbles that are awesome. They are colored, and the package swears that the dye washes out of anything, but we're going to wait until spring to use them!! We did a few outside on the back porch, but now they are safely hidden away until warmer weather!!Evan opened the doggy from Cohen, and he loved it, and continues to love it!! He really has attached himself to it, and likes to cuddle with his puppy at night. This is Christmas Eve night, right after he got it, sleeping soundly with his arms wrapped around that new puppy.
I don't know how we made it through the morning without taking any pictures INSIDE the house. . .duh. . .but here are a few of the boys in their awesome new Jeep Power Wheels (are they brats now? Who didn't want a Power Wheels when they were a kid? And we were all jealous of the kids who had them, weren't we?!!).
Evan got behind the wheel and basically drove around it circles, he's still getting the hang of steering, but Cohen was so funny trying to get on with that Jeep going!! And Evan took full advantage of having the upper hand and didn't let up on the gas at all! It was hilarious!!
We waited until the Monday after Christmas to do our traditional Nativity at moms house because we wanted to wait for Chantelle's family, and they didn't come into town until after Christmas. Here's Evan being an Angel with Hailey. He was really cute, leading all of the singing, just like any good angel would, right?!
. . .And the whole cast. Cohen was one of the 3 Wise Men.
New Years Eve we all got together at my moms for another party. We basically kept it up the whole week!! We're getting old, because by 10:30 all of the adults were ready to go to bed, but we didn't want to be party poopers! We made it all the way to midnight, and blew horns and wore hats and stomped on balloons and bubble wrap and made a good ruckus for about 5 minutes, then shoved the kids out the door and into the truck so we could get home and go to bed!!! We were home by 12:20!!!! We're so old!!!! Here's my niece Hannah partying it up!!
Me and Julie. And no, we weren't drinking. . .well I know I wasn't, I can't speak for Julie!!
And cute little Evan. He was in a good mood all night long. What a party animal!!
Jared, Andrew, Sam, and Ben were playing Around-the-World ping-pong, with a mean little twist: if you were the one that made the playing stop 3 times, then you had to stand at the end of the table and let everyone else take a free shot at your back with a ping-pong ball. You would think that a little ping-pong couldn't do much damage, but you would be wrong. Especially with Jared playing. Hecks sake!!! I don't know if you can see it in this small picture, but if you want to see a ping-pong welt, just as it appears on my nephew Bens skin, click on this picture so it's bigger, and look right above his left bum cheek, and you'll see it. He's about to start crying. Ha!
Evan wanted to play too, so they let him start trying, and he was so good!! He could hit that ball over the net almost every time!! It was crazy! Heaven knows he didn't get his hand-eye coordination from me!! That all comes from his daddy!
Then the real costumes came in the mail, and we went to our neighborhood Halloween Carnival. A few ladies organize it, and then everybody pitches in, so it's not a lot of work for anybody, and it's a lot of fun!!! Cohen loved his muscle-filled Batman costume, but Evan would not wear his. It was freezing outside, so that turned out to be OK, all of the kids ended up wrapped up in their parents coats!!! Here they are eating donuts off a string. Evan's got the right idea!!
We went to Blanding to see our Rich & Wendy, and Alan & Camille and their families. Richard had a big old pile of yard clippings from the whole summer, so we had a 'little' bonfire. . .yea. . .it was pretty awesome!! You would think it would burn the whole field down, but it stayed right where it was supposed to! 
Here he is folks: The Batman
And the only decent picture of Evan, of course eating candy. At least he wore most of his costume to go Trick-or-Treating!! I think there were some threats on his life made in order to get him to wear it, but I'd spent real money on that thing!!!
Here's Cohen and Toby, the dragon, his favorite cousin, who is just 5 months older than he is. They had so much fun together.
Brigham the 'Boo-boo Ghost', Jared as Harry Potter and Emma as Hermione. Notice the books she's carrying. Alan and Camille made them, and they say "Charms" and "Hogwarts, A History".
And here are the two amazing Alan creations for the year. . .Elijah as the Headless Spectre (a guy carrying his own head), and Ammon, who's only 1/2 in the picture, sorry, as an Alien Abduction (fake legs in front, and a fake alien head in back make it look like he's being carried away by an alien) . Alan spent weeks creating these costumes, and as amazing as they are, they made it hard for all 10 kids we had with us to charge up people's stairs and knock on the door!!
We had a lot of fun, and Jared got to go 4-wheeling with Richard all day on Saturday, so now, we have 4-wheelers in our future. . .
One day in the fall, we went to the fire-station in Bountiful for our neighborhood playgroup.
They let one of the moms put on a fireman's uniform, and Cohen wanted to try it on too! It was so cute! The boots were so heavy that he couldn't even pick them up with his feet, he could only drag them about an inch at time along the floor.
Proof that I was there too.
In October, my niece Makenzie ran in the State Championships for girls track at Sugarhouse park. She ran 3 miles in about 22 minutes, and took 11th place, but her team took 1st place as a team! She's only a Sophomore, so she's still got time to win it all!!
Here's Cohen and Evan and their favorite cousin Toby watching the race in our TRIPLE stroller!! Ha!
Cohen loves to race and was so excited to cheer Makenzie on. He would scream and yell with the rest of us every time she ran by and when she wasn't running by, he was asking where she was, and if each girl who did run by was her. We waited in the bleachers for the trophy ceremony for a while, and the boys raced up and down the walkway the whole time! Notice how Cohen is really going for the win!! No 'give-the-little-brother-a-break-because-he's-smaller' from Cohen!!
When Cohen heard that we were going to watch Makenzie race, he wanted to race her, so she was nice enough to race him across the field a few times. He loved it!!! He's a dirty racer. . .he does this in the backyard at home, and you can see the start of it here in this picture. . .you say 'go' and he runs right in front of you so he's in the front from the start! What strategy! You can even see him measuring the shadows to make sure he's ahead!!
Here I am playing 'catch-up'. I want to be a good blogger. . .I do. Maybe I'll make it a New Years Resolution for this year. But if I do that, am I bound to fail at it? Ha! Anyhow, this has to count for something, right?
And Jared and Cohen with 'Therm II". . .I guess not really because this one didn't get mounted and placed on my basement wall. . .thank goodness!!
