halloween

Until this morning I didn't catch the irony of my "costume" - I had an ultrasound scheduled (my last one!). Now, Spencer thinks this shirt is "weird" but all the nurses and doctors at the ultrasound place couldn't get enough, for obvious reasons. I was like a walking advertisement for them! The office manager asked to take my picture, took several pictures, and then texted them to me a couple hours later after she had done some creative editing.

And no, the baby is NOT in this position - she has her feet in my right ribs and is curled into a C, but this is much cuter. (My sister has a matching one, courtesy of Kori who has the talent for such things. You have probably seen that pic on FB.)

Tyle was Thor (his big old hammer thing keeps breaking), Tanner was Buzz Lightyear, and Emma was either a 50s girl or a witch, depending on her mood and the occasion. We had a trunk or treat to go to, the kids had a party, and then today they had a parade after school. I am once again grateful for Emma; being on "bed rest" I couldn't do much in terms of helping her with a costume. The day of the trunk or treat, we went out to the costume box and she had only a few options but totally embraced it and wore that poodle skirt with pride.

And with that, there is Halloween. Phew - glad that is over. Now I can pull out Christmas stuff (well, I could if I wasn't on "bed rest") and turn on the music (If you're a hater, please tell me exactly how many good Thanksgiving songs you know.)

And because I think this is cute... we all know Buzz can't really fly, so it's ok to hitch a ride.

Macie's 4th

Honestly, this day (yesterday) was just weird. The night before Tanner had been sick and didn't sleep well so I slept in his twin bed with him (worried about even MORE barf in my bed). He must have the most uncomfortable mattress ever.

I had a doctor's appointment where (hooray!) she told me I don't have to be on bed rest anymore because if the baby does come she will be just fine. So I went from hating life on bed rest to enjoying it much more while on "limited activity."

But I was just missing things yesterday. I was off.  I totally forgot about us carving her "M" pumpkin that we have done all the other years. And we even have about 85 pumpkins on our front porch. Oops. We'll do it this weekend. I couldn't make cupcakes but a dear friend brought some sugar cookie stuff over for us to use. I couldn't find my camera. Tanner was still being SO clingly and lethargic. Emma had piano lessons and a soccer game, and with the cemetery closing at 4:30 we had a very small window of time.

Finally Spencer came home, with cupcakes (love him!) and 4 pink balloons and we were off. He parked off the side of the road, right next to her headstone, because he didn't want me walking far, the cemetery was totally empty, and it was closing in 15 minutes. Well, a worker came over and gave us a hard time for being parked there. He wouldn't let it go and it escalated a little bit (Emma even asked if she needed to go break it up), which resulted in Spencer calling the office at the cemetery today. They felt terrible, but at this point I just have to laugh at the comedy of errors it turned out to be. We still sang happy birthday. The balloons were let go at random and Tanner's got stuck in a tree but at least we had balloons. The store-bought cupcakes were orange and black with spider rings in the top...not quite the pink ones we usually have, but it IS October after all. Some friends had cleaned off her headstone, which was very sweet. 

I'm sure Macie isn't offended that we dropped the ball in so many ways on her birthday. It has been really weird for me these last few weeks to be pregnant with a girl, also due in November, and have all these little hiccups going on. I'm starting to get anxiety about her birth.

When I found out my c-section date I told the baby nurse (for Macie and for Tanner), hoping she could work it out to be there then. It only seems right to have her with us, taking care of my babies in those first few minutes of life. Unfortunately she had shoulder surgery this week and is out for a while, but she let me know that the nurse who will be there that day is great. All the nurses in the hospital know me by now, I have non-stress tests twice a week, I see my doctor at least once a week, and I have ultrasounds all the time. Pretty much every weekday involves some doctors and this baby of mine. We are in the final stretch!

I am vowing to make Macie's 5th birthday much more restful, calm, and meaningful. But with 4 kids, I guess I can't promise anything. As long as I remember the pumpkin.

girls' room

I was a little relieved when I found out this baby was a girl. We have 3 small bedrooms, and this evened it out nicely in terms of children. Also, Emma is my one child who sleeps like a log so I'm pretty sure having a baby in there from the get-go won't affect Emma at all. (That room is also the guest room so they'll both be displaced occasionally but no big deal.)

I was getting sick of Emma's room and the little girl details we had put in there 3 1/2 years ago when we bought the house. So I started racking my brain to come up with ways to make it cute and girly but appropriate for both an 8 year old and a baby. I'm thrilled with how it turned out. And I'm equally, if not more thrilled that I got this done before all the pre-term labor stuff started. Score one for me.

I told Emma I wanted to paint her room gray, and accent with bright colors. She completely turned up her nose, so I took a new approach. I told her we would paint it "silver" and then do a glitter wall. That changed her mind, and she was ok with what I picked. I had a hard time picking the right color; I wanted a light, soft gray that would be silvery but not too bland. I finally found the perfect color - Benjamin Moore's Gray Owl.

I did some research about glitter paint, and after toying with the idea of mixing my own for about 10 seconds (!!), I decided to buy a quart of this stuff. It was expensive, but I liked that it wasn't grainy, and I could easily paint over it. I mean, with how often I paint...

And I love the stuff!

There is an iridescent sparkle when the light hits it, and when the afternoon sun streams in it illuminates the whole wall. But it's subtle enough as well. I'm a big fan.

Some of these fun plaques will end up with cute pictures on them when there is a baby here to photograph, along with her big sister. I'm liking the look.

The crib bedding is what I bought while pregnant with Macie. The pink/white/light green colors are still perfect. Spencer jokes that she will get to wake up every day and see the motorhome outside first thing. Lucky her.

The last little detail was a copycat I made from something I saw on Pinterest (via Etsy). I spray painted the stripes and then found a tutorial for a felt rose - it was so easy but I think it's adorable.

The clothes are washed and hung/put away. Spencer bought her a new blessing dress when he was in Utah a few weeks ago. We toyed with the idea of using my old one, the same one Emma was blessed in, but after what happened with Macie we decided it's nice for her to have her own to keep. Incidentally, he bought the exact same one for this baby as he had bought for Macie and that we buried her in. It's sweet and kinda sad to see it hanging in the closet.

We're almost there! And I'm ready!

incubator

This baby is still cooking, thank goodness. After 3 nights in the hospital with lots of magnesium sulfate pumping through my veins (and through the baby), I was able to come home to feel anxious and count contractions elsewhere.

Spencer said it best: "All you are right now is an incubator." I will disregard the number of ways I could possibly take that statement, and just believe that it's true - this baby needs a couple more weeks to come out as healthy as possible, but really once we get to 34 weeks (a few days) we are pretty much in the clear. I, on the other hand, don't know if I can make it several more weeks on bed rest - 2 days has been hard enough. November was feeling so close until recently...and now I'm just hoping October will fly by.

I'm just going to enjoy Spencer's comments, especially the ones where he admits that taking care of everything for the kids each day is "exhausting." I need to start recording all of this...

(I'm not feeling "focused" enough yet to get into a new series on TV...but if anyone has suggestions for when I get to that point I'd really appreciate it. I'm not much of a TV watcher but might have to become one.)

way long ago

Spencer and I often say that we don't really remember details and specifics about our lives before each other. It just seems like we've been married for so long. He even said, yesterday, "Remember before we had kids?" I said no. I think I had a little boy zooming cars up and down my arms and legs at the time, and truly that seems to be all I know.

We met 11 years ago this week. I remember him telling me about all his "dates" to General Conference that weekend, and I remember thinking he was either a total player or strangely (and surprisingly) cool. I remember acting cool myself and telling him that my very own dad could get me tickets and I would be there too (so ha!). I even remember thinking that I had gotten into BYU on my own merits and not because of family connections - wasn't I a brat?? Little did I know just how smart he was/is, but it sure didn't take me long to find out.

Spencer claims he remembers seeing me for the first time, in Econ 110 in the auditorium of the SWKT. I always wonder what kind of bewildered/confused look I had on my face when he first saw me. That class wasn't my favorite, and the principles and concepts were quite foreign to my brain. But I'm sure glad I took it! Even if I had to get a C. The sacrifices we make for each other sometimes...

Happy Conference weekend.