It's Almost August, Right?

I've been putting off getting anything ready for the baby until August because anything earlier would seem premature. Why change the bedding in the crib when Taryn still takes her naps in there? Why pull out all the clothes when the girls may just go thru them all and I'll have to refold them all anyway? So I thought I'd at least wait until August when it would feel like we were almost to the end.

I swear, this is the longest pregnancy ever. I think when I get so excited about something and stay excited about it for this long, it seems interminable. And I'm so excited for Keara because she is so excited. So I want the time to pass quickly because I can understand how hard it is for a 3 year old to understand time, but then I, myself, feel like the 3 year old because its "taking a long long time, mom."

So today, a day early, Keara and I went thru the boxes of newborn and 0-3 clothes. It was so cute to see her hold up a shirt and say, "Mom! Look at this tiny shirt!" Or when I would say, "Keara, look how little this dress is" she'd get that "Aww..." look on her face. It was classic. We went thru the boxes, picked out what we needed, unfolded them and looked at it all, then tossed it in the laundry. I'm glad we were able to do it together.

All I have to say is WOW, we have a lot of girl clothes. At least a lot from birth to Keara's size. I'm glad we're having another girl. If she comes out a boy...

I had my appointment yesterday where the doctor did an ultrasound to determine size. He measured the skull, torso, and thigh bone. It said that she's skinny but long, just like Keara, but the estimated weight at birth is about where Taryn was (7 1/2 to 8 lbs). So we'll see. I'm just glad he wasn't projecting an 8 1/2 pound baby. We're now a little less than 4 weeks from ETA but of course hoping for something earlier.

My sisters' babies are due next week and the following, so we are SO excited to hear good news from them. Then, its our turn...

Waste of Time

We saw a dumb movie last night. Don't see it. Braden wanted to get it because the previews made it look really cool. But it was dumb. He even said so, which is saying a lot because he rarely thinks a movie is just dumb.

Anyway, don't see KNOWING.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a...

...nother rocket belly!
I haven't posted belly pics on this blog in a LONG time. So, I had Keara take these pics today for 2 reasons. One, to document this stage. But two, because I needed to send this picture to my sister to show her the new skirt I made yesterday.

So, there's how I look at 36 weeks. I'm really looking forward to my appointment on Thursday because it'll be the first "exam" and he may also do an ultrasound to determine size. I like knowing these things.

I have a TON of people throughout my pregnancies comment on my belly. "Wow, you're showing early." "You're carrying really low." "That just pops right on out there." "It really looks like just a basketball." "Are you sure you didn't swallow a watermelon?" And then there are the many women who say something akin to "I wish my belly looked like yours...just out there instead of all over." I don't say that to brag, but to preface the following.

I have rocket bellies. I know I have rocket bellies, yet people are astonished by how it looks. And here is why I have rocket bellies. It's not all that worth it. After Keara was born, the natural separation of my abdominal wall didn't heal. I just figured I couldn't get rid of the bread basket no matter how many sit ups I did. I didn't realize it was anything more until I was 6 months pregnant with Taryn and talked to my sister who is a physical therapist.

When I mentioned how I could create an "alien baby" by leaning backwards and watching the center of my abs pop out and how I was hurting so much more than with Keara, she told me about this problem with my abs. She told me I needed to do therapy for it and I must not do sit ups or crunches because that only makes it worse. Well, that's all I had done after Keara was born. Then she told me that it was possible that even with therapy, I would never go back to normal because of the scar tissue that was likely present.

So I learned about it and did physical therapy for it after Taryn was born. Basically, during pregnancy, the abdominal wall naturally separates to allow for the growth of pregnancy. After delivery, most women will either lose the separation completely, or, after 3 weeks, will have a 1-2 finger spread between their abdominal muscles. This eventually heals.

But mine didn't heal. I couldn't do anything about it while pregnant with Taryn, so I had to wait until she was born. Three weeks after she was born, I did the test to see where my separation was. Instead of the normal 1-2 finger spread, I could fit my entire hand, fingers spread between my walls. Not a good thing. I did the exercises for it and after a few weeks, I had gotten it down to 2 fingers. Good. I felt so much better than I had in a long time because I finally had abdominal support again.

I hoped that it would stay when I got pregant this time, but as soon as I got pregnant, it's like my body just decided to lose the strength again. Part of the "joys" of having this ab separation is that I show really early because I have no muscles to hold it in. I carry really low which leads to back and pelvic pain. I have a bulge at the top of my prego belly that actually hurts (I wonder if its the beginning of a hernia). I have no feeling on the middle of my belly, perhaps because of the scar tissue. It is painful and difficult to be pregnant from about 5 months, instead of just at the end because of the strain on my body. And people have a lot of comments because it does look different from most bellies.

A couple of the true joys of it all, though, is that I never look like I've just eaten too much at the beginning of my pregnancies (except at the very beginning when I'm...retaining water, for lack of a better word) because the belly just pops out there. And I also feel the baby move extra early because I have no muscles to prevent feeling.

I'm hoping I can be even better at my exercises after this baby to perhaps at least gain back what I had before rather than regressing every pregnancies.

Anyway, there's your science lesson for today...

No, There is Too Much. Let Me Sum Up...

Name the movie. Anyway, I thought I would put a couple projects on hold and take advantage of Braden playing basketball and the girls sleeping to catch a few things up.

*In April or so, Braden was made Team Lead at his work. That means more responsibility, not more pay. Then, someone quit, so he was given her teams of students. That meant a LOT more work. Despite it all, he managed to pull off some of the most incredible numbers his manager had seen which meant she recommended him for a really awesome raise when it was time for his semi-annual review. He did awesome and I'm so glad he still loves what he is doing!

*We moved the girls into the same room for night time. We bought some bunkbeds from Walmart after months of looking for good ones on craigslist. I love them! They're not put together as bunks yet, but the girls are doing great sleeping in them. Taryn looks so tiny in such a big bed. They can't take naps together, but nights are going well.

Here are a few pictures to sum up some of the other things going on:

The other night, there was a big storm that came thru, starting with a lot of wind. When we went to the window to see how pretty it was, we were SO sad to find that our big, tall mesquite tree had met its match. Fortunately, it kind of rested on Braden's car without doing any damage. But he chopped it up and it is no more.

Keara and I had a really great laugh at the dinner table last night when daddy went to a meeting. I couldn't help it. We had bought some grapes at the store and some of them were REALLY big. She popped one in and I just had to pop another in on the other side. She could hardly close her mouth. I think the video is hilarious.


Taryn is becoming the sweetest thing in the world. Her vocabulary is exploding and she is generally happy and content 95% of the day. She is helping more, doing more, understanding more, and making me SO happy! Sometimes, she's what gets me thru the days when my 3-year old is melting down. I love this little girl!

Here's a shot of her sores on her legs. She got them the worst on her legs, but has some on her arms and a few spots around her mouth. I can't see the one in her mouth to know what that is like, but so far, she hasn't seemed to be affected by it when it comes to eating. The sores are starting to diminish and it doesn't seem to be spreading anymore, so I think we're good. She has such a perfect disposition for all the trouble she's been given with this body of hers!

Grandma Moore gave Keara a new pair of sunglasses. She put them on and knew JUST how to pose in them! She and Braden got to go on a date to a movie last week and I took this right before she walked out the door. She chooses her own outfits, down to the shoes, every day (and Taryn's too, for that matter), but I thought she looked great for a date. She even has her most important gum in her pocket!

We got to have Braden's sister and kids over for a day. It was SO fun and SO great to get to know them better. We were glad we had our little pool to entertain them and keep everyone cool in this heat. The kids had so much fun in it.

We also got to have Braden's mom and grandma stay over night with us. The girls were so happy to have them around and made sure to take every moment they would give them!

We loved the Moore Family Reunion this year. It was at an awesome place with awesome people. Keara loved being with Jack, her bestest cousin friend. For the first day and a half, they were almost inseparable.

My favorite part of the reunion was going to White Sands. Imagine a bunch of sand dunes...I mean miles and miles and miles of sand dunes...that look like snow. It was awesome. The weather was perfect that day and it had rained so the parking lot was flooded. PERFECT! It made for extra great fun for everyone. It also meant the sand stuck a lot more than it would have...Keara spent the whole time in the sand, whereas Taryn...

...alternated between the water (lying down in it, drinking it, splashing in it, running thru it)...

...and then rolling in the sand...just to make sure every inch was covered. Have I mentioned I love this little girl!?

My sister-in-law, Amanda, caught our family in some sweet shots walking thru the water. I love them! My shirt is doing something funky in the wind, but hopefully we can get that photoshopped and then this pic up on the wall.

NEWS UPDATE: I think our garden is shot. It may have had a chance if it had never been moved, but most of the plants in it were NOT summer crops. They were plants that should be harvested in the summer, not growing. So, today I pulled most everything out. The watermelon is still thriving, but it's a tiny vine...it should be dying after producing big watermelons at this point. The cucumber is still growing too, but again, hasn't even flowered. The cherry tomatoes are turning red, but we'll probably only get 5 or 6 off it this year. The other tomato plants aren't doing so hot. Even the bell peppers are struggling. We did get some jalapenos that were already there when we got the garden. I made salsa with them and it was great! But I do believe that will be the extent of our crop this summer. Come fall, we'll start again.

I'm sure there are a thousand other things I was planning on catching up on, but for now, that's it. We are SO excited and wait with baited breath to hear about my sisters' babies being born...just a couple more weeks for them! And then it's our turn...I can't wait!

The Story of My Life

We are TOO busy right now! My goodness, I don't have any time. But I wanted to blog about a couple things really quickly before racing to get other things done. Now that I've pulled up my blog, I can't remember what I was going to say...

Well, here's some quick highlights (and some low lights), until I can remember what I meant to write.

*We had a very busy week with LOTS of family! Mom, Grandma Dolin, Laurie, Lauren, Lexi, Madi, Jake, Brie, Stacey, Kyle, Caden, Nicho, Grandpa, Janae, and Enoch...we were exhausted last night after everyone was gone.
*I'm almost 35 weeks now and we are definitely counting down! We are SO excited to have this baby come!
*It's hot. We dropped the temp in our house while we had guests, but today I had to put it back up. I'm going to miss feeling comfortable!
*The ward cookbooks are slowly leaving my house. I sure hope I can collect all the money so we don't have to pay for them ourselves...
*I want chocolate chip cookies...really badly. Right now.
*My sewing machine broke while I was in the middle of a REALLY REALLY REALLY big project. SO SAD! I honestly wept. Keara even gave me her blanket to help me feel better. But I ended up buying a new one since I rely on my machine so much. I LOVE IT! Who knew so many problems I've had over the last 2 years were because of my machine?!
*I am loving making my mei-tai carriers and other things people are ordering from me. I actually should emphasize that I LOVE LOVE LOVE making them. I don't know why they bring me so much joy to make. A total delight.

Our biggest "light" of the day, which I guess is a low light, is that Taryn has Hand Foot and Mouth disease or whatever it's called. To me, it just sounds like Hoof and Mouth disease. But, she broke out into a rash on Friday which has now spread down her legs, on her arms, and around her mouth. Yesterday and today, they have become more like open sores. Poor kid. No, Laurie and Stace...your kids are fine. In fact, they are the ones who gave it to her... :) She'll get over it. But then, when we got home from the doctor, she put her hand on a hot burner on the stove. Poor kid!! She's miserable today, and has been for the last 4 or 5 days. At least now we know what has been bothering her.

Well, after all that, I still didn't remember what I was going to say. Oh well.

Utter Frustration

I cannot explain how annoyed I am right now at the stupidity of our country in electing Obama president. I hate how that election was based on race NOT on politics. I'm sorry to say it, but people who voted for Obama largely were simply looking to not repeat Bush, rather than searching to elect the best candidate. Now what we have is a president who is putting a finger of the government in every pie, dictating every aspect of our lives, and slowly eliminating our freedoms.

My current frustration is over a law called the CPSIA which is set to go into effect in August, requiring ALL people who make and/or sell children's products (from clothes to shoes to toys to bedding) to provide tracking labels permanently affixed to all products. Great if you are a huge company and produce large quantities of product and actually have batches and lots. Not so great if you are a stay at home mom who is plunking out products for people you know or online and selling them to make a little extra money.

This act even goes so far as to affect YARD SALES, consignment stores, libraries. Fortunately, the even more outrageous part of the law (lead testing) has been put on hold for a year while the commitee (of now 3 people I might add) decides how to handle the general anger toward this law. But still, they did not take into account the millions of small business owners or online sellers who will no longer be able to offer their product because the law would make production too expensive. So, in essence, your options will go from boutiques, ebay, etsy, and the like to ... WALMART. Because the people who are trying to preserve quality, functionality, style, and value will no longer be able to do so. And the cost for non-compliance (though possibly not investigated on such a low level) would be damning.

The more annoying part about it is that the whole point of the act is to create ease in locating the manufacturer and pinpointing product when there needs to be a recall of a product. Great. That sounds like it will make it much easier if they can just tell me the crib I bought which comes from batch 7-1020-494786 has been recalled. BUT, if I'm making a mei tai carrier for someone who buys it from me off etsy, I'm going to go to Joann's, buy the materials I need, and make that ONE carrier. If that person then decides there's a problem with it and alerts someone that it needs to be recalled, its only their carrier that will need to be recalled because I'm not using the same fabric over and over. So, why do I need to comply with this law if I will never have a problem with recalls?

I'm searching to find more information about this act and to understand how and if it is really going to go into action. I'm hoping the people over there at the CPSC will stop sitting on their brains and think about the ramifications of this act, because they didn't when they first signed it. They have 1 month. Less than 40 days to figure out if they are going to actually do something about it.

I realize that this act was started with the Bush administration, but it has been pushed forward heavily by Obama. Does anyone else see that slowly our government is becoming the voice for all our decisions, our opportunities, and our future? Do you realize that if things continue at the pace they are, there will be laws or government interest to dictate almost every aspect of our lives? And you voted for this. Thanks.

Yes, I'm a little frustrated.