Score - Boys 4:Girls 3

The score is in.  We will be adding a BOY to our family in June.  We couldn't be more excited with the news.  The kids were not a bit surprised.  They were confident that the boy, girl pattern would continue so they never even questioned the gender.  Josh and I talked about it the night before finding out and couldn't even really come up with a gender preference.  I know it sounds cliche, but I was just looking for a healthy baby.  I did have a girl name that I really wanted to use (Emma after my grandma), but there was no real reason to prefer a girl.  Now that we know that we are having a boy we are really happy about it.  Based on the boy girl ratio of our neighborhood I am coming to the conclusion that heaven is running out of girls.

We do have one problem, no name.  We had decided that if Ali were a boy we would have named him Gregory (my Grandmas maiden name and my dad's middle name), but this time that name isn't settling.  When we were trying to come up with a name for Caleb we really liked Ben or Benjamin from the Book of Mormon.  This time Josh is thinking he would like a J name.  I think he feels left out since everyone in the family has someone with an alliteration except him.  We have talked about Jay or Jason (Josh's great step grandpa was Jay, but I don't think he was a great guy.)  Today I am thinking maybe John (from the New Testament as well as a great grandpa of mine who was an incredible person and for whom we have a detailed history).  The trick is that all of our kids have very special and significant names for both their first and middle names.  I want this baby to have a special name too, not just something that we like or a trendy name.

Finding out that we were having a boy seemed obvious since I have been so sick.  My girl pregnancy's were significantly healthier than my boy's.  I guess that is a personal price I have to pay to get these little missionaries to earth.  I will be glad when June comes!  My health has dramatically improved, and I am so grateful for every moment that I don't feel sick.  I am 21 weeks today.  This is as good as it gets for me.  I'm not too big and I'm not too sick.  I am only throwing up about every other day and not feeling sick all of the time.  I have even been doing a little house work and some cooking.  I am still busy crocheting beards.  It is a great way to pass time sitting around, yet still feeling busy and productive.  It makes me feel less guilty about paying someone to clean my house.  My outings are usually associated with sharing DoTerra Essential Oils.  I am having a wonderful experience teaching people about natural alternatives for health care.  I think it is a wonderful tool, when not taken to an extreme, a tool that most people in our culture are missing.  I have been so grateful for it this winter!

You may have noticed that I haven't blogged since Christmas.  Our lives are very routine right now.  Caleb and Cara leave for school at 8:20 AM.  I try to get up at 7:45, but usually drag myself out of bed closer to 8.  Luckily they can get ready really fast.  I try to enjoy some time with Andy and Ali in the mornings before Cara get's home from school at about 12:30.  Andy has Joy School on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and he is disappointed every other morning when he doesn't get to go to school.  Andy and Ali love to play, but they do watch too much Play House Disney online.  Andy loves Mickey Mouse and Cars and Ali really likes a Strawberry Shortcake movie we have.  Sometimes Andy tells me he is "sick" when he is watching TV and what he really means is that he is sick of watching Ali's girl shows.  We don't have official TV, but we don't need one for the kids to get too much screen time online.  I have to remind myself that I will be a better mom when I am not preggo.

Caleb is doing really well in school.  He is one of the top readers in his class.  Unfortunately he gives me a really hard time about doing jobs (aka homework) at home.  He brings procrastination to a whole new level.  Why can't he just comply and do his responsibilities?  Caleb's big news is that he got glasses in January.  I received a note from the school district that he did not pass a vision screening at school and that he needed a full eye exam.  I hadn't noticed that he had trouble seeing so I put it off, thinking there wasn't really a problem.  When I took him in I really thought he had forgotten his alphabet.  I kept telling him that if he couldn't remember a letter to just say "I can't remember that one".  Once the print got big enough he "remembered" his alphabet perfectly.  He was in great need of glasses to see at a distance.  I could have gotten him glasses for about $100 for the frames as Sams Club.  Being the bargain shopper that I am I got him three pair and myself one (a total of 4 pair) including the lenses and shipping for $60 at Zenni Optical a site I have been using to get mine an Josh's glasses.  It is awesome!  He loves his glasses! These are the ones he wares most days.

He has designated these camouflage/safety glasses as his favorites, but luckily he has decided that he will just ware them to Grandma Iva's.

Cara's big news is that she has her first loose tooth.  The first day that it was loose she wanted to go to our friend and neighbor, Tonya's, house to get it pulled.  Tonya pulls all of Caleb's teeth and not only does she perform the service but she also gives him a dollar and some candy for every tooth.  It is an awesome way to double dip on the tooth payout.  Cara makes her tooth bleed almost every day trying to get it looser.  She is ready to join the ranks of Kindergardeners with missing teeth.

Ali has been begging me to potty train her, but it is a task that I am not up to.  She asks to go potty many times a day and goes whenever I take the time to put her on the pot.  I hope I am not missing a golden window.  I have put her in under ware a few times, but as soon as she has an accident back to the dippers I go.  I'm thinking I would like her to just potty train herself!  For your entertainment here is a sample of her morning bed head.

Holiday Fun

We had a wonderful Christmas, how could we not with four excited children.  I really try to enjoy the moment with them.  People often remind me how quickly time will fly.  They are so cute and excited about everything.

I feel guilty that I have not been a very fun mom for the past few months so I tried to plan at least a few fun things to celebrate the holidays.  We went to the Pickleville Theater Christmas Show, and it was amazing.  I would really like to make it a tradition. The kids got to see Santa before the show.  We left Ali with my sister Connie.  Andy was SO SAD that he didn't get to stay with Connie.  He enjoyed the show, but I wish I would have saved myself the price of his ticket and let him hang out with his dear Connie.  On the way to the show Josh asked him in an excited voice, "do you want to see Santa?" With tears he said, "no, I just want Connie." Josh and I both love live theater so much.  It is exciting to me to instill that love of theater in our children.  (I wish we had a picture of Ali with Santa.)

We also went to the city nativity.  It was a beautiful night.  I love helping the kids to remember the true meaning of Christmas.  Ali didn't participate in the nativity, but she did dress up as a cute little angel.

While I am on the topic of Ali, she is a hand full!!
I overheard Cara tell Caleb, "We should sell Ali.  She is such a naughty maker."
Caleb said, "No, I think we should keep her. I think she will learn to be good when she is bigger."
Ali can someday think Caleb for convincing Cara that she is worth keeping.

Cara was also an angel (blowing her horn) and Caleb was a shepherd (front and center in the striped robe).

Andy was a perfect wise man.  I am grateful to have friends that are willing to go to the effort to provide children with good experiences such as this.

Andy is so sweet.  One of the best complements I can give him is to rave about how "big" he is getting.  At age 3 being big is awesome.  The other day I did something nice for him and he said, "mom, you are so big.  You are getting bigger and bigger."  I smiled and thanked him knowing where his heart was.  Not exactly a complement at my age.

The kids each got what they asked Santa for for Christmas.  Caleb was thrilled with his Lego Ninjago Spinners.

Cara asked for a real magic wand.  She got one, and she was very sad that it didn't really do magic. She tried so hard to be a good sport.

Andy got a "Cars" car track.

Ali (and everyone) got a mini kitchen.  They really like it.

The pillow pets were also a huge hit.  Why didn't I come up with the idea of pillow pets?!  So simple, yet the kids think they are the best.  They all sleep with them.  Took them on vacation, and love them!

Christmas morning was great.  You can see that even putting the toys together was fun.

Of course we had a wonderful time at my parents on Christmas Adam and Eve.  They kids love it there.  It is just sad when my sister Cathie's family doesn't come, cousin's are always missed.  We spent Christmas day with the Kirk's.  We were all totally spoiled especially by Josh's sister Christina and her hubby Ross.  They sure know how to shop and shower the family with gifts.  The kids love to be with their cousin Ethen.  Family is such an important part of live.  We feel thankful to live so close to our families!

I had one day that I felt good after Christmas. (Like I only threw up once or twice and didn't want to die which is incomparably better than what I had been doing.)  It made me feel cabin fever so I planned a last minute trip for New Years. The only time we could go was directly after Ali had her ear tubes replaced and her adenoids out.  She was a trouper on the trip.  I was very merciful with the Tylenol with Codeine and she did great.  Here she is with my mom after surgery.  She was not a happy patient.

I shouldn't admit that we went from surgery to meet up with the rest of the family at Chuck E. Cheese.  Luckily they had already been there for a while so Ali and I didn't have to stay long.  Chuck E. Cheese was the unanimous best part of our little vacation.  We spent a couple nights at a hotel in Salt Lake.  The kids loved the pool.  We went out to dinner at one of my favorites, The Spaghetti Factory with our friends the Campbell's.  (I even kept it down!) The kids thought Santa's sleigh was cool.

The second day we got a SLC Connect Pass.  We spent the morning at the Discovery Gateway Children's Musiem.  The kids love it there!  I am done after a few hours, but I think they could spend all day.

We went to an I Max show that even Caleb dared to wear his 3D glasses.  It was about monkeys and elephants.  Just his pace.  Not too scary.  Ali and I spent the afternoon napping while the rest of the crew went to the new Leonardo Museum and the Natural History Museum.  I have to put a plug in for the Natural History Museum at the U.  The kids LOVE IT and it is good for adults too!  We finished the day with dinner at the Lion House and Temple Square Lights.  I'm sure there was a plunge in the pool somewhere before bed too.

I even put on my suit to go to the pool once.
Cara said to me, "you are getting a fat tummy."
My reply was, "let's call it a baby tummy, not a fat tummy."
She looked at me and said, "I know there is a baby, but other people are going to think that you eat bad food."
On the bright side, at least she didn't call me lazy.

The trip ended with a morning of swimming and a movie.  Andy was so exhausted when we got home on New Years Eve that he barley made it into the house.  I was tired too.  I brought in the new year by going to bed at 8:00.  Good thing Josh is happy going to friends without me.  We both did just what we wanted.

Christmas Excitement

The excitement around here is so thick you could cut it.  My little ones couldn't be more excited for Christmas.  They sing, they dance, they run around, they chant "Santa Clause" over and over.  They are enjoying every second of the anticipation.  Caleb dreams about what he is getting and constantly asks for clues. Yesterday I started telling him that it is small, it is black, it burns easily, and it starts with the letter C.  He doesn't like that clue.  Cara is obsessed with making and giving gifts to her friends.  Andy is just so excited he doesn't know what to do except jump up and down and yell Santa.  Ali may not know what is going on, but she knows it is exciting.  Unfortunately I am still spending most of my time in bed trying to keep my food down.  I choose to stay in my room rather than on the couch so I don't have to see the messy kitchen.  Josh did take time to make gingerbread cookies with the kids so they could use the Christmas cookie cutters that they were dying to use.  I am glad for Sunday afternoons and that Josh enjoys cooking to make things like this possible.

Cara had her Kindergarden Christmas program and of course she was adorable.  I was totally amazed at the amount of material the children performed.  They did a great job!  Cara is in the red and black dress in the middle.

Andy had his Joy School Program too.  He is so cute.  I can't believe how he is growing.  He lives for Joy School Days so even though he will have three years of preschool I am so glad I included him this year.  He has so much fun with the kids. He is pictured here as a shepherd.

We have continued the tradition of letting the kids sleep under the Christmas tree on Friday nights in December.  I like it because it is easy and free.  The kids love it.  Of course Caleb has a hard time sleeping, but he has a hard time sleeping anywhere this time of year.  Is he Josh's boy or what.

The USU Aggies made it to their first Bowl Football game in 15 years.  Josh used that as "once in a lifetime" ammunition to convince me that he and Caleb needed to make the trip to Boise to see the game.  It would have been a dream trip with the Low boys except that the Aggie's lost by 1 point in the last 17 seconds.

Caleb loved his 2nd basketball season.  He is turning into a pretty good little player.  Josh told him that we could go to the dollar store if he made two baskets durning his last game.  He made three of the four total and played an awesome game.  It is amazing what a little dollar store bribery can do for his game.  If course being a head taller than all of the other children doesn't hurt.

Each year Josh and I go to a beautiful, formal Christmas party.  It is one of our favorite traditions.  We are lucky to have friends that go to such effort to create wonderful memories for all of us.  I even kept my dinner down.  It was a wonderful night.

I did get Christmas Cards out this year.  I was quite impressed with myself.  I actually had one printed rather than doing the newsletter type that I usually do.  I did include the following update:

Top 10 of 2011

10. Josh and Carrie kicked off the year with their first cruise.  They loved it!

9. We had a couple of awesome family trips including Lake Powell and St. George.
8. We spent spring brake in Disneyland.  A place we would like to spend a lot more time! [We might have ugly furniture, but we have great vacations. Obviously travel is important to us.]

7. Josh is now working full-time doing Graphic Design when he isn't with the 11 year old scouts.

6.  Carrie has found a new passion for essential oils and learning more about alternative medicine.

5. Andy started Joy School.  He lives for preschool days and serves as Ali’s interpreter.  He is always concerned about making sure her needs are met.

4. Caleb is in 2^nd Grade.  He is a great reader and loves to play any sport.  We spend a lot of time at soccer and basketball games. 

3. Cara started Kindergarten.  She loves it, mostly because it gives her lots of social time. She played what was probably her first and last soccer season.  She is a great dancer.

2. Ali learned to walk and talk.  She is turning into “one of the kids” rather than our baby.
1. We will welcome baby number five to our family in June of 2011.

Just in case you were wondering . . .

We did celebrate Thanksgiving, even though I have been in bed for about a month.  The kids all have awesome teachers and did some great Thanksgiving projects at school.  I am so grateful for their amazing teachers!

 

The week before Thanksgiving I was especially sick, but I pulled myself together to leave the house and go to my parents to celebrate the holiday. Of course it was a really fun day.  Cara spent her day with my cousin Emily's daughter, Kedzie.

Yes, my parents had chicks in their bedroom.  Connie rescued them and promptly gave them to my parents to deal with.  The kids loved it!

The horse riding is always a hit, even in the cold.  My poor dad walks miles and miles in front of the horses so that the kids can have a good ride.

Connie followed Kate and Ali around and took nearly 50 pictures just trying to get a good shot of them in their matching Christmas dresses.  This was as good as it got.

We all love Grandma Iva's cookies and her wonderful Thanksgiving meals!

Someone must of had mercy on Ali and gave her one or two or five.  Life is good!

What a Girl

Ali has a spunky personality and sometimes it shows up in the funny things she does. (Other times it isn't as funny, like her obsession with Vaseline that seems to be lasting forever.) I decided to take pictures of her little adventures and got these in just two days a month or two ago.

It is no wonder that one of her clearest words is "stuck."  She finds herself stuck quite often.

This girl loves books!  Really, it is nothing like I have experienced before.  Her bed time/nap time cue is I put her in her bed with a book.  She is "reading" it when I leave the room and "reading" it when I go to get her hours later.  Of course she sleeps somewhere in there too.  She would like me to read to her all the time.  If she isn't holding a doll, she is holding a book.

Whoops!  She got a little too excited about getting in the tub and jumped right in with her cloths on.  Yes, she is wearing a miss matched skirt over her pants.  She, like Cara, would like to add a skirt to every outfit and she is very anxious about dressing herself.  One year olds aren't supposed to have opinions about what they wear!  She also wants to be potty trained.  I am confident she would catch right on.  With no training or even encouragement she sometimes tells me when she needs to go.  I just don't have it in me to train her right now.

Somewhere I lost a picture of her sleeping on the changing table with two dolls that she had also brought over from her bed.  She hasn't quite mastered climbing all the way out of her crib.  She can get from the crib to the changing table though so she has started many naps and nights by falling asleep on the changing table.  Don't worry I have learned to check on her regularly.  If I don't know where she is or what she is doing it probably isn't a good thing.   She has been doing better about staying in bed since I discovered handing her a book.  She is quite the girl!  I never know what to expect - except the unexpected.

Something to Celebrate!

You may have noticed that I haven't posted on my blog for the past month.  In fact, that is not the only thing I haven't been doing.  I heaven't been getting out of bed.  I haven't been leaving my house.  I haven't been cooking or cleaning.  That is just the tip of the iceberg.  It is all because we have something to celebrate . . . we are having baby number five in June.

We are really excited to be expecting again.  I have to remind myself everyday.  If you know me at all you know that my pregnancies are brutal, and this one is no exception.  (Ironically I just took a puke brake.)  Yes, I have joined the world of making food choices based on how it tastes coming back up once again.  Having four previous pregnancies gives me a lot of experience and does help matters.  I know that I have a 10 minute window after throwing up in which to get something down that will settle my stomach.  I know that veggies take hours to digest and are a bad idea.  I know that I will have a healthy baby even though I can't keep vitamins down and making the effort to take them is entirely not worth it.  I know that if I take it easy and say "no" to a few more things I will keep a few more meals down.  I know that this feeling won't last forever, just 8 months, and then I will get the eternal reward.

My week 9 was especially difficult.  I wasn't able to keep down my medication so it didn't matter that I was on the "big guns."  I was throwing up constantly!  I mention this because it was durning that difficult week that I had two inspired friends and my mom come and take my kids.  It is amazing that the Lord will take one right to their capacity and then send some relief.  I was so grateful for the help!  I was also grateful for suppositories to help me get things under control, something I never thought I would be grateful for!

When Josh and I got married we were committed to having five kids.  We both come from families of five kids so that seemed complete to us.  After having Andy I was enjoying parenting so much I changed my mind and decided that I wanted six.  I still do want six kids, and I know that this isn't my most difficult pregnancy, but I don't think I can do it again!  Even though I am only throwing up 1-3 times a day, now that I am keeping my meds down (with other pregnancies it has been much more) I think just being older and having a house full of kids makes it all a little harder.

So there it is, our good news with a few of the yucky details.  I will be counting down to JUNE!  I am 10.5 weeks and officially due June 25.  Time can't go fast enough right now!

Christmas Pictures

I have intentions of doing a Christmas card this year, which may or may not happen, but it did motivate me to get the kids pictures.  I was hoping for a good group shot, which was a total bust.  (Ali refused to cooperate.  She loved her individual pictures though.  Maybe she should have been an only child.)  

We did get some great individual shots of each of them.  Enjoy!