The Baby Charmer

My dad has a way with babies. He can calm them down and lull them into happiness. I love it. He didn't get to hold my little man until a few days after we brought him home - you may recall that Dad was in the hospital at the same time as Gage and I, and the folks in the NICU didn't think it safe for Dad to go in to hold Gagey. So it was great when he dropped by a few days later to meet Gage in person. I was in the middle of changing his clothes, so he was just in a diaper when Dad was there, and I think he was cold. He wasn't a very happy camper. He would not be lulled into happiness. He was wiggling like crazy. He is a really wiggly kid, and freakishly strong.

Our Baby Tradition

When I lived in Salt Lake, Pooh and I had a tradition - we would visit each other in the hospital when we had our babies. When I had Micah in '08, Pooh came all the way up from SLC to visit me in the hospital, and we sat and chatted for hours. It was so fun, and it meant so much to me. So, when she had Marlo last spring, I went down to visit her for a few days. And then she came to visit me a couple of days after I had Gage.

She brought the up the whole gang, and they stayed at a local hotel, which I felt badly about - I wish we had a guest bedroom or something for them. Our house is sooo teeny. Sigh. One evening, they invited us over to swim in the hotel pool. Pooh and I held our babies on the deck next to the pool while Ben and the kiddos swam. Gage was still way too little to get in, and I wasn't ready yet, either, since I had just pushed a baby out a couple of days before. :)

The next day, they came over to the house to play for awhile. Caz:

Judge was very interested in the games Sadie was playing on barbie.com. It was funny:

Judge is just such an easygoing, fun little man.

Bishie always has a pose and a face for me:

He totally made this face on purpose:

My kids:

And my beautiful best friend with my beautiful little baby:

He's making an Elvis face in that picture. :)

After we hung out at the house for awhile, we went to Five Guys for burgers. Yummm. And then they had to go home. Sigh. I wish they lived here. Thanks so much for visiting, Poohey.

Cup's Birthday, or, Why I Need to Invest in Better Shoes

Pete sometimes calls Jakob, "Cup." Because of the last part of his name - jay-CUP. Jake used to hate it, but I think it doesn't bug him anymore.

Jake's birthday was the day before Gage arrived. It is also the same day as my BFF, Pooh's, birthday, just FYI. He had a friend birthday party, to which he graciously invited Dylan:

It was a swim party - that's Dyl on the tramp, and Jake on the grass. They are such skinny, buff little guys. I lent Nat my slip-n-slide, which, unbeknownst to me, was jacked up and not really working very well (chalk it up to another thing ruined by the Nappy Neighbors). So I dropped that off, along with Dylan, and then went somewhere - I can't remember where.

It was a totally rainy day, but word on the street is that it didn't seem to bug the kids at all. Especially little Ivy. She played and played out in that rain, no prob. This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of her:

She is so stinkin' cute.

When I went to pick up Dylan and the slip-n-slide, I was wearing my crappy flip-flops, and I slipped on Nat's back deck and fell pretty hard on my bumb, down a couple of stairs. It hurt really badly, but just on my butt, and the baby kept moving inside for the rest of the day, so I figured no harm done. Did my spill make him come the next day, a whole month early? We'll never know.

Anyways, back to Jake. I just love that little man. Whenever I go over to Nat's, or when our families are together at my folks' house, he always comes right up to me and talks to me. It makes me feel good about myself. I feel like he likes me, and that makes me happy. He calls me Kar and shows me his latest dance moves and tells me how good he is at reading. He's adorable. I feel a bit of an affinity with him, because I see a lot of myself in him. He really wants everything in his life to be just right, just perfect - that is so how I used to be, and let's face it, still really am. I don't know; he just reminds me of myself at that age, so I kind of have a tender spot in my heart for him. Happy Birthday, Jakey.

Micah in 3D

Ben's dad and stepmom came to visit a couple of weeks ago - we had a ton of fun with them (more pics to come). They took us to Legend of the Guardian in 3D - it was really a beautiful movie. I'm amazed at what computers can do nowadays. But I still like my old school cartoons, as well. Cinderella, anyone? Anyways, Micah wouldn't wear the 3D glasses in the theater. He stared confusedly at the screen during the entire movie, but refused to wear the glasses. However, once we were home, he wore them non-stop, along with a pair of Dylan's flip-flops.

(Yes, we let him take the 3D glasses home. So sue us.)

Sadie's Pretend Facebook Profile Info

About Me

Basic Info

Birthday: August 31, 2005
Relationship Status: I have decided I am going to marry a man named Joe.
Political Views: The United States should be a monarchy, with me as queen.
Religious Views: I love going to church. Especially when I get to color. I always ask Mom if we're going to have Family Home Evening, which makes her feel really guilty.

Bio

I was born in '05. We moved to San Diego when I was just six weeks old. I was a really, really hard infant, but finally got over myself and have been pleasant ever since. We moved back to Idaho Falls when I was almost two. I went to preschool when I was three and four, and now I'm in Kindergarten. I started taking dance lessons this year, and I really love it.

Favorite Quotations

"You git what you git, and you don't throw a fit." I say this to my brothers several times a day. Even though I don't follow that advice myself.

Likes and Interests

Activities

Chasing Micah around, tripping him, teasing him, hitting him. Playing Dora the Explorer games on Nick Junior. Coloring. Homework - I LOVE homework. I seriously wish my teacher would give me more. Following Mom all over the house. Helping Mom by bringing her diapers, Desitin, and baby wipes whenever she needs. Going grocery shopping with mom - I really love doing that. Cuddling mom on the couch. Playing Monopoly, Old Maid, and Go Fish.

Music

Anything that a girl sings is okay with me. I always request "a girl song" when we're in the car. I especially love Kesha. I always ask my mom if we can listen to "See the Sunlight" (a.k.a. Tik Tok). Mom explains to me all the time that she doesn't have that CD, but I don't really get it.

Books

Lately, I really like reading any of our children's books to Micah. I just make up a story to go with the pictures. It's really cute.

Movies

I'm not really into movies. However, if mom brings a movie out to the car, I usually request Garfield or Garfield 2. And I still love watching Baby Einstein movies. Doesn't everybody??

Television

I like Chowder and Tom and Jerry. But if Mom is watching those shows with me and she giggles at a funny part, I get mad at her. Only I am allowed to laugh while watching cartoons, apparently.

Glads

When I was a kid, my mom took us to my Great-Grandma W's house almost every Saturday to garden. My grandma had an amazing yard and garden. She lived on a very busy street in town, and she said that, often, people would stop by and ask if they could buy her flowers. I have the best memories of those times. Grams paid us $5 an hour, which was amazing and extremely generous of her. She got Meals on Wheels, so her fridge was stocked with nothing but junk food. I loved it. She kept Twinkies, Ding-Dongs, and Twix bars refridgerated, and oh, were they good. And all the Coke we could drink. It was heaven. She was so cool. I think of her every time I eat a Twix, a Twinkie, or a Ding-Dong.

I also think of her every time I walk into my garage. My garage smells exactly like Grandma's garage smelled. That musty, 1940's-era house garage smell.

Once, I remember we were planting Asters, and I thought they were called Bastards. "Mom, where does Grandma want these Bastards?" I felt so dumb when she and Grams laughed at me. :) I obviously chuckle about it now. I learned a little bit about gardening during all of those Saturdays, and I think I kind of inherited my love of flowers from my mom and great-grandma.

She really loved Gladiolas. She called them Glads. Nat got a bunch of Glad bulbs for an amazing price this last spring, and I copied her and bought some for my own garden. If my grams loved them, they must have been pretty awesome, I figured. They really are so gorgeous:

Could you just die? They're especially beautiful in vases. The perfect flower for giving.

Nat's seemed to be a lot happier than mine. And she had more of a variety of colors. Mine only bloomed in salmon and purple, but she had some really pretty reds bloom. Both of us had major issues with them tipping over. We planted them deep enough, I think. It's just that they're naturally really tippy flowers. I asked my mom what Grandma did about the tippyness of her Glads. Mom said that she planted the big kinds of marigolds around them to kind of hold them up. I'm going to try that out next year. The bulbs are currently happily in buckets in my basement for the winter.

I don't know what these things are:

They were a Ben purchase. But they have been wonderful. It's so nice to have something in bloom at the end of summer and through the fall. They've made us happy. And they've made the bees happy. Boy, do bees love those things.

The Bounty Hunters

So dude. Do you ever watch this show?:

I think it is so, so, so funny. Dog takes himself very seriously indeed. It's just hard for me to take him seriously with that hair of his. And is it necessary to wear black leather studded gloves and stuff like that? Maybe it is, in his line of work. I also watch a show called Billy the Exterminator on A&E. Billy dresses even crazier than Dog does. He's an exterminator, right? But he has all these chains and studs on his shoulders and gloves, and this big old cowboy hat with all this bling on it... don't those get in the way when he's trying to catch snakes, raccoons, bats, etc.? I'm just sayin'. Billy also takes himself very seriously. And he also has ludicrous hair. We're talking a mullet with spikes on the top, but two pretty little tendrils that go down at each temple. I seriously really love watching that show. Billy is really nice, despite his ludicrousness. So is Dog. I love when Dog is talking to the criminals he catches and saying, "You gotta find Jesus, bra. I was like you, but then I found Jesus."

So anyways. The reason I bring Dog up is that we had a special incident tonight with our across the street we-think-she's-a-drug-dealer neighbor. I was saying goodbye to Ben on the front porch before heading off to work, and we hear screaming from the Drug Dealer's house: "Get her OFF me!! GET HER OFF ME!" We could hear slapping and altercation-like sounds. I told Ben to call the police. Just then, little Katie, Drug Dealer's daughter, comes running across the road with her teddy bear in her arms, eyes as huge as saucers. "Can I stay at your house for awhile? There are scary ladies yelling in my house." I rushed her inside.

Ben stayed out there while on the phone with 911, describing the scene. Some blonde lady came running out of the house and down the street. A few seconds later, she pulled up in a big, red truck with three dudes. They were all really well-dressed. They all run inside. They come outside with some brunette lady (I don't know how the brunette lady got there - there were zero cars in the driveway), and her hands are tied behind her back. I was like, oh my GOSH, these people are kidnapping this lady!!! Finally, the police car pulls up, and the blonde lady goes right up to him and says, "Hi, I'm Natalie with such-and-such Bail Enforcement."

Ohhhhhhhh! So she and her three co-horts were Bounty Hunters! So the police guy checked their papers or whatever and let them drive away with Brunette Lady. Drug Dealer talked to the policeman, and then the policeman wanted to talk to Ben. Drug Dealer went inside with poor Katie. Apparently, Drug Dealer's little brunette friend skipped bail and was hiding at Drug Dealer's house. The bounty hunters knew that those two were friends and came over to catch her. Drug Dealer told me that she had called the police even before we did, because she didn't want to get into trouble for hiding a fugitive or whatever. Who knows if that's true.

Yeah. Super awesome. In the past, when Katie has asked if Sadie can come over and play, or if Sadie can spend the night, I've kind of re-directed her - "Why don't you guys stay here and have some popsicles?" Or, "Sadie's too young to spend the night." Now, I will have a legitimate excuse whenever she asks and I say no: "Your house isn't safe, Katie."

Ben told the police officer that he thinks Drug Dealer is, well, a drug dealer. The police officer said that she had been suspected of the same thing in her old neighborhood, and that they have had their eye on her for awhile. He gave Ben his card and told him to call anytime. Ben assured him that he sure would.

Sigh.

My New Outfit

So. Our Ford Explorer didn't have enough seats for Gage's arrival - only three seats in the back. It was a dream come true as far as cargo space, but that's it. And it was having so many issues. Once we got the back windshield replaced, Ben finally went car-hunting (I had been nagging him about it for, oh, eight months or so). He traded in The Piece of Junk and brought home this little beauty:

Pretty, huh? It's a Durango. My family had a durango when I was a teenager. It was a beautiful blue color. I think it was the prettiest car we ever owned. Nat and Beads called it the Durango Doug, after some cartoon character named Doug who pretended to be like an outback adventurer or something. He would call himself Durango Doug.

I feel like this car is a girl. I should call her Durango Darlene. She is five years old and in excellent shape. She has a DVD player in the back, which the kids adore. I like it, too. I really don't mind listening to movies. I bring movies out that the kids haven't watched in awhile, and it's funny to get their reactions. I made them watch Annie the other day and they really, really hated it. I was singing all of the songs out loud - "It's a hard knock LIFE, for US..." It was good times. For me.

I'm still trying to get used to all of the buttons, but I'm liking Durango Darlene a lot. Ben and I can each set where we like the seat, and then when each of us gets in, we push a button and it goes to where we like it. That's super-fun. There are radio buttons behind the steering wheel, and I'm trying to figure them out. There are sixteen radio buttons on the dashboard thingey, which is awesome. But there really aren't that many good radio stations here. :)

Obviously, The Piece of Crap wasn't worth that much, so we do have a car payment, which is unpleasant, but it's nice to have a reliable car.

Our friends and family like it a lot. My friend, Megann, got in a couple of weeks ago (I can't even remember where we were going, Megann!), and she said, "Sweet ride." I concur. My dad is jealous of the whiteness of it. He really, really likes white cars; he says Mom won't let him get one. I wonder if she's worried about keeping it clean? I worried about that, but it looks way cleaner than the darker Explorer did. So far. We'll see what happens when it gets slushy next spring, eh?

I was outside about a week after Gage was born, and my neighbor (one that I like), Carolyn, was walking by on her way to the church. She gestured over to where Sadie was standing, and she said, "Ooooh! Nice outfit!" I looked at Sadie's outfit, and it wasn't anything special. A t-shirt and jean shorts. I was confused. Then I realized that Sadie was standing by our new truck, and Carolyn was referring to the truck, not her. I giggled. Carolyn is Old School Idaho. She says stuff like, "We was going to the store, and we was doing this and we was doing that..." I love it. She is so cute.

Ben loves to drive the truck around town. If he has to run errands, he takes the truck. He says it's pimpin'.

Notice that I referred to our new car as "truck." I've called it a "car" before, and Ben gets on my case about it. "It's a truck, not a car." I don't see a bed, Ben. If it has a bed, it's a truck. If it doesn't, it's a car. That's how I feel about it. Perhaps I should start calling it our Outfit. :)

Do not pass go; do not collect $200.

The kids are really, really into playing board games and card games lately. This is a pic of Sadie and I (when I was pregnant) playing Littlest Pet Shops Go Fish:

Ye-es, that's a heating pad on my tummy. I know it's bad. But I had the worst stomachache ever - I was doubled over and nothing was helping, so I put the heating pad just up under my boobs, against where the pain was, for five minutes, and it helped a LOT. I didn't do that very often, but I was really desperate. Sorry, Gage, for baking you.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love not being pregnant??

Back to the topic at hand. Dylan and Sadie's current favorite game is Monopoly. Their sole goal is to build houses and hotels. They don't care if they have to mortgage their other properties, or if they are only left with two dollars to their name - they want to buy and build as many houses and hotels as possible. Ben and I really love Monopoly - we always played it together when we were newleyweds. So we get a kick out of playing it with them.

Waaaaaaaahhhhh

This is our new toothbrush holder. I think it's really funny. "Hiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!"

He wants long hair.

Micah so desperately wants long hair. He finds blankets, washcloths, burp cloths, or his favorites, Dylan's jammy shirts, and converts them into makeshift wigs. He'll flick his head around to feel his "hair" swaying on his back. Sometimes he'll pull it back into a "ponytail" with both hands for a few moments. It's more than a little disturbing.

I was telling this gal in my ward, Colette, about Micah's "wigs," and she told me that her daughter, Melissa, used to do the same thing. I guess Melissa's hair was kind of thin and wispy and short when she was little, so she compensated by making pretend hair out of damp washcloths. One day, she went to a clothing store with her folks, and she disappeared. They looked all over for her and finally found her wearing a wig that had been on a mannequin. I guess she had gone up to the mannequin and shaken it really, really hard to get the wig to fall off so she could put it on her head. I think that is the funniest story ever. So cute. It's especially cute becuase she's a GIRL. Micah's a BOY. I don't think it's cute that he wears shirt hair. I think it's weird and worrisome. Also weird and worrisome - his penchant for playing with girl toys, and his preference for wearing Sadie's shoes. Weird, worrisome Micah. WWM. Be a man, Micah! Throw a ball around! Make truck noises! Convert any toy into a gun! Please!

Troy's Boithday

My sweet nephew, Troy, turned four a couple of months ago. He doesn't look like he's four, because he's a very tiny man, but he acts like he's 20. Very mature. He has always liked hanging out with the adults when we get together. It's really cute. He also has crazy strong stomach muscles and can scale any vertical thing. He's freakishly strong. My favorite Troy story - Like a year or two ago, Troy was kind of grumpy, whining and whatnot. Nat said, "Troy, are you tired?" "No," he wailed, "I'm just AWESOME!!" That makes me laugh so hard. He's adorable.

We had a leetle get-together to celebrate. Mom and I (obviously, I was still pregnant):

That shirt is so stained. I gave it to Megs, along with all the rest of my preggie clothes. Megs, you can just throw that shirt away. Or use it to sleep in or something. I'm kind of embarrassed I put it in the maternity clothes box that I gave to you. I'm also embarrassed that a couple of maternity garmies got left in that box, too. I really thought I had taken them all out and disposed of them properly. Sorry about the awkwardness you felt in having seen my maternity skivvies. :)

I took a pic of Dad when he walked in. He was a few minutes late - I think he had been golfing:

Me, Dylie, and Mom:

Ivy was mad about something, and my dad is really, really tan:

Troy opening his presents:

Ivy got a Littlest Pet Shop at McDonald's that day. (Sadie still calls them "Littlest Ketchups," "Ketchups" for short. Yesterday, she told Megs' husband, Mark, that she got some Ketchups for her birthday. He was thoroughly confused.) She was sooo excited:

Troy's new bike:

I cannot get over how much Troy looks like Nat when she was a kid. They are children twins, just like Dylan and I are children twins.

Dude, I still haven't gotten Sadie a bike yet, and she's FIVE! That's on the agenda for next summer, for sure.

Happy Birthday, Stumpy!!

Le Picnique

If I recall correctly, "picnique" is French for "picnic." I may be totally off-base with that. And I can't remember if it's feminine or masculine. I took a stab at it with "le." I had to take all of this French in college, and as soon as I was done with that last, horrible essay test, I expelled all French from my brain, except for really unusable sentences, like, "Il y a beaucoup de fourchettes aux Etats-Unis dans le frigo avec le bier de fromage." That means, "There are a lot of forks in the United States in the fridge with the cheese beer."

About a week before I went into labor, my sweet ma took my kids and me on a Kentucky Fried Chicken picnic. Ohhhh, how I love their biscuits. I could eat them for every meal.

We sat just inside Lilac Circle in Tautphaus Park. Have I told you that lilacs are my favorite flower? True story. They were finished blooming at this time, unfortunately.

Dylan was REALLY hyper:

That's him, doing a backbend on the bench. Fun times. Dylan? Hyper? you ask. Yes. Yes, he was. Mom gave him a chore to occupy himself, telling him to pick up the garbage around Lilac Circle. Apparently, someone had a birthday party there, and they left tons and tons of garbage on the grass. Mom paid Dylan one cent per piece of garbage picked up. Pretty nice wages, if you ask me. He got tired of it after picking up about 20 things. If I had been in his place, I would have been running around, picking up garbage and counting, for hours. I like having money.

There was a lady mowing the lawn in the distance:

And Micah kept a very, very close eye on her. He's scared of lawnmowers, if you recall:

He is so cute. I love those cheeks of his. So soft and kissable.

Mom and Mikey:

Sades, using her spork:

I think "spork" is fun to say.

As you can see in that pic, Sadie is wearing her hair down. Sadie has been asking me to keep her hair down a lot lately. She always says, "I want my hair smoove." (Meaning "smooth." She can't make that final /th/ sound.) Speaking of Sadie's hair, she gave herself a haircut yesterday. Just one chop, in the front, up to her chin. I told her we might have to cut her hair all to her chin, and she cried and cried. So I said that we could probably get it layered. Next month, when Ben gets paid again. I'm glad it wasn't a horrible hack job. My friend Lyndsay's daughter just cut her own hair (with the help of her brother), and mama mia. There was some major damage done. :)

Anyways. Thanks, Ma. Going out to lunch every now and then really makes life feel a little less hard.

We gotta stick together.

I grew up with all sisters, so I really don't understand little boys. I'm often staring at one of them, mouth agape, thinking, "What on earth is your problem???" I once asked Pooh something like that - "Why does Dylan DO these things?" She said, very sensibly, "He just figured it was a good idea." Pooh grew up with two brothers - she gets it. I went on a camping trip with her family when I was in high school, and her brothers made fun of me the whole weekend. I was so offended and hurt - "Why won't they leave me alone? Do they hate me??" She was like, "That's just how they communicate, Kar."

I totally understand Sadie - the ultrasensitivity, the quiet, by-herself playing... this is stuff I get. It's fun to do little girl bonding things together. If I had money, we would go get mani-pedis together. Go clothes shopping together. Maybe someday.


I hardly ever get the time to do my hair and makeup. Whenever I do have a moment to throw on a little, Sadie and Micah are so mesmerized by the whole process. They both always ask me to put makeup on them. I tell Micah that he is a boy, and boys don't wear makeup. Sometimes I worry about that kid. On Sadie, I only do a little bit of mascara and eye shadow:

Some things from the above picture worth pointing out:
1. I was still pregnant.
2. We were baby-sitting Daisy - she's in the far right of the picture.
3. There is a sheet on the couch. This is because I slept on that dang couch every single night of my pregnancy. My bed felt so hard and flat. I'm now, happily, back to sleeping with my hubby again. Except for two nights ago. He had something with tons of garlic in it for lunch that day, and he STUNK. I had to sleep on the couch. I couldn't stand the smell. I swear it was oozing out of his pores.
4. Look at how messy my living room is. Those are piles of folded laundry on our ottoman. My ottoman looks like that right this very minute.

Here is my beautiful little girl, sporting some makeup:

I love her hair that way.

Handlebar

Dylan is a total scrounge. He is always picking junk up off the ground, from parking lots, from behind restaurant benches, etc. It's really gross. His eyes are constantly scanning the ground for dropped pennies or other treasures. He came upon these lovely items in the Winco parking lot:

They're pretend sideburns. They actually were still in their little package and hadn't been opened yet. I told Dyl what they were, and where they go, and he didn't believe me. He swore up and down that they were two pieces of a pretend moustache. I let it go. Some arguments are just not worth getting into.

Tinian's Beginian

My friend, Megs, had her baby a couple of weeks before I had mine. I was so happy for her! She was one miserable preggo lady. We were in the Miserable Preggo Ladies' Club. I was president. She was vice president. Patty was secretary.

They named him Tinian - he weighed a solid nine pounds. It was the summer of the big babies, I guess! (Except for Gage. But he was big for his earlyness. The biggest one in the NICU, by far.) I visited Megs a couple of times in the hospital. I saw her the day after she had Tinian - I was quite literally in the neighborhood, since I was still getting my weekly ultrasounds at that point. Which we will be paying off for roughly one million years. And then I think I either visited her later that night with sno cone in tow, or maybe the next day. I am of the opinion that when one visites someone else, they should always, always bring a sno cone. Can I get a what-what??

Marky-Mark holding the little man:

We should call Megs' family Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Yep, I've decided. That is how they will forthwith be known.

Megs, radiant and smiling:

I'd be smiling too, if I was pint-sized, yet successfully pushed out a nine-pounder. I'm proud of you, Megs.

Tinian is be-a-utiful. He smells amazing and has the softest hair this side of the pecos. He always sleeps and rests with at least one arm up over his head. He loves, loves, loves being held and snuggled. He is the identical twin to his brother, Brynnan. Jonas and Brynnan take wonderful care of him. They are fantastic brothers. Tinian eats like a champ and is pleasingly plump. He has held his head up almost from day one. He's a strong little tyke.

Hooray for baby boys!! Have you noticed how many boys people are having lately, versus girls? Is it just me, or are there wayyyy more boys than girls being born these days? A gal in my ward thinks this is because the second coming is soon, and Heavenly Father needs more boys to fight. I don't like to think about that AT ALL.