Get your laugh for the day:)

This blog is hilarious. trust me, go look at it. Especially if you're mormon, a wife, and 'seriously, so blessed!' http://seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com/

Just a quick update

So I really don't have any pictures for this week, it's been pretty slow goin's. I am happy to report that I am now on 'light activity' and am feeling a lot better. I'm only having about 10 contractions a day and they don't stop me in my tracks. The girls and I even went and visited a friend today-it was great to get out of the house! So that's where we're at right now, I hope you're all doing well too!

Day 4 of 'Restricted Activity'

Thank you all for your prayers and support, there's nothing like going through a mini-crisis to find out who loves ya! We are doing much better. I haven't had to take any of the terbutaline medication since Monday because my contractions have really slowed down. I'm still on what I like to think of as 'restricted activity' instead of the confining 'bedrest', but I can take care of my girls basic needs and am quite capable of reading lots of stories.

Brent's being a trooper and helping cook and clean after he comes home from work, and even though it's the pits, is being a great husband and daddy.

We've got both floors of the house stocked with snacks and diapers to reduce trips up and down the stairs, and so many friends are helping us out. The biggest thing that helps is watching the girls for a few hours in the morning and calling me on the phone to take my mind off of pregnancy related things! But speaking of, the baby is doing really well and kicking like you wouldn't believe.

The view from my bed:

Looking on the Bright Side

So there have been a few surprises that have come from being on 'restricted activity', as I'm thinking of it. One of the most influencial has been my attitude. For the last few months I've been pretty a gun-ho, do everything, have a spotless house, be on time, go to the park, set up the playdates, run the errands, cook extra big meals, type of mom. But now I can't do most of that. Well, all of that actually. Right now I'm a sit around on the couch, with plenty of time to read stories, kiss ouchies, make art projects, eat popsicles on the swing, sing songs, try to ignore my unmopped floor, type of mom. Yesterday Laura and I sat on my bed for, honestly, two hours and made our own homemade matching game on sticky notes. She'd pick the pictures and we'd draw two of each for our cards.

I hadn't realized I'd gotten so busy, and yes it's good for the girls to entertain themselves and for us to go out and do things, but I've been amazed at how well they've adjusted to our new pace. I definitely see ways that I want to change when we get back on our feet.

So here's a challenge for all of you, put yourself on 'restricted activity' for a few days. When you're not sick! No cleaning, no errands, no big meals. Paper plates, frozen pizza or spaghetti, and lots of time with your kids.

Hi, my name is Eden, and I'm 2

I love Eden, she really is such a sweetheart, but yes, she is absolutely two years old. She has a fair share of tantrums, angry sounding 'Nos! messes, time outs, and bedtime fights. In fact I've been interupted a few times to go in and get her back into bed. One of her other favorite things to do is make Laura whine. She knows just which buttons to push, it makes me laugh, but of course I have to keep a straight face. And don't even think about suggesting a pair of pajamas for her to put on, she gets to choose and that's final! But she's generally not a mischief maker, can entertain herself extremely well, loves books, and playing with her big sister.

Over the last month her vocabulary and language skills have just exploded. I love to hear her little voice saying long sentences like, "Can I have some of that, please?" One of her favorite expressions right now is, 'That's funny, huh!'

She loves to color and scribble. Her works resemble expensive modern art paintings. I sometimes think her attention span for art projects is longer than Laura's! She likes to watch shows, her all time favorites are Little Einsteins and Backyardigans, but tends to get bored during Cinderella and the Laura's other choices and ends up playing with her beloved Snap 'n Style dolls for most of the time. She also follows in her family's footsteps and enjoys story time and just looking through books. Then again, she also is fond of pulling all of the books off the bookshelves!

I'm so glad she's in our home, she makes my heart smile every day, and I'd have to say that with Eden they really are the terrific two's.

Comfiest seat in the house

Per sister's requests

For the last few months I've been nesting, in the form of organizing closets, a DI drive, and the urge to decorate our home, especially our bedroom. Here is one of the results: a bedroom set that makes our room entirely matching, and framed pictures on the wall. Thank you Downeast Home for great prices on pottery barn furniture. I feel like so grown up:)

p.s. There's a post about Laura's birthday below the bedrest post, blogger's weird sometimes.

Back down for the count

So here I am on bedrest again. Yesterday we had to come home from church again because I was having some pretty rotten contractions pretty close together. Maybe it's just something in the air in my sunday school class-that's where they always start! After a tributaline pill, nasty but effective little things, the contractions eased up and I actually got one of the best nights sleep I've had in months. But then I woke up this morning with contractions again. So I'm on as much bedrest as I can do with a preschooler and a toddler in my are, and more tributaline. For anyone not familiar with tributaline it's a muscle relaxer that helps the uterine muscles to calm down. Unfortunatley a pretty common side effect is also the shakies and jitteries. Plus they give me a headache. But it's much prefereable to having a baby too early!

My wonderful friend Bethany came to the rescue this morning and did my laundry and dishes and fed my girls lunch. Plus gave me a little sanity in the mix with some camomile tea and a chance to lay down. Hopefully after a few days of laying down pretty solidly I'll be able to just take it easy. I'll be 33 weeks tomorrow to keep us in your prayers. I'm so glad the girls are as independent as they are, but poor Brent is going to have to be pulling double duty so don't forget to pray for him too!

The big 4

Laura's birthday on the 19th was so relaxed and fun. I think her favorite part was that Daddy stayed home the entire day, she kept asking me if he really wasn't going anywhere! We had pancakes and a very small, low key party with a few friends, opened presents a few at a time all day long, had corndogs and mac and cheese for dinner, and finished off the day getting ice cream and playing on the toys at artic circle.

At her little party the girls decorated princess 'crowns' with stickers, markers, and jewels, ran around and ate a yummy strawberry cake.

Her favorite presents included the coloring books from Grandma Martha, 'Cinderella' from Mommy, a jewelry making kit with big wooden beads from Victoria, an art kit from Mary Alice, and some puzzles and books on CD from Daddy.

She looked so grown up all day long in her new birthday dress. It stops me for a second to think that my Laura is four years old. I'm so grateful for her and the way she makes me smile every day.

Summer at the pool

When we moved to our house a year ago next week, we were so excited. But we knew we'd miss two things about our apartment: the wonderful friends that live there and the great outdoor pool. But because we only moved a few miles away we've been able to keep our friendships alive and have the added bonus of hanging out with them at the pool! Once a week for the last few weeks we've been meeting before it gets too hot and swimming for a few hours. Laura loves to swim around with Lucy, I've been quite impressed by the progress she's made in the water, she used to have to be attached to me. Eden likes it too, although she's still warming up to the idea of not being able to touch the bottom. I love being able to sit in the water and chat with my girlfriends!

Weekend at Gram's

Brent's Grandma Geniel lives up in Midway, Utah and we absolutely love to visit her. No matter how productive and busy I've been the moment we walk into her house I feel all the tension drain and all my laziness decend. Grandma Geniel is one of those wonderful people who shoo you out of her kitchen while she makes absolutely amazing old fashioned meals and says that nothing in her old house is worth too much for the kids to touch. She has a big backyard where the kids can run to their hearts content and a pea patch you can't keep them out of. We affectionately refer to her home as Gram's Bed and Breakfast.




This last weekend we planned a mini family reunion with Brent's family. We ate delicious Grandma food in the shade, took long naps, visited, watched a few kid movies, and played games. Laura, Eden, Makayla, and Dylan played in the elephant sprinkler and intertube pools, kicked balls, and took turns pushing each other on the swings. Lanna and I went garage saling and found a few deals while Brent and Scott ventured up the mountain. Only the mountain fought back and they came home not long after with major allergic reactions to some poisonous plant. Between the hives and the trouble breathing they both spent most of Saturday knocked out on Benadryl.



One of the absolute highlights of the weekend was the Saturday evening kickball game. The car floor mat bases worked great and the kids loved getting to kick and run(although more often than not they had a grown up escort to help them find the right base). I even managed to get in on the action as a designated kicker with Eden being my running mate. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time.



Of course we had to roast marshmallows and make smores to complete our camping experience. The kids were so tired but had a hard time sleeping outside so we gave in and slept on the front room floor the second night. Oh well, we were warm and the girls slept in a few hours later. It really was a great weekend as a family. Thanks Lesha for insisting we take this family picture.

Pregnancy Update-31 weeks

So here we are about two months away from having a new baby in the house again. For those of you wondering, yes I'm getting very uncomfortable,but I'm grateful for perscription heartburn medication, air conditioning, and that Eden really doesn't need me to carry her anywhere.

I have been having more braxton-hicks contractions, especially last Sunday. We ended up coming home early from church because they were getting pretty hefty and were about 7 minutes apart. But after drinking a lot of water and laying down for a few hours they tapered off. So I'm giving myself permission to take it easy. I'm seeing my doctor every two weeks to make sure that I'm not having any preterm symptoms and I have my handy perscription of tributaline just in case. I'm really hoping things will be calm and I can make it to Ellen's wedding on August 19th!

Laura and Eden, Laura especially, are excited to meet their brother. Laura loves to sing to the baby and asks me all the time if the baby is sleeping, or if there's a light inside for him to see, and if he has any toys in there. She's going to be my little helper I can already tell. Plus she already understands that mommy can't bend over all the time, so she gets to be my special picker-upper.

We still don't have a name picked out, so if anyone has 'serious' suggestions we're open to ideas! If any of you have 3 kids and didn't think it was too terrible of a transition please comment, so far everyone I talk to has just said it's not good. Even if you're lying please give me some encouragement:)

little imaginations

Going to Grandma's house..... We've been building lots of tents since we went camping.


Least favorite repeated quote: a Laura favorite: "NO EDEN"
Favorite project: Working on Eden's baby book.
Major Milestone: Eden starting to potty train a wee little bit.





Best garage sale find: Laura's pink bike helmet and knee pads, $1.50
Favorite quote of the week: Laura pointing to the ceiling, "Look Mom, it's a sky wall!"
Favorite song lyric: I love to see the Temple's last line, "I'll prepare myself while I am young.... This is my secret tooty!"


Family Home Evening Topic: What good things we can do on Sunday, complete with pictures to demonstrate a few activities that we're going to make into a little book for our church bag.

Adventures in cooking with Brent: Donuts with our newly opened fryer, thanks Rosemary! Let's just say I think we shortened our lifespan by a few more years.

4th pictures

Our 4th was pretty low key. The girls and I slept in while Brent had a great early morning bike ride up Mueller Park. We wanted to go to the Layton 'Freedom Days' fair at the duck park to watch some of Laura's friends' hula performance but got the time wrong and were a few hours early. So we grabbed a pizza and had a picnic on a blanket in the shade. Unfortunatly the 100+ temperatures combined with the disapointing lack of of rides or animals or interesting things to do brought us home after not very long. We spent the rest of the day just hanging out and having a good old fashioned barbecue as a family. The girls took really good naps, so we let them stay up pretty late watching a movie and then put them to bed. They had a hard time, but at about 10:15 when the fireworks were going off I went in to check on them and found two empty beds and two little girls behind the curtains watching out the window. We had a perfect view of the Clearfield City's big show out our second story windows so we all sat and watched them together as a family. When you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

Eden's blessing two years ago

Four generations of women: Abby Beattie, Brent's mom Rosemary Beattie, my mom Martha Tew, Brent's grandmother Geniel Bartholomew, and Eden and Laura. I love this picture

I've been working on the girls baby books, well just Eden's really, and loving it. This morning I've been working on her blessing day and realized that it was two years ago to the day! I've been going through all of her baby pictures and editing them. I'm amazed by how much better cameras are than they were two years ago. I'm so glad I have photoshop. If you look at the picture of our family you'll see a few pictures on the wall, very distracting. Unfortunately they were too hard to take out, but in the bottom two pictures I managed to take them, plus a lamp out of the back grounds.

I've been slurping my blog

This is from Sarah's Blog:



"At Nate's softball game tonight I chatted with an old friend & she told me about a website she has used to print her blog as a book, complete with digital scrapbook pages included! I came right home and check it out for myself. SO COOL!!!! Its called BLURB. Their software is free to download and use. Its available for Mac and PC, plus is works well is most blog services such as BLOGGER! It can "slurp" your blog (upload it into their program, complete with photos & text) and uses it as a first draft of your book. From there you can edit, remove, and add text & photos. Click HERE to go to there demo video. They aren't exactly what I'd call cheap, but they are reasonable and seem VERY high quality. My friend made a family "yearbook" and then is having several copies printed; one for her and one for each of her kids. I really like that idea. I figure if you include the price of photo printing, supplies, and an album cover, this is about the same cost as traditional scrapbooking. The really bonus comes in the amount of time it would save, especially doing duplicates! Now, I'm not ready to give up traditional scrap'n, but this definitely deserves a trial run"



I've also downloaded the software and really like it. There's not a ton of room for creative expression, which in a lot of ways is good! I've done a little bit with our wedding pics, and am working on making baby books for the girls, and forthcoming boy.

Photoshop Fun

Per request, the long story of the negatives, which as it turns out really isn't that long: I found I had two sets of negatives, the normal kind from a film camera and another bigger format. So I took them all in to Sam's Club and said 'help!'. They charge $.19 a picture to take them from negative to CD, about $20 for my 110 black and whites,which isn't too bad considering. I didn't really check around anywhere else because Sam's generally is good quality for the best price. I should have gone through them a little more closely and picked out the good pictures that I really wanted to keep; I could have done without about half of them, but oh well. My next step is to take the bigger negatives, which happen to be all my color pics, to Inkleys or the equivalent. I'll let you know how it's going!

p.s. for Sarah: I spent about an hour last night putting my favorites into a blurb book. They look really professional and classy.

Wedding Memories Recaptured

I have nesting lately, in the form of decorating and organization around my house. One of my biggest projects has been to decorate our bedroom on a very limited budget, because even though I have all these ideas and motivation doesn't mean I have the resources to match. Anyway, I wanted to put some pictures up on our wall from our wedding, so I pulled out the box of negatives and realized that I would never be able to do anything with those wonderful pictures unless they were digitalized. Long story short I just got back the black and white negatives now on a digital CD. I'm so excited to have these in a useable format. Plus, nothing brings back memories like these pictures. The top picture is Brent's favorite and the bottom is mine.