Decembers Favorites

Since I last blogged, we've enjoyed many Christmas parties, something like 6 batches of the previously blogged carmels, a surprise anniversary getaway, several visits to our favorite sledding hill, occasional health, and all of your Christmas letters.

My favorite pre-Christmas conversation was with Dalton. He jumped off the bus on the last day of school before break so excited to tell me all about the new band he's going to be in. He'll play the drums, Addie will sing and maybe play the violin or piano, Jace will be on guitar, and they even planned out how they were going to get the instruments. Once there was even a slight pause, I jumped into his conversation with, "Wow! that sounds awesome, what are your plans for the instruments?" He said, "well we'll just ask Santa for them, and then..." I was too sad to inform him that Santa had already finished packing his sleigh, and that he would probably wait till we had a sound proof room for him to practice in. Ahhh, childhood.

My favorite moment with Joseph started with a great secret. Dalton has always wanted a desk, a space of his own where he can invent, work, and create. I found the perfect desk at D.I. with Joe one day, we loaded it into the van, covered it with our picnic quilt and then headed to pick Dalt up from a playdate. I explained to Joseph that it was a special present for Christmas, and that he needed NOT to tell Dalton what was in the back of the van. Just seconds after we had picked up Dalt, and while I was dealing with little Sophia, I heard, "It starts with at D" from Joseph's mouth. I immediately stopped their discussion, changed the subject and then reveled in the fact that Joseph has learned so much this year in Kindergarten. He is spelling new words every day, and attempting to read signs, boxes, and papers everywhere. All of his time at home has been so focused on feeling love, and controlling his behavior. I have always read to him, but didn't actually teach him anything academic. Just since September, he has learned all of his letters, their sounds, how to write them, and dozens of sight words. He's amazing.

My favorite bad thing turned good was from Sophia. She spends most of her days dancing, and wanting to help me. She is getting to where I can have her sit on the kitchen counter while I cook or clean and she keeps out of trouble, most of the time. We have been needing a new sofa for awhile now. I sink, very near the floor, when I sit pretzel style to nurse Jennie, and when my parents were here for Jennie's blessing, my mom had the hardest time getting out of it each time she sat down, and even offered to get us a new one. Well the time came just a couple of weeks ago when Soph got sick and vomited all over one of the large pillows that made up the back of the sofa. Doug and I looked at each other trying to determine who would clean the mess and smell out of the pillow, and he was so relieved when I said, "let's just toss it." Just days after that, I decided to take a shower, (a sadly rare occasion) so I plopped Sophia in front of the TV for some Dora time. I came down to find an entire diaper smeared into two more of the pillows, and two of the cushions of that same sofa. I attempted to clean it up, but failed with the lingering smell offending many of our visitors and ruining TV time for a week. Why only a week you ask? Well the smell did fade, but the real end to the offense happened when our new sofa and love seat arrived. I love our new furniture, and am actually glad to have been forced into purchasing it.

Jennie gets the prize for our favorite smile. At 12 weeks old she has the eating, pooping and sleeping down, and has added babbling and smiling to her list of accomplishments. She likes smiling so much that even when she's crying any one of us Crawfords can smile into her face and expect a smile to permeate through her sadness even if it's just for a moment. She lights us all up, and is the perfect baby for our family.

Sinfully Simple

Microwave Carmels (recipe handed down from Christopher Crawford)
Mix together 1/2 cup of each ingredient in a 4 cup or larger microwave safe bowl.

• sugar
• brown sugar
• butter (room temp)
• sweetened condensed milk
• light corn syrup

Microwave on high for 6 minutes 38 seconds. Let it cool for a minute or so, and then stir till creamy. Pour mixture onto a non-stick coated baking dish to cool or spoon onto parchment paper and wrap individually. It's also good with 1 cup of your favorite nut added after it has been microwaved. Enjoy!

I slept with cabbage

So I'm finally feeling free from the painful lump, but I'm still on antibiotics from my recent bout with mastitis. The real cure has been the cabbage. The antibiotics took away the painful body aches, fever, chills, headaches and lethargy, but the hot lump still remained. Julie Jones (my midwife) recommended I put raw cabbage leaves directly on the infection like a breast pad, and voila within 2 days it dissolved. I slept with a stack of leaves in my bed to replace them each time I nursed Jennie. There is nothing creepier than snuggling up to sleep and feeling something cold and stingray like under your pillow. It makes me wonder about all of the healing properties of natural things. Someday I'll understand the secrets available through the word of wisdom, for now, I'm just glad that the green leaves worked.

I've been tagged 3 times...

I thought I'd follow through this time. The rules as I understand them are:

A. Post the rules of the game at the beginning of your own tag.
B. Each player lists 6 interesting facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I'm not a real movie person Doug has recently informed me of this. Everyone I know loves movies, and I always thought I enjoyed them, but as it turns out, it has to be a particularly poignant movie for me to really prioritize the time to it. My favorite is Moulin Rouge (most romances gag me), and I love it when characters have super human powers. My favorite power character, or maybe character power is Storm.

2. I love making my bed. People who know me well might have heard me say, "at least I've done one big thing today." and that is always making our King sized bed.

3. I have two favorite sounds... children's laughter and silence.

4. Scrabble is my favorite board game, and I can't spell worth beans.

5. I hate shopping, and worst of all... shoe shopping. My feet are huge, narrow, and have the highest arch that New Balance measures. I always have to buy ugly old lady shoes in wide width to accommodate my crazy foot. On a more naked note... I think my bare feet are beautiful.

6. I am currently looking out my office/closet window to a foot of snow that has delicately fallen on the thinnest of branches. It's breathtaking.

I've tagged Mishawn, Jessica, Tasha, Jenny, Jennie, and Jeni

lost

Joseph lost his first tooth on November 4th, the same day Jennie was blessed, whew what a day. He didn't actually lose it, but rather yanked it out with his own might. He's been waiting to lose a tooth for over 2 years when Dalton lost his first one. He even attempted knocking them out prematurely with the thrust of a firm apple. We sang "Happy Tooth-Day", and then reminded him that the tooth fairy doesn't do business on the sabbath. He collected his first dollar bill Tuesday morning, and can't wait to lose the next one.

Swilt?

All Joseph would wear last year were sweats. Each pair got a hole in the knee within the first couple of months, and I made him wear them till the season changed. He looked raggedy the entire time, but I was not about to buy him a slew of pants when I knew the fate of anything new. I saved them with the intention of turning them all into shorts. Then I got pregnant, then I got sick, then I cooked dinner, then I went to sleep... for some reason hemming these worn out old sweats into shorts never topped my to-do list. So I sent the holey bottoms to Grandma "C" to see what she could make of them... sure enough, a swilt arrived with her when she came for the blessing. This quilt made of sweats is one of my and Joseph's favorites, and he has slept with it every night since.

Abuella got these darling pastel mary jane socks by Trumpette for Jennie, they're my favorite little accessory lately, and a must have for the little girl who already has it all.

Grandma Abuella got to enjoy little Jennie as well. Luckily, Jennie handled the shopping that Abuella loves so much.

The Jennie's piggie's

Grandma Jennie and Grandpa "C" were able to make it up here for Jennie's blessing. Baby Jennie was just perfect the whole weekend, and all grandparents fell in love. It was fun to notice that the Jennie's share the same little wee toe, slight and hidden under the one who had none.

Halloween was NUTS this year! We had a Primary Halloween Carnival, University Officer Hollows, Wasatch Elementary Halloween Bash, Shoreline Ridge Trick-or-treating, and Ensign Elementary Halloween Parade and class party. When it came to the actual Halloween, we were all trick-or-treated out, and happy to just stay in for the eve, and eat the candy we already had collected. Joseph wore a different costume to each event, jedi, Batman, tiger, and lastly grass (thank you Mike Preece). Sophia went as a princess, and a mouse depending on the day, and how sticky the other costume was. Dalton was a wizard and jedi, and Doug went as a sumo. I love Halloween mostly, but was super happy to see it over with and donate the candy to bishop's communal bowl.

Mama called the Doctor...

10 little bats flying through the night, one got lost, and headed right. Mama called the Doctor and the Doctor said, "No more bats flying through the night". Joseph was the doctor in the Halloween performance put on for the Senior Center just before Halloween. He had the most lines of anyone, and had them all memorized perfectly. I was a very proud Mama of my little Doc.

Sugar, Stories & Sentiment

So, once the boys came home from school, Papa would take all 3 kids to the snack shop and get them a "goodie". Dalton, Joseph, and Sophia were on a sugar high the entire time Papa was here. Then the regular routine resumed, homework, laundry, reading, laundry, dinner, clean-up, bedtime routine, and lights out. It was in the dim light of the lava lamp that they really got the best of Grandpa, he would sit in the boys room and tell stories for at least a half hour, and on a couple of occasions, over an hour. I have no idea what the stories were about, but I do know what they communicated. My Papa loves me, and he shows it with his time for me and my family. My kids will never remember the actual stories, but they'll also never forget story time with my Papa.

I don't know if it was made clear what my dad did while he was here for 2 whole weeks, but it involved laundry, breakfast, cleaning the kitchen, playing tea with Sophia, vacuuming, laundry, reading a book to Sophia, lunch, cleaning the kitchen again, laundry, taking Sophia to the park, laundry... that was just what he did in an average day before the boys got home from school.

My dad, who happens to be a shower twice a day kinda guy, only made it to the shower twice a week. He worked his heart out.

Today I chewed

So a couple of days after Jennie was born, I started weaning myself from the pain meds. Normally this is a simple process, but this time I was left with a dull headache. I rarely get headaches, and I'm pretty sure I've never had a migraine. This one persisted for a week before I started complaining about it out loud. My mom mentioned that after she birthed Randy, she had a headache that was linked to needing some dental work, and that was the first time that I realized that the pain was indeed radiating from my jaw. At the same moment I remembered a conversation 6 months ago where my dentist mentioned that I needed a root canal; he was shocked that I wasn't in pain at the time when he looked at the x-ray. Well the headache got worse, the first root canal visit was scheduled, and I've been in even more pain ever since. The second and last root canal visit where they actually hammer the toothpick looking things into the hollowed out roots, and then cap it all pretty was last Wednesday, and today is the first time in over a month that I have been able to chew. I have pictures from Halloween, Jennie's blessing, Joseph losing his first tooth, and a blog about my last moments of being Primary President to catch up on, but for now, I'm just happy to chew.

Sophia had a Birthday!

Two, she's now two years old and I can't believe it. Her behavior shows it though... let me recall her actual birthday.

We woke up early on Monday just so everything would be perfect. I was dressed and blown dry by 8am, and Sophia cooperated with me in getting her clean and in her super cute corduroy dress that I had picked out several days before to be her birthday outfit. Papa made us a healthy breakfast, and when we were finished, I went upstairs to get Jennie ready for the day.

In the meantime, Soph decided she wanted to destroy the pantry. She started with some simple re-arrangement, and continued with the tearing open, and dumping of, a boxed cake mix, making sure to get as much of the powder as possible on her dress, all over her face, and in her freshly cleaned and styled hair.

Outfit #2 that day lasted through her birthday party at least. We did a simple celebration up at our park with the immediate neighbors. The girls swung, slid, and waited very impatiently for their cupcakes. Everyone sang Sophia's favorite song, (the Happy Birthday song of course), the wind and all of the little girls helped Soph blow out her candle, we all ate Mac&Cheese, Tuna&Peas, and then Papa cleaned up. While walking home, headed for a full bellied nap, she found the only source of standing water, and splashed happily soaking her second dress, tights, and even drenching her shoes. I dressed her in outfit #3 a darling matching sweat suit, warmed her little hands, and put her to sleep... or so I thought.

I didn't hear a thing for quite a while, and dozed with Jennie on the couch. Papa heard her first, and went to keep her company in her room only to find that the little two year old decided NOT to take a nap. Instead she had spent the hour and a half emptying out ALL of the contents in 3 of her drawers including all one million of those dang tiny hair elastics, every one of Jennie's onesies size 0-9 months out, dozens of socks unfolded and spread all over, each blanket strewn over the entire room. And she was naked. Papa found her diaper in the corner just wet (thank goodness), and her pants in another corner also wet. We counted our blessings that there was no poop in sight, put on outfit #4, and she and Papa cleaned her room.

The boys came home and started in on their homework, and then I went up to her room to read her a book. Soph brought me a book that she had torn 5 of the pages out of, and I lost it. I took her little hands, and walked over to the garbage and made her throw her book away. I was so sad to be mean on her birthday, but what else could I have done?

Papa took us to the Heritage Center Cafeteria for dinner, FHE, and her family birthday celebration. We all ate what we wanted, sang Happy Birthday for the umpteenth time, and she tore into her big birthday gift. I knew she liked playing pretend, and I knew she liked "the girls" aisle in the store, but I was not prepared for how much she LOVED her princess tea set! She carried it almost all the way home all by herself, and was even more excited when we took all of the pieces out of the box and placed them on her table. It was seriously the best $7.99 I've ever spent. We did scriptures, song, and prayer, tucked the boys in, and then I played tea with her till 8:30pm. I had to pack up her whole set and take them out of the room for her to get any sleep, but she finally crashed. A perfect ending to a not-so-perfect day.

After she was good and out, I went back in her room and set up 2 of the place settings on her table to play with when she woke up. I fell asleep, absolutely in love with my sometimes terrible, mostly adorable two-year-old little princess.

Jennie Crawford

Jennie Crawford was born October 4th, 2007 at 1:16pm. She is the smallest of her siblings weighing 8 lbs. and measuring a long, 20 1/2 inches at birth. My first reaction was, "She's so beautiful!" She has long skinny fingers, long skinny legs, and long skinny toes. Jennie has been a good eater from day one, and she doesn't seem bothered by the noises of the Crawford home. She smiled on her first day of life, and loves being held by many awkward young arms.

Oh, the name... I'm sure you want to hear about her name. A big thank you to everyone who voted. Corinne won the poll outright, but the name we were leaning towards was Annie. When we saw her though, we knew it was something different, Doug asked "Annie?", and I just wasn't sure.

Hours later, after we were settled in the recovery room, I asked Doug, "what about Jennie?" and a peaceful warmth came over both of us confirming that we were indeed holding Jennie Crawford. Telling Doug's mom (the original Jennie Crawford) was Doug's privilege, and met with stunned silence. We are honored to name our baby girl after her grandma, and gratefully we also have many good friends who share the same name, and only add more depth and love to our association.

Welcome home Jennie, we are so happy to have you in our family!

The Glorious Gown

Finally in labor! Contractions started at 3am, just a few hours before the induction, still 15 or so minutes apart. We arrived at Cottonwood Hospital at 7:45 the scheduled induction time. Julie broke my water at 8:30am and, my labor progressed all morning. Lewis (Doug's brother) and Yvonne (my sister) arrived to visit and help around 11am. Lew left around noon and things got intense from there, when the contractions went from a slow 7-10 minutes apart to 1-3 minutes apart. Doug was my counter pressure HERO! Yvonne kept me from hyperventilating, and overheating. I demanded Julie (my midwife) and the nurse come in at 1pm and was delighted to hear that it was indeed time, and I could push with the next contraction. At 1:16pm and with one "Olympic weight lifting grunt" Jennie was out of my body and then resting on top of my belly, safe, happy, and I can't overemphasize OUT! Her labor and delivery were perfect, I got everything I wanted, most importantly a beautiful healthy baby girl.

Still Inside

Dalton came 1 day early, Joe came 2 days early, Sophia came 1 day early, and at 4 days late, (and counting) I'm feeling like I'll be eternally pregnant with this last baby. I don't know how women patiently go all the way to 42 weeks. I've done my best to choose patience, love, and at my weaker moments indifference. I've broken down on Doug at least once a day since last Wednesday, but to no avail. She is still inside.

Gratefully, I've had my sister Yvonne here to keep me company, help with Sophia's pooping episodes, and distract me from my enormous belly. She's been a life saver.

I was scheduled to be induced on Monday the 1st, and was ready and waiting for the call at 6:45am, but 7 other women came in during the night with natural labor, and took my bed. The day ended up being crazy busy at the hospital with the full moon and impending storm pulling everyone elses baby out of them. By 1:30 that afternoon, they let me know that I wasn't going to fit into their day's schedule, and I could go ahead and eat some real food. I chose spicy Curry-in-a-Hurry with the hopes of bringing on some serious contractions, and it worked.

I had also been drinking my red-raspberry leaf tea, taking black cohosh, walking a ton more than I have the entire pregnancy, and doing all "other" home methods of labor inducement. So when we settled down that evening to a movie and the contractions came, I was not at all surprised, more excited to get this show going! Yvonne timed them for 3 hours till they were about 7-9 minutes apart, and I was moaning through most of them. We called in my neighbor Kimbur to sleep with our kids, and headed for the Hospital.

At Cottonwood Hospital, I was admitted, checked, and monitored for 3 and a half more hours with regular contractions only to find that my body refused to progress. My midwife Julie Jones sent me home with some heavy meds and a promised birth-date of Thursday, October 4th. Induction is tomorrow morning, and they will NOT bump me this time.

I loved Sophia's fully natural labor, and wished for this one to be the same, but again... this baby's still inside, and my patience has been tested to its limits. I'll be praying to go into natural labor tonight, and you'll hear the rest of the story soon after we live it.

Not toilet trained

I can't get Sophia to keep her diaper on. On top of that, she won't use the toilet. Every time I leave her for even just a moment, she takes her pants off, poops or pees on the floor, and then if I'm lucky, she innocently puts her pants back on. Sometimes she doesn't poop or pee, she just takes the dang thing off to be free. This is happening several times a week, and just the other day she snuck up to the playground, did her routine, and came back home buck naked.

The only immediate solution is duck tape. We try to reserve this for night-time, but lately I've been wishing I had the super human power to do it more often. Safe and even application of the stuff requires two (although I think more might be helpful) able bodied adults to put the grey miracle adhesive all the way arround her waist. She kicks, screams, and then we have to make sure all of our scissors are out of reach.

She threw her first real, long, pre-two year old tantrum the other night during our bedtime routine over the duck tape situation. She shouted "No more duck tape!", "I hate scriptures", "You bad mom!", "No singing, no singing, no singing!", "NO Heavenly Father! NO amen!"

She loves her underwear, but just poops and pees in them too. I have a feeling she will be easy to potty train once she gets over her toilet fear. I think she's actually going to love being a big girl, but why is she choosing the few weeks before her sister is born to do it? Why? I would love to send her away to some potty training camp for a week so they could deal with her "crap". Maybe my sister Yvonne is up for the challenge next week. All I know is that I am NOT, I am exhausted, she's lucky that she's cute, and I love her.

Trying to be patient

The countdown is on! I have made progress at each of my appointments. 2 weeks ago I was dilated to a 1, no effacement. Last week my Midwife Julie called me a tight 2 with 80% effacement. On Tuesday, I'll have her strip my membranes, and then we'll see. I'm feeling finished but not hopeless. The sciatica, wacky sacral alignment, edema, and other pregnancy related woes are almost over and I'll soon be holding her in my arms. I've been romancing over the quiet hospital moments when I get to be alone with her, stroking her hair, inspecting her tiny body, watching her grimace and sleep smile. I am so ready for a new baby.

It would be absolutely perfect to have her anytime next weekend. Doug is super stressed at work, his professors and the people at the nuclear center have little empathy for our situation. They all placed bets on her arrival time being early, and since they've all lost now, they are done caring. I won't be starting any of the home inducement techniques till Friday just for Doug. I have a hospital induction scheduled for Tuesday the 2nd, but I've never made it to my induction date. Yvonne just confirmed that she'll be here from the 1st to the 7th, Andy and family will indeed be here for Conference, and my Papa will be here from the 5th to the 19th. I am so blessed with a supportive family.

For now, I just need to relax and mother the children that live outside my womb. Dalton, likes it when I call him my first baby, he smiles and kisses my belly. Joseph loves it when I call him my easiest baby, he reminds me that he'll wash his hands and hold our new one the best. Sophia... well I just hope she appreciates my new lap, and is soft with her little sister. She loves to see my exposed belly and show me hers while we touch bellybuttons. I think they'll be great big siblings.

Rumors

Okay, I'm the one that started this first one. We wanted to head to AZ for Thanksgiving once I noticed that the boys have Wednesday-Monday off of school. We've thought things over a bit and decided that we will not be heading down. Doug has an overloaded schedule that promises to become more so once our little one is keeping him up at night too. Travelling 12 hours each way with 4 kids, rushing all over the state to satisfy family requests, and trying to adjust to a new baby schedule all sounds too daunting for the both of us. Sorry.

I understand that Randy & family will be in SLC for Thanksgiving, and we're excited to see them for a bit during that time. Reason enough to stay put. Since this last trip the kids took to AZ, Sophia has been saying "I want Aunt Katie", and "Uncle Randy's funny."

Now, did Doug overhear a conversation that involved Andy & family coming up here for General Conference? If he heard right, you'll be staying in Midway, but I'd love to fit into your schedule somewhere. I'm hoping that the newest member of the family is draw enough to at least see you for an afternoon. Papa will be here, and we could beg him to make a lovely dinner for all of us.

Chad? Are you and Shelley heading this way as well? Again just a rumor, but if you could afford the gas, we'll feed you and put you up on our lovely air mattress.

I'm only 10 days from being due, and I'm beyond excited to see this little beauty with my own eyes. I think she's a gymnast, but for the possible recessive auburn hair, cocoa skin and hazel eyes the suspense is killing me. I also want to see what my body is made of. I want to experience the whole process and enjoy knowing that this is, (most likely) my last opportunity to feel the hormones rush through my body and take over to help it perform it's animal function. The excitement of it all is keeping me up at night, to which I must respond with a nap this afternoon. Happy dreams. Hope I get to show off my little one to anyone willing to make the trip.

Here's the best shot of Doug on the field accepting his induction to the PHS Hall of Fame. It's a little hard to tell what you're looking at, but that is the PHS band in the back and Doug waving to all of his fans. I was pretty happy to see that his Letterman's jacket still fit. Mom, Dad & Mike Crawford along with the whole Nelson gang were able to show up to support Doug.

PHS Football Hall-of-Fame

This morning I said goodbye to my little family. They're off to AZ to have a wonderful time with grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, with a whole slew of planned activities. The kids are most looking forward to being out of school, playing with family, eating out, and using the new DVD player we got for the 12 hour trip each way. Doug is most looking forward to seeing some old coaches, and friends, and reminiscing the old football days, (I'm sure Jennie will be right in with those conversations). I am most looking forward to a clean house, and as much rest as my body can take in. I'm so happy for Doug, (and his mom too!) he remembers those days with such fondness. I think he's pretty excited to show some of those people that he has become much more than a football jock as well. With a great family, a fabulous education, and a bright future, Doug really has it all.

Stomach Flu

Ten days of the stomach flu have kept me from doing much of anything. Those words "stomach flu" don't really sound as terrible as they are. It is more like a stomach and bowel wrenching with nausea, fatigue, and muscle weakness coupled with a periodic fever... sweats, chills and all. I got it, Doug got it, but gratefully Joe is the only other one who vomited, and it was totally contained on his bed. My midwife was a little concerned with my 5 pound loss this week, but I couldn't help it. We think the baby is okay though, she has had my bowels to wrestle and sing with, and I'm pretty sure that when I wasn't eating anything for several of those days, she feasted on my limited muscle supply. It should be over soon.

Labor Day Camping

The Book of Pineview 1:1-5
As recorded by the Godfreys

1 And it came to pass that they took their tents and departed into the wilderness. And they traveled northward for the space of many miles and pitched their tents by a large body of water. And they called the water Pineview, for that is what it said on the sign.

2 And behold they did bring their own dinners, yea each family their own meal for the evening, and they did cook them on the fire. And they found to their amazement Dutch Oven desserts prepared for them, and they found that the dessert was more delicious in accordance with their righteousness.

3 And in the morning they rejoiced, for there were pancakes and other breakfast items in abundance. And after they had feasted they packed up their camp.Yea and behold, the afternoon was spent swimming by the water of the Pineview. And those who were planning to swim brought lunches of their own design, yea lunches to eat for themselves if they chose to stay.

4 Yea and there was no contention among them. Even the parents of young babies did find joy in the camping thereof. Yea even those who sayeth "I am not the camping type" found great joy. Even those who were great with child, even 8 1/2 months pregnant, yea even though they worried they might be delivered in the wilderness, they found great joy.

5 And it came to pass that they gathering of the ward in the wilderness was accomplished, and their hearts were knit together in unity and love one towards another. And the spirit of the ward grew in abundance, and all were welcomed in. And there was much rejoicing among them.

2nd Graders are so big, and Kindergartners too.

Dalton and Joe's first day of school really started the night before. For FHE we decided to get Back-to-School haircuts, and have Doug give the kids Back-to-School blessings. The boys looked so handsome with their short styled hair, and after quick showers to get the pokey's off, it was time for the bedtime routine.

Doug gave very personal blessings to each of the boys and then Sophia reverently climbed onto the ottoman for her turn with daddy's hands on her head. She sat still the whole time, which was an absolute miracle, and gave daddy a big hug afterward. Joseph had a hard time understanding why we didn't read scriptures, and we explained that a blessing is scripture just for him. He was confused, but satisfied. They each picked a song, and then we said prayers. "Huk-an-kikkas", comes right after a loud, "Amen" from Sophia, and then bed.

It was only then that Dalton asked me, "What is the weather tomorrow?". A question I hadn't heard since May. "I think I heard it was going to be about 90." He was devastated! All of his new clothes are nice long pants, and the exact outfit he had laid out for the past several weeks was not only long pants, but the matching long sleeved T-shirt too. He was quick to point out that I hadn't done the shorts load of laundry either. Just like the end of any other day, I was in an "oh well" mood. He, on the other hand, rushed off to the basement while I went to lay down. I heard him messing around in the bathroom, and reminded him that he needed to get some sleep before his big first day of 2nd grade. He quickly said, "I'll be done in a minute, and I promise I'll get to bed." The following morning I woke up before the boys, and noticed his favorite shorts hung over the towells, a little damp. I was sure they had a few clumps of beans and salsa on them, but after inspection they were clean, and smelled of my gardenia hand soap. He woke up excited for the school day, and was about to cry again when he realized they weren't dry yet. I rushed them down to the dryer while he jumped in the shower. I couldn't believe that he took the time to hand wash his own clothes, what a great solution.

There was some miscommunication with the buses around here, so we ended up filling the van with our whole lot, and a couple of neighbor kids and headed to Wasatch Elementary. Dalton and his two friends were quick to jump out of the van, and knew exactly where they were going. As an absolute afterthought, he said "I love you too", and was gone for the day. He has reported loving recess, where they play some game with all the girls chasing him the whole time, remembering his lunch number from last year, and getting to sit next to his best friend Devin. Pretty good start.

We then drove Joseph up to his first day of Kindergarten at Ensign Elementary. He was happy to be a little early with some time to play on the playground, but responded in like manner with all of the other kids to the sound of the bell by heading straight for the door. He found his name on a hook, and hung up his back pack. We quickly took one picture, and he ran right into his classroom giving us only a wave goodbye. I guess 2 years of pre-school takes the newness of Kindergarten away. He has reported loving the treasure box, understanding the classroom stoplight, and that some boy named Jacob didn't follow any of the rules. I think he's going to have a great year.

Now for Sophia and I... well I'm feeling more patient with her. We've been spending more time doing naked body dances, and loving being just girls. She gets to play with the neighbor girls each morning, and the house is so quiet for her nap that she sleeps even longer than before. I think I love school.

Just Sherrie and Doug

It has been years since Doug and I speant time together without the kids. As newlyweds we promised ourselves that we would never let an anniversary go by without cherishing one another and nurturing our relationship. That promise has gone unfulfilled since 2003 I think, it might actually be longer. This past weekend, however, we were able to entrust our 3 little ones to our friends the Klingonsmiths, and escape for what turned out to be almost a full 24 hours! We had the opportunity to head up to Midway and stay at a lovely cabin, for free, food included. No kids. I enjoyed waking in the night to, not a cry, or a knock, but to my own urge to watch the stars, and breathe the silent air. I love being in the peaceful out doors...just being. I loved talking to Doug during the afternoon and evening events, uninterupted. I loved that on the drive home we were just us, together, with no real stress or responsibility. We picked up our kids, and realized that they hadn't really even missed us, and the truth is that we hadn't really missed them either. I took this for a sign that we should do this more often. I love my children, they make us smile and laugh more than anything else in the world right now, but there is an appropriate balance between always being mom and dad, and just being Sherrie and Doug. We're still learning that appropriate balance, and from now on, I think it'll include more time together.

Claire?

I don't really know what happened, but it has been brought to my attention that Claire is not on my "Name the Girl" poll anymore. I tried to edit the poll with unsucessful results. If you really love the name Claire, post a comment right here, and I'll make note.

I just realized today that all of my kids favorite songs are not traditional kid songs, but my children have given the songs traditional kid song titles. Sophia's is "The Finger Song" which is actually by CAKE, and not at all like thumbkin. Joseph's song is "Chinese Chicken" which is by Bare Naked Ladies, and is more about the adult male/female relationship with it's flaws in/beauties of communication than anything Chinese or chicken. Dalton's favorite song is "The Alien Song" which is actually Stings, Englishman in New York. We've had several conversations about the word alien and how most people on the news and radio are referring to foreigners, and not little green men. Mine is still "The Girl From Ipanima", and although the Sherrie inside is tall, and tan, and young and lovely, the real one is tall...sure, tan...yep, young...perspective says that for some people 30 is young, and lovely??? let's just say pregnant. If anyone wants to tutor me on how to put music on my blog, I'll get these songs for you, and you can smile knowing that every time our little family gets into our big minivan, someone shouts "The Finger song", "No, The Alien song", "I want Chinese Chicken".

Welcome to our blog, I finally created one. Here is a photo of what our little family looked like last fall. I'm not going to show off my award winning pumpkin of a stomach till it's absolutely ripe. You can take this pic and add a bit more hair to Soph, and a bit more belly to myself, a few less pounds from Doug, and take away a few teeth from Dalt. Joe has only added charm, and intelligence which aren't really visible in jpeg format anyway.

I'm on the countdown to mother of 4 with only 6 weeks to go. I can't wait! We're still stumped on her name, and some preliminary polls prove inconclusive with 3 names tied. As for the results, you'll all have to wait till October.

Doug starts classes on top of his designing/consulting work tomorrow, and could use all of your prayers. This semester will prove a serious juggling act for our whole family.

Dalton starts 2nd grade next week, and can't wait. He has his first and second outfit already picked out, and I love that his Wasatch Elementary School pride shirt is in the top 2. He has enjoyed learning how to play chess, ride his bike well, and recover from tree climbing concussions this summer.

Joseph graduates from The Childrens Center Pre-School on Wednesday, and he can't wait! He has enjoyed his 2 years there and sometimes comments on how his teachers love him more than I do. They don't make him get shots or refuse to clean his favorite shorts every single day. He will miss them. He will not even have a full week off before starting Kindergarten though, which he laments. He's mostly excited about eating lunch on a tray in the cafeteria, and learning how to become as smart as his big brother Dalton.

Sophia is so charming she's dangerous. She announces her every move and intention with amazing clarity. "I'm going downstairs now." and "I want to hold the banana, and then you can have the first bite." Sadly, I overheard her with her dolls (my dolls really), "Do you want to color with me on the paper...you better hurry, we're running late." Apparently I say that quite often. She is mostly soft and gentle with any baby that can't walk which is a comfort to me. Her new little sister will likely endure many dirty kisses, and seemingly gentle, but obviously rough hugs from a doting big sister.

Baby Crawford moves a ton and for the past several months has measured right on schedule with her due date. This month however, she shifted positions with what I'm sure is a foot on my sciatic nerve, and grew 2cm larger than expected. I have in my head that she'll weigh 9lbs. 9oz. so that if she's any less, I'll only be relieved. She is invited to come any time after Doug and the kids return home from their Football Hall of Fame tour in AZ, Sept 14th-16th.