6 months

I can't believe that my little Matthew is already 6 months old.  I don't know where the time has gone.  He is such a sweet little man.  He's happy and smiley except when he's hungry or tired or lonely.  His laugh makes my heart melt.  His little smile lights up the room. 

He went in this week for his 6 month well check.  Matthew is 17lbs. 4oz. which puts him in about the 48th percentile.  His head measures 17 3/4 inches around.  He is 28 3/4 inches long which is off the charts.  He's a full 1/4 of an inch above the highest percentile measurement for his age.  So he's a long, skinny thing.  He is starting to crawl.  He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks until he's ready to push himself forward.  When he gets tired of that, he just pushes himself around backwards.  He always seems to have something in his mouth and has been that way since he could grab things. 

He is just a ray of sunshine in our home.  Everyone loves him to pieces.  His big brothers probably love him a little too much.  :o)

Time to make a change

I've been talking for years about losing weight.  I just never got very serious about it.  I've had it now!  I'm tired of being tired and lethargic.  I'm tired of not wanting to play with my kids because it's too hard.  I'm tired of not being able to buy the cute clothes I really want because they don't fit or don't look good on me. 

So to be honest with myself and with anyone who reads this blog, here is where I started from last Monday:

Weight:  210.2 lbs.  Yikes!

(I'll get some pics and measurements up in the next couple of days)

My goal is to lose 65 lbs and get down to the 145lbs range.  I'd like to be down in the 180s by January.

Last week I started the "Run Your Butt Off" program.  It's a program to help non-runners like me work up to running a non-stop 30 minutes.  I'm working on Stage 3 right now.  I was able to skip Stage 1 because I could easily walk 30 minutes non-stop.  Last week was 4/1 walk/jog intervals.  I completed it 6 days in a row.  I'll be taking Sundays off.  One thing this program does that is different than most is that it encourages you when you are first starting to jog at the same speed you walk, just picking up your feet.  It's made jogging feel so much easier.  So this week is 4/2 walk/jog intervals.  I didn't think I was really going to be able to do it without feeling like I was going to die.  Nope.  My legs burned, but I didn't get overly winded. 

I also signed up over the weekend for a 5K run in February to benefit Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and support my brother in his battle with pancreatic cancer.  So now I have a goal to work toward which will hopefully keep me moving.  I also am doing Zumba at least a day or two a week.  Hopefully that will increase, but the kids aren't always cooperative.  I'm still contemplating joining the YMCA and maybe doing some personal training sessions to work on building my strength.  And as soon as the weather cools off, I'll add some biking to my exercise routine also.

I'm gradually changing some of my eating habits, but I didn't want to change everything all at once and then not feel like I wanted or could keep it up.  Once I have been exercising for 4 solid weeks, I'll really make an additional effort to change my eating.  I am working on eating fewer snacks and when I do eat, eating healthier foods.  I'm not going on any kind of diet because I want to make a lifestyle change that will continue after the weight is gone.  I don't want something that would be impossible or improbable for me to maintain.

So wish me luck on my journey!

I thought I had problems

Like many of you, I have become unnaturally addicted to Pinterest.  I love that I can bookmark things I love without clogging up my favorites folder.  I have seen a saying on there several times that means even more to me now than ever.  "If everyone threw their problems into a pile so you could see them, you'd quickly take yours back."  Or something to that effect.

Borders Books went out of business in stores so a couple of weeks ago when they were in their final days, we made a trip.  I decided to expand my normal book reading horizons and picked out some books that I probably wouldn't normally read.  The first one I picked out to read was "Honeymoon in Tehran" by Azeda Moaveni.  She is an American-born journalist whose parents moved to the United States from Iran after the revolution in 1979.  She lived there for nearly a decade writing pieces that showed what life was like in Iran, often butting heads with the government.  She doesn't really truly understand what life is like in Iran until she marries and has a son.  To read of the oppression these people suffered just left me feeling so grateful for the life I have.  I don't have to worry much about some of the things these people faced every day.  Censorship - papers being shut down that reported anything the government didn't like, greatly limiting access to internet sites and blocking nearly all TV channels.  Inflation - even the middle and lower-upper class could barely afford to survive.  Two bedroom apartments sell for over $1 million and often the fresh fruit that is a staple in the Iranian diet was too expensive to purchase.  Being told what to wear - women as stopped on the street and arrested if their dress is not deemed appropriate by the thuggish Basiji (kind of like a national guard) or the police.  Harassment - being threatened, imprisoned and beaten for having any vocal opinions that differ from that of the regime.  Smog - the pollution in Tehran is far worse than anything we experience here in the US.  Most days it's advised for children, elderly and pregnant women to stay home because of the hazardous air.  Disrepair - sidewalks are often so uneven that it would be impossible to push a stroller along them.  And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

It truly makes me grateful to live in a country where I can wear what I want, go where I want, watch what I want, listen to what I want, believe what I want.  The people of Iran are so beaten down that even though they will angrily cry foul, they don't dare rise up against the regime for fear of imprisonment in horrible conditions, beatings or even death.  It's not unheard of during time when the people do demonstrate for the Basiji and the police to place civilian dressed officers in the crowd to shoot at random.  We often view the Iranians as we view the government - harsh, strict, uber conservative, radical.  But many of the people in that country hate what has become of their beloved motherland and feel strongly that the current regime is ruining their lives.  Unfortunately, because of the brutal tactics used, they are powerless to do anything to change it.

So the next time you think to complain about your lot in life, just remember there are people out there who have it far worse off than you do.  At least you have the right to complain openly without fear of harassment, imprisonment or death.

Update on Matthew

I can't believe my little guy is 4 months old already.  Where does the time go?  I took him in for his 4 month well-check yesterday.  He is 26 1/2 inches long (91st percentile) 14 lbs 15 oz (49th percentile) and his head is 17 inches in circumference (75th percentile).  He perfectly healthy.  He's already rolling from his back to his front and we can't keep him on his back anymore.  He is also reaching out and grabbing things.  He had his first solid food yesterday - rice cereal and formula.  He wasn't so sure he liked it. 

I'll update with some pictures soon.

What a week....

So I was expecting the first week of school to be a bit of a madhouse, but nothing like it has turned out to be.  The first day of school Andrew forgot to bring home his good water bottle from school and we have yet to see it again.  The second day of school, he got to ride the bus for the first time and LOVED it!  hen he got off the bus the second day, he had to swim upstream back on to the bus because he forgot his backpack.  When we got home, we discovered his lunch box wasn't in his backpack.  On the third day of school, I get a phone call from the nurse's office telling me that Andrew slipped in the rocks and split his head open and I needed to come and get him.  It wasn't too bad and didn't need a bandaid or anything, but he got some pretty good rock burn on his head, face, arm and leg.  Still no water bottle or lunch pail.  On the fourth day of school, I went to meet his bus about 10 minutes early, only to find the bus had already dropped the kids off.  I hurried down to the bus stop.  No Andrew!  Thinking he has just not gotten off the bus, I called the school who radioed the bus driver.  She said he got off on the right stop.  Awesome!  I thought maybe he had gone the wrong way from the stop and down the wrong street.  I got 2/3 of the way down the street north of us...still no Andrew.  Asked a couple of girls if they had seen him.  No luck.  My friend who was with me happened to look behind us and see a woman and three kids.  It was him.  Thank goodness a mom from a different stop realized that the little boy following her son off the bus wasn't a regular at their stop and decided to help him out.  I'm a bit frustrated with the bus driver who said he got off the right stop when he didn't.  I realize the first week of school is crazy, but the drivers really should be more aware of where the kindergarteners, who have no idea what they are doing, have all their stuff and get off at the correct stop.  On the lighter side, he did bring home his lunch pail so now we are just missing a water bottle and half his sandwich container.  So far, so good today.  I hope we don't have any more excitement!  I don't think this mom to a new school-goer could handle much more!

UPDATE:  So today went just fine.  He even managed to find the water bottle he lost on the first day of school and brought it home. 

Andrew loves his teacher though and has a blast playing with Jacob and Travis, two of his friends from preschool.  He also has made friends with a boy from his class who catches the bus with him in the morning.  Whew!  What a week!

First day of Kindergarten

I can't believe this day is here.  My little boy is now a kindergartener.  He's been so excited to start school for over a year now.  All of his friends from his first year of preschool started school last year.  He has asked probably a thousand times if he was going to kindergarten.  And the day is finally here.

I have to admit, I've been looking forward to this day for a while, too.  Andrew is an incredibly intelligent little boy who needs near constant entertainment and challenge or he gets in a lot of mischief.  And that usually involves making his little brother scream bloody murder.  I walked him to his classroom, we got to the door and he said, "Bye, mom."  He wasn't even going to let me walk him in.  I did anyway.  No tears for either of us.  Of course, we were running crazy.  We had loaded up the car for everyone to go only to find the battery on the mini-van dead.  So I had to move him to the car and take off like a shot.  When we got to the school, we had to part in a dirt lot because the parking lot was overflowing with parents dropping their kids off for the first day.  I was just glad I got him to class on time.

I worried a lot about him starting kindergarten because the kid's really smart.  He's been reading for over a year now.  He picks up things so quickly.  He memorized his Articles of Faith in about 3 months.  I know he knows pretty much everything he's learn in kindergarten.  Do I test him into 1st grade?  He's on the young end since his birthday is in March.  I was afraid he'd be ready intellectually, but not emotionally.  I went to meet the teacher hoping he'd have a good one.  She's new to teaching kindergarten as his school so I knew nothing about her.  I told her about Andrew and she said not to worry.  She'd make sure he's challenged if that means pulling out 1st grade standards and sending home more challenging homework.  I think we got the teacher we needed.

The house is a lot quieter today.  Luke pretty well entertains himself.  Matthew loves spending time in his jumper.  If only I felt better (I've got a little cold) this day would be awesome!  I'm so excited for my little guy. 

Since I'm so far behind, here are some pics of the kiddos!

Andrew and Luke playing swordfighting on the Wii.

Matthew sleeping...So cute!

Andrew passed off all 13 Articles fo Faith.  He got a big chocolate bar and a certificate for it.

Matthew in his jumper.

Luke and Matthew

All my boys. 

Andrew and Matthew.

A little bit of tummy time!

Butt-whooping...followed by some whining and worrying

That's what I feel like I'm in the middle of right now - a butt-whooping.  3 kids is even harder than I thought it would be.  I'm sure a lot of it is because Matthew's lack of any kind of consistent schedule makes it hard for me to get in a shower or a meal or sleep, let alone take care of anything else...including the older two kids.  And they are masters at waiting until I've got my arms full feeding Matthew to start fighting and misbehaving.  I am overwhelmed and can't help but wonder how in the world I'm going to get through summer break when Andrew doesn't even have school a couple of mornings a week to keep him busy and give me a break.

I had an awful Mother's day also.  I know it seems selfish, but the whole day revolved around my mom and mother-in-law.  I didn't get my favorite breakfast (church is too early) or lunch (we just munched on stuff at my mom's) or dinner (SIL made dinner catered to her mom).  I didn't get a card or flowers or even really a thanks for being my mom.  And right now, I feel like that's all I am is mom.  It was hard to read friends blogs and facebook posts about their wonderful Mother's day.  Mine didn't happen this year.  Not that I didn't want to spend time with the moms in our lives, but it would have been nice to have my contributions to my family recognized.  And this is not meant to be a guilt trip for anyone involved.  It's just the way it worked out this year.

And our anniversary and my birthday are pretty well shot, too.  Clayton's work is going into a "no-fly" zone starting next Monday (the day after his birthday) and lasting until the 4th of July.  Intel is moving one of the factories to a new process.  He can't take any time off of work and isn't supposed to go out of town at all in case they need him to come in.  This time also takes up almost all of Andrew's summer vacation.  So much for hoping we could go somewhere or at least have Clayton take a couple of days off.  He is taking this Friday off to take the two older boys on Fathers and Sons campout with his brother's ward since he can't take them to our ward's.

And as if all that weren't enough, my brother has been dealing with severe abdominal pain for the past couple of weeks.  He's had ultrasounds and CT scans and finally had an MRI yesterday.  The doctor called him at 6:30pm...never a good sign.  He's got a spot on his pancreas.  They can't (not sure if it's can't or don't want to wait) to do a biopsy and are hoping to get him into surgery in the next week or two.  The doctor said he doesn't know what it is and won't until surgery, but if it's cancer and has spread at all, gave my brother 3-6 months to live.  I'm trying not to be too pessimistic right now because they don't know what it is or how bad it is, but it's a little scary.  I have a half sister than I rarely speak to and have very little relationship with and since my grandma's death will probably never see again and my brother.  He is, for all intents and purposes, my only sibling.  And to think that he may not live to see his next birthday or even meet his newest nephew ...  Let's just say I'm feeling completely helpless.  He's terrified.  My mom is freaking out.  And I can't even keep my head above water with my own family, let alone feel like I can do anything to help them.

So, I just have to put one foot in front of the other and try to do what I can.  I just feel like it's not good enough and that there just isn't enough of me to go around.  I can't wait for things to mellow out and calm down...  And hopefully turn out for the best.

Introducing....

Okay, so I'm a little slow getting this up.  The adjustment to having three kids is kicking me in the behind right now.

Matthew Thomas Myers

Born April 14, 2011 at 5:05pm

8lbs. 12 oz., 21 1/4 inches long

I went in for induction at 9am on the 14th.  Started at 3cm dialated so I had a good start.  I've always responded well to induction (this is my 3rd).  Got me going and things progressed nicely.  At 4pm, I was at 6cm.  They let my Dr. know it was probably going to be a couple of hours.  At 4:45pm, they decided to check me again and I was fully transitioned and ready to push.  She had me do one small push to help get the baby down since he was still riding high.  Worked great.  The nurse was going to hold off and let my Dr. finish his afternoon appointments.  No big deal here.  I'd hate to be the one with a 4:45pm appointment that had to wait until 6pm to see the Dr. because he ran off to the hospital when he didn't really have to.  Around 5pm, the nurse came in and wanted to have me push once to see where I was.  When my next contraction started, I took a deep breath to push and just when I was going to start pushing, the nurse yelled, "Stop!  Don't push!!"  Uh, okay!?  There she was with only one glove on and the baby's head halfway out.  She was going to hold him in until the Dr. got there, but the baby's heartrate disappeared from the monitor.  She called for help.  Three other nurses came running in.  Kelleigh (my nurse) put on a second glove and let the baby come on out.  Yep, that's right.  He arrived without me doing any real pushing.  Guess he was in a hurry.  Good thing they didn't wait either.  He was just a tad on the blue side when he arrived.  Within 5 minutes, he was perfectly pink and healthy though.  The good Dr. arrived about 10-15 minutes after the baby did...flushed and embarassed that he hadn't gotten there in time.  Not that any of us could have imagined the baby coming on his own like he did.  He was a little embarassed about misjudging the baby's size, too.  He didn't figure Matthew was going to be as big as my other two.  He missed being the biggest by .5 oz. 

From induction start time to delivery was just over 6 1/2 hours.  Not too shabby, I'd say.  Luke was just over 10 hours and Andrew was just over 12 hours. 

The boys are excited for a baby brother, but have been thwarted in their attempts to bond with the baby.  Luke had some kind of respiratory infection and Clayton had to take him to the Dr. while I was still in the hospital.  Then Andrew developed pink eye.  It's probably not a bad thing in the grand scheme of things.  They are both awfully rough and this will give Matthew a little more time to gain some strength before he gets mauled.  :o)

Matthew had been doing his best sleeping during the day and was up most of the night the first week.  Thank goodness Clayton was home to help me out.  But he's been sleeping better at night this week...thank goodness.  He's a pretty happy baby.  He only cries when he's cold, wet, or hungry - of course, he's hungry a LOT!  He LOVES having his hair washed under the faucet.  And he's got a headfull, let me tell you. 

I'll post more pictures...hopefully this weekend while Clayton is home to help wrangle the boys.

Scared....

I don't often admit out loud when I'm scared, let alone put it in writing so it lasts forever.  But I'm scared. 

I went to the OB yesterday for my weekly check up.  I joked that I was ready to serve an eviction notice to this baby.  I'm tired of my back, hips and other things being in constant pain.  I'm tired of sleeping on the couch.  I'm tired of the swelling and the inability to comfortably reach my feet.  I'm tired of being tired and winded all the time.  And honestly, I'm tired of sharing my body with another human being.  I want to get healthy and having a baby in my body doesn't help that quest any.

I wasn't expecting him to even consider induction since he doesn't think this baby is as big as my other two were.  But he offered to schedule me a week from my due date, which is the 22nd.  So, he looked at the calendar and said he'd call and see if he could get me in on the 15th.  I'll find out for sure at my appointment next week what's going on.  I was really excited to finally see the light at the end of this pregnancy...until I talked to Clayton about it.  His response, "That's a week from this Friday!"  Holy Cow!  That's only 9 days from now.

And to make things just a little more freaky...I'm already dialated to 3cm.  I've never been this far dialated this early in my pregnancy.  When I went in to be induced with Andrew, I wasn't anything...not dialated, not effaced.  With Luke I was 2cm dialated and 50% effaced.  They both came a week and a half early thanks to induction because they were both measuring on the big side.  And they were.  8lbs 13oz for Andrew and 8lbs 9oz for Luke.  The Dr. told me that I may go into labor on my own before he can have me induced.

Am I ready?  I have the baby's bag packed for the hospital.  The car seat is ready to go in the car.  I have all the baby's stuff put away and the bed ready.  I still need to pack me a bag.  I'm a little worried about going into labor on my own.  I'm on my 3rd pregnancy and am not sure I'll know when it's time.  Even if I do, will I make it to the hospital on time?  Andrew was born 12 hours after my water broke.  Luke was only 2 1/2 hours.  If my water breaks, I'm a solid 45 minutes from the hospital - not including loading up the kids, etc.  What if I can't drive myself and Clayton is at work?  I know there are people I can call, but it still kind of freaks me out.

I'm terrified that I'm not going to be able to handle three kids.  Two already try my patience to its limits.  And everyone I talk to tells me how hard the transition from 2 to 3 was.  It doesn't help that when I'm stressed out I tend to take it out on my kids.  The poor kids probably think I'm some kind of monster right now.

I'm sure it will all work out fine.  I'm trying to take a deep breath and just realize that I just have to have faith that it will all work out. 

Blessings

It's amazing when you look back over your life to see the blessings you've been given.  This week I've been contemplating the financial blessings that Clayton and I have had in our life together.  When we first met and started dating, I was working full-time and had finished my Masters degree just a few months prior.  Clayton was in his last semester at ASU.  We were still dating when he graduated.  He had a hard time finding a full-time job, but was blessed to find a temporary job that wasn't too horrible.  He had already decided that he wanted to ask me to marry him, but kept putting it off because he had been raised that the man is to financially provide for the family and he couldn't do that on his temp pay.  After a couple of months, he finally took the leap of faith and asked me anyway.  About the same time, he received an email from a career advisor at ASU about a job at Intel for recent graduates - the last email sent from the advisor as he was quitting to take a new positon elsewhere.  Clayton sent in his resume and didn't hear anything.  A month later, he was called for an interview.  We were both shocked to hear from Intel as it had been so long.  He had a phone interview and then an in-person interview.  Then we didn't hear anything for a while again.  We were out to dinner with his grandpa and siblings when he got a call offering him the job.  At first we were hesitant about him taking the job as it was an unconventional work schedule and would make our time together very limited.  But when we heard what the salary was, we couldn't turn it down.  It was far more than we both expected him to be able to make in his first "real" job after graduation.

He started at Intel the day we returned from our honeymoon.  I was still working, but things at my job had deteriorated.  I had a boss who was threatened by me, I guess, and started to pull responsibilities from me.  We decided I would quit, take a month or so to put our married life in order, and then I would look for a new job.  A week after I quit, I found out I was pregnant with Andrew.  We decided I would just stay home since I would quit when the baby was born anyway.  With the exception of a month, we have lived on one income our entire married life.

Clayton is smart and hard working and did well at his job.  A year ago he received a new position that was a pay grade higher than his current pay grade.  It put him in a great position for this year to receive a pay grade promotion, but we didn't count on getting it after what we had heard some areas were getting for pay increases.  He met with his manager this week and was given his promotion.  She's super impressed with how quickly he picks things up (I think she used the word sponge) and how he's willing to share what he learns with the rest of his group in order to better the group as a whole.  So we knew the promotion usually comes with a relatively sizable pay increase, but once again we kept our expectations low if he did get promoted.  Let's just say we were both pleasantly SHOCKED!  He got a very sizable pay increase.  What a blessing with another mouth to feed coming shortly.  We are also trying to pay off dept and increase our savings for the future.

Clayton and I have always paid tithing.  It's never been a question.  We just paid it, no questions asked.  We have always been able to pay our bills and put food on the table.  And we are continuting to see the blessings of making this a priority.  We realize that it may not always be this way, but we know that paying tithing leads to blessings.

Breaking the chains!

When Clayton and I got married, we both had student loans we were paying on.  We both had to put ourselves through college.  I also had a car payment.  Neither one of us really had any debts that were outside of what the Church has said go be "good" debt - school, a home, a car.  We've never really had any credit card debt to speak of.  We use them to buy things that we pay off right away just to keep our credit good.

We decided right from the get go, we wanted to get everything paid off as quickly as possible.  I've seen what debt can do to a person's life and I wanted nothing to do with it.  I hate having it hanging over my head.  It stresses me out.  It took us a while to develop a plan of action, but after getting a copy of "One for the Money" put out by the Church, we decided that was the program we were going to follow.  For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's very, very similar to the plan out there used by Dave Ramsey.

The premise of the program is to pay off the debt with the highest interest rate first.  Then you take the money that you were paying on that one and roll it to the next highest interest rate, etc., etc. until you have paid everything off.  You are already used to that money going to something else so you don't miss it.  It also suggests using a budget.  I had already been using one before we got married, so we just adjusted it for our current situation and we still use it to this day.

I used my mad Excel skills and made up a debt repayment calendar as suggested in the program so we could see just how long it would take for us to pay everything off.  We paid off my car loan, two student loans.  We are extraordinarily close to seeing the fruits of our labors.  We have one more payment on our final student loan.  It means we will have paid off Clayton's loans more than 4 years early.  We had a bit of a hiccup in our plan.  That payment was supposed to leave us without any debt other than our mortgage.  However, life decided to throw us a bit of a curveball with the car situation.  We weren't planning on having a car payment again for a couple of years, but couldn't find a car that met our needs in our cash budget.  So we decided to get something a little more expensive that will last us for several years and we have a car payment again.  It's nothing too huge.  We've formulated a plan that will allow us to pay it off in September.  And it will allow us to start putting some of out debt reduction money into savings also.  We could pay it off sooner if we didn't put the money in savings, but with the economy the way it is, we decided it would be smart to start using some of that to build our emergency funds up a little more.

One thing that I know has helped us out in our pursuit is that we are neither one of us BIG spenders.  We'll buy nice things every once in a while, but we don't have to have the biggest and best the second it comes out.  We often wait until something dies before replacing it.  I'm not as faithful as I could be, but I discovered the fun and savings of using coupons.  Even Clayton gets excited when we are able to save a ton of money on groceries.  After this pregnancy is over and I'm back on me feet, my plan is to go full on into it.  We have a pretty decent supply of food, etc. but we aren't where we want to be with our year's supply.  We are working on it.  A lot of our problem is due to lack of storage space in our house.  We need to do some rearranging and decluttering to make more room for our long term storage needs and reorganize the shorter term food.  I've been working on that the past couple of weeks as well as putting together a supply list of what we need to get to where we want to be.

Over the years, we have seen significant blessings because of our willingness to follow the teachings of the prophets and get out of debt.  It has also helped that we always pay our tithing.  We still have our burdens, like a house that is so far underwater that I don't know that we'll ever get out from under it, but even through these difficult economic times, we've never had to worry about where our next meal will come from.

I can't wait to enter into the light at the end of the tunnel...the one that will mean we are out of debt other than our mortgage.  The one that means more money for savings and retirement.  The one that means we will be able to help others more who are in need.  The one that means we can finally be free from the chains.

So much for keeping up...

I'm sure it happens to all of us.  We start off with the best of intentions.  The life gets in the way.  That's what has happened around here with me and my blog.  I was so determined to keep up and then life happened.  Andrew got sick in January.  Then I got sick...more so than I have been in a long time.  Then Andrew got sick.  Now Luke and I are sick again.  I'm not even sure I fully recovered from the last round. 

So, here's a quick update on what's going on with the Myers Clan.  Sorry for the long, verbose post.  A lot can happen in 6 weeks.

Clayton:  He's been SUPER busy at work.  It's been a change from what it was like for the first 5 years we were married.  Most of the time he was sitting at work with nothing to do so we would get online and chat off and on throughout the day.  Now he's so busy that I'm lucky if he gets a lunch break to call me during.  It makes my days a little more slow and a lot more lonely.  He's doing really well though.  His boss is happy with the progress he's made in the time he's been in his new position.  He's extremely smart and picks things up quickly.  He usually only needs to be shown how to do something once, maybe twice.  It has been nice with the new M-F, 8-5 schedule.  He's been able to carpool with a friend from church.  It's helped with gas money, and the last few weeks have been a lifesaver.  We lost our car to a seemingly minor accident so we are down to one car.  We've been looking for almost 3 weeks now, but with gas prices soaring, now is not a good time to be trying to find an economical commuter car.  We will call on a car that's been posted for less than an hour and it will already be sold.  And living out in the middle of the sticks doesn't help either.  We don't want to drive an hour, just to find out that a car is not a good fit or to find that it's already been sold.   Clayton was released from what we thought would be his eternal calling in the Elders Quorum.  The Church has been working on keeping families from being overburdened by having both parents in time intensive callings.  Now he's one of three men teaching the Valiant 10/11 year old class.  Honestly, this is my favorite.  We are both in the Primary now.  Before, I could rely on him hearing what's going on around the ward and keep me up to date.  Now neither one of us knows what's going and it makes me feel even more isolated that I already did.  He's one of those that will do whatever and doesn't complain so I think he likes his calling, but I'm not really sure.  :o)

Andrew:  Andrew will be 5 years old this Saturday.  I can't believe how the time flies.  He's as...energetic as ever.  He loves going to preschool and playing with friends.  He's kind of past learning anything new though.  He's a super smart kid.  He reads exceptionally well for his age.  He started really picking it up last summer, really on his own, and has blown us all away with his ability.  He is to the point that he can read a column out of the scriptures by himself with minimal, if any, help with words.  Most of the time when he does need help, it's because he's come across an unfamiliar, unusual scripture name.  He can count to 100 without really much help.  He knows all his letter, shapes, colors.  I'm a little worried about kindergarten next year.  I have had family members who have gotten in trouble in school simply because they were bored and weren't being challenged.  I'm positive that's what will happen to Andrew if he's not kept busy and engaged.  It is kind of crazy that my oldest is going to Kindergarten.  It was a bit surreal when I stopped by the school to pick up the registration packet.  Sometimes it seems like it's been forever since he was born.  But that day it made me feel like it just couldn't have been that long.  He can either be super helpful (clearing and rinsing everyone's dishes without being asked) or can be a bit of a pill, picking on his brother and not listening to anything anyone tells him.  You have to love this age.

Luke:  My baby isn't so much a baby anymore, turning 2 in January.  He's an independent little guy who is a miniature of his brother.  He copies everything Andrew does and says.  That's not always a good thing.  His latest is calling everyone a "coo coo brain".  The only other person in this house who has ever used that term is...yep, Andrew.  It is kind of funny when Andrew gets mad at Luke for calling him a name that he has called Luke over and over again for months.  And Luke doesn't really understand that it's not nice, no matter how often we remind him.  Luke has also taken to biting his brother when he doesn't get what he wants.  We've had a lot of time outs around here lately.

Baby:  The baby is growing nicely.  I'm 32 weeks and 5 days along.  I can't wait to be done.  I feel like there just isn't any more room in me for this little guy to grow.  Fortunately, I have the best OB in the world.  Because of my history of big babies (Andrew was 8 lbs 13 oz and Luke was 8 lbs 9 oz and were both induced a week and a half early), Dr. is going to do an ultrasound in 3 or 4 weeks to see how big the baby is getting.  He won't let the baby get too big.  As long as I make it to 38 weeks (considered full term) and because I respond well to induction, he doesn't see any reason to let the baby get to be huge just because.  So hopefully, I'll have some baby pics to post in a few weeks.  And no matter what, he's already told me he won't let me go past my April 22 due date.  Have I said how much I LOVE my OB?!?! 

Me:  Other than being sick and uncomfortable in the last weeks of my pregnancy, everything is just chugging along.  I'm still the 2nd Counselor in the Primary, a calling that is completely out of my comfort zone.  Even as a young girl/woman, I was never really interested in watching or interacting with others' kids.  I did babysit a little, but not nearly as much as most girls my age did.  And I didn't really enjoy it.  It was most always as a favor for one of my parents' friends.  And now here I am dealing with everyone's kids.  I struggle a lot with how to interact with them.  I'm not comfortable going up and giving kids hugs and asking how they are doing.  I do much better behind the scenes.  I guess that's why we are given callings sometimes, to push us to grow.  I've definitely gotten into the nesting stage of my pregnancy.  It always comes at the end when I'm too big to do anything that I really want to do and have to wait around for Clayton to help me.  We did a lot of purging recently and had a very successful garage sale.  It was more to get rid of stuff than to make money, but we did make a tidy little sum.  Far more than I expected considering we really didn't have much by way of big ticket items.  We got to talk to a lot of really fun, and funny people.  I think that was my favorite part.  Just talking to the people.  I did learn a couple of valuable garage sale lessons.  1st off:  Don't open your garage door until you are ready to have people going through your stuff.  Clayton went out at 6:30am to put up the signs for our sale that started at 7:30am.  He had two gentlemen follow him as he put up the signs.  I opened the garage door so Clayton could get in.  Even though we told them we weren't "open" yet, they were rifling through our stuff at 6:45am.  We sold a lot of stuff that I'm sure they made far more money off later just to get them out of our hair.  Next time, I'm not letting anyone buy anything until I'm ready.  You can come back later or not at all.    2nd:  If you have stuff left over at the end of your sale you don't want to have to deal with or haul off, put up a sign saying all remaining stuff is free.  I think we had fewer than 10 small items left when all was said and done.  People will take stuff they probably wouldn't buy just because it's free.  3rd:  Stuff sells better if it doesn't have a price tag on it.  The first day we had a lot of stuff left.  I decided to take all the tags off of everything.  And it started to sell.  I expected people to see a price and try to talk us down.  Most of them looked at the price and kept walking.  But if they have to ask, it starts the bartering process.  I'm already planning the next sale in my head for next fall.  I didn't really have the time or the energy to go through the kids' toys so those will go.  I'm also going to begin purging of baby clothes, etc.  This is our last and we don't have room to keep things we don't need.

So, I think that about sums up what's been going on around here.  We have a busy couple of months ahead and I'm sure the baby will be here before we all know it.

Kids....

So, like my other two pregnancies, I've ended up sleeping on the couch.  My back, hips and stomach pretty well require it.  Because of this, I often get early morning wake up calls from my early morning eldest son.  This morning was no exception.  Normally, I am woken to "Mom, I need to go poopoo" or something of the like.  This morning was a little different.

Andrew comes walking in.  "Mom."  "What?"  "I don't have my pajama top on and I don't know where it is."  I look at him and there he is, shirtless.  At some point during the night, he had taken it off.  We found it later in the day wrapped up in his bedding.  I guess instead of a sleep walker, I have a sleep stripper.  I'm not sure if that's good or bad. 

And today is Luke's 2nd birthday.  I can't believe my baby is 2!  Where has this time gone?  I look at him and see the baby going and the little boy taking over.  I'm not sure what I'll do when my youngest makes that change in a couple of years.  It's kind of sad.

Happy New Year?

So our new year didn't start off so great - messed up plans, kids not doing what they were supposed to, raised voices, tears, etc.  I hope that isn't a sign of what's to come this next year!

I've always been the kids to set goals.  I haven't been so good at keeping them the past few years.  This year I am hoping it will be different.  I'm not going to overload myself with goals.  Just a couple in each of my categories.  And I'm going to work on things just a day at a time instead of trying to look ahead to the future and becoming overwhelmed.  We have some exciting things to look forward to this year.  And at least two of them are going to happen in April.  We will be welcoming the newest, and most likely, last member of our family.  I'm due on the 24th, but I'm already measuring big so I figure I'm looking at another early induction to deliver a good sized baby. 

About the same time we will be finally paying off the last of our student loans.  We have worked hard to get our debts paid off.  We followed the advice in "One for our Money" put out by the LDS church.  It's simlar to other programs out there.  You start by paying off the highest interest debt, then you roll that payment into the next highest interest debt, and so on until you pay it all off.  The idea is that you are already used to the money being accounted for and you have to pay less interest this way.  We started almost as soon as we got married.  I had a student loan and Clayton had a couple of them so we consolidated them since mine had a much lower interest rate than his did and it brought the average total interest down a lot.  We had a car payment.  We had a small credit card debt.  So we worked to pay them off.  In April, we will make our final payment on the one loan we have left, paying off Clayton's student loans more than 4 years early.  This will leave us with only one major debt - our mortgage.

It is going to feel so nice to have these paid off and not feel like I have a ball and chain wrapped around my neck.  It will give us money that will go straight into savings and retirement (since we won't be used to having the money to spend we are just going to save it all).

Clayton is also up for a pay grade promotion that, if it comes through, will also begin the in April.  So if you see us in April and we can't stop smiling, you'll know it's because we have a lot of great things happening.

In July, I get to look forward to Andrew starting kindergarten.  I'm so excited for him.  He loves to learn, is already reading at a pretty high level, and needs constant entertainment.  All day kindergarten, here we come!

So what about you?  Anything exciting coming up this year?  I'd love to hear about it!

Maybe yesterday was just a fluke and isn't a sign of things to come.  I'm doing to try my hardest to make sure that isn't the case!

Happy New Year everyone!