The Nitty Gritty

Pregnancies always come with loads of questions, so here's the answers you're all dying to know.  You really might die if you don't know this...HA!!

"Due" Date: July 22 -- But based on Miriam and Liesl, I'm guessing somewhere closer to the 28th is more realistic.  We shall see.

Sickness: Morning sickness (LIES!  All day, really) kicked in right on time for me at 6 weeks.  It has been very mild compared to my other two pregnancies.  I would say I've thrown up somewhere between 30 and 50 times, but I lost count.  I was trying to keep track when my sickness started just because I was interested to know how many times I had since it actually seemed countable this time, but after a really bad day with lots of lots of puking, I lost track.  With the girls, there were very, very, very, very few days (if any) that I didn't throw up.  This time, I have had more puke-free days than puke-y days.  I'm really grateful for this.  It's so hard to take care of a family when all I want to do is lie in bed and sleep.  So, although I haven't been as violently sick, I have still been nauseated, but it seems to be letting up earlier than usual too...another thing I am very grateful for.  This all leads to the next question...

Gender: We won't know for sure for another month or two, but I really think it's a boy.  I have no impressions or anything on the matter, I just know that this pregnancy has been very different from the others and that's the only explanation I have for it.  I would be happy with either, although I'm very comfortable with my little girls and I think a whole family of girls would just be fun -- and very hormonal -- but fun too.

Pictures: Everyone always wants a picture, and well...I'm just not in pictures that often because I'm the one taking them.  So maybe sometime you'll see one, but I don't have anything to show yet anyway...I just look like I'm packing on the pounds right now.

I'm sure I missed something.  So, ask away and I will answer!

Breaking News

ArtQuest

Our town has an awesome children's art program called ArtQuest.  The kids (or anyone, really) have unlimited use of paints, papers, clay, strings, ribbons, glue, stamps and more.  It's totally unstructured so the kids can just move from center to center and enjoy creating.  And then when we're done... we just get to leave!  I don't have to wipe tables, mop floors, clean brushes, nothing!  I do make sure we leave the spaces we've used tidy but I love not stressing about the mess artwork can create sometimes.

Grammy went with us this day and spent most of the time by Liesl who sat at the painting station for over a half hour. 

Miriam likes to bounce around from station to station, but I was lucky enough to catch her intently cutting some clay with a tool for a few minutes.

Dear Miriam,

I can't believe another year has come an gone.  You are four already and it really seems like you were just born!  Cliche, maybe, but I really am amazed that I've been blessed with you for four years.  I love you more than words can say, but I will try anyway and tell you a few things about you while I am at it.

You are a performer and the star of the show.  You love the spotlight and despite some shy moments, you are ready and willing to show anyone and everyone just how smart, funny and entertaining you are.  You still love to sing, although you don't like when I catch you singing by yourself.  It's just so sweet that I love to sneak (hopefully unnoticed) to see you being truly yourself.

You never cease to amaze me with your intellect.  You memorize songs and scriptures and other phrases faster than I can and you remember them months and months later without any practice or recall in between.  It's astounding.  You love working to memorize the monthly Primary scripture so you can pass it off and earn a prize.  I think you would do it even without the prize because you just like to work that little brain of yours.

Another fun thing about your little brain is how observant you are.  You remember small details from many instances, some from over a year ago.  You always remind me about things from Grandma's house, Rexburg, old friends.  Sometimes you just point out things around town that I haven't even thought to look at.  You help me slow down and notice the world around me that I'm sometimes to busy to see.  I love that you remind me to do this often.  I hope you always will.

You have always enjoyed puzzles and games, but now you are getting good at them.  You can outsmart me at memory any day.  And you also love Hi Ho Cherry-O and Cootie.  You do 24 and 25 piece puzzles all by yourself and you can do a 48 piece puzzle if I sit by you.  You don't really need my help, I think you just like that I'm playing with you, and I love to play with you too, so it works out pretty well.

You still love to help in the kitchen.  You have become quite the master pourer and mixer.  You really enjoy when I let you crack the eggs, but I don't always have the patience for those messes, so that will probably stay a special treat for a few more years.  Your favorite things to help with are breakfast foods (waffles, pancakes, crepes and muffins) and bread.  You're not at all interested when chopping and/or sauteing vegetables is involved though.

Recently, you have taken to drawing.  You've never been very interested in anything artistic until a few months ago.  Now you draw people and animals all the time.  I love your artwork.

A recent drawing of someone.  I love the arm out of the head and all the hair.

You still despise clothes.  You wear them when we go out, of course, but at home it is nearly impossible to keep you dressed for even a few hours.  I've tried all sorts of ways to keep you modest to no avail.  Hopefully one day you will change your mindset about how hot/itchy/annoying clothes are because it is a lot easier to blog when I have pictures of a little girl with clothes on.

Your favorite toy is still your dollhouse, with your dolls as a close second.  You love to play "house" with all your people.  You create different situations and activities for them and play all the different characters.  It is fun (and sometimes quite the eye-opener) to listen in on how you hear things.

You've been learning to read and excelling at it.  I'm not really that surprised because you've known the alphabet since before you entered nursery and your vocabulary has always been years ahead of your peers.  You love to talk and you love to be read to, so learning to read is a natural fit for you.  You love and beg for your daily lessons, even on weekends when I'm hoping for a break!    Sometimes you get frustrated when things are a little bit difficult, but you always buckle down and figure it out.  I hope you'll always remember to keep trying when things get harder.  Learning new things will always pose a challenge, but you are so smart, I know you can take on anything.

You are just as sweet as the day you were born.  Openly defiant at times, yes, but still so spunky and energetic.  I love our morning snuggles and play times throughout the day.  I am so blessed to be your mother and to have you as my oldest, guinea pig child.  You are so forgiving of my many faults and mistakes.  You help me be so much better of a person.  I love you, sweet pea.  I am such a lucky mom to have YOU for my daughter.

Miriam's Favorites - Age 4

Favorite Color: Purple
Favorite TV Show: Dora the Explorer and Caillou
Favorite Movie: Tangled
Favorite Toy: Dollhouse
Favorite Food: Macaroni and Cheese (She said spaghetti first, but she complains every time I make spaghetti so I don't even make it very often)
Favorite Snack: Fruit -- mostly bananas and apples
Favorite Candy: Peanut Butter M&Ms
Favorite Song: Popcorn Popping
Favorite Game: Hi Ho Cherry-O
Favorite Book: The Potty Book for Girls (We don't know why since she's been potty trained for almost 2 years, but if you ask her to bring a book to read, she will bring that one 8 out of 10 times)
Favorite Holiday: Christmas
Favorite Animal: Cats
Favorite Stuffed Animal: Pooh Bear
What do you like to do? Play
Who are your friends? My cousins, Elise, Case, Cora
What do you want to be when you grow up? A teacher
What is something you like about Mom? Playing games
What is something you like about Dad? Hugging him
What is something you like about Liesl? Playing with her

Miriam's Birthday

I didn't throw Miriam a birthday party this year, but as per tradition, I made her a cool cake.  She said she wanted a castle cake and although I could have made a castle cake by covering different types of ice cream cones with frosting and fondant to make the turrets, I went the lazy way and bought the Wilton Castle Cake Kit (with a 50% off craft store coupon of course).  I'm glad I did because this cake was still plenty of work!  

The pictures all turned out with the wrong color of purple.  In real life it was a more pink tinted purple than the periwinkle the pictures show.  There were a couple of casualties in the transfer to Aunt Gina's house, but overall it still looks pretty good.  And, after all, it's meant for eating, so who cares if it's perfect?!  Wow, I guess my children have toned down my perfectionism for a statement like that to come from my brain!

I tried to get a picture of Miriam WITH the cake and I got a whole bunch of this:

So, enjoy that beautiful collage of Miriam's silly faces.

We sang 'Happy Birthday' to her and she blew out her candles. 

I forgot to remind her to make a wish, or to ask what she wished for.  I'm sure if she had (and maybe she did) it would be something awesome like a baby brother/sister.  That's what I wished for every birthday until I was 10 or so.  Or maybe she wished for something less noisy like a new doll.


And she opened her presents.

She got some new wooden puzzles, playdough toys, a cute book and Grammy spoiled her with another doll.  So now she has 3 babies.  There's a lot of crying and diaper changes happening in her room these days.

Miriams birthday is New Year's Eve so she shared her evening with Gina and Scott's annual New Year's Fondue Party.  It was pretty fun and I'm excited we were here for it this year.  I'm a mean mom though (and Miriam doesn't really even know that New Year's Eve is something people celebrate for any reason other than her birthday, so we went home, put the girls to bed and then Owen and I were asleep before 10.  We're lame.  I love my lame life!!  I wouldn't have it any other way.  Staying up late gives me a headache!

Children's Museum

I wanted to take Miriam to do something fun for her birthday since I wasn't doing a party or anything really spectacular for her this year, so we hit up one of the local children's museums.  Both girls loved it and Owen and I had a fun time watching them explore.

At the beginning of the museum was a "beanstalk" for the kids to climb while the parents took the stairs next to it.

Miriam milking the fake cow.  Apparently she needs some bigger clothes.

 The museum had this big turtle shell for kids to climb into and I tried to catch pictures of both girls while they were there but they are both fast turtles!  So this was the best I got.

Miriam working the doughnut machine.

Liesl adding doughnuts to run through the machine.

 Also at the start of the museum is this up and down worm climber thing.  While Liesl and I were waiting for Miriam to finish exploring everything with Owen, she tried this out.  She is quite the climber and loved it...until she couldn't figure out how to get back down.  Then she threw one of her awesome fits.  Owen and I sent Miriam in to bring her down (no parents allowed in -- lame).  After instructing Miriam on ways to push, pull and drag Liesl out, they both finally came down and we called it a day.