The Busy-ness Before Baby

The week before I had the baby was NUTS! It was the last week of school and there were activities at both boys' schools everyday. It was also the last week of baseball so we had practices and games and parties for that. It was fun to celebrate my boys and I'm just so glad that I didn't go into labor early and miss all of these fun things.

I am waaaay behind in posting, so I'm going to make this post short and oh-so sweet.

Pre-K graduation for Ever Knight. I love his sweet smile and his classes recitation of Charles Dickens, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." was absolutely adorable.

My big boy reading the scriptures to our baby girl.

Crazy hair day!!!

T-ball was a success (especially the after-game snack!)

Mr. T had a fabulous year of coach pitch

Quinny-girl in her party dress for her friend Eleanor's birthday party.

Our last date night as parents of three!

Since Ever has a summer birthday we brought in cupcakes for an "almost your birthday" party. Luckily Mema was there for the fun!

T's end-of-first grade readers theatre and brunch had both my mom and I in tears. Elementary school is such a special time.

The thing is {lately}

The thing about Everett is that he is a lovey joy unless you expect anything from him. Request that he clean up his mess, eat his dinner or stop being spicy and he turns green, grows ultra-muscles and turns on everyone...oh wait, that's the Hulk...but pretty much that fits Everett as well! He talks back, rolls his eyes and throws things around the room and just try to talk it out with him because there's not a rational bone in his body. How do you teach someone reason? It's harder than it sounds I've learned, and actually I think it might be impossible? He's a feeler, through and through. All this to say that Ever still needs a nap but he won't take them very often so most days I find myself deep breathing and chanting "serenity now" in the bathroom. 

But then some days I can talk him into cuddling up with me on the bed and reading a few chapters of whatever book he's checked out from the library (Ninjago is his recent favorite) and if I'm really lucky, he'll be snoozing in seconds and will sleep as long as I leave him. When he's nustled up next to me in the lazy late afternoon I can't help but look at his long body laying on my bed and remember that perfect infant I held in my arms nearly five years ago. I'm understanding the sentiments of one of my favorite children's books, I'll Love you Forever, more with Ever Knight than with any other child. Oh how I long to scoop him up in my arms and rock him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, singing sweetly of my never-ending love.

I love my Ever, Hulk-ittude and all.

The thing about Talmage is that his energy knows no bounds. He runs to school in the morning, he runs home from school in the afternoon, he tells me stories about running through school all day long and then he runs through our apartment from landing until bedtime. This kind of energy man, it just can't be bought...or sold! His mind races right along with his body, and his mouth races just to keep up so basically when T gets home things go up in the stress/craziness/excitement department by ten-fold. I can guarantee that someone (let's be honest, usually Ever who can't quite handle how intense/competitive things get) will be crying, screaming or morphing into the Hulk (see paragraph above about Ever!) within about ten minutes of T walking through the door. If Ev has been quiet, things are about to get loud. If Quinn has been sleeping, she'll probably be woken up. And if I even think about resting for a second, ha! As if that's going to happen. His energy is exhausting and I feel like a broken record reminding him to calm down, asking him to calm down, YELLING AT HIM TO CALM DOWN!!! Eh hem, yes, in my finer moments. 

But then some days we go on adventures, and you have never known a more fun person to experience things with than Mr. T. Sometimes those adventures are out of the house, like last week when I broke him out of school early for a spontaneous trip to Disneyland. He was shaking with excitement and kept telling me how this was "most definitely, the best day of my life!!!" He says that a lot and he means that a lot; his positive energy and zeal for life are delicious, and his gratitude always appreciated. Sometimes though, the adventures he allows me to join him on in his brain are just as thrilling to experience. He is a ravenous reader and has recently fallen in love with the Harry Potter series. He inhales those 300+ page books in days with near perfect comprehension, and when he watched the first movie his eyes filled with wonder as he exclaimed, "When I was reading, my imagination couldn't even imagine something as amazing as this!" And also, "I pictured Fluffy as a rainbow-colored stuffed animal, I had no idea he was a huge grumpy dog!" He's made his own Nimbus 2000, he casts spells on his sister and he has endless questions about the book and the movie, the characters and reality. His brain and his memory come straight from his Daddy, and I so enjoy being the passenger to their thoughts and discoveries.  

I love my T, Energizer Bunny-ness and all.

The thing about Quinn is that she's still a Daddy's Girl, but I am definitely winning a place in her heart. Sure, it might be because James is a little MIA lately, but this Mama will take what I can get! A few days ago James was holding her in the morning before he ran off to work and she reached out for me. Literally, James and I both about fell dead in our tracks because she NEVER wants anyone but Daddy. But hey guys, I'm cool too and Quinny-girl is finally realizing it! 

In the last few weeks her vocabulary has skyrocketed and her mega meltdowns have greatly diminished. This girl has got A LOT to say and now that she has words to express her emotions, they're less likely to come out in the form of a big baby battle. Do you know how awesome a talking 19-month-old can be? Super awesome! And ridiculously adorable. Drives in the car now are so full of possibility as she looks out the window and dictates everything she sees in her world. "Cwoud! Sky! Caw! Doggie! Pwane! and my favorite, He-wo (Hello, but always said with an emphasis on the he)." And that's not all, if she's hungry she can tell me she wants "fishy" (goldfish or Dory fruit snacks), "baw" (a granola bar), "cheeeese" (sometimes string, sometimes round), "appo" or "nana" or "bewwy" and when she thirsty she can say "dwink" and "wato bato" (water bottle) and "mulk." If we can't understand each other I start listing off every item I can think of until she says with a smile, "Yes" or "yah" and I'm all, hallelujah we finally get each other! She tells me when she wants to go "ouside" when she wants to ride her "scoo-er" and especially when she finds a "wock," her newest obsession. She can say at least 50 other words and they're all just so adorable that I beg her to talk to me all day long, asking her questions just so I can hear her answers. I forgot how much I love this stage, but I SERIOUSLY love this stage and I'm just goo-goo over this little ga-ga.

I love my Quinny, from "head" to "toe...paint? puwple?"  

The thing is that in one week from today this party of three will become a party of four and I'm so excited, so emotional, and so ready to love another little one like I love these people. My hands, my heart, my stress and my responsibilities already feel like they're running to the point of overflow, but then again I feel this longing in my arms for a little one I know is meant just for us. I can't wait to meet her, and neither can they!

Feeling Showered at my Sprinkle

A friend in the ward threw me a little "sprinkle" for Wiggy baby #4, but I left feeling so showered with love it was overwhelming. I showed up at her house to find the table set with some of my favorite pregnancy food this go around (seaweed, bruschetta, strawberries) and I was both elated and shocked--how did she know that these foods were my foods? "I bet you didn't know you had a blog reader in me," she said with a smile. I didn't know she read this blog, but I was so touched (and become more so every time I think of it) because how loving and thoughtful of her to know me so well and plan a party so fitting? From there it was chatting and eating, opening cute baby girl clothes and receiving freezer meals for post-delivery use (or maybe tonight when the kids and I needed food but ain't nobody got energy to cook around here!) It's moments like these when I feel so blessed to be surrounded by truly good people and feel so lucky that I've once again found home in a new town.

The picture above does not, in fact, have anything to do with the baby shower but I did not, in fact, take a single picture of the event (for shame!) After the party we met up with some NYC friends (who are relocating to Provo but currently resting their heads in San Diego) for some Shake Shack and park play action. It felt like old times and yet it felt like just yesterday, the sign that these friends are forever keepers. Can't wait to continue this friendship for many years to come.

PS--Ended the day with a little baby splurge from Nordtrom and a passionfruit bubble slush. Epic Saturday, amiright?

Strawberry Fields, Forever

I'm a certifiable city girl, but lately it's wide open spaces that make my heart flutter. I see my kids running through green pastures and noisily playing tag amidst berry bushes and NOT having to worry about getting hit by a car or stranger danger or bugging neighbors and I'm all, this is where kids should be raised. That, and I've probably watched one too many episodes of Fixer Upper. #chipandjo #relationshipgoals #demoday #someday #thefarmhouse #mydreamhouse

James has been working some ca-a-a-razy hours lately and the majority of the time I wake up in the middle of the night for pregnant bathroom duties only to find that he's still not home yet, or that he's slipped into bed beside me at some point. It's real weird and we're just counting down the days until PATERNITY LEAVE!!! Fourth baby, first paternity leave, and we're taking every last day!

Anyway, James has been a little MIA so when we woke up on Saturday morning and he still hadn't received an assignment from a partner and we realized that baseball was cancelled we peaced out of West LA in search of space and strawberries. We found both in spades.

Underwood family farms is my dream. James was shaking his head the whole time trying to figure out what has gotten into his city slicker wife (he did, however, wager that the instant the sun went down and I saw how dark the country gets I'd be the biggest scaredy cat the world has ever known--he's right!) but geesh, everything about the views, the experience and our day was ideal and seriously had me zillowing country homes. For sure going to Underwood will become a new family tradition and I can't wait, can't wait, can't wait to go back! 

You want to know how many pictures I took? 500-thousand-million...and here they are, every last one ;)

T: Uh, hi goat. My name's Talmage. Goat: Bahhh!

She's the spitting image of the eldest but she has the smiling skills of the middle one. Bless these two for their picture taking skills/patience. 

And you question whether or not I'm serious about moving to the middle of nowhere. This picture just about does me in every time I peek at it.

37 (?) weeks and eating my pregnant body weight in blackberries, warm off the bush.

She lost her shoes (mud puddle) but found her straw-bebe hat (Mary Poppins bag).

He climbed to the tippy top of a tall tree for the perfect Hass.

We came home with 15 more carrots (and a few more spiders) than expected because of this cute kid.

And this picture goes to show that what Quinny wants, Quinny gets--when Daddy is around. She has him wrapped tightly around her pinky, that Sister Sue. Today, pony ride. Tomorrow, her own pony? It wouldn't surprise me.

Popsicles and a nap on the drive home. This day was done right!

This is enough.

I just took a hot shower, ate an apple with cookie butter for my 9 pm dinner and threw Les Miserables on the tube while sitting down to look at pictures and blog my brains out. I've had a little bit of writer's block of late, or maybe writer's apathy is more like it, but I just took a hot shower and that needs to be blogged about, you know what I'm saying?

Probably not. Let me explain.

Have I mentioned our apartment's water situation? We're coming up on our ten month anniversary of living in this apartment and last week I took my first hot shower. Turns out testing the water temperature that flows from your sink should definitely be on your to-do list before signing a lease agreement, but turns out that it wasn't on ours (not that we saw this place in the flesh before signing said agreement, but for future reference). For the last ten months we have had to run our water for 20 to 30 minutes in order for it to produce warm-ish water. Talmage would cry real tears about how we're in a drought and this was horrible for the environment but, you know, he would also cry real tears when we had him take an ice cold shower without running the water for an extended period of time...so let's just say it's been a lose-lose. The owners of our condo and the HOA leadership have been in a tennis match, each serving the responsibility to the other team and you know who were the ones really losing here? Me. And James. And my babies. It's been stressful.

In fact, just last week I sat down and wrote a lengthy blog post entitled, "This is it?" My main gripe was the water, but there were others. My buzzer doesn't buzz. The refrigerator barely keeps our cheese chilled and the washing machine smells musty. Sure the disgusting couch by the dumpster vacated our alley in a heated brawl between our local homeless neighbors and someone (who was that anyway?) but now there's a box spring by the dumpster. By the dumpster. You know, the one that is right under every single window in my apartment. Our homeless homies can now lie down and drink their alcohol, scream and cuss at the blank space in front of them (or sometimes me and the kids) and fight through the night over the right to sleep on that abandoned bed. I wrote about how I can easily find myself looking around at our life and living situation and thinking, "Really? This is it? This is the best we can do?"

But I pressed save on that post instead of publish, and now it almost seems silly because so much has changed around here in such a short span of time. I don't know who buckled under pressure, but the owners and the HOA finally saw eye to eye and with a little twist of a plumber's wrench (and a new pump installed to the water heater in the basement) we have perfectly hot water pouring through our nozzle within seconds of turning the knob. Don't think I didn't cry the most grateful tears when I took my first few hot showers because I definitely did. And don't think I didn't hug the plumber when I saw him a few days later because I just about kissed him! It's amazing what a hot shower can do for the soul, not to mention the stink!

It wasn't only that, although that's enough for me to sing praises, but I really think that Heavenly Father has had his hand on our life this last week, just in the silly little living condition details. You see, this place is financially the best we can do at the moment. Sure, we're making more than we've ever made but we have student loans to pay, a commitment to tithe, and West LA rent is through the roof. James found a few darling cottages that we loved and felt strongly like we should pursue, but with high sticker prices and the owner's non-interest in negotiation we were left heartsick. It's hard not to feel a little hopeless when you're paying nearly $3,000 a month in rent and can't even wash your hands with hot soapy water. But then out of no where we were the lucky recipients of hot water. And the owner decided to bite the bullet and fix our buzzer, which should be installed by the end of the week. (No more running frantically down the stairs in fear of missing a delivery! For a city dweller, this is big!) Also the dumpster mattress went the way of the dumpster couch, and a few days ago we noticed that our most belligerent homeless neighbor has given us a few days off from his middle of the night cussing sessions.

This may not seem like such a big deal to anyone else, but to me it is major. It's as if Heavenly Father is telling me, "No, I'm not going to produce the miracle of a charming new home that you asked for, but I will produce a miracle and make this has-been-sub-par apartment a comfortable place for your family to live and grow." I'm looking at this apartment transform before my eyes and the words that keep coming to my mind are, "This is enough." And it is.

This place might be small and it's all but glamorous, but it is overflowing with love and in a couple short weeks it will be the place we welcome our last Wiggy addition, swaddled in pink, home from the hospital. A warm bath, three adoring siblings and some tetras magic in her new shared room will be waiting for her. That, I know, is enough.

Mothers Day

I'm usually not a fan of having my birthday and Mother's Day on subsequent days because I like to spread the celebration out as lllooooonnnngggg as possible, but this was a weekend to remember and I loved that I was pampered and loved on the whole weekend long. Breakfast is my love language so when I woke up to brioche french toast with strawberries and buttermilk syrup I was like, yep, day made! T made me a lovely flower art piece at school, Ever made me a necklace and Quinny actually gave me lots of loving instead of demanding her Dad so my Mother's Day was fabulous! What I really wanted for Mother's Day was a picture of me and my babies in front of the temple after church, but everyone was tired and grumpy and it just didn't happen. Instead, I took these silly selfies when we were already dressed for bed, a little unruly and the lighting was awful...and I couldn't love them more. Being a mom is the hardest thing I've done and to be honest I don't always mother gracefully, but I love these babies with all my heart and consider it a great privilege to belong with them. Happy Mother's Day to all who have a mothering heart.

My best birthday yet!

I don't know what got into me but to say I was pumped about my 31st birthday is just the understatement of the century! I love birthday's always, but something about this year felt so fresh and young and exciting and it just screamed to be celebrated, so heaven knows we celebrated.

I started by throwing myself a birthday party. I told the ladies at park day a few months ago my idea, and another friend told me her birthday was just two days before mine and asked if we could do a joint gig. IT WAS THE GREATEST! We held the party on the 6th, right smack in between our two big days, and spent hours eating Mexican food, scarfing down cake and laughing until tears were flowing. I originally thought I'd be home by ten-ish, but it was after midnight before any of us even considered leaving. I just can't explain how great it felt to be partying with friends, and Kayce and I decided we were going to make this a yearly production. Happy birthday to us indeed! (And ps, is her kitchen the dreamiest or what?)

My actual birthday was just as much of a party as the night before. I slept in until 8 am (James actually took the kids to get donuts 30 minutes away so that I could get some sleep, bless him!), had a prenatal massage, took a nap, got a haircut and eyebrow wax, read my book, had a party with the kids and Grandma Winnie (complete with 31 flavors of ice cream and a 30-ONEderful years cake) and then went on a date with James that night. If it could have been one ounce better I really, truly, whole-heartedly don't know how. I kept saying that this was my best birthday ever and I know I sounded like a broken record but I was being totally serious! Every detail was perfect and appreciated.

Weeelllll....the part when Quinny got into the boys brand new rainbow stamp pad and ate a good portion of it while the boys just sat there ignoring her, not completely appreciated. But the rest of the day was so great even I could find the humor in it!!!

Dinner with James was magical. One of my greatest pregnancy cravings has been bruschetta, I just can't get enough, so he surprised me by making reservations at the most romantic and charming Italian restaurant called Bruschetta. It was a white tablecloth, fancy outfit, dim lighting and lots of fancy wine bottles type of place (except for us, ice water only please!) The bruschetta, gah the bruschetta! It was divine!

We weren't going to order dessert because after multiple courses of delicious Italian food we were stuffed, but when the chef surprises you with a gorgeous Tiramisu and a candle to boot you blow that thing out and dig in. It was so light and creamy and the perfect finish to the perfect dinner on my perfect birthday. And where did that gorgeous long stem rose come from? Halfway through dinner a woman walked from table to table selling them and hello, happy birthday to me, I pretty much willed James to pull out his wallet and buy me one! This little scene above will definitely go down as being one of the more magical moments of my 31st year, of that I am already sure!

We walked home with full bellies, full hearts and huge smiles. Happy 31st birthday to me! This year I will welcome my fourth little baby and I couldn't be more thrilled.