*Pudgerrific*

That's me!

I looked in the mirror today and saw my rounded flab poking out my middle (which, incidentally is NOT baby, but merely my new inability to suck in), and the word "pudgeriffic" came to mind.

It means:

Pudgy.

For a Terrific reason.

:)

Day 29 - { Fluffy }

During my time of nausea and general green haze I started several posts I didn't finish before our trip. My sister Mandy says I should still post them, so I think I will. Here's one that I wrote for Fluffy's birthday back on May 17. . . .

Eight years ago today, my second son was born. I looked into his eyes, and was startled to remember him, and to sense that he remembered me! We recognized each other! It was a deeply precious moment that I will never forget.

If you like reading birth stories, here ya go, the G-rated version! If not (and I completely understand!), skip down to the next picture and beyond.

Fluffy was born during our student days in Tallahassee, FL. He was 15 days late, because I was adamant about trying to do a VBAC delivery. I was GINORMOUS, by far the biggest I have ever been or ever hope to be. (I thought about putting a picture here, but it seemed more fit for a tabloid magazine :).

I had taken Bradley classes again, and arranged for a doula to assist me in labor. I visualized the whole process going just how it should, free of any superfluous medical involvement.  But his due date came and went, and my "practice" contractions were weakening and slowing instead of increasing. It became apparent we would have to induce. (sidenote: have you ever had the experience of attending church on Mother's day two weeks past your due date? People say the worst things! I'd never been so close to committing violence in an LDS chapel).

On the morning of May 17, 2001, they hooked up my "walking" pitocin, and DC and I (and the ever-present doula) started out on a walk around the hospital wing. We were so ready for this! Not fifteen minutes later the doctor called us back into the room and told me he had a really bad feeling about letting me do this. He said with how large the baby appeared to be and with my previous C-section, I was running a very high risk with the baby's life and possibly my own. Was the risk worth having a "better" delivery?

Have you ever had the experience of the Spirit telling you something you had hoped not to hear? This was one of those times. Even though I so desperately did not want to repeat the C-section experience, I could feel that peaceful, strong knowledge in my heart and in my mind telling me that the doctor was right and I should proceed with a surgical birth. I tearfully asked the doctor if my mom could be in there with me, and he agreed. We then requested some private time for a Priesthood blessing (this was given just after all the surgical prep and before my mom arrived).

Not more than a half-hour later, Fluffy came beautifully screaming into the world. The first words he was privileged to hear (from the assisting doctor): "Call Bobby Bowden! This one's huge!" And he was-- 9 pounds, 3 ounces. (My next biggest baby was Hummer, at 7 pounds, 10 ounces).

My poor doula was reduced to feeding me ice chips in the post-op recovery room instead of heroically coaching me through the transition phase.

But I was in heaven. As they wheeled me to my room, we passed the NICU and realizing that this could have turned out very differently, I said heartfelt prayers of gratitude that he had arrived safely.

 

Fluffy brought so much sunshine into our home. From the very beginning, we could see that he has a peaceful, affectionate spirit. He has always had a radiant smile, which combined with those light sky-blue eyes, is just gorgeous.

 

I am grateful for his unconditional hugs. Even when I have recently reprimanded him, he is ALWAYS quick to offer a hug. And I don't think he can go to sleep unless I have hugged and kissed him first. :)

 

He has a brilliant mind, but doesn't seem like it because of absent-mindedness. He could count backwards from 100 to 1 when he was three. Yet he still forgets to flush sometimes. (I suppose that's normal?)

 

That's all I wrote, but there are many other things I could expound on: his zany sense of humor, his ability to play with words, his already-firm testimony of the Book of Mormon through his own experience of reading it and praying. He is one awesome young man! I am so grateful Heavenly Father chose me to be his mother.

I love you, Fluffy!

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig

I'm back! Didja miss me? :)

Our month out west was quite refreshing, and it feels surprisingly good to be back! I thought I would dread it, but our return coincided with my morning sickness ending and I am feeling spunkier than I have in months. Yippee!

It was kind of a bummer to feel so puny most of the time with our families, but on the other hand, it was nice to have help and sympathy. I think it helped the rough weeks go by a lot faster. It never hurts to be spoiled, eh?

Now that we're back home, it really feels like summer vacation. The first few days I caught the boys starting to say they needed something to do. That is a HUGE NO-NO around here, because I can think of PLENTY for them to do (aka weeds out in the 98-degree-plus-humidity heat).

It's nice to see them work those things out for themselves. (evil chuckle)

Today they got ahold of the camera and had some fun. . . .

Gotta love that flattering angle. :)

 

And some nice stop-motion here. . . .

 

 

Now, now. Don't be scared!

 

Hummer as seen through the plastic green translucent racket (previously visible in 2nd picture)

 

So what do you think? Budding photography genius? Or menace to the blogging world?

 

 

P.S. I MISSED YOU! Isn't that weird? I mean, not weird that you're missable, but that I actually feel such a connection to people I never actually see. You know what I mean, don't you?

I think I'd best go to bed now.

Hope I don't regret this tomorrow.

Day 28 - { my lake isle of Inisfree }

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow. . . ."
The Lake Isle of Inisfree, William Butler Yeats

We are at my parents' home in rural Arizona.

The boys are pretty much chained to the Foozball table, Ruby is enjoying hanging out with Dad's dachshund Molly (as long as Molly's not going for her jugular), and pretty soon all my siblings except two, and their families, will be here. It's so awesome. Family is the greatest joy.

(all pictures are from last summer)

Just being here in the desert again is bringing me great joy.

I grew up in the outskirts of Tucson, and my heart belongs to the Arizona desert. There is nothing more soothing to me than to be outside in the early morning, hearing the mourning doves coo, and feeling the cool, dry breeze, and seeing the enormous blue sky everywhere I turn.

My parents don't live in Tucson anymore, but I find that same clear open comfort here in the high desert of the White Mountains.

There's not much that ails me that being here can't cure. Or at least help! :)

Early monsoon storms

A huge variety of new and interesting snacks to soothe my ever-cranky tummy :)

Swimming with the boys in a chlorine-saturated pool, with their shrieks echoing off the stucco walls

Long conversations with Mom while she cuts up fruit for breakfast

Sitting on the enormous rock that holds Benjamin's memorial, full of peaceful, thankful thoughts tinged with tears

A warm cat on my belly while I study the scriptures

Helping my dad plant the garden, harvesting rocks and tumbleweeds first

Watching a rainstorm slowly approach from 30 miles away

If you've never been here, it's hard to describe the sheer openness. You can see the horizon in a complete circle. And then there's the intense quiet. At night, the gazillions of stars.

We've only been here a day and a half, but I can feel already the strength beginning to return to me after a difficult couple of months. I am filled with gratitude for the peace I can find here.

The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. . . .

I'm sorry to go so long without posting! I actually have written 2 or 3 posts, then got sick and never wanted to come back to them. Silly, huh. Maybe someday. . . .

So this will be a short one, and I WILL publish it.

The days are quite hazed with green. I designed a pregnancy ticker to put on the blog, then just about passed out when I saw that there are still 214 days till Christmas. . . . It will not be installed until it shows a more manageable number. :) Grow, Baby, grow!

Guess what?

Hummer has his FIRST LOOSE TOOTH.

We discovered it tonight during FHE. He was on "Share" and couldn't find Lady the Magic Engine, which is what he wanted to share. I sat quietly, not wanting to bring up the fact that she was on top of the bookshelves because of having been used as a weapon earlier today.

Luck was with me, however, and while he was talking, I noticed that the gap between two of his bottom teeth was wider than normal, and called him over to investigate. Sure enough, one of them wiggled!

Everyone was excited, and Hummer could hardly breathe for joy when he remembered about the tooth fairy.

So why did I suddenly want to cry?

Day 27 - {christmas dreaming}

 

I'm doing my Christmas dreaming

A little early this year

No sign of snow around

And yet I go around

Hearing jingle bells ringing in my ear

 

Your promise must be the reason

The happy season is here

So I'm doing my Christmas dreaming

A little early this year

 

 

 

 

I still can hardly believe it. Of course, being green all the time does have a way of making one face reality. :) {bring it on!}

Many, many prayers of Gratitude have been offered since we found out two weeks ago! We feel so incredibly blessed.

 

Christmas can't come soon enough!

 
  

Hummer's Kindergarten Assessment

I almost forgot to take him--we were ten minutes late. He went in by himself with one of the Kindergarten teachers while I shot the breeze with a couple of other waiting people.

She came back out with him, and congratulated me: "He knows his ABC's!"

{ me thinking - yes, well, I would hope he does since he is currently reading the Magic Tree House books and doing his own scripture study. . . . :) }

but then she pointed to a highlighted part on the paper

"But he had trouble counting to 20. He kept skipping numbers. After three tries, I had to mark that one. But he should be just fine."

She sent us on our way with a nifty school-mascot tote bag.

I asked Hummer, "Don't you know how to count to 20? How did you do it for her?"

Hummer: "1, 5, 10, 15, 20"

Me: "But you were supposed to do all of the numbers up to 20."

Hummer: "That is all of them."

SIGH.

Reminds me of when Exacto came home from taking the test to be in the Gifted / Talented program for 3rd grade. When I asked him about what the test was like, he said for part of it they were supposed to draw the most creative picture they could think of.

I asked him what he drew, knowing of his startlingly innovative ideas.

He said, "The sun."

Me: "With a face or anything?"

Him: "No, just the sun."

{ me thinking GT is overrated anyway. . . .}