Going Private

Hi friends and family. I've decided before I make any more posts that I'm going to make my blog private--looks like I'm getting some spam-like repetitive comments from someone I don't know. If you would like to continue to read it, please leave me a comment and I'll send you an invite.

Trip to Utah-Week One

We just took a fabulous 3-week trip to Utah to visit family. Everyone thought we were crazy to travel with a two-week old, but if you read some of my posts from around the end of April, you'll see he was supposed to be about a month old before we traveled. Thanks to parents with skymile buddy passes we were able to fly rather than drive. Here is the basic run down of week one.

I think this is me near the end of the flight. Emmett was the best by far on the flight--couldn't kick or pull on the the seat in front on him like the other two, couldn't fidget and climb on Max and I like the other two, didn't want to use the airplane bathroom multiple times like the other two. Jonah and Wyatt were actually pretty good all things considered, but it was only a 3 hour flight. 

Here is a photo of Wyatt with his blue blankie. Yes, I know it doesn't look that blue, more like a sickly bile-like color. Well that's because it is always stuffed in his mouth like it is in this photo. We actually have three blankets, which I try to rotate, but he usually want (in his words) the "stinky one" or the "crunchy one." I just try to tell myself that he is going to have a stronger immune system than any of us.

Max took the boys for a hike up Bell Canyon. Jonah suffered an injury that ended the hike a little early. 

We went up to visit the McQueens and got to play on Ashly's b-day present. We were going to go to the Bountiful Rec center and play in the splash park, but by the photos you can see that obviously wasn't necessary. We had so much fun in their backyard we just stayed all day and even made s'mores in their fire pit at night. We love the McQueens! 

We went to free Monday at the Natural History museum with Natalie, Ava, and Oscar. Living on student loans has taught me to find lots of free outings. I don't know why I didn't know about things like this before, but there are tons of free days for lots of fun places. For anyone interested, I think Utah's Natural History museum is free the first Monday of every month if I remember correctly.

We also went to Wheeler Farm, another wonderful free activity. I loved these horses--the epitome of I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine.

I think Emmett looks like an elf in this photo.

We spent most of our time at Wheeler Farm at the back tree house. Not the one right by the old farm house, but the one by a fabulous old box elder tree over the bridge. The boys climbed all over the tree and then Max took them into the sprinklers spraying the nearby field. Max is so great like that. My thinking is usually, well if they get wet, they'll complain about their clothes feeling funny or then they'll get muddy and anyway I don't really want to get wet. He doesn't even think like this. He makes life so fun for our boys, probably because he's good at remember what it felt like to be a little boy.
Boot Scoots make Wheeler Farm especially nice. They let the boys move fast and then they don't whine about walking.

Our first week ended with a Bees game with the McQueens. I'd say we need a few years before we return to a baseball game. It was mostly us trying to barter a few minutes of watching the game for time at the playground or riding the train. They did love singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," but we left right after that. 

Jonah Graduates from Joy School

I did Joy School with a couple other moms in my ward this past year and it was a lot of fun. It is definitely a lot of work (especially when you have to go throw up during free play time because of pregnancy nausea and teach when you're pushing 9 months) but the kids were darling and Jonah loved it. I plan on doing Joy School for Wyatt this year too, just have to find some interested moms. 

Funny thing, the caps and gowns in the photo lasted only minutes. One boy wouldn't even put one on and then the others were done with them before the "ceremony" was finished. Sure looks cute though.

Time to Play Catch Up

I haven't felt like blogging for a while, but I was hoping to make this a sort of journal for my family so it is time to play catch up over the next few days. 

First, a lovely invention by Max--ball on a string hung from the tree.

Allows Wyatt to hit the ball over and over and over and over and over without requiring an involved parent. When I say it that way it sounds kind of bad, but honestly this kid could hit a ball for hours if someone was there to throw it to him. I still play ball with him sometimes, but now he can go out and hit while I make dinner or nurse Emmett. The only problem is that sometimes Wyatt hits too hard or hits it when the wind is really blowing (which by the way it does here--one of our trees fell down on our fence last week, silly us didn't take a picture) and the ball winds up in the tree. Jonah helps with this sometimes since he is way less interested in batting practice than Wyatt. 

He's Here!

Our little guy, Emmett Stirling, finally arrived last night and he is perfect! I was induced (had my water broken) at 2:45 in the afternoon and he made his debut at 8:09 pm. I ended up asking for an epidural this time around, but he came so fast by the time I asked that I ended up going natural like the other two. Thank heavens it was quick. He's the biggest one yet weighing it at 9 lbs 5 oz. I forget how long he is--I think 21 3/4 or something close to that, but he's a big guy. Here are his first photos.

My mom was able to be there for the delivery because some great friends offered to let the boys stay at their house as long as it took. Luckily it didn't take too long. This is a minutes-old photo just in case the cone head didn't give it away.

The hospital caps never seem to quite fit my boys' heads. This one barely squeezed on.

Like I said, he's perfect. 

Mama's Boy

So still no baby yet. Max says he must be a mama's boy and doesn't want to leave yet. Max and I went to the doctor today and he said he would induce me as early as tomorrow morning, but Max has a final tomorrow at 1:00 and Thursday at 1:00 so we're going to wait until Thursday after his finals. I've never been induced. I'm more nervous for that than just going into labor on my own. This kid has to be big though. My belly is definitely bigger that it has ever been and supposedly babies can tend to be larger at lower sea levels. (I've heard this, but don't have any scientific evidence to quote so really I have no idea what I'm saying.) Having had two 9 lb-ers that came early I just wonder what that means for this one. 

Yeah...

So that widget says 0 days left till baby comes. Well, baby still isn't here. Since Jonah was 3 days early and Wyatt was 10 days early, I have to say that this whole waiting for the due date thing really stinks!