this autumn

Autumn, coming-to-a-close autumn, is probably my favorite season. Enjoy some photos of the great outdoors!

The beginning of the season: Our family photo shoot.

October 4: A walk -- just us girls.

Oct 15: Family walk/hike in a canyon -- we had hoped to see more vibrant fall colors, but it was fun anyway.

November 5: Our kids loved just walking -- and hugging -- in the snow.

And here are beautiful leaves I was able to capture mid-November. I hope you enjoyed autumn, too!

 

Scripture Sunday: Mosiah 18:11

I am thankful for the Book of Mormon and the way I feel when I study and ponder its words that testify of Christ. Latter-day Saints are often reminded of verses 8 through 10 in Mosiah. Alma is teaching a group of people before baptizing them, so the verses are also known as the baptismal covenant: 

8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

 9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

 10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

And then, when teaching a lesson in church, we usually stop there. However, verse 11 is my favorite one in the chapter!

And now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts.

I love to see the word "joy" in the scriptures. These people (Mosiah 18:16 says that about 204 were baptized) wanted to bear each other's burdens and do all of the other things that Alma described. They understood that being baptized is a beginning. They clapped their hands for joy because they wanted to serve God and have his Spirit with them. They are great examples to me.

baby #3 update: 34 weeks

Look how much rounder my bump has become just since my last pregnancy update! It will be fun to see how big this baby is compared to her sisters, whose birth weights were only a few ounces different. This pregnancy I am eating better and taking different vitamins.

• Weight gain since last update: 7 pounds -- an average of a pound a week, like I said
• Total weight gain so far: 15 pounds (over about a 14-week period)
• Measurement around my waist at belly button height (I have wondered about this in the past, maybe because of the guessing game I've played at baby showers): 37" at 32 weeks, and still 37" at 34 weeks. The measurement around my torso above the top of my uterus is 30".
• The baby was breech (we found the heartbeat at the top, not down by my pelvis) three weeks ago but head-down last week. I love feeling her move, even though as I am getting bigger I find it a little harder to breathe and do other things. Also, I'm definitely having practice contractions throughout the day -- sometimes more than one in an hour.

Time is really going by fast! Do you realize Christmas is less than six weeks away? I'm glad we at least have some time to finish getting things ready for the baby and take care of Shboogoo's birthday, Christmas shopping, etc. I do complain to my husband that I still have weeks of being uncomfortable! On the other hand, I feel really good most of the time.

Since my last update I finished reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and started her book that came out this year: Birth Matters. I have had appointments with midwives C and P, and also met 5 of the other midwives the day they answered questions and did a tour of labor and delivery at the hospital. My husband and I really like the midwives and the hospital and feel good about birthing there. We love the midwifery model of care and the fact that our midwives don't do certain things routinely, only when necessary.

I am so glad that I have been going to monthly ICAN support group meetings since September. I am thankful that my local group leader, who is not currently pregnant, started having meetings a few months ago. It's helped me a lot to talk with other cesarean mamas who would like to VBAC (and one who has). Three of them have military (Army Reserve or Army National Guard) husbands as well. 

The Hypnobabies classes my husband and I will participate in start this week (yay!) and end before Christmas. There are great videos and stories online of moms who used Hypnobabies during their labors.

Here is a recent picture of me that actually shows my head.

 

2 years and 4 months

I have not written about only L since she turned two, so here is an update. A lot of the pictures in this post show her at 27 months old, during our September 22nd professional family photo shoot. In the others (not taken at the park) she was closer to 28 months old.

The biggest accomplishment is that she is potty trained! I decided that starting June 6th she would not wear any diapers (and no Pull-ups, but we do have her sleep in cloth training pants that I made, just in case). It was a don't-do-anything-but-focus-on-your-child program for three days. She was still having accidents after the three days. It took probably two months for the idea to fully sink in so that she tells me every time she needs to go potty, but it's been a very long time since she had a #2 accident. She stays dry during naps and is dry in the morning about 95% of the time.

Her speech has really improved in the last four months.

• When she wants to get on my lap she says "On lap. On lap."
• Whenever I do something that her dad has done with her, she says "Daddy does that."
• She asks me to "Ope dat, Mommy," or if it's a door she says, "Ope doy."
• When she is done eating she says, "Bib off me."
• She had her Ken doll on my leg, then made him fall off and said, "Help my Bawbie, mommy!"
• When she wants a light on but can't reach it she says, "On light. Too high." 
• When she wants to go in our room she says, "In Daddy Mommy's room." 
• When someone is asleep, she whispers, "Not too loud."
• She can pray at bedtime, with her dad helping her one word at a time.

One day we were looking at some pictures and I told her that I had been pregnant with her then. She pointed to a picture and asked, "Me in the belly?" She's good at giving her baby sister a kiss by touching her lips to my belly (without the kiss sound). In a higher-than-normal tone she says, "nine-y nine-y toes," meaning that the baby will have tiny toes. It's pretty funny when she touches my belly and says "lellow baby" or "blue baby" -- whatever color of shirt I am wearing. This was very sweet yesterday: "Me love baby. Meet meet meet her. Me meet her."

She does that a lot: repeats the first word in a sentence. This week she was holding a soft toy chipmunk and said, "Love love my pet" and "pet pet him." She also said, "Wah-duh wah-duh [water] in."

L opens my small wallet and pretends it is her laptop computer. The side that has clear plastic to let the driver license show is the monitor. "My pudduh [computer]! Nine-y pudduh . . . Wall ut [wallet]."
    

She still sucks her left thumb, often accompanied by her right hand stroking her hair. It's not just when she is about to go to sleep. About half the time when I pull her thumb out of her mouth she leaves it out. She has also started to put several fingers in her mouth at a time. I will be happy when she breaks these habits.
 

She loves it when we read books to her, and sometimes she comes to me with a book and demands that I read it. One time she said, "Read that monkey book!" She's great at paying attention during story and craft time at the library.

She likes to say, "Your bed up dere, [her sister's name]." She follows her sister's lead when they pretend together. Usually they take care of "pets" or "babies" or pretend that they themselves are puppies or that Shboogoo is L's mom. They have their house be one of our walk-in-closets or just the space underneath our desk or coffee table. Maybe I've mentioned this before, but I love that L recognizes many of the letters of the alphabet, and it's probably due to her big sister teaching her.

She has started being picky with her clothes. These pink Airwalk shoes are definitely her favorite pair of shoes. "Want pink woos." If I mention socks, she almost always doesn't want them: "Out yocks [without socks]!"

Some days I get her ready for a nap, put her in bed and then she tells me, "No leep." Most days she does nap -- if it's not in bed, she falls asleep on the couch or we go for a drive. One day she was in my room with me and actually grabbed my robe from my bed, laid down on the floor and went to sleep (that's the second photo above).

She has said that she loves both red and pink, but apparently purple is still her favorite color. She frequently says "Me love purple. You love blue" (I'm not sure why she thinks I love blue). She randomly talks about purple. For example: L, do you want that kind of cereal? "Me purple Grape Nuts." Somebody mentions an animal, let's say a giraffe, and she says, "Me purple toy raffe." I asked her if I should put the purple sheet on her bed and she got excited: "Yeah, match my purple nightgown!"

She likes to build towers. It was cute seeing her arrange the cans I had just bought.

Why not end with a silly smile. Her molars came in, so she has all 20 baby teeth now.