Today

Brynlee lost her 5^th tooth today. The little neighbor girl pulled it out. No kidding. She came over for a playdate after school and mid playdate-ing {so a word} Brynlee asked if she wanted to try to wiggle her loose tooth. Gross, right? Well, she took Brynlee up on the offer. She wiggled it just right and the tooth gave in. I think she was a bit shocked when she looked down and realized she was holding Brynlee’s front tooth between her two fingers. Poor girl was still a bit static and pale when the two of them ran to tell me what happened. I couldn’t stop laughing. Mainly because, gross. And also because, the neighbor girl pulled out Bryn’s tooth. I didn’t realize the tooth was that loose. I mean, it was looser than the tooth that she willingly sacrificed for tooth fairy money, but still.


::Friends: moments after the tooth pull::

In other news from today:

+ Today was a “Jake Day”. On Monday’s when Brynlee has school I spend the morning volunteering in her classroom. Brynlee loves when I volunteer.  And I love to volunteer. But, I think Jace loves it very most. Because to Jace volunteering means that Uncle Jake get to come over and play superheroes. Jace thinks he’s so cool. 

+ I did our taxes. Well, everything except stocks and ESPP; I’m still waiting on those tax forms to come in the mail. Is it lame that I get excited to do taxes? I really should have been an accountant, or at very least some sort of billing clerk. Paying bills, organizing paperwork, punching in numbers, documenting expenses. . . all that sort of stuff makes me giddy. {Don’t tell Spencer though. Otherwise I can no longer include it in my laundry list of annoying and time consuming chores that I have to do while he gets to go on business lunches and relax in front of the computer at work. My job as a stay at home mother is so.very.demanding and he needs to know that.}

+ Spence is in process of sheetrocking/taping/mudding our hallway {did I mention that I had to do the taxes today - sheesh I’m exhausted}. Turns out the guest bathroom toilet has been leaking. Who knew? Wish we would have discovered it prior to it ruining the ceiling below it, but ahhh well, if it’s not one thing it’s another I guess.

And for the record – JACE ROCKS AT SUNBEAMS. I mean, sure I’m his sunbeam teacher and never leave his side, but for a kid that only had three successful nursery runs his entire nursery career, rocking at sunbeams {in any form} is a big deal. Last Sunday he started crying because he wasn’t ready for primary to be over yet. Made me so very happy.   

::My Sunbeam::

Do you want to know what else makes me happy? Bed time.

I’m off.

News of the ultrasound sorts

Baby #3. Looks just like daddy.

So we had the ultrasound yesterday.

Here’s what I overheard:
+Daddy, our baby looks like Skeletor. {Brynlee}
+Ummm, why does the baby have no clothes on. {Jace}
+Dad, how can she tell if it’s a boy or a girl? {Brynlee}
+So, is our baby a boy, or a girl, or a butterfly, or a toot? {Jace – that little punk and his little boy potty mouth, seriously.}

Here’s what we learned:
+That there is only one baby.
+That the heart has four chambers and it is beating healthy. {Yea!}
+That the spine looks great.
+That my due date is June 15^th.
+And, that baby is measuring just as it should.

Here’s what we didn’t learn:

+The sex.

Little stinker sat on his/her feet the entire time. Well, except for about 30 seconds when he/she did half a backwards somersault with arms behind the head in sit-up position. But during that time the cord was placed perfectly between his/her legs. 

The ultrasound tech said that I was just going to have to wait for delivery for the gender discovery.

Um, right.

This mama can’t do that. I just can’t. It’s like trying to decorate for a wedding without knowing the bride’s wedding colors. Or trying to pack for a vacation when you don’t know the destination. I mean, sure it’s doable. But it seems like it doubles your work load. You have to wash and prep the clothes from the pink totes AND the blue totes. You have to come up with and agree on two separate names, just in case. Plus, I’ve never been a fan of green and yellow and smiling yellow duckies weird me out.
Like I've mentioned before, I wish a pregnacy test had a pink positive for a girl and a blue positive for a boy. So naturally I’m hoping to sneak a second peak in the next week or so. But until then, care to share. Did you find out the sex of your baby(s)? I’m super curious.

Expecting pink or blue?

 I’m twenty weeks now! I’ve {finally} reached that half way mark. Um, yay!

Which also means we get to find out the gender of our newest family member. Tomorrow. Excited, you ask? Absolutely.

In preparation I decided to take a little poll to see what ya’ll thought . . . blue or pink?

A couple details to help you make your decision:

+before I even knew i was pregnant my face broke out. mainly just my chin. zits, everywhere.

+i’m not certain if the heart beat is fast or not. a detail that i usually pay extra attention too {because my mom always asks}. this time i’ve just been overcome with excitement to hear a heartbeat, any heartbeat.

+i’ve experience morning sickness with all of my pregnancies, but this time around has been the absolute worst.

+i threw up every.single.day from week five to week sixteen {sometimes 2 to 4 times in a day}

+and although the throwing up has all but gone away I still get fairly nauseas during the evening hours.

+i overproduce saliva, it makes me gag.

+i can’t eat junk food. chocolate, sugar, juice, even chewing gum, makes me nauseas.

+i can’t do minty flavors. brushing my teeth is a huge challenge.

+water tastes like straight minerals. and I went through a period where I could only drink water during the nighttime hours when i woke to use the bathroom.

+chinese food, café’ rio, taco soup, and cinnamon rolls are all on the list of food that i may quite possibly never consume again.

+i haven’t had any major cravings this time around. although banana peppers, oranges {any fruit, really}, pickles and salad always taste good.

+the chinese calendar predicts that it’s a boy.

+i get nauseas if i’m hungry. snacking helps me make it through the day.

+i’m still in my regular clothes and i’m not really showing yet.

+if you didn’t know I was expecting you would probably just assume that i’ve gained weight. at a rapid rate.

+and i have gained weight. nine pounds so far.

+my baby bump is wide, not sticking out all cute but spreading from side to side?

+the baby is very active. mostly at nights. and movements are quick and clustered together.

+brynlee wants a girl, jace wants a boy. naturally.

+spence and i both agree on what we think the sex is and will be floored if we are wrong. {mainly because, we are never wrong!}

So which way you leaning!?

Boy or girl?

what's the gender of our baby

In which we self release her first album

A Christmas or two ago Spence and I turned on How the Grinch Stole Christmas for a family bonding night on the couch. Because nothing says Christmas traditions like willingly welcoming Jim Carey into your home. It wasn’t more than five minutes later that Brynlee ran and hid behind the couch. She WAS NOT a fan. We turned it off and deemed Christmas officially ruined. Or something along those lines, but slightly less dramatic.

This year {after watching the original a handful of times} Brynlee decided she was no longer scared and wanted to reattempt the new How the Grinch Stole Christmas. We searched and searched, but couldn’t find a single copy of the show for rent or purchase. So to appease an unwavering child I let her watch bits and pieces of the show on YouTube.

In process we clicked on a YouTube video of a little girl singing “Where Are You Christmas”. Brynlee was smitten. She watched it and rewatched it, over and over again.

Later that day she came to me with an idea that she’d obviously been stewing for quite some time. She was going to learn that song {every.single.word} then I was to “camera” her singing it while dressed in her prettiest Christmas dress with curls in her hair {clarifying: she was to wear her prettiest christmas dress, not me.}. Then she was going to need me to put the video of her singing the song on the same “computer spot” where that other girl was singing.

It was like her first hope for fame and celebrity status.

Within a day she had learned all the words to the song and was ready for her big break. But apparently I’m not cut out to be a celebrity publicists and I never got the video made.

But I decided that it wasn’t right to rewind and wrap up the Christmas season without recording Brynlee singing “Where Are You Christmas”. So today’s the unofficial release date for Brynlee’s first single. Naturally I’m going to need to start negotiating with the people to have only red M&Ms and sparkling cherry mineral water in her dressing room.

Which reminds me, I also need to ask for a dressing room.

A few things about the video:

+ Obviously she didn’t have on her prettiest Christmas dress or perfect ringlets in her hair. But I did try to keep the stain from the gravy she spilt on her dress during dinner out of the video so it’s almost the same.

+She sorta gained a lisp when she lost her last tooth. It makes me smile.

+Don’t ask me what that little jump in the middle of the song was. I guess a little five-year-old burst of energy.

+I realize now that I shouldn’t have recorded her right in front of the big, bright window. It makes it really hard to see. But again, I’m an amateur celebrity publicist. Plus, if she wants grade A work she’s going to have to start paying me a little more.

And as a P.S. Kate and Jake gifted the kids with their very own copy of Jim Carey’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas for Christmas. And Brynlee was right, she was no longer scared.

She's T-E-N!

January 7^th was a big day.

Huge day, even.

A day when my baby sister turned ten!

And in celebration, all her sisters toasted to her on their blogs.

All. Of. Them.

All of them, except for me.

And you better believe that my ten year old baby sister let me hear about it.

So for you Marieski-roo, belated blogging birthday wishes.

Love ya.

Back in December: The Christmas Album

What I Meant to Say – Back in December

::While I type Spence and the kids are creating monster trucks out of boxes::
::Oh and it's 1:00 and we are still in our pajamas, but it's raining outside so it feels like the right thing to do::

Brynlee lost her fourth tooth this week in a determined stunt to keep the tooth fairy busy. Mom and Aunt Marie were at our house for the weekend. They didn’t really come to visit us, but to get Marie’s tooth pulled to prep her mouth for braces. It just so happens that we live in the same town as Marie’s dentist so we scored a visit off the whole ordeal. When Marie brought home a tooth to put under her pillow Brynlee realized that the tooth fairy would soon be visiting Aunt Marie. So not fair. So she found a {sorta} wiggly tooth in her own mouth. She wiggled it, and pulled it, and twisted it, and wiggled it some more until the helpless baby tooth finally surrendered to her concentrated efforts. She’s a determined little fart, that thing. And now she’s without her top, front tooth. It makes me smile every time I look at her. Adorable and hilarious all wrapped up in one toothless grin.

And speaking of adorable and hilarious . . . have you met my son? Oh my goodness, you guys. He’s his dad, only wrapped up in a smaller gift bag. If our family was a poorly written tragic drama, Jace would be our comic relief. He’s witty, comical and amusing, served with a healthy dose of obscene. At Kate’s the other day he depantsed Brynlee – just to be funny. And the time that he tooted in sacrament meeting {heaven help me} he laughed until his side hurt. I hid my face in embarrassment and that kid, he thought it was hilarious. He would have run up and down the pews high fiving all the church goers if I wouldn’t have given him that knock it off look. He says things like “that was hilarious, dude!” and “funny, right”. Him and his dad paired together are enough to drive the girls in this house completely batty.

Anyway, I’m sick of rewinding so my goal for this weekend is to get this little journal of mine all up to date. Here’s to December:

December was filled with all the red and green things that we love: Christmas parties, Santa visits, Christmas decorations, family time, decorating gingerbread houses and cookies, a kindergarten school party, Christmas morning and that sort of stuff. This year we kept things simple though. Mainly because I just wasn’t up to doing all the rest of the hoopla that we usually try to squeeze into the Christmas season. We didn’t make it to our usual Christmas festivities: Festival of Trees, or The Nutcracker, or even putting lights up on the outside of our house. It bummed me a bit; sometimes keeping it simple is hard for me. But I had to keep reminding myself that there were many more Christmas’ to come and there would come a day when the morning sickness would subdue and I’d be that over the top, frivolous, frosted with annoying person that I usually am.

Also In December:

:: I got released from my calling as the Laurel advisor. At first I was relieved, then a little bummed and now I’m indifferent. I miss the leaders that I served with so much, but a break from the extra responsibility is a very welcomed change.

:: My new calling: Jace’s Sunbeam Teacher. Love it. It’s so fun to be in the primary with my little runts.

:: Brynlee became obsessed with “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”.

:: Spence and I had a date night and Kate did Brynlee’s hair like Cindy Lou Who. Brynlee’s never been so proud.

:: This year Santa made a special stop at our house. Knocked right on our door and personally delivered the kids treats and Christmas Cheer. I was surprised by Jace’s reaction. He ran right over to Santa, grabbed his hand, gave him a hug and climbed on his lap. Brynlee was a bit more reserved, but still tickled that he’d showed up at our house.

:: Jace decorated and redecorated the Christmas tree in the toy room on a daily basis. The Christmas ornaments became December’s favorite toy.

:: Kate and Jake joined us for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

:: The family gathered at Jessica and Brad’s for Christmas dinner and a sleepover.

:: You always eat well at the Wahlen’s house: Chocolate Chip pancakes for breakfast, turkey sandwiches on homemade focaccia bread for lunch, homemade pies, and to top it off, Jessica’s gravy always turns out.

:: Spence’s mom, sister Gretta and her three kids came and stayed for a night.

:: Zeb and Jami also came down for a couple days and we spent an evening celebrating Brookie’s birthday. Outer Limits, Pizza Hut and cake and ice-cream.

What I Meant to Say – Back in November

The kids spent the morning painting masterpieces. On paper, and rocks, and sticks, and anything else they could find; including my carpet, whoops. And while they created Spence helped me color artwork for my church class tomorrow. I’m so glad I was smart enough to marry him. Last night we went on a date while mom watched the kids. I laughed myself silly at a hilarious mishap at Red Lobster, and couldn’t help but chuckle when Jami called later that night and asked Spencer for his email address. Loverboy55 he answered back. The house was quiet with sleeping children when we got home and mom said they had done the routine: brushed teeth, read scriptures, and said prayers before she tucked them into bed. Made me realize that having a baby at our house again is going to be an adjustment. A fun adjustment, but an adjustment still the same.

Anyway, I’m rewinding back to November.

I think I was sickest in November and honestly, I can’t remember a whole lot aside from that.  I know it involved turkey, family parties, and the first snow day of the season but the details are all sorts of mumble jumbled.  It doesn’t help that I only took six pictures the entire month.  So I’m recapping off a few notes I jotted down in my day planner.

* The kids had a cavity free dentist appointment. Second one in a row. Cavity free dentist appointments offer reason to celebrate; and we did.

* I’m the volunteer “art mom” for Brynlee’s kindergarten class.  Which means nothing more than once a month I spend the afternoon hanging out with 24 Kindergarteners pretending that getting paint smeared all over my rear end {and some in my hair} doesn’t bother me in the least. In November we made cool leaf art with rubber stamps and acrylic paint. In theory it was a fantastic idea. But in reality a box of rubber stamps, acrylic paint, 24 Kindergarteners and one morning sickened art mom just don’t mix well. Worse than oil and water, even.

* With a last minute plan switch Jami hosted Thanksgiving dinner at her house this year. We originally planned for the party to be at my house, but Jami knew I wasn’t feeling well and offered to take on the hosting duty. Sisters are the best.

* While the girls prepared the feast the boys had a wood chopping party in Spencer and I’s honor. Every time I curl up next to our warm fire I’m reminded how awesome my family is.

* The day after Thanksgiving Zeb took Spence and the kids up to the mountains for some snowmobiling and tubing, while Jami, Jaelynn and I spent the afternoon watching a strange chick flick on Netflix and wondering if Jaelynn was EVER going to have her overdue baby.

* We wrapped up the party at Jami’s house and then the Zeb & Jami Clan followed us back to our house to deliver and stack all of the freshly chopped wood. {again, my family is the best} There was a point in the wood stacking where all four of our little kiddos were helping. Little hands, in little gloves, stacking wood is so, so cute.

* November also brought the news of the sudden and unexpected death of my Aunt Karla. My mom wrote a good portion of her life sketch and it was so fun to hear her retell stories and memories of her baby sister. She was such a neat lady. I was so sick the week of my Aunt Karla’s funeral that I was unable to attend so I appreciated mom’s numerous phone calls where she would read and reread Karla’s life sketch asking for grammar corrections or my thoughts on what she had written. Karla had the sweetest heart and the most contagious laugh. She will never be forgotten.

A banner made by Spencer and the kids to celebrate the first snow day.

In November Jace discovered Brynlee's dress up trunk. He dressed up and dressed up. He's moved on since then and hasn't pulled any of it out for weeks, but for a while there it was a daily activity.

12 on the 12th [01.12.12]

01. Brynlee was a little slow on the ‘get up and go’ this morning. Spence joked that he was going to need to funnel feed her breakfast in order to get her to school on time. She’s wasn’t amused in the least.

02. Dug out my maternity tote in hopes of finding a few pair of jeans that I could simultaneously bend over AND breath in. No such luck. And thus begins my search for a pair of maternity pants that stay at a reasonable altitude below chin level but also cover the crack region while sitting down. Oh, and if they could make me look like that chic on the cover of the Fit Pregnancy Magazine that’d be cool.  Any suggestions?

03. Things to do with an empty tote #147: use it as your dance floor.

04. A marvel comic book superhero retreat on my kitchen floor.

05. And look, it’s the superhero puppet master himself.

06. Home again, home again, jiggity jig jig.

07. Microwave popcorn - my homemade after school snack.

08. Brynlee was gifted a tote full of random craft supplies for Christmas. In Brynlee’s heaven the roads are paved with pom poms, pipe cleaners and glitter so it was like, THE BEST GIFT EVER.  She’s shared her wealth with all of us.  So far I’ve been the receipt of this bracelet; a pair of earrings made out of hot pink craft pom poms and double sided tape, a bookmark made from toothpicks and yarn, and a miniature bouquet of flowers made from pipe cleaners and wads of toilet paper.

09. Nothing says my life is rad like doing a front flip into a huge pit of blue square foams.  

10. Treated the kids to a candy aisle goody after gymnastics. Typical of my children they both picked health food: Fun Dip and Airheads.

11. Just for fun, I think I’m going to keep a spreadsheet for 2012 tallying the time I waste stuck behind a train. 

12. Marie and mom came to visit for a day or two. Not to brag, but my kids are luckier than your kids. Life’s more fun with a ten year old Auntie.

And guess what? 12 on the 12^th is going to be a family affair this year. All my sisters {except for Jessica, because every party needs a pooper} are taking pictures on the 12th. Go to Jami, Jaelynn and Kate’s blog to check them out.

Happy Friday.

A 12 on the 12th Recap

I’m eighteen weeks now and I’m happy to report that I’ve been feeling so much better.  Like night and day sort of thing.  I still get pretty nauseous during the evening hours, but all the throwing up has been reduced by about 95%.  I tell Spence no less than a million times a day that it feels so good to feel like me again.  And then I do a happy dance because it just feels that good.  And without all the throwing up I’ve regained hope that I actually might survive to the end of this pregnancy.  Oh happy day.

Today’s the 12^th.  Late last year I had decided that one go at 12 on the 12^th was probably enough for me and I started brainstorming fun blogging ideas that were similar to 12 on the 12^th, but different too.  But then I got sick and didn’t post anything for November and December and it kinda feels like I didn’t complete my goal.  So for 2012 I’m playing along once again.  I’ve talked my born again blogging sister, Jami, to join in on all the fun.  You should too.  Jaelynn?  Katie?  Jessica?  Sarah?  Anybody?  Hellllooooo?  I know you can hear me. 

Anyway, to wrap up 2011 here’s all my 12ths.  Well, January through October.

Back in October: Autumn Almanac

Photo Album: A Shower for Jaelynn

Last night before I went to bed I compiled a few pictures of Jaelynn’s October baby shower to post on the bloggy.

Or maybe I should tell you first that we served soups, rolls and cinnamon rolls for the shower luncheon. At least a hundred perfectly gooey, perfectly delightful cinnamon rolls. Jami made them all. When I arrived at her house she had cinnamon rolls stored everywhere. In the oven, on the kitchen table, on top of the fridge, on top of the dryer, in the microwave.  Everywhere!

Baby Shower Cinnamon Rolls

Anyway, last night I looked through the baby shower pictures and then I called it a night and snuggled between my covers and drifted to dreamland.

I dreamt about cinnamon rolls. All. Night. Long. They were stored everywhere in my house, and I just kept eating them.  Hundreds of cinnamon rolls consumed by me.  Perfectly gooey, perfectly delightful cinnamon rolls. And no matter how sick I got, I had to keep eating. There was a point in my dream that my arm got too tired of feeding myself so I just dug in, pie eating contest style. 

It was like an eating contest meets crazy pregnant lady. I woke up this morning despising cinnamon rolls. {{shudder}}

Anyway, a few pictures from Jaelynn’s baby shower.