Little Boys

It was great to have the "baby shower" for me, though I was quite concerned about the attention. I am not one for having all the attention focused on me. Though I should relish in it. I do not get it very often and it was great. I just hope that I helped to make everyone that came feel welcome and appreciated. I tried to remember to say thank you with every gift and attempted to talk to every guest about something.
At one point the conversation among the ladies turned to c-sections. Me not ever having one, well all that talk it got me to thinking. One lady had her baby tried to be turned at six months and it hurt too much when they were trying, they would get the baby turned 3/4 of the way and then her little boy just turned himself right back. And at nine months she had to have a c-section because he still hadn't turned. This story kind of scared me, I sure hope that this does not happen to me. I hope that Kacen turns head down soon.

At first I was just sitting there talking to people and holding my drink and plate of goodies. Then Mardee came over and told me that I was gathering quite a pile of presents and it was decided that I should start opening them. I am okay at bending over while standing I bend my knees and go down that way without bending really at all. But sitting, doesn't work I reached over to put my drink on the floor so that I could open presents and my fingertips allowed my drink to still be about four inches from the floor. I tried repeatedly to put it down and then it was pointed out to the person sitting next to me that I needed a bit of help. It is just my luck for some reason whenever pictures get ready to be taken, I blink. So in all but one of the pictures that Marta took of me my eyes are closed and the one where they aren't my eyes look squinted.

There were many ladies from my ward that came. There was atleast twenty, could have been twenty-two or more. There was a present there but I never saw the person who gave it to me so I don't know if she was actually there. And one other lady was in Idaho getting her house ready to move into and sent her present with someone else.
Um...lets see if I can remember most of what they brought for baby Kacen. There was a really nice fuzzy winter outfit that is pictured here, it is so soft. There was a handmade towel and hoodie(a regular sized towel so he will still fir into the towel years later. There were two packages of diapers and three packages of wipes, Johnsons baby soap, Grins & Giggles baby wash and lotion, Gerber's Milk and Honey lotion and soap , a lion sleeper, a disney story book, a baby book, a "baby boy" book for Kacen to play with, a stuffed blue rocking horse, homemade baby blanket with Kacen's name on it and three outfits from grandma, a set of baby keys, teethers, a 3-pack of sleepers, croched booties, hand rattles, cute socks that have cars on them that rattle, many shirts and onesies and a few pants, two really cute overall outfits, a mickie mouse outfit with one more outfit for Kacen and the lady brought Alona and Abbi each an outfit "because little brothers aren't the only ones who need presents". There was one cotton receiving blanket and one other one that I am not sure of the fabric. There were also a few things for me: shower gel, nail polish& foot scrub.

Mardee's husband took Alona and Abbi with him for an hour and a half with his two younger children who are about the same age as Alona and Abbi and went to his dad's house. They must have had fun. No complaints, and Alona had a "special" rock when she came back that she claimed was shiny though it just looked like a piece of broken cement. They were happy to see grandma when they got back to the Allen's house. And she was able to comfort Alona when other children were having difficulties sharing with her. I was not able to get up fast enough. When it came time to leave Abbi actually said goodbye to grandma and was good and Happy. But the moment that she couldn't see her anymore and knew that she was gone she started to cry for "Brammah".
There were rice krispie treats, caramel & chocolate dipped pretzels and fruit tarts one with cherries the other with raspberry jam. Mardee's two older girls were the servers.
And so today is my last day being 35 weeks! Tomorrow I start week 36, the Ninth month!! Talk about scary looking. Paul says its the bottom of a pumpkin. Doesn't that fit quite well with him being due two days before halloween. And I do believe that he is transverse/lying sideways.

Set in Stone

So we picked a new place and signed the lease today, there is no going back. We paid the money for the first months rent and deposit. We could move in as early as the seventh. It seemed that this place was meant for us. It was the only listing that was in the paper on a Wednesday. Paul is/was only able to go and look with me at places on Wednesday. This place has three bedrooms, a place to fit our kitchen table, a big backyard (it fits our swingset) and has extra storage space in the back to make up for lack of closets in the home. Though it is on a slightly busy street and we would have to mow the back lawn when the time came. The lease has much more happy thoughts to it. We would not have to pay a $950 breakage of contract fee to move out of here, it is a month to month lease. It is the basement of a duplex and has a patio in the back and also has entrances in the back and front of the home. By the way it is in Provo on 900 East. I am told that is the same street that the temple is on. I will post pictures later!

Its my birthday today!

What? No, its not my birthday. But this is the comment that I got from Alona when she woke up to find presents on the couch and knew shortly after that we would be going to Chuck E. Cheese today. We didn't give her any of the presents that we had gotten her on her birthday, we saved that for today. Because Paul only got to see her for about five minutes the morning of her birthday and would be able to see her until two o'clock today, much more time today. Here is a picture of them in the morning on her birthday before Paul left.

Almost two weeks ago at church we received a similar comment, except is was an inquisitive one. "Mom, is it my birthday?" She was a little confused. They had given her a candy bar in sharing time during primary and sang happy birthday to her. We had stake conference last weekend so she had it sung a week and a half early.

We picked up Alona's friend on the way to Chuck E. Cheese, and then followed Paul there. We sang Old MacDonald, Book of Mormon Stories and attempted to sing Scripture Power while driving in the car. Abbi thought that it was so hilarious that Savannah could snort instead of say oink for the pig.

I think that Alona had fun. I seemed to be busy with everything else. We had picked up the cake a little after eleven and got some balloons, a Dora and two latex balloons. Which every year that I have bought balloons they have flown away. Last year at the park her balloons flew away and this year at Chuck E. Cheese they went up to the ceiling. And both years Alona was having to much fun to notice thank goodness. Paul played with the girls (Abbi, Alona and her friend Savannah) while I went and ordered pizza and got the cups and tokens. Then I set up the table was getting other things ready and I got to attend to the girls while they were eating. They all wanted their pizza cut up, had to have straws and lids and napkins of course for their messy fingers and then one of them just had to eat with a fork, she didn't want her hands to get messy again.

Immediately after eating we had cake and ice cream and did presents. The candle got blown out first, and was left on the table while opening presents and when I was taking pictures. The cake ended up helping me take pictures on many occasions. It ended up on the lens of my camera, also all over my shirt and on a few presents. Alona and Savannah once the candle was blown out took out the figures and licked them clean and claimed suckers for themselves.

Paul had to leave for work. He was able to see her blow out her candle and open the gifts from his mother. He missed seeing her open everything else even what we had gotten her. She still has one present left to open. A jewelry box that I ordered off of eBay back in February, it is cute. I guess that Paul will be able to see her open that.

Ruth took Abbi and played with her while I was serving up the cake and ice cream. I think that they had fun. I took Abbi to play games after I had put things away, there was a miniature version of a skee ball game and she enjoyed putting the balls up high in the holes. There was a Duckee game that Alona and Savannah played, and a kids playground of sorts with slides, balls to play in and nets to climb. It was hard getting one of them out of there. I wish that I could have taken more pictures of Alona playing on the rides and having fun, but I can only be in so many places.

In Attendance: Crystal, Kenny, Loghan, Legand,Hailey,Gabreal (my sister and her four kids and husband), my mother Kim, Marta, Kelly, Ruth, Jared, Caren, Ellen, Kolton, Miriam, Jay, Hannah, Emma and Savannah well and course me, Paul and the girls!

The Loot: from my sister Alona got a package of balls and toys and a squirt gun. My mother gave her four dollars and a twenty dollar gift certificate to Fat Cats, they are a bowling facility that also sells pizza I guess. Marta and Kelly gave Alona a Dora pillow that Marta made, they came on Monday after getting off of work and gave this to her. She was very happy and has been choosing each night which side of her pillow that she wanted to sleep on. But tonight she says that she is sleeping on her old pillow and Dora is sleeping on her pillow. Then they brought more to the party: two pairs of tights, skates for Alona that have Dora on them and skates for Dora that match, a place mat for the dinner table, Dora shampoo and bubble bath and a Dora towel.

Ruth brought her a Dora book that has a doodler attached to the top of it. Val and Ruth also came on Monday after Kelly and Marta had left. They brought a delicious chocolate cake with strawberry filling, I wanted to eat that thing mmm. They also brought dinner, Alona ate about normal, two-three bites with a little coercing and Abbi wouldn't touch her food while her grandparents were there because there was a cake sitting in the middle of the table. With her if you put anything sweet within site when it is meal time she will not eat what is being served, the same as Alona at that age. Alona had fun arguing with her grandpa about what Dora and boots names were and enjoyed putting her new present(a artist outfit for Dora) on Dora. Abbi must have thought that the candles were lipstick, she kept rubbing the candles across her lips, it was the side that had been in the cake. And an hour before bedtime Abbi decided that it was time to eat her dinner btw it was chips and cheese with a side of olives and applesauce.
Do you see Abbi's outfit? The white shirt is the top, and the part that you cannot see are the blue pants which have Elmo on the bottom. She got so excited, I found this outfit when I was looking for some long sleeve shirts for her this morning. After putting the outfit on, she kept turning her pants and lifting them up so that she could feel and touch Elmo. She was enthused when I told her that she could go and show daddy Elmo.

Jared & Tami gave Alona a Disney Princess Dream Sketcher, it looks like fun and also very interesting. Caren brought a Dora ABC game and a Dora reading book and a Dora book with water colors. Miriam and Jay and their little girls gave Alona a Dora computer game, that will be fun teaching Alona how to use the computer for that one. I hope that it will not be too frustrating. Savannah's present to Alona was 4 pairs of socks, a DragonTales book and a set of little Dora figurines. My grandmother also sent money and after my appointment yesterday I went to Toys R US and bought her a Dora soccer ball, cones and laffy taffy with the money. Laura also sent roller skates for Alona that I had wrapped up.
She enjoys the skates. Right now she has them on, she is not all that frightened which surprises me. She is walking around saying "this is how you skate." Its cute!

Doctors Appointment

Today was yet another doctors appointment.
I was unaware when I arrived that I would be undressing during this appointment.
So I sat in the room for about thirty minutes half-way clothed. So weird.
He did the group B Strep Test, good thing it was done early. I remember with Alona
that it was done at my 36 week appointment and then she was born that day. So they put me on antibiotics because they didn't know if I had Strep or not. They wanted to be extra precautious.
And he checked to see if I was dialated yet, which I am not! I have a feeling that this little boy is going to be stubborn and come on his own time(probably late) I am thinking the fifth of November. But I could so be wrong.

Open House

The ward that I live in, well actually my visiting teachers are throwing me a baby shower, they call it an open house. So for an hour and a half anyone in our ward can come, bring a present or not and hang out. They also sent out invitations to Paul's mothers. Its not my first, but it is my first boy. Quite a few things that I am missing. I didn't have my expectations very high with thinking that they would throw me a shower. They said that they were going to, then today I got this cute little baseball mit delivered by one of their daughters. When I lived in Murray while pregnant with Abbi my visiting teachers said that they were going to throw me a shower, that didn't happen. No big deal or anything I just was disappointed and it added another reason to not expect much from people. Not expect them to live up to their word. Isn't it so cute, I have butterflies. Though I don't quite know what to do about getting the girls ready and putting them to bed.

Ninety Minute Napping

Ever since Abbi was about nine months old she has taken a two hour nap. It was plenty of time for me to get what I needed to done and be able to relax a little. Today I layed Abbi down a little after two o'clock and was able to eat lunch, check the mail and get a few other things done. And then I was able to lay down a little after three. Alona watched the cat in the hat while I layed down. Alona comes in to my room, I was thinking that it was after four. It was about twenty minutes to four and she tells me that Abbi is awake to. And Abbi had obviously been awake for awhile, she was out of bed and happy. Which usually takes awhile for her to get to that point. So from now on I will need to get my stuff done before I lay Abbi down for her nap and do just my relaxing/napping stuff while she is sleeping. I will miss my two hours of freedom, and it will just keep getting shorter until she doesn't take naps anymore.

Off Balance

Yesterday I was lucky. I really wanted to be able to visit my family(sister, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.) after hearing that there would be a dinner last night with all of them there, but did not have the money to put gas in the 4-runner. My sister who told me about it said that she would be coming down to Salt Lake to pick up her car. She also said that she would drive me down there. Then I just had to find a ride home. My grandpa is hard to talk to at times and doesn't show a lot of emotion, but he really cares. He said that he could that when I asked for a ride after the dinner.

My sister came to pick me up and all went great for the first little while. They had drove down here in a van to have my brother-in-law (Kenny)drive his car back to Layton, it had a broken clutch. My brother-in-law kept getting over and driving in the pulout lane. It was driving my sister nuts, because it was so hard to get back over into traffic every time that he did this and half of the time her vehicle did not fit in the lane with his. Then he started to go real slow and the hood started smoking, not a good thing. So we made it from 6600 South in Salt Lake to 600 South and had to get off at the exit. After getting off of the exit he pulled to the side of the road. It wouldn't go anymore. So we went to Lowe's and got a tow strap and their van pulled the little nissan the rest of the way. Every time that Kenny would hit on the brakes with the Nissan it would make the van jerk and feel like the car actually hit that was scary the first time that happened. The Nissan had the power to make the van stop, my sister thought that they would need new brakes after doing that. My sister had different ways of coping with her children during the trip that I do not agree with and definetly would not do. I am glad that we each get to live with the decisions and their consequences but also feel bad that those of the parents are at times visited down onto the children.

That was definetly the longest that I have ever seen it take to get from Salt Lake to Layton, 3 and a 1/2 hours! Alona and Abbi really enjoyed playing at their house once we got there with four other little kids for them to play with it was great. Val and Ruth came a little after five and gave us a ride to my uncle's house, since only a third of us would fit in my sisters van. The girls played ball with their grandparents and Alona got two new books from the subscription that they have to a Dr. Suess book club. Val read Alona one book in the car and then couldn't anymore he can't read in cars without getting sick. A characteristic that Paul inherited.

And yipee, Abbi fell asleep in the car, she had refused to take a nap on the ride to Layton and with all the kids at her house. She stayed asleep for the first hour of being at my uncle's. Then once she woke up she was very clingy. If I attempted to put her down she would scream and cry and want "up". If anyone came near and tried to touch her or talk to her she would spaz out. I tried to sit down and hold her, she stood near me and whined. She wanted me to be standing while holding her. Alona enjoyed jumping on the trampoline and playing with the kids and wanted to be outside even though it was only fifty degrees.

Going out to my grandmother's van on the way home, I had put Abbi in her car seat and was getting up out of the car to fix the seat that I would be sitting in. My ankle twisted and I fell backwards bending my wrist back and landing on it. No one even noticed. In fact at the time my grandma was joking to Alona that they were going to leave mommy here. My grandma was telling my grandfather on the way home what had happened. I commented to him that I had gained more than thirty pounds on my front side, so I must be OFF BALANCE. It didn't hurt that bad afterwards, though I can definetly tell that something happened to it now.

He had a hard time finding the way to my house, but we made it. I was able to visit my family and they facilitated me being there and getting home. I am very grateful and love my family even if their looks aren't up to par, have bad habits, are irritating at times, or even when I say things about them that I shouldn't.

Today was stake conference, Paul was too tired to stay for the whole thing. We came home and picked up the house since today was the only day that we have Paul home all day. And I really needed the help, it is too hard for me to do much of anything even walk. I had to have his help last night taking my pant leg off my foot. Paul after helping me was able to lie on the floor and watch a movie, who knows if Alona was watching it but she was laying their with him.

Job Switch

Paul started his new job on Monday. What a change, he now goes to school from 8 am until two and then works from 2:15 or so until about 11:30. Not much chatting online anymore and I am not able to call him at work whenever I please. I was asleep when he got home on Monday. This is so different. I was so used to having all day with the girls, putting them to bed and then having a little more than an hour until Paul got home. I looked forward to him coming home. Not anymore with him getting home past midnight, I don't see him, don't get to talk to him or even have the comfort of him just being there.

It was hard to get through Monday and Tuesday. Then he tells me his new schedule. Definetly unorthodoxed. He will have Wednesdays off from work so when school gets out at two he will come home. He has no school Friday, Saturday and Sunday so he will be home until about one. But he works Friday and Saturday nights and is home all day Sunday(off from work and school). So this will be a change, he won't get a normal weekend, but he will get to see us in the middle of the week which should be a good relief.

The insurance is not as great, thank goodness that we have medicaid for now. $2000 deductible per family, that sucks compared to the $500 that we had before. Paul seems to really love the job though, he gets up on time by himself and showers and wants to make a good impression and do good at his job and at school. Before he really didn't care what the people at his work thought. He says that there is a better atmosphere at his new job and there are some good co-workers (they are not profane like at his old job and are just better mannered all around)!

I have already started packing for the little bit that I am able to do it will take me that long. About 3-4 weeks. Paul was talking to a guy at his new job, and apparently he rents out places. He said that he had a place in Bluffdale that he would rent out for $500 a month. It has three bedrooms and is 1300 Square feet. Now just to find out how much the deposit is, where the place is located and in what kind of neighborhood and if it has washer and dryer hookups. That would be awesome though, a three bedroom for that little.