We're Having a . . .

I know you're all holding your breath & dying to know whether we're having another girl or another boy! I had an ultrasound yesterday. The ultrasound tech took all of the measurements she needed & then let Jeff into the room. We asked her if she could tell the sex of the baby & she said that she could, but that she wanted to show us. So she zoomed in on the important parts and we are most definitely having a boy! We are really excited for another little boy in our family! I am ready to start shopping for some new boy things. Won't this be so fun? I actually bought him a cute overalls outfit and some little blue shoes yesterday! Now we just have to pick a name for him. There are quite a few girl names that we like, but boy names are a little harder for us to choose. We still have quite a while to decide, so I'm sure we'll pick the perfect name for him by the time he's born.

Earthquake - We're Fine

Hello friends. We're having a shaky afternoon. A 5.4 earthquake struck about 20-25 miles from our house just over an hour ago. Since the main quake, there have been 32 aftershocks. We only felt the original quake. Jeff works very close to the epi-center & felt the quake quite strongly, but he is fine. We didn't feel the shaking very hard at our house. Nothing fell off of our shelves. My shampoo bottles that balance precariously on the top of our glass shower enclosure didn't even fall. If you want to see our earthquake activity, go to the USGS link on the lower left-hand side of this page. Have a great day everybody!

Peanut Butter Love

Tyler has recently developed a habit of sneaking into the pantry & eating peanut butter straight out of the jar! Tonight I could smell the peanut butter on his breath, so I asked him if he'd been eating peanut butter. Here's how the remainder of the conversation went:

Tyler: Yes, I ate peanut butter.
Me: You know you're not supposed to be doing that. I don't want your fingers in the jar - it puts your germs in the peanut butter.
Tyler: I didn't put my fingers in, I got a spoon.
Me: (Giving the mom look) A spoon huh...
Tyler: (Pause while batting eyelashes & smiling) I LOVE you Mommy (short pause) and I love peanut butter!

I know he was just trying to stay out of trouble. But, how could I be mad at that. I just had to laugh and give Tyler a great big hug. It was just too cute. Now, here's what I wonder. . . which does he love more, the peanut butter or me?

As an added note, Tyler's new found love of peanut butter reminds me of Kristin. I can totally picture her dipping Hershey Bars straight into her jar of peanut butter . I tried it a few times & it's actually quite tasty! Does anybody else have creative ways to eat peanut butter? I like to dip my apples in peanut butter. Yummy!

Alexis is Here

Well, Heather was the first to break the trend. Nearly a week late, Alexis Mae Cluff made her entry to the world. She was born at 11:14 pm on Monday, June 30. She was 19 inches long & 5 pounds 4 ounces. She's a tiny little girl! My mom bought her some premie clothes to wear until she gets big enough for the newborn sizes! Since she was born on June 30, she gets to share her birthday with Amanda & her Uncle Jeff. Three people in our family sharing the same birthday, isn't that pretty incredible? I wonder if there will be a triple shared birthday on January 9th too.

I really wish I could be in Utah to see Alexis! She is so beautiful in the pictures Heather sent. I think she definitely looks like our side of the family, sorry Nathan. I would love to post a picture, but I prefer to keep pictures of my family members password protected on Kodak Gallery. If you'd like to see the pictures, let me know & I can send you a link to the online photo album. Have a wonderful day everybody!

Six Word Memoir

Well, Janine tagged me to write a six word memoir. So, I kept a pen & paper handy to write down some ideas. I am going to follow Janine's example & tell you some of my runner-ups before I announce my winner.

These aren't really phrases I live my life by, or want to be remembered by - but I sure say them a lot. I was surprised by the number of six word phrases I use regularly.

Life with kids is never dull.

Get that out of your mouth!

I sure hate changing poopy diapers!

Laundry is a never ending battle.

I hate mopping the kitchen floor.

Don't touch that - it will break!

Don't touch that - you'll get hurt!

How much longer until nap time?

Do I get a nap too?

I need chocolate - give it now!

Don't look away for a second.

Every day is full of surprises.

You can always try again tomorrow.

Now for my favorite --

A mother's work is never done.

I chose this one because it reminds me that no matter what, I will always love my children. I will do whatever it takes to care for them & to teach them. I always have room for improvement. Even when my kids are grown, I will still be there for them. Being their mother is the most important thing I can do with my life. I am so grateful that I've been given this opportunity. So I guess I wish to be remembered as a mother who always loved her children & always did what was best for them, even when it wasn't easy.

Unexpected Fun

Monday, Jeff met me at the OBGYN's office for my check-up because we were expecting to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. The doctor didn't find the heartbeat right away, so she said, "Let's cheat & go use the ultrasound machine." So, we got an extra surprise peak at our baby. We saw the heart flickering it's little beats. We saw the arms and legs that are forming. It was a lot of fun. I was glad that Jeff was there for this bonus ultrasound.

The best part of the visit was receiving my official due date. Any guesses? Well, it's already a pretty busy day in our family. Based on the ultrasound that I had back in May, my due date is January 9th!!! I think somebody sure has a sense of humor. January 9th is already, Ian's birthday and my birthday (Lora's too)! I laughed so hard when she told me this was my due date. I really hope that this baby gets to have his/her own birthday. It'll be hard to do in my family in January though. We have a lot of January birthdays. It will be a bit of a bummer since I don't want this baby to come on the due date. Tyler & Claire were both born on their due dates, and all 3 of Melissa's kids were born on their due dates. I think it's kind of cool that all of the grandkids on my side of the family have been born on their due dates. I guess it would be OK to break the trend & have a baby on a day other than the due date. Heather's baby, Alexis, is due next Wednesday, so it'll be interesting to see if she is born on her due date or not. Maybe she'll be the one to break the trend. I guess I'll just have to wait & see.

There's No Way!!!

Jeff is home now! Yea!!! Except for that fact that right now he's watching a PBS show about the Icelandic Horse! Doesn't that have fun & entertainment written all over it? That is why I'm blogging in my bedroom.

I had an easy morning today. Claire slept until noon. After she woke up, my day got interesting. When I went in to get her up, I found that she peed all over herself & her bed. Diapers can only hold so much pee. When she's been asleep in the same diaper for 16 hours, what can I expect. So I undressed her & told her to go to the bathroom for her bath, which she usually does. I grabbed her sheets & wet pj's to put in the washer. While I got the load of laundry going, Claire wandered out to the family room.

Pretty soon, Tyler yelled, "Mommy, Claire went poo-poo." I told Tyler, "Oh, she couldn't have. She probably just tooted," thinking to myself, "There's no way!" Upon returning to the family room, I found that Claire had, in fact pooped - 3 big poops on my carpet!!! One was right over the spout of a sippy cup. I threw that cup away!

I took Claire into the bathroom. While I was grabbing the wipes to clean her bum, she peed all over the bathroom floor & rugs! I guess I should have stuck her in the bathtub. After I got her all cleaned up, I put her in the tub. I ended up picking the poop up with toilet paper & flushing it down the toilet. Then I ran the Spot Bot to clean the carpet. (A very valuable machine that every parent should own.)

I'm just proud of myself for not throwing up! I guess the fact that I was laughing my head off helped me to avoid thinking about how truly disgusting it was. Now I've learned my lesson. Always keep a diaper on children who are not potty trained! I hope I don't ever have to deal with a situation like this ever again! Yuck!!!