Aly's 3rd Birthday Party

When Kennedy was 3 we took her to Build-a-Bear. It pretty much blew her mind. So Nathan and I thought we would be crazy awesome parents and take Aly for her 3rd Birthday. Has anyone ever noticed that no 2 children are alike? Yeah, well we were reminded again just how true that is when Aly zoomed through Build-a-Bear generally unmoved. She did enjoy herself, had a fun time picking out the Unicorn and putting it together but nothing like we'd expected. I mean, geez, as a parent you still never know! Kennedy, on the other hand, has been pleased with Aly's indifference to her Birthday Unicorn, so it all works out I guess.

Aly's favorite book is called "Pinkalicious". It is an adorable book and one Aly likes to hear as much as possible, so our theme was Pinkalicious, and we got Aly a hardcover version of her own since the other one is getting pretty well worn. Kennedy and Kohen helped me with the party prep and Aly was very excited to wake up from her nap and discover her Pinkalicious Party. 

Probably could have forgone the Build-a-Bear had I realized the reaction Aly would have for a $2 'Picolote'- no lie, she entertained herself for at least 15 minutes playing it and then laughing her head off and then playing it some more. When we finally moved on she still kept pulling it out in the middle of unwrapping another present and totally distracting herself so we had to temporarily remove it. It was the hit of the night. I guess with her love of music her response shouldn't be a real shocker.

I found a glow in the dark wand at the dollar store and made Aly her own Pinkalicious wand that she had fun with too. I'm not gonna lie, I thought I was pretty smart with that little find.  Overall the birthday was a hit and we enjoyed celebrating our baby girl turning 3. Anyone who knows her loves her, she is quite the little girl.

Aly Turns 3!

Aly is 3 today. My sweet baby girl! A unique thing about Aly at 3 is that she has quite the ear for music and rhythm. When I turn music on every morning at breakfast after only 3 notes she will shout out what it is, "Wicked!...Nutcracker!...Beethoven!" it is impressive I have thought, for someone not yet 3 to have such an adept ear.
But that was before she started pointing out the instruments playing in music. Some of them she has learned from different places including Little Einsteins but on Sundays we always listen to classical music in the car and Aly will excitedly shout out the instruments as they come in, "It's the trumpet! It's the 'picolote'! It's the piano! It's the flute! It's the 'viowin'!"....it is kind of incredible to Nathan and I because she is usually correct. We are impressed, but as her parents I guess that's our job.
Aly is absolutely the ham of the family and provides lot's of laughter- she'll do anything for a laugh. I love this little girl so much, I am so grateful for her bright influence in our home.

Are My Expectations Too High?

Umm, where did all of the good babysitters go? I mean, I hate to get all, "in my day" but in my day, when I babysat and the parents came home the house was absolutely in better condition then they had left it. The children were soundly asleep because I had tuckered them out from actually playing with them, and I was always trying to impress the parents I was babysitting for whether that meant asking questions to make sure I understood their directions, or engaging in adult conversation on a ride home- I was completely willing to do that for whatever measly amount I was making.
Nathan travels some and it has caused me to come to rely on a few of these babysitters as a means of keeping a household running as a temporarily single parent. So now that I am at a stage in my life where I need good babysitters, where have they all gone? I am starting to think that besides my nieces (who are exempt from this rant, having been raised properly) are the last of a nearly extinct species- COMPETENT BABYSITTERS.
This week when I came home to the first of two sitters we've used here (and for the most part been underwhelmed by both) to find the house a wreck, the lunch food left out, dirty dishes left everywhere and my kids bored and restless. I thought that I had been specific with her about having the children clean up after themselves because, small detail, WE ARE MOVING IN A WEEK!!! So I was feeling pretty frustrated. Then on the way home, she sat next to me and texted the entire time, not perfect when she is supposed to be giving me directions to go a different route to her home. I had to turn around 3 times cuz she would be texting and miss telling me a turn. She later cheesed a future babysitting job we pre-set via text. I'm starting to feel less bad that Kennedy- upon meeting this sitter months ago- asked if she had a baby in her tummy.
I pick up the other sitter today, and due to the unsavory experience Monday I am very specific with what I expect to be done while I am away. I am going over lunch and nap information and, no lie, she interrupts with an excited, "This is my favorite song!".... What? David Archuletta's 'Crush' is cause for you to interrupt my instructions?! Are you kidding me?
And no the house didn't impress me when I came home, and they were all watching Hannah Montana which #1- my kids do not need to be watching a show for teenie boppers thank you very much #2- why are my kids watching tv? Go play with them!!!
I don't know, maybe I am expecting way too much of these girls. Am I?

Kennedy's Kindergarten Graduation

Kennedy's Kindergarten Graduation was last week. This ^ is Mrs. Magelby who -as Kennedy's teacher- knows more than me, is a much greater authority than me, and always has the right answers. The power teachers hold! They had a cute little program and Mrs. Magelby said a few words and by the time she was done there wasn't a dry eye in the place. She said that in 11 years she has never had such an amazing and well behaved class and that she wasn't just saying that. We were so grateful to have her as a teacher.

Above is Kennedy and her BFF Alex and below is one of her 2 other really close friends Shayla.Kohen was at preschool but Nathan was able to make it and we stayed and watched the class go out to the park nearby and play games, it would have been perfect if it wouldn't have felt like a winter day out (hello!? Do I not live in California?! What is going on?...Don't even say Global Warming or we won't be friends anymore).

I held it together well but I have to say- I feel like I'm going to wake up tomorrow and it will be Kennedy's high school graduation. Our babies leave us so fast!

To celebrate their last day of school we went and saw UP! which was really cute and then decided to go get ice cream for dinner- a really fun first for our family. Not one complaint about what we're having for dinner? also a family first. We were excited to taste the yogurt at this cute Yogurt Castle we've wanted to try since we've lived here. As you can tell by Kohen's all business posture and inability to look at the camera long enough for the shutter to open and close- 'dinner' was a hit.

The Tooth Fairy Visited Kennedy

Disclaimer: This is a long post which could be summed up in 5 words, Kennedy lost her first tooth. But it has been such a long time coming, if you so choose, the full story awaits you.

Just a smidge of background, after Kennedy learned about losing teeth from a cousin when she was around 3 yrs old, she has been looking forward to when she would start losing her baby teeth so much I think it is fair to call it obsession. A couple of summers ago she even did a little summer school class all about the Tooth Fairy which increased her excitement even more.

So imagine when she is one of the last in her class (the last, according to her...not quite accurate) to lose a tooth and get her name on the special tooth poster. As a Kindergartner, clearly this is earth shattering. Baby Kennedy didn't even get her first tooth until 14 months so I figured it might be a while before they started coming out. But then she was the oldest in her class and still that wasn't enough to give her that competitive edge, lol.

About a month and a half ago I was... I really want to say I was flossing her teeth when I made this discovery but that would be a lie. At any rate, whatever I was doing besides not flossing her teeth, I came across a tooth that had popped up quite a ways behind her baby tooth on the bottom. Unfortunately because it was so far back the permanent one hadn't loosened the baby tooth. I consulted my nearest professional (James) and came to the realization that all Kennedy's fantasizing about losing her first tooth may come crashing down if the reality ended in a Dentists chair having it yanked.
Then Kenna decided to play "dog" one afternoon and was trying to chew on a soccer ball (???) when Kohen bounced them on the trampoline and the ball knocked her tooth barely loose. Nathan, knowing Kenna's desire to make it onto the tooth poster at school began working with her tooth and pretty soon either he or I would wrench that thing every night before bed- all at our daughters prompting I assure you.

We made little progress. The last day of school was approaching and we were dealing with daily episodes of tears because, well you know, that d-a-m-n poster. I started preparing her for her upcoming Dentist appointment, Nathan of course, was convinced that baby tooth was as good as gone. Last day of school comes and goes, baby tooth still intact.

48 hours later when Nathan went to tuck Kenna in before he left out of town he promised one last tooth wiggling session. And viola! Kennedy Jolee lost her very first baby tooth!!!!

IF ONLY THAT HAD BEEN THE END OF THE STORY

I have had to listen to it so you must suffer too. That night Kennedy was so insanely excited, she couldn't fall asleep, kept coming out and telling me what had happened over and over again, who she was going to show and who she was going to tell. The Tooth Fairy remembered to stop by and so in the morning we had a new tidbit to add to Kennedy's I-lost-my-tooth loop, the hundreds of different ways she was going to spend her $2.

I thought the excitement would fade with the day but I was so wrong. She proceeded to insert her tooth loosing gems into every conversation throughout the rest of the day. Example: at dinner she ate her broccoli first since it isn't her favorite. Later when Kohen was balking she said, "Kohen, when I lost my tooth, I ate my broccoli first and then it wasn't so bad." She even turned to me while the Sacrament was being passed at church to tell me something about her tooth which sadly I don't remember because I was laughing inside that even the Sacrament wasn't exempt from interruption with this dang tooth!

I am exhausted from hearing about it, luckily it is so cute that I can stand it. But seriously, I dare you, call our house- ask Kennedy about anything, the moon, paint, cats, and I guarantee within 20 seconds you will hear about her tooth!

The DL on the ER

This last Friday Kohen graduated from preschool in a big shabang program at a nice church. That is all I'm going to say about that because although my little guy is hilarious and adorable, I don't want to waste any more time talking about this preschool that I haven't really been that in love with.
On Sunday morning he came in our room saying his mouth hurt and he didn't think he should go to church. Hmmm. At first I wasn't sure if that was just a ploy to stay home but an untouched breakfast gave credence to his complaint. He and I went to just Sacrament meeting at the end of church and after afternoon naps poor Kohen was so much worse. He had a fever over 103 and was telling us how bad it hurt to swallow and though it is not terribly common in children under 3, Kohen has had Strep throat several times before so I figured he may have Strep again. Knowing the history our family has with Strep (specifically my MIL who nearly died after Strep throat turned septic, several years ago. She lived but lost both of her legs-man it seems wrong to try and sum up her trial and journey in 2 short sentences.) I don't mess around at all if I think someone has it.
As I wrote before Nathan took Kohen to the ER Sunday evening. Long story longer, the P.A. who saw them totally blew off doing a Strep test. She actually sat there and listed the reasons why it was pointless: He is young, would've had to have been around someone with Strep, the test is only 70% accurate and takes 20 min for results and on and on until Nathan felt like he shouldn't insist. Instead she brilliantly wanted to observe Kohen drinking some apple juice... huh??? 3 hours later they were discharged and told nothing was wrong.
Kohen comes home feeling awful. He proceeds to throw up the apple juice- the only thing he'd had in hours- and felt so terrible and feverish he just wanted to go to bed. Monday morning, no change except he had a new rash to go with the rest. I was FUMING. I knew what the rash was, he had Scarlet Fever- goes hand in hand with, wait for it cuz this is super tricky, STREP! Nathan took him in to our Ped. an hour later and the Dr. takes one look in Kohen's mouth and says, "I'll do the test but I don't need to, he clearly has Strep." He then told Nathan that we should not pay that ER bill and that we needed to call and raise hell because we were treated very poorly- and the PA missed something extremely obvious.
So finally today Kohen is feeling a bit better. The rash is still there, looks like a sunburn on his cheeks and upper body, but otherwise isn't bothersome. I am truly grateful for antibiotics and good doctors, they make such a huge difference.
Update on the call to the hospital to come!

Kohen Quotes

Kohen is really not feeling well. After his fever spiked this afternoon Nathan took him to the ER (no Doc in the Box places here open Sunday) and they waited quite a while for the dr. to come in. When she finally did come in Kohen, not feeling very well says, "What took you so long?" lol, isn't that what we all want to say at the dr's office? I guess the dr. laughed and said, "Out of the mouth of babes..." Exactly.

Next quote came after a family in our ward adopted their first child from Africa and Kohen had some questions for me about how this family suddenly had an adorable 6 month old African baby. So, I think my friends who have adopted need to give me some pointers because as I tried to explain the basics of adoption, I could tell I was causing him to have about 5 new questions for every one I tried to answer. I did my best, tried to keep it simple. Anyway, about a week later we are driving and seemingly out of nowhere Kohen says: "Do some boys not have families?" I hesitated wondering what the question was really about but I say, "...yes". He thinks about it and says, "Where are they?" I answered simply and he ponders this info and then says, "If we find some can we keep 'em?"

A favorite from a month or so ago, Kohen was very frustrated with Nathan about something and to let him know just how frustrated he was he says, "Fine! Then I'm not gonna be this families Super Hero anymore!"

Lastly, yesterday he had his hand on my belly waiting to feel his brother kick for the first time. When it finally happened a big smile spread across Kohen's face and he said, "Hey! He just gave me a high five!"

Sooo, a few updates.

Normally I would feel fine about posting pregnancy pictures. This time I'm not feelin it. I don't know if it's cuz it's my 4th or if this boy is just huge or what but I am bigger than I normally am at this point. It's probably a good thing in that I now have sympathy for the women who feel huge (I suppose we all feel huge regardless of actual size) or deal with this regularly with pregnancy. You may be wondering what I'm talking about cuz the baby bump isn't that impressive. Well, we took about 20 pictures and this was the most flattering one I could find. It's amazing how I can look months more or less pregnant just from an angle. And no, I'm not posting bigger ones. 

I am 6 months in this picture btw, went in a few days ago and I am, for the first time ever, measuring big, so it's not just in my head.  My belly button is on the verge of flipping inside out which is also about a month earlier than usual. Not looking forward to this so much because last time it was herniated and actually looked pretty obscene. I know, I know, could be much much worse. But since it's not may I please complain?

In other not so great news, you know my laptop that I crushed? Yeah, well, turns out it's not actually covered. So I have to take it in today to see what the $ damage is and how long I will be without my computer...feeling sick about the whole thing all over again. It might actually be a good thing seeing as there are just a few short weeks before we will be moved and I will not have the computer tempting me all day.  Moving over seas is proving to be more complicated than state to state (Movers come and pack the stuff to put on a boat over, then come back and pack up the things to put in storage in Boise, then I have to pack for 2 months worth of living, plus separate baby stuff we decided to Air ship over to ensure it is there before the baby...) so I will be relieved when we pull in to Boise at the end of this month. We will leave for Taiwan at the end of July :(  

Lastly, I took these pics the other day after dropping Kenna off at school. This Quail family was migrating across the street and through our yard and they literally had about 15 or 16 babies, hard to count cuz they were of course moving all over the place. But it was the cutest little scene, the Dad was pacing back and forth irritated that the family wasn't coming along any faster, the mom was chirping trying to get all her little ones gathered and moving in the right direction. And she didn't want to move away from the dangerous road until the last of her babies had jumped up the curb, despite her husbands obvious angst and irritation about their exposed location.

Thats when I discovered a couple of the babies couldn't make the jump up over the curb. One little guy was chirping and running back and forth like a frantic little mad man, pooping himself out so that when he tried to jump he couldn't clear it. I debated and decided either he dies cuz he's left behind or risk touching him. So I caught him and he sat right down in my hand, totally exhausted. Poor little guy.

By now the mom had moved everyone into our bushes and when I brought over the first baby he hopped down and ran into the bushes. Then I noticed the obvious knuckle head of the family running around in the gutter clear up at the top of our Cul de sac. I ran over and it took me a bit but I was able to finally catch this lost little guy and when I brought him over, the mom came out of the bushes just a hollering at him, as she nipped him all the way into the bushes. It was a really fun few minutes for me watching how even this bird family has similar qualities to our families. Plus, hello- I got to briefly hold 2 adorable little baby birds! It did make make my day.

Ahh, the Pool Hath Opened

The first of May our neighborhood pool opened. It's even been warm enough to go, yay!



After Nathan's done with work we will all head to the pool and I will watch them all play for a little bit and then I will leave a little early and head home to make dinner in peace and quiet, obviously a treat. It's worked out this way 4 or 5 times this month and it's so nice- hope there is more to come.

The Jungle and A Backyard Camp Out

We had to go into SF on Friday and at lunch we splurged and finally went to this cool place called the Jungle that we have seen so many times. 

This is Kohen trying to see if the huge mechanical Anaconda will lick his hand. It should be noted he did not desire the snake in our back yard to do the same... thankfully.

Though the food was overpriced the restaurant itself was really cool. It was a jungle from floor to ceiling with animatronic jungle animals moving and roaring all over the place, pretty neat. 

We got to sit right next to this big aquarium which was unique and fun and kept the children entertained while waiting for their lunch.

The real fun started that afternoon after naps. We decided it was a good weekend to Camp Out in our backyard and we surprised the kids. They were so thrilled. I found Kohen upstairs gathering camping stuff and he breathlessly starts telling me what all he has 'packed'. "I've got my pajamas, my telescope so I can see the snakes, my Book of Mormon, my chopsticks...I'm ready to go camping!"......Chopsticks??? 

Kohen brought out his snake and tried to scare all of us that it was one of our real snakes. He actually got Nathan pretty good once, lol.

I enjoyed my time cooking outside. We only had one small mishap when I spilled soda trying to hand Nathan a blanket while cooking and when I jerked the blanket away from the soda and started cleaning up I actually threw it onto the coals and melted part of it without even realizing it until Nathan jumped in and saved the day...woops.

Poor Kohen came over bawling to me about his journal where he had been having Nathan write down everything we'd been doing and eating. Below is the cause for the tears- had to laugh at that face though- as I cleaned it up for him of course.

Aly tried her hand at roasting a marshmallow- just as long as she wasn't roasting her hand...

I'm not even gonna lie right now. I make a mean S'mores and you should be crazy jealous.

It had actually gotten really windy and cold so it was nice to get all tucked into our tent and get warmed up. The glow sticks were a huge hit. A buck well spent for sure. The kids were laughing so hard I thought we'd wake the neighbors. 

As the evening wound down Aly - a known partier- refused to settle down. When she declared she needed to go potty I gladly took her in- bidding the other 3 a good night. Though Aly wasn't pleased when she found out she was staying inside it really was for the best for both of us. As far as camping goes- I'd say back yard camping is right up my alley, at least for now with little ones. Fun night!!!

There's a Snake in my Boot

Sweet Kennedy was helping out by running a cereal box out to the recycling bin. She went out the back door and a minute later when she returned, by the look on her face I knew something was terribly wrong. She tells me while literally shaking, that I needed to look out the back door right by the house. Because blogging comes first in this household, I took a few pictures before calling in back up.

Nice. An at least 3 ft snake waiting right out side my back door to- let's be honest- eat me. Or maybe one of my sweet children, should I send them out with some recycling. Anyway, Nathan was on the job and the children were glued to the back door and nothing was distracting them. Nathan was out there with a rake (your obvious first line of defense against snakes) and fearing the rescue/removal mission may quickly turn to a gory extermination, I began trying to distract the kids from their front row seats. I started with, "Hey guys, dinners ready. Why don't you sit down?" zero response. No wait, Kohen said, "He's getting it! He's getting it!" So I tried a little harder, "Whose gonna help me with the cantaloupe? You can even have some while you help..." Nothing. Finally I tried a loud, "WHO WANTS TO GO TO DISNEYLAND?!" Aaaand that's when I officially gave up.

When I saw Nathan jabbing a freshly broken rake handle into the bushes I physically removed each child from the back door and put them up to the table. Meanwhile, Nathan the Snake Hunter was taking care of business. Turns out there was more business than initially thought. 3 snakes, as in one- two-three snakes in our backyard. What the?? 

The area we live in does have issues with Rattle snakes and our fence is actually specifically made to keep them out but apparently this large garden (?) snake has some sort of VIP pass into our yard. 

Unfortunately 1 out of 3 snakes was harmed in the making of this blog. But it was his fault. He was hissing and biting at Nathan and refused to be chucked harmlessly over the fence. Don't tell PETA.     

Medical for the Fam

It's a little weird to open the fridge and see a little box containing a live Typhoid virus. The product of our family visit to get our medical stuff done to move overseas. The office we went to was a little ways away and I was wondering how it was all going to work with all 5 of us being seen together. 

Though it is nothing I care to do again anytime soon, all things considered the children did really well all 3 and a half hours we were there. Sure there were different children climbing the walls at different times but then again, so was I. For the grand finale each child had blood drawn and two additional shots along with Nathan and I. I really wish it would have been like at the Pediatrician's office where they've stuck the child all 3 or 4 times before they can even get out a cry. Instead it was painfully drawn out, each child getting one then starting rounds again. By the end they had certainly had enough. The staff was very complimentary of the kids which is always nice to hear, though a bit odd to hear your children handle getting stuck well.

Anyway, Kennedy and I got a kick out of Aly when she and I were doing our eye tests "E...H...G...C..." and Aly was dying to have a turn. I hand her the little eye cover and she gets herself in position, one eye covered and she earnestly begins, "A...B...C...tuna". Probably would've had to have been there but if you know Aly you may get a chuckle out of it.

When we finally got home, more than half the day gone, we all absolutely crashed. Whatever shot the 3 children and I had was killing our arm and I'm not even kidding. I'm almost glad mine hurt too so that I was appropriately sympathetic to my babies. It hurt to move it at all and it was several days before it went away, crazy. Anyway, we really did pass out because when I shot awake 3 hours later I was getting everyone up and Kohen says cheerily, "Well that was a short rest." No concept of the hours that had gone by, lol. 

Glad to have that out of the way for sure. I'm with my children, I don't ever want to go back there...if that's okay.

Embarrassing Moment #369

We have the most quaint post office near where we live. The service has always been impeccable, they are always friendly and I've never waited more than 2 minutes to be helped- and yes, I am in fact talking about the US Postal Service- hard to believe. Anyway, this morning I went in with Kohen and Aly.

After 1 minute of waiting Aly is trying to rip my arm off so I pick her up as I am called up to be helped. The gentleman helping the customer to my left is Hawaiian or something but he is really tan and looks almost African American. This line of thinking never would have crossed my mind until Aly points her arm clear out at him and says, "He's a TROLL!"......... *crickets chirping*.......WHAT?! How do you recover from that?! At first I thought maybe he wouldn't understand her but no such luck, against all odds the guy understood every word. Thankfully he seemed to have a good sense of humor but I still wanted to die. I mean- I have a suspicion the comment came from a Dora the Explorer episode but how do you explain that to the newly christened 'Troll'? Especially when he looked nothing like the cartoon troll? I can only imagine what the postal worker/troll thinks we are teaching our little children. I knew that Dora was up to no good...

Happy Mothers Day 2009

I've had a lot of time to think without being interrupted this weekend and I have come to several conclusions. First of all: every "normal" family is functionally dysfunctional- don't argue with me- you know as well as I do that if every one could watch your family for a time there is inevitably a few things you all do that the rest of us would raise our eyebrows at. And no family is perfect, though that probably stems from none of us being perfect but you know, usually we do our best. 

As far as my grandmothers go, they both worked extremely hard and made enormous sacrifices for their children. Following in their footsteps my mother also worked very hard, and I have it on good authority- shed many tears over her children and our well being. Their examples were and continue to be a treasured source for me as far as mothering goes. Why so few of the housekeeping skills have rubbed off, I know not but it's a shame. I love my Mother, Grandma Nona, and Grandma Doris very much.

Nathan unknowingly gave me the best gift this weekend (aside from subbing for me with the 3 amigos and the flowers that he sent to the hotel) when last night he had finally gotten the children to bed he texted me 5 glorious, validating words: YOU HAVE A HARD JOB. He told me today that his "Internship" the last 4 days has really been the best way to appreciate the job I do. Being a Mother is the hardest and best job I've ever had. Happy Mother's Day to every woman who is, has been, or will someday be in the trenches of motherhood.

Um...Whoops???

About two weeks ago I went to a friends blog to find a picture of her young daughters Cello which had been accidentally broken badly, though luckily it was covered. My comment was as follows, "Today the Cello tomorrow the car. Let's take this valuable lesson and insure everything that our children touch, lol." Yes, haha our children who break everything they touch, those pesky things. 

So fast forward to Nathan and I's long flight home from Taiwan. Nathan was helping me figure out the buttons to lay the chair further back and as he and I each held buttons that were slowly moving the whole seat forward and down, we were yuckin' it up about something when we heard this ominous "CRACK!" We look at each other and Nathan says, "what was that?" I already knew. I realized my backpack had been laying on the floor as we started moving the chair and eventually the chair had squished it into the center console and...well...see for yourself. 

That ^ would be my not even 6 month old MacBook Pro which had been in my backpack. The white lines on the screen would be a horrible crack shouting to the whole world my clumsiness and stupidity. Pictured below on the left side of the screen you can see some more damage. Ugh, I was sick to my stomach as Nathan and I sat looking over the carnage that was my laptop. It was brutal. All I could think about was that stupid comment I made on my friends blog. Yeah, cuz it's the kids who break everything they touch.

The happy/ironic ending to this story is when Nathan says "Well, it's a good thing I got that extended warranty..." How embarrassing. We have to ensure everything I touch! But I was so grateful Nathan had done that, I guess he knows me all too well, though at the time I'm sure I figured extra protection was because we have 3 little ones around.

Anyway, as it stands right now the only difference I can see between little children breaking things and me is that occasionally toddlers will destroy things out of curiosity. Other than that I think we need to be just as cautious of what I might demolish as them. My sincere apology to little people everywhere.

Tepan-yucky

The fact of the matter is, if our trip had been even 2 weeks earlier I would not have felt up to going. I am having many more good days now though sites and smells still effect me and I am pretty careful about when and what I eat to keep from getting sick. The Taiwanese people are a very kind people for the most part and gift giving seems to be a big part of their culture. Ever since Nathan started working with people from there -clear back before Kennedy was born he would bring home gifts for me- and occasionally even our children, from their Taiwan partners or clients. In January we received a package out of the blue from the girlfriend of someone Nathan had worked with. It was an outfit for Kenna and Kohen and a purse for Aly and some other thoughtful things. A very sweet gesture. 

Anyway when people that Nathan works with found out his wife was coming with him this trip they all began inviting me to go to their business dinners with them. I apologized sincerely to Nathan but told him there was no way my stomach was up to the task of eating unfamiliar foods and if I don't eat the food offense could very easily be taken. Nathan was able to get me out of everything except one lunch. The people responsible for our recent package insisted on taking us out to lunch to a Tepanyaki style place. I dreaded it all week.  

Things got off to a bad start when I was already hungry and we arrived at the restaurant where reservations had been made and imagine that, they had no record of it and all 3 tables were being used by bigger parties than ours, obviously we'd been bumped. We proceeded to wait for more than an hour while I grew closer and closer to being sick. When we were finally seated the food I had waited so long for proved to be one hideous dish after another. Poor Nathan, trying to protect me would whisper frantically under his breath to me, "Do Not Eat That! I'm telling you, if I can't eat it you can't!" Good thing the cooking was loud or we'd never have gotten away with that. 

As the dishes grew weirder and kept coming one after another endlessly- so much yucky food!- Nathan's whisperings became more desperate, "I'm so sorry honey!...You can have whatever you want for dinner!...Just don't look at it!" One of the dishes was Cod and might have been okay had it not been swimming in what looked like blood water. After about 6 gross courses they brought out the lobster and threw them on the stove. Um, they totally started moving involuntarily all over the place. It was the most stomach turning part of the lunch. Nathan took some video though they had slowed to about half the initial movement, it's about 20 seconds and it's...yuck. It's funny though at the end it shows our hosts saying hi and totally oblivious to the torture they were putting me through.

By the end of the bazillion course meal Nathan and I were having a hard time keeping a straight face about things. This was the only picture I let him take of me because I was afraid that our hosts would see I was being sarcastic and be offended. Though I don't know how they could've missed that I couldn't choke down hardly any of it, I guess I did get pretty good with the earnest pushing of food around my plate. I'd like to say this lunch proves just how much I love my husband. I was sick to my stomach the rest of the day and I would only endure an afternoon like that for him. 

#4 Makes First Appearance!

While in Taiwan I went to the playgroup of Mom's from our church ward- to be and it was good to hear opinions on life in Taiwan and hear about some of their experiences giving birth there. Overall Taiwan is about 20 years behind the times as far as birthing goes, except for C-sections which they are all over and have a high rate of. I was nervous but learned that for ex-pats that isn't the case. The girls in the ward have all used a Western trained doctor and had good experiences with her. 

So since I will be about 5-6 weeks away from having baby #4 when we move we thought it might be wise to meet this Dr. Ling. She was great, talkative and assuring, except the part where she repeatedly said at the end we would check often and see whether or not I needed to be induced (after Aly, I'd have to give that a NO WAY ummm, no thanks) but other than that it was positive.

Especially the part where she did an ultrasound! Yay! And I am excited to announce- especially on behalf of Kohen- that the score is now even, 2 girls, 2 boys! We are expecting our second little boy around the second week of September. We really weren't very surprised, I'd thought it was a boy all along and after being correct 3 times before, Nathan knows better than to question me :) It was sweet, when we gathered the kids yesterday to tell them we took the last vote of what each thought we were having. Kohen held firm on a brother. Kenna, and therefore Aly believed it was a girl. When we revealed it was a boy there was a collective cheer and then Kennedy shouts "I just knew it was a boy!" which I thought was funny considering her vote to the contrary .5 seconds before.

So the next question is always, do we have a name? Well, no not really but the fact of the matter is you probably won't like what we pick anyway- at least initially-  so should I really share??? I dunno, we'll see. We're certainly taking suggestions. hint hint.