Happy Birthday to.... Me!

As a birthday present to myself, I'm going to stay up ridiculously late posting all the many pictures I've been meaning to post the last two months! Oh my gosh. So much has happened since I posted pictures, I feel like I'm just barely catching my breath and it's taking several days! It's time for fun pictures, a new playlist, and time to think about how blessed I've been.

We had an awesome semi-spontaneous Foster Reunion in October.

We were so glad that Ty and Dana and Adam and Laura could come.

Here are some pictures from that:

That weekend we blessed Natalie. It was cool to have so many priesthood holders there and to be able to do it in our own ward.

Shortly thereafter, my two beautiful nieces Jordana and Carmen came to visit from Utah. Wow, did we have a fun time. These are some of my favorite pictures. I'd never really thought about what the inside of our laundry chute looks like:

Okay, maybe that's ridiculously late enough... I've got to go to bed. But I still have much more to tell you about! Stay tuned...

Food Storage Analyzer

Dear Fellow Food Storage Nuts,

Emergency Essentials has recently come up with a Food Storage Analyzer web page especially for those of us who wonder, "Exactly how much food storage IS six months worth?" or "How long would the food in my basement last if there were an emergency?" It's fairly easy to use because it breaks the food you have/need into categories and calculates its nutritional value for the amount of peeps in your family and how long it would last. I especially like how you can record what you already have as well as what you still need to get and its price, which makes it easy to create your food storage plan. While the program is obviously geared towards your purchasing from their company, it also incorporates purchases you'll make from the grocery store for those of us who like to shop sales. It's very personalized. Anyway, it's great. Check it out by clicking on the button below:

"Grey Matters" is a Must Read

Okay ladies... If you liked Twilight, and I know you ALLLLLLLLLL do, you have GOT to check out this book. It was written by my excellently articulate brother-in-law, Mark Foster. It's not about vampires or anything supernatural per say... that's not why you'll love it. You'll love it because it is really, really romantic, aside from being well written and extremely thought-provoking. Tears are guaranteed. He's just barely made it available to the public, so go to this website right now, click on the "Grey Matters" icon on the left, and start reading.

Try To Remember...That I Have the Best Husband Ever...

Hey everyone... this is a slideshow Jeff put together of all the fun things he did with the kids while he was on paternity leave. He went back to work last week and we've sure been missing him. It was a really special time. But I guess you have to return to real life some time...

Thanks Jeff! I really, really love you a lot.

Baby Natalie

Here are our first hospital pictures of the new little babe. (Some of you saw these pictures already...) She was born last Thursday morning (Aug. 27th) at 6:16 AM, and was 7 lbs. 13 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. We've been home since Saturday afternoon and are enjoying life with our Daddy here every day, so I'll post some more pictures of that when I put them on my computer.

Kissing Nap Time Goodbye

Well, I never thought I would say it, but life is a lot easier now that Cal and I aren't always arguing about him going down for a nap! That's right, I gave it up. I never thought I would be able to do it, so I'm pretty proud of myself. Having previously thought of myself as sort of a Nap Nazi, I knew I needed that time to myself in the middle of the day and I trembled at the inevitability of it not being there anymore. But a few weeks ago I started realizing that, day after day, our afternoons were each turning into one long battle that just wasn't worth it. So now I won't even let myself hope that he's going to fall asleep,.. I have to expect that he's going to be awake and with me, and squeeze my stuff in around that. Besides his little body getting so tired every day right around dinner time (hence the picture), the results have been much more positive than I expected. It's helped me be a lot more flexible and remember that... this is life. It's what I signed up for when I became a mom! I have to make a conscious decision not to stress out about "everything that needs to get done" and enjoy the quality time that I get to spend with my son.

Our Trip to the Dunes

Here are some pictures from the Sand Dunes. We had a lot of fun even though it was HOT! (the sand, that is...) We were all in sandals in the blazing hot sand, so we didn't wind up staying as long as we were planning. Jeff hiked up one of them while the kids and I just watched and dug for treasure. Cal really liked playing in the creek. Monica, however, was pretty disgusted with the whole prospect. She spent the whole time on someone's shoulders. But we were so glad we got to go! It's always so amazing to visit a wonder of nature that is truly spectacular. It just makes me think of how many interesting and beautiful places there are on our planet. We look forward to taking our kids back and maybe camping

there... maybe when they're a little bit older and we're a little more prepared with our footware.

Yea!!! The Geoffy's Back!

Today, I hate to admit it but I was CRABBY... Or at least I should say, I was trying all day to ward off the crabbiness and not doing the greatest job. Something about being really big and tight and uncomfortable...and tired...and alone. Jeff's been in Alamosa all week and I was expecting him back Friday afternoon. I talked to him briefly at about 8:30 this evening, but he said his phone was about to die and he'd call me a little later. Well, at 10:45 PM tonight, I heard our garage door open! He'd gotten off of work a day early to attend a medical presentation this evening and he doesn't have to go back tomorrow. The best surprise ever! Anyway, it was amazing how quickly the crabbiness vanished. Everything feels a lot more right with the world.

Belly Pics

Okay, so here are the belly pics as promised.

This is at 34 1/2 weeks.

Colorado Gators

The kids and I have been visiting Jeff while he does a rotation in rural medicine in Alamosa, CO. Last week we went to see the Colorado Gators, which is an alligator farm just north of Alamosa and one of the only tourist attractions close by. It was pretty wild! We had a lot of fun. Here are some more pics:

Natalie Raye

Hey, blokies! Here are some cool ultrasounds of our baby #3.

The 2nd picture is a little harder to make out,
but it's her little face with her eyes open.
Hi, Natalie! We already love you!
(Belly pictures coming soon.)
(Sheesh, am I really going to have three kids??)

Monica Jayne

I love getting this little girl out of bed in the morning because she smiles at me through these insanely cute curly locks that spring out everywhere in her face and she can't see anything. She's started doing this thing where she brushes them out of her face with the back of her hand, which makes her look much older than she is...kind of like a teenager except for the binky in her mouth. And the hairstyle perfectly matches her personality: one wild woman. She is so cute and so cuddly with a distinct sense of humor, but she's also VERY independent. At almost 20 months, she wants to do what she wants to do, and she wants to do it by herself: putting on her shoes, buckling her car seat, climbing and going down any slide at any playground, etc. If I try to help her she says emphatically, "No Mommy!" or "No, me!"

The list of words she knows how to say gets longer every day, which is fun. For example, this evening at dinner we were having broccoli and she kept insisting the Jeff give her "Mo bocky," which is more broccoli. I didn't even know she knew how to say broccoli! Where did that come from? And with the increase in verbal vocab you know she's understanding almost anything you tell her.

Another joy is that the older she gets, the more she likes playing with Cal and he enjoys playing with her, too. Yesterday they were playing "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command," which is from another of Cal's favorite movies. He kept calling her Space Ranger Mira Nova and telling her what to do. "Space Ranger Mira Nova, report!" And she just followed him around and went along with it for a long time. Then the other day we were playing hide and seek. She wanted her own turn counting, of course. It was so cute to see her come around the corner to look behind the couch saying, "Cow? Cow?" (how she says Cal...) He doesn't quite understand the purpose behind keeping one's hiding place a secret, so he called out, "Monica, I'm in the pantry!" She promptly said, "oh!", turned around, and headed that direction. Since my hiding place was still a secret I got to watch this, and I thought 'You know, she's really a big girl. She can play these games now. When did that happen?'

So with my sweet Monica, too, this childhood thing seems to be going very fast. That makes me grateful that even with all her independence, she loves her binky and blankies and when she has them, she'll snuggle for a long time on my lap. I'll take that for as long as I can get it.

Callahan Michael

Hey Everyone. I promised you some video/pics of Cal a while ago, and thanks (again) to my fabulous sister-in-law Wendi, I have some really cute pictures of the kiddos to share with you. Here are a few of Cal that I love, and while you're looking at them, let me just tell you a bit about my favorite little boy.

Cal is 3 1/2. His favorite pastime is finding little "treasures" around the house, which could be anything from pennies to pieces of ribbon, little beads, google eyes, jingle bells, rocks, etc. and sticking them into little containers like plastic eggs. He still loves playing with sticks he finds outside, which double as swords, spears, bows, etc. In fact, he refuses to wear pants or shorts with no belt loops because there'll be no place to put his stick. He LOVES the movies that he loves, and if he were to tell you his list of favorite movies, you might think it was kind of long...for a three-year-old: Tarzan, Mulan, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, The Dark Crystal, David and Goliath, Peter Pan, Robin Hood, and James and the Giant Peach are some of them, and yes, he's a movie quoter. I didn't know it was a genetic trait, but turns out he got it from my family. Besides this, he really has good ideas and loves making things. He'll often be heard to say, "Oh, I have a brilliant idea..." or "I'm just trying to figure this out..." He's very observant and I'm constantly amazed at things he notices (like when two words rhyme) and recognizes (like where we are when we're driving, which I'm sure I wouldn't have paid attention to when I was that age). As with any 3 1/2- year old, we have our moments of course, but overall he has a sweet disposition and is a great big brother to Monica. He's a sensitive little guy and hates being in trouble. A lot of the time when I have to discipline him he says, "Mom, you need to talk happier!" Anyway, I'm really enjoying being his mom and getting to know him as his own person. This evening I left him in the nursery during an enrichment activity, and when I picked him up I could have sworn he'd grown up just a little more. I know I'm just imagining but I can't believe how fast it's going.

I'll write about Monica tomorrow. Gotta go to bed.