Visit from the Folks

We had a fun-filled weekend this past week when my parents came for a visit.  Amazingly enough we planned things pretty well so that Christian (and I) never missed our nap for the day, which was really nice.  It was almost like Christmas because of the random fun things my mom and dad brought for us (including our Christmas lights from our shed and our nativity) as well as a car for Christian which he now insists on having under one of his chairs when he’s not playing with it…it’s the garage.

Saturday we took Christian to soccer in the morning, lunch at In and Out and then to the little amusement park three blocks from my house in the evening.

 

Here’s Christian on one of the little bumper boat’s that they have with a little propeller on the bottom to keep them moving—he loves them!

Sunday we went to Church and then in the evening drove to the Mesa Temple and walked around… the light was beautiful!

Mesa Temple at sunset…beautiful!

Christian “freezing” in front of some cactus plants… it was actually very pleasant if you had long sleeves, I guess he’s acclimated to the warm temperatures already!

 

Monday we went to the (world’s largest) Fire Engine Museum where Christian enjoyed playing on the one display of a real Fire Engine that they allow anyone to climb all over and then the small scale truck in the Children’s area.   My mom and dad read the guide book and walked around while he played and it worked out pretty well.

Here’s a video I made of Christian entertaining himself.  He’s got quite the imagination!

 

Tuesday was the day we decided to go the the Zoo which was great fun.  My dad indulged Christian more than I do (It’s nice to have doting grandparents come).  He paid for Christian to have a camel ride and for he and I to feed a giraffe—very fun!

Riding Camel!

Feeding the giraffe (with an 18” tongue)

Riding on the new statue of a komodo dragon!

Playing on the tractor…he’s favorite!

Petting a goat…he petted every goat there and didn’t spend any extra time with any of them…

Milking a pretend cow…it has utters that you pull and “milk” (really water) comes out.  That night he asked me if I could put mommy milk in a bottle so that he could feed the baby…he thinks about things I never would expect!

Got to love that smile!

Riding Wild Boar…scary!

That evening we went to an ice cream shop that I had noticed coming home from shopping last week.  They offer all these interesting choices like “The Mountain” which serves 10 people and is $50.  Turns out it was a good choice and has been around for 50 years and wins the best ice cream in Phoenix award every year!  I’m so good.  Of course, I couldn’t have ice cream myself, but everyone else did.  I was really impressed with the speed Christian ate his which was a cone with a scope twice the size of the cone poking out.

I’m so glad my parent’s could come….I hope they had fun because we had fun having them here!

My OB and Thoughts on Hypno-birthing

At my last appointment I was able to bring Jared along to meet my new OB.  As we’ve been studying the hypno-babies program together he has gotten more and more excited about various aspects of the birth which is kind of funny to me since this is round two in our parenting experience.  I guess because we’ve been through this there are things that he remembers that happened a certain way that he doesn’t want to repeat and things that he liked (it’s the same with me but I never thought he’d be quite so opinionated when he’s usually so laid back).

I never wrote a birth-plan last time because I just didn’t know what I wanted to have happen.  I think I’ll write one this time though just to at least think-out my preferences this time before I’m not  in the mood to discuss how I really feel about things.

Last time I had fetinal (sp?) because the nurse kept asking me if I wanted to try something and I really felt loopy until I came out of it and quite out of control—it was like being on a pain roller-coaster.  One minute I was dopey and loopy and falling asleep though I wasn’t really comfortable and the next I was in the middle of a contraction hardly able to think about anything but “what’s going on?”.  Once that wore off completely I actually felt sooo much better because I could breathe and pace myself.  I guess I never thought about it but you can actually request that the nurses not even ask you if you’d like drugs….if you want them, you’ll ask for them.  Which seems like a no-brainer but that is definitely something I’m going to add this time.

Anyhow…back to my appointment.  So the doctor did an ultra-sound.  The babies head is still down (pray it stays that way!) and is measuring for a January 3rd due date.  I’m considering that I probably just make long babies (Christian was 21.5 inches) and my OB got extra brownie points from me by saying “Let’s keep the baby’s due date on January 7th, that way if she comes on the 21st it won’t seem quite as long”. (More about that in my other blog that has random thoughts on having two children.)

I told him that I read my grandma’s history and all but one of her eight children were late and so I expect to have this one “late”.  He didn’t seem too worried or concerned about that so I’m encouraged.  Another thing was that Jared went into a long (and almost funny-to-me) synopsis about why we’d rather not be induced—unless of course there is a real medical reason such as fetal distress.  The OB was very understanding which got him some more points from me.

I asked him if he had had any other patients try hypnosis for childbirth and he said “no” which really surprised me.  Not that I think it’s for everyone, but I actually have quite a few friends and family members that have tried or are interested in hypnobirthing in some form or another.

I’m really loving my hypno-babies course, I sleep deeper, I feel better about myself and my pregnancy, overall, I have a much more positive attitude about a lot of things.  It is a bit of a time commitment though—you’re supposed to listen to your “assigned” track once a day and the “Joyful Pregnancy Affirmations” track every single day.  Each track takes about half an hour.  There are also some articles and information to read for each week in the “workbook”.  It’s not really a big deal for me because you can listen to the “Affirmations” CD while you’re working around the house or driving in the car since it’s not a self-hypnosis CD.  The other track you need to listen to in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed and in a fully-supported position (usually I listen to these before I take a nap or go to bed).  The reading part is fine with me as well, since usually I am always reading in all of my spare moments anyway.

Since I am in a situation where it is important for me to have my baby natural, I’m really excited about this program right now.  We watched “Nature” the other day and it was one on “Birthing babies” where it showed various animals giving birth.  As I was watching I was thinking about the way most animals hold still and allow their babies to be born (except for the hypo who births in the water and once her baby’s head pops out she just turns and goes under water and the baby is able to swim out).  I’m honestly sure that all animals must feel some pain but I wonder if they feel pain in childbirth or at what level.  I am very hopeful that this program will help me have a beautiful birthing for my baby because if it works, I might just try for another again someday.

Halloween 2009

Halloween was a little different that usual this year as I didn’t host a party or see any family.  It was a good year though. 

Friday we had a Ward party that was combined with the Spanish Branch that had these amazing juices…watermelon, cantaloupe, lemonade,…etc.  some flavors I’m really not sure what they were.  It was great.  We mostly hung around my friend Claudia and her husband.  She’s the primary president and one of the only people we knew there…I really don’t know too many people anyway since we’ve both been called to primary.

 

About a dozen or so families/organizations decorated rooms for the kids to trick or treat at which was fun.  I hung out in the primary room since there weren’t any chairs left in the cultural hall that weren’t already occupied.

Christian went around with Jared and when they got back to the primary room Christian fought a zombie looking guy with his sword.  It was actually pretty funny to watch them go (Claudia’s the witch in the background of this picture).

Saturday, we took Christian over to do the free activity at Michael’s in his costume in the morning.  After a nap we  headed to Mesa to spend the evening with my friend Sherrada and her family which included her parents.  We were a little disappointed that her sister Kalei was sick  so her family couldn’t come and there was no Damien for Christian to play with.  Some of us went trick-or-treating  (two kids and five adults) while Jason, Sherrada’s dad stood behind a pillar on the porch with a microphone saying silly/scary things and embarrassing his wife.

  

Lydia as a frog…

  

The Three Musketeers…

Jason Reading to the kids…

Lydia, enjoying the little chair…

Afterwards, we played a game of Saboteur and then some of them went on a Sonic run.  We didn’t get home until late but we had a great time!

Like Father Like Son…

Last night as I sat sewing, Jared and Christian were just hanging out talking to each other about various things while browsing through catalogs.  When I looked up at them I had to take the picture they made….

 

…They have such similar personalities about a lot of things (though Christian’s stubbornness is much more prominent than Jared’s thanks to me) it cracks me up.

Short Hair Cut

Christian’s Hair has been getting so sweaty lately that though (because of the curls) it doesn’t look too long I took him to get his first Haircut at a salon.    He was pretty nervous about the clippers but he did I great job.  I think it helped that we went to Sports Clips since I got a free coupon from Vanetta (Thank you!) so for the most part he sat mesmerized watching a baseball game on TV.  He is so boy! 

 

Ready for the Cut!

  

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

 

“I see scissors in this mirror… I’m feeling slightly distressed!”

“All done!”

 

It is the shortest he’s ever had it… He looks so old!

Dance Baby, Dance!

There are no little kids in our apartment complex that are Christian’s age so he’s been spending a lot of time learning how to play by himself or with Jared or I.  He never seems bored though which is good.  He keeps himself moving and jumping around and coming up with imaginative games.  I confess that I let him watch TV too much but there’s really not much else to do some days.  One of his favorite shows is the “Imagination Movers”  on Disney Channel, they have a lot of fun songs (though I wish they had more episodes to rotate through).  One of the arguments against TV is that it causes kids to be more sedate.  I guess they’ve never watched Christian watch a show with music!  Here is just a little taste of the fun I get of watching Christian dance…

 

Christian’s Halloween Costume ‘09

I am so relieved!  Yesterday, I finished the last bit of Christian’s Halloween Costume for this year.  I meant to have it done earlier in the month but I got sick with a cold for about the first two weeks of October and just wasn’t up to sewing.  I was trying to get him to be a dragon since I had a pattern for that and it was from the same pattern I made last year and the year before so I knew it would be quick.  But alas, he did not conform to my ideas.  A while ago he watched The Disney Three Musketeers with Mickey, Donald and Goofy and decided he wanted to be a Musketeer.  As luck would have it, I had bought a pattern at a pattern sale when I first got my sewing machine that includes a Musketeer Costume.  So though it was more tedious than I had originally planned, I made Christian a Musketeer Costume out of it and also a hat from a pattern I already had for one as well.

   My Handsome Musketeer 

  

Of course, once I get started on something I can’t stop, so after a while of sewing a doublet and tubard, I decided to make the other pieces in the pattern so that he could have a prince costume when he plays prince (which is actually one of his favorite games).  So here he is as a prince as well.

Prince Christian

I think my mom must have given me some kind of costume obsession where I just want things for my children to be able to dress up and play make-believe.  Playing with dress-ups was one of my favorite things to do as a child growing up.  We always had amazing costumes that my mom would sew for us as kids.  As I grew and was in drama for a while I still continued to have a love for costumes and dressing up.

Christian has been wearing his prince costume almost non-stop through-out the day though he does take it off to eat because he doesn’t want to get it ruined.  I’m really pleased that he’s enjoying it so much.