Porcupine Hair

Bella drags Paislee in by the hand to tell me:

"LOOK! Paislee has procupine hair! It's sticking straight up!"

Then they both run out of the room giggling.

Time Out

At 17 months I never would have thought it would be appropriate to put a baby in time out. That is until Paislee came along. She bites and hits and pushes and pinches and then smiles and hugs and pats and kisses immediately after. She isn't learning her lesson! So I finally tried time-out.

It's actually been a positive thing for her. I have put her in time-out maybe 5-6 times. She gets it. When I tell her to go to Time Out, she walks over and puts herself in the chair (with a little boost from mom or dad). She cries a little, and those tears break my heart. But she gets the time away from whatever was upsetting her to relax a little and she starts out fresh when she gets to come out.

20 Week Ultrasound

The 20 week appt. went great. Is it weird to say I was excited to have gained back 3 lbs? Everything looked great on the Ultrasound...


It turns out though

that the baby is


actually






still a boy!

Hooray! And he is measuring about a week earlier than the due date. So my guess is he will be a big chunky delicious baby like Bella weighing in at around 9 lbs at birth.

While driving home from shopping:

B: Mom, I don't want black eyes. I want GREEN eyes!

M: You have beautiful BROWN eyes. Why do you want green ones?

B: So I can match you!

(One day, she isn't going to want anything to do with me. So I eat up these little moments and record them in my blog.)



B: Mom, I hope my Rolly Polly can find his way out. I hope he's not mad at me.

(Bella dropped a Rolly Polly in the car clear back in like, August and we never did find it. She hasn't mentioned it since.)

M: Your Rolly Polly, huh? Why would he be mad at you?

B: I dropped him. He's gonna be so mad at me!

M: No, Rolly Pollys are really nice. They don't get mad.

B: I sure hope he finds his way out!

Holiday Fun Weekend

It is so hard to get them ALL to hold still at the SAME TIME!

Kai's messy hair this morning.

Kailia's cold cold nose with her Papa

Levi with his sisters Star and Shilo

All bundled up


SLC Temple


What a great weekend we had! We went to our Ward Christmas Dinner and I was actually able to eat the Funeral Potatoes! Hooray! I love food! Then a fabulous cookie exchange party on Saturday, that Levi's sister Shilo hosted. I brought back 10 dozen assorted delicious cookies. I also claimed my title (for the second year in a row) of best overall presentation of cookies.

Then we went to our Church on Sunday. Our ward always puts on the best Christmas music. I loved it. The twins have not been to church in a couple months, though so they had a hard time sitting still. Those are the moments that are really difficult with twins. I was completely exhausted by the end. A family who has 10 month old twin girls sat right behind us. I was secretly laughing inside at them. Their whole world is going to change big time in a couple months when they start walking! ha ha.

After church, we went with Levi's family to Temple Square to see the lights. As always, it was just gorgeous. I love the strong Spirit there too. We did have a hard time finding a place to park. Next time we will definitely take Trax. It would have been worth it. We parked clear up a double hill on East Temple. Going down, not so bad. Going back up, pushing our double stroller was a challenge. Levi pushed them most of the way, while I trailed behind them. He was in super walking/hiking mode- which he says is a reflex from his mission in Brazil. I guess it is all hills there.

I had to take pictures of the girls in their Christmas dresses. Holiday dresses are the best when you have three girls. I have to say how proud I am of their dresses. I was so frugal. Bella's dress and button up shirt were hand me downs from our sweet neighbors = free. Paislee's was found at Kid 2 Kid two years ago = $6. Kailia's was a Deseret Industries find for only = $2! They are all from Gap or Old Navy and are similar styles & the sizes worked out perfectly. I love a good bargain!

I couldn't find either memory card for my good camera. So I'm a little bummed at the quality of the pictures. Maybe I'll try again next Sunday.

Bella's good dream

M: Bella, what did you dream about last night? (she's been having nightmares lately)

B: I had a dream about a WONDERFUL playground and there was nice friends. They wanted to play with me!

Christmas is coming!

I really can't remember a Christmas ever coming this quickly! I feel like it's passing too quickly and I'm trying to fit all the Christmas things in. This year I got the idea from a couple different craft blogs to do an activity advent calendar. I didn't make one, but used the pockets from a fabric one I already had. Instead of candy or treats for each day, there is a slip of paper with a Christmas activity on it that Bella and I (or the entire family) get to do that day. Bella gets so excited each day to choose the new activity and she hasn't forgotten once! Now that she's 3 1/2 she knows more about what's going on and it is so fun to get into Christmas with her.

Here are some of the things we've done, or are still going to do to get the Christmas spirit in our house.

1. Today we put up our Christmas decorations
2. Today we decorate the Christmas tree
3. Today we write a letter to Santa
4. Today we make a gingerbread house
5. Today we make & decorate Christmas cookies
6. Today we make paper snowflakes
7. Today we pass out Christmas gifts to neighbors
8. Today we make a Christmas craft
9. Today we make Christmas cards
10. Today we listen to Christmas music
11. Today we make an ornament for the tree
12. Today we read a Christmas story
13. Today we watch a Christmas movie
14. Today we wrap Christmas presents
15. Today we make hot chocolate with marshmallows
16. Today we see the lights at Temple Square
17. Today we make hot chocolate with marshmallows (Bella loves hot cocoa)
18. Today we color a Christmas picture
19. Today we watch a Christmas movie
20. Today we read a Christmas story
21. Today we read the story of Christ’s birth
22. Today we go sledding
23. Today we make a snowman
24. Today we open one special gift early

Egg-cellent question

So Bella and I are watching a show about chickens and birds the other day. (We watch a lot of t.v. and dvd's lately as I am usually lying on the couch).

B: in deep thought, taps my shoulder.
"Mom, why did Heavenly Father put me in your tummy instead of a egg?"

M: taken off guard....really, what a good question! This made me think.
"Well, I am not sure. Maybe he wanted you to always be close to me so I could take really good care of you. You had to grow before you could come to this world."

B: seems satisfied.
"Oh!"

Now that I think of it though, maybe I like the egg method better.

the twins at 17 months...

P: will hit her sister, then immediately "shh" her while patting her arm or head. this is so horrible, and horribly cute!

K: always wakes up with the craziest hair do's. I would love to set up a video camera in her room to see what she does during her sleep.

P: is building quite the vocabulary- "uh-oh" "down" "i uh oo (i love you)" "cheese" "please" "day-doo (thankyou)" "dis" and she knows lots of sign language too.

K: is a wild monkey...climbs on everything, is pretty much fearless. oh wait, she is afraid of pink bath water and the loud noise the t.v. makes on the snowy channels when she pushes the buttons.

K: loves to play downstairs. you can't say the "d" word or she'll cry til you go down.

P: is so kissy and lovey one minute, then steals a toy or hits the next minute. it's kind of funny to see her mood swings.

K: when she is ready for bed, she is ready- binky, blanky, no tears.

P: cries 90% of the time we put her down to bed...she doesn't like binkies. Just likes to torment her sister by stealing her's.

when Papa Don was babysitting them once, he mixed them up. That must have been the worst night for Kailia...laying in the wrong crib watching her sister play with her binky....

P: is such a daddy's girl. she is the biggest dad fan. sometimes she'll go to him and push me away.

K: plays really well with Bella.

love the picture of them cuddling on the couch because it doesn't happen too often anymore. they end up bugging each other, pushing and hitting...

After a bad couple of days, I was at my breaking point emotionally and physically. Running on nothing for weeks now, I felt like I couldn't do it anymore. Lucky for me, my sweet Levi was smart enough to pick up on this and took care of me...

He watched the girls all yesterday afternoon while I went to the doctor and got some not so great news. If I don't start gaining some weight by 20 weeks, they will be putting me on a feeding tube. Yes, a tube that delivers calories down my throat and into my stomach. I am gagging just thinking about it. The good news is that baby boy's heart rate is great and we scheduled the 20 wk ultrasound for December 28th. We can verify that we are truly having a boy and make sure everything else looks okay.

As usually my doctor advised me to continue to eat/drink lots of sugar because that is all the baby can metabolize at this point. The feeding tube / IVs are just to keep me healthy! So that is a great assurance to me. It's good to be reminded that baby is doing great, it's just me starving. My Dr. compared me to a Costco store. The baby is getting everything it needs inside me. Kinda weird, but I give him 5 points for using an analogy.

After breaking out into tears (gotta love these pyscho pregnant hormones) not once, but twice at the doctor's office, I went to IV Therapy to get a new IV placed. After the nurse literally dug around my arm for a good vein, she finally got one. Are you feeling any pain? she asks. Well, yeah my arm is kinda sore. Sorry about that, she says. You don't have any good ones anymore. She asks me if I am okay, and I again lose it for the 100th time that day. I tell her everything and she helps me come up with new ideas to get some calories into my body. (She is a cancer survivor and went through a whole lot more nausea than I have had). She gives me a big sweet grandmotherly hug and tells me it's going to be okay. At least I get a baby out of the whole deal. I pull it together and she has me laughing by the time I leave.

I stop at the grocery store, and load up on every fatty and good that I would normally like if I weren't pregnant and nauseous. $120 later, I head home determined to eat my little heart out.

I walk in the door. Only this isn't my house. This home is sparkling and beautiful and clean! What the....There is Levi, the twins, and Bella in the kitchen making lunch. The girls are all clean and dressed. And most of all everyone is HAPPY. The house is peaceful.

I again...start to cry. Once the flood gates open, there is no going back. I am sobbing into Levi's shoulder telling him how much I love and appreciate his patience, thoughtfulness, and love for me. He is the best husband and father for my children. I couldn't ask for anything more. My Father in Heaven is watching over me and given me all I need and then some.