Summertime

I realized just a few days ago that this is the first summer in a couple of years that I won't be pregnant and we're not moving. Kate was born in August 2008 and I got pregnant with the girls last May. Moving and being pregnant is a terrible combination for me. So is pregnant and summer. OK, just being pregnant is not good for me. What I'm trying to say is I'm so excited for summer! No more worrying about random collapses when we're out and about, no worrying about where's the closest place I can puke, no more worrying about getting 4 Liters of fluid in my body everyday (more if I went in the sun), no more shear terror of the heat and what it would do to me, I can actually lift things (like my kids), get my heart rate up, bend over and work in the garden, chase Katie when she runs, go swimming, be in the sun for longer than 20 minutes, and drink things like water and eat things like chicken (the simple things, people). I may have 3 babies to figure out how to take on hikes or go swimming with, but I can't be excited enough to feel so healthy in the summer instead of on my death bed.

Here are the chunky monkeys pulling faces.
We planted our garden this week! We've got tomatoes, peppers, squash, zucchini, cucumber, carrots, and raspberries. We had to plant our peas at a second spot to give them a place to climb. As long as we can keep Kate, Pele, and the wild creatures of the forest out we may actually get a good crop. I'm pretty happy about this. Thanks, Jen, for your help! (Our sis-in-law is out here for the week and we are loving having her here!)

The lovely pea plants.

Apparently they all had something much more interesting to look at than the camera.

Here's Katie being a big helper and rocking both of the girls in their swings.

Welcome to Toddlerhood

Between the ICU schedule and a run down to Boston to watch his buddy play in a Red Sox game, I didn't see Jeremy much for 2 1/2 days earlier this week. Dear, sweet Katie has been fighting a mild cold, I think getting some teeth moving around, and has been the whiniest girl for about 2 weeks. I feel so bad for her and at the same time want to strangle her. Tantrum after tantrum about keeping her coat on, going outside, getting some milk, even just agreeing with her has sent her into tirades. And an all day onslaught of "Katie tired, Katie sad, no, no, no, rock-a-bye" and "run away" had me ready to run away. Jeremy came home from his call Wednesday afternoon to me rocking her with a thing of milk before her nap and asked me why I was rocking her. I told him it was either rock her or kill her. Truth be told, it's almost unfair how much in my head I expect her to be older than she is because there are two other babies in the house. I think we do well most of the time, but I can tell Katie and I wear each other out every now and then. She and I did have a lot of fun yesterday and she did well at Stake Conference today. I'll bet a lot of this is normal for a toddler and I just need to take in the good days to balance out the bad ones. She will out grow this, maybe just in time for the twins to start it.

Here she is in her Piglet hoodie again and my slippers.
Cora and Sydney puking on their blanket.

They're both grabbing things now. Cora is a thumb sucker and Sydney goes for her first two fingers. Cora loves to look at you and scream and squeak to talk. Sydney does as well, just not a much screeching as Cora.

Sydney and the Mama bear.

Puky Cora screaming at me. (It's a happy scream.)

These pretty things are growing in front of our porch. I love looking out the kitchen window and seeing red flowers.

Sydney and Cora again. Poor things have another doctor appointment Tuesday where they will be shot with more immunizations. I'm excited to see how much they've grown!

Lest I Forget..

I just wanted to get some of the things Katie's saying down before I forget.

When I wake her up in the morning:

Me: "Good morning Katie."
Her: "Morning Katie."
Me: "How did you sleep?"
Her: "Good."
Me: "How were your dreams?"
Her: "Dream about."
Me: "What did you dream about?"
Her: "Jesus."

That was with no prompting from me or Jeremy. She just tells us that. Then tonight while I was feeding the girls she got hold of a set of scriptures, opens it up and says:

"Came to pass. Amalickiah. Bad guy. Lehi. Came to pass. Jesus. Armies. Came to pass."

My other favorite sayings:

"Snotty nose. I need a tissue."

"Help. I need help."

"I need a time out." (Maybe mommy does, really.)

"Back on tubby time." (She means put the girls back on tummy time after they roll over.)

"Keep Cora company."

"Chase Katie."

"Turn on fodder mountain." (She means the water fountain in our back yard.)

"Take a chance on me." (From the Mama Mia soundtrack.)

"Katie Lou, I need you." (From the Scooby-Do song.)

"Down the drain you go bubbles."

There's a lot more, but I need to go to bed instead of staying up to unwind.

Outside and Lake Pinneo

If any one's bored with the constant pictures of the girls, I'm sorry. Someday I'll get other pictures in as well. I just know I have family missing these little stinkers a lot since we're on opposite ends of the country, so I need to keep the pictures of the kids coming. Plus, I think they're cute.

Another day playing in the garden and I actually got her hair done!

This was hilarious. She was checking for ants because that's what the pest control guy had done the day before. She started following one with her finger and I think it bit her because she started to whimper. I asked her if she got bit and she said, "sorry, ant," and tried to follow it around the deck to make sure it heard her say sorry.

We were all on the deck, I just had them in the shade and love this because they seem to be holding hands. Cora's the one with the nail polish. We still need it to tell who's who.

Some of the girls from church wanted to do something free and outside, so we drove with them to Lake Pinneo, a private lake from Memorial Day to Labor that is perfect for kids. It's man-made with a really nice beach, grass, and a playground all right next to each other. This is Katie in our car with the girls. She tells me "keep em company" whenever she sits by them.

Katie checking out the water.

She now says "shoes muddy" when you ask her about the lake. She walked right in and had a ball until she tripped.

And this is the tent we had set up so the girls could nap and we could stay longer than an hour. Those other moms that came were awesome and we had fun. It was so nice to get out to do something besides grocery shop! The weather was a little cool because it was so windy, but there is something magical about being outside.

Mothers

Sacrament meeting was for me today. I love these little girls that we have, and feel very blessed to have them as part of our family. But some days the thought of getting out of bed to take care of all three of them all day long is overwhelming. There are multiple moments when everyone needs everything, they can't understand why I'm not meeting those needs this second, and I'm lucky if I get to eat and drink in the process. What makes it harder is not having had a full night's sleep for so many months (I wasn't sleeping through the night before they were born either). Suffice it to say we're on a roller coaster of highs and lows - some days we can conquer anything, and others I want to give up.

Today being Mothers' Day, the topic in Sacrament Meeting was about mothers, sacrifice, and the Savior. The last talk was about Mark 8:35 - "He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.." The middle talk was about how the Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ give everything to bring to pass "the immortality and eternal life of man," how not easy that is and the true meaning of sacrifice. And the first talk someone drew parallels between the Savior's life and that of a mother's. It was humbling to hear all of this as I have struggled with how often I feel like I've lost my mind, lost myself, and wondered if anyone else knows how hard this mothering job can be. Of course it's going to be hard - would I expect anything less from a job so important? Then I think of my own parents and my Grandparents and how much they always have and still do sacrifice for all of their kids. From time to cars, food, money, space, energy, vacations, and life in general, my parents, particularly my mother, have never failed to watch over all of us and strive to make us happy and teach us the right. I'm in awe as I think of my mom and her constant love and support, as I think of my older sister and her never-ending patience, my younger sister with her joyful optimism, my Grandma with her beautiful laugh, and the strength and support of so many other mothers around me that take my girls so I can shower, sleep, or just cry to them.

I think the world around us is so patronizing to mothers. It gives us a lot of lip service and mocks and belittles us at the same time. This is the toughest job you'll ever love, it is not for the faint of heart, and I am so grateful for the Gospel of Christ in my life that helps me keep it in perspective when I feel overwhelmed and the angels Heavenly Father continually sends to watch over me. This calls for more endurance and courage than I ever thought I had - including school and working two jobs. I hope I grow up to be as awesome as my mom.

Small Town

We live in a town with a population of about 13,000 people. There are several other towns around us with similar numbers. I spent my teenage years in a town nearly twice as big and thought it was too small and definately not cool. My, how things change. I love living here. I love that we know our postman has a nine year old boy who plays hockey. I love that someone stopped me on the street on their way home from school yesterday to say Pele looked just like their dog. I love that I run into the same people out walking and they ask how we're doing with all of our kids. I love that "rush hour" here means it might take you 4 minutes longer than otherwise. I love the neighbors we have who come over to walk our dog for us or play with Katie. I feel safe not having things locked all the time. I love that all of the houses here look traditional, modest even when they're big, and so unique. I see gardens everywhere when we're out driving or walking. I love that the grocery store is two miles away at most. People are generally friendly and have the time to talk to you. The post office is not even half a mile away and neither is the library. As weird as this may sound, I even love that we live right next to a cemetery because it's so peaceful to walk through it.

Then there's just living in New England in general. The trees are so amazing - they're everywhere! The mountains here aren't like the Rockies by any means, but I love that I see them all around us and they're covered in trees. We have rivers and streams everywhere and everything seems to bloom in flowers in the spring. It is just a gorgeous place to be.

I will admit there are drawbacks. The nearest Costco is over an hour and a half away. Property taxes are insane. As close as the grocery store may be, it's pricey compared to larger cities and the variety is significantly less. Any shopping besides food and it's wise to travel to one of the bigger cities. That wouldn't be such a big deal if I wasn't hauling 3 little people with me. And the nearest airport is an hour and a half away.

These things keep running through my mind as Jeremy and I occasionally discuss where we want to end up. I wish we could transplant this little piece of home anywhere we went because I will be so sad when it's time to go. I don't think you can find many places like this. But as my mom always said when I was growing up (and still tells me), you can be happy anywhere you choose to be. There's good and bad in all places and you can choose what you're going to see. My mom rocks. I'm just glad it's so easy to see the good here.

Katie's New Shirt

When we were in Spokane I found this Piglet hoody at the Salvation Army. It was too big for Kate at the time so it's just been sitting in a bin. I pulled it out this week and was so excited it fit (oh, the simple joys of life). My mom wanted pictures, so here you go, Mom.

When you ask her to smile, this is what you get: eyes closed and teeth showing.
How could you not love this shirt? I wish I had one.

For My Grandma Frandsen

Grandma, I thought you might enjoy some pictures of their tubby time. The first two pictures are of Cora, then the next two are of Sydney.

I hope you know I keep trying to get a picture of their huge gummy smiles, but I think the light of the camera mesmerizes them because they instantly pull this bug-eyed look when I pull out the camera.

For the Sake of the Family Budget

Taking Pele to a groomers for a bath: $50

Bathing her ourselves: Free (maybe 20 cents for the water and shampoo use)

Spending an hour tackling her into the tub, drying her with towels and then the blow dryer with Katie's assistance: Priceless.

She stayed clean for a few days.