Comings and goings

3rd baby 36 weeks

2012-01-13T23:06:00.001-06:00

Here I am at 36 weeks today. I'm tired. In the past two weeks I really have felt like the maternity train ran me over. My face is often flushed (as pictured), my right hand has been very achy, last week was my last week of continuous jogging. I was averaging about 9:30 min. miles that last week, but my back and belly could feel the strain after just 1.75 miles, so I decided this was the week to switch to walking. I've walked twice this week with both boys in the stroller. It's easier, but takes longer. I was in regular clothes today on my walk and I couldn't help but jog a little bit a couple times. I averaged 15 min. miles.

I've been sleeping worse lately too. Nightmares. Hot. Hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. You know, normal end of pregnancy symptoms.

We've had two classes with my doula, and afterward Matt told me he felt a lot better for me. He's a lot more confidant than when I first started talking about a vba2c, and I think he finds a lot of comfort in the fact that I have a doula and he won't have to be the only support person for me! I actually have to agree, haha. He longs for the "good old days" where fathers waited in the waiting room. I'm getting excited and a little scared to have a 3rd little guy to look after. It's close! I'm very confident about the vba2c being successful.

Comparison pictures of the last two pregnancies are found here.

Christmas morning and beyond

2012-01-13T22:47:00.002-06:00

Since I'm obviously not getting these posts up as fast as I'd hoped, I figured I ought to just post what I have for the rest of Dec.So, sorry for the picture purge! I need to catch up before the baby comes. Matt had 4 weeks off of work and it was really quite fun! He got tons of work done the first two weeks and tons of play in the last two.

Christmas Morning

Notice Walter has his yogurt covered raisins in his hand.

He had most of his stocking goodies eaten before the day was over.

Walter loved the guitars Santa brought. Dean didn't care that much.

Walt has been rocking out ever since. He is hilarious to watch. He's got all the moves.

Walter got Dean these "gigantic scissors". Dean's pretending to give himself a haircut.

I never thought I'd be the mom of a houseful of boys with guns! The got pop guns and nerf guns and wii guns this year! They were in heaven.

Grandma & Grandpa Brasfield sent these nerf guns and they were definitely a favorite amongst the presents.

These bath pictures weren't actually on Christmas, but they feature one of the presents they got. Well, Dean got a shaving kit and Walt got a fishing set for the bath. Dean actually was more excited for the fishing, and Walter has loved the shaving kit. Guess we got that one wrong!

Christmas Dinner:

Ribeye Roast

Yorkshire pudding

Broccoli, gravy, and martinelli's. It was all delicious. We'll keep this tradition.

The rest of December:

My friend Destinee came to town. She was my roommate when I taught English in China 10 years ago. It was so fun to see her. She's 6 weeks pregnant with twins in this (can't tell) as a surrogate for friends. Awesome!

Walter and I were playing "construction site" with beans and trucks. Dean took the pics.

Bowling

We wanted to take the boys bowling to break up the mario kart and other such after Christmas activities. I was worse than horrible, but it was fun. Dean bowled half the time without the ramp and half the time with. He got a better score than me!

Walter is celebrating after his turn. They were great celebrators, even if they didn't get all or most of the pins down!

Matt whooped us all. This was taken by Walter I believe.

Christmas Eve 2011

2012-01-03T21:06:00.000-06:00

While I didn't take any pictures of our meal, we ate a Mediterranean themed dinner comprised of Israeli Couscous with grilled vegetables, marinated grilled Chicken satays, and martinelli's sparkling juice. I think we'll make that a tradition. At least the theme. The food can vary.

After dinner we gave the boys baths and then had our Christmas Pageant. Matt read Luke 2 and some out of Matthew as I tried my best to help them act it out. It's hard when we have limited actors and we have multiple roles to fill!

Mary, large with child. =)

Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus

A shepherd watching his flock by night.

The boys and I made some crowns after nap for our wisemen.

I'm not sure why, but this is the only picture I have of Dean and Matt. Good thing we have it all on video.

After the pageant we watched some of the nativity videos on the LDS.org site and the boys seemed to absorb a little more of the story. We let them open their new PJs. Got it on video. Forgot pics.

Candy Houses

2011-12-28T21:47:00.000-06:00

Rather than do one loooong post of this past month's activities, you'll probably see a string of Christmas related posts in the next few days.

Growing up we had a tradition of making graham cracker houses on a Monday night close to Christmas for our Family Home Evening. We would usually watch The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, have more candy than we would see the rest of the year at our disposal, and my parents would help us build our houses while we could decorate any way we wanted. I didn't ever feel very creative, but it was always a lot of fun and something I looked forward to every year.

The boys had a lot of fun. Matt built their houses and the boys decorated (Matt helped Walt with his a little). I built and decorated my own. Dean was a minimalist when it came to decorating. After about 4 starlight candies he said he was finished. I kept promising him he could use more candy! He ended up putting a little more on after my promptings. Walter ate probably 3 times as much as Dean and put about that much more on his house as well. He has a sugar tooth for sure! We listened to the Muppet's Christmas Album with John Denver since that was a Christmas fav. for Matt's family. Dean did tell me he didn't like it though. haha. Silly boy.

I think my favorite thing from the whole night was when Matt was asking the boys their favorite feature of their houses, Dean said it was his guns on the roof. Matt asked what the guns did and he said, "They shoot candy at the bad guys and they eat it until their stomachs explode." HAHAHA! Where in the world did he come up with that?? And you know, in America, that might just work as a good form of home security.

Growing up we'd keep our houses on the mantle until the New Year and then we'd eat the candy off of them. It grosses me out just to think about how dusty, stale and old it must have been! But we loved it. I let the boys eat theirs the day after Christmas, and they just ate mine today. I failed to get a picture of mine. Oops.

Their faces in these next four just cracked me up, so I added all of them in even though they're similar. We tried to get a "normal" picture of both of them, but I think we failed on all accounts...unless this is normal. Yeah. I think that's it.

3rd baby 32 weeks

2011-12-16T21:00:00.000-06:00

I can't believe how much my belly has grown in 4 weeks!!!! I was looking at my 28 week photos and today's and my belly is so much bigger. I have no idea how I'm still able to jog, but I am, and when I'm by myself I'm still about 9-10 min. miles depending on the day. The body is just an amazing creation I guess. =)

Also, how in the HECK am I going to be able to fit 8 more weeks of baby in this body???? The baby gains 2/3 of their weight in these last 8 weeks. Today I weighed in at 147 (on my home scale w/o clothes, so it would be probably around 150 at the dr. dressed. We'll find out on Monday), so that puts me at 22 lbs. weight gain from my pre-pregnancy weight. I hope I don't have more than 8-10 more pounds to gain since average gain in the last two months is a lb. a week. I guess I'm right about where I was with Walter (maybe slightly bigger belly?), so I'm sure my body can handle it. It just seems so crazy!

For comparison pictures of the last two pregnancies, click here.

The love goes through the umbilical cord

2011-12-05T21:48:00.000-06:00

I have had a rough couple of days with Dean (he's been very moody), so it was so refreshing to have a really great afternoon with him. While Walter was asleep I read him some books and we did 3 pages in his reading lessons book (we're 260 something pages into the book!). He was reading so well (yes, he really is reading some and sounding out a lot more at barely 4) and doing everything so cooperatively.

I let him play some computer while I did chores, and a little while later he ended up coming to find me with word finds he'd printed out from PBS's Word Girl. The words were things like: Flabbergasted, distracted, coordination, cumbersome, futile, etc. He knew a lot of the definitions and would tell me what each word meant as we went down the list. He was in SUCH a fantastic mood as we were doing this. He kept giving me hugs and kisses and told me he loved me. At one point he said, "I want to give the baby a kiss." and he kissed my belly. He then said, "The baby knows that I love him. My love goes through your belly, through the umbilical cord, to the baby, and then the baby knows that I love him. That's how it works. The baby loves me too." I just love that kid.

The beginning of the Christmas parties

2011-12-05T21:00:00.000-06:00

Friday night we went to our first Christmas party at Raytheon. I don't know if they had it previous years and we just didn't go or what. It was pretty low key, but the kids had fun. Walt was enthralled by the electric trains. They decorated cookies and made some crafts, and as we were leaving we got to ride on a little train around the parking lot. Oh yeah, and they got to sit on a motorcycle. They had a good time and were pretty well behaved considering their behavior leading up to the party was less than desirable and the fact that Walter skipped his nap!

We went to a Christmas breakfast fundraiser at Dean's preschool Saturday morning. They'd been up since 6:50, had only had milk, and it was 8:30 by the time we got to the breakfast. They were serving pancakes, sausage, and orange juice. I thought for sure the boys would both be all over the breakfast since they love pancakes at home and they were both hungry. However, they both took one bite (well, I think Dean may have had three bites) and were done! I tried getting Walter to eat another bite, and he promptly spit it out onto his plate. My pancakes are a whole wheat/oat mixture with real maple syrup and they usually have 2 pancakes a piece. I have to admit I was kind of happy to know that they're beyond wanting bisquick-type-white-bread-flavorless-pancakes with the thick fake sugar syrup. On the way home Matt asked if they liked the pancakes and Dean said, "They were not very good." I used the last of my homemade pancake mix earlier this week, so we came home and I made them an Isagenix shake instead. =) I love Isagenix. I'm glad my boys do too!

It was a little too quiet...

2011-12-05T09:29:00.001-06:00

A few days before Thanksgiving it was a little too quite and I wondered what Walter was up to. As I peeked into their bedroom, I found him sitting at his little table with a pile of board books reading to himself. I love that I'm raising book lovers and readers!! His hair, as cute as it was, was getting a little bushy, hence the need for the haircut!!

A few Thanksgiving pics

2011-12-03T23:24:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving was a great day. I got to go take a nice jog by myself on a crisp foggy morning. The boys were good. I cooked most of the day. Matt did the turkey and I did everything else. We had Turkey, mashed potatoes, fresh homemade wheat bread (Matt prefers it to rolls for leftover turkey and I have to say I agree), cranberry sauce, brined free range turkey (really did make a difference in taste both fresh and leftover, though it was a little drier), green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and martinelli's. It was yummy. We didn't do much else and it was just our family. All of us got haircuts right before Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for a healthy body!

2011-11-26T21:43:00.001-06:00

Before our races

I haven't yet loaded pictures and videos from our actual Thanksgiving day/dinner, which was quite nice, but my friend Kirstin had these pictures from our Believe races today, so I thought I'd post this while it was fresh. This is who I ran the half marathon with in May. Since then she has run a full marathon and is signed up for another on New Year's day. She actually ran the 10K today, and placed first in her age group!

I have totally been looking forward to this 5K race. Sure it's only 3.1 miles, but I was really hoping I could feel good enough to medal. After looking at times from previous races last night, I didn't think that was really going to happen; I just wanted to have a good, solid run for where I am right now in pregnancy. Last night I spent a couple of hours getting the right playlist, and it turned out to be a great one.

The weather was supposed to be cold and rainy, and when I woke up around 4am I heard rain and just prayed we'd have a brief respite for the race. The weather was lovely, probably the best hour of the day! There wasn't much wind, no rain, and the sun came out. I did have to take off my jacket about 3 seconds into the race though. =) It started turning cold again during the awards ceremony, so I guess my prayer was answered!

I started out around an 8:30 pace and was pretty solid in keeping it. There were a number of hills, something I'm not used to running around my house, so I did have some slight variations in time. I have to say, I love, love, love running with my Garmin. I don't know how I ran without it before! When I hit the half way point, I started passing people pretty regularly. I may have sped up a little, but I think some of them just started out too fast maybe and were slowing down? Not sure. I had to really focus on keeping my breath even at a couple of points when I started feeling a little constricted, but with little sips of water and concentrating on maintaining my peace and confidence, I never felt like I was pushing it too hard.

Matt and the boys were at the finish to meet me. The last stretch was up a decent hill, so I was a little winded. He did take a video of me coming in so maybe I'll post that when I get it loaded. Matt took the boys home shortly after that, but Kirstin and I wanted to stay for the results.

After our races with our medals

Kirstin saw hers first. She was the 9th woman overall in the 10K and 1st in her category with an 8:07/mi pace! I was a little surprised to find my name and see that I placed SECOND in my age category!!! I medaled at 30 weeks pregnant! Just think how fast I could be without a little fetus in my belly! It was very empowering. I used to think that I was just a jogger, but I really do think I'd consider myself a runner now. My time was 26:30 for the 3.1 miles which put me at an 8:22/mi. pace. I was pretty happy with that considering that was just as good as my best pre-pregnancy pace in the past year! We stuck around for the medal ceremony and had someone take our pic. with our medals on. I think I need to learn how to pose for pictures better, though, because I mainly just look like a butterball turkey with some pretty hefty thighs in this! haha. Ah well. At least this Turkey can run. I can say I am very, very thankful for a healthy body. What a blessing.

3 baby 28 weeks

2011-11-18T21:11:00.001-06:00

Another month has gone by! Sorry this blog has turned into a baby diary! But this is what is on my mind (and in my body. hehe). Here we are at 28 weeks. Welcome to the 3rd trimester. I have felt quite good. I can tell the baby is getting much bigger and moves a TON. You can now easily see when he is moving (like I have an alien life form in me), and the other day Dean goes "I just saw your belly move! I think the baby is walking around!!" I told him he probably didn't have much room to walk, and he said, "Well, maybe he's just doing somersaults then."

While we were playing outside the other day, the boys were being really good and I said something like,

"You know I love you boys."
Dean: "Yeah, and you love the baby too!"
"Of course, he's one of my boys too."
Dean: "Next time we have a baby I hope we have a girl since you're the only girl in our family."
"Yep. I'm the lone girl in a pack of boys."
Dean: "No you're not! You're a happy girl with your favorite boys!"

Well said, Dean. Well said.

Walter often hugs and kisses my belly saying he's giving the baby hugs. So, so cute. Sometimes he leans up against my belly and says he's squishing the baby. haha.

I'm still able to jog. It's been great. I nearly gave up about a month ago when I started having some belly aches, but then my body just seemed to acclimate itself to my belly and I had a renewed sense of strength. I don't really have belly pains, so I figure I'll just keep at it! This morning I ran 3.22 miles in 31 min. (by myself, I'm about a min. slower per mile when I have the boys), so I feel pretty darn good about that. I think I'm going to do the McKinney Believe! 5k run next Saturday. I considered doing the 10K, but I know I can do 3.1 miles without pushing it, and I haven't done anything over 4 mi. in a couple months, so I didn't want to over do it.

Here's a link to what I looked like at 28 weeks with my other two.

Birth affirmations

2011-11-11T22:38:00.001-06:00

I am a believer that there is a strong mind/body connection and that what we think influences our bodies' physical response. As I have been reading and trying to prep for this upcoming birth, I have felt a desire to create an affirmation list that I can print out and either read or have someone read to me while I'm in labor. Here's what I've come up with so far. I imagine I will add to it. I haven't written down who said the quotes I threw in, but I imagine you can google them and find the source. If not, ask me and I'll tell you.

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“My body is not a lemon

I am not a machine

The Creator is not a careless mechanic”

My body is not broken.

I am capable.

I am enough.
I am strong.
I am a good mother.
I am happy.
I eat and drink good things.
I am healthy.
I smile and laugh because life is good.
I forgive other people and I am compassionate with myself
I forgive myself for my shortcomings and work to become better each day.
I am a compassionate and loving, caring person.
I have inner peace.
I am resourceful.
I am lovable.
Whatever this birth brings will make me stronger, wiser, and more patient.

This feeling is normal.

This birth is normal.

I am not alone.

I am relaxed.

I am in control.

I am loved.

I am patient.

I am beautiful right now.

My body was made to birth babies.

My body is amazing.

I listen to my body.

“Perfect love casts out all fear”

“The Family is ordained of God.

Families are central to our Heavenly Father’s plan here onearth and through the eternities.”

I have faith in God and His plan for my family and me

I will “discover and treasure the beauty and sweetness of[this birth]”

“In the most beloved story of a baby’s birth, therewas no decorated nursery or designer crib—only a manger for the Savior of theworld.”

My thoughts on my births

2011-11-01T22:22:00.000-05:00

Meeting Walter for the first time in the OR

I've probably told some of this in previous posts, but I've been thinking about this a lot lately and felt like it would be cathartic to write it out.

I have had a couple of people ask why I would want to try VBA2C (vaginal birth after 2 cesarean). When I had Dean, I was sure that it was a life and death situation by the way the doctor was acting. After my 18 hours of labor and c-section with him, all the drugs in my system left me convulsing and I could barely open my eyes (let alone nurse or hold him) when Matt brought him after he'd been cleaned. I remember hearing myself say in a very drug induced way, "Thank you for saving my baby!" as they were sewing me back up. My actual doctor was the one who did the c-section (though she wasn't there at all for my 18 hours of labor), but she did a great job and I healed up pretty well. Because I felt like it was so "emergency" I never really felt angry about having to have a c-section (though I did feel very angry about the nurse refusing to help me get him latched that night because she had "5 hours of charting she was behind on" etc. So Matt just ended up holding him, we sent him back to the nursery for the whole night, and I slept off all the drugs that were in my system). It's just what happened. I don't feel like I had many problems recovering from Dean's birth emotionally. As I look back on it, it probably wasn't quite as dire of a situation nor was his cone head or molding abnormal. It's hard to say, though, since we were so naive of the actual birthing process, interventions and the like. Oh, and as an aside, I just heard from a reputable source (though I haven't had official confirmation) that the c-section rate in my area is 50%!! That is outrageously high in my opinion. Makes me think that the doctors here jump to c-section unnecessarily and quickly!

When I was pregnant with Walter, I did have a desire to try for a vaginal birth. My OB would have allowed me a trial of labor at Centennial Hospital which was further away from us (and my doctor's practice) than MCM. She was a pretty laid back doctor, so I didn't really feel like she was truly discouraging me from having a VBAC, but she also didn't inform me much of anything or encourage me either. I was never given a clear reason as to why I had a c-section with Dean. She stressed that they could not induce me and who knows how long I'd go or how big my baby would be. She also mentioned she would have had to cancel all her appointments when I went into labor since the hospital was further from her practice and I was higher risk. Matt didn't feel all that comfortable with a VBAC. He couldn't really see another outcome than another c-section, so why not just take the emergency out of the equation. In the end I went with a scheduled c-section. I kind of felt like my body was "broken". I wasn't sure if I was "big enough" to birth a normal baby.

Walt's birth was so much more surreal than Dean's. I knew what day I'd have him. I knew what time of day. I didn't have one contraction nor one Braxton Hicks contraction even. I was happy to have my baby after surgery, but I honestly don't think I felt like I'd "earned" him. After having Dean I was a leaky lactating mess every time he cried or even when I thought about him. It was not so with Walt. I was, however, leaky when I heard Dean cry even after I had Walt home. I gave away all my nursing pads after about 4 months and then at about 5 or 6 months I finally felt connected enough to the little guy and started gushing like I'd just started nursing him! My emotional state after I had Walt was precarious. I was a wreck. I felt like a crazy person most of the time. Walt was so good so I felt guilty about being such a mess, but Dean was just hitting his 2's and I was not handling that well. I felt very, very disconnected from my family of origin and didn't feel like I had enough close friends to lean on or call on anyone. It didn't help that the few people I did try and reach out to were not that responsive or were actually quite aloof. I remember talking to my mom at one point saying I just wanted to come spend a month in Snowflake so I could get my head back on right. Luckily we were able to go to CA for Christmas that year for 3 weeks. I had help. I was able to go on some dates with Matt. I felt like I was able to finally "heal" emotionally and put my crazies away for good. That was about 6 months after Walt was born.

When I started running again in March of 2010, I started voicing my desire of having a vba2c as I jogged with my running partner. I knew I was a ways off from even wanting to be pregnant, and I didn't know if it was even possible, but I knew I didn't want to have to go through another postpartum experience like I'd just been through. I talked about it a lot. I kept going to see my OB, though for most of my check ups I ended up with the nurse rather than my OB. At my 1 year check up I remember asking the nurse practitioner if a vba2c was even possible, and she said they didn't do it and didn't know anyone who did. I even wrote my doctor and asked if it was possible and she said no, and that she didn't know of any doctor who would do a vaginal birth after multiple cesareans. That sounded like bull to me.

I had a friend who had been a midwife before moving to TX. Talking with her about my birth experience with Dean was the first time I questioned the veracity of the "emergency" of my c-section, and she told me some things they could have tried rather than going straight to a c-section. I started thinking in the direction of midwife and birthing center though I'd never really considered it before. After I learned I was pregnant with baby #3, I emailed her and asked if she knew of anyone who would do a vba2c since my doctor swore she didn't. She pointed me to the ICAN group of North Texas (International Cesarean Awareness Network). I also had a lead on a midwife about 1/2 hour north of me from a friend who'd had 5 home births with midwives, the last being with this particular midwife in Sherman. The ICAN is how I got in contact with Dr. Cummings, the OB I chose to go with, and the midwives in Sherman that I considered, but Matt felt was too risky. Both said they'd allow me a trial of labor.

I just sent my papers and deposit into the woman that I've hired to be my doula because, honestly, I know I need someone else in there if I'm going to accomplish what I want to. No matter how many classes I take or books I read, I really want someone there to keep it real, simple, calm, and keep me informed.

Kathy, my doula, asked if I had planned a natural birth the first time around and if I was hoping to go med free this time or if I just wanted to vbac. I didn't really have a plan with Dean. I didn't know what to expect enough to write out a real birth plan. I had mixed emotions on the meds. I had friends and siblings who had done it both ways and loved the ease of the epidural. I also had friends and family who were very adamant about having a natural birth. I went 9 hours from my water breaking until I got an epidural with Dean, and that was when Matt stepped out for breakfast and I didn't want to go on by myself with contractions. My goal was to try to go without, but if I wanted them, then I wasn't opposed to them. This time, my original goal was to just vbac successfully, labor at home as long as possible, and see how it went in the way of meds. So not all that different from the first time around.

However, the more reading and research I do, and the more birth stories I read, I'm convinced I would like to have a natural birth. And with a doula by my side (Matt kind of doesn't get why you wouldn't go straight to an epidural), I really think I can do it. I don't do things just because they're easy, and I don't NOT do things because they're challenging. I didn't run a half marathon because it was easy. I don't make my own bread or cook most of my food from scratch because it's easier than buying it. I feel like I run on the "natural" end of the spectrum in almost all other aspects of my life. I really, really want to experience birth in it's true, primal form. Regardless of the outcome this time, be it vaginal or c-section, I don't think it will be like either of the other 2 births. I will not be bullied or tricked or scared into a c-section. If there is truly a medical concern I will listen and weigh the options rather than blindly follow the hospital staff.

I just finished watching The Business of Being Born and am in the middle of reading Your Best Birth, both by Ricki Lake. I wish I'd seen it before I had Dean. I probably would have seriously considered birthing in a birthing center (Matt's soooo not into the home birth though I have nothing against it) with certified nurse midwives. I'm nearly convinced that my particular "emergency" c-section was most likely not a true emergency. Maybe, but I've come a long way from thinking that I or my baby would have died during labor had I not had a c-section (my exact sentiments right after I gave birth to Dean). There's a great birthing center in Allen that I would have gone to this time around, but their director doesn't allow VBAC patients (let alone VBA2C) since we're considered high risk. I do realize now that my doctor is really an exception to the rule on doctors, and there really aren't many who will take on VBAmultipleC patients because of possible litigious reasons (NOT because of the possibility of the uterus rupturing). There's only 1 other OB/GYN I know of in the area who will take new patients in my situation that I know of. In some states (AZ being one) it's actually illegal to even have a trial of labor after 1 c-section. So, I'm glad I get to at least try.

Grandma's visit

2011-10-31T22:33:00.000-05:00

We were so lucky to have my mother-in-law Kris come and visit us for a week and a half. We don't get visitors here very often since we're out of the way and far from our homes, so it was AWESOME. The boys loved it. The first night Walter didn't want to go to bed because he was afraid grandma wasn't going to be there in the morning. Even this morning, 3 days after she went home, Walter was asking why grandma wasn't here and why she didn't live here. It's sad living so far from family.

But her visit was FUN! I already posted pics of our State Fair trip. The other "big outing" we did was go to the Dallas Arboretum. I'd seen it on Groupon and since I just signed up I had a code for $15 off my first groupon purchase. So I got Grandma and me in free with the groupon discount and the code and only had to pay for Dean and parking, so it was a sweet deal.

Dean was being a bit of a pill in the beginning and he was dead set on making silly faces only for pictures.

Quite possibly one of the worst pregnancy photos of me ever.

I loved the houses made of pumpkins.

They had so many varieties of pumpkins and gourds. It was pretty cool.

"It's just like ice skating mom!" (He's never been ice skating, but the rocks were slippery!)

This area was actually roped off until 2pm (we were there around 1) for special tours, but the boys went in and I snapped a picture before making them come out.

Texas Town was a cute area that had log cabins the perfect size for toddlers. Here's Walter making himself some Horse Apple soup.

I was so sad when we took her to the airport. It was a lot of fun having her around, and she was mighty helpful when it came to wrangling 2 crazy kids on weekday outings!

Baby 3 Belly @ 24 weeks

2011-10-24T21:04:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been 6 weeks since I last posted a picture, but I guess that's ok since it then puts me on the right track for my other pregnancy pictures. Dean was being extra silly while taking pictures this time, and we didn't come away with super great pics. I look extra belly heavy, so much so that it appears I'm falling over! =) Dean couldn't quite get it straight. The shirt and pants are both "regular" clothes, and the pants are even too baggy and I can still button and zip them, so I must have gone through a chubbier phase for sure! Or I was just not wearing well fitted clothing. Or a little of both. After seeing these pictures I'm probably done wearing this shirt. Just looks a little too short.

Interested in how this compares with my first two pregnancies? I am.

Here's 24 weeks with Dean

Here's 24 weeks with Walter.

I have to admit, I'm pretty surprised looking at these. I thought I was carrying very similar to how I carried with Walt, but I'm carrying so much lower and a bit bigger! Maybe that means it will be helpful for the vba2c (vaginal birth after 2 cesarean-sections) that I'm planning? Oh, and speaking of vba2c, I interviewed and hired a doula. I guess I need to do the paperwork still, but I'm excited to find someone. Kathy Voigtsberger
of Whole Heart Birth.

I have still been walking/jogging about 3 miles a day 3 or 4 days a week. Usually it's with the stroller at about a 13-18 min. pace depending on if I'm walking or "jogging". But today I got to run by myself since my MIL is here and I averaged 9.5-10.5 min miles!! I was shocked as could be. I was able to do 3.25 miles in 32 min. I didn't have any stomach cramping and I felt great the whole time. There was a really thick fog which is unusual, and it was just so refreshing. I almost felt like a real jogger as opposed to a 6 mo. pregnant lady trying to pretend to jog as I waddle down the street.

Dean's 4th Birthday

2011-10-23T22:34:00.001-05:00

Wow. It's been ages since I posted last. It has been out of control busy around here. I'm almost to a point where I can breath...

This past week I've had a girls' night out b-day party, 3 church interviews, picked up my MIL from the airport, made birthday treats for preschool, interviewed an hired a doula, picked up/trimmed/froze a lot of chicken from the Zaycon food truck, bough fabric for my couch cover, had a Halloween recital where I combined with 3 other teachers with small studios, went to the TX State Fair, participated in McKinney make a difference day (a service day in the community), shopped for Dean's b-day, made and decorated his cake, taught nursery and attempted to split the Jr./Sr., and got to watch Dean's primary program. That was in addition to the normal "fold laundry, do dishes, clean bathrooms, teach piano lessons, etc." Seriously. Busy. Week.

But I think I will start with yesterday which included the service day, and the state fair. Our church congregation was asked to participate in the McKinney Make a Difference day. At first I was hesitant because I didn't know what sort of service I could do with a 2 and 4 year old, but some friends assured me we could do a valentine craft for a nursing home. When we got there at 8:30am, I told the women at the front table that I hadn't signed up yet. As they were explaining the form to me, Dean picked up the table and dumped it over!!!! I didn't see that one coming. The two volunteers had HUGE cokes sitting on the table that quickly came crashing down to the floor, spilling all over. My immediate thought was, "THIS is why they ask us not to have dark beverages in the church!" I sat Dean in a little time out on the couch and ran to get cleaning supplies. I was so embarrassed! The women were very nice and understanding. I helped clean up as much as we could (you could still see the coke stains this morning...darn it) and then we headed in to the craft. It was easy enough for us to do and we stayed about 45 min. till Dean started melting down about not being able to do it the way HE thought he should do it. When Grandma asked why he would do something like that and pointed out that he spilled their drinks, he said, "They didn't need that soda anyway. It's not good for their body."

After we got home and Matt finished helping someone move, we packed up and went to the TX state fair. It was huge and expensive, but some friends gave us entrance tickets for free, so it ended up being fun and worth it even though they overcharge for everything. Walt was pretty devastated when he couldn't go on some of the rides Dean could because he wasn't tall enough. It was a testament to me the we are not ready for big theme parks like 6 flags or Disneyland. The youngest will need to be about 4 or older for it to be worth it I think! We tried the award winning fried cookie dough and fried pizza. Neither were that great, but it was interesting to try. The only ride I was allowed on was the Ferris Wheel.

At the end of the day, just before we were going to leave, Matt noticed a rodeo round up for kids Dean's age. He got to participate and ended up winning the "bull riding" in his little group! He got a trophy and everything. He was very cute and it was by far the highlight of the day.

After we got home I had to do some birthday shopping for Dean AND make his cake even though my feet were hecka tired. It was worth it in the end though.

This morning at church we had the primary program where the kids do the entire service portion of sacrament. I swear my Dean can't sit still for even one moment! He was sliding down the banisters like a fireman's pole. His arms were in motion almost the entire time he was up there, and he kept covering his teacher's face with her hair. BUT, he did say his part memorized and well. "Lord Jesus, our Redeemer true."

After church I came home and finished decorating Dean's cake. I made a chocolate zucchini cake with chocolate buttercream frosting. It was really good. I tried to do a Luigi themed cake since he's been so into Paper Mario this last month or two and wants to be Luigi for Halloween. It was only my 3rd attempt at a decorated cake, so while it wasn't perfect, I thought it turned out pretty well.

We made pizza for dinner. I am happy to say our pizza making has improved leaps and bounds over the last 3 years. We put out almost a restaurant quality pizza tonight. We just need to find better quality toppings and we'll be all set. Matt helped out tonight and he did a great job.

After dinner we opened presents, played with presents, had cake, and played with more presents. I think this is probably the best present buying I've done to date. I have not had a great track record trying to buy for him. This time he got a remote controlled car, a cars "pedal" bike and helmet, a stomp rocket, a ball and bat, stickers, a pillow pet from grandma, and some shirts. He had lots of fun with everything. We all enjoyed the cake and they ate the mushroom cupcakes immediately after he blew out the candles! He even got his face in and took a bite out of the cake as if he were a 1 year old...ah well. I am so glad my MIL was here. We had tons of fun.

What shapes tessellate?

2011-10-05T21:47:00.003-05:00

Last week Dean, Walter and I were out on the playset swinging. As I was pushing them, Dean (3 y.o.--ok 4 at the end of the month) asks, "Mom, what shapes tessellate?" I was pulling out of the back corners of my brain that tessellation was a repeating pattern, so I said, "I think all of them do buddy." To which he replied, "No mom. Shapes that tessellate can't have any overlaps or gaps when you put them together." HA! When I asked where he learned that he said, "Cyberchase." (a PBS show/games online). At least he's learning things when he plays those games...there are some redeeming qualities to certain gaming.

So, I decided to print out some shape pattern pages from this site and let them color them. When Dean got out the shapes I made he says to himself, "Tessellation. When you use a single shape in a repeated pattern without any overlaps or gaps." He is a little dictionary! I cut them out and Dean really enjoyed playing with them as long as they cooperated (didn't leave any gaps or overlaps--a little tricky with paper). I wish I had the little pattern blocks since it would have been easier to work with, but this was cheap and accessible. While we were doing it he kept saying, "MOM! Hexagons really DO tessellate!!!!" After we finished and we were playing in his room, he asks, "Mom, do rhombuses tessellate?" My answer? "Let's go see!" (ie., I'm not totally sure what a rhombus is, so lets go look at pics on the internet. For any who may have forgotten like I had, a rhombus is just a diamond.)

My amazing parents at the St. George Marathon

2011-10-02T20:13:00.001-05:00

This weekend my parents and brother ran the St. George Marathon. Yes. 26.2 miles. While Eric is a veteran marathon runner, this was my parents' first. They are such an inspiration. It's amazing to think that when my mom first started running (~25? years ago) that it was a major accomplishment to make it 1 mile. After they ran their first half marathon, my mom didn't think they'd ever do something like that again. So instead they ran a full one! haha. They got the right gear, had a good training program, hit some bumps along the way, and kept on going all the way across the finish line. My mom finished in 5:05, and my dad, who had been nursing 2 sever injuries the last month and a half, finished in 5:58. His goal was to "stay ahead of the bus" and make it in under 6 hours, and with my awesome brother by his side every step of the way, he did it! They are such fighters and are absolutely amazing. I hope to be in as good of shape as them (and look as good) when I'm 60+! They knew my sister Julie was going to be there, but they didn't know her kids or my sister Amanda and her kids would be there as well.

My sister Amanda said it like this, "Yesterday my sister and I surprised my parents at mile 25.8 of the St. George marathon with our kids. Then we all ran with my mom as the kids cheered, "Go Grandma! Go Grandma!" Then my dad cam in an hour later determined to finish even though he had been nursing along back and hamstring injuries for 6 weeks. They are both at the top of my "Heroes" list, along with my brother Eric, who ran every step of it with my dad to make sure that he made it. I love my amazing family!"

Here's my brother Eric's account of the race:

I have never cried in a race but could not help many times as mom pulled away and left us at ~ 8 miles. She looked so young and vibrant and visiting with a very nice lady from Ghana. Dad started having issues about that time with his hamstring but I have never seen anyone with more determination. I had to keep reminding him to stand up straight and breath. There were several times I was extremely worried but he would put his hand on my shoulder and kept going. There were several times people asked if he wanted to get into the shuttle but he would have none of that. At mile 13 I told him he would have grandkids waiting for him and he started to cry to the point of barely breathing. I told him he could not cry again until we finished. Luckily you could see the mile markers at about 3/4 of a mile and I would say what can you see and he would say a yellow balloon then remember they were silver (we grab one after the race). He was amazing and when we had .2 miles to go he had three minutes to get under 6 hours (his goal) and we picked it up and finished to what we think is under 6 hours. It was one of the most rewarding weekends of my life. It meant so much to mom and dad to have Amanda and Julie bring their kids. I cannot express just how proud I am of mom and dad. They are amazing parents and it was humbling to hear dad talk so sweetly of mom and you could just feel the love flow from him.

We truly have amazing parents.

Very, very clear confirmation at 20 weeks

2011-09-29T18:47:00.001-05:00

Well, the sonogram technician didn't even need to tell us what we are having. It was VERY clearly a boy from the very first picture that popped up on the screen. And the name game begins. Now we just need 2 more for a basketball team or 3 more for a hockey team (including the goalie).

It was fun to have the sonogram nearly a month after we normally do because there was so much more detail and the baby looked so much bigger! He was 1 lb. 1 oz. at this point.

I'll spare you the generic ultrasound photo.

I am a child of God

2011-09-25T22:41:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks ago Walt was in his room with the ukelele and started singing his favorite church song, I am a Child of God. Of course when I pull out the camera he stops and has to be coaxed into singing it. It was cute nonetheless.

Last night I went to the General Relief Society Broadcast. It was an amazing conference for the women of our church. The first three talks were good, but I have to admit that it was the last talk that really hit home for me.

Here are my notes from it:
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf began talking of the tiny blue flowers called forgetmenots and then created a metaphor for its 5 petals.

1. Forget not to be patient with your self.

God is fully aware that we aren't perfect.
He is also aware that those we think are perfect are not
Don't compare your weaknesses to others' strengths
Eventually we will all be able to turn our weaknesses into strengths with Christ's help. It's okay that we're not there yet. Stop punishing yourself.
Be thankful for small successes in the home.

2. Forget not the difference between foolish sacrifice and worthy sacrifice.

Am I committing my time and energy to those things that matter most?
It might be good to sacrifice a little sleep to read and study for a class you are going to teach in church.
It might not be good to sacrifice your sleep to stitch the theme of your lesson onto a potholder for every woman in your class.

3. Forget not to be happy now.

Are we too worried to find a golden ticket instead of enjoying the candy bar?
Don't put your happiness on hold while you are waiting for something else (perfect marriage, perfect kids, bigger house, less debt, etc.) to appear.
The Golden ticket may never appear.
If we spend our days waiting for roses, we may miss the wonders of the tiny forgetmenots.
Don't close your eyes and hearts to each day's everyday-moment-wonders.

4. Forget not the why of the gospel.

The gospel is not just a long list of tasks we must somehow fit into our already busy schedules.
The gospel of Christ is not an obligation, it is a pathway. It's a light that illuminates the road before us.
The gospel ceases to become a burden and becomes a light.
What and how mark the way, but the why sanctifies our actions.

5. Forget not that the Lord loves you.

YOU are not forgotten. You are NOT forgotten.
No matter how dark it may seem or how insignificant you feel, God, the King of infinite space and time is your Father and has not forgotten you. God loves you even though you make mistakes. Allow His divine love in your life.

Every bit of his talk resonated with me and I felt (as many other people have expressed as well) that it was exactly what I needed to hear at this point in my life and motherhood. I can't wait till it comes out in frint so I can read it again.

Yes. I am a child of God, the King of infinite space and time. And I know that he loves me.

"I have been dreaming..."

2011-09-17T13:57:00.003-05:00

Dean has a couple of new phrases he employes a lot recently.

One is, "I really would love...

to fly on an airplane
to go to New York
to stay with you in nursery (said while hysterically sobbing. Matt took Walt and Dean home from church early last week since Walt was sick. They both fell asleep on the drive home!)

Another is, "I have been dreaming..." (Or I really have been dreaming...)

of making a circle of pillows around me (he said that this morning on my bed...)
of making the kind of cookies you can frost with red frosting and yellow frosting and blue frosting (etc.)

These are just a few of the examples I can think of in the last few days. He uses them a lot thought. It's pretty funny.

I couldn't resist and we did end up making the cookies. I basically hate using food coloring with the boys at the stage that they're at because it seems to get EVERYWHERE!!! But, it's worth it in the end. Walter ate as much cookie dough as he could get in his mouth. And probably just as much frosting by itself. I don't make sweets with them often, so when I do I TRY and chill out a little about my sugar freakishness. They had fun.

I got the recipe from a friend. It's kind of a soft, pillowy sugar cookie that makes me think of the Granny B's sugar cookies with pink frosting. The best thing about the recipe was that the dough was not hard to work with at all and I didn't have to chill it. The boys had a lot of fun and though it was messy, I was able to keep up with it without it getting too out of control (though Walter's face and hands may say otherwise...)

Big, Soft Sugar cookies:
Combine
3 C flour (original calls for 3 1/4, but it seemed pretty floury so I used the last 1/4 to dust the table)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

In a large bowl combine and mix for 2 min.:
1 C sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 stick butter
1/2 C. sour cream

Combine wet with dry ingredients, roll out (not too, too thin) and cut shapes. Bake on greased baking sheet at 375* for 7-9 min. (Done, but NOT brown.)

Cool and frost

Her frosting recipe was as follows:
1 pound powdered sugar
1/3 C. evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick melted butter (mine was very soft, but not melted)

Baby 3 Belly @ 18 weeks

2011-09-12T20:20:00.000-05:00

I kind of feel like I exploded the last couple of weeks. I am now in maternity tops (or maternity tanks under regular shirts at the very least). I put away most of my regular shirts, two of my regular shorts, and got out all my maternity wear. All of the maternity bottoms are HUGE, but I had forgotten I had put some of my old "fatter" pants and shorts in with my maternity wear, and those are still a little big but will work for now.

Up until last Sat. I could jog 6 mi. at about 10.5 min/mile pace, but my running partner is doing her marathon this weekend, and I think she'll be doing recovery walking after that. So I'll probably just switch over to that soon. Maybe some jalking (walking and jogging) for awhile. This week I'm painting the last room in our house, so I better go get that all taped off so I can get it done in a timely manner.

Tonight at Home Depot I turned around after getting a cart and an employee was kind of looking at me funny. He then explained, "From the back you look so tiny, and then when you turn around...well, you're still tiny but pregnant! You carry your baby well." haha. I had someone at a yard sale on Sat. tell me almost the same exact thing. "Oh my goodness I didn't realize you were pregnant until you turned around. You carry your baby well." So, that makes me feel good at least even though I'm looking 24 weeks pregnant at 18 weeks. =)

Dean told me to make silly faces, so this is what I came up with. He said, "good job mom!" when I was done. I think I only wrote it on FB, so I figured I'd write it here as well since I actually print this out. The other day my stomach was growling a lot at breakfast and Dean said, "Is that the baby talking?" hahaha. Love it.

I was supposed to have my 18 week check up today, but had to reschedule for next week. We haven't had our "official" ultrasound yet to confirm the 12 week ultrasound results as to the baby's sex.

Here's what I looked like at 20 weeks my last two pregnancies to get kind of an idea of how I progressed each time.

Helping Daddy

2011-09-09T21:58:00.000-05:00

Matt removed the last of the vinyl in our house last Saturday. Yippee! Walter absolutely loves, loves, loves tools and loves to help out around the house, so he wanted in on the action.

Untitled from Celia Brasfield on Vimeo.

Play with your food!

2011-09-08T21:10:00.000-05:00

My kids traditionally don't love eggs, but I make them about once every one to two weeks just because I think they need an opportunity to get used to them. The other day I saw a post on facebook about doing a "quick dye" to boiled eggs to make it more colorful and appealing to kids. I thought that was a good idea, but I tweaked it for my kids and my temperament. I boiled eggs (usually the kids only eat about 1-2 bites of a boiled egg) and gave them markers. Dean didn't want to peal his artwork off, but I promised him that I'd take a picture of it and that sufficed. The kids LOVED drawing on their food. The real test was would they eat it? YES! Dean ate his WHOLE egg and Walt got through about 3/4 of his!!! Crazy.

"No, that's a daddy"

2011-09-07T20:26:00.002-05:00

Tonight I was reading the boys a Halloween book with flaps. Each page was a door you opened to find different trick or treaters in costume. On one page it said, "Who's behind the door?...A mummy!"

Walter replied, "No, that's not a mummy! That's a daddy!" hahahahaha. Cracked me up.

"I changed my name to David"

2011-09-06T21:17:00.000-05:00

This morning when I picked Dean up from Preschool, Ms. Marie (the office manager) said, "Dean told me he wished his name was David." I knew exactly where that came from, but I thought it was funny he was still hanging on to it. Last Thursday he had a "getting to know you" sheet that asked his full name and why he was named that. Then the last question was, "If you could change your name, what name would you choose?" He immediately came up with David. (I think it's because his cousin had a mii on our wii that Dean used to play pretty regularly.)

I didn't say anything about it to Dean, but later this afternoon he said, "Ms. Marie didn't want to call me David." "Well, your name is Dean, not David." "No. I changed my name to David."

HAHA.

Caught napping

2011-09-02T14:23:00.000-05:00

Since I've been 1. pregnant and 2. getting up to run around 5 am 4 days a week, I basically have to lay down for about an hour every day or I can barely scrape through. Walt's always asleep for his own nap, and Dean usually just plays on the computer, wii, or watches a little TV. When I woke up from my nap today, I came out to find him like this:

He usually doesn't nap, but the last 2 weeks or so, he's fallen asleep more than the last 6 months combined. He hasn't gotten enough sleep this summer in my opinion (the boy cannot sleep past 6 am and without naps and a slightly later bed time for summer...), and with me out of the equation, he finds himself bored enough to actually fall asleep. I almost dread it, though, because like now, as I type, he generally wakes up crying inconsolably and has a horrible time recovering from the nap unless it's 3 hours long!

Dean's first week of Preschool

2011-09-01T21:14:00.001-05:00

While I did a co-op preschool last year for Dean, I didn't think I'd have the energy or the gumption to do it again this year with a new baby coming early next semester.

He started this past Tuesday at Little Saints. The first day he was crying when I came to pick him up, not because he'd had a hard time being away from me, but because he wanted to stay and eat lunch with the two boys who do extended day in his class! He was sad again today he couldn't stay for lunch.

The first day Walter was sooo sad Dean wasn't here. He kept asking where Dean was and he threw a lot of fits. Today was much better. He asked a couple of times where Dean was, but his behavior and attitude were improved. Before we left for school, Walt came up to me and said, "I go to preschool with Dean today?" It was so precious. Dean actually had asked if he could come with him "And just go to the 2 year old class."

Both days after school when both Matt and I asked him what he did at school, he said, "I don't know!" Sheesh. I'm going to have to pry info out of this kid! It sure starts young. =)

Dean really wanted to take a picture, so here's one he took of Walt.

Me, myself, and I (and a lot of other random things)

2011-08-27T21:09:00.000-05:00

(Disclaimer: this is a random post with a hodge podge of events and items I've wanted to blog about but just haven't been able to bring myself to do yet. Sorry no pics!)

Big breakthrough over here! Dean has been speaking in the first person the last few days! He occasionally still refers to himself in the third person, but he'll often catch himself. I think it's partly because Walter has really been picking up on it and using those words correctly in sentences, and Dean's heard us praising Walt. I also just think it's because he's getting older and understands more. Good timing too since he's starting preschool next week!

We had Dean's meet the teacher yesterday and I think it will be a great year with her. They only have 7 kids in their class, about half girls and half boys. He seemed to really like it. It's a non-denominational Christian preschool. They have different play stations, circle time, snack, art, music, story, an outside recess time, soccer, and have a 15 min. chapel time once a week where they sing songs about Jesus. It's based in a Presbyterian church, but there are actually a ton of Mormon (and other faiths) kids who attend. I'm happy I chose to put him in a preschool as opposed to a co-op. I think the co-op was perfect for last year, but I'm not sure I'd have been up for that this semester, and I couldn't have done it next with the baby coming and all. It's relatively affordable ($160 for 3 hours twice a week), way cheaper than anything else around here, so that's a plus too. Plus, I have TONS of friends who recommended it and said their kids loved going there. I hope he has a fantastic experience.

School started this week for the public schools. My running partner is in the last few weeks of training before her marathon, so she has been getting up between 4-5 to go running so she can finish in time to get the kids up and to school! I've gone running with her 4 times this week, twice at 5 and twice at 5:30 where I jumped in with her in the middle of her run since she had like 10-20 miles to run and I could only do about 5 mi. I've run about 23+ miles this week, which I think is fairly decent considering I'm 16+ weeks pregnant. I have noticed it affecting my runs a little, though. The water belt has been so cumbersome. I wear it above my belly, but sometimes it feels so heavy so I switch it to below. I can baaaaarely hook it below my belly! I'm definitely feeling more pregnant this week! I'm about 10-11 min. miles, too, so slower than I was a month ago. I'm hoping I can keep running long enough to help Kirstin finish her training before her race.

Walter's still anemic. Boo. We took him to get his blood tested again (I put it off for more than 8 months and the doctor just issued another order for it.) We had done this so many times last year that he because absolutely terrified of going to the doctor, even if we weren't there for him. We'd walk in and he'd start bawling. We've finally gotten over that fear, so I wasn't happy to take him in again and start the process all over again. They had to stick him 3 times to get his blood since he kept jerking around so much. I'm giving him the flinstones vitamins and today I bought some black strap molasses. He wouldn't take it straight, but he drank it in some juice, which I guess is good since Julie told me vitamin C helps the absorption of the iron anyway.

Last night Dean packed up one of his tool boxes with a bunch of random things and said, "This is my emergency kit. I am going to sleep with it just in case there is an emergency and I need to take it with me." Haha. I don't know where he got that from. If it's from our 72 hour kits or if he's heard us talking about Hurricane Irene or something?

One night last week we forgot to put a pull-up on Dean before he went to bed. He woke up dry and felt like such a big boy!! We let him try it in underwear. About half the week he had accidents and half the week he was dry. I think we'll keep trying and probably wake him up around 10-11 to go. Matt did that last night for him and he totally had to go and went right back to sleep.

Walter went poop on the potty (for the second time) last night before bed.

We've been contemplating the need for a new house and a new vehicle. Our Rav4 can fit 3 carseats if we get rid of our monster Britax seats and switch them for Sunshine Kids Radian 65. If we had 2 of those on the sides and an infant seat (or the smaller Britax) in the middle, we can still shut the doors, but there's really no room between the door and the seats. So, we're not sure how safe that would be in a wreck. So, doable, but not sure if we want to do it. I really don't want to have a car loan (or at least a significant one) so we've started making a "car payment" into our savings account once a month. Once we have 10K+ for our car down, we'll start looking more seriously. We're already over half way there, so that's good. As for houses, well, everything is dependent on if we can sell this house and what we can realistically get for it. Matt has now started on the living room floor. He's going to do a little at a time. Today he ripped out the linoleum in front of the boys' rooms/entrance to the garage and cleaned it. We bought all the laminate at Costco a few weeks ago when it was on sale. I'm hoping by Thanksgiving/before Christmas it will all be done. We'll probably list the house in March or April when the buying season starts back up again. In addition to the flooring, I think we mainly only have trim, kitchen cabinets, and one room left that will need painting. We've put a lot into this house this past year!

We're on the 61st day over 100* here in the Dallas area this summer! That is second only to 1980 when they had 69 days over 100*. We have had a record breaking August for heat. Yesterday we beat the record for that day by 7 degrees!!! That's a huge jump! We've only had 1 day with rain in the last 4 months! That was only for 4 hours (and I actually ran 5 miles in the downpour that day), but we were grateful for that. I've been going in and out of anger over the heat, but in the end we'll live through it. I just hope that next year will be better. I just hope our foundation doesn't get hurt from it. Since we have clay for ground here, it shifts like crazy and pulls away from the foundation when it dries up, so you actually have to water your house!

I met with a potential Doula on Thursday. I liked almost everything about her, the only thing that put me off a little was the dead fish handshake. haha. I like it when people have some sort of grip! She's very reasonably priced and I"m sure she'd work fine if I went with her, though I'll probably interview one or two more people. She's helped over 30 mothers who have delivered with my doctor (a number of which were vbac) and said the one thing about him is that he uses the foreceps a lot more than other doctors. She said most docs use the vaccuum now a days, but that if you're skilled with foeceps, it's actually safer and more accurate. He only uses them if the baby isn't descending properly and when he does use them, he doesn't pull the baby all the way out. He pulls the baby to the pubic bone and then has the mom push the baby out. I thought that was interesting. Good to know before going into labor I think! Of those 30 with him, she's only seen him have to do 2 c-sections. One was for a breech baby with a cord wrapped, and the other was for a mom doing a vbac after 3 c-sections. She had 3 separate bands of scar tissue around her uterous and when she contracted it contracted in all 3 places keeping the baby in! I have good hopes for delivering vbac with him. Anyone have recommendations on laboring methods that you swear helped you during labor (besides an epidural!)? Hpnobirthing? Bradley? Something else?

Shockers are quite possibly the best candy on earth.

I am still incredibly addicted to salt right now.

Baby 3 Belly @14 1/2 weeks

2011-08-16T21:00:00.000-05:00

Pictures are courtesy of cameraman Dean.

Matt's 30th

2011-08-16T20:49:00.000-05:00

Well, somehow we're half way through August and I have yet to post about Matt's 30th birthday that occurred July 31st.

Two years ago I made Matt a birthday cake the day I got home from the hospital after having my c-section with Walter. Last year I made him a cherry pie from scratch since we had Walt's birthday cake a mere 4 days earlier. This year Matt really wanted his traditional "Safeway" cake he got growing up every year. Vanilla cake with a raspberry filling and butter cream frosting. Luckily we have Tom Thumb here, which is Safeway under a different name. We bought the absolute smallest one the had (half of a 1/4 is what they called it) since we'd just had Walt's cake. It really was good. I was happy that very cake was on sale for 60% off on his birthday weekend as well so we only had to pay $5 for the cake!

We basically did all of the celebrating on the 30th since his birthday was on Sunday this year. We got free ice cream cones after lunch for Walter and Matt (Dean and I shared one that we paid for). We did a late lunch/early dinner for the boys so we could have cake with them before bed. After we put the boys to bed we went out for a late dinner at Taste of India (YUM. One of our favorites.) We both got our norms (this is the only place that I go back for the same dish nearly every time because it's just so yummy I can't pass it up.) I got Mali Kofta. YUMYUM!!!! Matt got Beef Vindaloo and Chicken Tikka Masala. And of course naan. Yes it was more food than we needed, but it makes for some fantastic leftovers.

After dinner we went to see the last Harry Potter movie in the theater. We both thought it was really good, though Matt remembered some things that were different from the books that I'd forgotten. Overall I thought they did a good job, though they probably could have improved a few minor things. It was a good end to a looooong run of books/movies.

The next day we got to talk with his parents on Skype. That's pretty much all we did to celebrate his birthday on the actual day. Pretty anti-climactic.

Walter's the big 2

2011-08-04T21:45:00.000-05:00

Yesterday [by the time I'm posting this, his birthday was last week!] was Walter's 2nd birthday. It was pretty fun. For breakfast I made him puffy oven pancakes at his request. In the morning we had swimming lessons. During his nap Dean and I made his birthday cake and some party hats. We ran a few errands in the afternoon, and when we got home Dean was in total melt down mode. Both of the boys have had a little cold, and Dean was complaining about his nose being raw. He was whining and crying so much I asked him to go lay down in his room. As I was making dinner, he fell asleep. I normally wouldn't let him sleep so late, but I welcomed the silence. We woke him up to have dinner. Walt said he wanted sausages and french fries, so that's what we had (plus veggies and dip).During dinner he had a birthday call from Grandma and Grandpa Waterman, so that was fun. He even said his ABCs and counted to 11 for them. Today he was pretending he was on the phone with them and started singing happy birthday to himself. =)

After dinner we opened presents and had cake. He got:
HABA basic block set. I have really wanted a good wooden unit block set, and this did not disappoint. Walt's still in the "knock over" stage, as opposed to the building stage, but we've had hours of fun already. These blocks are heavy, smooth, and really well cut and made. I wanted something that wouldn't ding or splinter or have paint flake off, and it really is a fantastic set.

A "grabber" from Dean. He told Walt weeks ago he was going to buy him a gun, and that's all Walt would talk about in connection to his birthday. So I was surprised when Dean picked out the grabber. He was sure it was the perfect gift. He contributed 27 cents to the purchase.

A robot plushy from me, requested by Matt. I started this 2 days before his birthday because I was having some motivation issues, but I got it finished by 1am on his birthday. I think it turned out really cute. He likes to take it in the car when we go places.

A very last minute squeeze ball gun from us. When we were running errands before dinner, I slyly picked this up since Walt couldn't stop talking about the gun he was getting for his birthday! He loved it. (Though they've already ruined all but 1 ball from chewing on them.)

I bought some punch balloons, which he loves. He also got cards and presents/money from grandparents. It was fun.

Dancing to the music card Grandma Brasfield sent.

For the cake I made a double layer velvet cake (sans red) with cream cheese frosting. It was good. I attempted my very first "decorating" of a cake as I tried to put a robot on the top.

I let the boys play until 9 since they had late naps. They had lots of fun. Dean kept saying, "Thank you Walt for getting this for your birthday. Dean really likes this." hahaha.

What is Walt like at 2??
He's speaking in sentences nearly full time. Some of my favorites include:
"Where you going mommy?" usually followed by "Where you going Dean?" and "Where you going Walter?" or "Going with you mommy? Dean and Walter going with you?"
"Dean did it."
"Bye Daddy. I love you!"
"May please take off my shoes, mommy?" (When we're driving around in the car.)
"May be excused?" (from the table)
"I so hungry mama. I sooo hungry." (all the time! Seriously. He is a bottomless pit. Kind of. If I feed him snacks, he doesn't do great on his meals, so I try and not give him too many snacks in between, but it's hard to resist his persistent pathetic voice!)
"Do you like [...]?" Some that caught me off guard were "Do you like ABC's mama?" and "Do you like dogs?" He loves dogs and animals, but I've never been much of an animal person.
When I ask, "Who wants some (Isagenix) shake?" He usually yells, "I want to!"
He'll bring me a book and say, "Read a book to Dean." and I"ll say, "To who?" and he'll remember and say, "To ME!"

Some misprounounced words that I love are:
Coom-coomer (computer)
Bananaid (bandaid)
Pock-i-pul (Popsicle)

He's starting to get bossier and is constantly mimicking me when I tell Dean to do something. "C'mon Dean!" "No, no Dean!" He knows what he wants and realizes that Dean often purposefully takes what he wants, and he's starting to fight back and get made about it. They fight CONSTANTLY with a few breaks of good playing together. He's even recently been experimenting with "swatting" me and Dean on our hands if he thinks we're doing something inappropriate. Sorry bud. That gets a time out. He gets into everything, especially if it has to do with food or sweets. He is in love with gummy vitamins (never again am I getting those! He asks for them 20 times a day!) and he also loves and asks for Isagenix chocolate snacks. They're these little waffers that you can eat while on a cleanse. He thinks they're candy. I don't mind giving him 1 or 2, but he'll honestly climb up onto the counter, open the non-child proof lid, and try and eat as many as he can stuff in his mouth without me catching him!

The only TV he likes is They Might be Giants Here Come the 123s and ABCs, though he prefers the ABC's. He'll sit through a Curious George, though, if Dean's watching it. Most everything else he tries to turn off every few minutes.

He's very good about returning his cups to the sink, something Dean's never done.

He'll ocassionally start singing songs out of the blue. "ABC's" being the most frequent, but he'll also bust out with Twinkle, Twinkle, and The Itsy Bitsy Spider. He'll always choose "I am a child of God" and the "Hello" song at home evening.

Overall he is just as cute as can be with a few tantrums here and there. He's a very loveable, loving child, and will often give his stuffed toys hugs and kisses before he'll part with them to go into a store or church or some place I don't let him take them.

I really love that little boy.

The decision

2011-07-18T10:13:00.000-05:00

I decided to go with Dr. Cummings rather than the midwives. I had my first appointment this morning at 6:30 am. It was waaaaay better to be the first patient. I will do that every time from now on. No 1.5+ hour waits and no kids since Matt was able to stay with them.

I liked him even more today than I did at the consultation, so that's good. At 10 weeks I'm 129 lbs., up 4.5 lbs. from when I got pregnant. I've been exercising regularly and eating fairly normally (I do have a little more snack after dinner than normal since I'm starving by 8:30), so I don't want to really dwell on numbers if I can help it.

It took him two tries to find the heart beat since he miscalculated where my uterus was. That was a little nerve wracking for a few minutes. I'll have a sono in 2 weeks just to make sure everything is progressing normally. He mentioned that my uterus was measuring a little bigger than 10 weeks, and said something about, "wouldn't it be fun if it were twins?" but he didn't really think there were twins in there.

Baby 3 Belly @10 weeks

2011-07-17T22:05:00.000-05:00

I love to do the baby belly progression and since I'm showing much earlier this time around, I thought I'd start the pics earlier as well. Here I am at 10 weeks. Dean took these pictures for me.

And since the camera was out, the boys wanted me to take some pictures of them as well. Dean wanted one of him showing his muscles, and so I tried to get one of Walt flexing as well, though he didn't quite get the concept. =)

And here is Walter "cheesing" as Dean likes to say.

The relationship of Grace and Works

2011-07-17T21:46:00.000-05:00

I gave a talk today in church on the relationship of grace and works. I had been working on it the last two weeks, then on Friday I was told there was a mix up and they wouldn't need me this week. Then last night at 10 I got a call from our Bishop asking if I could still give my talk because one of the other talks fell through. I was glad I had 3/4 of the talk written! I finished it up this morning before church. I absolutely love speaking in church because it gives so much more meaning and direction to my scripture study. It's also nice preparing something for adult "consumption" since I've been in the nursery so long. It was definitely the talk I've had the most people request I email to them. I've tried to copy and paste word docs to blogger and it always gets messed up, so I turned it into a google doc that you can read if you want to click here.

ramblings about weighing my options

2011-07-12T21:14:00.000-05:00

Today I got to do a consultation with the "famous" vbac (vaginal birth after cesarean) doctor, Dr. Frederick Cummings. When I asked my doctor if she would consider a trial of labor for a vba2c (after 2 c-sections), she said she wouldn't and that she didn't know anyone who would do such a procedure. I thought that sounded like baloney, so I started checking around with a midwife friend and she directed me to the ICAN group of northern Texas. It's a yahoo group forum for women who have had c-sections and want to avoid it if possible for future births. Cummings is far and away the most recommended OB for vbacs, especially after multiple cesareans. He has a really high success rate. Most of the others who don't use him use midwives in home or at birthing centers.

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to do a consultation with some midwives out of Sherman. I LOVED their birth center/house. AWESOME. I wish I had done that with Dean. I bet I wouldn't have had to have a c-section since they're not so quick to jumpy on that. The doctor I was doing a vag birth with Dean sounded panicked and screamed for the nurses to call my doctor to come in the very first time Dean's vitals dropped. I had to beg to even give it a second shot before they carted me off to the OR. Both the midwives and Dr. Cummings said it's not abnormal for vitals to drop and that they probably did a c-section prematurely. The biggest drawback to the ladies in Sherman is that they're not certified nurse midwives.

I did a repeat c-section with Walter out of fear. Matt felt like it was too risky, and my doctor, while she would do a c-section after 1, was not really that "excited" about it since I couldn't be induced, blah, blah, blah. The recovery for me was just not a happy one. I know it's hard adjusting to two, but it was doubly hard not being able to pick up Dean for 6 weeks, especially since he wasn't even 2 years old yet and was still in his crib! I felt like a crazy woman - seriously, I yelled A LOT and cried A LOT those first 6 months.

Anyway, the midwives said they'd be willing to try a vba2c with me. Dr. Cummings also said he is more than happy to do a trial of labor with me as well. On the one hand, I felt more comfortable with the women at the birthing center. It had the right feel to it. It wasn't cold and uninviting like a hospital. It was really, really nice. On the other hand, if something were to go wrong, I'd be transported to a hospital in Sherman to do a c-section there with whatever doctor is on-call. With Dr. Cummings, I could do a trial of labor (he strongly suggests having a duola) and he said the likelihood of having a c-section is small, though he could do it himself if he were doing my vbac and something went wrong.The worst thing about my visit with Dr. C today was waiting 1.5 hours to see the doctor with 2 boys along for the wait. His office was very hospital like (he's in a medical building in the Presby Hospital in Denton). And to be honest, I've grown very accustom to having women doctors. I don't think it would be a big deal to have a male doc., but it's definitely different.

Between the two choices I have now, I think I'd choose Dr. Cummings. But, as I have been doing more searching today, there are other birthing centers closer to me. The one in Allen has all certified nurse midwives who have delivered in hospitals, at home, and in the center. Now if they'll consider a trial of labor I may just go with them! I wish this were easier...

Summer hair cuts

2011-07-10T21:32:00.000-05:00

I've been taking the boys to private swimming lessons all week and we're making progress. Dean's progress has been very, very, painstakingly slow because of all of his fears regarding water in his face/ears/hair/floating on his belly/etc. Walter has taken right to the water and his favorite thing to do is jump off the side (without me even holding him) and come back up on his own. I've been directing him toward the wall when he comes up. We need to work on the concept of kicking his feet to propel himself, but he's a natural in the water. Anyway, our good friend Margaret is the absolute perfect teacher for Dean. She noticed that his long hair was making his water fears even worse because it would send a waterfall down his face if he got wet, so giving them summer hair cuts was our homework for the night.

My cup overfloweth

2011-07-05T22:17:00.000-05:00

I've been having lots, and lots of positive feelings, so I need to get them down here.

Last Friday we had such a fantastic day. Dean seriously didn't ask to get on the computer or TV once until I started making dinner! We had a fun morning at the splash pad/park, and after I put Walt down for his nap, Dean and I worked on creating him a robot costume. "Mom, thank you sooo much for making this awesome robot outfit." That night at bedtime, he had it on again, and couldn't figure out how to fold his arms. He said, "Mom, robots don't fold their arms or bow their heads. They just kneel." =)

When Walter woke up, he wanted in on the robot action, but not so much on the picture action unless he was the one taking the picture.

Yesterday we had such a fun fourth of July. In the morning we went to our Bishop's house for a bike parade, BBQ and pool party. Dean was so excited for the bike parade. He decorated his bike with stickers. When I asked if he wanted any ribbons, he said, "No, that would make it a girl's bike." I'm pretty sure he was the fastest 3 year old out there!

That night we let the boys stay up late (I let Walt nap until 4:15!!!) so they could experience fireworks. We purchased a small amount and found the perfect legal place to set them off. We've set fireworks off 2 or 3 other times, but each time we've just ended up on the side of the road on what we hoped was county land. This year we scouted a couple days in advance and found a neighborhood on county land that had the roads and cul-de-sacs built out, but there were no houses for a couple of miles. It was perfect except for the wind. It made the sparklers hard, but everything else worked just fine. I nearly had a heart attack watching the boys with the sparklers, especially when Dean went straight for the grass multiple times. I was glad when those were done! Here's a pic. of Matt reading them a bed time story before we left since it would be so late when we got home.

Here are a few videos I took while out.

Untitled from Celia Brasfield on Vimeo.

Untitled from Celia Brasfield on Vimeo.

Walter has been speaking in sentences. Many are still fairly broken and pieced together, but he also has a lot of complete sentences. My favorite right now is, "'Ere are you going, mom?" His voice inflections make it priceless.

We started swimming lessons today with an awesome lady in our ward. Dean has this out of control fear of getting water in his face, so I think that will be our biggest hurdle. She's the perfect teacher for him, though.

Screen Time

2011-06-29T22:32:00.000-05:00

It may not come as a surprise to most, Dean being Matt's son and all, but he is totally addicted to the computer. He could seriously go all day without TV or Wii (though he likes them), but I take away computer privileges, it's pure torture for him. As of right now, I let him spend about 2.5 hours of total screen time per day, and most days that is 1/2 hour of curious george and the rest is computer.

First of all, I have some internal conflicts about how much time he should be spending on the computer/TV/Wii. Of the three, I think TV is mostly a useless time waster and I hate having it on during the day (I never, ever turn on the TV for myself until after the boys are down and I'm doing chores or taking a break). I love Curious George, so I don't mind that being on, and there are a few other good kid programs I can tolerate, and Dean only watches PBS or videos we get from the library. It is the easiest for me to cut off. The Wii doesn't have many redeeming qualities though it does get him to move on some games. The computer, however, has tons of educational games, computer skills are super imperative to have these days, and I have no doubt that he will be a "computer guy" (in some form, be it professional or not) like his dad. He can navigate the internet incredibly well for a 3 year old. He figured out how to find angry birds by sounding out and typing in a web search. I don't think he spelled it 100% correctly, but it was close enough that he could click on the top search and it was it.

Dean has never enjoyed playing with toys. Never. He has loved learning shapes, colors, numbers and letters, and scissors, and how to read, but he never really plays with toys. By the time he was 2, he could sit and successfully use the mouse at a computer. He would much rather find someone with a phone that he can play with than play with cars or trains, etc. Once he started preschool, he learned how to play a little better, but it's still takes a lot of effort on my part.

A typical day in our house looks something like this:

The boys wake up between 5:40-6:15 am.
We run at 6:30 with the boys in a stroller.
We get home around 7:30 and make breakfast; Dean is already hounding me to turn on the computer.
I usually let him play while I clean up the kitchen and take a shower.
I try and get out of the house every morning by 9:30-10 either running errands, going to the library, the park, beach, or pool. If I don't, his screen time is used up very quickly and then I feel like I have to entertain Dean the rest of the day.
We usually get home around 11:30/12
We eat lunch and I put Walter down for a nap.
I read books to Dean and inevitable get crazy tired and start nodding off while reading the third book.
I'm so tired by then that I let him go play the computer (even if he's out of time) and I take a 1/2 hour nap or so.
He usually likes to save 1/2 hour of screen time for the afternoon when I'm making dinner, so I generally make him get off and I either play with him or have him help me with chores until Walt wakes up.
Dean, Walt, and I play until about 4.
I usually make dinner from 4-5 when I turn on TMBG's Here Come the 123's or ABC's for Walt and Dean uses his last 1/2 hour on computer. (It's really way too hot here right now for me to just send them outside to play.) We eat around 5.
After dinner I clean up and Matt either plays with the boys inside/outside or they watch him play his computer games. When that runs out steam, Dean usually wants to get back on the computer.
We get them ready for bed a little before 7, we read books and whatnot and have them in bed with the lights out between 7:15-7:30 most nights. Some times it's 8, but I don't like those nights because it really only buys me about 15 min. in the morning, if that.

I feel like it's a constant battle of trying to limit the time. If I don't have something concrete, he naturally gravitates back to my computer and I either give in or force him off again. Then you add in friend time and it seems as though most play dates at other kids' homes result in playing wii. I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but what I want to know is, if you limit screen time, what do your kids do during the day? Do they mostly play on their own, or do they require a lot of individual time with you? Do you have lots of structured activities? Was it different with your first child than your subsequent children? It bothers me sometimes how much he's on, but I'm also wondering what more/differently I need or could do. Even at the library now they have computers in the kids' section and that's all Dean wants to do while there. It's a library! Aren't we trying to get kids to step away from computers and look at a book for heaven's sake? I have to admit, I let him play while I choose books most days because it then means I only have to wrangle one child while filling my bag.

It's so foreign to me because I didn't ever really play nintendo or atari, or the computer growing up. There were periods in my life where we had no cable. But I was also the 6th child, so I had a lot of siblings to watch, play with, and copy. I read and played the piano a lot, but I don't have many memories of being pre-literate. And then there's Matt. It's hard for me to say to my kids, "It's not good for you to sit on the computer all day" because that is what Matt does the vast majority of his day every day. Blah. I just don't have the answer on this.

And salty really sounds good

2011-06-26T20:31:00.000-05:00

Well, it's that time again. You know, the time I announce that WE'RE HAVING ANOTHER BABY!! That's right. Bras(s) baby #3 will join our family early February 2012.

To answer some FAQs:
I am currently 7 weeks, though I am already undeniably showing. I think I will start my belly pics next week.

I've been feeling quite good so far in the way of nausea. I've only had a couple of "oh I think I'm going to puke" moments thus far.

I have been quite tired. I haven't figured out if that's due to pregnancy or the fact that my kids have been waking up between 5:30 and 6 am for the past 3 months or so. Probably both. I've been going to bed earlier, but boy some mornings are hard to get up. But for now, I'd rather put my kids to bed on the earlier end and have an evening of not being mommy than sleep in.

I am hoping we have a girl, but if we have another boy we will be just as happy.

I had two previous c-sections (one emergency and one planned) and felt kind of coerced into the second one since Matt's reasoning was "would you rather die or have a c-section?" and my doctor didn't seem too keen on the idea. What's done is done. I really, really, really want to avoid another c-section (recovery with other small children was WAY harder than when I just had a new little baby, plus I feel like it really contributed to postpartum blues for me), so I'm going to start doing consultations with ob-gyns and midwives who will consider vbacs after 2 c-sections. There is one in Denton (about 30 min. away) who is fairly famous for having a high vbac success rate, and has delivered successful vba2c and vba3c even. We'll see what happens, though, since Matt's really not supportive of it.

As for cravings, nothing specific but salt. Salty foods have sounded sooo good to me. Even things like tomatoes with a generous dusting of salt. It doesn't just have to be greasy foods, though chips and the like have sounded good too. The other day when I was eating chips and salsa, I was salting each individual chip. I know. Hopefully I can cut back on that before it starts making me retain a lot of water! =)

I've still been running 4 days a week and lap swimming 1. I just borrowed a road bike from friends and I'm hoping to start riding about 12-15 mi. one day a week. We'll see how long I can do that before I start bumping my belly. I wanted to do a tri-sprint in Sept, but I'll be 18 weeks and last time at 18 weeks I was pretty pregnant! There is one in July, but I don't know if I can feel confident biking by then. I'm quite the beginner, and this 26 year old road bike is much, much trickier than anything I've ever ridden.

I think the kids will do okay with it. Right after we found out we were pregnant, Dean told me (we hadn't told him we were pregnant yet) that he wanted to go to the hospital and bring home and new baby that day. I explained it didn't quite work like that and told him it was a much longer process. Today Dean randomly rubbed my newly protruding tummy and I told him that there was a baby growing inside. He seemed excited. Much better than last fall when he told me he didn't want any more kids in the family because "Walter was enough brother."

We're excited though a little scared to be out numbered. I'm already starting to feel the same sadness about not living near any family that I had when I had Walter. It was really, really hard for me to not have family around last time. Hopefully it will be better this time though. Or maybe I can convince Matt to move somewhere closer. Yeah right. Not impossible, but not probable either.

And finally, I'm really happy to not be 9 months pregnant during another Texas summer!!

Chomp, chomp, chomp. Timber!

2011-06-24T20:20:00.000-05:00

The other night when I went to a Relief Society meeting, Matt taught Dean and Walter the "tree chopping" game. He would "chop" their legs and push them backwards onto the bed. They LOVED it and begged me to play it with them the next couple of days. Dean got to the point where he was chopping himself, but the funniest part to me was how he'd say, "chomp, chomp, chomp." Here's a video of it.

Untitled from Celia Brasfield on Vimeo.

Wallow fire

2011-06-22T19:40:00.000-05:00

A couple months ago my grandparents needed a little extra help at home and my parents uprooted themselves and moved to Mesa to help them out. They are saints I tell you. They're back home and taking care of my grandparents in Snowflake now for the summer, but right before they returned home, the wild fires in northern AZ broke out on May 29th.

If you haven't heard about the fire, it's awful! As of today, the wallow fire has burned 519,319 acres (click here for a day by day progression of the fire. It's incredible how quickly it spread and how long it's been going!) and is the largest fire in AZ ever recorded. It is 58% contained, so at least they're making some progress. My sister and her family were evacuated from their house in Eager for a week and went to my parents' house 100 miles away. You could see the smoke plume from Snowflake that looks like an A-bomb went off, but at least they could breath.They're now back in their home. Her husband, Mark, is a forest ranger and was fighting a different AZ fire when it started. He got home during the evactuation and has been working on forest recovery before he goes to fight the wallow fire. She said, " It was a little smokey for the first two days that we were home, but now you can't really tell the the forest is still burning. Mark has been working 12-16 hours a day. This week it hasn't been too bad. He is mostly working on forest recovery right now. I haven't been able to see any of the damages because the roads are still closed, but Mark says that some of the prettiest parts look really bad. I'm just glad that most of the homes around here were saved. The fire that is burning near Sierra Vista has burned around 60 homes. It's so sad. That was a beautiful place, too. We use to picnic up that canyon."

I am so grateful for the men and women who are risking their lives, giving their time, and giving up their comfort to fight this beast. Beside my brother-in-law, one of my best friend's father has fought it as well.

All about my dad, by Dean

2011-06-20T22:24:00.000-05:00

Taken on Valentine's day 2011

In church they did a little survey about the kids' dads. Here are Dean's answers.

Things my dad likes:
Favorite food: Tacos
Favorite dessert: Cake
Favorite game to play: Wii
Favorite sport to watch: Basketball (where he got this, I have no idea. I'm really surprised he didn't say hockey.)
Favorite sport to play: soccer (same. I don't think Matt's ever played soccer in his life. I don't think he's ever even kicked the ball to Dean)
My favorite memory with my dad is: play memory with dad

My dad is the best in the family at: work. He works best.
At his job, my dad: works at work
When not at work, my dad likes to: play wii (really? even though he's on the computer like 95% of his time?)

My dad is 12 years old.

My dad is 6 ft tall
My dad weighs 50 lbs.
My dad has green hair.
My dad's eyes are hazel.
My dad likes to wear: Robot suit (hahahahah. love this one. Plenty of robot shirts but no robot suits.)
My dad is special to me because he works.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once when Matt was working out of town I suggested we pray for dad because he was working so hard for us. Ever since then Dean says in almost every prayer (even blessings on food) "Thank you that dad works so hard every day except not on Sunday." He's so funny.

Oh what do you do in the summertime?

2011-06-07T20:25:00.000-05:00

Sorry I've been MIA. Apparantly blogging is something I don't do in the summer time much...or in 2011. I have my theories about this, but that will be for another post.

Summer is here in full force with temps in the high 90s and low 100s the past 2 weeks. Basically the only thing we can do outside now involves water. Last week we got to go to Lake Ray Roberts, a favorite from last year. I don't think I snapped one picture last year (I don't really want to risk our camera getting sand in it, and we don't have a phone camera), but my friend Erin took this one of Walt last week. I have to say it was much more enjoyable with a 2 and 3 year old than a 1 and 2 year old. I was happy with my purchase of longsleeve rash guards for the boys. Dean still got a little burned under his eyes, and Walt got a little burn on the back of his neck, but overall it was much better than usual.

Yesterday I busted out the sprinklers in hopes of getting the boys prepped for splash pads at the parks. They're both fairly terrified of the splash pads and getting sprayed with water in their faces. I bought some swimming goggles the other day and haven't had them try them out yet. When I asked Dean if he wanted to try goggles, he ran inside and got his work goggles. It was so cute I didn't even try and get the swimming goggles on him. Walter was a little unsure if he liked the swimming goggles, but he kept them on for awhile.

And when we are inside, we do things like....have a dance party! Dean made me play Twist and Shout over and over again. He was having sooo much fun today at our dance party. Walt got his incredibly cute groove on for awhile, but Dean stole the show today.

A professional swimer, biker, and runner, hu?

2011-05-30T20:49:00.000-05:00

Since I decided I wanted to do a triathlon sprint in the fall, I have been looking for a decent road bike at a good price (still looking), and I purchased my first speedo racer swimsuit since I was probably 12 and in swim team. I also bought a swim cap, something I've never really used, and some good goggles.

Matt hasn't really been that supportive of me spending $$ on a bike and other stuff since I've never really biked and "don' t know if I'll stick with it". He wants me to spend no more than $100, but that is a joke! Anyway, tonight as I was heading out the door to go do some lap swim, he saw me in my swim cap and jokingly said, "A swim cap? What, you want to be a professional biker, swimmer and runner now?"

My response was, "Why not? You'd rather that than I be a fat and lazy wife wouldn't you?" =) He couldn't not agree with that. hahahahaha.

Looking up

2011-05-23T21:38:00.000-05:00

You know, life is looking up for me these days. It's a little ironic I'm writing this on a day that both of my kids have had low grade temps and one of them puked all over his bed at nap time. (update: today I found out they had/have hand, foot, mouth disease that caused the fevers and stuff.) But I mean, overall, I'm feeling more content with life.

Dean's behavior has improved dramatically this past month. He has generally been very kind, helpful, grateful, and has started treating Walter like a playmate. His whines and tantrums have subsided substantially, and he generally only lashes out (hitting) when he's really tired or sick.

Having no family or close friends nearby has been one of the biggest drawbacks for me living here in TX. (The one good friend I had from the get go moved away then moved back, but not as close, so we don't get together enough!) However, after 5 years of living here, I finally feel like I have some other solid,comfortable friendships. I have a great running partner. I have a good friend I can call for play dates. And I have been invited to some girls' nights recently (outside of church stuff).

After doing my half marathon, I feel very motivated. I felt so good doing it, and it made me want to keep setting goals and working for something specific rather than just running the same thing over and over every day. My running partner is signed up to do a full marathon in UT in September. I'll probably do a lot of the training with her, though I won't run that race. I'm more interested in doing a triathlon sprint next. There's one in Plano on labor day that I might just do. Before I decided to do a tri, I bought a mountain bike at a yard sale for cross training, but after riding it, I realize I really need something much lighter and all around better if I want to race. I hadn't ridden a bike in over 15 years, and I've never ridden a gear bike before last week, so I am a complete novice!!! I've been stalking craigslist to see if I can find a decent bike in my price range.

I was starting to feel a little burned out on craft projects, so after Matt finished tiling, I'm feeling like I want to get our house put back together and better than ever. Rather than crafting, my time and efforts have been going toward organizing, decluttering, and cleaning out house. I have felt so happy with myself since this is NOT my strong suit. I bought a download for a cleaning system (printable) 2 weeks ago, and I've really liked it overall. It's cute little cards that break my day up into 3 pieces with each day designated to a different cleaning task. I have it sitting on my desk in a business card holder stand (without the rings that she has on hers). I like the look of the cards, and for the most part I like how the days are organized. I would add a few things and split up a few things if I were to make it myself (and I probably will when I feel like I get my cleaning style figured out), but it has been good for me nonetheless. My house has been way cleaner the past 2 weeks.

I got my hair cut today, and I love that I have a husband who understands my need for short hair! I nearly went pixie short, but I like how a-line bobs grow out better. Maybe later in the summer I'll go pixie. The purple pics were taken about a month ago (by Dean), and the green were taken tonight.

Our new floor

2011-05-15T21:36:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of our old linoleum while Matt was ripping it up. It was pretty nasty. There were very weird pink stains throughout the kitchen and bathrooms that we found out came from markings on the concrete slab. I have no clue why the marks were on the concrete or how they could have seeped up through the linoleum...

After 5 months of working a couple hours every night after work, Matt finished our tile in our bathrooms, kitchen and laundry room. It looks SO good (I'm so impressed with him cutting and laying tile. He taught himself everything and this was his first time tiling anything), but he said he never wants to tile again in his life if he can help it! Now I just have to paint the baseboards and touch up the cupboards and it will be complete!

Come on over baby

2011-05-08T23:11:00.000-05:00

Happy mother's day! It started out quite rocky over here. I heard Walter start screaming at 6:08 am because Dean turned the light on when he woke up even though Walt wasn't awake yet. He came into my room to wake me up about 2 minutes later. The kids were both cranky and disobedient and I was cranky and short tempered. Apparently none of us got the memo that it was a holiday celebrating the joys of motherhood where the kids were supposed to be sweet little angels and I was supposed to be a perfect mother. So I called for a redo before we went to church.

Matt's stomach was really not agreeing with him this morning, but he didn't want to make me brave Sacrament meeting alone with the boys, so he came for the first hour. The primary did a very cute musical number and it was sooo cute to see Dean's head poking over the rail in the front of the chapel. Boy is he still a little guy compared to the older kids! He didn't sing all the words, but I could tell he tried on the parts he kind of knew. I had a huge smile on my face nonetheless.

When the boys and I went to our classes, Matt went home until church was over so he could be close to a personal restroom. After I got home and put Walter in bed I thought, "wow. Did I actually leave their room this clean?" And then I walked into the living room and thought, "I DEFINITELY didn't leave this room this clean." And then I walked into the kitchen and it was all picked up, the dishwasher was running, and it looked great. That was a great surprise. An added bonus? Matt used our horrible beyond horrible vacuum and said, "that thing is horrible! We need a new vacuum." I said that the first week we got it, but he was like, "meh. can't be that bad.". (It's a cheap Bissel bagless. THE WORST vacuum I've ever used.) We may be in the market for a dyson soon...

And then what did I do? I took a nap. Ah bliss. It's been ages since I took a nap on Sunday. While I was asleep, Matt made dinner (posole) and Dean made me a card and played on the computer.

We had a good FHE and got to talk to Matt's parents on skype. After that we played outside for a little bit even though it was time to get ready for bed. The redo was waaaaaaaay better than the original!

Despite all the frustrating moments and times I want to rip my hair out,

I love being a mom.

I love watching my boys watch their daddy so they know what to expect and how to act "when they grow up like a man."

I get to make cool things like this cardboard rocket ship and explore the moon (ie. the sandbox and playset)

I get to camp inside when the weather is bad (and outside when the weather is good).

And I get to see some of the best bedhead and smiles after good naps.

I get to be the subject of some pictures that turn out ok...and some that don't.

I get to help my kids make messy memories...

...as well as good clean (and sweet) memories.

I get to try out cool things like homemade fizzy sidewalk paint.

And collect cool custom made pieces of ABC art.

And I get to hear my kids sing and learn new songs like this latest from Walter (and Dean at the end), "Come on over baby"

Come on over baby from Celia Brasfield on Vimeo.

yes. I love being a mom.

13.1 miles

2011-05-07T20:10:00.001-05:00

Today I ran my very first half-marathon. 13.1 miles. In Jr. high I couldn't run a mile without having an asthma attack. In high school I ran cross country, but felt like I would die if I tried anything over 3 miles. In college someone mentioned that they thought if I could do 4 I could do more, so I ran up to 7. And I haven't tried to go higher than that until this year. Surpassed it I did. In my 5 fingers nonetheless, so it was kind of like running it barefoot. Cool.

When I heard about the White Rock Centennial half, I was excited to train for it. Every half marathon here ends up on Sundays, so I never feel like it's worth it to me to compete. It was commemorating 100 years of races being run at on this course, and it was the anniversary today, so they had a special 1/2 marathon race to celebrate. I am not currently pregnant or breastfeeding, I have children old enough to leave at home for a couple hours, and it was on a Saturday, so I couldn't ask for better circumstances.

My running partner Kirstin was interested in training for it also, so we have been following a training schedule the last 2 months. Prior to this race, the furthest I've ever gone consecutively was 7.5 miles and I was WASTED after running it. Like to the point I went to bed at 7 pm and had someone come over to help Matt give me a Priesthood blessing. Matt had to even carry me to bed. I was totally dehydrated because I used to not run with water. Crazy!!!

Anyway, we did all of our weekday training runs with our strollers and kids, and we ran our weekend runs without kids. Two weeks ago Kirstin felt like she had a stress fracture, so she didn't run the last 20 miles with me in our training and let her leg rest in hopes that it would heal up enough to run in the actual race. It paid off for her and I'm so glad it did.

My goals for this race were to:
1. Finish strong. I didn't want a hobbling in type finish. I wanted to have enough energy to sprint my hardest.
2. I wanted to finish under 2 hours. That would be under 9 min. miles.

The White Rock Lake was the perfect location for the race. It was beautiful and the weather was great. We started out between the 1:50 and 2 hour pace setters. I never actually saw either in the race, so I knew I was right where I wanted to be. We stayed together the first 8 miles or so and at that point I felt like I needed to step it up a bit in order to make my goal so I pulled ahead a little. I could glance back and see K. up until the 9 or 10 mi. mark, but after I hit 10 mi. I was in the zone. 10 was the longest I'd ever run in my training, so I really wanted to focus on my run from that point on. I ran the entire race and didn't stop to walk once. I was really happy with that. I kept my arms loose the whole time, and I really felt great. With 1 mile left I tried to really get to my fastest-but-not-hyperventilating speed, and at about .1 mile left I was at an all out butt-kicking sprint. The crowd was cheering really loudly. I'm not sure if it was because I was running so hard or if there was someone else, but I'll take it. =) I was def. hyperventilating when I finished, but once I got some delicious cold water in me, I stopped.My time was 1 hour 59 min. and 23 seconds!!! I made my goals and I was super happy about it. I placed 26th in my age division and 415th out of 2011 runners overall. I think I did pretty well for my first half.

I had bought new running shorts this week, but I was super hesitant to run the race in them since I'd not done one training run in them. But I took the chance and it paid off. They were nice and light and the underwear that was built in didn't get soggy like cotton underwear, so that was nice. At my bro.'s suggestion, I used an anti-chafe stick which was helpful. I got a new hat, a new mp3 player, and lots of new music for the run. It was all really great. I love my fuel belt that Matt got me for Christmas. I went through all 4 water bottles during the race.

Kirstin was only 2 min. behind me, but I didn't realize that. I grabbed my water and went around to try and cheer her on, but apparently I missed her and she didn't see where I went. It ended up taking us 2 hours to find each other after the race since we didn't have our cell phones!

I am definitely tired, but I'm not wasted. I had an Isagenix bar before the race and Isadelights during the race. They helped a lot. I feel tired, but I also feel happy that I've accomplished this. Even if I never do another one, I did this one and I did it well. Something I can feel proud of.

Patience and Patients

2011-05-04T19:50:00.001-05:00

Tonight Dean was "escaping" while I was going to get them water after they were in bed. I have had a horrible hacking cough all day and I just plain don't feel well, so I said, "Dean, please get back in bed. I don't feel well and I don't have the patience for this tonight." Dean replied, "Dean have lots of patients. You, Dad, and Walter are all sick. You are all Dean's patients."

HAHA!

I also love it when he tells me, "Don't worry mom, Dean will take care of you."

And today after I made homemade bread for the first time in weeks (no I didn't buy regular bread, we just didn't have bread in weeks!) he said, "Oh, thanks mom! This is so de-LISH-ous." That made me feel good. He also said dinner was delicious (homemade tomato soup, salad with lettuce from our garden, and grilled swiss cheese sandwiches on the bread I made), and after dinner he peeled his own carrot and said that was delicious also. He's usually not so generous with his food compliments. =)

And since we're talking about bread making, I did make a decision on my grinder. I decided to go with the wooden German mill, the Fidibus 21. So far I love it! I loved the direction booklet. "Plug in the mill. Turn on the mill. Put grain in the mill. Adjust the hopper to how fine or coarse you want your grain." That was it! It should have included "Don't use the first X cups of flour due to grit from the stones." like my hand mill said. Our first batch of pancakes tasted more like sandcakes. After ginding 5 or so cups of grain, no more grit.

I love, love, love that I can grind every bit of my flour when I need it. I don't have a bucket of ground flour in my fridge because I can grind 1/2 cup of flour if I want it when I want it. I'm happy with my purchase, even if it isn't the most "practical" of the options. Sometimes I just want something nice, and I want what I want. Ya know? It's the least annoying sounding mill I've ever heard! It has no whiny pitch when it doesn't have grain, and the frequency of the grains being ground is lower than other mills, so it's not nearly as ear piercing. I figure by making my own bread and pancake mixes and muffins etc., I will have paid for my mill within a year easily, and I plan on having it much longer than that.

Apostle of the Lord

2011-05-01T13:53:00.000-05:00

Today we had a special Stake Conference presided over by Elder Dallin H. Oaks. He was here for an area leadership training and apparently our stake hasn't had an Apostle visit since 1973 or something, so we were "the winner". It was really wonderful.

We got there at 8:30 and the meeting started at 9. Walter was dawdling in the hall and Matt had gone in to get a seat ahead of us. By the time I got there, Matt said he'd had the opportunity to shake Elder Oaks hand. DRAT! How could I have missed such an opportunity because my child was...being a child???! I was pretty disappointed until Matt said, "Hey, he's going up the other side of the building greeting people." So the boys and I went and sat at the opposite side of the cultural hall and "waited our turn" to meet Elder Oaks. By the time he got to us, Walter was laying all over me and Dean had turned my hand into a pillow, so I kind of had to wrestle my hand away to actually shake his! He said, "Sometimes it's hard to get a hand when you have such a handful." and then smiled an understanding smile. I stood Walter up on my lap knowing full well that he'd not remember the encounter, but wanting him to meet an Apostle of the Lord nonetheless. He patted him on the head and said, "Hello darling." He was kind and genuine and I felt blessed to have the chance to meet him, even briefly.

I understand he is only a man, but my heart was touched to quiet tears as I watched him go through out the congregation, trying his very best to reach each person personally, to shake everyone's hand and let them know that they were loved. I felt as though he was doing exactly what the Lord would be doing were he the visitor of our conference. Truly, in his word and action, he is a special witness of Jesus Christ.

He spoke on Priesthood authority in the home. It was somewhat difficult to hear all of his message because 2 little boys were so restless from sitting in the same place for 2 hours, however, I caught a lot more than I had anticipated. The most memorable part of his talk for me was when he spoke of his own family dynamics of having 5 children in his twenties and then a sixth child in their 40s. He said for his first 5 he mainly gave father's blessings at "big events" like when his kids went off to college, got married, etc. But something he learned in the 13 year gap between his youngest and second youngest was that father's blessings were also for every day challenges as well. When a child is having a hard time in a specific class or with friends, etc. that we should teach them to seek after a father's blessing for comfort and direction. He said that by the time his youngest was grown, he realized he'd given the youngest more father's blessings that the other five combined. Matt and I have always had a different view on how often one should give father's blessings, so I felt like this was good and applicable instruction for us.

I know that Christ lives and I know that there are living Prophets and Apostles on the earth today. I know that I shook the hand of a special witness of the Lord today, and I am grateful to have had that opportunity.

You're hot then you're cold

2011-04-21T21:54:00.000-05:00

Walt is telling me "No" because he didn't want his pic taken!

Our weather has been so odd recently. Two days ago it was 90* and muggy. Yesterday was 60*, overcast and crisp. Today the first half of the day was cool and rainy and the second half felt like we were in a sticky sauna.

The 90* I can do without since it means indoor play all day unless water is involved. The 60* was totally awesome and made me want to live in Moss Beach, CA. We played outside all morning in the sand. Today was doable. It was great running in the misty cool morning.

Walt got the one shoe on himself...

I am so happy we have our playset. And I'm happy we finally put sand in the sandbox last month! It's been the funnest thing to at home. One of our favorite games to play is "crush the castle". I'll "build" a castle (usually only 1 or two rectangular bowls of sand dumped upside down) and then the boys smash it to smithereens yelling "CRUSH THE CASTLE!" Some days the boys have to be washed down multiple times through out the day before they're allowed to touch anything in the house. Some days I miss some sand and find my couch or the boys' beds covered in a fine film. Today was their longest run of playing together without me, which was about 10 - 15 min. Dean came in looking for me after that. I asked why he didn't go back and play with Walter until I was done with dinner prep and he said, "Because Dean wants to play with you. Not Walter." Baby steps...

I have just felt so blessed to be able to be home with these guys. I'm trying to savor the day to day play and know that it is some of the most important "work" that I'll ever do in my life.

Adam and Eve according to Dean

2011-04-17T19:54:00.000-05:00

Every week after church I ask Dean what they talked about in class and his reply is always the same, "Dean don't know." In a similar vein, he never wants to tell Matt what they did at preschool, "It's a secret. Dean don't want to tell dad." I told him that we were talking about obeying parents in nursery today, and he said they talked about being obedient too. That was as much as I could get out of him.

So, I thought it was kind of funny today when his primary teacher posted a msg on my facebook wall. She said they were talking about Adam and Eve today in class. "Dean understands the docrine of the fall perfectly...'if you don't obey your parents, you lose your priledges...and that's why they had to leave the garden...' We had a discussion on that, because the other kids understood after he said that..."

I'm glad he's participating and listening and learning, even if he rarely wants to discuss it with me. After I got that, I started asking him questions about Adam and Eve, and he answered most of my questions. As for disobedience and losing privileges, yes, Dean does understand that concept very well by personal experience, poor guy. I think he's wired to push the limits.

So what would YOU do?

2011-04-13T19:27:00.000-05:00

I have wanted a grain mill for a long time now. I had finally convinced myself to buy one for my birthday. I couldn't choose between the Nutrimill or the KoMo Fidibus 21 so I haven't actually made the purchase yet. Then last night I drove an older sister to a Relief Society meeting and the topic somehow came up. She told me she had a brand new (refurbished) Whisper Mill that I could possibly have. Their old Whisper mill caught on fire (yikes!) and the company replaced it, but they ended up buying a Nutrimill instead so they didn't actually need the new Whisper mill. They had already promised it to someone who failed to follow through and pick it up, so she said she'd ask her husband if she could give it to us. She called me today to tell me I could have it if I wanted it. So the boys and I went and picked it up.

Pros:

It's a NEW $240 grain mill that I'm getting FOR FREE if I choose to keep it.
It's a top brand
It mills very fine flour because it pulverizes rather than grinds

Cons:

There are a lot of parts. Parts to clean. Parts to break. Filters, buckets, etc. etc.
There are super strict rules about turning it on and off with grains in the hopper. I'm a little worried about screwing something up.
I kind of feel bad taking a brand new mill from someone, even if they're not using it. (I did ask if they wanted it back if I decided to purchase a different one, or if they wanted me to pass it on to someone else who needed a grinder, and they both heartily said to bring it back to them...)
It's bigger and uglier than the KoMo. There are 2 parts to it, so I guess you could store the mill on the counter and just bring out the bucket when you wanted to mill, but still. It's a big bulky plastic thing.
It doesn't grind grains coarse enough for cracked wheat or muesli.

My biggest hang up: I had just convinced myself to buy the KoMo right before she offered me this one. The cheapest I've found it is $320. It's a small, simple, and pretty wooden object I wouldn't mind sitting on the counter. Nothing to clean. Nothing to break really. You can turn it on and off with or without grain in the hopper. Did I say nothing to clean? No filters. Pretty much as low maintenance as you can get.

So what would you do? Take the free one? Or give it back and buy the one you really want? Seriously. If you read this post I want to know.

The big 3-0

2011-04-08T22:19:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I turned 30. It was a great day. The boys woke up in a good mood. We had puffy oven pancakes and strawberries for breakfast. Yum.

While Dean was at Preschool, I took Walter to the park. I think it's the first time we had been to the park without Dean. Walt definitely was a little lost without him. He stuck by me way more than normal. At lunch I let Dean have a picnic (Walt was already in bed for nap) on our half tiled kitchen floor. As he ate, he laid down on the blanket, sandwich in hand, and said, "Dean is going to rest now so Dean won't need a quiet time after lunch." =)

I took the kids to Target after their naps. I let Dean pick out flowers since he's been begging to buy them since Matt bought me some for Valentine's day. I looked through necklaces since I know Walter loves when I wear them. He really wanted to get me one, but I couldn't find one I really liked. My main goal for the day was to avoid whining kids. I basically gave them everything they asked for because I wanted a whine free day. Those bunny shaped marshmallows that I'd never have bought? Yep. I bought them. And I let them have the marshmallows in the car on the way home before we even had dinner! Dean wanted to buy me a big foam hammer he found, and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't be the perfect present for my birthday. =) Walter was begging to go ride on the tractors at Lowe's next door, so I let them be the "driver guy" on all 20 riding lawnmowers before heading home.

When Matt got home from work, he quickly made my traditional "better-than-sex" cake. Though that is a misnomer. It should really be called, "better-than-regular-cake" instead. I don't care for cake much, but this cake is always good for a piece or two. He let the caramel and sweetened condensed milk soak in while we set off for dinner. We went to a Mexican place (Petra's) we'd never tried but had heard good things about. I got a sampler triple taco plate to share with the boys and get a good overall feel for their food. Matt got a burrito. His was $3 less than mine, but way more food! Less meat, but more filling in the end. I actually ate my entire entree, something I NEVER do. I was full, but not so full I couldn't have a piece of cake when I got home. The food was ok, but we'll probably never eat there again.

When we got home, Matt lit up the cake (our A/C came on and kept blowing out the candles, so this took awhile. Most of the candles were nearly stubs by the time he brought them out). Dean helped me blow them out.

Matt got me the King Aurthur's cook book and an Arts and Crafts with Kids book that I'd had on my Christmas list. I bought myself a Sansa clip mp3 player and headphones, and I will buy myself a grain mill when I can settle on which one to buy: the KoMo Fidibus 21 or the Nutrimill. The Nutrimill is about twice the size of the Fidibus and has a lot more components you have to clean. The Fidibus is self cleaning and is much nicer looking in my opinion. It could easily stay on my counter and I could mill even a 1/4 cup of grain if I wanted to for cereal (muesli or cracked wheat) in the morning. It is also $100 more, thus the difficult decision.

I have a feeling it's going to be a great year. I don't have any qualms with 30. It is just a number. I'm slimmer and healthier now than I was before I had kids. I'm training for a half marathon. I'm feeling pretty good actually. My stage of life is pretty challenging for me, and I often feel like I have a big NEEDS IMPROVEMENT in the parenting department, but these two cutie pies are worth it.

I got to chat with my sister Julie (who is totally amazing and is watching my sister Amanda's kids while she's in DC for her BIL's wedding!) which is always fun. My parents also called and visited for a few, and my grandparents sang me a beautiful happy birthday duet, harmony and all!

Oh, and as I was changing Walter before bed, he said, "potty!", got up, and ran to the bathroom, sat on his little bjorn potty chair and peed in the pot or the first time. He's sat on it before, but that was the first time it was actually used properly! I thought the possibility of two potty trained boys was a nice gift.

Parenting 505: Life with Bedlamites

2011-04-04T12:31:00.000-05:00

To do lists vs. To be list. "As a parent, when can I check my child off my list as 'done'? We are never done being good parents, and one of the most important things we can teach our children is how to be more like the Savior. When children misbehave, we often misdirect our discipline on what they did, but the do is only a symptom of an unseen motive in their heart. What attributes if understood by the child would correct this behavior? How do parents teach these attributes to our children?"

[paraphrasing and thoughts] Discipline should not be done in anger, but meekness and love. It is teaching, not just punishing. They learn of consequences connected to behavior, but they also need to learn doctrine of the spirit so they can become better people, not just act better when we are around. The sword only focuses on behavior, or the do, not on the be.

Those with meek and gentle children are enrolled in parenting 101. Those with children who push the limits of our patience are enrolled in parenting 505. "Consider the more challenging child as a blessing. Could it be possible that you need this child as much as he needs you? Be careful to not say things that imply that their behavior is who they are. They are God's children. That is their eternal identity and potential. Bad behavior is an act, not identity." Elder Lynn G. Robins, April 2011 General Conference (Watch it, it's super great!!)

This was probably the most poignant talk out of the 10 hours of "church instruction" for me this General Conference. There were tons of wonderful talks, but this was the one that seemed written for me. He spoke of being vs. doing and how we need to have both aligned together or we are hypocrites if we outwardly do but aren't inwardly converted or self-deceived if we think we have faith but our actions are not in line with the Lord's will. Such a fantastic talk. I need to read/watch it 5 more times now. Every sentence had a little nugget of wisdom I could ponder on.

The terrible threes are in full swing at our house. Dean has been acting out physically quite a bit at home, preschool, and church. I have witnessed him hitting, kicking, body bumping, stealing other kids' things out of their hands, and pulling hair. I have been told of him throwing things at other children (including a brick!), as well as the afore mentioned things. I have been called to pick him up early from preschool, and he's been taken out of Sunbeams and brought to me because of bully behavior. It's easy to start thinking of him as "the bad child" (and Walter as the "good child") or "the bully." But really, I'm doing him a disservice to follow that thought since his behavior is just an act, not necessarily who he is.

Today at the grocery store, he wanted a gift card while we were returning an item. I said no, and he started throwing a whiney fit and then hit me. Yes. He hit me, and the cashier gasped. He lost his computer, tv, and wii privileges for the day. But that obviously wasn't the key to stopping his behavior. When we came home, he continued kicking Walt and even went so far as to hit Walter on the head with a cooking pot. What am I to do??? On bad days every interaction that doesn't go exactly as he thinks it should results in a major flailing melt down. On good days those melt downs are limited to maybe 4 or 5. It definitely tries my patience.

So I re-watched this talk from conference yesterday, and there are so many helpful truths in this talk. While I do try to teach him to recognize how his actions affect others, a lot of our discipline in our house focuses on behavior, and truth be told, a lot of it is done with an angry, frustrated voice. Bullying is something I despise, and I can't stand watching him hurt other kids. Yet, disciplining in anger is just another form of bullying to try and get him to behave better. Parenting is definitely the hardest endeavor I have ever undertaken, but I need to learn and re-learn, and remind myself daily that this is the proving ground. This is how we are tested and tried. This is how we learn to become more like our Savior. I need to refocus my perspective, respond with more love and meekness, and remind myself to not only act as the Savior would act, but be who he wants me to be. The more my character and actions reflect the Lord, the easier it should be for my kids to do and become more like him as well.

It's exhausting being awesome

2011-03-29T22:59:00.000-05:00

(This was written last Saturday night, but I didn't add the pics until today.)

Ok, I'm not sure where that title actually came from. I'm just exhausted from this week. I know some of you have way more stressful lives with work, sports, music, etc. I'm just glad that parenting is a gradual transition because what I did this week exhausted me.

I taught preschool, which was fun (minus a few stressful moments of Dean bullying other kids since he didn't want them playing with his things). I had Q and R again even though I had them last semester. We have 5 kids now, so that threw off the rotation.

For Q we:

Played a question game where kids hunted for 1 red, 1 blue, and 1 yellow question mark I'd taped up around the living room. They came back to the quilt and I "journaled" their answers to the questions. All of the blue question marks were blank and I had them ask me a question. This was far more successful that I imagined it would be. They were very intrigued by the question marks all over the place. I also played "question/not a question" where I'd either ask a question or say a statement. If it was a question they'd hold up a question mark and say "question!" if it wasn't, they'd hold up their arms in an X and say "not a question!" The older two kids really liked this. The three younger kids were a little confused by it.
Made paper quilts where you glue patterned squares of paper onto a big sheet of paper. Dean was so proud of his. He carried it around all day until he could show Matt when he got home. He wanted to sleep with it, but I convinced him that hanging it on his wall would be good enough.
Sewed with plastic needles and yarn in a loosely crocheted quilt. This was stroke of genius on my part I think.
Ate Quakes rice snacks
Q listening game. Once again, the older two (4 year olds) really got it, but the 3's not so much
hide the quarters in the flour (it was supposed to be cut the quarter, but no one was cooperating and they were all enjoying playing in the flour. It was a huge mess, but it took a good chunk of time and the kids loved it).

For R we:

Blast off!

Made toilet paper rockets by painting toilet paper tubes with glue, covered them with foil and stickers, made the tip out of a crushed cone of foil, and fire out of red tissue paper
Balloon rockets, definitely the most popular activity of the day. I had 6 strings tied to our garden and taped to our house. Each had a straw piece on it. I taped a big balloon onto it and closed it with a mini clothes pin. We counted down and the opened the clothespins and the balloons rocketed down the string. They had me blow up their balloons 4 or 5 times.
Water bottle rocket that Matt helped me make. I got one good launch off, but the kids wanted to help and touch and crowd too much after that. I got one more rocket off after the kids left, and the bottle ended up in our neighbor's yard. Oops.
We collected "moon rocks" on our rocket trip to the moon (our sand box with decorative rocks I got from the dollar store)
glued planets to a black piece of paper so we had a solar system to explore.

Additionally this week I fed three missionaries. It's amazing how different Elders are than Sisters. We've had sisters so long in our ward and they just switched to Elders. SOOOO different it was funny. I fed them Israeli Couscous with grilled vegetables, chicken satays, hummus and pita chips, and a tomato/cuc. salad. They had no clue what anything was, but they did a decent job of trying/eating everything. I always try and do something "different" because I'm so afraid they'll be fed the same thing over and over. Even in reference to the salad, one Elder said, "Well, I recognize cucumbers and tomatoes, but I don't know what that green stuff is on top." When I said it was dill he said, "Hu, that's not something I've ever cooked with!" =)

Tonight I accompanied 2 girls at their high school band solo festival. It was hard to prepare with my kids begging me to stop playing, shutting the piano cover, crying, trying to play over the top of me etc. In the end it turned out ok (not fantastic, but I did only have 1 week to learn the music). The worst part was having to play on an electric piano at the festival since the stupid music holder doesn't easily allow for more than 3 sheets. I actually had one sheet fall on one of the girl's song. Oops. I was shocked at how much more difficult it was to accompany instruments than vocalists. I was happy I had an electric piano at home so I could practice with them since my piano is 1 1/2 notes lower than concert! Also, lyrics are way easier to follow and accommodate for mistakes than another set of notes! One was a bass clarinet. One was a flute. I don't think I'll be doing it again next year if anyone asks! I am just so glad it's over and I think I'm ok with this not being my phase of life right now. Maybe when kids are older.

Also, I have decided to run a half marathon in May. It's practically the only Saturday race in TX, and I figure if I'm going to do it, now's the time since I'm not pregnant or breastfeeding. Last week our long run was 6 mi. and we kept a decent pace of 9 min. miles. Today we had a 5K run at race pace. I felt good about our 8.3 min. miles. It was so hot today I went through all my fuel belt water even though it was a "short" run. I don't know how I ever ran without water. It's amazing to think that I consider 3 miles a short run now! It so used to be my max.

This pic has no relevance to the post, but I just loaded it on my computer. It was St. Patrick's day and the boys are wearing the rainbow hats we made at our party.

Love life and see good days: Aspire to inspire gratitude

2011-03-27T20:17:00.000-05:00

It was a hard day today. Walt woke up in a terrible mood and I felt like I had to sludge through 4 hours of screaming toddler before even going to church where I most likely would have a 1 hour wrestingling match with two boys during sacrament meeting followed by a 2-hour-outnumbered-mass-chaos-of-18-month-old-nursery class where I'd be wiping snotty noses, pulling kids off chairs before they tumble to their demise, breaking up fights over toy planes and trains, trying to keep kids from eating play dough and stuffing crayons up their aforementioned snotty noses etc. etc.

Sacrament meeting did prove to be quite the fiasco. Walt kept trying to escape and screamed every time I stopped him from leaving our row. Matt took him out about half an hour in. About 10 min. later Dean was just being so naughty. Running out into the aisles. Making lots of noise. He was just bouncing off the ceiling. I ended up taking him out and setting him down in the hall next to a pillar for a time out. Matt ended up taking him into the clean room while I then took Walter and began to cry as the beautiful violin musical number started playing A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. Three sisters in the lobby with their own toddlers came over to give me hugs, ask if I was ok, and sympathize with my circumstance.

A couple weeks ago we had a Stake Relief Society conference where we had inspiring classes on how to be better people. My favorite of the three classes was one on perspective.

"The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances. We carry the seeds of the one or the other about with us in our minds wherever we go." Martha Washington

"...love life, and see good days..." says Peter (1 Peter 3:10) He goes on to say that in order to do that, we must stop speaking evil and guile. Criticism doesn't help us feel happier. Pre-judging, gossip and slander keep us from seeing the good.

Are we actually looking for the good? Do we see the good that happens in our lives? Do we thank the Lord for the good things that come our way? Or do we just blame, nit-pick, and look for ways we have been wronged?

I pretty much was expecting the worst today and I got it. I was looking for it, and I found it. Luckily other people through kind acts and beautiful music helped lift me out of my funk. I can wallow in my self-pity as long as I want, but if I want to be happy, I have to look for the good in the circumstances that I'm in and let go of being the victim.

I was reading in the Gospel Principles manual tonight on Charity, and President Monson said, “Let us ask ourselves the questions: ‘Have I done any good in the world today? Have I helped anyone in need?’ [Hymns, no. 223]. What a formula for happiness! What a prescription for contentment, for inner peace—to have inspired gratitude in another human being."

I really think that as we start to see the good in our lives, we are better able to be the good for others. We are more apt to serve, help, forgive, and love.

I own a book called "Change your questions, Change your life" by Wendy Watson Nelson, Elder Nelson's wife. As long as we are stuck in the "Why me" stage, we'll not grow or become better. But we need to move on to questions such as "What can I learn from this?" Heaven knows the older I get, the more I know I don't know everything! There are plenty of lessons I need to learn from days like today, so I guess there's something to be grateful for!

The teacher of that RS class also reissued a challenge that Elder Eyring gave in a conference to write down the good things that happen to us so we can see the hand of the Lord in our lives. This past month I've been keeping a pen-and-paper journal (imagine that!) faithfully every night before I go to bed. I don't try to make it flow or worry about grammar. I just try and think of the top 5 (or more) things that happened during the day that I was grateful for or that made me laugh. My blog has suffered because I'm getting my words out elsewhere, but I think I'm feeling better for it. It helps me look for the Lord's tender mercies and focus on the blessing my children are in my life rather than focus on the difficult moments where I may-or-may-not-have-wanted-to-strangle-my-darling-children-for-screaming-for-3-hours-straight-or-for-smearing-animal-cracker-goop-all-over-my-couches.You should try it.

Phew. The end. Kudos to you if you actually read my ramblings.

Accessorizing

2011-03-15T20:01:00.000-05:00

my lady bug watch

I have never been one for jewelry, really. Ok, I take that back. In high school I did wear big gaudy "play" type necklaces and earrings (I had a big yellow heart necklace with a little guy inside that I called my "boyfriend". I honestly took one of my senior pictures with it on, I'm too lazy to scan it right now, though). And rubber duck earrings. And a plastic lady bug watch. Oh was I awesome.

Anyway, I have only ever worn 2 rings in my life (My CTR ring given to me when I was in the 7th grade. I still wear it. And my wedding ring.). I wore the same pair of earrings (Celtic knots Matt gave me before he left on his mission) for 9 years until one of the backs fell off last year and I had to replace them with some dragons we got at the Scottish Festival.

Last year when I had my wardrobe revamp, I did purchase some dollar jewelry store necklaces, but those get broken lickity split since the clasps are so crappy. I decided I do like wearing certain necklaces, I just am still too cheap to buy much of anything for fear it will break.

I purchased a beautiful turquoise bead necklace from India with a clasp that was very Walter proof off of Overstock. Unfortunately I'm not one to remember to read details when I buy online, and the necklace was 28 in. long. I have a short neckline and body as is, and the necklace itself weighed 2 lbs. because it was so beaded, plus it was nearly twice as long as I expected!. It was beautiful, but it engulfed me. I was so sad. I couldn't return it because shipping would have basically ruined it for me, so I gave it to one of my friends. She in turn brought over a lot of her old necklaces that she didn't really wear much anymore. Dean was in heaven! He had to try every one of them on. It's been nice to have a selection and I have, in fact, been wearing necklaces a lot more lately (largely influenced by Walter's begging. "pretty neckas" while he pats my neck.)

Unfortunately, these too have broken easily in the hands of Walter (who loooooves necklaces). When I was telling a friend about it, she suggested I get some Mardi Gras beads for him. I actually had some in a box from years ago, and I was able to find them easily. He's enjoyed having his very own beads. On one afternoon, Walt wanted to wear underwear like Dean, a necklace like mom, and he raided the winter box and found himself a hat and one glove. Since it was getting too hot for his winter hats, I finally got him some summer hats. He does love to accessorize.

Dean's first talk

2011-03-06T21:55:00.000-06:00

Dean gave his first talk in Primary today. The Primary President told me they were speculating whether or not the new sunbeams (3-4 year olds) were ready to start giving talks, and she said, "we knew that Dean would probably be just fine." That boy has an opinion and loves to share it with people. He loves speaking in front of an audience. He loves participating. He loves being the center of attention. He's born his testimony twice in front of our whole church congregation already, and begs to speak at the microphone. When we were practicing this morning at home, I was whispering the words to him, and he would whisper what I said. I told him if he whispered during his talk at church, no one would be able to hear him, and they might not ask him to give another talk. It worked! He said his whole talk in a very loud voice. =)

It was so cute.I was very proud of him.

When I was writing it, I tried to ask him questions about the topic, and some of his answers were incorporated into the talk.

Here is what he said: We are spirit children of Heavenly Father. He wants us to live with him again one day. Heavenly Father helps us through a living Prophet. President Monson is the Prophet of God today. We can listen to the Prophet during conference, but we need to be quiet and listen so we can hear Heavenly Father’s important message. If we follow the Prophet and make good choices, we can live with Heavenly Father and Jesus again.

Granola girl

2011-03-04T16:00:00.000-06:00

I think I've somehow turned into a granola girl over the years, and I have to say that I like the lifestyle I lead (most of the time). Cloth diapering, making my own bread (and granola, and snacks, and most meals from scratch), heavily limiting my kids' sugar intake, cutting out margarine (how in the world did I think it tasted better than butter??), not shaving frequently enough (once when I was teaching Dean to draw stick figures, he insisted I put poky hair on the woman's legs! hahahaha), not wearing make up 99% of the time, etc. It's true I'm no longer a vegetarian, but I think I am at heart. It just makes my marriage run a whole lot smoother incorporating some meat. But c'mon, I still feed my family of 4 on 1 chicken breast or 1/3 lb. beef in most meals...

My latest addition to this "natural" things is my recent running shoe purchase. I just decided to keep them today, so I can't tell you how totally awesome they are just yet. I'm just now testing them out. I got some vibram 5 finger Bikila LS shoes. You don't wear socks with them. They double as a water sock. You can wash them in your washing machine.

To explain the theory behind it, I"ll include a blurb from their own site, " Imagine footwear that can actually help make the foot healthier, that can strengthen muscles in the feet and lower legs, improve range of motion and increase sensory reception important to balance and agility. Imagine footwear that might just make running safer and healthier, by encouraging a forefoot strike and a more natural running form that creates less impact on the knees, hips and lower back. That is what Vibram FiveFingerscan offer.

We are not saying that Vibram FiveFingers® is the only footwear you will ever need. There are times when we need the protection and security of a boot or shoe. Like all things in life, there is a balance, and Vibram FiveFingers® offers an alternative to traditional footwear. Wearing FiveFingers for fitness training, running or just for fun will make your feet stronger and healthier – naturally. ."

I've been having some knee problems recently, so I was interested when I heard a friend of mine talk about these shoes and how they helped her knee and hip problems that resulted while wearing regular running shoes.

I will let you know how I feel about them after trying them out for awhile. I ran 1.5 miles on the treadmill with them yesterday and 3.5 miles on the road today. I can tell they work my calf muscles more than a regular shoe! I want to go further tomorrow, so we'll see if that's practical. Like any new shoe, it may require a little getting used to.

Hat!

2011-03-03T21:20:00.000-06:00

After we chopped Walt's hair, he took a sudden interest in hats. It was during the cold snap here, so I think his head was just plain cold without his hair. For days he insisted on wearing a hat. It's gotten warmer, and he doesn't insist on a hat every day now, but he still wears one if he finds it.

He is SUCH a hilarious kid these days. His vocabulary is huge, and he's parroting whole phrases now.

The other day when we were out getting quotes on car repair, he kept thinking we'd see daddy walk into the shops. I kept telling him that daddy was working. The rest of the day he said over and over in a sad voice, "Dada working."

When we were at a friend's house grinding wheat, he found a real kitty toy thing (you know, the cat that moves it's head and looks like a real cat and meows) and was DEVASTATED at having to leave it. I told him to say goodbye to the kitty and he sadly waved to the cat, "bye bye kitty." As we drove home he'd periodically break into tears and say over and over, "Kitty. Kitty. Bye bye kitty."

He is very good at cheering. If something good is going on, he'll start yelling "All right!!" and punching his arms in the air in celebration.

He loves, loves, loves necklaces. If I am not wearing a necklace, he pats my chest and says, "Neckas, neckas. Mama pretty neckas." until I get one. He wore 3 strands of Marti Gras beads around today since he insisted on having a "pretty neckas" too.

The other morning when I was changing Dean's night diaper, Walt looked down and exclaimed, "BIG POOP!" And he was right.

He occasionally asks to go pee on the potty, so I'll put him up there, he'll pull his shirt up (like Dean so he doesn't pee on it), and looks down. He'll stay there a few seconds till he declares he's "Ah dun."

He loves "anmals" (animals), stuffed and real. Most animals are just called "anmals", and the majority of them say "moo" right now (though he knows a lot of the other sounds), but he does a pretty fierce whinny when he sees a horse.

He is fascinated with robots and guitars, and he insists on having one or the other on his shirt for the day if they are available. I tried putting a car shirt on him this morning, but he only wanted a robot. He also loves singing Robot Parade by TMBG. In fact, this morning as I was taking Dean to the bathroom at 6:30, I heard Walt in his crib belting that song out in the dark.

I love when he says, "Oh Gosh!" He's very good at the "sh" and actually says is for most ending "s" sounds. Like, "Yesh!"

Here's a recent video. He's in a hard stage to capture since his attention span is short and he's usually distracted once I get the camera out. I got the camera out because he'd been cheering, but by the time I got the camera, he'd stopped. It took some coaxing by Dean and me to do it again. The last 15 seconds are the best. I love how he says "STOOOP!" when he's all done.

Untitled from Celia Brasfield on Vimeo.

"Dean's favorite color is red!!"

2011-03-01T21:38:00.001-06:00

I hear this phrase pretty much every time I get the boys milk. I let the boys wander as they drink their 3 cups of milk (one before breakfast, one after lunch, and one after dinner), so I still have them both using sippy cups. I have two hot pink sippy cups (odd, I know, since I have boys, but they were all out of other colors), and Dean has claimed them as his own. He only ever wants milk in the "red" cups. I haven't corrected him on the color since I think Matt would rather his favorite color be red instead of hot pink. =) Tonight as I was pouring milk after dinner, Walt came over to the counter and pointed to the pink cup saying, "Dean! Deans muk!" Even he recognizes the pattern now.

Dean is pretty good with the potty training now. After 2 weeks of underwear we let him have a play gun for a potty prize. He's been wanting a "big gun" for a long time, but I just couldn't bring myself to buy a gun at Christmas. We bought 3 or 4 guns before we settled on this one. The nerf guns are just too old for him still. We ended up getting him a lights and sounds assault riffle. It was a little disconcerting to see these little guys wandering around the house "shooting" things with this big gun, but honestly, they make guns out of everything (including some Christmas pictures of Mary) anyway.

It's been a little over a month now, and he mostly goes on his own with quite a bit of prompting by me when I see him holding himself. I only had to do the timer thing for a few days. We still use a diaper at night, even though he goes once or twice in the night (comes and gets me). He still needs lots of help with wiping and reminding to flush and wash, but he is getting much better at getting his pants and underwear back on and buttoned by himself.

He wanted me to take a video so you could see the lights since the flash cancelled them out.

Updating

2011-03-01T21:18:00.000-06:00

I have been feeling very, very uninspired recently. I haven't wanted to blog, haven't wanted to craft, haven't wanted to do much more than survival really. Well, I guess I have been meal planning again, which is a plus since I was in a food rut about half of last year.

Luckily I have a good friend who knows what she's talking about when it comes to color, and with her (and Matt's) direction I have continued plodding along with my house updates.

My most recent room has been the kitchen. It went from light yellow that blended into the off white cabinets to Sherwin William's Independent Gold, which looks a lot more like green at night. I've gone back and forth on how much I like the color, but in the end, I like it. It looks good against the cabinets. All I have left is behind the fridge and touch up, and I'll do that when we move the fridge to tile sometime in the next few weeks.

The first wall I painted to see if the color would work.

The contrast between the old and the new yellows.

before

after. I packed up nearly everything on top of the cabinets.

now to de-clutter the counter...

Warmer Weather

2011-02-25T16:40:00.000-06:00

The past week (and a half?) we've had much warmer weather. It's hard to believe we recently had the ice storms where Matt was skating on our street. It's been really humid and the temp. has ranged from about 60-80*. Last Friday it was particularly warm and we'd been outside probably 4 hours or more. I was feeling too hot in my layers of clothing, so I stripped us down and we got out our swim suits and turned on the sprinkler. Yes. Our swimsuits in February. The weather was warm enough, but I have to admit that the water out of the faucet was still quite cold. Dean loved it. Walt liked it, but he kept saying, "Cold. Brrrr." every time he touched the water.

Let down

2011-02-24T22:36:00.000-06:00

After 3 years of talking about needing a new bed, we finally bought one on Monday during the President's day sale. It was very apparent that Matt and I had different bed preferences. He liked firmer beds, and I liked plusher beds. In truth, we need a sleep number bed, but it's just not in our price range. After an hour of trying different beds with our kids running amok around the store, Matt had it narrowed down to his two favorites. He'd ruled out my favorite by saying while it was comfortable, it was too soft and he'd still have back problems most likely.

His final choice was ok, though firmer than I'd have chosen on my own. We ended up buying a Simmons Beauty Rest King size. It's supposedly in the "medium" range for softness. I thought it would work fine for me. But then it came. And I realised the brand new bed was acutally much firmer than the one in the store. Of course it would be, but I hadn't thought it through. Matt's happy with it.

I was angry. Very angry the first night. Paying as much as we did, I wanted to love it, and I didn't. I hated it. I don't feel like I sleep a lick better than we did on our old mattress. I have been crazy exhausted this week, and it's frustrating. I'm honestly thinking of buying a twin size pad for my side of the bed that I'll put on top each night.

While I'm on the "let down" kick, I'll also say that the ninja food chopper is not great. I bought it for myself for Christmas on Black Friday. I bought it to replace my dying blender, and it's not great. I'd much rather have a quality blender. It doesn't get the spinach for my isagenix shakes nearly as smooth as my blender did, and I'm not really a fan of being aware of the spinach as I'm drinking it.

To combat the negativity of this post, I will leave you with some of my favorite purchases in the last few years:

Ergo baby carrier. Best. Baby. Purchase. Ever. I still use it often, and both my kids are great walkers and weigh over 25 lbs.

FoodSaver. I got it and lots of bags for $10 at a yard sale. I have used it TONS and it would have been worth paying retail price for it.

Be Mine

2011-02-14T22:35:00.000-06:00

The weather was beautiful today. 70's I think. Oh how nice it was to wear short sleeves and go outside. I was far too busy today to run this morning, so I sure hope this beautiful weather sticks around tomorrow so I can get out and "get some exercise in my body" (a Dean quote).

Dean and Walt made some cards for Matt with my help. We went to a preschool Valentine's day party this morning. I provided the activities and my friend Diane provided the house and goodies. It was fun, though Dean was incredibly whiny by the end. He did have a major fall yesterday (fell from our picnic table while trying to do a trick basketball shot and hit his head hard on the concrete. I was only a few feet away, but I was too slow to stop it all from happening.), so I guess I should be happy he felt good enough to go at all, poor kid.

The boys were very interested in the flowers that Matt brought home for me. This is the one time a year we have fresh flowers on our table. =) Dean kept saying things like, "Mom! Mom! Those flowers are soooo beautiful. It was so nice of dad to bring you some flowers." I pulled Walt off the table multiple times because he wanted to pick the flowers.

We had homemade falafal and pitas (one of my favs). While it felt like I was messing everything up as I was going along, the pitas were soft and chewy and the falafal were nice and tasty. I also made a cheesecake today. I was very, very tired by the end of all of this. I should probably be heading to bed soon here.

short sleeves!

My super husband.

Enjoying the Valentine goodies from Grandma and Grandpa Waterman

Enjoying his AND Dean's treats (he stole Dean's first treat)

Cheese!

Capped the night with cheesecake with caramel and chocolate topping.

Never give up!

2011-02-06T19:59:00.000-06:00

Well, we started once again with the potty training thing. Yes, I did start potty training him at 18 months (very much at his own interest), and yes he is now 3 years and 4 month and not "fully" potty trained. We tried the naked potty training a couple of times, and every time we got to underwear after about a week, he melted down big time, and we gave up. We did sticker charts, rewards, etc., but nothing was enticing enough to keep him going after having a couple of accidents, and I didn't want to push it if he just wasn't ready.

I honestly have to say I have just been plain tired of changing 2 sets of diapers for the last 18 months, and I initiated this latest potty training for selfish reasons once again. It has been frustrating for me because I see him as an incredibly gifted and smart child, and I couldn't for the life of me understand why all of his peers were potty trained and he wasn't. I think it's partially because he's a perfectionist. And maybe I wasn't as patient as I ought have been in the beginning.

I got him interested in potty training again by bribing him with a nerf gun if he wore underwear for 2 weeks and continued after he got the gun. I didn't put any stipulations on accidents. He really wanted a nerf gun for Christmas and didn't get one, so it was enough to get him to put on the dreaded underwear.

The first 5 days went pretty well. He was going all on his own, without me prompting, and he only had 1-2 accidents per day. I thought that was pretty good and didn't mind the accidents because he was trying. Then he just plain gave up. Like it was too hard to do every time, so why even try at all? One day he peed his pants twice and pooped once, never even telling me. He just kept on with the activities he was involved with, legs spread wide, soaking or stinking when I found him in such a state. Oh was I frustrated. I forced him on the potty a couple of times. The next day it was more of the same. I admit I was angry and I began shaming him (only babies wear diapers, blah, blah) and threatening to put him back in diapers and not letting him go to preschool or have the nerf gun because "those things are for big kids and big kids don't wear diapers or poop their pants on purpose"...but boy did that feel all sorts of wrong. I was basically doing it out of anger and selfishness.

After he pooped again in his underwear I called my mom, frustrated and in tears. I told her I didn't want to give up because I felt like it would set up a cycle of failure and add more frustration and woe to potty training. I wanted him to learn to not just give up when things get tough. She agreed and said that instead of shaming I could say things like, "I know it can be hard, but I know you're a big capable boy and you can do it!" That sounded and felt much better.

So starting that day I set a timer. Instead of asking him if he needed to go, I calmly insisted he stop what he was doing to sit on the potty. He resisted me taking him to the bathroom when he insisted he didn't need to go, and then it came to me: He was worried about missing out on fun things, so I thought of having him take a book in for me to read to him. Basic, I know, but I hadn't tried that yet. He resisted a lot less after that, though he'd be done before we finished reading the first page. The next two days we spent time at some friends' houses (who were potty trained) and he was much more willing to go at my prompting there for some reason.

I have been setting the timer for about 45 min. in between potty breaks and he's been able to go every time I take him. He doesn't generally resist any more, nor does he require a book every time. He's actually gone poop on his own both days, and we have been accident free for 2 days. He's identifying himself more as a potty trained child ("Mom! SuperWhy is potty trained like Dean!" since his superhero outfit looks like underwear over a leotard) and I can tell he's feeling more confident in his ability. I will be extra super duper happy when I don't have to set a timer, but for now I'm glad we're continuing on, even when it was frustrating and difficult for both of us. I am not going to give up or let him give up. It's just not an option this time around.

I think potty training is the most challenging thing I've come up against yet. Hopefully it won't be like this every time...but I don't think it will be. Different children, different personalities and timetables. Crossing my fingers...

Walt's first hair cut

2011-02-06T16:25:00.000-06:00

While we've trimmed his bangs a tiny bit, we gave him his first real "big boy" hair cut today. As in cut off his curls. It was a little sad, but his hair was getting long and stringy. It would look cute for about an hour after bath and then it would just get to be a tangled mess.

last night's bath so you could see all his bangs and bruises. He's added two more already today.

before

After, eating a chocolate as his reward.

This one totally makes me think of my bro. Nate when he was a baby.

Shake it a baby now

2011-02-03T19:13:00.000-06:00

Walter loves having dance parties. He is usually not satisfied unless everyone in the room is dancing, including Matt who is not a dancer. So Matt bobs his head around a few times to appease him, and Walt goes on to shake his little booty. So cute. One night as we were getting ready for bed, he was totally busting a move to the leap frog table music, so I yelled for Matt to get the video camera. He gets a little distracted by the camera at first, but then he continues. Sometimes we play freeze dance (kind of like red light green light for dancing, but we stay "stop!" and "dance!"), so that's why he was saying "STOP" at the end. It's not a long video.

Untitled from Celia Brasfield on Vimeo.

Ice Storm

2011-02-02T23:10:00.000-06:00

We're "in the middle" of the worst ice storm we've had since we've been here. Usually it hits and is gone by mid day the next day. Tomorrow will be day 3 of public schools closed because of ice. I was a little surprised they closed tomorrow because while there are still patches of ice on the road and you need to be careful, the roads are drivable. One friend in our ward said she's lived here her whole life and it's the first time they've ever been closed 3 days in a row that she knows of. I am so, so, so grateful that we are able to park both of our cars in our garage. Most people here use their garages for storage and park in their driveways or on the street.

Here's a video of Matt ice skating on our street! We don't even own gloves for him (or real coats for the boys...at least I was able to find hats and mittens for them when it snowed a few weeks back). It was 19* and close to 0 with windchill. By the time he was done, his fingers were nearly frostbitten. But he had fun. He said it made him want to move somewhere where he lived close to a pond that could freeze over for skating in the winter. Dean has been asking for "shoes with blades".

Untitled from Celia Brasfield on Vimeo.

I was super grateful that some of this ice melted today and we were able to drive to the store. We were out of milk (the boys got powdered + isagenix today. Thank heavens for food storage) and some other stuff, plus we were getting STIR CRAZY (or maybe just plain crazy).

It was really a horrible day today. The boys had a number of yelling matches. (Walt's now a very good parrot. When Dean screams "NO!", Walt shrilly screams back "NO!!!!!" and they go back and forth until I break it up.)

Dean is on day 5 of underwear during the day He's done really well with it, though he's had 1-2 pee accidents every day. But today he just plain refused to go unless I carried him in there and made him go on the potty. He pooped in his underwear and peed twice in his underwear, never telling me of any of it. I had to discover all three by coming in and seeing him STILL PLAYING the computer or wii in his sorry state. I was feeling pretty livid. Needless to say, he will not be playing either until he demonstrates that he will stop doing whatever he's doing, even if it's fun, to go to the bathroom immediately. I just have to remind myself that he's little. But boy does it make me so angry sometimes.

Dean also spun a paint roller in the bathroom that I stupidly left within reaching distance. It was on one of those cleaning things that makes it spin really fast. I had started cleaning it out last night when I decided to just throw it away since it was getting pretty grungy. I couldn't get it off the stupid cleaner, so I left it there until I could get it off today. But he got to it first. It spun yellow paint everywhere. All over the blue walls, brown cabinets, the white toilet, etc. I screamed so loudly that it made Dean cover his ears and cry. It was horrible. I was able to clean it all up, but boy, was I not proud of how I handled it. I still lectured him afterward too, which I probably shouldn't have done.

To cap things off, right as the boys were getting ready for bed, I went to throw Walt's dirty diaper away and I heard a bloody scream emitted from Walt's mouth. Matt and I ran into their room. Dean was sitting up on their shelves guarding his stop light alarm clock and Walt was wallowing on the bed. I thought Dean had just pushed him down onto the bed and Walt was being dramatic because he had such a horribly short nap today (because Dean woke him up while I was getting him new underwear after he peed himself). But no, as we were reading scriptures and books, a new huge raised bruise was showing up on Walt's forehead. Apparently Dean pushed him from the shelves (really an old changing table) and Walt's head broke his fall on the metal railing on the rocking ottoman below. Poor kid. He looks like an abuse victim. He has a black eye from climbing over the arm of the couch and face planting into a wooden chair as well as a cut on his lower cheek from running and tripping in the garage and lodging himself between Matt's car and the jogging stroller.

There was one cute moment, however, that I must mention. After Walt's shoddy nap I was in my room and Dean was trying to be nice to Walt because he was crying from not having enough sleep and wanting to play with everything restricted to him in my bathroom (make up, Matt's razors, etc). Dean kept saying, "Don't worry. Dean's here. Would you like to jump on the bed Walt? Would you like to go play computer?" and at one point they ended up giving each other the cutest hug ever, totally unprompted by me. It was a nice little ray of sunshine on this cold and icy day.

I Resolve 2011

2011-01-27T22:37:00.000-06:00

I've been debating posting a list of goals I have for the year, mainly because I've only had an informal list floating around in my head.

Go to the temple once a month, even if that means going by myself.
Go on a date with Matt once a month, be it to the Temple or elsewhere.
Chill out and don't stress about Nursery or Preschool so much. Prepare well, yes, but be more concerned about the kids having positive interactions and experiences than about looking like "the perfect and awesome teacher who's accomplished so much" when their parents come and pick them up. I shouldn't make it about me; it should be about them.
Plan ahead

There are other things I know I need to improve on, but this is what I'm focusing on right now.

"Hole-jew"

2011-01-24T17:00:00.004-06:00

Walter is in such a fun stage. He has a couple of phrases that he uses a lot, but he's also copying a lot of what we say. In the last few days he's changed from saying "upandown" to "hole-jew" (Hold you) when he wants me to pick him up. He's getting better at saying Dean, and he talks about daddy all day. Any time he sees something he thinks is associated with dad, he'll point and excitedly say, "Dada! Dada!" Sometimes he'll even say stuff like, "Dada shoes!"

Some of the funny/cute things he says:
Oh boy!
Oh ma(n)!
Bye, bye dada. Yuvyou.
Hamma (Hammer)

At church yesterday he kept straddling the arm of the pew and made engine revving noises like he was riding a motorcycle! I don't know if that's what he was really doing, but it sure seemed like it. Sacrament meeting feels like an hour long wrestling match with our boys. Neither of them are game for just sitting there with activity books or toys (it helps for a few minutes, but the boys just have ants in their pants!), and twice in the past few weeks we've had to chase them up to the front and retrieve them. The first time Walt started heading up during the Sacrament prayer and Dean followed after crawling. Walt thought it was a fun chasing game and made it all the way to the Sacrament table before Matt got to him. Dean thought it was a fun game until Dad made them stop, and then he wailed as Matt took them to the foyer so the deacons could actually pass the Sacrament! I have to admit, I laughed. It was that or get really embarrassed for normal little boy behavior. It happened again yesterday when the choir got up to sing a special number. Walt thought it would be fun to follow everyone up. I followed him to grab him. Dean followed us "to do it like Walt." Kids.

He still loves to climb. This week I found him sitting in the bathroom sink, getting into everything he wasn't supposed to. (On a side note, he dumped an entire bottle of shampoo on one of our fabric couches this week as well. Luckily it's one I got for fairly cheap, but still, the damage toll rises!) Yesterday at one point I heard him crying a distress cry from our laundry room. Since I've been painting, I had our big ladder down and leaned up against the wall in the laundry room. He climbed to the second to top rung and couldn't get down! I'm so glad it didn't topple over!

Walter is almost positively left handed. He ALWAYS draws and eats with his left hand. (Matt's a lefty.) He loves, loves, loves markers, but unfortunately still likes to put them in his mouth as well as draw with them. He is a master with a fork and will NOT let me help him one whit with eating. I do still cut up his food, but he has to spear everything (including peas!) all by himself. He is as good as Dean is with a fork, though his spoon technique needs a little more work with liquids.

His hair's getting a bit long and scraggly. The curls are still cute, but I think we're just about ready to give him his first "big boy" hair cut. It's so much harder with curly hair though...

Here's a funny (to me at least) video of us trying to put our kids to bed last week. It's long, so I don't blame you if you don't watch. =) Walt kept climbing up on Dean's train box and flipping over the headboard of Dean's bed. Of course when we get out the camera it takes a little coaxing to get it on video since he just wants the camera. It's a little slow at the beginning, but I think the end's pretty funny.

Untitled from Celia Brasfield on Vimeo.

Beep, beep, beep. The line is busy. Please hang up and try again.

2011-01-23T20:41:00.000-06:00

My mom asked if I have been really busy lately since I haven't updated my blog lately. I knew I hadn't really posted much lately, but I didn't realize how little I've posted! Only one post this whole month! Preposterous.

Kid's bathroom before

Kid's bathroom after

I guess the answer is, yes. I've been quite busy. I've caught the painting bug again. I've painted two bathrooms SW Breezy and have started prep on our kitchen recently (SW Independent Gold). So that's kind of eaten up some nights.

Master Bathroom, not quite put together

another from the master.

I also started reading again. I haven't been real great about it recently. I was reading a long Revolutionary war series and got stuck half way through the third book. I loved the first two books and read them quickly, but the third felt more text bookish and was harder for me to get into. I didn't pick it up for a couple of months and then about a week ago I felt like reading it again and finished it in a few days. Then I started book 4 and am about half way in. When I read, I read. It kind of consumes me. That's why I go in spurts.

Matt traveled again this week, and that often leaves me too tired in the evening to blog. He's becoming known as a "travel guy", much to his dismay. The trip he went on this week wasn't even remotely related to what he does at work, but they needed a software guy they trusted with a new potential client and a 100 million dollar contract that was on the line. Yeah, no pressure.

Oh, and I guess I never really blogged about the horrible month and a half of sickness around here that kind of sucked the life out of me. Starting in early December Dean got the flu, then Walt, then Matt. I had it but never threw up. It lasted about 2 weeks total (more if you count the diarrhea). Then about 3 days after we were over that, Dean started complaining his tummy hurt. I thought it was just Christmas candy, but after a week of him saying that every day, we took him to the doctor to get it checked out. He had strep. Oh, and that same visit Walter was diagnosed with pink eye, a cold, and an ear infection.

Walt's already been "diagnosed" with a penicillin allergy, so she put him on some other type of antibiotic. Dean was given augmentin. He got the cold from Walt while on his meds, and on day 8 or 9 of his treatment, he broke out in a horrible rash. Matt and I totally thought it was chicken pox because it started with rosy cheeks, then spots on his belly, then it spread across his whole body by morning. We took him into the doctor, and she originally said it was one of the worst allergic reactions she'd ever seen to penicillin. He was basically one big hive. She put him on an oral steroid thinking that would clear things up within a day. While it helped some, his body and legs were still totally covered the next day. At least his face wasn't still swollen. We took him back in, and they said he had erythema multiforme minor. Which seemed to stand for "we don't really know, but it's something more than an allergic reaction. More like an immune system malfunction that was most likely triggered by the penicillin and strep and cold." He had the rash about a week. We racked up a good $200+ in co-pays this past month between all of this. At least we have insurance. It could have been worse.

You can't tell that well, but his lips, cheeks, and ears are all very swollen.

This was after 2 doses of steroids and 2 doses of Benadryl.

On a positive note, after all this, I was able to get a new pair of glasses, a new hair cut, went to the temple, and redeemed my Christmas pedicure. So, it wasn't just all hardships that kept me from blogging...

10 years ago today

2011-01-12T17:00:00.000-06:00

10 years ago today I was able to go through the LDS temple for the first time and receive my Endowment. I was 19 and heading out to China to teach English, and while receiving one's Endowment wasn't really "standard procedure" without getting married or going on an LDS mission, 3 different leaders in my life asked me to consider it, and after praying about it, it all felt very right for me.

There had been a HORRIBLE snowstorm in northern AZ that day and our closest temple was in Mesa at the time. I remember being very surprised at how many people came to support me and were able to get through the Rim roads since most of them were closed earlier that day because they were so icy and impassable. Entering the Celestial room with so many friendly, loving, familiar faces already there to greet me was one of the most touching experiences of my life, and was the closest thing to Heaven on Earth that I can imagine. Which is the whole point I guess.

What a wonderful blessing the Temple has been in my life.

Christmas morning and what mom learned

2010-12-29T22:03:00.000-06:00

I was sewing felt food right up until about 10:30pm on Christmas Eve, so Santa visited shortly thereafter. We (I) decided that Santa was going to have a minimal appearance at our house. He'll leave 1 present per child, a family game, a family DVD, possibly another family present and stockings.And our stockings were going to be mostly "semi-healthy" things we don't normally have with a little bit of candy. We had freeze dried fruit, fruit leathers, Welch's fruit snacks, Quaker granola bars, peanuts, whoppers and some wrapped chocolate candies. I'm glad I had other stuff besides straight up candy. I feel like our household is already on sugar overload.

This is them first seeing Christmas morning. It's not super exciting, and it's a little long. I don't think we have one video of Walter during present opening from this first moment on without some sort of food in his hand.

Untitled from Celia Brasfield on Vimeo.

Dean didn't really seem to "get" the whole Santa thing until about two weeks before Christmas when kids were talking about what they wanted at preschool. Once he figured out that he could ask Santa for anything he could possibly want, his list went from a green toy garbage truck to: a garbage truck, a fishing pole, a really big motorcycle (and after I told him he couldn't drive a real motorcycle, he changed it to "a really big toy motorcycle"), a drill like dad's, guns, and anything that caught his fancy while we were at the store.

Since we bought the nice play set this summer and we're changing out basically all of the flooring in our house right now, we were pretty minimal in our Christmas. On the Sunday before Christmas I pulled out all our gifts thinking I was done, only to realize that Walter only had 3 gifts, one we got for free that was going to be his Santa gift, a set of books from a yard sale, and a book from his grandparents. Dean's looked sparse, but a little better. So I set out to find Walter a few more presents.

On Christmas morning Dean didn't want to come out of his room because he was still a little scared he was going to scare Santa away and he'd take the presents. Once he came out he seemed happy enough with the presents. He got the dump truck from Santa. Walter got a rocking horse from Santa. There was a Curious George DVD, a mini basketball (for both boys), a game of memory, and stockings. So far things were going well, though he wasn't crazy excited yet. Matt pointed out the eaten cookies and milk and carrots. He was curious why Santa left a half eaten cook and was also a little annoyed because we gave Santa the last of our ginger cookies so there weren't any left for him.

He was happy to unwrap presents, though he seemed a little annoyed at opening clothes. Like, "Seriously? Next present please." He enjoyed opening his presents and helping Walt open his. The down hill part of Christmas came when Walt opened up one of the last minute presents from mom and dad, the guitar. When I bought the guitar, I knew that Dean would want it, but I knew Walt would like it and he had fewer presents. I should have gotten two. They both had fun playing with it and Dean was pretty decent about waiting till Walter was "done" playing with it before he rushed in to play. Walt's not too, too possessive about his things yet. At one point Dean tried trading a shirt he got for the guitar. By the time the felt food were opened, Dean was too distracted by the guitar, though Walt gave it a token glance. Dean basically only played with the guitar all day, totally rocking out rock star style. Wait, I take that back. He did have some rousing games of Hi-ho Cherry-o and zingo with Matt also. When I asked Dean if he liked his presents, he said, "no." When we asked what his favorite present was he said, "not any any toy." Then he asked if Santa was coming back and if we could ask him for a guitar that looks like the Robot Parade guitar (like Walt's) and a big motorcycle (he got a small toy motorcycle in his stocking). By the end of the day he was claiming the guitar as his own.

This is the video where Dean tries to trade one of his shirts for the guitar. =)

Trading the shirt for the guitar from Celia Brasfield on Vimeo.

So, what I learned: open "less exciting" presents at the first and give at least one "exciting" present to each child. Dean technically had more gifts, but it didn't seem like it since his were things like puzzles and books and shirts. He didn't have anything big or exciting or flashy. Even the garbage truck we got him was pretty little compared to the 3 presents Walt got. I had actually gotten him a toy drill, but it was the last one at the store and when I got home, Matt realized the trigger was broken, so that didn't make it to Christmas. The one gun he got was from the dollar store, so it didn't have any cool sounds or effects or anything, and I have to help him use it since it's so hard to pull the dart shooting mechanism back. Ah well. At least he's little enough he probably won't be scarred by the memory, and he has seemed to have fun playing with his toys and books since then. (As a side note, we found out yesterday that Dean has strep throat, so I think that may have affected his excitement and general mood since I'm pretty sure it started bothering him the Wed. before Christmas. He kept saying his tummy hurt, so I thought it was candy, but he told me that every day for a week before I figured I ought to check it out.)

Walter loved everything. He loved eating a pink snowball out of his stocking first thing in the morning. He loved all of his presents. He loved all of Dean's presents. He really loved the toothbrush in the stocking. They have been playing with the little second hand Doug and Melissa stove top and felt food after the initial excitement of the popper and guitar wore off.

I got Matt a new really nice mouse pad, a pull up bar, and a cd. He got me a pedicure certificate to a nice salon/spa downtown and a fuel belt for running.

As for our Christmas breakfast, I made bacon and biscuits, which Dean loved and Walt didn't touch since he was too busy eating half his stocking. I actually had a bowl of large shredded wheat biscuits which was the traditional Christmas breakfast at my house growing up. For our "big" Christmas dinner we had ham, party potatoes, Martinelli's, and green beans.

Christmas Eve

2010-12-28T17:00:00.001-06:00

This was our first Christmas in our own home with only our family. Up until this year we've alternated going to my or Matt's parents' houses. It has been fun, but with 2 kids and long distances to travel, it just wasn't practical this year. That meant we had to come up with our own family traditions. Do we have our big meal on Christmas Eve (like my fam) or Christmas day (like Matt's)? Do we open a present on Christmas Eve? How does Santa work (unwrapped and out like mine? or wrapped like Matt's)? There were more questions we had to ask, but you get the point I'm sure.

We made pizza on Christmas Eve, had a Nativity "pageant" with "costumes" (the boys and I made crowns for the wisemen and I pulled a bathrobe, a sheep puppet, and a hooded towel), and we let the boys open their new pj's. Opening the pj's was very anti-climactic for Dean, poor guy, much like the rest of his Christmas. He was like...what's this? And can you really call it a present?

I don't think we'll keep the pizza as a tradition, though it was fun. I think I'd prefer having some Israeli/Mediterranean food. I love symbolic food. I just need to plan better.

Matt put some righteous fear into Dean when he told him that Santa would get scared and leave with all the Christmas presents if Dean came out when he was leaving presents. Our house is so small it would be practially impossible to have him come out and not see all of Christmas. He usually goes to the bathroom once in the middle of the night. He walks through the living room to our room to have me help, so we put up a gate outside his door and I slept in the computer room so I could help without him seeing Christmas prematurely. Not necessary since he didn't even want to come out in the morning because he was afraid Santa would take back the presents!

Making the crowns. Note to self: never use puffy paint with an 18 mo. old again! So stressful.

Thought it was hilarious to pull his crown down for pics.

Dean wanted to be Mary.

Mary, Joseph and an unhappy baby Jesus.

A shepherd

Hooray! Let's go see the baby! (love this pic!)

Dean wanted a turn at being baby Jesus, and Walt was happy to let him have it!

Me as the manger?

Here come the Kings...

Giving baby Jesus gold

Three Kings

Love this smile.

Hmmm...what is it? No really, what is is?

The best pic we could get of the new pj's

The beginning of the sugar rush: Graham Cracker houses

2010-12-27T22:37:00.002-06:00

Growing up we always made our houses the Monday before Christmas. We'd have a huge load of candy, and we usually watch The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. It was one of my favorite Christmas traditions, though I do remember agonizing over the fact that my houses were never "original" since I wasn't a creative decorator.

The Sunday before Christmas we made our candy houses. The boys were only interested in eating the candy. It took a lot of coaxing to get Dean to decorate, but he caught on after awhile. Walter ended up with 3 pieces of black licorice candy on his house since he pulled off and ate anything Matt put on! He is a sugar fiend. It worries me a little...I don't give the boys much sugar usually, but if feels like we've been gorging this week with all the goodies and Christmas candy, and I can tell the difference! The boys have been worse behaved (Walter threw his biggest fit EVER the day after candy houses when I wouldn't let him eat candy for breakfast. Seriously was a screaming fit that lasted almost an hour and a half and nearly resulted in throwing up a number of times.), have slept worse, and Dean has told me nearly every day since I started letting them have candy that his tummy hurts. I will be so happy when I can cut the sugar intake back again without feeling like a crazy-health-freak-grinch.

Matt built the boys' houses and I built mine. Dean wanted a garage and a tall house. I had to redo mine a couple times. I am not one for details! I let the boys eat their houses the day after and I kept mine up until Christmas even though Walter begged to eat the "how" every day in between! I let them rip it apart on Christmas.

The squeal of delight

2010-12-25T22:59:00.001-06:00

Once I ran out and got the proper batteries for this ball popper, their excitement was hard to contain! My absolute favorite part of the video is the first few seconds, so if you only want to watch a smidgen, that would be it! Walt's reaction to it is just priceless.

Walt's ball popper from Celia Brasfield on Vimeo.

Our un-mailed Christmas Letter

2010-12-25T20:56:00.000-06:00

Well, the stomach flu hit us hard a couple of weeks ago, so any chance for me getting out a Christmas letter or card or picture in a timely manner went down the toilet with a whole lot of throw up. So, on Christmas Eve's Eve (and now Christmas day) I am here writing a virtual Christmas letter to those who might have missed receiving a card from us.

Walter - 17 mo.

This year has been incredibly eventful for Walter! He learned how to crawl, walk, run, talk, and play on his own. He is a talker, a babbler, a communicator, and knows what he wants! If he finds something he likes, he'll point at it, nod his head, and say yes or no if I guess correctly or incorrectly. He'll babble about it and say its name as best as he can. He LOVES balloons (bloon, bloon, bloon!!!), balls, the park, candy, our neighbor's blow up Santa, taking our Christmas tree apart, stickers, and snowmen (he calls them moman) right now. He has a pretty impressive vocabulary, though most words are only comprehensible to the woman who spends 12 waking hours listening to him babble (yes, that's me!). He does have 10 or more words that I think anyone would be able to recognize. His most used words right now include: balloon, dada, mama, night night, dark, hello, ball, toolbox, all gone, soft, banana (he's even used it in a simple sentence when he said, "nanna all gone"!), oatmeal, book, shoe, sock, park, thank you, Santa, snowman etc. He's a very good eater most of the time, and often tries to eat the remainder of Dean's food after meals. He's quite good at entertaining himself with toys, boxes, or anything he can find in the cupboards. He loves snuggling and rubbing soft things on his face as well as coming up behind us and patting us on the back. He also loves his feet and back rubbed (definitely gets that from my side!). He loves me to sing (hallelujah! It has been hard having Dean hate having me sing to him!) to him and his current favorite song is "Wheels on the bus" with the wheels verse and the "shhhh" verse. He's funny, easy to please, and just seems to really enjoy life.

Dean - 3 years
Dean is an incredibly smart and verbal child! He can express himself and his feelings really well and says some of the funniest things! He love, love, loves the playing games on the computer (he's played pretty much everything on PBS, starfall, the Friend online, and we've gone through all the levels of World of Goo and are half way through the second time), Curious George, Clifford, Veggie Tales, Wii sports and Rockband. His favorite song is probably Robot Parade by They Might be Giants. In September he started going to a mom-run co-op preschool. He loves it and caught on very quickly that we were going through the alphabet in alphabetical order. He is already sounding out words he sees in print, can count up to 30, and loves books.

He is very particular about food. Nothing can touch, he needs different forks for "messy foods" and his other foods, and he doesn't like butter because it makes his food dirty. If he can eat it raw, he prefers it over cooked.

Though he started potty training at 18 mo. of his own choosing, once we got to underwear he basically refused to go on with the process and basically stopped trying at all. He had no problem going on the potty, but he really hated having occasional accidents in underwear and having to stop what he was doing to run to the bathroom, so we still have 2 kids in diapers. Matt recently asked why he didn't want to wear underwear or pull ups and he said, "cuz they're disgusting!"

Celia - 29

At the beginning of the year I bought a good double jogger and began jogging 4-6 miles most weekday mornings with my new friend Kirstin (who also was sporting a double stroller when we started). I was supposed to start teaching piano again in January only to find that I had no students able to return. I took a semester off after having Walt with 12 people on my list to start in January, so it was a bit of a shock for me! The economy, kids moving, and a new teacher who went to their students' homes did me in. It was nice, though, to not have to worry about keeping 2 babies entertained while trying to teach. Harder on our budget though.

I got to go to my first and second Broadway plays this year (Wicked and Phantom) and they were both amazingly fun. I will not wait another 29 years before I do it again!! It was then that I realized that my wardrobe was horrible. I couldn't find one non-kid-stained shirt or pants in my closet! So about mid year I traded piano lessons for fashion consulting and I went on a mini shopping spree to get some cute basics! I haven't taken to make-up much yet, but it has been nice having some cute clothes to wear. The funny thing is, though, I ramped up my usage of Isagenix since then and am actually a size or two smaller than the clothes I bought! I've always loved their shakes, but I pretty much have a shake or an Isagenix bar every day now. After doing their full nutritional cleanse right before Thanksgiving, I am currently the same weight I was in 7th grade and I am in a smaller pant size than I've ever worn in my entire life!

In September I headed up and organized a preschool for Dean. It has been really challenging for me, but it's also good and fun. The biggest non-teaching project I took on this year was to paint our living room. It took nearly a month of evenings for me to do 3 coats, but the difference is amazing. Now I need to get on painting my bedroom, the kitchen, and our computer room!! Ack that's a lot of painting!

Matt - 29

Matt's had a very stressful and challenging year at work. He works on the software for the unmanned drone, the Predator. He has had to travel a lot more this year to do flight testing in CA, and they've really ramped up the pressure on him at work. At the end of the year he interviewed with another company and was offered a job, and while we both wanted our answer to be a yes, the answer we both got after praying was "not right now." We've both felt strongly that we need to get our house cleaned up a bit and ready to go on the market sometime next year regardless of the whole job situation, so who knows what next year will bring? During Matt's Christmas break he will be ripping out our disgusting vinyl and tiling our bathrooms and kitchen. Hopefully soon after we finish that we'll rip up our horrible living room carpet and put in a wood floor. In his spare time in the evenings he enjoys online gaming with some good friends from high school.

Guh, Guh, Gold

2010-12-20T23:55:00.000-06:00

Dean's always been interested in letters and sounds. He could identify and say the letter R by 15 months or so. He's only 3 and 2 months and he's already sounding out words that he sees in print. The other day at lunch, out of the blue he said, "guh, guh, gold. Gold starts with G, and next is D." I praised him for knowing that it had both G and D and we sounded out the rest of the word. I'd give the sound and he'd give the letter. After we put it up on the fridge in letters we talked about rhyming words and I showed him how if you took the first letter off and left the rest, you have lots of words that sound similar. It was really fun to see him working it all out in his mind. I have done a few lessons in How to teach your child to Read in 100 easy lessons (I think we're on lesson 8 or 9--seriously an awesome book) and he loves it. I don't do it every day because I'm worried he'll get burned out on it. Last time we did it we did 3 lessons and he didn't want to quit after that! He turned to the very end of the book and said, "Let's do THIS page!!!" He was pretty disappointed when I said we hadn't learned enough yet to read that page. He likes spelling "words" on the fridge and sounding them out. Every time it reminds me of Rudy from the Cosby show. "What does ZRBT spell?" Love it.

He's also very interested in numbers. He can count up to 30 with minimal help. Yesterday morning he had me help him count all the way up to 100. He' understands that there's a pattern, but he'd get mixed up occasionally. When we'd get to the "9" number, he'd always ask "What's next mom?" and then he'd try and take over the pattern again. He also tries to tell time on both digital and face clocks. He gets a bit mixed up on the hands though. =) Yesterday he really wanted to wake Matt up for some reason and I told him we couldn't until 8 o' clock. He watched the clock until the second hand got to the 8 and said, "It's 8 mom! It's 8! We need to go wake up dad!" He doesn't believe me about minutes. He can't for the life of him figure out why 1 would mean 5 or 5 would mean 25. We have a little clock puzzle that has the minute numbers written out really small next to the big number, so I think he'll catch on before he's in kindergarten (3 years from now)!

Charity

2010-12-16T22:52:00.000-06:00

Today as I read through President Monson's talk Charity Never Faileth from the General Relief Society meeting, this really stuck out at me. It's almost exactly his words, but I cut a few words and formatted it slightly to all fit the same pattern for this.

Charity

Is tolerant of others and lenient toward their actions.

Forgives.

Is patient.

Impels us to be sympathetic, compassionate, and merciful.

Is present during sickness and affliction as well as weakness or error on the part of others.

Gives attention to those who are unnoticed,

Hope to those who are discouraged,

Aid to those who are afflicted.

Is love in action.

Refuses to find satisfaction in hearing or reporting misfortunes.

Resists the impulse to become offended easily

Is accepting of weaknesses and shortcomings.

Is accepting people as they truly are.

Is looking beyond physical appearances

Is resisting the impulse to categorize others