My first crochet project

Okay, I have to admit it. After having someone give me a crocheted blanket for each of my babies, I got a bit jealous. I decided that this was something I needed to know how to do. I was a little bit apprehensive, not sure how difficult it would be, but after a friend's reassurances, I bought a $12 kit at Walmart called "I Taught Myself to Crochet." Honestly, it's a great bargain for the money. So, after going through the "basic stitch" lessons, I decided to make Erin a blanket. I got the pattern off the skein of yarn I had gotten to learn on (that Erin had chosen for me). My book had also gone through how to read a pattern, and the pattern was labeled "beginner," so I decided I would go for it. I let Erin pick the second color. (By "picking" I mean, I showed her two colors and then bought the one she pointed at.) I added the purple myself...because I thought it was pretty and would look good.

Here it is:


I'm not sure why I'm so surprised that it turned out so well. I am every time I make something. I don't know where this lack of self-confidence comes from. I mean, am I Janice Hill's daughter or am I not? Anyway, I'm really proud of this. Now I'm working on a secret project for a friend and a blanket for Reese's at the same time. (Since I'm around said friend a lot, and I can't work in her project when I'm around her!) I'm now a crocheting machine!

Lots of random stuff.

First off, Matt's on his way home!! He'll be here in about an hour. I'm excited. Yes, it's a week early, but hey, that's okay.

Today I went through all of Erin's clothes and put away the ones that were smaller than 12 months. So now, all of her clothes fit into one drawer!! >_< I guess that means it's time to get some Autumn-y clothes! But during the move around I found a pair of shoes that Mom and Adrienne bought a long time ago. Due to a miscommunication, they bought the wrong size. I put them on the top of the dresser and forgot I had them. Well, they now fit! Yay! It was hard to get a shot of them though.

She was being grumpy

And then the microwave beeped, so she went to go get lunch.

And then I got a good shot of the shoes!

And this is her at the park the other day.

And here's another dancing video..lol


Oh, and I found this really cool site. Apparently photographer Annie Leibowitz had celebrities pose as Disney characters so that they could have live-action scenes from movies. I want to do Erin's toddler room (after we move) in a fairy tale theme. I didn't want to do Disney, but I think it would be cool to get some of these prints.

This is Prince Philip from Sleeping Beauty (David Beckham):

And Cinderella (Scarlett Johansson):

And the Blue Fairy (Julie Andrews):

Just hit home

So, I was online looking to see if I could find a picture from a calendar I had years ago. It was of babies and young children dressed as angels. I just remember this beautiful picture of three little girl angels having a tea party. One was brunette, one was blonde, and one had beautiful curly red hair. Telima, Audrei and I used to say it was our daughters.

Of course, I never thought I really would have a redheaded angel daughter. And I'm feeling sentimental tonight, so I thought I'd try to find the picture. I couldn't find it.

But I did find this:
And it seems so perfect.

And Autumn has arrived.

This morning it was cold when I woke up. Very overcast and windy ("blustery" if you will). Well, it was Splash Park Wednesday today (our last one. It's closing next Monday. I think we're planning on going Monday next week, and then going just to Smith park from here on out until it gets too cold to spend time outside). We were the only ones there. All the kids 5 and over are in school now, and who on earth else would be crazy enough to go to the splash park on a day like today. We put them in their swimsuits but they only got their feet and hands wet and were only walking around for 10 minutes or so before they were shivering. But they would have been ANGRY if we hadn't let them play for at least a little bit.


So today was also a really good day for taco soup. I've been kind of craving it for a while, but it's been too hot. So today was the perfect day.


I can't wait until the leaves turn pretty colors!

Seeing it through a child's eyes.

Today I sat down and watched the movie "My Neighbor Totoro" by Hayao Miyazaki with Erin. I remember when I first watched this movie. The Japanese exchange student who was living with us, Mana, wanted to share it with us. If I'm remembering right, the first few times we watched it, it was in Japanese with no subtitles or anything. Mana translated enough for us to get the gist of what was going on, and we loved it. How could you not, between the giant rabbit-like forest spirit and the cat bus??
To my delight, Erin also loved it. She was captivated by it in a way that she hasn't been by other things. She sat and watched through nearly the entire thing (whereas with Fraggle rock it's pretty much just the opening and closing credits). When the cat bus appeared for the first time, she actually laughed and pointed at the screen.

I am so glad to share one of the simple joys of my own childhood with her. It really is a wonderful experience.

I made it!!

Today is the official start of my second trimester. And I'm feeling great. I don't have to tell you how rare that is for pregnant me. I'm 1/3 of the way through and I feel like it's going by so fast! This baby is going to be here before I know it, and I find the idea kind of frightening. I'm still worried how I'm going to handle a newborn and a toddler at the same time... >_<

So, here's a picture. For those of you who are thinking "But Brittanie, you're not that big..." please remember that I didn't look like this until 20 or 22 weeks along both times before. And I'm 13 weeks today. So while I may not be big compared to everyone else, I am very big compared to me! lol.



Oh, and no, we don't know the gender yet. We'll have our big ultrasound mid-October. My next appointment is September 11, and that day we'll schedule it. I'll definitely let you know when we find out!!

Big-girl pajamas

I'm really trying not to make this another "my baby is growing up so fast!" post, but it's probably going to end up as one. lol. It's been cooling down a lot lately, and it has been getting kind of cold at night. Up until now, Erin has pretty much just been wearing her diaper to bed, sometimes a onesie. But, it's too cold even for that in the mornings (Friday morning at 9:30am it was 48*). So, I decided that she needed some new pajamas (she'd grown out of all her others). She wears 18-month pants now, so I went looking for 18-month jammies. All they had was the shirt-and-pants kind. No footed ones. So...I broke down and got her some big-girl jammes. They're really cute! But she hates the long sleeves...lol.

Dance your cares away!

I started watching Fraggle Rock with Erin again (we really need to get more seasons!) now that she's a little older and might appreciate it a bit more.


She loves it. She'll either sit on the couch and just watch endlessly (uh oh, couch potato already?) or she'll dance and clap to the music. She's so cute!

The Twilight Series

Okay so a friend of mine made a post a little while ago on his blog about the Twilight Series (Breaking Dawn - Why?) in which he "critiques" the series even though he's only read the first book. While I agree with some of his sentiments, I feel like I should rebut a couple of things and express my own opinions. (Yes, I am the female friend he mentions...lol. Though, he candied the crack himself...the candy part wasn't me.)

If you have not read Breaking Dawn, please don't read this post, unless you don't plan on reading them, in which case, read if you want. I do have to say that it surprises me when people haven't read it yet, considering that I have not only finished it...but also read 5 other books (and have started a 6th) since finishing it. But I read a lot and quickly...so...that's just me.

In his post, my friend says (I hope you don't mind if I quote you, Friend!)
"The problem is Edmund–in the first book he’s always playing the tease: no, I don’t like you, though I’m going to willingly sit next to you, desire your blood and/or virginity, save you from certain death, etc. No, I don’t like you, Bella (Stupid). I’m going to somehow deny all of the instincts that are most basic to my nature as a vampire, and it’s no big deal. I will also tell you all about me and my family, despite the fact that we’re all hiding up here to get away from people knowing about us. Edmund, you see, is the first internally inconsistant character we see."

The first thing is that Edward is already living a lifestyle that is in direct conflict with his basic vampire instinct: he does not feed off humans. He goes to high school to maintain the pretense of a "normal" existence. If he and his family truly wanted to hide as you suggest, they wouldn't interact with anyone in the city at all. But they do. Carlisle is a doctor in the hospital. Edward, Alice, Jasper and Rosalie all go to the high school.

Secondly, Edward doesn't actually tell Bella he's a vampire. Jacob (the werewolf) does. She confronts Edward with it, and he tries to deny it until he can't anymore.

So why does he want to be with Bella? Well, that's the obvious part. He does leave for a week to get away from her but comes back...why? Because she is the only person he has come across whose mind he cannot read. He is curious and intrigued by the mystery of her. Plus she's fairly pretty. History is rife with men doing stupid things simply because of a beautiful mysterious woman. And he ends up falling in love with her. It happens all the time in real life.

No, Edward's not the one who bothers me. The one who bothers me is Bella. As I have told numerous people, her feelings for Edward are more like an addict toward heroin than a girl towards a love interest.

First off, she doesn't really love Edward. Her interest in him is completely self-serving.
"He's gorgeous and I like to look at him. OMG he likes to talk to me. I think he LIKES me! He makes me feel so good when I'm with him. That must mean I love him." It's incredibly juvenile. She's supposed to be 17/18, but her emotional range is that of a 12 year old. It really extremely bothers me. She had very little concern for Edward's wellbeing. Whereas Edward is willing to give up his feelings for Bella, and his want to be with her, for her own good, Bella is willing to do anything as long as she always gets her fix. She doesn't care how much it hurts Edward that she wants to become a vampire, she'd going to do it regardless. She's completely selfish in their relationship.

Which brings me to Breaking Dawn. I wanted to scream when, on their honeymoon, she tells Edward "we belong together" and they both "just knew it was true." No you don't. She has no concern for Edwards wellbeing. I almost put the book down. But I didn't, for the same reason that I had started reading it in the first place: I had to finish the story.

So then we learn about Immortal Children, which is supposed to be the "greatest taboo" in vampire society. Why, then, have we not heard about them yet?? Why didn't we get this string of Carlisle telling Bella about them in an earlier book, in a tone that said he didn't want to talk about it. It didn't have the impact it should have, because we had no prior exposure.

And I have issues with the whole idea of the "danger" of Immortal Children anyway. THERE'S an inconsistency for you. They claim that if you vampirize a small child (say, Erin's age), then they will be completely a slave to their bloodlusts, and cannot be controlled because they cannot learn, because they cannot progress past the age that they have been vamped. Therefore it's harder to keep them a secret from the humans.

My question is this: If an adult who is vamped can continue to grow cognitively, and can continue to learn things ad infinatum, they WHY can't a 14-month-old? Toddlers are incredibly more capable of learning than an adult. Why would a stop in physical growth impare a toddler's ability to learn? In reality, Erin will only be losing neural cells and elasticity from here on out, so an immortal child should be able to learn and grow and HUGELY faster rates than an adult who was vamped. But the immortal children give this book it's conflict, so they HAVE to be a bad thing.

So Bella, who is still human on her honeymoon, gets pregnant. It was then that she FINALLY had a real emotional response. The baby is killing her, but she refuses to let them abort the pregnancy to save her life. Edward makes Jacob offer to father a human child if she wants a baby so much, and she says "I don't want another baby, I want this baby." That is exactly what I said after I lost Cora, and everyone told me to just have another baby. Finally Bella has become a real person. ((But the thing that bothered me was that instead of her uterus growing 1cm a week like normal, she was growing 2cm a day. How come her uterus didn't rupture? At very least her skin would be tearing. There's no way it can stretch that fast!!))

And then she nearly dies during delivery, so Edward is forced to vamp her to save her life. That is my second issue. Not that she was vamped in the first place, but that she is suddenly the perfect vampire. Unlike everyone else, who had to go on a killing spree and rampage because the bloodlust controlled them for the first year or so, Bella is in complete control. She can already do everything perfectly.

You have got to be kidding me.

It might have been slightly easier for me to handle had Carlisle been able to say "Well, I have come across rare instances where newborns have had complete control right away."

No, Bella is completely special. She has it all handed to her. That irritated me.

Okay, I feel like I'm babbling now, so I'm going to end it here. I don't think I'm going to buy these books. I read them because I had to finish the story. It's done now. I don't think I need to spend money on it (I checked them all out of the library).


edited to add something I forgot:
My friend asks WHY the series is so popular. The answer is simple. Girls love bad boys. Vampires are the ultimate bad boys. Even good girls secretly like tattooed leather-wearing boys on motorcycles. So even more do they like vampires.

In the end, I liked Stephenie Meyer's book "The Host" a million times more.

And my baby is no longer a baby.

I realized yesterday that Erin can no longer be classified as a "baby" any longer. She now walks as much as she scoots, or more. She walks around for several minutes straight and is so proud of herself as she does it.

I am now the mother of a toddler.


Why does this make me a little sad? I seriously love all the new things she is learning to do and how smart she is becoming. I even have another baby on the way, so it's not like I'll be baby-less for long. But I look back on Erin's newborn pictures, when she was this little wiggly squeaky thing and it makes me sad.

Maybe because she is no longer entirely dependent on me for everything. Yes, she still needs me to do some basics for her (food, diapers, etc), but she is asserting her independence more and more every day.

Does this make every mother sad, to have children stop needing you so much?

Gallbladder ultrasound

So yesterday morning I went into have my ultrasound. Not only did he check my gallbladder, but also my liver, spleen, pancreas, heart and kidneys.

There were no stones in my gallbladder, and everything else looked perfect. The tech said "I can't tell you what the pain is, but it's not gallstones. You look perfectly healthy."


So yeah. I majorly overreacted, but...I'm glad to know my insides look like they should. I hope Dr. Barton can figure out why my side hurts. *sigh*

Blessings

Okay, so I have a couple of friends who were apparently serious when they said "Call us if you need anything," when Matt left. Shane "just happened" to be online today. He took his laptop to work and left it online. I messaged him, because it was easier than looking for my phone. So he and Ben just came over.

I'm so glad that Adrienne and Matt insisted that I call someone. (You too Aubri, even though I read your comment after the fact).

I feel so much better. More at peace.


I'm being looked out for, and thought of and prayed for. AND my problems aren't as bad as I think they are.

*rolls eyes*

I do have a tendency to freak out, don't I?

Okay, what now???

This morning I'm getting sharp stabbing pains on my LEFT side, along with the pulsing in my right side. Ugh. I've read gallbladder issues can cause pancreas issues. GAH!! I feel like my body is falling apart. I just want my insides to WORK dangit!

It's at this time that I would normally ask for a blessing. But...Matt's in Oklahoma, and both my home teachers moved. As far as I know, we won't be getting new ones until around the time Matt gets back.

I feel very alone right now.

Jenny Lake, August 16, 2008

I don't know if I can adequately put into words how much I love Jenny Lake. I mean, obviously it's a special place to me. But even if it didn't have the tie to Cora...it has got to be one of the most beautiful places on the face of the planet.

My friend Aubrey and I planned this trip a couple weeks ago. A few days ago I was playing around with date calculators online and realized that Aug. 16th was the anniversary of the likely date of Cora's conception. It felt like fate. We just coincidentally planned to be in Cora's place on the anniversary of the beginning of her very short life. So I wanted to take up some flowers. For the last little while I had been wanting to take up some wild sunflowers. They just make me happy. You'll be driving along drab greeny-brown terrain, and all of the sudden there'll be a splash of bright yellow. It's like the earth is celebrating something. What better flower is there to take Cora on her day? So we pulled off the side of the road at one point and cut some sunflowers.

The lake was beautiful as always. It was great to just go and spend time there. My other visits to Jenny Lake are usually short since it's a stop on the way to somewhere else (or at the end of a long day because we got lost and the lake was frozen over anyway, so it was terribly cold). It was great to just sit in the sun and wade in the water and watch Erin and Myla play. Erin was so excited by all the rocks. She kept picking them up from the lake bed and handing them to me like each one was some incredibly rare treasure. It was so much fun. Myla just kept trying to eat them. lol.

Anyway, pictures:

The sunflowers, in a little round pool somebody made.

Erin and Myla playing in the water

A butterfly landed on the sunflowers. I loved it. The cut flowers were technically dead, but could still give sustinence and life. What a beautiful symbol.

And about a million baby trouts. I'm actually quite proud of this picture. It was hard to get because 1) you couldn't get close, they'd swim away, 2) you couldn't move, they'd swim away, 3) the fish were swimming very fast, even when they were close, and 4) the water was moving.


And to make a great day even better, I felt Reeses move for sure on the way home. I've been wondering the past few days, but yesterday it was so definite. SUCH a great day!

Deepish thought...lol

So, as I said in an earlier post, I've been reading Piers Anthony's "Incarnations of Immortality" series. Basically in each of the books, you are following the experiences of one of the Incarnations (Death, Time, Fate, War, Nature). The Incarnations are mortals, who (for a time) become immortal to fill the office. There are also two "Immortals" (God and Satan) who are actually Incarnations themselves (Good and Evil respectively), just longer lived. So the Incarnations are basically trying to foil Satan from meddling in the affairs of mankind (God and Satan covenanted at the beginning to not interfere, and just let mankind muddle along. God, being good, honors His covenant, while Satan, being evil, cheats outrageously).

Each Incarnation has to face Satan in their own terms, thwarting him with the powers unique to their own office.

So I just finished "Weilding a Red Sword" (War), and at the end there was a line that struck me as profoundly true. Even though Mr. Anthony professes not to believe in the supernatural of any kind (which explain his version of God, who does not involve himself in human affairs), I think he hit the nail on the head. (I love finding little truths in the fiction I come across. I've done it with Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings...)

If I may quote:
" This matter is larger than any single person or any single episode. Satan is an insidious corruptor who never rests and he is most dangerous in seeming defeat, as all of us know. It is his specialty to proffer a large reward for a very small compromise, for his resources are infinite. But he who accepts the first compromise has made a precedent, and it then becomes easier to accept the next, and the next, until at last Satan has after all won. Only by refusing any compromise at all, no matter how grotesquely uneven the stakes seem to be, can a person be proof against the insidious devices of the Master of Evil."

Personal health update.

So, I've been having this rather annoying ache in my side (on the right side, right at my last rib) for a while now. Lately, it's been getting a bit more painful.

So, I went to my Dr's appointment today. Baby is perfect. Dr. Barton couldn't find the heartbeat right off (it's still a little bit early for that...I knew that but I couldn't help but worry anyway. Last time he couldn't find it, the result wasn't good), but then moved me into the ultrasound room to "take a quick peek," and Reeses little heart was beating away. He wasn't moving much, kind of sleepily, but the heartbeat made me happy.

So I mentioned my sideache to the doctor. And he is sending me to have an ultrasound done to look at my gallbladder on Tuesday morning at 10. *sigh*

So add to the frustration, medicaid *misplaced* my application. I was supposed to get a call back this afternoon, but that didn't happen. So as for now, I'm getting my gallbladder ultrasound-ed and I have no health insurance. >_<

So any prayers and/or positive thoughts you have for me would be so appreciated.

Thank you, Mr. Anthony

So, I like it when reading a book enlarges your vocabulary. And when you're reading something by Piers Anthony it happens regularly. I sometimes feel like I should have a dictionary within reach. Here's an example of the words that I have looked up. A couple I had already come across, but never new the actual definition.

triumvirate (n): a group or association of three. ((okay, I KNEW that, but...I thought it was more special than that. Apparently it's not, it's just 3 of whatever))

inchoate (adj): being only partly in existence or operation : incipient; especially : imperfectly formed or formulated : formless, incoherent

occidental (adj): of, relating to, or situated in the Occident : western

Anyway, just thought I'd share, so you can use one of them in a random conversation and look like the smarty you know you are.

((edited to add: the current book I'm on is "Wielding a Red Sword," the fourth book in the "Incarnations of Immortality" series. This is a VERY good series. I highly recommend it.))

They may have found Bigfoot.

Fox news article


I honestly don't know if I believe this...I bet it turns out to be an elaborate hoax.

Erin the smartypants

Every day I'm amazed by what Erin is learning. Sometimes though, she comes up with something new that just surprises me. Yesterday was one of those days.

She has been trying to put on her own shoes lately. And she's been trying to put on mine. Yesterday a friend came over, and took off her shoes while she was here, and Erin tried those on too. She also knows that shoes get put on before we go outside. So if she sees me put on my sandals and getting the diaper bag ready...well...she brings me her shoes.

It's also fun watching her get around objects with her walker, and "problem solve." Sometimes she gets stuck and has to figure out how to get unstuck and get around what she's stuck on. She also loves to put things on her walker to carry them, and watching her try to put things on so they fit and don't fall off is great.

Yesterday, though, she did two new things that just amazed me. Her sippy cup was up on the table, where she couldn't reach it. I was watching her reach up on her tippy toes and barely brush it with the tips of her fingers, and she was screaming in frustration. I just wanted to see what she would do. So then she turned to me, pointed to the cup, and pointed to herself and said "Gee?" I've been trying to teach her to say "please" and "Gee" is as close as we've gotten. I was laughing so hard. I, of course, got her sippy cup for her, since she made her desire so clear and said please.

Yesterday morning Erin took a very early nap. She fell asleep at 10:30am and slept for an hour. She usually takes her nap around 2:30 so it was very early for her. So by the time 7pm rolled around, she was starting to get very tired. I usually give her her bath at 8pm and then she's in bed between 8:30 and 9. Well, by 7:30 she was REALLY crabby. So I looked at her and asked her "Should I give you an early bath? Is it bathtime for you?" In response she grabbed my hand and started walking down the hall. I let her lead me, and she walked straight into the bathroom.

My little girl is so smart!!

Two posts in one.

Okay, so I'm going to get the boring part overwith first...lol.

I'm 11 weeks pregnant today (going off the dates from the ultrasound). That's just crazy to me. 11 whole weeks. Of course, the 40 weeks of the pregnancy starts from the first day of the last menstrual period, which means that you're not even pregnant for the first two weeks of your pregnancy. AND THEN it takes another two weeks after ovulation/conception to confirm the pregnancy, so by the time you even find out, you're 4 weeks pregnant. One whole month. So in the end, I've only known about Reeses for the last 7 weeks.

But STILL!! Is this one going by faster to anyone else?? Is it because I'm chasing around a 14 month old?

So here's a picture of pregnant me. I didn't look this pregnant with either of the girls until closer to 20 weeks, by the way.

So, the part that people care about: Erin cuteness. lol. We had fun this morning. She was curious about my lip gloss, so I put some on her:

And then we went to the park for our playdate with Aubrey and Myla


And Erin decided to go for a walk!


She got from me to the tree before it occurred to me that I should video her! =Þ Oh well, you can see how well she was doing anyway.

Total boredom

So, I have an hour and a half before I need to leave for church. I'm ready, except my shoes. Erin will be ready in about 10 minutes, so I have time to kill. So I'm making use of Firefox's "stumble upon" addon.

I've found some interesting pages.

This page of funny military images including this one
This page that lets you paint on a canvas. Now I've never claimed to be an artist, but it was fun. It also lets you "play" through the painting, so after you're done you can click and it'll repaint it for you from the beginning (graciously omitting anything you've "undone") So here's my pretty little scene

A cardboard office

This one shows the scale of our world and other celestial bodies.

The People's Mario: a little gory (the enemies bleed) but funny still.

The 7 best foods we never eat. It was actually a really interesting look at things I should try eating.

The photography of Nick Brandt. I love how surreal he makes the photos look. And of course, a picture of a giraffe can win me over most of the time. lol
A Wikipedia list of "unusual deaths." These include the 458BC death of the writer Aeschylus, who died when an eagle dropped a tortoise on his head, thinking it a rock; the 1478 execution of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence by drowning in a barrel of Malmsey wine (at his own request) and the 1983 death of author Tennessee Williams, when he choked to death on the cap of a bottle of eyedrops. Apparently he would routinely put the cap in his mouth and then lean back to put the eyedrops in his eyes, and accidentally swallowed it.

A doggy window for your wooden fence. lol
And I love this picture. I want to hug a tiger!!
18 uses for vodka, since you're not drinking it. ;)

lol!


And an interesting little scifi short story. "They're Made of Meat"


And lastly, the photographic journal of a man caring for his elderly father. It made me really think of how important my family is to me, and how much I treasure my memories.


So, I don't usually spend time like this, but it was kind of fun! Thanks for spending an hour with me.

Ninjas

So, Matt and I have this thing with ninjas. They're just cool. One of our favorite animes is about ninjas.

We're thinking about dressing up as ninjas for Halloween (I think Erin would make a great one)

Speaking of dressing up as a ninja, here is a news article about a NJ school that got shut down because a ninja was sighted in the forest outside the grounds. LOL

One of my favorite websites is askaninja.com

And Matt gave me this link to a video spoofing the aforementioned website:

Ask a Mormon Ninja


My dad found it "mildly amusing," but I was seriously cracking up the whole time.

So, I'm playing around this morning, trying to wake up, wasting time taking quizzes on blogthings.com I found the band name generator. And this is what it gave me

Your Band Name is:

The Supersized Ninjas

Band Name Generator

It just made me laugh.

I suppose there's a first time for everything.

So, last night, I was giving Erin a bath. Not a new thing, we do this every night as part of her getting-ready-for-bed routine. As she was playing with her toys, I was brushing my teeth. Also not a new thing. So I look down, and she's holding something in her hand. She grinned big and held it up to me.

I looked at it. It was brown and round and squishy looking. And then I realized...

Erin had POOPED in the bath! And she was awfully proud of herself and just had to show me what she had done.

All I can say is that mom reactions kicked in. Erin was soon out of the poopy water with her hands washed, dried, powdered, diapered and such. Then I fished it out of the water with the washrag and the washrag and all her toys were in the sink full of hot water and some bleach.

It was only after the fact, when I thought about it, that I gagged a bit. *rolls eyes* But every parent has to experience that at least once, right?

Splash Park Carousel

So, there is a carousel at the Splash Park. So, during our weekly splash park playdate, Aubrey decided that since she had a couple dollars she would pay for the girls to ride. Erin loved the horse...until it started moving. lol. Partway through the second song (you get to ride through two) I started getting really motion sick. So...by the end, both Erin and I were very done.

Here's some pictures anyway.

How's this for a name?

Ammon

Apparently, it's an Irish name. Here I was thinking it would just be a Book of Mormon thing. Matt says it might be a little bit weird since it's kind of close to Erin (both have similar initial sounds, and the same ending. The only difference is the middle consonant)


Saying them together is interesting Erin and Ammon. Erinanammon

And then there's the fact that one of BoM Ammon's brothers was Aaron. I suppose that it's okay to have both Erin and Ammon as long as I don't continue to finish it off with Omner and Himni. (I don't want them to get strange looks all their lives since we probably WON'T be living in Utah)

BUT, he's allowed me to "put it on the list." lol. So now I have a list started at least.


Heh, and if we DID end up naming him Ammon, at least he'd love to read those chapters in Alma. Would I have a little 5 year old boy trying to cut people's arms off?

Something for Adrienne

I thought this was hilarious

What's in a name?

I don't know that this baby is ever going to have a name. Matt's not really talking about it at all except to shoot down my ideas. *sigh*

Male Choice:
Rhys Alexander
Pronounced like Reese, it means "ardent defender of mankind." Mankind can use a few more of those. But there are two problems, both of which mean I can't use it, as much as I love it.
#1. My sister-in-law Amber has laid prior claim. Of course, I didn't know that when I fell in love with this name. But I just can't do that. "ha ha, I'm pregnant, so I'm stealing your name!" I'm not that terrible of a person.
#2. Matt doesn't like it. I run into this one a lot.

Female Choice:
Ginevra Layne
It means "fair one from the meadow." Yes, I got it from Harry Potter. Yes, I'd want to call her Ginny. Adrienne thinks the Harry Potter connection would get her made fun of. I think that only really hardcore Harry Potter fans realize that Ginny Weasley's name is really Ginevra anyway. (yep, that tells you something about me.) Matt hasn't actually given me a response to this one, as I mentioned it over IM and I keep forgetting to bring it up when we're on the phone.

So, especially since I think this little one is a boy (more about that in a second), we're back to the drawing board. I need to find something I think is as perfect as Rhys Alexander, so I can actually lay it to rest. Any suggestions would be WONDERFUL!

Why do I think it's a boy? Well, I suddenly stopped throwing up last Thursday. I feel great. I haven't had to take nausea medication or anything. It's wonderful. It actually really freaked me out at first (since I suddenly stopped feeling pregnant) but now I'm starting to enjoy myself, since I've had no definite signs of a problem. Yay! I CAN be pregnant and not throw up! It IS possible!

Because I just found this so funny

I know Aubri will appreciate this. lol