Yummy

4 weeks down. Sleeping only 2 hours at a time during the night still beats being pregnant! I just love this guy!

The Hill

My beloved is over the hill. To mark the momentous occasion, I surprised him with a birthday dinner with 5 couple friends, his PHX siblings and his mother. I had it at our house and had been planning it for a few months, knowing that I would have a newborn.

I assembled lasagnas at my neighbor's house, dropped off ingredients for salad and appetizers for other friends to prepare for me, and stashed paper products, centerpieces, rolls and other party items in various hiding places throughout the house.

His mother came to "babysit our kids" so I could take him to dinner. I was still in my sweats so he agreed to take his mom to Michael's on an errand while I got ready. In the 30 minutes he was gone, I hurriedly set tables, laid out food, lit candles, and greeted guests. I put Ava at the window on lookout and when he walked in the door, we were all in the foyer waiting for him.

It was a fun evening and I can't believe I pulled it off!






You should know that in the discussions on adding a fourth child to our family, Mark told me he didn't want to have any past 40. I slid Milo in with 25 days to spare!

Mine

A Family Affair

The girls looked forward to this event as much as I did. They asked a lot of questions and prayed for Milo during the entire pregnancy. My insurance company sent me a little booklet about pregnancy and Ava read it cover to cover. When I came home and announced to Mark that I was 2 cm dilated, she asked, "And how much effissed?" (Tried to recreate her pronunciation of "effaced.")



When Layla came to the hospital, she inspected the baby then was a little concerned that I still had a big belly to go with it. She kept asking, "Is Milo out of your belly?" Yes, Layla, he is. Now she thinks I am fat. They were most excited to check out his "unit" if you know what I mean. I don't think they were impressed.

This is what happens when you celebrate 10 years of marriage!

Milo Tappen Merrill, born Friday, November 5, 9:03 am.  8-12, 21 inches.  Blondie (eventually).  We are happy!

The Damage

Before Halloween candy...




After Halloween candy...


(But to be fair, the before pic was taken in June)

Here are ways that I am punishing the baby for not coming yesterday...

1. Watching Mad Men season 1
2. Eating neighbor's authentic Indian food
3. Listening to Jim Rome in the car
4. Allowing him to be externally poked and prodded by Dr. L.
5. Listening to Rihanna
6. Wearing clothes that are too tight
7. Pointing out the fact that he will turn 18 a few days after a presidential election, and thus will not be able to participate in civic duty for at least 2 years (midterm elections) or 4 years (next presidential)

Hello Little Piggies

These little piggies have been trying to stay busy.

This week:

This little pig went visiting teaching

This little pig played at the park with Layla (twice!)

This little pig made chili for ward party

This little pig went to the temple

This little pig washed the carseat, bassinet, baby bouncer, and got hubby to set up crib

This little pig served left-over chili (see above) at neighborhood block party and inhaled Texas caviar.

This little pig made bread

This little pig made 2 lasagnas--one for us, one for friend going through chemo

This little pig organized laundry room

This little pig made fun shirt (see previous post)

This little pig helped out at class party

And now,

these little piggies want to go wee-wee-wee to the hospital.

Will keep you posted

If you can't beat 'em...

Might as well dress up for Halloween.

Ava is a geisha, Layla is Tinkerbell, and Mia is a witch. I made my cool shirt. Gotta love wonder-under and Google. (My hat is not part of my costume..)

Our baby's first sight

So, when our little baby decides to join us, this is most likely the first face he will see.









Doesn't he bear a striking resemblance to this guy?

That is where the similarities end.


I could use Will Ferrell's humor through this though.


He also delivered Layla and she seems okay :)

False Alarm!

So I titled my last post, "Unexpected Loss" and I freaked out my friend. I am still here, pregnant and uncomfortable! Just to clarify, due date is November 16th and yes, I will get bigger. Baby Milo is so low and uses my bladder as a pillow or a punching bag.

Considering Layla came 11 days early, can I hope for November 5th? That would be about 3 1/2 weeks!

It's like pulling teeth...

Mia lost her first tooth!  Now, normally, we don't get too excited about this normally-occurring event but Mia just turned 6.  Ava didn't lose her first tooth until she was almost 7 1/2!  The other reason this is noteworthy is that Mia can be a little dramatic when it comes to pain, blood, discomfort, etc.  We dreaded this event.

I was taking her to lunch on her birthday 2 weeks ago when she screamed out, "My mouth hurts, my mouth hurts!  It feels like my teeth are falling out!"  My heart raced a little and I quizzed her on whether she had hit her mouth during recess.  When I was able to inspect, I laughed as I told her, "Mia, you have a wiggler!  That is completely normal!"

Mark and I told her she would have to pull it out when she was ready.  A few nights ago, she ran into our bedroom at 4 am laughing and showed us her tooth.  It had come out in her sleep and was just sitting in her mouth.  No drama, no tears!!!

82.5%

33 weeks.  42 days left.  Okay, rude people, I am ready for you.  

Yes, I am all baby.  

Yes, I am low.  

Yes, I am uncomfortable.  

Yes, this is my last one.  

Yes, I mind if you touch my belly.

Now, because my husband thinks I focus on the negative way too much.

Thank you, Hillary S., for telling me how cute I have been dressing.  I made a conscious effort to avoid muu-muus and sweat pants.  It took some time on my own sewing machine and some helpful blogs to create maternity pants, shorts, skirts and capris that fit my odd shape.

Thank you, Shellie J., for telling me I must eat like a mouse.  She just doesn't know the mouse is actually one that spent time in a radioactive plant and is the size of a football player.

Thank you, Danae E., for recognizing the days that I do my hair and make-up.

And a big THANK YOU to all those who say nothing at all!

Freedom!!

I really can take no credit for the latest breakthrough at our house.  It really is true that it will be easy when they are ready.  I just wanted to know when "ready" was, but this woman was totally inspired by her big sisters.  So I get an 8-week vacation from the diapers before it's newborn sizes, mustard squirts, and something that is totally freaking me out---WATER SPOUTS!!!!

Looking back

Baby Mia arrived when the world was ditching film cameras for digital ones.  Now, we could "fire at will," taking thousands of pictures of the same scene, then choosing the best ones.  This totally changed my scrapbooking.  I never knew which pictures to print, and I gave up paper scrapping.  In late 2006, I started my digi-career.  I went back and digi-scrapped as much as I could,  filling in the gap between my last paper album, and the present time.  

I was backing up my EHD and I found a whole slew of Mia pictures that had never been printed, just saved in the deep, dark recesses of the EHD.  Mark had been nagging me to scan what paper scrapping I had done of Mia to make her a book of her own (which is what I did for Ava, because as my first child, EVERY moment had a page to go with it.)  I got to it and produced a baby book for her, which I am hoping will arrive by her 6th birthday on Monday!  I ended up redoing most everything, because my style has evolved and I wanted everything to be just perfect for her.  

I decided to throw up some of my faves.  

The funny part about doing this was that a lot of my pics were out of focus or nonsensical but I just threw em in anyway. 

Digi-pages in lieu of posts

Baptized

The blog is not my friend. My interests are in the digi-scrap so maybe I will start posting those.

It has been 4 weeks since Ava's baptism. It was a glorious day, albeit hot, which I why I did not get photos of her in the dress I made for her until last night!!!!

The headband was a knock-off of something I saw on Etsy and the dress was my own design. My mom swooped in and finished it for me so that it would not have funky sleeves and safety pins up the back!

We had the privilege of sharing our day with my dear friend Mary's son, Dallin, who Ava has been friends with since they were three!

Ei8gt is gr8

Ava turned 8 last week. The countdown to the baptism has begun!