Finally!

I updated the pictures on the sidebar. Now Katelyn exists. Yay!

It only took me 9 months. :)

I'll Be Honest,

Church is really difficult.

Part of the problem is that I don't know how to control Jeffy, another part is that I'm usually alone, and there are probably other parts too.

Sacrament Meeting is a killer. Jeffy will not sit still, and if he sees some kid eating a treat, he goes berzerk because he's not getting any. It's really hard to try to control him, when I have to hold Katelyn. I can't put her down on the bench because she'll roll off, and I can't put her on the floor, because she'll crawl away. So making Jeffy be reverent is impossible.

I really need help. I don't know how to teach him the correct way to behave. Help!!

We're still new in our ward, so I don't really have any friends to help me. Today, though, a very nice lady helped me survive. She was sitting two rows ahead of us, and took Katelyn for a while so I could tame the beast. Then when the kids behind us started eating fruit snacks, and Jeffy started screaming, I took him out to the hall, then I heard Katelyn start screaming. Moments later, some other sister brought Katelyn out too. The nice lady dug around in my diaper bag and made a bottle for her and brought it to us. I was so grateful for her help, and tried really hard not to send mean vibes to the lady behind us who just looked disdainfully at Jeffy while her angels munched away on treats.

Then I spent the next two hours in nursery. I don't mind working in there, I just miss the association with the Relief Society. How am I supposed to make friends if I'm stuck in there? But it wasn't a calling, just substituting, so hopefully it won't be permanent.

With Sundays like this being the norm, it's hard to want to go to church. I skipped a lot in Charleston, because the task just seemed too daunting. But when we moved here, I decided that I was going to go to all three hours of church every single Sunday I was able. Some days I am able to not think about what it's going to be like, but on other Sundays, it takes every ounce of my will power to get us there.

Does anyone share in this struggle? Any words of advice or comfort?

I Think

This new background looks summer-ish, don't you?

Katelyn's 9 Month Stats

Height: 28 1/2 in 80th percentile

Weight: 19.2 lbs 60th percentile

Head: 17 3/4 cm 80th percentile

Height and head are up a little bit from the 50th she was at for a long time. They said she's nicely proportioned. I agree. :)

Our Comings and Goings of Late

I haven't updated much this month, but in my own defense, it's been a very busy one.

Shortly after Mother's Day, I packed up the kids and flew to Utah. The kids did better than expected during the 3.5 hour drive to the airport and 5 hour flight. We got to Salt Lake around 6:00 pm, where my sister picked us up and we headed to Provo for a "Darling Daughters Retreat" with my four grown-up sisters and my mom. I have three sisters living in Provo right now, and one sister who came down from Idaho, and my mom flew out from Virginia. It was so fun to see them all without the chaos of a wedding or something! We ate great food, had fun activities, and really enjoyed one another's company. I loved seeing my niece, Daisy! She is 7 weeks older than Katelyn, so with the three of them, it was a house full of babies! The weekend went way too fast, and I wish it could have been longer. I hope next time that I can do it without my kids! That sounds nice and relaxing.

My mother-in-law came to Provo to pick us up and cart us to their house for the next week. We played with the bunnies and dogs, relaxed, and had fun. The only downside was that we had picked up a cold in Provo, so we weren't feeling the best, but it wasn't too bad. Usually colds get into Jeffy's lungs and he requires medical attention, but not this time, so yay! We took a small trip up to Idaho, to see Jeff's oldest sister and her family. I got to meet another niece, Lily, for the first time. So cute!! It was great to have the four cousins together! Clara will be three in June, Jeffy is 2 1/2, Katelyn is 9 months, and Lily is 7 months. They were so cute together! I wish we lived nearer to all our cousins. We then stopped in Logan, UT on our way back to visit another of Jeff's sisters, and it was great to see her too!

It was a really fun, but quite exhausting trip! We flew home Saturday night on a redeye. The kids slept for a lot of it, which was great, but Jeffy kept rolling off his seat, which he did not like one bit! Everyone was pretty cranky for the long drive home, and slept most of that day! But it was great to see everyone and I hope we get to again before too long!

We've had a fun Memorial Day weekend. We thought about going camping, but it was too late--we couldn't find an open campsite anywhere. We'll have to do that later. So we had an at-home campout. On Friday night, we roasted hot dogs over the grill and ate them along with baked beans and corn on the cob on a blanket in the family room. We then roasted s'mores over the grill too. Yum. Jeffy was funny. He pulled his s'more apart, and ate the chocolate and discarded the rest. Pretty big mess, but lots of fun! We watched a movie and had treats after that.

Saturday we went out to eat a lot, and took some naps. Also good! :) Church was on Sunday, then today we went to the Albany Stake Memorial Day BBQ! It was really fun. They had a lot of good food and some fun activities. They had a bunch of races, which were really fun to watch. The first one was a 25-yard dash for the nursery-age kids. There were probably about 10-12 kids, and it was funny to see how different the kids acted. The girl who won the race must have practiced! As soon as they yelled go she took off as fast as she could go, and ran right through the ribbon, and all way down to the end of the field. She was still running when all the rest of the kids had finished. She was cute! Jeffy participated, and kind of just ambled along with the rest of the toddlers, but was very happy to receive a lollipop at the end! I thought maybe if I offered him candy at the finish line, it would encourage him, but I guess he was too distracted for it to work. Cute little guy.

We hung out with some friends, and while I was pushing Katelyn and a friend's baby in the swings while she went to the bathroom, Jeffy escaped the playground and went to join the adult softball game! I couldn't leave the babies in the swings, so I just tried to watch him and make sure no one ran off with him. Luckily, a nice lady kind of took him under her wing and watched out for him. She even had him throw the ball when it came to him! He really enjoyed that. And big Jeff had a good time playing Ultimate Frisbee. It was HOT in the sun, but we had a good time, and came exhausted.

So that's what we've been up to lately. I wish I had pictures to post, but we ran over our camera on a not-so-fun trip to NYC last month. Oh well. I guess we need to get a new one.

Happy Memorial Day and thanks to everyone who has served or is serving our country right now. God bless the USA!

Mother's Day Surprise!

I love Mother's Day. It reminds me of the wonderful examples of feminine kindness and love I've been blessed with, and it makes me me a little more tender and loving to my own babies.

I reflect back on their births-- the joy of having our precious little one here at last! The overwhelming desire to do my best to help them become strong, independent, good people. And the feeling that my heart was literally growing to accommodate all this new love. I love being a mom, and I love being Jeffy and Katelyn's mom especially. Those two little people mean everything to me.

Superman pjs!

Getting close to crawling!

Crazy hair!

Yummy carrots!

Two cute little babies.

But, surprise, our family's not done growing yet! We're adding another precious little baby to our family. This one really was a surprise, but I'm happy to report that we're excited to have another brother or sister to add to our beautiful family. I'm due the end of December, so plans are very much up in the air, but that's pales in comparison to the feeling of happiness we have at our upcoming arrival!

So Happy Mother's Day to all! All women who have touched another's life, lifted a burden, borne sorrows, or lifted a spirit, we celebrate you today.

Hope your day is restful and full of love!

LOCKED OUT!!

Yesterday we got locked out. Not all of us, though. Some got locked in.

I took Jeffy and Katelyn out to run errands, with the double intent of getting things done and letting Daddy have some quiet time to catch up on some sleep. On the way home, both kids fell asleep. I hoped that I could just put them both in their beds and they would keep sleeping, so I had to bring them in one at a time.

I grabbed Katelyn in her carseat and the diaper bag and headed up to our apartment. I was a little surprised when the door was locked, but I unlocked it, and put everything down in the family room. The door doesn't close all the way on its own, which I planned to take advantage of when I brought Jeffy up. It's hard to open a door when you're holding a sleeping 35-pound kid! So I went down to get him, but when we got up to the door, I realized I had closed the door, and locked Katelyn and the keys inside.

No big deal-- Jeff was home, right? That's what I thought, but then my heart sank when I remembered an event from earlier that morning. Jeff had just bought new earplugs to use while he slept during the day. Oh no.

I rang and rang and rang the doorbell, hoping he would hear. Nothing.

I banged on the door, so hard it hurt. Nothing.

I went outside and threw rocks at his window. Nothing.

After 20 minutes of no luck, I started to get really nervous.

Katelyn was still asleep, thank goodness. I figured as long as she was asleep, I didn't need to panic. I didn't have any credit cards to try to undo the lock with, but I went back to the car and found a baby spoon, and I tried to get it with that. There's a big gap between the door and the wall, so I hoped I could get it. I couldn't. I banged and banged and banged on that door. I'm sure everyone else in our building could hear us, but Jeff didn't. After another 20 minutes, I knew I needed help.

I knocked on our neighbors' door and used their phone to call housing. It was the weekend, so there wasn't anyone immediately available to help, so the receptionist person had to call the maintenance people, who called me back. I guess they had to come in from their home or something, because they told me it would be 25-30 minutes before they got there. Katelyn was still asleep, so I agreed and ask them to please hurry.

About one minute after I returned the phone to my neighbor, Katelyn woke up. She got scared, probably because she was strapped in her carseat in the middle of an empty room, and no one was around her. She started getting really upset and crying harder and harder. I started to panic. If there was a window I could have broken, I would have, but I was out of luck.

In a last-ditch attempt to get in before calling 911, I banged and banged and banged and rang that blasted doorbell, but all it did was make Katelyn more upset. I was about to knock on my neghbors' door and call the fire department, when a couple came into my building. I asked them if they were any good at breaking and entering. Yeah, they looked at me like I was a mental case. I explained what was going on, and they sympathized with me. The girl took out a credit card and tried to get in. The boy asked if my deck door was unlocked. I said it was, and he said he would try to scale our wall, climb onto our deck and get in that way.

I prayed for it to work. Katelyn was screaming her head off by now and I was desperate to get in. After a minute or so, we heard the deck open and this kind stranger let me into my house! I proclaimed him my lifesaver and said thank you about a million times. I rushed over to Katelyn; poor girl was a mess. Her face was all red, she had tears streaming down her cheeks, and she looked terrified! I felt so bad for her, I couldn't put her down the rest of the day!

So Jeffy and I were locked out and Katelyn was locked in for about an hour. After we all calmed down, I went into the back room to see if Jeff was actually there and alive. He was.

He hadn't heard a thing.