about ellery

She does not care much for sports

She will turn on whatever parent is telling her something she doesn't want to hear.

She can sleep with anything- little figures, animals, babies, even...

She likes her hair down and flowy

She wants barbie's for her birthday...already

After she goes potty she often says, "Good job little bummy!"

She is experimenting with the word "stupid"  Especially directed at bugs, "Stupid bug."

She doesn't really like pasta.

She loves fruit and veggies.  Carrots are her favorite.

She lives in dress ups

Her new thing when I ask her to do something, like brush her hair, go potty, etc... is to say, "No, McKay first."

The best leverage we have with her is her princesses and her nightgown.  Still.

it's back

So the last several weeks I've been feeling pretty overwhelmed by mothering my children.

Not by mothering, but mothering my children.

I don't know if it's because they haven't been getting enough sleep- this seems to be a problem since sharing a room- waking each other up every morning is still quite fun for them to do.

Or maybe it's the fact that I'm 12 months pregnant and my patience is running on the thin side.  Like the dangerously thin side.  I think that's a big reason why I am hating not enjoying this pregnancy as much.  Because it's hard to take care of two other kids and be pregnant.  It's just hard.

Either way, it's been a difficult couple of weeks.  We haven't had many good days where we all get along and there's no fighting, yelling or time-outs. . .for any of us.  It's made me sad and overwhelmed each day.  I've felt heavy.  Weary.

Today.  I'm so thankful for today.  Today was nothing special.  I don't know why today was different, but it was.  I was blessed with patience.  McKay and Ellery didn't whine as much as they have been.  We kept ourselves busy.  

I found myself wanting to play with them.  Wanting to make them happy.  Wanting to hug them and snuggle them and tell them how much I love them.  Over and over and over.  And I know it wasn't just me.  We all felt a difference today.  We were all just working together like we should.  

I'm so glad that feeling came back today.  I've missed it.  I love being their mom- I really do.

But sometimes, sometimes, that slips away from me.  And it sure feels good to get it back.

Here's to an even better tomorrow. . .

when aunt krista came to stay. . .

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

We picked fresh raspberries,

Sampling as we filled our bowl.

I found it quite difficult

to tear Aunt Krista away from the bush.

She was quite a berry-picker.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

We visited the berry farm chickens

which were the ugliest chickens.

And fed the goats.

We spent the rest of the afternoon

making beautiful raspberry peach jam.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

We tried to catch a frog.

And introduced her 

to our favorite dog park.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

We tricked the ducks

into thinking we had food.

And Brian learned

That not all geese are scary.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

She babysat.

And that was the highlight for these two.

They all wore green pajamas.

And read the whole stack of library books.

She also brought presents.

And let them wake her up first every morning.

And spoiled them the whole time.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

We took her to the "world famous" zoo.

We got lots of information about cougars.

And learned what to do if we happen upon one.

But due to a dental emergency,

We had to eat our elephant ear on the run

and leave the zoo early.

Because we can't very well 

be seen around town with a toothless hillbilly.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

We had to go to VooDoo.

She tried the maple bacon.

And wasn't disappointed.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

We found ourselves in Tillamook.

We took a tour of the factory.

And ate the best grilled cheese.

And Brian made this face at me.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

We headed to the coast.

And stopped to play in Seaside.

Got in the water with the kids. . .but only waist high.

And jumped waves and played in the sand.

While Brian practiced skim boarding.

Which is apparently a new hobby.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

She treated us to dinner at the Pig'NPancake.

Which made us all laugh a little.

And we had chocolate covered twinkies for dessert.

Which aren't as good as you might think.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

We were sad to say goodbye.

But. 

Then.

She called us back.

And said that her flight was cancelled.

So we picked her up again.

And had a girls night.

Of shopping, pizza, reading and a movie.

And the next morning

 we really did have to say goodbye.

We sure loved having Aunt Krista here.
It was wonderful to have her all to ourselves.
To show her our world.

And we can't wait until she comes to stay again.

buzz man

This little boy's hair was so long.

This little boy hates getting his hair done every morning.

This little boy, however, did NOT want a haircut.

This little boy's dad couldn't take it anymore.

So this little boy got a summer buzz.

And this little boy couldn't be more thrilled about it. 

Oh this little boy is sure cute. 

thoughts on a sunday

Us at the concert.  I have decided not to smile anymore for pictures.  

This is in an effort to not look as fat in the face.  My poor face.  Who is that girl?  

• We've had a busy week this week.  Lots of playing with friends and playing outside.  The weather has been in the high 70's for most of the week so it's been quite pleasant to be outdoors.    

• Brian usually gets new clothes for his birthday.  This year he didn't, but was in need of some anyway.  You really would never guess, but he is a snob when it comes to clothes.  We have quite different philosophies when it comes to buying clothes.  He is loyal to certain brands and will pay quite a bit more for his brand-name clothes because, he says, they last longer and are better quality.  I, on the other hand, would rather buy cheap inexpensive clothes and get way more for my money.  Except for jeans.  Our philosophies flip when it comes to jeans.

• The other day we were driving by the temple, which you can see from the freeway, and Ellery said, "I see the temple where you get married!"  I asked the kids if they wanted to get married in the Portland temple.  McKay's reply: "No.  I want to get married in the cougar temple."

• Today in relief society we talked about service and patience.  I was really struck by a discussion about how we receive promptings from the Spirit and how we may dismiss those simple thoughts that come to us, which may really be the potential answer to someone's prayer.  How often does that happen to me?  Where I have a thought to do something for someone else, or call someone, or whatever, and I let it go because I don't have time or don't think it's important.  I think it probably happens to me a lot.  Made me want to be more in tune and pay more attention to those seemingly insignificant thoughts.  

• Shaving my legs is getting difficult and I constantly am cutting myself, which I usually never do.  My ankles might never be the same.

• Brian was working on a group project at our house on Saturday so I took the kids to the play area at the mall.  It's pretty fun for them, as far as mall play areas go, and they loved jumping and sliding and running around.  I sat there watching them and found myself thinking way too much about how disgusting play areas are.  I watched all the strange little bare feet running around and then hands touching everything and then hands in mouths and, well, you know, it's a cycle.  When I start thinking like that I have to first, remind myself that we practically bathe in hand sanitizer after we're done, and two, germs aren't necessarily going to hurt my kids.  Worse case- they get a bug.  It's easy to be a germ-a-phob and quite harder to not let it bother you, I think.  But I'm trying to let my kids experience being kids and playing on those nasty play areas is part of that.  Am I right?

• On Thursday we went to the library.  All was going well until Ellery came up to me in a panic and said, "I need to go potty!  I need to go potty!". . .pause. . ."I'm going!"  This is a brand new library.  It's small.  It's inexperienced.  It didn't know what to do about pee on the floor.  I asked for something to clean it up with and all they had were paper towels.  I'm glad it was my child that broke in the library carpet.  It's was super fun for me, and reminded me that when someone is distracted someone will still have accidents.   

• We went to the junior high this week for lunch.  The school district here has a program where they give out free school lunches to all children.  Any children.  So we went and McKay felt like a 7th grader eating lunch in the big cafeteria and running around with his friends after.  It's nice to get out and not have to fix lunch myself.  We might just become regulars!
  
• We also went swimming with McKay's friend David and his family on Monday.  It was where McKay had his swimming lessons, so he was thrilled to get to swim all over the pool and use the water slide instead of sitting on the steps waiting for his turn to be taught.  Ellery was perhaps more excited to be in the pool as she has only ever been able to watch McKay in it.  I have another philosophy:  if I can't get a tan while swimming, I'm not interested.  This was an indoor pool.  They had fun and I sacrificed by getting in the water and getting all the way wet. 

• I had a dentist appointment this week.  I am grateful to have dental insurance while I'm pregnant and so I went in for a cleaning.  I went to one of the only dentist that my coverage allows and had perhaps the most traumatic dental experience of my life.  The office was tiny and old.  The dentist was hard to understand.  The dentist did the whole cleaning.  The dentist didn't notice the gallons of water continuously dripping out of my mouth and pooling in my neck from her little water tool.  The dentist was rough.  The dentist was quick.  The dentist scared me.

• Brian is busy again.  This week, even when he had a day off, he still had to do papers and paperwork the whole time.  He is front-loading his clinicals so that he can be done in mid-August so that they won't get in the way of the baby coming.  This will be really nice in August, but for now it's creating quite a busy, stressful environment for him.  Also, you can call him the spinal-master because he's continuously rocking those spinals.  No big deal.

• Brian and I went to see The Avett Brothers last night at the Edgefield in Troutdale.  We enjoyed getting out , enjoyed the music, enjoyed the beautiful venue, enjoyed the bountiful people watching and I enjoyed getting a few peaks of the boys singing. . .but just a few because I was too short to see above the crowd most of the time.  We didn't enjoy the gross $10 pizza, most of the set-list, and waiting in the parking lot for over an hour to get out.  

• Going to this concert caused us to get our second ever "babysitter".  The kids were SO excited.  Minutes before she arrived they were running around the family room jumping and falling on each other from pure joy.  Then she came in.  McKay immediately whispered to Brian, "I know her!  I stare at her in church all the time!"  The three of them hit it off and the kids even went to bed good for her.  It was a long time to leave them, but we were all relieved that they did great.  And our darling babysitter was great too.  Brian was super impressed that she had put all the pizza away in a tupperware with wax paper between each slice.  That sealed the deal right there for him.        

• Before we left for the concert I decided to type up a few simple instructions for Mallory, the babysitter.  I know that telling someone everything at once can get overwhelming, so I thought having it written down would be helpful.  I wrote about Ellery's rice milk, about their bedtime routine, about Ellery's potty-assistance needs, our phone number and where we'd be and what things they could do.  Brian later declared it "the manifesto" and teased me the whole time we were gone about it.  Hey, we all know I am a long-winded writer, and this is my second time ever leaving my babies with a teenage girl. And, it was for a long time.  I stand by my manifesto.  

Happy Sunday!

the nightgown

Little Elle was low on pajamas so when I saw this little nightgown on clearance I brought it home.  

*****

Our lives will never be the same.

She has worn it every night since Monday.  Every night.  

It is now our main point of leverage for this girl.

"If you have an accident you'll loose your nightgown."

"If you get out of bed you'll loose your nightgown."

It is powerful, this nightgown.

And oh she loves it so.  

It's a good thing she looks so cute in it 

because I'm pretty sure we're going to keep seeing a lot of this little thing.  

about mckay

biting his nails. . .even his toenails!

getting really good at baseball

gets red when he's outside

social butterfly

still hates church until we get there.

shows a lot of maturity when dealing with his little sister.

his softest spot is still for animals

can see how social interactions play a big role in this age

thoughts on a sunday

• We picked blueberries this week.  Lots of them.  I am loving this berry picking thing and am already planning on picking more raspberries to make jam when my sister Krista comes to visit in a couple weeks!

• I haven't told you this but McKay has beens struggling with baby talk.  This is driving me and Brian a little bit insane.  He can say his r's and s's and every other letter, except he often times chooses not to say them correctly.  We are constantly telling him that we can't understand him and then he knows that he needs to say it the right way.  This is so very annoying.

• Another annoying habit, while we're on the subject, is that he is in a major nail-biting rut.  He can't stop.  His nails are little nubs.  I blame this on the Berenstein Bear books.  We love those books.  I grew up reading them and we check them out from the library often, plus we have them On-Demand so the kids watch the cartoons every once in awhile.  There is one where Sister gets into the bad habit of biting her nails.  I think this is where he got the idea.  I asked him how Sister stopped and he said, "They had a little talk."  Well, needless to say our "little talks" have not gone over as smoothly.  There's another one where Sister says a bad word.  The word they use is "furball".  Guess who has been testing the language waters by throwing around the word furball lately?  I'm beginning to re-think these books.  Perhaps they are more trouble than they're worth.

• Are anyone else's kids getting slivers like crazy?  Or are my kids just prone to them somehow?  There is always a sliver that needs to be picked out around here.  

• I got a new phone today.  It is an upgrade to a downgrade. . .meaning it's not as nice as my old phone, but at least it's new and it works.  My old phone was a touch screen and the screen stopped working weeks ago.  I feel like a new woman! . .and it's purple! . .but I don't really like the color purple.  But I still like my new phone.

• This week we spent almost every day doing something fun outside with water and friends.  Ellery wore her swimsuit every day.

• With all the berries I've been pickin' we've developed a mean case of fruit flies.  I hate them.  They poop on my mirrors and who knows what else and how gross is that?  It's really, really gross.

• Today at dinner Brian said, "I don't even remember the last time that Ellery ate dinner."  It's true.  She is in a phase where she is not at all interested in dinner.  She'll drink all her milk and then we spend the rest of the meal trying to get her to eat, or excusing her into the other room when she refuses.  We have a rule that the kids have to at least try one bite of something they don't want and then say, "no thanks" if they don't want more.  She just skips the bite all together and starts chanting "no thanks" as soon as her milk is gone.  I don't know which is worse, that, or having McKay ask if he can plug his nose when he takes a bite.  

• Just a little potty training update-  She's doing great!  Finally.  With our trip and her being sick after that, potty training lasted way too long.  But now I'm happy to report that she's done it and we can now go out in public sans pull-up!  She even wakes up dry.  I'm still a little reluctant to take away her sleeping underwear, aka pull-ups, because changing sheets on a bunk bed is something that I feel pretty strongly about not doing.

• After a week long cold, me and the kids are finally feeling better. . .mostly.  But now Brian has it.  And he has two clinicals this week and I know exactly how he's going to feel and it's not going to be pretty. Poor Bri.

• Every night this week our room has been roasting at night.  Our whole upstairs has been hot, but our bedroom has been SO hot.  I would wake up several times a night sweating and miserable.  I finally announced that I was going to buy a fan for our bedroom and then Brian told me he could just turn up the A/C.  I am not one who usually touches the temperatures in my house. . .because usually they are fine.  And so I kind of thought that our A/C just wasn't very good and didn't cool the upstairs.  And then he tells me he could just turn it up!  I was so mad that we've been sleeping in the desert and all we had to do was move up a few degrees!  It's better now.  

• The heat isn't all I can blame my sleepless nights on.  Of course my bladder keeps me up and down a few times a night, but I find that I'm just not sleeping that well in general.  I toss and turn a lot and am now a regular snorer.  I hate it.  This happens to me toward the end of pregnancy.  It's a good thing Brian usually falls asleep before me.  Usually.

• I am feeling very pregnant.  I am looking very pregnant.  I feel like I'm due tomorrow.  I look like I'm due yesterday.  I might just have six weeks left.  That seems like forever away. . .but at the same time- six weeks!  I gotta get some stuff done!

• I can't believe that it's mid-July and summer is halfway gone.  

• On Saturday night Ellery was a complete terror and spent much of the evening locked in her room.  Which meant that dad and McKay got to go on a bike ride and she had to stay home with me.  Or I had to stay home with her, rather.  This rarely happens for her.  While they were gone we struggled for about half an hour- I sat on her to remove a sliver that she couldn't stop whining about, I wrestled her into her pajamas, I locked her in her room when she tore off her pull-up and screaming to no end, and then we finally made up and read The Napping House before I plopped her little body into bed at 6:30pm.  Meanwhile, McKay and Brian were riding all the way to Albertson's, which is like a two mile ride, and picking up a family movie for today.  Somebody thought he was the coolest kid in Portland getting to ride two miles (without stopping) and staying up way later than his sister and getting dessert.  

• Up to about two weeks ago I had been wanting sweets a lot.  Then I began craving hot, home-cooking type foods.  Remember the Costco pizza?  (Shhh. . .but we've since been back for more).  Anyway, Brian and the kids were having hot dogs for lunch the other day and really there was nothing in the world that smelled better than their hot dogs.  So Brian offered me a bite.  And I, not wanting my "vegetarian" title to rule my life, obliged.  It smelled better than it tasted.  It tasted better than it felt in my mouth.  I may like the smell and taste of meat, but one thing is for sure- I don't like eating it.  I just don't.  Sometimes this is sad to me.  Like when I really wanted to eat me a hot dog.  

• Ever since my mom had her knee surgery (which she is recovering amazingly from- I hear she is the star of the rehab) Ellery has not let one prayer go by without whispering to the prayer-offerer, "and please bless grammy's knees to feel better."  Every time.  My mom should be happy to know that at every meal-time prayer, as well as each family prayer, her knees are blessed right along with the food.  

• Another habit the kids have gotten into is saying, "Please bless the food, that it won't be hot."  That's what we pray for around here.  

Happy Sunday!

heat wave

The high temperatures are all over the news.

This heat wave is a big deal around here.

They say it only happens a few times a year.

We should cool down a bit next week.

Ellery wakes up every day and asks to go swimming.

And refuses to get in anything but her swimsuit.

We've even run most of our errands this week

decked out in our swimming attire.

We've been doing a good job at staying cool.

Playing in the water at home.

Going to outdoor water parks.

And today we might even make it to Salmon Creek Lake.

If you ask me, this heat wave isn't all that bad.

third and fourth

Our Plans for Independence Day:  

1- Saturday go to the St. Paul Rodeo

2- Sunday bbq for dinner

3- Monday throw some snaps and waive some sparklers in the front yard

My son, who loves animals more than anything, could not have been more annoying excited about going to the rodeo.  We were all really excited that we had some fun plans for a holiday weekend that would normally include family, traditions and of course the Freedom Festival.  It was a good distraction for us.

We got to the rodeo grounds early.

The lady we had talked to on the phone assured us that we didn't need to buy tickets online.  

They wouldn't sell out.

But guess what?

The lady was wrong.

They were sold out when we got there.

We decided to ride some rides, eat some greasy, ridiculously-priced food, and hold up signs that said we needed tickets.

McKay was happy to hold up the sign.  

The sign was written on the back of a fan given out by a local radio station.  

He had recently seen a pan-handler when we were driving and had become interested in what that man was doing.  We told him that the man was asking for money because he didn't have any.  

When McKay held up the sign, he said, "Is this because we need money?" and you could tell the thought thrilled him.

We got a lot of sympathetic looks.  Me being big and pregnant walking around with my two young children, one of which is lifting his sign just as high as it could go.  People felt bad for us.  It made Brian uncomfortable. 

We had a few people offer a ticket here and there.  But not four.  And there were about a hundred other people looking for tickets too, so it just wasn't going to happen.

We realized this after awhile and had to come up with plan b.  So, here is our plan b.

Pony ride.

This is Misty.  There is not a happier cowboy.  Except maybe that one behind him.

Carousel ride.

The cheesy grin on her face was priceless.  She was yee-hawing the whole time 

and declaring herself a cowgirl.

See the animals.

This was especially important given that we weren't going to see any rodeo action.  

Sidenote:  This black flowered shirt was picked out special for the rodeo.  

Bonus.

While Brian was still trying to find tickets, Elle had a panic attack because she wanted to ride the carousel again.  Here comes the sympathy again- big pregnant lady struggling with a crying child and one who can't walk because his shoe is hurting.  The young man ushered us onto the ride without tickets.  Bless him.

  

By this time we had to break the news that there would be no rodeo for us.  McKay was heartbroken, understandably so.  I suggested we go miniature golfing and get a treat instead.  It took a few minutes for this idea to outweigh the tears, but eventually it did.

Problem number two.  No outdoor miniature golfing in the area.  

Plan c:

We did not intend to do fireworks.  We had bought snaps and sparklers and figured that would be enough.

Plan c included a box of fireworks, a treat, and staying up late.

Rootbeer floats.

Kids love rootbeer floats.  Easy, tasty and way cheaper than the food at the rodeo fair.

Fireworks.

We got through the snakes, the snaps, a few sparklers and two "big ones" when some friends rode by and invited us to their house the next night for fireworks.  

Late night.

In the summertime I always feel bad for putting my kids to bed at seven.  It is so bright outside.  It's still day time at seven.  So for them to be playing outside at dusk was a treat, and I enjoyed watching them.  

It finally felt like summer. . .even though it was kind of chilly.    

*****

Our Sunday went the usual way.  Except I was feeling absolutely sick and we made a more intricate dinner than usual, which is hard to do when you get home at 5:30pm.

We had bottled rootbeer with our bbq chicken, grilled pineapple, grilled corn and baked beans.  

And of course a red, white and blue dessert.

Then it was off to the McRae's for more dessert and fireworks.

They had several families there, as well as the sister missionaries.  

Ellery flipped her hair, ate red cookies, and sang absentmindedly (meaning loudly) while walking around the backyard, as most of the adults played volleyball.  

McKay mostly did this:

And was in heaven the whole time.  Playing rough with big boys, on a trampoline with his friend David.  Could not get any better for him.

They also enjoyed watching the neighbors do fireworks before we officially joined them.

Funny fireworks.

Mormon hill.

It was so nice to be around so many people.  Even though we didn't know or interact with most of them, there was a fun sense of community and celebration in the air.  

It was nice to be a part of that.

Feeling hot with a sparkler-thing. 

One thing that we were not used to was having to wear sweatshirts on the fourth of July.  It felt wrong.

I was there too.  

Me and Elle hung out together most of the time.  She likes to stick pretty close to me when we are with other people.  Everyone thought she was adorable, even with her kinked hair.

Brian, McKay and some of the other boys lit off the rest of our fireworks.  

McKay was SO excited to be doing this.  I, for one, could do without fireworks altogether, but seeing the joy on his face made me glad that we got some for him to do.  

This is the view from the top of the McRae's driveway, where we were sitting.     

Brian and I were shocked at the fireworks we saw in this little cul-de-sac.  First of all, there were SO many people.  Second, there were SO many fireworks.  Big ones.  We didn't know that we were in for that big of a fireworks show, but it was sure fun to be sitting right under them.  Oregon neighborhoods sure know how to celebrate the fourth.

As we walked home in the dark, fireworks were still going off over our heads.  Our kids were happy.  We were happy.  It was a great way to celebrate.

thoughts on a monday

Got home too late last night and felt too sick to do my Sunday post.  

So Monday morning will have to do!

• It's Monday.  I'm so grateful that it's Monday.  Last week was one of the hardest/worst weeks I've had here in Oregon and I'm so happy to say goodbye to it.  There's a lot of reasons, really.  Kids were throwing up, kids had colds, kids were whiny, appointments and play dates were cancelled, kids are annoying when they sleep together, we were stuck inside all week, it rained, and someone was up almost every night.  Just to name a few.  It's also taking us longer than usual to adjust back to normal.  It's been hard to not have McKay's preschool schedule to help organize our weeks.

• Probably the highlight of my week was when McKay was throwing up and Ellery pooped her pants simultaneously.  Fun.  Whatever flu they had effected Ellery's digestion system and she couldn't make it to the bathroom for number two's.  She had three gross accidents in one day, along with throwing up a few times.  I was frazzled by the end of that day, to say the least.

• This week has been bad, but not all bad.  I had a serious craving for hot, cheesy pizza and you know where the best place to get that is, right?  Costco, of course!  No one has more cheese than Costco!  So we went there for lunch.  We didn't buy anything, just ate lunch there.  It was so good.

• We went to the new library that is less than two miles from our house this week.  I am so excited to be able to walk to the library. . .except I don't know how much I'll be doing that since I usually get a stack of books about two feet tall.  It would be hard to carry all those home.

• McKay has big tonsils.  Really huge tonsils.  Like unbelievably big.  I guess we must tell him this often because the other day he asked Elle, "Do you want to see my fossils?"

• McKay has decided that he wants a husky when he's a dad and Ellery would like to own a poodle.  They will both be named Lindsey.

• I moved Ellery's clothes into McKay's room.  Their room, I guess.  Then we went through all the toys and consolidated those into one room as well.  The baby's room is emptying out little by little and I'm excited to start getting that ready for her.  We got rid of several toys, especially little cheap, junky ones.  It felt good to go through everything and get it all in place.  Brian almost couldn't handle going through all the toys because it made him frustrated how our kids never play with them.  Well, McKay doesn't at least.  And it's true.  He has a closet full of toys and will only play with a couple of them by himself.  This has been frustrating us this week.  I was getting ready one day and instead of going off to play with Ellery, McKay preferred to lay on my bed and watch me do my hair.  What four year old would rather do that than play?  I don't get it.

• One of my favorite things that Ellery says is "When I'm a little momma. . ."  She has big plans for when she's a little momma.

• Portland doesn't have shave ice.  Nowhere.  I'm dying.  I'm ready to go into business just so I can get my fix. 

• We've learned this week that Ellery cannot stand having a runny nose.  She will run up to us and say, "I have a runny nose!" and won't stop talking about it until we wipe it. 

• We were lucky enough to have Brian home for six days in a row.  It's been so nice having him around because when he's not around a lot the stress level is pretty high for him.

• On Friday we went to a U-Pick berry farm and picked raspberries.  It was so much fun.  We picked a huge bowl full of raspberries and paid $4 for them.  Plus, we got to sample as we picked.  They are so good and now most of them are frozen in our freezer.  I am so excited to pick blueberries and peaches and even more raspberries for jam.  I forgot my camera so I have no pictures, but it was a fun Oregon experience.  

• Friday night I also got to see Eclipse with some friends.  I am not a huge Twilight fan.  I'm a fan, but not a huge fan.  It is what it is.  Well, until this movie I was not sure what "team" I was on.  After seeing this movie I'm pretty sure I'm on Team Jacob.  I think. . .

• I now have the cold that the kids had and I feel bad because it's a pretty yucky one.  I feel sick.  I hate that all I can take is Tylenol.  I hope Brian doesn't get it.

• We had a nice 4th.  Our neighbors invited us over to there house for fireworks and dessert.  I am so grateful that they did.  It turned out to be a huge party.  I'll tell you about that later though.

• Yesterday Ellery wore a ponytail to church.  After church she pulled it out and when we were getting ready to leave I asked her to come to me so I could put it back in.  She came up to me and said, "No! I want to do this with my long hair!" as she twirled her hands through it and flipped it around.  I couldn't  argue with that.  So she went to the party with a big kink in her long, flowy hair.  

• Now, here I am, another Monday.  And although I'm sick and that's not fun, at least we have a new week.  I have a doctors appointment, a few play dates lined up already, and it's supposed to be nice and hot this week.  Things are already looking up.  Now if I could just do something about the whining.  . .

Happy Monday, indeed!

frustrated

It's late.  Brian is sleeping.

I am sitting here at the computer trying to find some new baby names to add to the list.

The list.  I am beginning to hate the list.

How do you find new names that you love when you just don't love any?

Where do you find names anyway?

There is one I love. . .but Brian doesn't love it.

There is one he loves. . .but I just don't know if it's "it".

So tonight I thought I'd get a fresh look.

And I scoured the internet for over an hour.

And now all I'm feeling is anxiety.

Some people on the internet choose the most ridiculous names.

Just to try and be "different".  I don't want to do that.

Those poor babies.

It is not like us to "wait until we see the baby".

Why am I putting everything in "quotes"?

I want to name her.  I want her to have a name now.

I feel like knowing her name is part of the bonding process for me.

(I totally wanted to write "bonding", but I didn't.)

Ellery suggested Duminum (dum-i-num).

That is her go-to name; like McKay's is Lindsey.

At this point. . .we may have to consider it.

Naming a person is hard.