sweetest days...

Caroline's almost three weeks old! Here are a few pictures for those interested fans, and an assortment of random snapshots of recent events. What a sweetheart little miss Caroline is! I managed to make it through that first week of nursing trauma (I seem to always have a hard time managing the watermelon tumors that remarkably and profoundly erupt on day 3, and cause me emotional grief every time!) Our "quest for rest" is going well... for the most part, Caroline is waking only once a night. The boys are loving holding and bathing her, and Grant is on a mission to teach her the names of poisonous reptiles. As for Jack, he informed me last night that I am a woman. Oh? "Yeah mom, you're a woman now. You used to be a whale, but now you're a woman." Hhhhmmm.

Grant enjoying his hand-picked 6 year old birthday meal of kosher beef dawgs, chips, and pears. word.

Nate was jealous of Jenny for the past nine months. He was particularly tired of her telling him, "you don't know what it's like," and "you men...you'll never understand." So, he stuffed Caroline into the Baby Bjorn and zipped up the vest for a nice warm winter's walk. Hmmph. What's all the fuss about...

Caroline's Thanksgiving outfit. (yes, you can have a special outfit for anything these days...you should see her Tuesday Morning Outfit...wow, it's a looker)

Burp. he he. Burp. ahhh. he he. um. excuse me.

I think I can feel the stuffing in the back of my throat. How am I going to make room for the pie, and that extra pack of fruit snacks that I know my Mom keeps in her purse.

gratitude, verbatim

In light of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, our family took turns and penned a list of things we're grateful for. As usual, no editing or censoring has occurred.

1. Baby Caroline
2. The bed I sleep in
3. Coming home from work
4. Jesus
5. My family
6. Food
7. The gospel
8. My children
9. My food
10. All my friends
11. Grandparents
12. Warm house
13. Water
14. The creatures on earth
15. My wife
16. Tender mercies of the past week
17. Juice Boxes
18. Our eyes
19. My mission
20. Beautiful music
21. Lights
22. The sun
23. My girls
24. The prophet
25. Our house
26. The earth
27. The temple
28. My sweetheart, Nate
29. Tables
30. Our brains
31. School
32. Caroline's health
33. Caroline's swing
34. The toilet
35. Christmas
36. That we live in America
37. GA GA GOO GOO (thanks, Jack)
38. Oxygen
39. Family Home Evening
40. Others' help
41. Clothes
42. Clocks.

We're grateful for all of you. Happy Thanksgiving. We are so filled with gratitude at this magical time with a tiny newborn in our house. There's nothing like it!

Announcing my arrival....

well folks, this is Nate, it's official....

she decided to join us...

Caroline Grace Richards
11/12/08 at 12:51 pm
8 lbs. 8.6 oz
21 3/4 inches

priceless...you can see a slideshow of today's pictures at the right of your screen. feel free to click the link to see better.

more to come, but for now, i'm off to bed.

Halloweenin'

Halloween, for us, is more of a season than a holiday. Our festivities began with our annual "Hayride to the Witches House" at Linvilla Orchards. We went with Dan and Hailey and Preston the Great, and are bummed that we don't have a picture with them...
The ward party and trunk-or-treat, always a hit

Jack, aka Darth Vader, making his preschool class debut

He took himself VERY seriously

Grant, aka Swamp Monster, enjoying his class party. I was able to help out as one of the homeroom moms... what an entertaining event!

Marching along at the school Halloween Parade

And, the trick-o-treating itself. Our good friends the Dudleys had us over for the world's best manicotti ever. I was flying solo because Nate was working nights, but I hauled my big self around two neighborhoods and we had a great time.

Hope everyone had a great one! By the way, I'm dilated to a 3 and fully effaced, as of Monday. Let's get this girl out!!!

a little of this and a little of that

Fall is officially upon us... our favorite season on the East Coast. Life is good, busy, and increasingly uncomfortable as I waddle my way through the days. 4 weeks to go!

Here's a little of what we've been up to:

The nursery is 95% done, thanks to my mom, Nate, and Hailey. Thank you so much for all your help! And of course to my sisters-in-law who gave me the bedding that I thought I could only dream of! (I still need to iron the crib skirt.) I love it! I love that we used oil paint on the trim, not because I was trying to inhale it in my pregnant state, but because it makes our whole house smell new.

Go Phillies! We definitely consider ourselves "Phanatical Phillies Phans" around here!

Go Obama! Don't worry everyone, we're still good, honest, active Mormon folks.

Here's a few pictures of the boys enjoying themselves...

Obi Wan Kenobi, Plumbing Fun, and Hornbills

A few of you may remember a post I wrote a few months ago, expressing my frustration at the lack of potty training progress. Well, hats off to Jack Richards and his mom, because it finally came together in the last month. The clincher? Star Wars action figures did the trick. It hurt the budget a tad, but each time Jack did a #2 on the toilet, we went to Target and bought him a "guy," until his collection included about 10 characters. Sweet.

Well, sweet until this week, when Obi-Wan went tumbling into the toilet as Jack flushed. For a few days, the toilet was a little sluggish, but all was well, and I thought we had wiped our hands of the problem. Not so. Tuesday night, it hit the fan. Every water-producing edifice in our home, when engaged, caused the toilet to explode with a watery vomit of sewage and food waste. Not just a little... this was major, major, major. Of course, Nate was still at work and I had all the YW in my house, making dinner for one of our leaders who just had a baby. Grant was my little helper, dashing up and down for "more towels! No, LOTS more towels!"

The next day, after RotoRooter finished his dirty little 9 hours of work and cruelly left us $900 poorer, Nate asked, "Now, why is it that we potty trained Jack? Just think of how many diapers we could have bought for $900!" The irony.

On a lighter note; while we're still on the subject of fecal waste, Grant said pleasantly this evening: "Mom, aren't you glad you're not a hornbill?" "Well, why yes, I'm glad I'm not a hornbill, Grant. Why do you ask, though?" "Because hornbills poop on their babies. ONLY on their babies." Grant's fascination with animal facts sure comes in handy sometimes. At least I'm not a hornbill.

placenta brain

What a productive week! This week, I did the following:

-Booked two babysitters for the same time. I was already teaching when the second one arrived. That was an interesting scenario.

-Lost my debit card. Found my debit card. Lost my debit card. Cancelled my debit card and ordered a new one.

-Took Grant's first school library book in the jogger while I walked (oops, waddled) with Jack. Left it in the jogger. It was ruined the next day in the rain. Somehow, I thought a little tape job would fix it. Not surprisingly, I got a somewhat perturbed note from the librarian, asking that the $10 replacement fee be paid immediately. Way to start off a relationship with Grant's school personnel on the right foot.

-Left my Mary Poppins (meaning= EVERYTHING IN IT) purse in the kindergarten classroom at Back to School Night. Got a call late that evening from the principal, thankfully. Again, I'm gaining quite a reputation at the school.

Wish me luck, folks. Can anyone help me remember my phone #?