Strings of a Harper

Click this!

2010-12-03T14:58:00.007-07:00

I'm not a great blog writer (shocking news, I know! I'm sorry!), but I do love to read them! Here are some I wanted to share.

Jason's brother, James, and wife, Heidi, want to adopt! They are wonderful! They are happily married and wishing for children. They always look fresh and well rested and I'm ready for them to join my world of sleep deprivation and poopy diapers. I'm nice like that! If you know someone thinking about adoption, can you please pass this along? http://www.jamesandheidiareadopting.blogspot.com/

My sister started a blog (finally!). She has a M.S. in Physical Education for Exercise Science and Sport Administration. Plus, she once used the visualization of crunching a potato chip between your butt cheeks to explain a glut exercise. So check it out!

www.MeganMerchant.com

And how about this one, Stop Apologizing. And now I'll stop apologizing about not posting to my blog...

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T10:30:00.000-06:00

Right after Halloween last year, Dave and Liz decided they would go Bakugan this year for Halloween. I tried for a year to talk them out of it because I was nervous about being able to get the costumes. I also had hoped that Liz would do something girly. In September I realized I had to give up the fight. This one I could buy:
But they don't even sell girl Bakugan costumes:

Thank goodness for Goodwill, a pair of scissors and a sewing machine!

Dave (as Dan, the Bakugan Brawler) and Transformer Steve

Liz, as Mira the Bakugan Brawler. Dave is lucky to have a sister who is his best friend and who goes along with all his boy likes and dislikes.

It wasn't planned, but Dave's best friend from school decided to be "Drago", "Dan's Bakugan." They were so excited to meet up at the school carnival.

Drago, in Bakugan world

Grant was super spooky with his homemade onesie. Boo!

You probably don't believe me, but we decided to be Edward and Bella because we thought it would be hilarious, not because we're psychotic fans (because we're not). Jason was a huge hit with the ladies at the church carnival. And we're still finding glitter around the house...especially on Grant's head.

Happy Halloween from Team Edward

2010-11-01T09:29:00.001-06:00

Summer Fun

2010-08-11T12:37:00.000-06:00

School starts in 6 days...maybe I'll blog again someday...maybe...

Here are some pictures. My sister-in-law Heidi is a Heritage Makers consultant and hooked me up with a free flip book for hosting a party. Thanks, Heidi! I made this book for Steven for his birthday. Thank goodness for a cute template. I have neither the time nor patience for scrapbooking from scratch.

 

Happy Easter!

2010-04-11T13:48:00.004-06:00

I made Liz a dress! I thought I could save money by making it myself (nope) and I thought it would be quick (is any sewing project quick with four kids?). I had to call the kids booger-faces to get them to smile but it got the job done after about 15 tries. I was one picture away from poop jokes. Happy Easter!

Grant

2010-03-25T16:01:00.012-06:00

Finally, pictures! We got a great deal on a new computer thanks to Jason's brother, our personal HP shopper. Thanks, James!

Sleeping to the sound of the dishwasher (he gets it from his Dad):
Relaxing with Liz (and her new glasses!):Steve and Grant, no matter what I do I can't get this picture to orient right. Still cute!Proud big brother Dave (Dave says, "Thanks for making us a baby, Mom!"):
Dave reading to Grant (he's not so into it). I guess a first time Mom would pick up the baby. A fourth time Mom picks up the camera:
He recovered!
A day in the life of Grant:

Baby Grant

2010-03-16T15:28:00.003-06:00

What an eventful two months! Since I last posted we had a broken water heater, dead car battery, and dead computer and medical bills coming out our you know what from Steven's ER visit for a laceration on his head. So you can imagine I was apprehensive about having a baby in the middle of all the excitement.

Our baby boy was born on February 4th at 10:40pm. His name is Grant Ryan, or as we call him, "Steven" because we are sleep deprived and dumb like that. He was 6 pounds 13.8 ounces. That 0.8 pound is important, it's how much more he weighed than Steven. The 7 pound mark has eluded me yet again! And I'm giving up on it. I'm pretty sure my body is meant to make 6 pounders. The memory of getting baby Grant out is enough to make me say, "Hooray for six pound babies!"

Our new computer is coming this week so hopefully I can get pictures up soon. The hampster won't run fast enough in this computer to handle that kind of super computing. You don't really need pictures since I was told, "Why do you keep having kids when they all look the same?" Hence why we call him Steven.

Tales of the Incredible Shrinking Pregnant Woman

2010-01-19T15:19:00.003-07:00

I'm now 37 1/2 weeks pregnant. We've tried hard to make the most of the last weeks before we enter newborn time.

To celebrate 36 weeks pregnant I went on a hospital tour. It was really silly of me since I have had all my babies at the same hospital. Here's the thing, things look different as a patient in a wheelchair. They have also remodeled a couple times. I really wanted to see things like a tourist, and not a women in labor. It was great! With Steve I showed up so close to delivering him that my eyes weren't focusing. I swore that the entry to the hospital was about the size of a football field. I noticed on the tour that it was about 40 feet. Hmmm, I guess distances get bigger when you are 10 centimeters with contractions every minute. The plan this time is to get to the hospital before that point. However, Liz was born in 8 hours and Steve was born in 5 hours. How much time do you think I have this time? In my own defense, Dave took about 96 hours so I never thought it could be so fast. We stayed home a bit too long with Steve, don't you think?

While the tour was great, here are some tips from the tour I'm ignoring. With a fourth baby you know what you will or won't do. I was worried about the rest of the newbies on the tour taking notes and soaking it in. I guess they will soon find out how things work for them.

1. "Park as far away as you can and walk as far as you can." --Yeah, right! So I can cross a real football field?
2. "If you need a wheelchair and you can't find one in the entry way, go to the information desk and they will locate one for you." -- Wow! Sounds like I have all the time in the world! Should I also stop in the cafeteria for a cool beverage?
3. "Stay home as long as possible." --That's how I ended up at 10 cm on I-25. Good idea!
4. "You'll be in triage for a minimum of 30 minutes." --With Steve I was there about 2 minutes. It was just enough time for the nurse to flip out and race me to a delivery room. Jason said they should have taken away her bed driving license because she hit every wall on the way to the delivery room.
5. "There is a pull out bed in the delivery room if your partner would like to rest while you're laboring." --Jason's not allowed to rest, someone needs to drive the bed without damaging a wall.

I always try to celebrate 37 weeks pregnant. It's the moment when you get to be called "full term." With Dave I only made it to 36 weeks and 6 days so he was a preemie and he struggled. He was in NICU and as good as it is there I try avoiding that place. Hence, we celebrate at 37 weeks. To celebrate Jason and I went here. Good times! The guy at the counter said, "You shouldn't be here. You shouldn't do this." I said, "I'm fine!" And it was, we had a great time. The baby didn't care at all. The counter guy respected me more when he found out about my license. I guess pregnant people don't celebrate like that because people stared at me. A LOT. For a LONG time. I'm pregnant, I know! What would be really dumb would be doing that postpartum on sleep deprivation. That's crazy! I get a lot of people asking where I took the class to get licensed. It was here. I also get a lot of people asking me if I carry. Try me and find out, punk!

Every pregnancy (except my first which ended too early) I get to experience an interesting phenomenon in the 9th month. I shrink! It's true, I can get to 35-36 centimeters and then it goes back down. It is happening again. With Liz I got an ultrasound in the 9th month to see if she was shrinking. They said she was 8 pounds. She was 6 pounds 8 ounces. How useful was that? They even told me the margin of error is 1 pound 4 ounces. She was fine, here's how it works.

There is a reason my babies can come so fast. They know where to put their heads and they know where the exit is and they get as close as possible with each day. Hence, they go down and I get smaller. Well, I get smaller, they get bigger, but they find other places to put themselves. I can do a good cowboy walk!

What should I do next? I can think of one thing and it involves Oreos and peanut butter. Try it!

Inspiration for the Holiday Season

2009-12-20T15:01:00.002-07:00

Life gets too busy sometimes, especially at the holidays. So here's a Harper public service announcement.

Read this:

Stephanie Nielsen: Plane Crash Survivor Regains Hope

Then watch this:

The Christmas Spirit

Now go hug your family.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-12-02T15:36:00.003-07:00

Before:

After:

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-18T09:17:00.002-07:00

H1N1 Vaccine in NM

2009-11-04T11:31:00.004-07:00

If you watch or read the news you know we're all pretty much going to die from H1N1. I recently stopped reading articles about H1N1 and now have a much better outlook on life!

Either way, we're a flu shot family. We've always gotten the flu shots and never had much side effects.

So I've been trying to get the H1N1 shot since it came out with no luck since my OBGYN's office can't get any and my family doctor's office didn't prioritize pregnant women until after they are done with these groups, 1. vaccinating kids with chronic health conditions, 2. vaccinating all kids, 3. Heart and Lung patients, 4. Health Care Workers, then 5. Pregnant Women. And since they can't get any vaccine at all I doubt I'll make it to the top of that list anytime soon!

So my midwife gave me a list yesterday of 6 department of health offices in Albuquerque giving it out. Of the 6 places, I couldn't get through to a person or leave a message for 2 offices, one I left a message at, 2 put me on a waiting list (pregnant women priority first), another scheduled an appointment for today for all of us. I made the cut since I'm pregnant. The rest of my family got it since there will be an infant in the house during flu season. I tried to get information of who else they were vaccinating but they all seen to have different guidelines depending on how much they have and how quickly it gets used up. They were reluctant to make promises. They just want people to call in. They were all super nice (unlike my family doctor's receptionists, they were cranky).

Where we got it:
Alamosa Center for Public Health, 833-9950, 6900 Gonzales Rd. SW, Alb., 87121

Where I left a message yesterday, they called me this morning to come in and get the shot:
Southwest Public health Office, 873-7477

Offices that put me on a waiting list:
Northeast Heights Office, 332-4850 (they had 40 shots for pregnant women but weren't releasing them yesterday, they just called me as I was writing this to have me come in and get it)
North Valley Public Health Office, 897-5700 (didn't have shots but were hoping to get more next week)

Other offices I couldn't get a human on the phone and couldn't leave a message:
Southeast Public Health Office, 841-8928
Stanford Public Health Office, 841-4100

So the H1N1 shot does exist in NM! The news won't tell you that since it's optimistic news! Good luck everyone! If you have success getting the shot please leave a comment so other people can know the best way to get it too.

Chocolate and Bacon

2009-10-08T08:12:00.003-06:00

It's 8:07am and I just finished my delicious breakfast of Mini Wheats with a nice chocolate cookie. I didn't want to! I was like, "Hey baby, that's not good! Cookies aren't for breakfast!" But the baby made me do it. And I can tell he likes it. That's my boy! I think he wants another...

Steve said his first sentence this week: "I want bacon!" To encourage talking, I have the policy of giving him whatever he asks for with words and ignoring all grunts and tantrums. Bring on the bacon! Man, I have cool sons! I can't wait for Thanksgiving.

My goal this pregnancy is for my baby to break the seven pound mark. Dave was 6 lb. 5 oz., Liz was 6 lb. 8 oz. and Steve was 6 lb. 13 oz. Where did I put those cookies?

It's a...

2009-09-22T15:05:00.003-06:00

Boy! We think we already have the name picked out but we're not telling. I had a bad experience when I was pregnant with Steve. Someone asked what we were naming Steve and I told them and they turned up their nose. What's wrong with Steven? Nothing! That's why we're not telling. It's not like we got the name from this.

When I was pregnant with Steve, Dave and Liz wanted to know what we would name him. We said Sponge Bob. Or maybe Patrick. They said, "No! You can't do that" Today I asked Liz if we should name baby boy Sponge Bob. She said, "Or Patrick!"

Hello baby boy!

The Ultrasound Tech tried very hard to get him to move his arm, but he was comfortable. Funny since he showed us his little boy parts withing the first minute. The Ultrasound Tech said, "Do you see it?" And I said, "It's a boy!" Hello! It was quite obvious. I've seen baby boy ultrasounds three times now so maybe I can get an honorary degree. Hooray for baby boys, they leave nothing to the imagination in wee wee ultrasound pictures.

Ready for her closeup

2009-09-15T10:18:00.003-06:00

Liz tells me she would like to be in movies and on TV like Hannah Montana. This really surprises me since we don't watch Hannah Montana. She's also been known to carry around a small stuffed animal dog. I started calling her Paris Hilton. It was funny until one night she came out of bed and said she had forgot to put on underwear (she had just finished a bath). Should I be worried?

A Better Cash for Clunkers Program

2009-09-15T10:13:00.002-06:00

Dentist Dad was finally able to get the teeth out. I asked the dentist if we need to do anything about the rest of the stubborn teeth. He took one look in Dave's mouth and referred me to an orthodontist. Dave's college fund might get pilfered for braces...

Harper update

2009-08-02T21:17:00.002-06:00

My favorite sister-in-law Heidi pointed out that it has been two months since my last post. That's all? I rock! Here's what we've been up to.

I'm expecting again! Our due date is February 6th. I feel the need to answer some FAQ's since I had them with Steve and they are coming back again.

Q: Did you plan this?
A: Yes! All of our children have been planned. I have now jinxed myself. Harper #5 will be an accident I suppose.

Q: How many kids are you going to have?
A: One at a time. Until I'm in labor, then I'm never having kids again and having children is the stupidest idea I ever had.

Q: Are you going natural again?
A: I have no choice, things happen too fast. We will be lucky to make it to the hospital this time. Considering how much I hate being in the hospital maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing.

Q: Do you think it's a boy or a girl?
A: I have been wrong three times. I have forbidden myself from guessing. You would think that I should just guess the opposite of what I think, but then I would over think it and try to think the opposite just to make the opposite guess. Got it?

Q: What gender do the kids want?
A: 30 seconds after telling them they requested a sister. Then they asked if I had any snacks because they were hungry.

Q: How do you feel?
A: Great. It's kind of eerie. Maybe too good. I'm either hugely blessed or something is totally wrong...Why do pregnant women always have to worry about something? I do have a sad story. Last week I got super sick and I thought it was pregnancy related, or maybe it was because I ate brownie ice cream followed by popcorn. Anyway, it ended up being the stomach flu, not pregnancy. Unfortunately I threw up the brownie ice cream which totally stinks because now I can't stand brownie ice cream anymore.

Jason and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in Ruidoso (FREE!). It rocked! I'll post about it sometime. Don't hold your breath.

Dave celebrated his 7th birthday and is losing teeth fast. Some of them have fallen out, some are just dangling and some refuse to come out even with pliers. I'm super nervous it's messing up his new teeth to have baby teeth in the way. Today in church I noticed that his new teeth were coming in despite his baby teeth hanging on. We made Dave work on the baby tooth and now it's halfway attached. I handed Jason and paper towel and sent him and Dave in the bathroom with the instructions to "finish it!" It wouldn't budge. We came home and tried some Orajel and yanking and that wouldn't work either. Luckily we have a visit to the dentist scheduled for next week. I'll let you know how much an extraction costs these days.

Dave starts 1st grade in a couple weeks. If you're keeping track this will be his second year in 1st grade and we're thrilled about it. It was a rough decision but in the end his August 1st birthday and being a boy just wasn't fair for him. We're calling this year "The Gift of Time." He's super excited to be the oldest, fastest (man that kid can run) and best helper in 1st grade. Dave is the hardest working child I've ever met and he did an amazing job last year. He has also zoomed ahead this summer. There's so much more to the story, so if you're contemplating retention for your child, we're hear to talk! There's a lot of strong opinions out there that can be scary and I think we've sorted through the crap to get a good picture and when to do it and when not to do it. That being said, we've made our decision so if you have a strong opinion and think we're stupid then keep it to yourself! Thanks!

Liz is 4 1/2 and won't turn 5 until January so she's home with me for another year. She's not going to preschool. She's so content and easy going that I cannot justify sending her. I know some kids that are so high energy and thirsting for more that I understand why it would be good for them. But she doesn't need it. I'm so excited to be with her for one more year, because after that she'll be in full time kindergarten from 9am to 4pm. She's my friend. Besides, we have nails to paint and a Mulan costume to sew. On some nights at the dinner table, Jason will burp, Steve will fart, Dave will laugh at it all. Those are the night I hold Liz close and thank heaven for a daughter. Even if she does toot now and then.

Steve is about 21 months and learning things his older siblings never picked up this soon. For example, "Stop!", "Go away!", "Mine!". He can also tell a good knock knock joke.

Steve: Knock! Knock!
Me: Who's there?
Steve: Banana!
Me: Banana who?
Steve: (Laughs)

I'm excited to hear that punch line someday. If he learned the punchline from Dave it will be "The banana went poo poo! Hahahaha!" If he learns it from Liz it will be "And then the Princess and Prince got married and lived happily ever after."

If you're all churchy, then you would be interested in our church callings these days. I'm the Enrichment Leader (aka. Party Planner). I'm so thrilled to work with a RS Presidency that is passionate about food storage and stuff, since I love it too. The sisters might be getting sick of lessons on gardening, wheat, and powdered milk. But I like it and I'm in charge, bwa-ha-haaaa! Jason is the Elder's Quorum President. It was pretty sad to get that calling since he had been Deacon's Quorum Advisor for only three month and we have just finished overhauling our camping gear ($$$) and getting Jason decked out in his Scout uniform. But there is a time and a season for everything. He has an amazing presidency. And I'm thrilled since I hope it shields me from bigger callings. And our camping gear rocks!

It's almost 10pm and Jason just got home from a visit. I'll post more later about fun times over here. By later I might mean 2 months.

We won!

2009-05-26T15:56:00.004-06:00

Here's how we'll celebrate our tenth anniversary in June. And it will be free!

Inn of the Mountain Gods Fondest Memory Contest

Here are pictures of our trip there in 2005.

More Disneyland Vacation

2009-05-08T14:22:00.014-06:00

Jason's mission friend gave us a tour of San Diego. It was so nice to have a native tour guide (and some great advice from another San Diego expert, Kerry). First we went to the San Diego Temple which I had always wanted to see.

I can tell this story because I'm not saying the name of Jason's mission friend. It will be anonymous! Her little boy had to go pee pee with an urgency and the Visitor's Center was not open. Let's just say there was a Gatorade bottle involved and problem solved! Duty calls even at the temple.

Next we went to Mount Soledad, the highest point in San Diego. It was windy! I thought we were going to get blown off the top.
Then we went to La Jolla Cove. We really enjoyed seeing the beach again, probably since we had more than a bathing suit on this time.

We saw the seals but the kids were more interested in the sand. Go figure! I'm so glad I drove a thousand miles for the biggest sandbox a kid could ask for.
Who's ready for Disneyland?

Disneyland!

2009-05-08T10:52:00.009-06:00

We decided to take a two day drive to CA which was a good choice since Google Maps optimistically estimated it to be a 12 hour trip, but it actually takes 15 hours to get to Anaheim. Once you add in potty break for three kids it takes about 26 hours. We had to drive because if we were to fly on a plane it would take $3,000 to cover all the extra baggage fees. I think our van was about ready to scrape bottom with all our stuff.

We stopped for the night in Phoenix and stayed with one of Jason's missionary companions from his Hungary mission. Loads of fun!

Then we set out for San Diego the next day. We stayed with another one of Jason's missionary friends. I'm so grateful Jason could strategically have missionary companions spread out across the country for us to visit. We had to go to San Diego for the purpose of showing the kids the ocean. Last year I took the kids to Cochiti Lake (about 45 minutes from our house). It looks like this (photo is from www.anglerweb.com, I don't know what copyright law so I thought I better reference it, I don't want to get in trouble):

Well that picture makes it look nice. It's really more of a puddle of water in the middle of a gravel pit. The kids swore to me that this was the beach. So you see, we had to go to the ocean.

It was about 60 degrees, it was cold! Oh well! We still swam anyway. For about 5 minutes.
Yes, Steve is wearing Liz's pink cover-up. Don't judge me, it was cold!
I think Steve ate too much sand and felt a little off after driving for two days. As we were leaving the beach, Steve threw up. Then he felt better. There's nothing like being covered by sandy vomit. Good times!

Hawaii Day 6

2009-05-08T10:30:00.007-06:00

I'm finding that I enjoy reading blogs a lot more than writing one. You might have already noticed from my lack of posting...

On our last day in Hawaii we did the Haleakela Zip line. Jason went snorkeling with me so I decided to run off a platform suspended by a cable across a ravine fr him. Probably an even trade.

There just happened to be a professional photographer on the tour too. She had been hired to take pictures for a photo book about Maui. Throughout the day she took picture of everyone on the tour. At the end of the day she said if we emailed her she would send us the pictures for free. If you ever need a photographer on Maui, she was great. Here is her website: www.carlajalbert.com. I won't even bother showing you our pictures. In one Jason took of me you can only see my elbow as I fly by. We went up to 45 miles an hour. Our stick like figures have low wind resistance...

We spent the rest of our last day shopping in Lahaina, relaxing and cruising around in the convertible.

The only way to get home from Hawaii is to take a night flight. It seems counter productive to have a relaxing vacation and finish it off with an over night flight. It was great to be back with the kids again. Speaking of that, want to hear about our Disney vacation?

For early readers

2009-04-11T12:54:00.001-06:00

Happy Easter! We're always looking for reading learning opportunities for Dave, here's one for your early reader too. It says butt so you know it especially works with little boys.

Hawaii Day 5

2009-03-18T17:10:00.013-06:00

How can you go to Hawaii and not snorkel? You have to remember that this trip we planned was a "Once in a lifetime, I don't now if we'll ever get to go back" kind of trip. We went to Molokini Crater off the coast of Maui to snorkel and it was amazing. We wish we would have had time to learn how to snorkel before the big day but the company that we did the tour with gave great lessons to us desert dwellers. Check them out at Kai Kanani Charters.

Here's the crater:

Here's my hunk (the boat we rode in is in the background):The desert dwellers:

I have the best husband ever. He's not a great swimmer or a fan of swimming but he did this all for me. He knows I love swimming and always wanted to snorkel. If you know Jason you know this was a big deal for him. Good job, Jason!
We both had underwater cameras from WalMart. The pictures didn't come out as great as we had hoped. It really didn't look green at all underwater. Anyway, all we heard all day was "We wish we bought underwater cameras!"

So much time passed between the time I booked the tour and going on the tour that I forgot Kai Kanani would take us to a second location after Molikini to snorkel with giant turtles.
Ooh look! A giant sea turtle AND a big, white tourist!AND then they fed us lunch (in addition to the breakfast they provided that morning). AND after the swimming was done they took us sailing for an hour and had an open bar (you're not allowed to swim and drink). Jason and I were able to witness one of the tourists drink a Mai Tai through his snorkel. People in Hawaii are happy people, but you haven't seen happiness until you've seen drunk Hawaii tourists. That's a sight us two Mormons had never seen before. I'm a little sorry I don't have a picture... It's possible it was the same guy in the turtle picture. You know who you are, Mai Tai snorkeler!

Hawaii Day 4

2009-03-18T16:25:00.012-06:00

Honolulu and much of Oahu is big city life. We wanted to see the more pristine, natural Hawaii so we decided to go on the Hana drive in Maui. It's loaded with jungle plants and waterfalls. After we made our plans we found there are some intense feelings about doing the Hana drive. Quote: "The Hana drive is the road to divorce!" Wow! Sounds just what I want to do on my tropical vacation!

To explain, it's several hours of very windy roads so if you get car sick, this isn't fun. And if you go during peak tourist season you'll just end up in a caravan for miles and miles. We don't get car sick and the economy was starting to tank so tourist season was slow. We went and we loved it. And we're still married. This helped:

You only live once so why not enjoy it! Lots of other tourists had the same idea, we saw about 10 of these convertibles. Nothing screams tourist like a rented convertible with whiteys in it. Fortunately, Hawaiians are nice to tourists. Well, they are nice to everyone. And they are happy about everything. Who can blame them? They live in Hawaii!

Here are some of the sites in Hana. Black Sand Beach:

The Upper Waikani Falls (or The Three Bears Waterfall), you may recognize this if you have seen the Mormon temple endowment movie:

A waterfall (not all of then have names):

Another waterfall:

A stream leading to the ocean:
And plenty of ocean views:
We picked up a hitch hiker on the way back. I'm not one to pick up hitch hikers, but she was so nice looking that she made me look like an ax murderer. She was in Hawaii wwoofing it. She had lived in Hawaii for quite a while so it was like having a tour guide. She answered all our tourist questions and even helped us pick some guavas.

For the rest of our trip we splurged and stayed here: Maui Prince Resort. You only live once, remember? It was worth it!

Back to the land of the living

2009-03-18T16:14:00.002-06:00

We just pulled out of two months of sickness and it sure is good to be back to the land of the living. First Liz got a sinus infection that led to pink eye in both eyes. Then I got a sinus infection and a virus that led me to google "Whooping Cough" it was so bad. It took 3 weeks to get over. It was all over our neighborhood and everyone took 2-3 weeks to get better. Just as I was detoxing from cough medicine, Steve and Dave came down with a cold. Dave shook his off but Steve's lasted a full week and developed into a sinus infection. He shared it with me and now, two months later, we're finally better. No one is allowed to get sick in our house. I have forbidden it! However, if you ever need to know which cough medicine works best you can borrow some, I have enough to medicate Dave's elementary school.

This is so off topic, but I love free stuff: Want free fabric? Click here. Ever gone to Joann's with three kids? Then you'll know why I hope to win free fabric.

Hawaii Day 3, and you thought I'd never post it

2009-02-13T16:35:00.016-07:00

You could probably spend 2 or 3 days at Pearl Harbor alone, we only had three hours. I had just finished reading Winds of War and War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk and it made the experience that much better. I highly recommend it. This is history, people!

We didn't know that you had to have tickets to get to the USS Arizona Memorial and that it's first come, first served. Our tickets were for an hour and a half later so we went over to the USS Missouri to pass time. We were so glad we did! If you can call being on the USS Missouri passing time then you're nuts. It was awesome.

I'll call this picture "You want a piece of me?"
A submarine! The USS Bowfin

"Do you want a piece of me?" Part 2
It's a battleship! Sorry, I'm just a little star struck with this amazing piece of American workmanship. I live in a landlocked state, can you tell?

Can you believe I'm in Pearl Harbor?!?!? I think this is one of my favorite pictures.
Now for the USS Arizona. First you watch a movie about December 7, 1942. Then you take a 20 minute boat ride out to the site of the USS Arizona and the Memorial. This is a view from the USS Arizona looking toward the USS Missouri.
The employees there give you a big talk before you go to the USS Arizona that this is sacred ground and to please act respectfully and quietly. There were a couple Japanese tourists there that were really loud and joking around. I'm pretty sure they didn't speak English (at least I hope that was the reason), yet it still took four harsh shushing to quiet them down. It was weird.

On a lighter note, there are no bathrooms at the USS Arizona. I would recommend you take care of business before you get out there. I'm just saying...

Then we spent 20 minutes at the Swap Meet at the Aloha Stadium, great deals!

Next, onto Maui. We got lost in Honolulu and barely made our flight on time. Not that it probably would have mattered much since there is a flight every half hour to each island. Pictures from our flight:

At the Maui airport we saw the biggest cockroach I have ever seen. I'm sorry to report there are still cockroaches in paradise. It had it's own weather system. It was the mother of all cockroaches. Well, maybe I haven't seen a whole lot. But there was a guy there from New York City and he said it was the biggest cockroach he had ever seen. Anyway, I didn't go to Hawaii to see the airport. I was in Maui!

We stayed at the cheapest hotel we could find since we were only going to be in it for one short night. It was $100. That's cheap in Hawaii. Thank goodness for Swap Meets!

News and a Commercial

2009-02-05T10:01:00.006-07:00

I'm back! I better bring you up to speed on Harper news.

First, we just refinanced our house! The downturn in the economy has it's benefits. We got an AMAZING deal. Seriously, it does not get better that what we got. Now it's time for a shameless plug. I'm doing this for your benefit! Read on if you like saving money. If you don't then I'll send you my PayPal account email. I take checks and all major credit cards.

I cannot say enough good things about Rob Burdick and Brian Chinn at Premier Choice Mortgage. Or read their blog here. He was highly recommended by my Mom who spent 20 years in Real Estate and met all kinds of mortgage lenders (and there are some real slime balls out there, scary!). When it comes to your house, you better get representation from someone you trust! Rob took care of us and probably fixed problems we never even heard about (and if you've ever bought a house or refinanced you know there can be a lot of bumps no matter who you work with). So if you're even wondering if this is a good time to refinance or get a mortgage to buy a house, stop wondering and just call. Last year we met with Rob to see if we needed to refinance and his advice was to wait. He's not in it for a quick buck but will tell you what's right for you. Waiting paid off BIG TIME. His advice was right on. Rob is honest and ethical. Those are rare qualities in the mortgage industry right now. It does not matter if you don't live in NM, he is part of a network called "By Referral Only" so if what he offers isn't right for your situation, then he can find someone who matches your needs that has the same affiliation with "By Referral Only." My Mom was part of "By Referral Only" for years and these are the kind of people you want to work with. The "By Referral Only" philosophy is that if you do your job right and have excellent customer service, then you'll get referrals from your clients and you can spend less time and money advertising and more time helping people like you and me. This is what you want! Alright, I'm done with this commercial. Just call! You won't be sorry.

Now that we refinanced, you know what we're gong to do? We're going to Disneyland! How could we not? We have a 6 year old that loves Star Wars and a 4 year old that loves Princesses and an easy going baby. Plus I'm not pregnant or nursing. That's a plus for a 12 1/2 hour drive. We're ready for magic!

So I guess that means I better get onto Hawaii Day 3...

The spoils

2009-01-02T22:07:00.007-07:00

Look! Dave's a Trekkie! I'm so proud!

Our annual contribution to Disney/Pixar.

A second contribution to Disney/Pixar. They have us right where they want us.

The best present is the one you can cuddle with. Thanks for the extra blankie, Grandma! Steve already has one, but we needed a spare so it could get washed once and a while. The original blankie was getting pretty ripe.

Holiday Cheer

2009-01-02T22:02:00.006-07:00

Dave's creation...

Liz's creation...
Dad's contribution...
A closer view...That's a raisinet in there in case you were wondering.

Why I haven't posted more about Hawaii yet

2009-01-02T21:44:00.009-07:00

My kids (and why I'm asking for a new camera in 2009)...

A better picture (but Steve was sleeping)...
The big one...
My little tree with all my kids pictures...

My centerpiece. Yes, that's the Dangerous Book for Boys in the background. It didn't have anything about centerpieces in it but Dave and Jason made an excellent paper airplane.
In my Christmas to do list priorities the kitchen slipped pretty low. I believe in being real so here is the picture. I'm providing this shot as a service to you so you can feel good about yourself. You can say, "My kitchen is way cleaner than Mary's!" I do it all for you.
And the after shot so you don't think I'm too much of a pig...

All I Wanted Was A Sausage

2008-12-19T07:50:00.002-07:00

Yes, I'm still here and yes, I want to talk about Hawaii. But it's that time of year! As a consolation, here's an article I enjoyed.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-10T10:56:00.002-07:00

We did it! We got a family photo. This is huge for us. We have had so many bad studio experiences (people who don't know how to run the camera, showing up and the camera was broken, showing up and the appointment was 45 minutes late, and more). Our bank offered a free sitting and one free print and that's what it took to get me to try again. I was about ready to go into family picture therapy sessions if this didn't work. They took some more pictures and tried to get me to buy them but the cheapest deal was $50. Yeah, right! I took the free one and ran.

I also celebrated my 30th birthday yesterday! How blessed am I to be a wife and a Mom to three healthy, beautiful kids. People have been asking me how I've handled turning 30. Last year right after I had Steve I had a really bad night, woke up feeling fat and looking terrible and thought "I can't believe I'm turning 30 this year, what's happening to me!" The I realized I was only turning 29 and I was only 28 at the time. What a cry baby! So since I had that moment last year I got it over with and am happy to be a ripe, old 30-haha! It also helps that I'm sleeping through the night and lost all the pregnancy weight. Look at me, I'm 30 and I feel great!!!

My birthday is a three part celebration, one for each decade. Last night we went to Flying Star, my favorite restaurant. Kids eat free on Tuesday night so we had a fantastic dinner and it was super cheap. AND they offered buy one, get one free desserts so we couldn't pass that up either. On Saturday Jason and I are going to see Twilight. We haven't been to the movie theater since Harry Potter 5. After the price of movie tickets and a baby sitter a movie date costs about $500 these days. Then at the end of December I'm taking this class. Yes, I'm thirty and I'll be packing heat. I'm trying to find ways to top this celebration for 31. Is there a bazooka class?

Hawaii Day 2

2008-12-05T15:21:00.010-07:00

Day 2 started with a trip to the Hawaii Temple. We did this for two reasons. 1. It's right next to our next destination, the Polynesian Cultural Center. 2. For some reason it was easier for us to go to the Temple in Hawaii than it is in Albuquerque. Go figure. We were there, we were kid free, we were relaxed! It was a perfect day to be there. Just a month before we had hoped to go to the Albuquerque Temple and had a babysitter set up but someone broke her toe.

I just read in the Ensign that the Laie Hawaii Temple will be closed for 18 months for renovations starting this month, we made it just in time! It is the 5th temple in the church and was the first foreign temple since Hawaii wasn't a state yet when it opened. That's your trivia for the day courtesy of the sister missionary there that also took this picture.

Next we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. It's the second most popular tourist site in Hawaii after Pearl Harbor (see day 3!). We were told, ""If you don't go to the Polynesian Cultural Center then don't even bother going to Hawaii." Twice. It didn't disappoint.

There was dancing...

A luau...
A guy climbing a tree...
More dancing...
And fire! We went to the night show. We booked our tickets back in August and it automatically chooses your seats based on best available seating. I had no idea where we were seated. When we got there we ended up being in the front row right in the center. We were about 5 feet from this guy. It was hot! I guess booking three months in advance has it's advantages!

Hawaii Day 1

2008-11-30T20:56:00.003-07:00

Finally I'm getting around to talking about our tropical adventure! It rocked! Here's us on day one in Honolulu at Benihana. I like to call this picture "I'm not buying your overpriced picture." The one below I call "I'm so not buying this silly over priced picture either." Yeah, well, we bought them both. How often do a Mom and Dad have a night out on the town in Honolulu AND someone to take a great picture of them. So worth it!

Here's the ocean view from our hotel room at the Hilton Hawaii Village. The roof is more distracting in the picture than it was at the hotel. It was paradise!

Have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T13:50:00.002-07:00

Here's my favorite Thanksgiving commercial. I have never seen a turkey that huge.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The new blog look

2008-11-14T14:53:00.003-07:00

Well, that was easy! Thanks for helping me upgrade my blog styling Melissa and Dana! At this rate maybe next year I'll add something else.

PS. By the way, there is no charge for awesomeness or attractiveness.

PPS. Yes, I have been watching Kung Fu Panda.

The Robot Van

2008-11-13T15:41:00.003-07:00

Jason and I (and the bank for the next two years) are the proud owners of a 2006 Toyota Sienna. We went back and forth many times between the Odyssey and the Sienna, but the Sienna was $2,000 cheaper. And by getting a 2006 rather than a new one we saved $12,000 and we still have one year of a factory warranty left. We had to ask ourselves if two years of the three year warranty was worth $12,000. We did pretty well in elementary school math so we decided on the used car.

We bought it through Car Max. Car Max is loaded with 2005's (too used) and tons of Siennas that are black (too hot), white (gets too dirty) and silver (blends in with pavement too well). When we came across this one we jumped on it. It used to be a fleet vehicle (no kid damage!). It came with the navigation system (if only I knew how to use it), rear back up camera (so we don't squish neighborhood kids) and DVD player (so we don't squish our own kids). In addition, it has some kind of rare super electronics add-on package. Car Max probably didn't notice that since it was priced the same as other vans without these add ons. With the touch of a button the rear seats fold up, the side doors open and the back hatch opens. It has proximity sensors so if I drive too close to anything it starts beeping with surround sound from the direction of the object I'm about to squish.

Dave has named it the robot van and he's right. It beeps and squawks at me so much I rarely know why. I thought I could figure out the navigation system and it started giving me directions to go somewhere and I couldn't shut it off for three days. I've since started reading the manual but I'm only on page 12 out of 76. That's just the manual for the navigation system. The car manual is over 200 pages alone.

Regardless of the navigation system trying to drive me to where no one can hear me scream, driving is a delight. Now the kids have space to co-exist without fighting with each other. Even Steve was starting to bug Liz in our Focus with three car seats side by side. We had hoped to hold out for another year until we realized that Steve would have to move into a toddler seat on his 1st birthday and we couldn't smash them into the back seat of the Focus anymore. I literally mean that. We were smashing them in. I had to buckle each kid in myself since the seats were so close. And then I had to shove the doors shut. If only kids didn't have to be in car seats until they were 26 and 630 pounds maybe we could have lasted a little longer.

Robot van has leather seats. I thought that was a little over the top until Liz got a bloody nose last week. God bless leather seats.

Waiting for 2012

2008-11-06T15:21:00.004-07:00

I meant to blog yesterday but my internet was down. Did you think I was too busy crying all day because of the election? Haha! Ha. Ha....

We may live in a blue state but we'll always have a red house. Except for maybe Dave, we're still working on his political affiliation. I think he was excited that the cool name guy won.

I never meant for my blog to get so political, but I do like politics a lot. I like it better when there are better candidates to choose from (McCain, I'm talking to you, stop reaching across the aisle and I'd like you better. Palin, you had me from hello). I will leave politics for a while with this thought (click it to make it bigger).

Coming up next, our trip to Hawaii and my new ride!

Every vote counts

2008-11-03T16:44:00.003-07:00

Jason and I messed up! We didn't realize we needed to inform Dave of his choices for President of the United States at such a young, formative age and counsel him how to vote. We discovered an election was held at school in each class.

Dave: I voted today at school!

Mom: Who did you vote for?

Dave: Barack Obama.

Jason: Dave, did you know Mom and I are voting for John McCain? Why did you vote for Barack Obama?

Dave: He has a cooler name.

It could be worse, Dave's teacher told me a kindergartner called John McCain a butt hole.

Halloween explained

2008-11-03T16:23:00.003-07:00

The costumes are partly store bought (Ebay!) and partly homemade. Steve's shirt was the big homemade item--thank goodness for double fusible interfacing! We wanted to draw a mask on his face but he goes nuts when even we try to clean his face so we figured the costume was enough. I also made the masks for Jason and me. Jason's muscles were shaped from leftover quilt batting that my sister gave me, thanks Megan! I know, I know, I just revealed a secret. You thought they were real muscles, didn't you?

We HAD to be the Incredibles this year. We had a Jack Jack, Dash and Violet! It was the obvious choice. The kids loved it. Any ideas for next year? I think we're running out of ideas...

One day when one of my teenager kids says, "You don't love me!" I'll just show them this Halloween picture. I'm in spandex. A lot of it. Just for you.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T19:46:00.002-06:00

For more about "I made it myself", click here.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

2008-10-29T11:08:00.002-06:00

We're back from Hawaii (it was amazing! More on that later) and we got our new vehicle (it is amazing! More on that later, too) and our Halloween costumes are done (of course they are amazing! More on that later too, I don't know when).

But I thought I would do a quick post on something funny. Not a lot of election related topics are making me laugh right now, but this one did. Enjoy!

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

SARAH PALIN: Before it got to the other side, I shot the chicken, cleaned and dressed it, and had chicken burgers for lunch.

BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a change! The chicken wanted change!

JOHN MC CAIN: My friends that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.

HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure right from Day One that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn’t about me.

GEORGE W. BUSH: We don’t really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.

DICK CHENEY: Where’s my gun?

COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.

BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with that chicken. What is your definition of chicken?

AL GORE: I invented the chicken.

JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken’s intentions. I am not for it now and will remain against it.

AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens.

DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken doesn’t realize that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he’s acting by not taking on his current problems before adding new problems.

OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I’m going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed access to the other side of the road.

NANCY GRACE: That chicken crossed the road because he’s guilty! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.

PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.

MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer’s Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.

DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I’ve not been told.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain, alone.

GRANDPA: In my day we didn’t ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS: Isn’t that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart-warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its lifelong dream of crossing the road.

ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.

BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken 2008, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken 2008. This new platform is much more stable and will never crash or need to be rebooted.

ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?

COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?

DR. LAURA: Because it was the right thing to do.

Blog decor

2008-10-12T20:44:00.002-06:00

All of you fellow bloggers sure have cool looking blogs. I'm thinking blogger must have added some cooler backgrounds since the last time I changed mine a year (or more) ago. Jason has seen some of them and keeps wanting me to mess around with it and spruce ours up. He's sitting behind me being a backseat blogger:

Jason: When are you going to change your blog background?
Mary: Why don't you change it for me?
Jason: Don't give me that, I'll change it to the eye of Sauron.

So now you know if my background suddenly becomes LOTR (or Charlie the Unicorn) don't blame me!

Two requests

2008-10-08T08:15:00.002-06:00

In one week I leave for Hawaii! I need your help. I'm going to be on a plane for 8 hours. What would you do on a plane for 8 hours? I love to read but need book ideas. If you were stranded on a plane for 8 hours and could read only one book, what would it be? This is much like "If you were stranded on a desert island and could read only one book, what would it be?" except it's not. It's a plane.

I have another request. Jason showed me this You Tube video. One of us thinks it's hilarious, one of us thinks it's stupid. Maybe it's so stupid it's hilarious. Can you tell me what you think so we know who's right? Well, obviously I'm right but I need to prove it to Jason. Thanks!

Deep Thoughts

2008-10-04T20:27:00.002-06:00

Dave: Mom, air is lighter than water because I can see through air but I can't see through water.

Dave: What's 8 plus 8?
Mom: Sixteen. What's 800 plus 800?
Dave: Sixteen hundred.

Mom: Liz, what's your favorite vegetable?
Liz: Meat.
Mom: No, what's your favorite vegetable?
Liz: Chicken.
Mom: Vegetable, what's your favorite vegetable?
Liz: I like spaghetti.

Mom: Want to stamp with me, Liz?
Liz: Yes, yes! You're my best friend!

Another Conference recipe

2008-10-04T20:14:00.002-06:00

Now break out the crockpot! Here's another of our favorite conference recipes. Add everything to the crockpot (except the last three ingredients) and let it cook for a couple hours, then shred the chicken. Yes, I know it's not a traditional chicken tortilla soup but it has chicken and tortilla chips so just eat some and like it!

Chicken Tortilla Soup
2 cans black beans, undrained
2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can tomato sauce (14.5 ounces)
1 cup salsa
1 can diced chiles (4 oz), optional
2-3 chicken breasts
tortilla chips
sour cream
cheddar cheese

3 out of 5 Mormons prefer...

2008-10-03T09:45:00.007-06:00

I know I've blogged about this before, but this really is the best recipe for cinnamon rolls ever. When we were first married I wanted to start a General Conference tradition so I started making cinnamon rolls. Well...I bought the ones in the paper tube. Later when I got more guts for cooking I moved onto this recipe. It's perfect so I stopped searching. I thought it was a really clever idea for me to make cinnamon rolls and I've since found out that 3 out of 5 Mormons make cinnamon rolls for Conference. So much for me being original.

Speaking of polls, am I the only one getting 23 political calls a day? Thank goodness for caller ID! I don't know what they think I'll say that's different from how I'm registered and how I've voted since I turned 18. It's been said to never talk about politics and religion and I'll already screwed up talking religion so I'll stop there. Well, I'll just say that I'm a conservative dresser, our home is decorated conservatively and I love to read the crafty conservative. I'm just saying...

Here's the recipe. Fire up the breadmaker and put your bathroom scale away.

Mini Maple Cinnamon Rolls
Taste of Home, April/May 2006

2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 egg
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon active dry yeast

Filling:
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons bread flour
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons butter, cold

Maple Icing:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons maple syrup
milk, 1-2 teaspoons

1. In a bread machine pan, place the dough ingredients in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select the dough setting. Check after 5 minutes of mixing, add 1 to 2 tablespoons water or bread flour if needed.

2. When the cycle is completed, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into two 12x7 inch rectangles.

3. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

4. Sprinkle half over each rectangle. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting from a long side; pinch seams to seal.

5. Cut each roll into 12 slices. Place cut side down in one greased 13x9 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 20 minutes.

6. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-25 minutes until golden brown.

7. In a small mixing bowl, combine the confectioner's sugar, butter, syrup and enough milk to achieve desired consistency. Spread over warm rolls.

"That's not normal"

2008-09-22T14:24:00.006-06:00

I've always been a klutz. When I was little I kept running into things so my Mom put me in a gymnastics class to help me be more graceful. I didn't work and this week I proved it in a dramatic way.

My first mistake was doing laundry, what was I thinking?

I was carrying a big load of laundry from Dave's bed through his doorway and I passed too close to his door jam. My pinky toe caught on the door jam. I heard a pop and this is what I found.

I figured it was just dislocated so I tried to put it back. That didn't work. On a good note, the hypnobirthing I used to get me through Steve's natural childbirth still works!

I called a friend of mine to watch the kids for me. She happens to have a doctor husband who was home at the time and offered to have him come over and check it out.

He tried hard to put it back for me and it didn't work. Yet again, hypnobirthing still has it's uses.

I went to my doctor hoping x-rays would help them put it right and I could go on with my day. I even took my shoe with me so I could walk home in it. I did start to wonder if maybe it was worse than I thought since every nurse, doctor, and X-ray technician seemed kind of shocked by the sight of my pinky toe. I saw a friend in the waiting room and to quote her: "That's not normal!"

I chit chatted with the x-ray technician.

X-Ray Tech: Oh my goodness, what did you do?

Me: Laundry, it was a mistake. I suppose in your line of work you've seen a lot.

X-Ray tech: I've never seen that before.

Here's my X-Ray:

That pop I heard was not a dislocation, it was a broken pinky toe. I really didn't know there was anything to break in the pinky toe! The doctor taped it up for me and refused to write me a doctor's note that I couldn't do laundry anymore. Then she sent me to a podiatrist. On a side note, it probably wasn't a good idea to try to put it back myself or have my doctor friend do it. I do not blame him, I blame myself! I though it was just a dislocation and would have felt stupid going in to the doctor if it was a quick fix. Ironically, I still feel stupid being such a klutz.

I figured at a podiatrist's office they must have seen everything having to do with feet and it wouldn't surprise them.

Nurse: Whoa, what did you do?

Me: I went through a doorway and my pinky toe stayed behind. You must have seen everything about feet in your line of work?

Nurse: I've never seen that before.

The podiatrist walked in, looked at my toe and then quickly stood up. He looked at the x-ray and said he needed to numb it (yay! no more hypnobirthing) and put it right. He numbed it, then he put a pen between my pinky toe and the next toe for some lever action and then pushed my pinky toe back. My Mom described the sound as a crunch, I thought it was more like a pop. In any case it's back where it's supposed to be. Although I think my foot modeling days are over.

This lovely shoe will be my fashion statement for "4-6 weeks" by doctor's orders. He says if I clip it on a doorway again I could easily rebreak it. They call this shoe the "deluxe." Thank goodness I didn't get the "standard," that would have looked embarrassing. Although hypnobirthing was my companion that day, I've since switched over to Ibuprofen.

I leave for Hawaii in 3 1/2 weeks. I set up a follow up for 3 weeks and 3 days away. Time will tell if my shoe will get an all expense paid trip to Hawaii too! Even if I have to wear the shoe, I'm so grateful pinky toes don't get casts and I can still walk and be a mom. I hope by then to have the crunch/pop sound out of my head...and maybe I will learn to be more graceful.

Are you a nerd too?

2008-09-16T14:06:00.002-06:00

If you're a nerd like me you've been interested in the huge particle accelerator in Europe. Is that crickets I hear chirping?

Anyway, here's a webcam: Link

If you don't get it, congratulate yourself. You're not a nerd.

Second best sewing project of the year

2008-09-14T20:21:00.002-06:00

Not knowing his own strength, Jason ripped off a tab on Steve's last diaper in the whole house. To avoid a trip to WalMart at 8pm for more (or even worse, opening up my stash of cloth diapers), I ran it through the sewing machine and it's back to new! I bet Martha Stewart didn't think of that sewing project!

Where's Dad?

2008-09-14T20:19:00.003-06:00

It's all fun and games until Dad gets buried under every pillow in the house. Just another Sunday in the Harper house!

Eeerie...

2008-09-08T15:22:00.003-06:00

I like to check our credit reports every year because...well, I'm compulsive. Before we bought our house a couple years ago we checked our credit and there were two bogus medical claims on it. It was pretty easy to clear up. Since I keep having kids I keep getting medical bills and with medical billing as it is it's not a bad idea to keep checking our credit. Especially since we're about to get our next car! More to come on that later!!!

This is going to sound like an advertisement but if you go to Annual Credit Report you can check your credit once a year for free from the three major credit bureaus. You can also check your kids' credit to make sure someone isn't using their identity (they should have no credit history unless they've been busier than you think). Some people stagger when they get each of their three credit reports throughout the year but I'm not that compulsive.

I've been thinking it's about that time to check our credit reports. Today I looked up when I did it last year. It was 9-7-07. Eerie! Maybe I'm more compulsive than I think...

My confession

2008-09-05T14:42:00.005-06:00

This week I did something I swore I would never do as a Mom. I'm so ashamed!

I've always been scornful of the food products that take every step of cooking and preparation out of food. Have you ever noticed the frozen vegetable selection at WalMart? Half the vegetable section is french fries, tater tots and hash browns. The other half is the rest of the vegetable group, but half of this come with processed cheese sauce or some other additives that probably erase any health value of a vegetable.

Yes, I severly compromised my standards this week. I bought this:

I bought Sponge Bob Gogurt! In delicious Strawberry Riptide and Bikini Bottom Berry! Oh the humanity!

What has possessed me to buy yogurt in a tube? Heaven forbid a kid should get out a spoon and pull off the top of a yogurt!!!

This is why: DAVE WILL EAT IT

I always thought this Gogort product was ridiculous. Yogurt in a tube??? Sheesh!

DAVE ATE TWO THIS MORNING

Fine! You had me at "Hello!" you Gogurt people. You with your calcium and probiotics.

What's next?!? This:

PS. I do love tater tots. Maybe I compromised long ago...

Halloween Planning

2008-08-28T10:18:00.005-06:00

I just made my first purchase towards our Harper family 2008 Halloween costumes. Here it is:

Oh, the anticipation!

Unlike previous Halloweens, this year will probably be a mix between purchased costume parts and homemade costume parts. I know my limitations and if I can get better costumes through ebay I will do it.

That's not really a picture I took, just one I lifted off Google. I'm too busy to get out the camera, take a picture, download it to my camera and post it. Time to get back to the green chile...

Just call me gringa

2008-08-23T17:49:00.004-06:00

After many years of buying canned green chile that seem to have less heat than lettuce, Jason and I decided to get some authentic New Mexican fire roasted green chile. Since I've never bought it before I was feeling pretty self-conscious. Some nice people at the store helped me out and I just brought home a bushel of our own fire roasted green chile. Google helped me too: How to Roast Chiles

I learned that a bushel is a lot. Luckily Jason has some co-workers interested in taking some off our hands. Time will tell if we'll be peeling, seeding and chopping every August or every other year. It's hard to predict how much green chile us gringos will eat in a year.

Even though we're very white, we did know to wear rubber gloves. Green chile juice droplets and eye balls don't mix well. When Jason was on his mission in Hungary, one of the missionaries there (not Jason!) was chopping a chile. Let's just say he went to the bathroom without rinsing his hands first and that is as far as I'll go with that story. Adios!

S'Dave's

2008-08-21T11:03:00.003-06:00

Before we went to Fenton Lake, Dave thought up a new recipe based on S'Mores. We're calling them S'Dave's. You make them just like S'Mores but with a layer of peanut butter. It's pure genius and delicious too!

We're back!

2008-08-21T10:47:00.012-06:00

It sure has been a long time since I blogged, my bad!

Here's Dave and Liz on the first day of school (Monday).

Here's another picture of Dave with my best (and only) sewing project this summer. He busted the knees out of these jeans last spring. The pants still fit this fall and I wanted to be frugal so I patched them with some leftover jeans.

To celebrate a great summer we went to the mountains by Fenton Lake, NM. Here's our adventure in pictures:
We forgot a jacket for Steven so he got to be a burrito.Raining! Time to go!

When they were dirty enough we went home.

Mom, what's the biggest fish in the world?

2008-06-02T08:49:00.004-06:00

What did Moms do before Google? Dave wanted to know what the biggest fish in the world looks like. If you have the curiosity of a 5 year old, click here. Now that's a big fish!

Other links from searches today:

Fish guts
whale
whale guts
shark
shark guts

That's my boy!

2008-05-18T19:45:00.003-06:00

Here's Steve in his blessing outfit, what a cutie! Steve is about 7 months old and has taken on the title of biggest Harper baby. At 16 1/2 pounds and the 50th percentile he's blowing Dave (10th percentile) and Liz (10th percentile) out of the water weight-wise. He enjoys rice cereal with squash or sweet potatoes and sunset walks on the beach.

Right now we all ride in our 5 seat Focus. Steve (in his baby carrier) is in the middle to separate Dave and Liz (both in boosters). Even now Steve can reach Liz and bug her. Sometimes we have to throw our weight against the doors to get them to shut with three car seats side by side. We won't be taking any road trips for a while. I can hardly drive Dave home from school (0.6 miles) without someone flipping out ("He's touching me!"). With Steve getting so fat we realized he'll be in a toddler seat very soon and a toddler seat with two boosters won't fit in our backseat so we'll have to make the jump into a large car (translation: Mormon-mobile). I'm trying to figure out what car we can buy that won't be too expensive (SUV) or too uncool (minivan).

In a related story, here's what happened to my car last month:

I saw a guy rob a bank and so I chased him down and hit him with my car. Yeah!

Not really, the truth is just boring. A lady hit my car when it was parked. She was super nice and very apologetic. It's all fixed now. Even though we are busting out of our small car, I am thankful for it (and for no car payment). Those days will be over soon! If Jason and I get a wish our new auto will have DVD players. Even if it doesn't keep the kids occupied hopefully it will drown out "He's touching me!"

I have arrived

2008-05-15T14:27:00.004-06:00

I did something today is phenomenal. For five years I have been trying to do this one thing. I have made it through college. I have birthed 3 children (one naturally!) and been parenting for almost 6 years but this one thing has eluded me. Today I did it and it is with great pride that I present you with my new swimsuit.
For the first summer since I had my first child I will wear a swimsuit that doesn't say maternity on the label. That maternity swimsuit served me well with it's over sized tank top and giant bottom piece. But I knew things had to change when Jason presented me with this: CLICK HERE!

Well that's not very exciting and if you made it through all that gobbly-gook obviously written by scientists you may have seen that the Electrochemical Society is having a conference in HAWAII! That's right, Jason is taking me on his "business" conference for "work" to Hawaii. I have decided that I can't go to paradise in a moo moo swim suit. It will be paradise not only because it's in HAWAII but because the kids get to stay home. PARADISE!

I never asked for much. I never wanted to look like a swim suit model (okay, I did, but reality stepped in). I don't mind looking like I've birthed three kids (one naturally!), I just don't want to look pregnant. "How far along are you?" is exactly the question that could ruin paradise.

So it is with great praise that I recommend to you the Land's End Mix and Match Separates. Check out the virtual model! You can pick you hair cut and style, add your measurements and it's like you're in a fitting room. This is ideal for the mommy who has birthed three children (one naturally!), who cannot face going to multiple department stores, trying on everything and finding that the right size is out of stock, and needs different sizes for the top and bottom pieces. For this privilege of buying a top and bottom piece with different sizes (I'll let you guess which piece is bigger) you get to pay twice as much. But oh well, I'm going to Hawaii (on "business").

Happy Easter (late)

2008-04-09T17:13:00.004-06:00

Who needs professional photography when I can get a shot like this... No children were harmed during the making of this picture (even Steve who looks like he'll slide off at any moment, he did and I caught him). Happy Easter! I blame my lateness for wishing you all a happy Easter on Easter being four weeks early. Really I'm just on time if Easter was in April like it should be. Three kids have been keeping me busy in a good way!

Two Birthdays and a Trip to the ER

2008-02-19T15:01:00.009-07:00

Here's a picture of Steve before church, what a cute, little man! Dave is the one patting his head. Sometimes I wonder if Dave realizes Steve is his brother, not his pet.

Poor Steve got croup last week and I had to take him to the ER in the middle of the night. It's his first time getting sick and it was quite a sickness. He was fine when I put his to sleep at 7pm. At 10pm he had a low fever and by 3am it was 102 degrees and he was barking like a seal and wheezing. The ER fixed him up and we were home in just a couple hours. I'm so grateful Rio Rancho has such a close ER. They said it was very good that I brought him in and within a couple hours he would have been turning blue. Amazingly, it was my first trip to the ER in my 5 1/2 years of parenting. I always thought it would be Liz breaking a bone that would take me to the ER. She got her grace and poise from me so it's only a matter of time before she has an accident. Twice in one week she ran into a wall. Walking is one of the hazards in her life.

Last month we celebrated Liz's 3rd birthday with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese. The best part was this contraption. I need one of these for my house! Ha!

What's a trip to Chuck E. Cheese without a ride on this thing. I think I need to talk to her about sitting like a lady.

And a butterfly cake decorated by Liz:
Here's a picture that makes me thankful for one baby. Yay for having only one baby at a time! Dave and Liz are very good little parents.

And also this month we celebrated Jason's 30th birthday. He wanted an ice cream cake and we found out that Cold Stone Creamery makes them, who could pass that up! I showed Jason the web page for Signature Cakes. He zeroed in on Kid Cakes instead and picked the Sponge Bob topper. 30 years old but still young at heart! That's Grandma Harper in the background. That blue frosting is quite blue and let's just say that it runs right through a 30 year old birthday boy. Next time maybe we'll stick with the more natural colors and flavors of the Signature Cakes. Happy birthday, Jason!

I is engineer

2008-01-30T14:11:00.001-07:00

This week I thought my baby monitor was broken. It wouldn't work and since we had it for 5 years I thought it must be worn out from all the hours it's been on. I told Jason I would get a new one. He tinkered around with it for one minute and discovered that it had been switched to the wrong channel (the kids had been playing with it). It's been 8 years since my college graduation and it shows.

Speaking of smarty pants Jason, you may have discovered he's famous. All you devoted readers of Lamgmuir, a publication of the American Chemical Society, saw that his article was one of the top accessed articles in the third quarter of 2007. Now that's fame! Look out TomKat, Jason Harper and his article "Selective Immobilization of DNA and Antibody Probes on Electrode Arrays: Simultaneous Electrochemical Detection of DNA and Protein on a Single Platform" ranked #4.

And speaking of Jason some more, he took a qualifying oral exam last December for admission to UNM's graduate program. They assign you a technical article outside your field and you have to explain it and write a proposal for research in that field. You are given two weeks from the time they give you the article to the time you make your presentation. Jason was scheduled to take it in early December and two weeks before happened to be the day before Thanksgiving. With the holiday, the professor forgot to email it to Jason until the next Monday (his presentation date didn't change). Jason still passed with flying colors and they asked for his presentation to serve as a teaching tool for other students. We couldn't figure out what that meant since Jason didn't have any instruction to prepare for the exam. Two weeks later he was registering for classes and saw a graduate level class he didn't know about that looked like he should take. Essentially it was the class you're supposed to take BEFORE the exam to prepare for the exam. They were shocked Jason had not taken the class and still did so well. But I'm not! That's my Jason!

Jason is always telling me about his research like I can understand. It's hard to follow since I'm still nursing Steve once or twice a night and I'm sleep deprived, and trying to keep Dave and Liz from fighting, and cooking dinner WHILE listening to Jason. I keep trying to tell him that ever since he started grad school he has far surpassed my ability to understand. He's all like, "And then I macrophaged the thingy with the fluorescing yeast cells and they stabilized and DNA blah blah and can you believe they did that on sol gel? Wow!" And I'm all like "No way!" and he's all "Way!" I'm such a lucky girl! Way to go, Jason!

Worst Mother of the Year Award

2008-01-15T09:15:00.000-07:00

Dave has had an eventful month. He lost his first tooth. Unfortunately we forgot to warn him that would happen and he really freaked out. He felt much better after we gave him a treat and the tooth fairy visited. We gave him a dollar, is that too much or too little? What's the going rate for tooth fairy visits these days?

He also got very sick. He had a slight cold for about a week then overnight it turned psychotic with coughing, congestion, stomach ache, fever, vomiting, etc. Pretty much every symptom possible. It turned out to be pneumonia! We have no idea how that happened since he was getting all the sleep he needed, eating great, always dressing warm for the outdoors. Here he is asleep with his sucker from the doctor's office. His stomach was so upset that he had to save it for two days before eating it. The doctor said that with his infected lung being the lower left lobe, it irritates the stomach and causes stomach upset and vomiting. Dave hasn't been sick all year so I think he made up for it in one sickness. By the way, he loves these pajamas and wears them every day after school (yes, I clean them often).

Here's my submission for the Worst Mother of the Year Award:

Mary: Dave, we need to take you to the doctor so we can find out what's wrong and get you better!

Dave: Do I have to get a shot?

Mary: No, not at all. You probably just need some medicine.

Dave: I don't want a shot.

Mary: No shot, I promise. You already had your shots, you're done!

(Later at doctor's office)

Doctor: Dave has pneumonia, we need to give him an antibiotic right away to get it in his system. It's a shot.

(Doctor leaves)

Mary: I'm sorry Dave I was wrong, you do have to get a shot but it will be very quick and you'll get better very soon.

Dave: I don't want a shot! It will hurt!

Mary: I know, I'm sorry you're sick, but it will be quick and there is only one.

(Nurse enters)

Nurse: We have to split the dose into two shots, one for each leg. And it tends to sting quite a bit.

See! Worst Mother of the Year! I learned my lesson, no more promises! Dave is all better now (except for the trauma of having a liar for a Mom).

Ironically, the healthiest one in the house is Steven. He had a one day cold at 2 months and nothing otherwise. He is also at the 50th percentile for both weight and height which is really strange. Both Dave and Liz have always been 10-25th for weight and 75-90th for height. Who is this baby??? He sleeps all the way from 10:00pm to 5:00am so I feel so human again.

He's very quiet and happy until he's hungry, then he's very loud and impatient. It's like an on/off switch. When I carry him around he always turns his head around like a little owl. He's not interested in where he's been only in where he's headed! Dave loves him and is like a mini Dad to him. He always wants to hold him and tries to make him happy when he's sad.

The Many Faces of Steve

2007-12-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

Look! I still remember how my camera works! Here's baby Steve at 7 weeks old.

"Happy"

"Thoughtful"

"Sweet"

"Surprised"

"Shocked"

"Pouty"

"Peaceful"
"Sleepy"/"Piano Masterpiece in Progress"

Sleeping Babies

2007-11-28T16:29:00.001-07:00

They all start out looking the same (except for Dave's red hair), yet grow up to be so different!

David, August 2002

Elizabeth, January 2005

Steven, October 2007

With a v?

2007-11-18T11:08:00.000-07:00

We had rules for selecting a baby name, one of them being that it had to be spelled like it sounded. So we did pick the right spelling for Steven by that criteria. Unfortunately, we picked a name with an alternate spelling (Stephen). Within the first day of his birth we'd been asked if it was , "Steven with a v?"" about 5 times. I hope he gets used to that question!

Steven is now one month old and we're getting to know him. He's still a great baby. He's a good sleeper and a good eater. He's fitting right into our family for one big reason. There have been a handful of times where he has upchucked his meal all over me. That's my Harper boy!

He loves sleeping in a cocoon. This is not posed, we do not help him into this position (the bear is from Liz). Every time we swaddle him he snuggles in. At first it scared me because at the hospital they reminded us to keep his airway clear (duh). I've since given up trying to get his head out. He likes it! When Dave was a newborn he was partial to keeping his hands up by his head (it's the "I surrender" pose). Liz preferred to sleep with her hand over her face.

Having three kids has it's challenges (like being able to post blogs, I've been working on getting this one done for a week), I'm grateful for Kerry and Kayli for sharing their bad day stories. Click the links to read for yourself.

For the first 6 weeks of newborn life, I have two goals.
1. Eat good food
2. Shower and wear clothes (no pajamas)

I don't let myself feel bad for not doing other things for about 6 weeks. Only two weeks of craziness left! (I hope...)

A Baby Story-REALLY LONG

2007-11-03T14:06:00.001-06:00

It's been one week since Steve was born and I can't believe how normal life feels. I guess third time around we finally have this figured out. My parents said that with the first child, the baby has to survive its parents. After that, a baby just has to survive its siblings. I look back to mothering Dave and wonder what the heck I was thinking. I suppose it also helps that Steve is a very good, happy baby. Dave and Liz are both good to him. Dave can't get enough of holding him and kissing him. Liz is more indifferent, but she is 2 1/2 and lives in her own universe where the sun rises and sets around her. In either case, I don't feel like Steve's life is at risk from his siblings (yet).

For those of you interested, here's how Steve was born. If you don't want to read a birth story, then this is your warning to skip! Have a great weekend!

All week long I had been having contractions and getting more and more worn down. At my appointment on Thursday I took my midwife up on her offer to "help things along" and she obliged by stripping my membranes (sounds A LOT worse than it is, google it if you really want the details). If you are full term, it raises your odds of going into labor in the next three days from 40% to 80%. I was already at 3 cm and 80% so I was already super close to going into labor. I just wanted to be at my best and I felt that if it went on for another week I would be exhausted for the big event. My midwife also gave me a prescription for a sleeping pill but told me not to take it that day just in case.

About midnight things started up at 3 minutes apart and 1 minute long. I let Jason sleep for 2 hours, but then I had to wake him up to help me decide when to go to the hospital. Things were happening just like with Liz with labor starting at midnight and she was born at 8am. Our "plan" was to stay at home as long as possible and go natural. This dumb idea came from me getting an epidural with Liz that didn't work and she was born within an hour anyway. Kind of a waste.

At about 3:30am I decided I was a complete idiot for thinking I should have a natural birth. Holy cow it was rough! Anyway, Jason still wanted to wait, and wait to stick to our plan. We had discussed it at length and really wanted to avoid getting there and having labor stall and getting sent home (this also happened with Liz). At about 4am I told him it was time to go now. This came from the overwhelming urge to push which turned into my body starting to push without my consent. We made it to the hospital at about 5am. Jason went to park the car. Thank goodness for a woman in the lobby who also happened to be headed up to labor and delivery where her friend was having a baby. She helped me to the elevator, then held the doors for me while I had contractions and led me into triage. The labor was so intense that I couldn't find my way even though I had strolled over there after my appointment the day before so I would know where to go. Without her I probably would have been stuck in the elevators with newborn Steve.

The nurse in triage saw what condition I was in and freaked out ("don't push, don't push!"). Another nurse came to help and they had a frantic conversation ("did you page the midwife???" "Yes, three times!"). Jason made it there by then. The nurse decided to check me in between contractions but by then there was no "in between" and she checked me anyway and found Steve's head. The freaked out nurse wheeled me to a delivery room hitting every wall and corner along the way (more "don't push, don't push!"). Jason said they should revoke her bed driving license. Steve was born within 10 minutes to my great relief. My water hadn't even broken, they did it 6 minutes before he was born.

Steve had trouble breathing for about three hours. They decided it was because the birth was so fast and my water was broken for such a short time. The hospital staff was so busy with so many births that they didn't have time to move us into our room after the standard two hours. This was a blessing because after two hours Steve was still having trouble breathing. I didn't get moved into a room until 6 hours after he was born. By then he was fine. So he avoided the NICU and all the bloodwork and chest x-rays that would automatically entail. We went home the next day which was wonderful since there were 40 babies in the hospital and no empty rooms, even C-section patients were sharing rooms. The theory is that this happens to be 9 months after a record setting snowstorm. We kept him with us the whole time we were in the hospital.

That was our adventure! Next time we'll be at the hospital A LOT sooner. Next time? I'm nuts!

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T12:00:00.001-06:00

Blogger is giving me a lot of problems right now so I'm posting quickly before it locks up again. Here is a picture of our Steve. He's such a wonderful baby. He sleeps well, eats well and never fights with his brother and sister.We hope you all have a great Halloween tonight. We're delighted to be home and able to celebrate with our kids. Our Indiana friends might remember our Frodo, a repeat from a previous year. This year we added Gandalf (last year's Dumbledore) and an elf pincess, Arwen (brand new creation!). I knew it would be rough getting a whole new set of costumes done being 9 months pregnant so repeats were a great solution. And no, I did not dress up. Do you know how hard it is to size a costume for 9 months pregnant/post partum?

Baby!

2007-10-28T10:25:00.000-06:00

Baby Steven Allen Harper was born Friday, October 26th at 5:17am. He weighed 6 pounds 13 ounces and was 21 3/4 inches long, our biggest baby yet! He is healthy and a very good baby. Pictures and details to follow!

STILL HERE

2007-10-20T11:45:00.000-06:00

Still pregnant! I spend most of my days eating, sleeping and watching Food Network (which usually leads to more eating). I gained 5 pounds this week! Yikes! Maybe I better switch to HGTV. Then Jason could come home to flower arrangements and accent rugs rather than me filling up the Lazy Boy.

In other news, the International Balloon Fiesta was last week. It's New Mexico's greatest claim to fame (much better than NM's drunk driving statistics...):

"The Balloon Fiesta—with 700 balloons, is the largest ballooning event on earth, the most photographed event on earth, and the largest annual international event held in the United States."

Dave's elementary school has a great alternative (no crowds or waking up at the crack of dawn) called Balloons Aloft. It was great to drive 0.6 miles, leave the house at 7am and be home at 8am. They had three balloons in the school parking lot and the PTO sold donuts. Here are some pictures:

PS. 2 cm and 70%, any day now!!! :)

No news

2007-10-12T10:30:00.000-06:00

I'm sorry to report that life is still as usual around here. I'm still pregnant (38 weeks!) and if I had to guess, I think it could still be a while before Baby #3 comes into our family. I feel way too good to be going into labor anytime soon and I have plenty of things to keep me busy. Like reading in my Lazy Boy! And eating Peanut Butter Oreos! Jason and I went to Flying Star yesterday after my weekly appointment. Yum! Food is so great!

Here's Dave and Liz in their "house."

And here's Jason multitasking, bathtime and scriptures.I hope to have some news next week!

Still here!

2007-10-03T16:38:00.000-06:00

See how cool kindergarten is? Suddenly Dave and Liz are best friends forever. They posed themselves and requested this picture.

Hi everyone! I have no idea why you all have hung in there with reading my blog. It's not like you get many updates! Is it all the vomit stories??? Sorry, I don't have any today, but the day is young.

I had a baby checkup today. It was boring! This is sad to say but the magic is gone by the third pregnancy I guess. I'm tired of going to the doctor, especially since I waited 90 minutes for a 20 minute checkup. I'm 36 1/2 weeks so I know that sends up a red flag for all you Moms wondering what my body is up to. Let's just say that I'm taking a hands off approach to baby number three. Getting "checked" only makes me crampy and sick and I'm forgoing that for another two weeks at least. I see a Midwife so they are more than happy to oblige my wishes. It's only a number and it's no indication of when the baby will come anyway. Being 4 centimeters with Liz still meant I had a month to go and it only made me trigger happy when the time came, I ended up going into the hospital too quickly and going back home for another day. This time I'd rather ignore the numbers and listen to what my body says.

Life is great. This is a very healthy pregnancy. I feel way too good to be going into labor anytime soon. I'm pretty sure I have another 3-4 weeks if not 5 weeks. I can see myself in labor saying, "Wait! I need to finish one more load of laundry and freeze one more meal! Give me another hour!" See, the magic is gone.

Anyway, I promise weekly updates until Baby Boy Harper comes. Talk to you soon!

One month of school down

2007-09-14T09:14:00.000-06:00

I shouldn't have been so emotional about Dave starting school. It's been great for him and great for me. He was ready for more than staying home was doing for him. He has a fantastic teacher that is very sensitive to his emotional side and took extra care of him when he cried a little bit ("I miss my Mom"). There was only one mishap that really scared me. They are supposed to separate out the kids that get picked up (such as Dave, we live very close to the school) from the kids that ride buses. Early on while they were still figuring out who goes where he ended up in a bus line and if the bus had not been late he would have gone on quite a joy ride. The worst part was when I talked to him and reminded him that he does not ride a bus and he responded, "But my teacher says I do!" He thought it was some special day or something. Anyway, he knows now and his teachers know now so it's all fine.

Liz and I have been having a great time and I get so much done with having to mediate. It's not that I want Dave gone all day, I love both my kids and I miss him. They are just so much fun when they are separated without all that fighting! Whenever Jason and I go out to run errands we take one or the other for some one on one time and it's wonderful. He and Liz are great buddies now because they only get a couple hours a day together.

I'm 34 weeks now. The third pregnancy has flown by so fast! Here's what I've been eating:
I don't even like this stuff when I'm not pregnant (usually I prefer popcorn and chips) and I haven't been gaining a huge amount of weight (yet) so it's been great fun to be a glutton. Yum! What a great life I have!

By the way, we picked out the perfect baby name. Any guessers?

Quotes from the First Day of School

2007-08-16T14:31:00.001-06:00

I'm happy to say that so far Dave is enjoying school and everything has gone well. I'm even coping with losing my oldest child for 7 hours a day. I think after Tuesday (the last day of summer vacation) I got really excited about it too. Dave and Liz fought, fought some more and then fought about who started the fights.

By the first day of school on Wednesday I was really happy about school starting (not tear free on my part, but still better than I had hoped). I love both of my kids, but I love them a whole lot when they are separate. Individually they are fun, funny and sweet. Together...well it's probably no different than other siblings.

Here are some things Dave has told me after going to school for one day.

"My teacher says we don't share drinks, it's not allowed. We shouldn't get each other's germs."

This one was after Liz threw a fit about not wanting a nap:
"My teach says we can't throw fits. We need to give Liz to someone who doesn't have a sister and then get a new one."

This morning while getting ready:
"Mom, can I wear sandals? All the other kids wear sandals and I want to look like the other kids and I want them to look like me."
I let him wear sandals because I don't think wanting to look like your peers in kindergarten is a bad thing. Maybe it will be a bad thing in high school. We'll have to discuss that later--much later.

Monday through Thursday Dave has nightly reading time for homework. On Fridays the teacher sends home a journal topic. Here's what the teacher told me to expect:

"From August to about November, he'll be dictating his journal entries to you. Starting in November and December they need to start writing it themselves. Spelling is not a consideration until first grade, we're just looking for phonics connections and letters going in the right order. Starting in February we'll start looking for full words and sentences."

Holy cow! What happened to learning the alphabet song in kindergarten and eating glue? By the time Dave gets to the fourth grade I think Rio Rancho Public Schools will be administering the ACT to them. I'm not complaining about their goals for academic excellence, it just seems like a lot more than I did in kindergarten. Next week I guess he'll start long division!

Dave's Big News

2007-08-03T17:56:00.000-06:00

As you could probably tell from my lack of blogging, things have been busy! Here's an update on our family.

This last week we visited the dentist. Dave, Liz and I all went at the same time with the same hygienist. We have the most amazing dentist's office. The nice hygienist did all three of us despite Dave and Liz being a little reluctant and wild at times in the small room. We all got our teeth cleaned and no one has cavities! (That gene comes from me, not Jason).

We also went to Dave's 5 year old well child check. He got a 2nd chicken pox vaccine shot. He's at 50% for weight and 80% for height. (That gene comes from Jason, not me).

We also had a visit to the optometrist. For about a year Jason and I have been debating about getting Dave's eyes checked. He tested badly at his 4 year pediatrician well child check but we couldn't decide if it was his eyes or the super dumb test (it's not very in depth). One of the pictures that Dave was supposed to identify was of a VERY OLD style phone:

Huh? What 4 year old has seen one of those? I haven't even seen one for over 10 years.

And one of a sailboat like this:

Hello! We live in the desert.

So all year long Jason and I joked back and forth.

Jason: He doesn't need glasses, he's just distracted. He's a busy boy!

Mary: He can't see his shoes on the floor in front of him!

Anyway, as much as I love to be right, I never in a million years wanted Dave to be in glasses at age 5. In a way, we were both right. Dave's eyes are near perfect at 20/30 and 20/40 but Dave has a bad astigmatism (that gene comes mostly from me, a little from Jason). He has to wear glasses all the time. The question I get asked most is, "Does he really need to wear glasses? Is that really necessary?" You be the judge. Here's what Dave's vision looks like:

Besides, look how scholarly and cute he looks!

I wish I'd taken him in sooner in the summer so he could get more used to wearing them because...

My Dave starts kindergarten on Wednesday! I can hardly keep my composure I'm so emotional! (7 months pregnant kind of compromises my emotional stability). Rio Rancho has only full day kindergarten from 9:00am-4:00pm. I can't believe he'll be gone all day! I'm going to miss him so much! The great news is that Dave is super excited and so ready. I used to think people who had school age kids were so old! Now I guess I'm one! I asked Jason to take him to his first day of school (we have to drop him off and pick him up, we live too close to the school for a bus) because I don't trust myself to not cry and Dave doesn't need to see me crying. He's pretty empathetic and he doesn't need me to feed him that emotion. Jason can take him and I think he'll love it. Right? Where's my Kleenex?

2007-07-08T16:58:00.000-06:00

Name that baby

Matt and Stephanie just sent this link to help us with our baby naming block--Wow! That's much better than this site of horrors: Utah Baby Namer. Admit it! You know someone with one of those names!

We have some criteria for name choices:
1. Must be spelled phonetically correct. I didn't go through the first 20 years of my life trying to correct people's spelling of my maiden name, "Felker", without learning something. Examples: Steven not Stephen, Megan not Meaghan (right Megan?), Christy not Cristy (right Christy?) etc.

2. Readability! A teacher should see it on a roll sheet and immediately be able to read it out loud correctly. Let's look to the Utah Baby Namer for some examples of what not to do: Brighaminie, M'Kaaylie, Aryion

3. Meaning: It has to be inspiring and meaningful. Example, "Abraham! Stop jumping off the furniture! Would Abraham Lincoln have done that!"

4. It has to be bully proof. Example: "Abraham! Ha ha! Your name is Abraham! Loser!"

The quest for the perfect name begins. It's attainable, we did it twice already!

Merry Christmas!

2007-07-06T16:58:00.000-06:00

I just realized that I've been so busy with the kids, church and working from home that I haven't been doing any hobbies for the last several months. My first trimester was all about napping so there was no time, my middle trimester has been all about catching up from the first trimester and now I'm almost into my last trimester.

I made my wish list for all the things I'd like to do before baby comes. Today I've been searching through Split Coast Stampers searching for my Christmas card. Yes, it's time to prepare for Christmas. Before you think I'm into some kind of weird nesting thing, it was really last year that I decided to do my cards early in 2007. I love making my own cards for Christmas, but making them between Thanksgiving and Christmas last year sucked all the fun out of it. I'll make them now, prep them for mailing, write the letter over Thanksgiving weekend and get them out before Christmas. That's much funner! Split Coast Stampers has become my card making best friend.

What's the etiquette on sending Christmas letters by email? It's so quick, convenient and cheap (no 41 cents to USPS). What do you think? I've done it in the past to by email savvy friends, but sometimes feel a little guilt, is it impersonal?

I also want to make Liz's Halloween costume early. With a due date of Oct. 27th you could definitely call that a nesting urge. You all know Jason is way into Halloween. We decided on what Jason and the kids will be (another fantasy theme year, you'll find out in October! Let's just say Jason and Dave's costumes are do-overs and Liz's will be new). He asked me what I would be this year. Silly Jason! If I'm not in the hospital I'll be home recovering, or overdue and celebrating full term life. Yes, I'll be celebrating! After Dave's early arrival and the short time he spent in NICU I'm all about celebrating full term.

I also want to do a little home decorating and some office organizing. I have to put my nesting to good use!

My dear sister is in the middle of potty training. She was over with Becca last week. Later that night after they left I saw something on Liz's floor. Poop, I thought! I decided to clean it up and not tell her about it (she's getting plenty of accidents at home, I didn't think she needed to hear about one here). I went to pick it up with Kleenex and lo and behold, what do you think it was? A rock. I must have poop identification problems. I see a rock and think it's poop, and when I see poop floating in a pool I think it's a rock.

Happy 4th!

2007-07-04T17:32:00.000-06:00

How many hot dogs can you eat for the 4th of July holiday? How about 66 in 12 minutes? Yuck!

We've had a great holiday with two parties already and fireworks later tonight. Our neighbors meet up a the end of the cul-de-sac we live on and everyone sets off their fireworks together. We took the kids last year and it disturbed them. My sweet, sensitive kids aren't fans of loud noises and chaos so it will be nice to walk down there and be spectators without having spent money on fireworks. Jason has spent A LOT of money in the past and we're ready to take a year off from spending money on fireworks that our kids don't enjoy much anyway. If any of you remember Jason setting off big ones a couple years ago in Indiana, you'll now my kids aversion to fireworks is not genetic. We'll see how it goes tonight!

Until this month I have never been excited about electronics, but Jason just found one that changed my mind. Jason picked out the mother of all remote controls for Father's Day. It's awesome! It has a LCD display and Jason used the USB port on our computer to hook it up to the Internet to program it. He put on the options to "Watch Dish", "Listen to Radio" or "Watch a DVD." The Internet site automatically programs the remote based on what devices you say you have and what model and brand they are. Push any one option and it will turn on everything WITH the right setting automatically. This is great since it takes about three devises to watch a DVD or Dish, and getting the receiver set to listen to radio is a pain in the rear. It's so great! Plus anyone can run it, like a babysitter (without 10 minutes of instructions on how to configure everything). I refuse to teach my kids how to run it since TV has a ton of evil stuff on it. I'm in control of what they watch and I like it that way! Maybe this fancy remote is why we're not spending money on fireworks... It's worth it! Happy 4th of July!

Congratulations, Jodi!

2007-06-23T09:02:00.000-06:00

The winner is Jodi! I was thinking of your recent posts about potty training struggles so I'm sending you my favorite potty training treat, Kissables! It really helped Liz get #2 in the potty. Here was your comment:

"It's a boy. Every girl needs a big brother to protect her and a little brother to torment her."

Hmmm, I think Dave fulfills both those requirements... The more, the merrier!

Kayli, you asked what the girl's name was. Before we found out our first baby was a boy, our girl's name was Elizabeth. It was great when our second baby was a girl because we'd had that name for forever. As for this baby, a couple weeks ago I had a dream that I had a baby girl and named her Stephanie. When I woke up I thought, I love that name! Glad that's taken care of! Congratulations, Stephanie! You could have had a baby named after you! Maybe next time. Now you can all see how good this pregnancy is because I actually said, "next time." That's crazy talk!

Part 2: It's a _______!

2007-06-22T08:52:00.000-06:00

I've tortured you all long enough--it's a BOY! Sorry I didn't post yesterday, I was sick with a cold. I'll do the drawing today and let you know the winner and the prize (still trying to think of one...). Thanks for all your guesses and funny comments! I would have posted the picture showing that it was a boy but, you know, it's pretty graphic. And then you wouldn't have to guess either! The ultrasound tech asked if we wanted to know before she started. We said yes, please! It took her two seconds to find it and show it to us, she was fast! She said that people often ask her, "How sure are you?" She said she's VERY SURE. And so are we! She even checked twice and took two pictures of the boy part. It's so nice to know! Now we just have to think of a name... Much like before we knew Dave was a boy, I had a cute girl's name all picked out and ready to go. Maybe next time!

It's a ________!

2007-06-20T10:13:00.000-06:00

We had our ultrasound yesterday (I'm 22 weeks! If you click on the photos it will get much larger) and had tons of good news. First, I'm on schedule to have another small baby. My first ultrasound decided my due date. This ultrasound put me a week behind schedule which my mid wife says coordinates with my first two babies being smaller than average (Dave was 6 lbs. 8 oz and three weeks early, Liz was 6 lds. 5 oz and two days early). She says someone has to have the small ones and after watching a friend nurse a 2 month 20 pounder I'm grateful for my tiny ones! So my due date stays a Oct. 27th.

Also, the baby looks perfect. All the limbs and organs are there and functioning like they should. What a relief and a blessing! I don't know how I got to be so blessed.

I've not been feeling much kicking and when I do it's very light. I've been so excited thinking that this baby is like Liz, relaxed and laid back. While we were doing the ultrasound I saw the baby spinning and bouncing around and I thought, "That's strange, I don't feel a thing..." It turns out my placenta is right against my outside belly acting like a pillow. Usually it's on the back. Also, with a third baby they said I'm more stretched out and flabby. Nice... Things will get tighter as the baby gets bigger but for now I'm sleeping great and not getting pulverized.

Are you curious about gender? Well, I've babbled on long enough so I guess I'll save that for another blog.

What? You're still here? You want to know?

Nahhhh, it's time to fix dinner. I better go! Haha!

So here's the deal. Take a guess! The people who are right will get entered into a drawing for something free and really cool. I don't know what it is yet so I'll just leave that for another post. Let the guessing begin! Hehehe!

Vacation Fun

2007-06-15T16:11:00.001-06:00

We're back and we survived our longest family trip yet. It was a blast! On the first day we drove to Capitol Reef in Utah. Zion's and Bryce are so much more popular and Capitol Reef is a bit out of the way which means that it was very empty. We loved it! No lines, no crowds, cheap hotels. We went to the Visitor's Center and they recommended a hike that kids love, Hickman Bridge. It was only after we had done the whole 2 mile hike that we found it it was rated 3 out of 4 for difficulty. I knew I could do it since I had hiked about that far in Vegas on the Strip. Here's some pictures from our hiking adventure.

Warning! We may look like dorks but we don't like skin cancer. I'll pick a dorky hat that I hate over chemo any day. We're very white so we need protective gear.

The rugged men...

Now for the ladies...

A Liz sized cubby:

"My turn, my turn!" says Dave.
On the next day we found out we weren't needed in Draper, UT with the wedding party until the evening. We spend the morning doing haircuts in the hotel in Capitol Reef. Jason cut Liz's bangs, I cut Dave and Jason's hair and no one cut my hair. Dave offered to give me one but I said "no, thanks!"

I don't have any wedding pictures which isn't a problem since the wedding photographer spent 2+ hours taking pictures of the wedding party. Thank goodness we weren't part of the wedding party! We only had to survive one family shot. I just enjoyed eating all the fancy food in my stretchy maternity dress. Yum!

On Sunday afternoon we finally made it over to Temple Square. The weather was perfect and the kids loved it.

Here's the spot where Jason proposed to me. 8 years and 2.5 kids later and we're still living happily ever after!

From the minute we left for our vacation, Dave decided that vacation means donuts. I don't know where that came from but we picked some up at a grocery store and they went to town. Here's the aftermath.

My new trick for traveling is Jolly Ranchers. Every time they would start to get on each other's nerves or get cranky, Viola--time for a Jolly Rancher! They are big for a kids mouth which means they can't fight anymore (because they can't talk). They are great travelers but it did take 11.5 hours to get home (what's with all the construction? We got stopped for over an hour total on the way home) which is a bit much for anyone. Thanks, Jolly Ranchers!

In other news (and if you're not Mormon this will probably be boring) our Stake split today. Finally! We were up to 17 wards/branches, it's been insane! We're now down to 8 wards/branches in our new Rio Rancho Stake. The good and bad news is that our super, amazing Bishop just got called as Stake President, and a previous Stake President (also from our ward) got called as 1st counselor. THEN two other members of our ward became high counselors (one from the YM Pres. in our ward) and another member became an assistant executive clerk (also from the YM Pres. in our ward). I guess our ward's leaders can't hide now that the Bishop is Stake President-yikes! I looked over at Jason after the changes and it was like there was a huge target on him to fill one of the vacancies in our ward YM Presidency or our Bishopric's empty spot. He's technically part of the Bishopric right now as the Ward Clerk, but it's the best position because he gets to take notes, watch and learn. I'm wondering if that's going to end. I sure like Jason around at home a lot now with his great calling, but if it all ends and he gets a big one at least we had a great 2 1/2 years of peaceful bliss. We'll see!

Hello and Good bye!

2007-06-05T11:25:00.001-06:00

I figured I better blog about my Vegas trip before we leave on our trip to Utah tomorrow! Vegas was great. I was worried about not having a car but it was super easy to get a taxi every where we went (and cheap since it was split with Megan and Christy). I'm so happy I saw the water show at the Belaggio since every time I said I was going to Vegas people would say "You have to see the water show! You HAVE to!" Alright, already! I saw it and it was great. If you haven't seen it you HAVE to. The Treasure Island pirate show was one big smut fest, but other than that I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't the Sin City I've heard about (I'm sure I stuck to the non-sin places).

Shopping was fantastic and so useful since I grew out of all my old clothes yesterday. The Celine Dion show was great too, especially since I saw Benji from So You Think You Can Dance! Go, Benji!

Sitting by the pool was fantastic but I didn't get a tan. That's the way it is when you're a whitey red head from Iowa. I came home so relaxed and energized to be a Mom some more. What a wonder a couple days away can do! I'll have some happy memories to get me through the upcoming sleepless nights and newborn life.

Tomorrow we're off to Utah to make more happy memories, but I thought I would leave you with a Harper story to keep you company while I'm away. This is a true story!

Dave and Liz went swimming in their wading pool for the first time last week. While they swim I sit about 10 feet away, inside my house, with my refrigerated air and ice water. I sit in the Lazy Boy with the window open and supervise (for example, "Stop splashing your sister!", "Don't drink the water! It has your body in it!"). My niece, Becca, was over too. In my own defense I have to say that she had been putting rocks in the pool all morning. Here's how things went down.

Dave (intensely): Liz pooped in the pool!

(Mary leaves the Lazy Boy to inspect and sees the "rocks").

Mary: Dave, relax, those are just rocks! Becca put them there.

Dave (more intensely): No, Mom! It's poop!

Mary: Dave, really, it's just rocks, pick it up.

(Dave picks up "rock").

Mary: See Dave? It's just a rock.

Dave (super intense): No, Mom! It's poop!

Mary: Okay, squeeze it, you'll see it's a rock.

(Dave squeezes "rock" and it's squishy).

Mary: Everybody out of the pool! Swimming time is over!!!!!

I apologized to Dave and disinfected the pool. See you next week!

I'm back!

2007-05-30T09:38:00.000-06:00

What a great trip! I'm so relaxed and energized! For pictures, go to Christy's blog. I'll post more details later, but I just wanted to write a quick blog to thank you all for your book ideas. Christy lent me "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" in Vegas and I only got halfway done before the end of the trip. I just put it on hold at the library, I can't wait to finish it! I'll be reading more of your book recommendations in my upcoming summer travels (you know I have a lot!).

Next year's trip will be to San Antonio, Texas (think River Walk, BBQ, and more Outlet shopping!). I'm tentative since I'll have a 7 month old and it will depend on my nursing schedule (there is a strict no kids rule--save the kids for the family vacations!). But the rest of you non-gestating/nursing Moms should mark it on your calendar for Memorial Day weekend 2008!

Help! Need a Book Recommendation

2007-05-18T13:14:00.000-06:00

Our Las Vegas Girls Getaway is quickly approaching and I want nothing more than to take a great book with me. I rarely read a book without a recommendation--life is too short! What should I read as I sit by the pool with a drink with an umbrella in it? Here's my top 5 favorite books of all time (or at least the top 5 I can think of this moment):

1. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (I'm also a huge fan of all books in the Oriental setting, I've read a lot of Pearl's other books and almost everything by Amy Tan, and who could forget Memoirs of a Geisha?)
2. The Giver by Lois Lowry
3. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (the abridged version because life really is too short for 1000 pages)
4. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
5. I'm too young to declare my top 5 complete, maybe it will be the book you recommend to me? What should I read next???

Happy Mother's Day (?)

2007-05-17T08:53:00.000-06:00

We had an interesting Mother's Day weekend. Jason and Dave went camping for the Father Son Camp out (does anyone else's ward do this? A Father Son Outing on Mother's Day weekend?) so I planned some super cool girl fun for Liz and me. We were going to go to the mall (which I NEVER do but decided I could get a couple things there and it would be very girly) and have lunch together. But Saturday morning Liz threw up and then threw up all day long. Of course we just stayed home.

The boys had a great time together at the camp out and got home in the middle of Liz's sick day. I took care of Liz and kept everyone else away from her and her messes. We stayed home Sunday and rested, Liz still needed to recovery and the three of us were all mysteriously tired. I finished re-reading Harry Potter 6! I'm ready for 7! And movie 5!

On Tuesday I celebrated our family miracle that Liz was the only one who had gotten sick. I felt terrible but decided I was having some weird second trimester morning sickness. It's been too good to be true because with all my other pregnancies I've had morning sickness. I kept popping antacids all day and pressed forward with life. I cleaned both bathrooms (let's just say that after potty training the floor needed a serious scrubbing) and sanitized everything from Liz's puke germs. By the afternoon I guess I was in some kind of super denial about being sick and felt really awful. I decided it would be my last pregnancy and what the heck was I thinking having a third kid anyway? Am I alone with this? I think it has to happen to every pregnant Mom at least once. I felt wretched.

***Warning! Super horrendous vomit story coming!!!!!***

Anyway, I got out of denial for about 3 seconds before I threw up EVERYWHERE. I was in such denial about needed to throw up that I didn't make it to the bathroom in time. I'm pretty sure what I did qualifies for projectile vomiting and it landed all over the bathroom door, wall and floor AND some on me. It woke up Liz from her nap and she cried in her doorway. Dave had been watching cartoons and kept begging me to come look at my puke (by that I mean he wanted to see it, I had already seen it).

Why am I telling this story? Because I'm so dang proud of myself. I then cleaned it all up by myself (Jason was still at work) with one kid crying in the doorway and the other kid asking me repeatedly to come look at it. I think I was so elated that it was the flu and not morning sickness that I was a Bionic Mom at that point. You see, flu ends. Morning sickness can last weeks. I sanitized the whole bathroom with cleaner AGAIN so I wouldn't contaminate the rest of my family. Then I carried a bucket around with me all night long JUST IN CASE.

I'm also telling this story because that's what my audience has come to expect from my Blog. Am I right?

Ironically, last Mother's Day, Dave puked on me about 5 feet outside the front door of church (thank goodness we weren't inside yet!). So next year Mother's Day weekend will be left event less...just in case.

Potty Training Day 43: Success!

2007-05-07T16:50:00.000-06:00

It's been 43 days since we started potty training and I'm declaring it over. I'm also declaring victory. Today marks 7 days without an accident. By that smarty pants book that claims "Toilet Training in Less than a Day", when you go 7 days without an accident you can say your child is "toilet trained".

For the last two weeks she has had one accident--on day 7. For the last two Mondays I have composed this blog entry in my head and anticipated the day I could declare her "toilet trained"! Then something weird would happen and she would have an accident. It was so strange and totally unrelated to anything. It wasn't when she was outside playing (we fixed that by requiring she go potty before playing outside-ever) or at church (three hours away from the training site-yikes!). So without those accidents we would have declared it over on day 29. Oh well! As long as it's not day 184 or something like it was with my Dave. I can now relax and enjoy 25 weeks of a diaper free home. Here's Princess Liz enjoying her spoils of potty training (her jewelry, Dora markers and a stomach full of candy). The Rules of a Toddler shirt is especially appropriate.

Here's Dave who jumped on the potty training bandwagon and was rewarded for his "potty demonstrations" for Liz with markers and a stomachful of candy. Ironically, the bribery seems to have worked for him, too. How can I put this delicately...He had been having some trouble distinguishing between gas and poop. Candy sure helped him remember where to go when you have that special feeling. So I sure feel like I hit two birds with one stone!

I'm now 15 weeks and I can feel the wee little one kicking here and there, it's so reassuring! Yes, we will definitely find out gender in June sometime. We are crazy about finding out and if the regular doctor ultrasound doesn't show it we're willing to get a 4D one. We're not ruining the surprise! It's a surprise at the ultrasound or a surprise at the birth and we prefer the former.

Dave gave me a scare Saturday night. He got a long rubber bandy thingy for his birthday that he likes playing with. Somehow he stretched it really far and it snapped back right on both his wide open eye balls. It really scared me since he wouldn't open his eyes that night and cried A LOT (a lot even by Dave's standards). I was worried he would be blind for life and Jason wasn't worried at all. Jason talked me out of an ER visit and sure enough Dave is fine. He wore sunglasses the next morning because he was so light sensitive (everyone at church said he looked cool, I kept thinking it looked very irreverent, I got him to take them off before Primary and he was fine after that).

We've been enjoying some good times here. While Jason and I get ready in the morning, the kids like to play on our bed. We caught them entertaining each other by squishing each other's faces. How can anyone have just one kid? You'd miss out on face squishing!

Dave and Liz also got some bad hat hair after their bath. They really wanted to go outside right after their bath and we have a hat rule here (hello, it's NM and skin cancer isn't fun). Their hair dried a little funny...

Take a hike!

2007-05-02T13:04:00.000-06:00

Jason and I have a difference of opinion on something. He's a really nice, generous guy. If a telemarketer calls and says anyone of the following key words with a request for a donation, they probably have it made with Jason:

Firefighter
Policeman
Children with Cancer

On the other hand, I'm really mean. It doesn't matter what they say, as a rule I mistrust and dislike telemarketers. I already have my charities picked so telemarketers are screwed with me. In fact, I think they are on to "Mean Mary" because they never ask for me anymore, just "Mr. Harper" (a.k.a. the nice one).

I'm always nagging Jason about how just because a telemarketer can call our house doesn't mean they are worth our donation. I finally found an objective way to settle our one and only marital spat: Charity Navigator

What an eye opener! It shows how much each charity spends these categories:

1. Fundraising
2. Administration
3. Programs (Giving the money to the people they say they will)

The last telemarketer that called us was helping raise money for the American Deputy Sheriffs' Association. Here's where my $20 could have gone based on it's Charity Navigator rating:

1. Fundraising, 91.5% = $18.30
2. Administration, 8.3% = $1.66
3. Programs, 0.2% = $0.04

Take a hike, American Deputy Sheriff's Association! The telemarketer actually tried to tell me (he didn't know I was so mean) that by not donating I was taking money away from the deputies. Yeah, all 4 cents of it!

I've also been using Give.org (allied with the Better Business Bureau). Sometimes they can give alias names for charities so I can find it on Charity Navigator.

What's your favorite charity? Charity Navigator just knocked our last three telemarketers out of contending for our cash. We're looking for recommendations...

Baby Harper #3 is now 14 1/2 weeks along. And he/she is hungry for...potato salad! My Mom's homemade recipe to be specific. It's made with Miracle Whip, rather than Mayo (I can hear all you food purists gagging now). But it sure hit the spot! If you're a Miracle Whip fan like me, let me know and I'll email you the recipe.

Day dreaming...

2007-04-19T10:44:00.000-06:00

I have the best summer ever ahead of me! Day dreaming of all my summer fun has sure helped me through potty training and the exhaustion of pregnancy (almost 13 weeks!). Even though I am so tired, it's really my only symptom of pregnancy so I have NO complaints. Sleepiness is so much easier to fix that nausea and puking. Third time is a charm!

Here are my summer plans (this rocks!):

1. Girl's Weekend in Las Vegas, May (My sister, Christy and me!).

Accommodations at The Orleans

Celine Dion in Concert

Also, some shopping and seeing a movie!

2. Family Vacation and a Sister-in-Laws wedding in Utah, June (we'll be traveling with NO diapers, NO pack and play, NO nursing babies, what a way to go!).

Hiking in Capitol Reef and sightseeing in Fruita

A Trip to Temple Square to show the kids where Mom and Dad got married.
I'm hoping to get a great family picture for the kids' rooms...

3. Real Estate Conference in Denver, Colorado, July (just my Mom and me!).

With great Outlet Shopping in Castle Rock, Colorado

4. Tentative trip to Inn of the Mountain Gods in Ruidoso, NM (just Jason and me!).

I didn't mean to take so many trips, it just kind of happened! Now that I have two kids that talk to me, feed themselves, play together and sleep in beds (no cribs!) I don't regret taking a single one of these trips. Next year will probably be NO traveling so I'll have good memories to entertain me through sleepless nights and nursing. With this being my third kid I have a pretty good idea of how my life will be and it won't be bad, just different that what I'll be enjoying this summer.

Last year I was enjoying a different kind of life with no pregnancy and I enjoyed it to the fullest. I worked my behind off in my church calling, in working for my Mom from home and taking the kids on field trips ALL the time. I always knew we'd have a third kid and that it's tiring so I went crazy last year being a very busy lady.

Whatever stage of life you're in you just have to enjoy it to the fullest!

My craving of the week is...

Jolly Ranchers! But I only like the Cherry ones. It is truly a pregnancy craving because I really don't like candy and never eat it. Now I love one a day! YUM!

An Announcement

2007-04-13T16:46:00.000-06:00

We have great news! Harper baby #3 is in the oven! Here's the top 5 comments I have heard so far:

5. Congratulations!

4. That's great!

3. How do you feel? (Fine, thanks!)

2. What's the due date?

1. You guys are going to get it now. Now you'll be outnumbered.

Wow. Thanks for the encouragement! Especially now that it's too late to turn back!

I thought my due date was Nov. 1. So I waited for my first appointment until last week (10 weeks along) so we could hear that comforting sound of the heart beat. We heard nothing. Fortunately I have a very kind midwife that knew about a previous miscarriage and understood my anxiety. She said that maybe I wasn't as far along as the dates say and that maybe I was only 9 weeks or so, hence no heartbeat yet. She asked, "Would you feel better if you had an ultrasound?" Well, yes! It was yesterday and it was spectacular. There's nothing like taking a look!

It turns out my due date is not Nov. 1. It's Oct. 26! I'm not 9 weeks, I'm 12 weeks today! Holy cow! If you think there's nothing like taking a look, well then you know there's really nothing like taking three weeks of the estimated due date. Whew! They said that sometimes it's just hard to find the heartbeat with the monitor in a one inch baby.

This is the part of the blog where I let all my curious blog readers in on my craving of the week. I've eaten three cans this week alone and the cabinet is fully stocked. I can't get enough!

Yum-o! Stay away from my Cranberry Sauce or there will be trouble...

Are you aware...

2007-04-13T08:47:00.000-06:00

...that April is Autism Awareness month? If you don't know a child with autism then you're one of the rare ones. In our church Primary (kids ages 3-11) there are three kids out of 70 that have been diagnosed with autism. One is able to communicate but has difficulties socially and emotionally. The other two are 4 and 7 (two brothers!) and can't speak but a couple words. I think that if there were any group of 70 kids, and three had cancer, or three had been killed in car accidents, or three had cystic fibrosis we would all be shocked. What makes it so hard is that there is no physical manifestation of autism. So these kids look perfect, but behave so irrationally and cannot communicate their needs. What is so frustrating is that the cause is unknown. Science and technology can do so much these days so hopefully answers will come soon.

When we lived in Indiana we had a babysitting coop with two other families. Caleb was one of the little kids, he's about 6 months younger than Dave. Dave and Caleb were funny to watch because Caleb loved to hug everybody and Dave never wanted anyone to touch him. Those were some fireworks! As time went by Caleb's Mom and Dad noticed Caleb behaved differently. His language skills were way behind, although he would learn any commercial or song word for word and perform endlessly. How can a child sing "Supercalafragilistic" and not answer to "What is your name?" He is also an amazing piano player. Caleb is autistic and everyday as I talk with Dave and play with Dave, I cannot imagine that Dave's little playmate isn't like Dave. I can't imagine how it must feel for Caleb's Mom and Dad to miss out on these parenting experiences with him.

Here's how you can help. Go to Caleb's Mom's website: http://craftyconservative.blogspot.com/

Click the link and help out with this cause! On the left hand side you can see a picture of Caleb (or for some piano action click here).

Christy is also collecting experiences and stories from you all in the cyber world, let her know about autism articles and your experiences with autism by commenting on her blog (and that you heard about her from this blog). She's also rewarding your efforts in publicizing Autism Awareness. Learn more here!

And the winner is...

2007-04-07T13:27:00.000-06:00

Me! Because I've only had to pick up poop once in the last three days!!! But I suppose you all are checking in on the contest.

The winner is Ruby! Congratulations! I hope it helps! I feel extra sympathy for you all since you're in the middle of potty training AND have a baby on the way.

Thanks for all the comments and for sharing your potty stories. I needed a good laugh and to know I'm not alone in the horror of potty training.

Speaking of a good laugh, I've been watching You Tube videos recommended by Jason's sister, "Ask a Ninja." Try it out! Here are my favorites:

Ask a Ninja, Question 16: How to Kill a Ninja

Ask a Ninja, Question 14: Ninja Gifts

Ask a Ninja, Question 9: Ninja Love

Day 9: You have my deepest sympathy

2007-04-02T10:06:00.000-06:00

Liz is almost done potty training. She's amazing. She hasn't had a pee pee accident since last Tuesday (I blame myself, I though she was ready for a little Blue's Clues). Poo poo is another thing but I'm staying optimistic. We're taking bribery to a whole new level (chocolate kisses and a Dora marker set, I might add to it as the week goes on and there still hasn't been poop in the potty). Yesterday when she had a poop accident she told me she was sorry so I think she knows potty right from wrong.

Jason fashioned an amazingly life like poop out of a tootsie roll for the doll to "poop" this morning as a demo. Still Liz pooped her pants today. I'm ready to be done with the whole potty thing, but Liz is not... The plan for tomorrow is to go back to day one methods and watch her like a hawk for the poop to come so I can whisk her off to the toilet. I think we need a successful experience to drive home the potty learning. It's going to be rough since she doesn't always poop everyday and I have no way of telling when it will come. There is an extra sense of urgency since Dave had some diarrhea today. That's not uncommon for him, he's always been a gooey pooper. But if it spreads to Princess poopy pants I'm screwed.

We've left the house several times with great success. We've been to Raleys, we went to Home Depot, she's played outside. Life is returning to normal! I actually left the house without a baby bag. No baby bag! Wow! I did have a spare set of pants and underwear in the car just in case.

So this is more than you every wanted to know about my children's bowels and now that you've read this far I plan to reward you. Well, one of you. But it could be you! Read on! (No more poop talk I promise).

I've been thinking of all you poor parents out there who have gone through this, will go through this or maybe are going through this now and you have my deepest sympathy. Post a comment on this blog entry and you'll get a free entry into my potty training drawing. Please post a funny story about a potty training experience you've had or you've heard of because heaven knows I need a good laugh after picking up turds all week.

Here's what your comment on my blog could win you (many will enter, one will win).

Your very own potty training tiara with matching bracelet and princess wand! The jewelry set Jason bought for Liz is a set of four, and she doesn't need 4 tiaras. I'll have a random drawing on Saturday for this lovey item. Help me laugh!

Day 3: Self Initiating

2007-03-28T14:37:00.000-06:00

So I'm pretty sure this potty training thing is going REALLY well. Several times today she went into the bathroom all by herself and did her thing. One of the times she had been back in her room playing and she left it all for pee pee in the potty. I can't complain at all! Woo hoo! She had only one accident this morning when she woke up. I was in the shower and she made it all the way to our bathroom door before making a big puddle--but her bed was dry! I should have waited to get ready until she had woken up so I could take her straight to the potty, my bad!

We're just waiting for the poo poo (she hasn't pooped since Monday). My motto when Dave had colic was "He can't cry forever." With Liz's poop my motto is "It can't stay in there forever!"

Tomorrow will be exciting since I'll be keeping Dave home. He's been playing at his Grandma's house for three days and I miss him. It's been great to work uninterrupted with Liz but I think she can handle it now. I'll also be glad to give Dave some down time. Every night he's been coming home more and more run down from all the good times at Grandma's house. Liz has been very upset everyday he's left. "My Dave!" she cries. It's very sweet, but I can't figure out how she can feel that way and they still fight so much? That's just the way siblings are I guess.

One really great thing about potty training my daughter is that I don't have to work on that aiming thing. I was always amazed that Dave could be sitting on the potty and not a drop would land in the bowl...

Day 2: Princess Liz

2007-03-27T15:44:00.000-06:00

This is definitely going better the potty training Dave, so that's a great thing! Potty training is still the hardest parenting thing I've ever done, but we're making it and it's working. She stayed dry for her nap yesterday, but wet just a little over night. I'm cautiously optimistic about staying dry tonight since we couldn't get her to empty her bladder before she went to bed last night. Tonight we'll do a relaxing bath and see if we can't get her all the way through the night. That would be amazing! Jason's Mom trained 8 kids who never wet at night or at naps so I have to give it a try. We're worried if we go straight to the pull ups then she'll just wet in there because it's there. We'll see!

Here's some reasons why it's going good:

1. Prayer!

2. Supportive family who I can call anytime and they'll spend 5 minutes praising Liz for her pee pee in the potty.

3. The most amazing pee pee dolly. You load it up with a little mini water bottle and it only goes pee pee when you put it on the special mini potty. There's some kind of magnet valve in there that makes her only pee when she clicks onto the potty, and another valve to prevent water from coming back out of the mouth. The stupid doll I had with Dave was a nightmare and I could never get it to perform when I needed it to. Liz can easily work this one.

4. Multiple rewards: Candy, stickers and toys, the triple combo!

5. She cares! She doesn't like to be wet and she wants to be a "big girl princess."

It's so hard to predict what you'll run into before you start (that's why I've hardly slept for two nights), so I think I'll finally have a good potty training experience to give me hope for our future kids.

Day 1: The Naked Tiara Look

2007-03-26T17:19:00.000-06:00

Day one is almost complete. Liz is napping and I'm enjoying some time outside my bathroom.

I think it went well. There were successes, there were accidents. Time will tell if it will stick! Liz loved her jewelry. At one point she was wearing her tiara, her clip on earrings and nothing else. I would have taken a picture because she was so cute but that would have been inappropriate to post.

I'm beat. But this is just one of those necessary rites of passagehood of parenting. Like sleepless nights with a newborn, or siblings fighting, or getting puked on. It has to happen! Tonight I'll find out if I have another bedwetter, or if I'll save a fortune avoiding pull-ups. Any bets?

PT Day

2007-03-25T20:06:00.000-06:00

Since the day I first held Liz in my arms I knew this day would come. PT Day. Also known as Potty Training Day. I've dreaded it. I hate potty training. I hate pee pee and poo poo and trying to get a two year old to put them in the toilet. I looked into her newborn eyes and thought she was exquisite and beautiful and perfect. Yet lingering under it all was that knowledge that PT Day would come.

You think I'm being over dramatic! Well then you've never potty trained! People keep telling me girls are easier. That's my only hope!

Here's the book I read with Dave:

I really liked it before I actually tried it. Thirty minutes into training Dave, after he had thrown the first and biggest tantrum of his life, I wanted to burn the book and write the authors one of my complaint letters (this time with some choice words).

This time I'm pulling out all the stops. I bought $40 worth of books for kids (Dora Goes Potty! and others). I bought poster board and about 10 sheets of stickers. Jason bought the coolest set of play jewelry. Bribery is the only tool I have!

Dave is going away for the day to play with his uncles (ages 5, 10 and 12). It will be me and Liz in our new home, the bathroom, and about a billion choices of juices and salty snacks. She'll be a pee pee factory! I'm turning off all the ringers on the phones, putting a sign on the door to come back later, and we're going for it. It's me or her and I hope to win! Pray for me!

Extreme Makeover-Dave's Room Edition

2007-03-14T17:10:00.000-06:00

We finally got enough courage to paint something in our white house. We started with Dave's room over the weekend. It's the first time Jason or I have ever painted anything ever. Pictures will come soon, but I'm shopping for some wall decor online. We want to get him a planets poster, here are two I found:

Breathtaking! However, the dimensions are all wrong. Saturn and Jupiter aren't call gas giants for nothing and I could never let Dave grow up thinking all 8 planets are the same size. Preposterous!

Here's a better choice:

Much better! Jason also has his heart set on getting a human body poster for Dave. Jason grew up with one and it really fascinated him through his childhood. Here is one I found:

Am I the only one who finds this creepy? Yick! I asked Dave what he thought and I shouldn't have been surprised by his answer knowing his intrigue with lava and skeletons.

Mary: Dave, what do you think of this poster?

Dave: Wow! I like it! But where is a picture of skeletons falling into lava?

Best Dentist Ever

2007-03-07T15:33:00.000-07:00

Miracles do still happen! I know because Dave and I went to the dentist. This was his fourth trip to the dentist and let me tell you trips 1,2 and 3 were a nightmare. Everyone who knows Dave know he's a bit on the sensitive side. I'd had enough of the pediatric dentist I picked. Their staff sucked, the dentist was scary, the toothbrush they sent home with Dave was the cheapest I've ever seen. The worst part is that the office was dirty and gross. It really started to freak me out. If they don't clean the office, how much care to they take with the dental tools? I may be being paranoid but it was nasty, plus Dave didn't like it at all.

So I switched him to my dentist and it was fabulous. He laughed the whole time, it really was a miracle compared to his other visits. They gave him the coolest toys, let him pick between 12 flavors of tooth cleaner and gave him sunglasses to wear to shield his eyes from the light. Wow! On the way home he said, "I love the dentist!" How many kids say that? If any of you are in Albuquerque and need a recommendation, email me! This calls for another thank you letter.