HAPPY BIRTHDAY Lindsay!!!

Happy BIRTHDAY Lindsay! You are so special that we think you should get to keep this special day all to yourself! In other words, I am not going to have a baby on your birthday to take away any of your spot light! : ) I am feeling pretty good and quite happy to be pregnant still. Jason is doing slightly better. If anything, there is hope that he will heal. He still has not gone to work (I don't know if he has ever taken a sick day before) and by the time he is ready to go back we will be having a baby so he will be home again. This has been one long vacation and it is really fun to have him around- even if he is just laying there or shuffling in circles trying to move muscles. Allie's eyes have cleared and her swollen glands have gone down slightly. I think we are out of the woods for Kawasaki's Disease even though she still has her fever. Luke is now healed completely. So things really are looking up!

In other news, Luke is at the age where we have to use duct tape to keep his little diapers on. He has learned how to take them off... for fun. We have to check on him at night to make sure he is still clothed. This is how we found him the other night.

This is us right now (well, last night actually). The kids are really excited to see their new baby brother. Take your time little one, take your time!

State of the Union

Luke is now the doula/birthing coach. He is the most in tact. His diarrea from last week is almost gone and his poor little bum is mostly healed (sorry if that is too much info). Allie has had a fever for the last couple of days, with red eyes and swollen glands. She was complaining that her neck was sore so because of that I took her to the Dr. as a precaution for meningitis. I am really not the "freak-out" type but I couldn't get a clear understanding of why her neck hurt. It wasn't a sore throat (it was the glands) so we thought we just better check with the Dr. It could be however Kawaski's Disease so we are going to wait and watch for a couple of days to see what happens with her fever. Jason... poor Jason. I have NEVER seen him like this. He didn't sleep much last night because he can't seem to be able to lay down for long. Not that walking or sitting helps much either. It's his lower back and he is walking like an old man. We tried the chiropracter (or as Jason calls them the "quacko-practer") on Friday. That wasn't the cure-all. Actually, he's only gotten worse (it turns out the lions have returned to the Namibian Desert- you would know if you were up at 4am watching Nature on PBS). And I, well I am 9 months pregnant and would rather just take a seat if you don't mind. Now more than ever I hope this baby comes late. I need my DOULA. I don't know how good Luke is with counter pressure.

Grandpa Pooh Bear

Grandpa Payne- we LOVE you so much! Hopefully this isn't too embarrassing for you because it was said in complete innocense. The other day Allie and I were putting together a Winnie the Pooh puzzle that she has. We found the puzzle piece with his legs but we needed the piece with the rest of his body. Allie found it and was giggling. She said, while laughing, "Grandpa is fat like Pooh Bear!" Now keep in mind the the puzzle piece that she found was of Winnie the Pooh's tummy and she was talking about the above photo because she thinks Grandpa and Jay Jay were being so funny!

I MADE it!!!

Well- I made it! It is now January and I am still pregnant! I did not have a December baby like I feared (not that we have anything against December babies Andrew and James...). And today is January 2nd so it isn't a holiday baby either. Jason went back to work today. He thinks it would be most convenient to have the baby this weekend so that way he has a couple of days to get his people working on whatever before he takes off for awhile again.

So what have we been doing for the last wonderful week and a half with Dad home? Well, among other things, we got the kids room painted and the furniture all moved around. Most everything is in the right place but there is still the final organizing, putting away, hanging up, and other little details to get it all finished. There are a few more things we need to do to the kids room. But here are some photos to give you an idea of how it looks. Allie and Luke are really excited about it! They love that it's them painted on the wall. To really appreciate it you will have to come visit us and see for yourself!
I LOVE this shot of Allie! She really was a good little helper!

Love this shot of Jason too! He's so hot!

The before (above) and after (below). Can you see that it is snowing outside? Luke loves to jump and play on Allie's bed. Can you see him?

Ikea bedding and rugs!

The baby!
So there are some more things to add but you get the idea. The baby will be in our room for a few months but then he will join the others! Allie and Luke sleep through each other so I am assuming/hoping that it will continue that way.

By the way, I used a clip art drawing that I use for my spanish class as the basis. We had always joked that it was Allie and Luke in the drawing. Then I changed some of the clothes, faces, arms and legs, etc. I did the basic painting and some of the outlining but I have a really talented friend who did the shading and many of the other difficult details that really made it come to life! She is so good! She was the one who helped me get it all together- the ideas and how to apply it. It was her paint too (the blue and green was from Lowe's). By the way, the whole idea started with the tree that Jenny had done for baby Jack years ago. Jenny, I liked your tree much better although this one has improved some since I took these photos.

Just Get Me to the Church on Time

We usually do a great job of arriving on time to church. Church starts at 11am so we start getting ready after breakfast (around 8:30am) with the goal to leave at 10:30am. With that kind of a time frame, we usually don't have trouble making it. If every event, every dr. appt., etc had a 2 hour window of time to get ready then I would ALWAYS be on time. Anyway, I have been slowing down a little these last couple of weeks if you had not guessed. This morning, we were on track until we sat down to read some books before we got dressed in our Sunday clothes. I got really drowsy so I HAD to snooze- just for a few minutes. A few minutes too many and we were late to church. Allie and Luke always like to say hi to Jason (the kiss and a hug) before church starts but today the opening hymn was already playing when we walked in the back end of the building. Allie took off running toward the chapel with Luke following behind and I, waddling at the very back, trying to keep up. She is very fast and I am very slow these days. It took me a second to find her and sit down but we made it before the end of the opening song. What I did not know until much later and many people commenting was what happened before we found each other and took our seats. Apparently Allie RAN into the chapel and yelled "DAD!", ran up the isle, ran on to the stand, ducked around the chorister leading the hymn, and gave her Dad a kiss and a hug before coming back down. That was when Luke and I finally made it in the door to the chapel, got the program and took our seats. People thought it was touching- I thought it was embarrassing although I totally missed it so I guess it doesn't matter anyway!

Merry Christmas

We had our ward Christmas party on Dec. 15th. It was a really nice dinner and Christmas program and then after the closing prayer Santa showed up (a nice way to do that for those who don't feel the need to stick around for the big red guy. It also helps keep a theme of reverence for the true celebration). There were A LOT of people there! That is really one of our best activities of the year. We had a great time and so did the kids! Luke didn't say to much to Santa Claus- of course he doesn't talk yet- but he didn't run away screaming either. Allie told Santa all about her new baby brother who is coming and then of course the things she was wanting (some kind of Barbie was it? I don't remember what she said. She doesn't either which is a good thing since she didn't get it).
Our very first Christmas alone- just our little family! We had a great time although it did feel strangely quiet. The neighbors brought over all kinds of gifts. We have yet to take ours to them. I wanted to make potato rolls to go with the cactus jelly that we made from the prickly pear cactus growing just around our neighborhood. Two DOUBLE batches totally flopped! I am at the end of our yeast. I guess it's dead and inactive (as opposed to "Live Active" yeast) since the rolls never rose. At first I thought it was because the kitchen wasn't warm enough. How annoying and frustrating! Well, our gift will obviously be a "Happy New Year" one!

The Reception

Can you guess to what song Allie, Hailey and grandpa were dancing to? I will give you hint: they were the ones singing it- not the music being played in the background!