Safe at Home

We are having lots of fun being home with our new little bundle of joy. Anton and Zackary LOVE being big brothers and want to help with EVERYTHING. Sunday as soon as they got home from church they came and were sitting on either side of me as I was feeding Isabel. They were both immediately interested in Isabel and asking all sorts of questions. Anton was very curious about why Isabel was "chewing on my body." I explained to him the whats, hows, and whys of nursing a baby and he immediately asked if Isabel could "chew on his body." I explained again that it was just for Mamas. Zackary then joined in the crusade by lifting up his shirt and telling me that he wanted to feed Isabel, also. After a couple of more explanations at different feedings I think they finally understand they just don't quite have the right equipment.

They have been super sports while welcoming this new baby to our home. Every once in a while they get frustrated that I am not moving as fast as they want me to, or that I can't pick them up. Luckily we have had lots of help from Grandmas and Aunts and especially Daddy. I have such a wonderful husband. How blessed I am.

Anton and Zackary at the hospital with their new little sister.



The proud new Papa.



All dressed and ready to go home.



Hmm, I know I found those fingers earlier. Why won't they just cooperate and let me suck on them.



This morning. Such a sweet and content little girl. She rarely cries and is very patient.



Anton and Zackary have been enjoying some new pajamas that Aunt Misti got for Anton for his birthday. (I can't believe that I completely forgot to take pictures of Anton at his parties. I will have to get some from others and then post about our little four year old.) Anton is such a great big brother. Upon seeing the pajamas he decided that he would wear the Buzz Lightyear pajamas and Zackary could wear the Woody pajamas. The next night Anton very graciously switched so that Zackary could be Buzz and he could be Woody. We never suggested that he share or anything. He loves his little brother and is great at sharing and helping Zackary be happy. How proud I am of him. The pajamas are quite large for Zackary, but it works.

I had a hard time getting both of them to hold still at the same time. So here are two pictures of them. Introducing the new Woody and Buzz duo.

Isabel

It took us a little while. Friday morning we settled on Isabel as a first name. I told Linden that we could give her the middle name Matilda since he really liked the name. It wasn't until Saturday morning that we decided to stick with our original plan and not give her a middle name.

We think that Isabel suits her really well. A beautiful name for a beautiful little girl.

We got home from the hospital on Saturday night around 7:30 pm. It is wonderful to be home and be able to relax. I loved tucking in all THREE of my children last night.

There will be more pictures coming as soon as we get the cord for downloading pictures from the camera unpacked.

BABY GIRL

Before



Daddy all ready to go into the OR.



After. We are thrilled to have a little girl. Linden joked with the doctors after she was born and they were finishing up on me that they wouldn't need to worry about doing a circumcision. After that they asked if we had a name for a girl. I told them we had it kind of narrowed down. Linden wanted Matilda and I didn't.



Chillin' in the warming bed.



Wait a minute, where's my mama?



The proud new big brothers.




A precious new bundle joined our family at exactly 9 AM this morning, March 25, 2010. She weighs 6 pounds and 9 ounces and is 19 ½ inches long. She seems very mild mannered so far and I believe she will be a great eater. She is already loved by everyone very much. We are thrilled to have a little girl joining our family. Anton and Zackary love their little sister and couldn’t hold her enough. They loved pointing out her toes and fingers and everything else they saw that she had. I am positive that they will be great big brothers and probably be a bit too protective

Mom, Dad and Baby are all doing well, although very tired. The anticipation of knowing the baby was coming in the morning made us feel like a little kid on Christmas with the added worry of hoping that all would go well, so needless to say we didn't sleep very well.

We are still working on finding the perfect name for our sweet little girl and will let you know when we get it figured out.

A Future of Unspeakable Grandeur

I was recently released from serving in the nursery only to be called as a Gospel Doctrine teacher. I am thoroughly enjoying the calling. I love studying the various different topics presented in the lessons each week and then presenting them for discussion with the class.

This last week we were studying Genesis 34-39. One of the topics obviously was immorality. I was searching for a talk by Elder Holland that I remembered hearing several times while at BYU. I never found it, but found one that was perfect and really close to the one I remember. It is a great talk. I'll give the reference, just in case anyone wants it. "Personal Purity" Elder Jeffery R. Holland, October 1998 General Conference, (Nov. 1998 Ensign).

There was one quote that really impacted me.

"One aspect of that divinity given to virtually all men and women is the use of His power to create a human body, that wonder of all wonders, a genetically and spiritually unique being never before seen in the history of the world and never to be duplicated again in all the ages of eternity. A child, your child—with eyes and ears and fingers and toes and a future of unspeakable grandeur.

"Probably only a parent who has held that newborn infant in his or her arms understands the wonder of which I speak. Suffice it to say that of all the titles God has chosen for Himself, Father is the one He favors most, and creation is His watchword—especially human creation, creation in His image. You and I have been given something of that godliness, but under the most serious and sacred of restrictions. The only control placed on us is self-control—self-control born of respect for the divine sacramental power this gift represents."

What a privilege it is to be trusted enough with this great gift of parenthood, to be able to help in the creation of a mortal body for our children. I am truly humbled by my roll as a mother. I pray constantly for the guidance I need to raise my children in righteousness. How I look forward to the new life that will enter our family this week. This new baby will truly be a great blessing. And, like Anton and Zackary, has a future of unspeakable grandeur. I love my boys so much. I love watching them grow and learn. It is truly a blessing to be an eternal family with the opportunity to be together forever. How wonderful it is to have such an amazing, fun and excellent husband that is a worthy priesthood holder to lead our family. I relish in the wonders of each day as I watch my boys grow. Now, I will have the privilege of not only watching two little boys grow and learn, but three (or it might be two boys and a girl)!! How blessed and loved I am by my Father in Heaven. I love my children!!!! (and my husband, of course!!!!)

Well, the next post will probably be Friday, with pictures of the baby!!

Doctor Visits Can Be Entertaining

The previous post, this post and the next one are quite wordy, so I am throwing in a few random pictures of the boys just for fun. Good luck with all of the reading.

Anton and Zackary with their firemen hats they got from Grandma Nielsen. Zackary insists on wearing it backwards. I imagine that he thinks it is like a baseball hat with the brim in front. Anton gets frustrated with him because he won't wear it the right way. That is probably the second reason that Zackary wears it backwards, just to annoy his older brother.



One day Anton climbed clear to the back of his closet to get out these costumes. The boys spent the afternoon running around in them. What a cute little puppy and cow.



The boys love to play with the couch cushions. They are off the couch at least three times a day, most days. They love jumping on the couch without the cushions on or making beds with the cushions on the floor and so many other things. Somedays I long for a couch with cushions on it for more comfortable seating, but they have so much fun that it is worth it. Also, notice how Anton has perfected the, "Yes, I am listening and already know, Mom!" look. He is only four (almost).



My last few visits to the doctor have had some very interesting conversations. For one of them I couldn’t find a babysitter. I tried about six different people and finally just took the boys with me by myself for the first time. The visits after that I realized that they were actually quite well behaved, so they came with me, also.
As all women that have been pregnant know, you always have to give a sample when you go to a doctor visit as a pregnant lady. Well, rather than leave Anton and Zackary in the exam room where they can get into who knows what I felt that it would be safer to take them into the bathroom with me. The first time this is how the conversation went:

Anton: Mommy, you don’t have a -------.
Me: No, Anton I don’t.
A: Why not? Daddy has one and I have one and Zackary has one?
Me: Well, I am a mommy and mommies don’t have them.
A: Okay.

The conversation continued on like this for about another five minutes. Luckily, Anton had decided to move onto a different topic before the doctor came in. That would have been even more interesting, especially for an OB/GYN. Ha. Ha.

One week later: My second visit with the boys. As soon as we get out of the car Anton declares that he needs to use the bathroom. So I go in and immediately ask the receptionist if we can use a bathroom. She directs us to one. Anton proceeds to use the bathroom when he asks if he can pee in a cup remembering what went on the week before. So I have to explain that it is just for Mommy to do and only when the doctor asks me. It is a good thing he accepted my answer because he is still working on his aim at the toilet and that is a lot bigger than a cup.

My last visit and one week after the previous visit: Again, the situation is that I don’t dare leave the boys in the exam room while I use the bathroom. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway because Anton had already determined what he wanted. So all three of us go into the tiny bathroom, again. Anton proceeds to ask me if I am going to pee in a cup again. I tell him that yes I am because the doctor needs me to. He then asks for a cup of water. Soon, both of the boys have had a drink of water. I am dumping the excess water out in the sink in the bathroom as I hear the exam room door open from the hallway just as Anton quite loudly states. “Mommy, we don’t drink pee.” I immediately hear the door shut and check so see if it was Anton or Zackary opening the door to escape. Nope. They were patiently sitting in the chair together. My guess is that Marilyn, the nurse had a really good laugh when she was checking to see if I was ready for the doctor to come in. The not drinking pee conversation of course was not finished. It was a few minutes later before Anton was done with that conversation. Luckily we were onto a much safer topic by the time the doctor came in. We were singing Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam. I am also glad that it was my last visit until my 6-week follow-up.

Good News

Last Thursday we received some good news. Linden officially has an internship. There are three great things about it. 1. It is a PAID internship which is something that we were really praying for. 2. It is only eight weeks, unlike some of them that are twelve. 3. It is in a Nuclear power plant so he will get a variety of different kind of experience making it easier for him to find a full-time job. There is only one downside. The internship is in Richland, Washington. It starts on May 3 and ends on June 25. So, he will be going there by himself for those eight weeks. (Well, he will have a classmate that will be there also.)
I am going to miss him terribly. It just doesn’t seem worth it to drag me and a 5 week old baby and a four year old and a two year old 9 hours away for 8 weeks to temporary housing. So, we will be staying home while he rooms with his classmate. The boys are going to miss him also. They love playing with their Daddy. It is such a huge blessing for him to get such a great internship. We are looking forward to a couple of visits home from him and maybe I will get really brave and attempt to drive there by myself with three little kids.
Another blessing from this internship Linden’s uncle was recently diagnosed with cancer and lives in WA. Hopefully Linden will be able to go and visit him while he is there.

My Crazy Boys

Zackary is quite entertained by playing with Anton's underwear (the clean underwear at least). (I am hoping it is a sign that he will get potty trained more quickly than Anton.) He is constantly getting it out and playing with it either by wearing it or getting out the pots and pans also and cooking it. His favorite thing to do with the underwear though, is wear it.

Sometimes he wears it as it should be worn, almost. He still needs to learn that it goes under the clothes.



Sometimes it goes on his head.



His very favorite, though it to put about five or six pair of underwear on his legs and then try to run around. Sorry for the blurry picture. It is a bit difficult to get a good picture of him when he is trying to run around like this.



My little Zackary had to have some special socks to go to bed with. Anton has some bear socks that he has had since he was one. They are way to little now, but he still insists on wearing them to bed about once a month. One night Zackary couldn't stand the thought of Anton having special socks and not him, so Linden got out some of his soccer socks. Zackary was quite content.



My happy camper. Anton.



One evening, it was still about two hours until bedtime, Anton fell asleep under the crib. It was his hideout for batman. He had his batman shirt on and also his cape (my jacket). We crawled under the crib and got him out and put him to bed. He slept the whole night through.



The first weekend in January Linden drove with his mom down to Utah so she wouldn't be driving on bad roads alone. While there he got a treat for the family. It was suckers. He got a special one for Zackary. Dill Pickle flavor. Zackary actually liked it and ate it all.



Anton is truly starting to become more and more the big brother. He helps me know when Zackary is doing something he shouldn't. Unless of course he thinks it is fun and wants to participate, also. On Wednesday in about five minutes they made a mess it took us an hour to clean up. (We were just finishing when Linden got home from school.) Zackary had just woken up from his nap. Anton was playing with his playdough. Zackary wanted crayons. I left both of them happily playing at the kitchen table and went to download some proof jobs from my email before leaving for some errands.

I heard them playing quite busily and was just about done when I went to check on them because I heard crayons being thrown everywhere. Before throwing the crayons they had crumbled the playdough up into tiny little pieces and it was all over the table and floor, covering the masterpiece they had colored with crayons all over the table and floor, also. The good thing is they didn't color on the walls, I guess. They have never colored on anything besides paper before. I guess I will have to start watching them better, now.

Another example of Anton being a great big brother came on Tuesday. Anton was playing with our laundry basket, pretending to be a turtle. This is one of the boys favorite games. Zackary wanted to join in and unlike normal wasn't willing to wait until his turn with the laundry basket. I then saw a little light go on in his head. He ran and dumped out the dirty clothes from the laundry basket and very happily came carrying it out to the living room to play turtle with Anton. Unfortunately, our second laundry basket has handles that keep it from laying flat on the floor when it is upside down with a little boy under it. Afer trying for a few minutes and not quite figuring out how to get it to stay over him like he wanted, Zackary was getting very frustrated. Anton noticed this and decided to remedy the situation. He came up with a game they could both play with the laundry baskets. He turned his right side up and then did the same for Zackary and told him they were going to play boats instead of turtles. How impressed I was with his great concern and love for his brother. It was fun watching him take charge and help his little brother be happy.

How blessed I am to have such wonderful and different little boys. Zackary is definitely the ring leader when it comes to making trouble. He is more adventurous than Anton. Yesterday, while at David and Dani's soccer game, Anton would not go down any of the slides until Zackary had proven it was safe by going down the slide not just once, but twice. And Anton was there to make sure the Zackary didn't get trampled by the bigger kids that were running around. What a blessing to be a mother. I have so much to learn from my children.

Snow Fun

Now that the snow is all gone (except on the north side of our house) I am finally posting about all of the fun the boys had this winter playing in the snow. We started off the winter without snowpants for either of the boys, although they had everything else they needed. So, for Christmas we got them some snowpants and some nice mittens. Then I felt comfortable letting them play outside for longer than 10 minutes at a time. I knew they wouldn't be getting wet and cold. And thanks to Daddy and Uncle David the boys loved playing outside for over an hour at a time. (Notice I didn't say thanks to me, I am too much of a wimp to want to play outside with them for that long at a time. It might help if I had snowpants, maybe we will remedy that situation for next winter.)

Anton absolutely loved our annual Christmas tree outing. He had a blast, depsite the very, very cold temperatures. We went the first Saturday in December up to Pine Creek pass. Mom and Dad couldn't come because of a funeral. So it was just David, Dani, Maria, Josh, Daniel and me with my boys. We had some great soup that Mom made, along with the usual rolls, hot chocolate, etc. Anton loved sledding and getting pulled in the sled. Zackary tolerated it for about a minute. I thought it would be the other way around. For some unexplained reason, all Zackary would do that day was scream unless he was being held by mom or playing in the back seat of the car.

We tredged off to look for our Christmas trees. I didn't last very long because of Zackary, so I went back with him to help Linden tend the fire while the others graciously looked for our tree. A big THANKS to Daniel for finding our trees.

We had a great time, especially Anton. He loved having everyone there to play with him in the snow. Zackary had lots of fun playing in the back of the car. And we all survived the temperatures that were probably subzero with the windchill factor. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera.

Several other times the boys enjoyed playing outside and I remembered the camera!! Here are the photos.

My three boys with the matching IPSC hats that Aunt Lori made. (IPSC=Island Park Scout Camp)



Anton trudging through the snow.



Making a snowman.



Making snow angels.



Burying Uncle David in the snow.



Zackary all ready for some sledding.



My three boys. How I LOVE them.

Merry Christmas (Very, Very Late)

Yes, I am still getting caught up. I guess it works because there doesn't seem to be that much new stuff going on right now. We had a great Christmas. The boys actually slept in a little bit. Hey, I'll take those extra twenty minutes in bed any day. Zackary has been getting up anywhere from 5:45 to 7:00 am for several months now, usually it is around 6:30.

We gave them their stockings, they were excited about the oranges and the bubbles. What they liked most, though was our gift for the whole family. We splurged a little bit and got a keyboard. They LOVED it. They wanted to play it immediately. Every day since Christmas they enjoy playing their keyboard. It is so fun to watch them dance up and down the keyboard as they make music (noise).

The funnest part of Christmas for me was watching Anton whenever he saw a Nativity scene he always wanted to hold the baby Jesus. It is so nice to know that he is learning the true meaning of Christmas. I am sure that Zackary will start to catch on as he gets older.

Anton on the couch with his stocking.



Zackary on the couch with his. He did enjoy it, although it doesn't seem that way from the picture.



Opening the keyboard.



The boys couldn't wait to play the keyboard.