Our Boys...

The other day Evan said to me, "Mom, you know why we got Parker, right?" Well, yeah, Evan, I'm thinking, I can think of quite a few reasons why we got Parker. A few of them I'm not going to discuss with you. But I humor him and ask why. "Because I prayed for him. Remember, Mom?" "Oh, yeah," I say. Then Evan says, "Well, what do you say, Mom?" "Um, thank you?" That was the right response because he then proceeds to say, "You're welcome." What a funny guy! And dead serious about it, too. He seriously wants all the credit. Ha!

Then there's our Parker, who is just getting so big. We had his 2 month appointment a little over a week ago and he weighed 11 lbs. 7 oz. Yahoo! What a big boy. He was in the 50th percentile for head and weight. But his height! He was 24", in the 85th percentile! Where did you come from, tall boy? He may end up towering over the rest of his family.

Well, Michael's been making comments here and there about needing to cut Parker's hair and it finally happened tonight. Michael got out the 3/4" clippers and went for it. Happily, Parker didn't mind too, too much. When Michael was done, Parker still had 3/4" of hair on his head and there was about an inch cut off! Holy cow, that was some long hair! Who gets their first haircut at 2 months old?!?! Funny. So here's his before shot (what a cute profile, eh?)... You can't even see the tips of his hair in this shot. That hair goes forever!

And his during shot... Yeah, retarded about the cord being right there but you get the shots you can get in this kind of situation.

And the after shot. It's a terrible picture of Parker and doesn't even really look at him, but you can tell how short his hair is. He looks like he's enlisted in the military. Still a cute boy but it's going to take some time to get used to. We love our sweet boys!

"I'll Never..."

Yeah, famous last words. Did you have anything you said, "I'll never" about your kids? And then you have kids and they go right out the window. Here's two of mine. First, I'll never send my kids to preschool. Why would I? I didn't go to preschool. Did they even have preschool back then? AND I started kindergarten when I was four, was near the top of the class, won Spelling Bees, was in the pentathlon and generally did a pretty good job in school. Who the heck needs preschool? Well, then I met my friend Christina, an early childhood educator. She loves teaching preschool and, seriously, who wouldn't want to spend lots of time with her? She's just fun and has a genuine love for kids. She told me years ago (because I'm such a planner when it comes to these poor kids...always thinking years ahead of where they're actually at!) that Evan would probably enjoy preschool for the social aspects, not so much academically. And now Evan has grown up and I realized you know what? Evan would enjoy preschool. They do lots of cool stuff and he could have some time with friends and why the heck not?!?! If you've ever had a conversation with me about preschool, you're probably laughing right now because I was so passionate on this subject. But, yes, Evan started preschool this week. And, of course, he loves it. And, yes, Christina is his teacher. And, no, I don't have any first day of preschool pictures because, well, no new clothes, no backpack...looks like the same old Evan from any other day.

The second I'll never thing was sending Maren into a ballet class. Now, this was not so much mine, but more Michael's. You see, I spent most of my life after school at the studio, learning to dance. And my sisters spent that time at home observing my mom cooking and doing motherly things, learning how to take care of a home and family. And now that we all realize that I missed out because I don't have amazing cooking skills like my sisters and my mother, Michael kind of resents ballet a tad. Well, a lot, unless he's joking around with me a little. I don't know. Sometimes it's hard to tell how serious he is about the matter. And sometimes I think about the things I missed out on in life like getting together with friends, dances and other stuff like that. Side note: In fact, my junior prom was the same night as a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream. My boyfriend at the time, who I would've gone to the prom with, of course, bought a suit and came to the performance instead. I thought that was awfully nice. Anyway, I wouldn't change all that ballet stuff for anything. Being a ballet dancer is just part of who I am and it's a part that I really, really love. And I have amazing memories of ballet and...well, I just wouldn't change it.

So, anyway, Maren has had no egging on by me about dancing at all. As my mom says, 'it must be in the genes.' Because she LOVES to dance. Well, I've come to realize in the last little while what a drag it is to be the second child (never realized, of course, since I was the oldest). She's been dragged to Evan's swimming classes and she really wants to take swimming classes. She loves to swim. But she can't until she's three because otherwise I'd have to be in the water with her. Won't work with Parker. And now she's being dragged to Evan's soccer practices. And she'd love to play soccer or at least just kick the ball around. But I keep her off the field. Poor thing. So when she told me one day, "I just want, want, want to dance!", I couldn't resist. I found out that a girl in my stake teaches a dance class for preschool-age kids and would take Maren since she is potty-trained. We searched high and low for shoes small enough for her little feet and had everything ready for her first day. To say she loves it would be an understatement. She is by far the youngest one in there but she pays great attention, follows directions and does a generally good job of following along. On the way home after her first class she said, "Thank you, Mom, to taking me to dance class." She was so appreciative. I loved it! And I remembered about my sister, Danica, who would go with me and my mom to ballet class when she was two. I guess my mom couldn't keep her off the ballet floor, she wanted to dance with us so badly, and my teacher finally told her to let her dance. She danced in her little tennis shoes. I've got a picture. I'll have to scan it in and put it on here tomorrow or something.

So, have I learned my lesson about saying "I'll never" when it comes to stuff about my kids? Probably not. But I'll definitely be more careful about it. I now realize that I can't now determine things about my kids that are years off. Having kids is fun...it teaches you a lot.

Photo Overload

These past few weeks have been BUSY. I've been struggling with having a newborn, postpartum emotions, getting back to work, keeping the house clean (ha ha, funny joke) and getting everyone where they need to be. But we've also had some really great times and I've actually gotten some semi-decent photos of those times. Here, now, is the photo overload...

This was the last day of Evan's swimming class. They do a lot of different water safety things and this is one of them. They were all cracking up because their instructor, Joe, was swimming under the blue hippo. You can't see very well in the picture, but Evan has a HUGE smile and I loved it. In fact, pretty much the whole time he's in swimming class, he's smiling.

Maren came into the bathroom while I was showering to show me her new glasses. Ha! I didn't think it was a good idea for her to wear them...longer than me taking the picture. I thought she was too cute not to take a picture of. No doubt she'll need glasses at some point and now she'll look just as cute as ever with glasses, too. Too bad these ones are crooked on her fact, too!

After my shower, while I was getting dressed, I guess the kids decided to take pictures of each other. The second and third ones here are of them being monsters or something. I thought it was pretty cute that they would do this but I was pretty distraught that pictures taken by a 4 and 2-year-old turned our clearer and better than mine do!

Evan started soccer just a couple of weeks ago and seems to be really enjoying it. Here he is on his first game day. He surprised me by getting semi-aggressive. His lack of aggression at times when he should have aggression is what I was really worried about. But he did a great job! This first picture Michael got cracks me up. It looks like he's a statue rather than running.

Contemplating the big game...

Lastly, the many faces of Parker Bybee...

"What are you talking about, Mom? No more milk?!?!"

"Well, I guess I am feeling rather full."

"My fauxhawk is the envy of all the cool dudes."

"Ah, that's better. Stop laughing, Dad. Mom's a total mess right now!"

Garden Joy

We had a pretty great garden this year...thanks to Michael. All I did was water. That's my kind of garden! Now if only there was anything else in the world Michael could think about...and if only he didn't suffer from such garden envy when seeing other's gardens. Evan was ecstatic to pull some of "his" carrots yesterday and wanted all his friends to see. So, here you go, friends.

And Michael made the yummiest salad last night, all with stuff from the garden...romaine, cucumber, lemon cucumber, lots of tomatoes and the yummiest red pepper I've ever eaten. Thanks for your hard work, Babe!

Ballerina Girl

Try as I might, it seems as if I can not deter Maren from the barre. Ha! She loves everything about ballet, although I haven't really introduced her to much myself. I do think that she could watch any of my ballet videos for hours on end and she's got a pretty mean arabesque. We'll see what the future holds...

If this gets serious, we'll have to work on that supporting leg turn-out...and leaning on the barre.

It sure makes her happy, though!

Ridiculous Day!

We have a 2nd car. Really, we do. But it broke down...on May 15th, 2007...our 10th anniversary...on Michael's way to school. And it hasn't been fixed since. Money, honey. So we've been making do ever since then. That means that on days when Evan has swimming class or we have doctor's appointments or anywhere to go, we have to take Michael to work in the morning and pick him up in the evening. It was okay...until Parker was born. Who wants to wake a sleeping baby? And sometimes the other kids are sleeping, too, and really need to get more rest but I have to drag them out of bed anyway. So, this has been a sore spot with me the last few weeks. Well, today was, as the title suggests, ridiculous!

Parker and I had an appointment at 5 p.m. today that I could not reschedule. The next open appointment was at the end of September. I had to go today! But last night I learned that Michael had to work in the Northwest clinic today. No way was I going to drive him out there. So I started trying to come up with a plan. And here's how it went. My sister, Danica, called to ask me a favor this morning. While she was at it, I asked one of her. Could she drive me out to the country to pick up a car I was going to borrow to get to my appointment? She said she would. Okay, only problem was that she doesn't have enough seats in her car for me and all of our kids combined. So I needed to find someone to stay with the older two. I tried Anton (our neighbor boy) about 3 times and he wasn't home. I tried another neighbor. I tried some friends. No one was home. Finally I tried one of my Beehives at 11:16...14 minutes before Danica was going to come pick me up. She said she could come. She had to ride her bike over here (not all that close!). Then Danica drove me 15 minutes out to the country to pick up the car (thank you, D.A.!!!). I figured Anton would be home by 4:30 when I needed to leave and that he could stay with Evan and Maren. I couldn't take them in D.A.'s car because I didn't have Maren's car seat. When I started calling Anton again, I learned that he wasn't going to be home. I tried my other neighbor again but she was headed out at 5:00. Finally I realized I was going to have to take all of the kids with me but I would need a car seat for Maren...that would fit in the back of a sedan with two other car seats! I called my friend, Chris, to see if I could drop by her house to pick up a car seat on my way to the appointment that I was not excited about taking three kids to! She suggested I just leave Evan and Maren at her house. So that's what I did. All this because we only have one car. It's a mind-boggling thing trying to come up with ways we're going to get to where we need to go, safely, on the days we can't have the car. I'm pretty done with it, really. And I feel like a big moocher. I've probably borrowed Chris' car 17 times in the last two years. And other people have helped out left and right. Anyway, in our prayer today we had to thank Heavenly Father for Addy, Dave, Danica and Chris, who all made it possible for me to get to my appointment today. Now that's ridiculous. But I sure am grateful that we are surrounded by people who love us and help us when we need it.

Now, anybody know a good, cheap mechanic? :-)

In case you feel like this was a whiny post, that's not why I did it. I want to be able to look back and read about this ridiculous day and compare it to other days that aren't so chaotic and laugh about it. I'll need this someday! Oh, I also started working again today. If you come over and it looks like a tornado touched down in our house, now you understand why.

Still Here!

I just have a second before...well, no, I really don't have a second. Parker's been in bed for almost 2 hours now. I should be sleeping! Oh, well. I just really wanted to get some more pictures on here of him to show that we really do still have a newborn here. Ha! And he's still cute...despite the adolescent acne. Here are a few recent pictures. The quality on the last one is especially poor but I've complained about our dumb camera enough in past posts. He looks too cute in it not to post, though. The ones of him outside with Michael are funny because he is squinting because of the sun. But you can totally see his fauxhawk sticking up so I had to include those, too. Enjoy!

Introducing...

Parker Miles Bybee

Born July 11, 2009 at 9:16 p.m.

8 lbs., 4 oz., 20 1/2" long

Yay! Parker is here and we are all thrilled. I probably have about 2 1/2 minutes to complete this post so here are the important details:

I went into the hospital at noon on Saturday to be induced. Because both Evan and Maren had shoulder dystocia, which can, at worst, be life-threatening, we wanted to get Parker out as soon as possible once my cervix was "favorable". Dr. Taitano sat and talked with us for a long time about the option of a c-section before we got things started. He reminded us that that would be the only way to ensure a positive outcome and he advised us to think about it. In the end, we decided that Dr. Taitano had successfully delivered our other two babies who were stuck and we trusted him to do a great job with Parker, too. At around 4:00 I started having contractions. At 8:00 I was checked and was dilated to a four. I decided it was time for an epidural, even though I had thought maybe I would try without since I was given the option of going without one for the first time ever. The anesthesiologist probably got there around 8:30. Around 9:10 he walked out, after having tried about four times to get it in the right spot. Come to find out, I was going through transition while he was trying to get it in (though I only thought I was going to die, is all!), because as he was walking out, Dr. Taitano was checking me, declared me to be at a ten and that it was time to start pushing. Ha! So much for that epidural! Can I go ahead and claim that I never had one?? :-)

Parker was miraculously born without shoulder dystocia. What's crazy is that he is the biggest baby yet. Strange how these things happen. Evan, our smallest of the three, had the most severe shoulder dystocia. Anyway...he's a sweetie boy with the cutest black hair, button nose and a cleft chin! Who knows where the cleft chin genes came from, but I love it. Cute, cute! He had quite a bit of trouble in the hospital, spitting up all the time, gagging, stopping breathing! Luckily I only had to pull the red emergency cord once but things were pretty hairy a few times. It seems that this happens to all of our kids because they come down the birth canal so fast that the amniotic fluid doesn't get squeezed out of their lungs. Scary stuff. He's doing much better now. I'm feeling better each day but have had quite a bit of pain pretty much from head to toe. It sure helps to have a sweet little boy to kiss and love on!

Evan and Maren are both smitten with him. They are gentle, loving and wonderful with him. Evan wants to teach him everything and Maren wants to hold him and kiss him. Evan takes a lot of responsibility for him because, as he always reminds us, he is the one who prayed that we'd have another baby so he definitely has some ownership there. Ha! Anyway, I feel like this is all discombobulated but I've got to get to bed since he's asleep. Here are some of my favorite pictures...

Before. Not pretty but necessary, right? The great news? I only gained 10 - 12 pounds and am already under my pre-pregnancy weight. Ha! Not good if you go into pregnancy underweight but GREAT for me!!

Stick a Fork in Me...

I'm done! Up until about four days ago I would've been perfectly happy if this guy had waited another few weeks to come. I had too much to do! But I've hit a wall and it's time to get this over with. Ha! Too bad these things just don't work on my time table, huh? The good news is that we sold our beloved Outback...

...and got something that will hold the whole family...

Everything went so smoothly...the whole thing was really a blessing. The guy who wanted to buy our car had been in one of our wards a while back and paid more than what we were asking. I think we got a great deal on the van and we come out with no car payments still. Yahoo! Exactly how I had intended to do things. The only thing is...it's a Buick! I will officially be the brunt of all family jokes from now on because the joke between my mom and uncle has always been about when they'll be old enough to have Buicks. And don't ever let them buy a Buick. And things of that nature. Now I'm the one owning a Buick, at age 32. So it's a little embarrassing telling people I bought a Buick, but it's a pretty sweet car...for a minivan, I guess.

As far as being prepared for the baby to come now that we have the minivan, I also got a car seat and two whole packages of newborn diapers. Ha! I'm prepared!

Michael decided he wanted to clean the carpets, upholstery and floor mats of the car on his day off last Friday so we rented a Rug Doctor. He literally worked for nine hours on this project! It's a wonder he could stand up and walk the next day. Check this guy out!

This is about the only non-bum shot I got of him.

Needing a good stretch!

In other amazing Michael news...he has been climbing the neighbor's cherry tree to get me sweet, delicious cherries. I LOVE to freeze cherries and eat them as a snack. I think my grandpa taught me that long ago. So he climbed probably 20' up this very flexible tree a few times to thrill his pregnant wife. Although it wasn't very thrilling when I thought he was going to fall to his death a few times. Ugh. Why do husbands have to be so darn daring?

Lastly, a couple pictures from the 4th of July...

Just the kids chilling with Dad at a community festival. I thought it was cute how Maren was sitting on his leg and Evan was just relaxing. Yeah, they were the only ones. I was trying to figure out how to breathe while sitting on the ground unsupported. Plus, having contractions! Not so fun for this girl!

I love it when my kids are happy to be together!

That's it for now. Hopefully the next time I post it will be to show cute pictures of our little baby boy!

Best Car EVER - For Sale

If you or anyone you know is looking to buy a FANTASTIC used car, please direct them to this Craigslist posting for our 2001 Subaru Outback...

http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/cto/1238045575.html

THANKS!!

"Bed Rest"

What the heck does that mean for a mother of two kids who works from home while the kids are asleep who also has a house and husband to take care of? Supposedly I'm supposed to figure that out. I got the lovely privilege of doing a 24-hour urine sample over the weekend and got the results today. Twice as much protein in my urine as there should be. Yikes! And with my blood pressure slowly rising (it's at a whopping 110/70 right now...but up from something like 94/68!), the doctor said it's bed rest for me. For a week. Until I can see my regular doctor next Thursday. I want to laugh. I want to cry. But it sure isn't changing much around here. Ha!

Laugh because of what I already said. How am I supposed to get any more rest than I do already? Laugh because yesterday Evan did this:

He found my ice cream bowl I had eaten out of the night before (sometimes I have a little bowl while I'm working because I'm getting tired and need the extra sugar to keep me awake. Plus, I justify it by reminding myself that I've only gained 8 pounds so it's okay) laying on the desk. He said I shouldn't have too much sugar when I'm pregnant so he put this tape X across it so I couldn't have any more ice cream. It worked for last night. I didn't have any. Tonight, however... But what cracks me up is that they didn't find ice cream in my urine. If I should stay away from anything, maybe it's hamburgers or something. I mean, there's a good source of protein. I'm spilling protein in my urine. I'll stay away from the hamburgers, but until I start spilling ice cream into my urine, that nightly ritual stays. Sorry, son!

I also laugh because the medical assistant who was talking to me about my "minimal activity" told me I should lay down with my feet elevated above my heart. Well, I can't lay flat or I'll die because I can't breathe. So if I'm on my back, I have a few pillows under me. If my feet are then above my heart, this is what I'm picturing...

Well, yeah, I could do that 6 months ago but is that the way I want to be spending my bed rest vacation? Nope!

And then there's the reasons to cry. I think if I don't obey and behave and my blood pressure keeps heading up, up, up, they could probably induce anytime after 35 weeks. I mean, I've had some serious, serious complications with pregnancies. If my BP is up, they'll want to get him out as soon as it is reasonably safe for him. Well, that's in only 2 1/2 weeks. NOT OKAY!!! We have no car, no car seat and no clothes out of storage for this baby! I am definitely not ready for him to make his appearance in the world so I've got to keep that in mind.

All of this comes on the heels of Dallin's 9th birthday, which was May 8th. I said it last year, I'll say it again. Hard to believe we have a child who would be that old. Anyway, it passed very quietly. We had to wait until Mother's Day (just two days later) to visit the cemetery, but we had a nice time there. So I've had these deepish thoughts lately.

I have two appointments every week. This is the same as it was with Evan and Maren. They start them when I'm 30 weeks along since Dallin died at 31 weeks. On Tuesdays I have an ultrasound where they check four things and then on Thursdays a non-stress test. This was all fine and dandy when I was pregnant with Evan and could just leave work early to go have my tests done. It was pretty okay when I was pregnant with Evan and I could either take him with me or have someone watch my one child. Now that I have two kids, I surely didn't want to drag them with me and it's hard to ask anyone to watch two kids every week! So I brought this up to my doctor and asked if maybe we might only do one appointment each week, switching back and forth between tests performed, since I have two other kids at home to think about now. He gently and lovingly reminded me (this is the doctor that has delivered all three of our kids so far!) that 33% of our children have died. Okay, well, when you put it that way! And once it's happened to you (stillbirth, I mean), your chances of it happening again are increased. He said maybe if I had 5 living children it would be a good time to think about that because I had a better percentage. But he wouldn't suggest it now. That straightened me up pretty quickly and I told him I'd be there twice a week. It gets really hard sometimes. I feel like the kids are missing out on some good, quality mom time, especially at this pivotal time before we bring another child into the family. I feel rushed about most of the week, trying to get things done that I wasn't able to get done on Tuesday and Thursday because i was at the doctor's office so long. But then I remember that on a Thursday I had my last OB appointment when I was pregnant with Dallin and Dr. T. said I had a "textbook pregnancy". I still remember that to this day. On Saturday or Sunday he died. When I think about that, I realize I have to do everything I can to ensure Parker's safe arrival, hard as it may be on everyone.

So, it's 10:43 p.m. now. And I'm going to bed because I'm going to be a good little patient. I still have 6 hours of work to do but it's going to have to wait and be late. Tomorrow my sister is coming over and I'll let her clean things out of Evan's room so we can put the bunk beds up. Maybe I'll boss Evan and Maren around from the couch a bit tomorrow. And maybe, just maybe I'll get Michael to do the dishes. :-)

Father & Son Campout

Last weekend Michael and Evan got to attend their first Father & Son Campout for church. They had a GREAT time! It's so hard for me to deal with one of my kids doing something really fun and me having absolutely no part in it. I wish I could've been "a fly on the wall" to see some of their memorable events unfold. Alas, the pictures will have to do. Unfortunately (Michael!), there aren't a lot. But here's some fun stuff to share:

First of all, Michael had been asking Evan what they should have for dinner for a couple of days. And Evan always said, "Banana Soup". Yes, another Evan Bybee original, I guess. What is it with this boy and his food creations? Anyway, Michael kept trying to deflect that one and move onto other suggestions but Evan would not be dissuaded. While Michael was at work on Friday, he took matters into his own hands and made his banana soup.

I guess the boys didn't get to sleep until 11:30 p.m.!!! A mother's nightmare!

And here he is catching fish. It was his first time to go fishing. Michael caught two, Evan caught three! I think he was pretty proud of catching more fish than his dad. Michael cooked up all five fish on Sunday. Being pregnant and one who doesn't like fish anyway, it was really hard for me to choke the fish down. I did, however, for my boys who worked so hard and had so much fun catching these fish to feed their family. Here's some cute shots of Evan making his catches...