Little Miriam

On November 25th, Miriam Deborah was born.  She came four weeks early.  Thus our Christmas baby (due to be born on Christmas eve) turned into a Thanksgiving baby (arriving three days after we feasted on turkey and stuffing).  Miriam was little (5 lbs. 9 oz.), but she was healthy.  No time in the NICU.  She could even nurse.  Her pediatrician remarked, "For a baby born at 36 weeks, she is a dream."  We thought so too.  We came home from the hospital the regular 48 hours later.  

Before we left the hospital, Miriam's grandparents and sisters got to visit.  Afton was very gentle.  Ainsley was... well, some concepts are hard to grasp when you are two.  Ainsley was impressed, however.  Right before they left, Ainsley gushed, "She loves me!"

 And not long after we got home from the hospital, Grandma Debbie arrived.  This was a continuation of what turned out to be a two-week party for Afton and Ainsley.

And now, Miriam is a month old.  She is still little.  She likes eating, sleeping on people's chests, and eating.  She does not like her car seat or the three minutes after her bath where she is still wet and naked.  She tolerates being kissed all the time by her older sisters and drowning in her newborn-sized clothes.  (We promise she is gaining weight - it just takes a while to fill them out when you start out at five and a half pounds...)  And she really doesn't cry much.

We are anxious to see her personality unfold in the coming months, but for now we are soaking up our snuggly baby girl.  (And repeatedly explaining that it doesn't matter how softly you kiss her, if you are laying on top of her while you kiss her, she is still going to cry because it hurts.)

More Pink, More Pigtails

Over a week ago, we finally got to an ultrasound and found out that Baby #3 is a girl.  Tony laughed.  I cried.  Afton took it much better than we thought.  Ainsley is still oblivious to the whole thing.

Lest you judge me, I have never doubted I would love baby #3 regardless of his or her gender.  I am simply overwhelmed at the thought of being the mother to three girls.  I grew up with brothers.  I spent most of my 20s in environments where men outnumbered women (an LDS mission, the only law school in the nation that struggles to recruit female applicants, a legal profession where 80% of the members are men).  I'm bad at doing hair.

And, while I may be entirely wrong on this, it has been hard to shake the feeling that as a mother I will have a few more parenting obligations to my daughters than I would to my sons.  I love my dad, and he was always very supportive of me, but let's be honest:  he didn't do my hair, teach me how to cook, guide me through the ordeal of sewing, talk to me about the birds and the bees, instruct me on anything else related to maturation, navigate issues of what is and is not a modest prom dress, or check up on whether I was completing my goals for the Personal Progress program at church.  My mom did all that.

Afton, bless her heart, has done little to help with my feelings of competence in parenting daughters.  The two weeks before the ultrasound were the first two after being in vacation-mode for a month.  Afton was nuts, and this manifested itself in a lot of yelling, "I don't like you!", "I don't want you to be my mom anymore!", "I wish you would just go away!" and "You're not nice!!"  Just yesterday she told me, "Mom, I prayed to Heavenly Father the other day that Grandma Debbie could be my mom and Papa Reed could be my dad, but... it hasn't happened yet."  She was honestly baffled.  Please, my sweet child, could you ponder the mysteries of God, prayer, and divine revelation with some other question besides, "Why are you still my mother?"

In the meantime, I'm trying to focus on the upside of this house full of girls.  Whatever lack of female energy I may have felt in the first 30 years of my life will definitely be made up for in the second 30.  And, if I leave this earth earlier than Tony, there will be three girls to take care of him whether he likes it or not.  (Last week he told me, "Now I have to die first.  If you're gone, they'll make me go to the doctor, and they won't be as nice about it as you are!").  And my daughters will have something I never had:  sisters -- someone to fight with for sure, but also someone to give them a valid opinion when asked, "How does this look on me?", someone with whom they can do hair or nails or go shopping, someone to help them pick out their wedding dress, someone to help them with their new baby.   Not too bad of a deal, right?  

(The first picture of me and the three -- Afton, Ainsley, and #3 as growing pooch in my belly.)

Ainsley's Second Birthday

Ainsley turned two about six weeks ago.  (For the record, we didn't forget to celebrate it.  We just have been behind on blogging about it.)  It was a fun time because it was the day before her cousins left for yet another continent, so we got to celebrate with family!  It also happens that her grandpa's birthday was a three days before hers, so we did a double party.  Ainsley got cupcakes and Grandpa got flan.  

I've decided second birthdays are pretty fun.  Ainsley had no idea what was going on -- or that you don't touch the flame on the candle -- but she was game.  It didn't take long for all the older kids to help her along with difficult concepts, such as opening the wrapping paper.  Things only improved when she recognized some of her presents -- the new Pete the Cat book and Toy Story toys.  While her older sister and cousins were busy trying on their new headbands and t-shirts from Grandma Ive, Ainsley was completely engrossed in getting her Jessie to ride Bullseye.  

What to say about Ains?... She loves to laugh.  She declares a number of things "funny" and chuckles to herself.  If anybody else is laughing, she joins right in even if she is oblivious to the source of the humor.  Especially now that she's two, she wants to do things by "self! self!"  Ainsley is currently obsessed with horses, but every night she goes to sleep with a variety of stuffed animals:  a kitty, a penguin, a horse, Elmo, and Nemo.  (And she insists that Tony hug and kiss each one of them before she will tell him goodnight.)  Ainsley is much more physically adventurous than her older sister was at that age -- meaning, when you can't find Ainsley on the playground, she's halfway up some ladder somewhere.  While she's pulling a bit more of the terrible-two hitting and pinching, she is also very loving.  She freely gives hugs and kisses and she is usually quick to pat Afton's back or give Afton a hug if Afton appears sad.  We've decided to keep her :).

Way Down in the Black Hills of South Dakota

Two months ago, we took a vacation with my parents and my brother Chris's family to the Black Hills of South Dakota.  Tony had a friend who had a vacation house in Deadwood, and he graciously offered to let us stay there for free.  (It wasn't until we arrived in Deadwood that I realized that Deadwood is a casino town:  South Dakota made an exception to their constitution to allow Deadwood to reclaim its historic gambling industry.  Whoops.)  We had a good time.

Highlights of the trip included:

1.  Visiting Mt. Rushmore.  The kids had matching patriotic shirts, courtesy of the usual suspect: Grandma Debbie.   On his part, Grandpa Reed helped all the travel weary souls.

2.  Visiting Storybook Village.  This is a fun park in Rapid City where everything is based on storybook characters -- think fairly tales and disney and more.  Plus, they had a cool train to ride.

 3.  Getting real cowgirl hats from Grandma Debbie so that they could look like Jessie from Toy Story.

 4.  Visiting Reptile Gardens.  Aside from looking at turtles, lizards, and other creepy-crawley things, they got to touch real tortoises, snakes, and a baby alligator!  

5.  Splunking.  Well, we took a tour of a big cave. Not sure where the camera was on that occasion.


The Black Hills are beautiful.  (They frankly look a lot like Eastern Oregon, so I may be biased....)

The Anti-Climatic Announcement

We're expecting, again.  For our family and some friends in the Salt Lake area, our official announcement was rather anti-climatic.  This was largely due to the Afton-factor.

You see, some time last fall, Afton decided that she "needed" a baby brother.  "Not a baby sister, because I already have one of those," she would tell us.   And then she hounded us.

Sometimes, it was just, "Why is it taking so long to get my baby brother?" Other times it was an exasperated, "ahhh, why don't we have a baby yet?!?"  My personal favorite was when she would suddenly notice my stomach and say, "Your stomach is really big.  [Excited gasp] Maybe there's a baby in it!"  Needless to say, except in response to the last one ("Afton, I am not pregnant.  There is no baby in there.  For crying out loud, I am skinnier than I was when I graduated from high school.  It just pooches more because I cranked out you and your sister and I am in my 30s....") our answers were usually vague.

In early April, I found out I was expecting, and around the same time, Afton just got it in her head that the baby was on its way.  Now, we never told Afton that I was pregnant.  We certainly never told her we were trying.  And I don't believe that we ever discussed it in front of her in a way that she would have picked up on.  But that did not deter her.  She began telling everyone.

I picked her up from her primary class one Sunday and overheard her telling her primary teacher.  She told Tony's dad on a Saturday visit to Grandpa's house in May.  My brother, Jordan, came to babysit once, and he was informed.  Not surprisingly, Tony's cousin, Heidi, who's been watching Afton and Ainsley while I've worked part-time these past couple months, also knew.

My favorite, though, was when she announced it to the rest of my family on our Black Hills vacation over Memorial Day.  I was in the bedroom of our vacation house when I heard a slight pause at the dinner table.  Out of nowhere Afton said, "We're going to get a new baby in our house soon."  And then she went back to whatever she'd been doing before.  Evidently that announcement was followed by a hushed conversation between the adults:  "Is Heather pregnant?"  "Has she mentioned it to anyone?" "She hasn't mentioned it to me."  "She's usually very sick, but she doesn't look sick..." "She wouldn't schedule a vacation if she was going to have morning sickness, would she?"  Finally my dad asked, "So who's going to ask her?"  No one was willing to volunteer for the assignment.

So, yes, we are expecting.  We will find out if Afton's dreams of a little brother will come true on August 6th.  (We keep reminding her that we don't get to choose -- we just get whoever Heavenly Father sends us.  He sent us her and we love her, so we will love whatever baby we get.)  And our due date?  Christmas Eve 2012.  Deck the halls.

Afton's 4th Birthday

Afton turned 4.  If you lived around here, it was hard to miss.  She told everyone she came in contact with that she was turning 4 soon.  Her birthday happened to be on a Sunday.  Just before church she told me, "I think they are going to sing to me today!"  Sure enough, they did.

Afton's birthday ended up centering around two of her current great loves:  Sleeping Beauty and Toy Story.  She wanted a Sleeping Beauty cake and a Jessie doll.  The day before her birthday, Afton decided she wanted a regular cake with a drawing of Sleeping Beauty on top.  I had never done that before.  Fortunately the end result looked enough like Sleeping Beauty that Afton was appeased.  (But not enough like Sleeping Beauty for me to ever consider a new career in a bakery.)  Afton's grandparents came through with gifts such as a Sleeping Beauty night gown and the coveted Jessie doll.  

Afton is still an intense little kid in a lot of ways, but we find ourselves enjoying her more and more as she gets older.  She loves preschool.  She loves primary.  She loves going on "adventures."  She is more than zippy on her tricycle, and she is getting better at sharing with her little sister.  While she is still more of a small group kind of socializer, we are well beyond the days where she was just down right angry that other people exist.  We are excited to see what age 4 has in store for all of us.  Happy Birthday kid!

Better Late than Never -- Easter 2012

We celebrated Easter this year much the same as last.  We had an egg hunt and games at the church with some friends and neighbors.  Tony put together a treasure hunt so the girls could find their Easter baskets (which were hidden in the back of our mini van this year).  Grandma Debbie sent Easter dresses.  This year, the girls were so excited to wear their dresses, they got dressed by themselves.  (Well, Afton managed to mostly get hers on and was trying to dress Ainsley when I intervened for fear of damage to either Ainsley or the dress).  I tried desperately to get a well-posed picture of the girls in said dresses right before church.  (Our nursery leaders bring cheetos for snacktime -- awesome for Ainsley, not awesome for keeping dresses free of orange streaks.)  But alas, my minimal photography skills combined with their excitement and desire to twirl didn't quite produce the greatest result.  But it was a fun weekend.  Happy (belated) Easter!