Thanks!

Thanks everyone for all the lovely well-wishes and congratulations. We are very excited, as well as a little nervous. I definitely understand why people don't have a lot of kids in the city, because, well, it's really hard just to have 2 kids out here, and thinking about having 3 does make me a little tired. But it will be fun and we can't wait to meet our new baby. He/she will be here on or around May 10th, so that makes me a little over 13 weeks. I have been feeling pretty good, mostly just really tired, up until these last couple weeks, when sickness has taken over our family. I think being pregnant makes it all hit me a little harder than it normally does, but thanks to A LOT (and I mean A LOT) of help from my wonderful husband, I am surviving. I think the end is near though, so thank goodness for that.

We don't really care if it's a boy or a girl. Well, I should rephrase that, I don't care which it is. Nate really wants a girl and is convinced it is one. Asher is already calling it his baby sister. Nate doesn't want to find out and wants it to be a surprise, but I don't know if I can be patient enough. We'll see.

Crossing a line

There seems to be an acceptable number of kids to have in Manhattan without people thinking that you are nuts. That number would be 2. Lots of people have 2 kids in the city. It's normal. However, not many people have 3, or 4 for that matter. Parents of 3 and 4 do exist, but from what I have seen, they either: are mormon (and there still aren't many of them), have a set of twins, are foreigners, or live in Harlem. Having 3 kids in UT or anywhere else in suburbia is totally normal and almost expected. Having 3 kids in the city is like crossing a line into crazy-ville.

Well crazy-ville... here we come!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

America Dances

Last night I went to America Dances at the New York City Center because Nate bought me a ticket, like the sweet and thoughtful husband he is. I wasn't really sure what it was supposed to be, but it turned out to be a kind of concert/awards ceremony. They recognized several people and honored Patrick Swayze by presenting his wife with a gift. They did all sorts of different genres of dance. Some were wonderful, and others, I personally didn't even think should be recognized as a type of dance. Oh well, I guess they were just trying to be diverse.

They started the show off with a "stars and stripes" pas de deux, which was fantastic. They had a tap ensemble perform a type of gum boots dance that I was not very impressed by. They had the Isadora Duncan dance company perform a piece that I personally thought was hideous. I am sure that it's meaningful and "beautiful" in it's own right, but the actual choreographed dance was so ugly. I couldn't tell if some of the dancers were trying to make it look ugly or if they really just had no technique. I imagine they were trying to, I mean, it is the Isadora Duncan dance company... you'd think they would be amazing! There were a couple of contemporary ballet pieces that were amazing, as well as a modern piece choreographed by Sonya Tayeh from SYTYCD. That was probably my favorite. Beautiful!

At the end, they did a sad rendition of excerpts from Bob Fosse's, Dancin'. Yeah, I didn't love it. I thought they could have chosen something much more fun, or at least better parts of the musical to highlight.

I was sitting on the edge of my row right by the door, so after the bows I made a fast escape. When I got to the main lobby, I saw Sonya Tayeh waiting down there. I touched her arm and told her that I loved her piece. I wanted to get a picture but didn't want to be annoying, so I just snapped a quick one on my way out.

Awesome outfit, huh?!

Geez...

Apparently, Asher and Sayer thought the laundry in the hamper by the tub couldn't wait a second longer to be washed...

**The difference between dads and moms... when Nate saw it, he laughed, when I saw it... I did NOT laugh. Luckily, Nate had bought me a ticket to a show so I had to leave right then and didn't have to clean it up! ;)

Just readin'

Do you like my white socks?

The other day we had Asher's little friend Addy over to play for a bit. Here they are reading Cinderella books on the couch together.

I told Addy that I liked her sparkly shoes, so Asher said that he liked her sparkly shoes too. Then he said: "do you like my white socks?" Funny kid.

She doesn't look too impressed!

Home from church: part 2

After I did my post about Sayer falling asleep in the stroller, I decided that maybe I should lay down for a little while since I had no other kids to take care of. I laid there for awhile at first wondering if this was ridiculous to be going back to bed. I found myself thinking, maybe I should just get up and do something productive. I imagined Nate mocking me and saying that "oh, it must be nice to just go to sleep in the middle of the day" or something like that. But then I thought, you know what? I am sick. I feel like crap, and when do I ever get to lay down in my bed for hours at a time during the day when I am sick?? Never! So for moms everywhere, who never get to take a break when they are sick and feeling like they want to die, I surrendered to my bed... for almost 3 hours! Little Sayer slept like a the worn out little boy he was, so when I woke up, he was still sleeping. I deciding to take my pampering one step further and take a bath. It was lovely. As I was finishing up, the little guy woke up. And true, my house is no cleaner than when Nate left for church, and I didn't do anything productive, but I feel pretty good about myself for taking care of myself. The end.

Home from church

We've all been pretty sick this week, with colds and flus and coughs. You know, the good stuff. Today I decided Asher could go to church with Nate, but Sayer and I were still feeling pretty blah so we stayed home. Sayer was so sad to be left behind, so he climbed into the phil & ted to await being taken outside. He cried when Asher and daddy left, so I brought him his bear and blanket and binky and he was quite happy in there. I left him and heard him talking and laughing at himself in the mirror and after awhile it got really quiet. I went in to check on him and found this.

Precious.

Leaves are falling

Fall is in full swing here in the city, and I am LOVING it. It is absolutely gorgeous everywhere you go, and the weather is crisp and cool. The other day was cold, rainy, and windy, and we were stuck inside most of the day. But we still had a good time sitting on the balcony, watching the leaves blow off the tree by our building, in full force. Asher learned what a "gust" of wind is, and they both loved to see the leaves fly up in the air and twirl and even get caught in little wind tunnels where they just twist and twist in place. I am loving teaching Asher about Fall and why the leaves change colors and come off the trees, and I love that he is understanding. I have to say that I am really loving the city right now.

I heart NY in the fall!

Yesterday at Morningside Park. Gorgeous weather, gorgeous trees, adorable kids.

A "mommy" chicken and a baby chicky

(Don't mind Asher's already chocolately face and totally shaggy hair)

In case you were wondering, Sayer is the "mommy" and Asher is the baby. When I asked Asher what he wanted to be for Halloween, he told me he wanted to be a baby chicky. Ever since he saw Peter and the Wolf he has been obsessed with pretending to be the wolf and baby chicky. I was surprised that he stayed consistent with this request to be a baby chicky for halloween, so I decided to go ahead and make him a costume. Thankfully they opened a new Michael's a short 20 blocks away from my house on October 25, so I was actually able to get the things I needed.

Asher was actually excited to go trick or treating this year, and totally understood what was going on. He was a little shy at first, but he caught on quickly and got into the groove. He was very insistent that he wasn't a duck or a chicken or big bird, he was a baby chicky. Maybe next year, he won't want to open every single piece of candy as he gets it. He also took his sweet time deciding which piece of candy he would pick from people's bowls. I loved it when people would just give him a handful and be done with it. I've never seen such a picky 3 year old. One house only had candy corns, and he said, "no, I don't want any candy corns" with a look of disgust on his face. Awesome.

The orange tights were my favorite!

This is Asher making his "baby chicky" noises and hand motions.

Poor Sayer was sick and miserable today. He looks thrilled, doesn't he?

Daddy and Sayer at the building Halloween party

My neighbor Debbie and Asher. Asher loves Debbie anyway, but he kept trying to find her at the party and asking her to hold him. Then he would hug her and say she was such a cute kitty cat and make all these cute little noises. He is so funny.

Asher, Debbie and Peter

Asher's post-party outfit. Showing me my marathon medal that was supposed to be part of my costume, but he never actually let me wear it.

I made delicious and cute sugar cookies and adorable mummies in a blanket for the party, but of course, I didn't take any pictures of them. Oh well. It all turned out really well I think.

Oh that Asher

So many times during the day, I wonder "what the heck is he thinking?!?" Last night, 2 minutes after I closed their door for bedtime, I hear pages ripping, ripping, and more ripping, accompanied by laughing. I go in there, and sure enough, Asher has completely torn apart one of his favorite books, The Polar Express. I was livid. Doesn't he understand that he will never get to read that book again? That he has completely ruined it beyond repair? That that is not how we treat things we care about? Argghhhh!!! What is he thinking???

Today, I put Asher down for his nap, like I do everyday. He likes the door open, so I give him one chance... if he gets out of his bed, I close the door. Well, he lost his chance, like usual, so I closed the door. I was very tired since we got up really early to take family pictures this morning, so I took a little nap myself. I thought he would be tired too. But when I went in there 2 hours later, after not hearing any noise, I find not a sleeping child, but his room completely torn apart. Clothes out of his drawers, sheets and blankets off his bed, blocks dumped out, train tracks dumped out and put together, his stroller basket completely emptied, including the first aid and sewing kit I keep in there. Bandaids opened and thrown everywhere. The lamp was turned on and broken, and he got up on the radiator yet again and broke the a/c vent and opened the curtains. Oh, and he had taken off his pants and underwear and peed on his bed. I. Was. TICKED!!! And, I'm pretty sure he got that message. To his credit, he did do everything I asked him to do after that... he put all his clothes in his drawers (of course I will have to go back later and fold and organize them), put all the blocks away, and put all his blankets back on his bed. The room was still a mess, but he did what he could to clean up. But I just don't get it... what on earth is he thinking when he is doing these things??? He has done these things before, and the results are never pleasant. Don't they learn? Please tell me they learn.

Of course these are only 2 examples of the kinds of things he does ALL THE TIME. The kid drives me insane. I know all 3 year olds do these kinds of things... right?? Help me to feel a tad bit better and share your kids' "what were you thinking?!" moments.

Ramen makes angry kids happy

That's right, I fed my kids ramen noodles for lunch today. It really is a shame that they are so bad for you, because I love 'em. What can I say? I grew up on ramen, so it's just one of those things I love that I shouldn't. I don't give them to my kids very often at all, but they were being little monsters, and I knew that ramen would quiet them up... they love eating the long noodles. It was amazing. One second they were screaming like wild children, the next minute, was this:

The ironic thing is that they were going crazy because I was neglecting them, so I could finish making these muffins that I was going out of my way to make more healthy, by adding squash, applesauce, and oats. Oh well. It's dark and cold outside today. A perfect day for hot noodles and muffins!

Baby shower

Two Saturdays ago, some friends and I threw a baby shower for our friend Jill. She mostly just wanted children's books, so we decided to go with a "Bedtime Stories" theme. I got the idea from this Hostess from the Mostess post. It was a lot of fun to plan. I did the table spread, the rolls and the cupcakes (my poor meringue didn't set up. i hate when that happens. So they looked pretty miserable, but tasted fine), and the other two ladies did the party favors, pineapple banana drink (so good), greek chicken salad, and creme brulee french toast. YUM!! Thank you to Tara who helped me use the extra fabric to sew little pillow covers. I was pretty pleased with the way it all looked. My problem is that I always have these awesome visions, but I am not that great at executing them. Oh well, I can only get better with more practice. Aside from the food and decor, the shower was wonderful. Jill is pretty much the sweetest and cutest little thing you have ever met. She is a patient one and didn't find out the sex of the baby! I guess we will find out in about a week or so. Good luck Jill!

The spread. It's supposed to be a bed by the way

The planners and Jill

And all the cute ladies at the shower...

Asher is a pre-schooler!

Asher on his way to his first day of preschool, in front of our building

Some friends in my ward and I put together a preschool co-op for all of our 2006 kids. For now we are just doing it one day a week for 2 and a half hours. Asher loves it so much. I can't even tell him about it until the night before, because he will get so excited and want to go right then.

Last Friday we went on our first field trip to a dress rehearsal of the Lollipop's production of Peter & the Wolf. It was so cute. They talked to the kids about all the different instruments that represented each character. It was so fun and both Asher and Sayer loved it and sat still and engaged the entire time. It was about a 45 minute program, so I was really impressed. Especially with Sayer. But that boy loves music, so I really shouldn't have been. Now Asher's favorite game is to have me pretend to be the wolf and he and Sayer are the baby chickies that get eaten by the wolf. I'm not sure what to think of that, but I make sure that my wolf is always a very nice wolf.

Anyway, we are excited for all the fun things that we get to do this year with Asher's preschool.