Meet Milo

My kids (but mostly my husband) have been bugging me about getting another dog since we had to put down Oscar. My constant response was a resounding NO! I am having a baby in 6 weeks and cannot take care of or train a dog. Finally this morning Alex of all people would not stop talking about how much Tate needed the responsibility and how his fondest memories of growing up was with his dog and on and on. Total guilt trip! So I compromised. I said that we could consider getting a dog but only if it was a small dog that did not shed, was already housebroken and good with kids. I even threw in there that it had to be a boy dog since it would be Tate's and that it would have to be cheap. I figured we'd never find a dog that met that criteria for the price I was thinking and that I would be safe for at least another year.

So we spent the morning going to "petting zoos" letting the kids look at all the animals at Sue's pet palace and the pound. I was sure I had won when Alex said we should go to Petco really quick before heading home. And what did we find when we walked in? A male Jack Russell Terrier, which doesn't shed, is a small dog, 5 years old, already housebroken and was sent to the shelter because his owners were moving. He is vaccinated and nudered and only 30 bucks! The woman went on and on about how great he is with kids and other dogs and his only down fall is that if he gets loose, he runs. Great!

So we have a dog. (Sorry it's turned). He's actually really good and very mellow. He does like to beg for food and thinks the couch belongs to him, but I have to admit he's really cute and my husband and son are very happy boys. And the moral of the story is: hold your ground until after the baby is born or you'll get exactly what you ask for at exactly the time you don't want it!

J/K His first day here he was great so hopefully he just kind of fits right in and it turns out to be not a big deal at all.

Baby bump 33 weeks!

Humongous belly! Although everyone says I don't look that big I feel huge and this picture Tate took for me seems to agree. I had my 32 week doctor's appointment last week and have had no more contractions to speak of. And other than the occasional hip popping in and out of place and some heart burn I feel great.

I've also been debating a lot about how I want this labor to go. And I've decided that I'm going to do this unmedicated. Yes, that all natural! I gave a lot of thought to this and since both my previous labors went very fast up until the epidural slowed me down I figured that my chances of this labor being fairly quick is pretty good. Plus with Allie they over medicated me with the epidural and my right leg was dead and I had no...uhh...control of my faculties for hours after the epidural was removed. That's a very unsettling feeling.

So I've been asking around and getting some fun natural labor stories and plan to go the library and get a book or two about some techniques. Wish me luck!

Colbie Callat Concert

Alex bought us tickets to the Colbie Callat concert like 2 months ago for my birthday (my b-day's not for another couple weeks) but it was so fun. We sent the kids over to grandma and grandpas for a sleep over and spent a great evening together.

The concert was excellent. The guy who opened, a Justin Young who is also in her band was amazing. And in the middle of the concert when the stage manager came out to hand her a guitar she all of a sudden goes, "This is Andy. Hey Andy why don't you sing for us" I thought she was kidding, but this 5 ft. nothing guy with a beard all of a sudden busts out with Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry" and he was way good. It was hilarious!

And Alex is so sweet because the next day while I was at woman's conference he went out and did a ton of yard work so I wouldn't be tempted to. (And probably so I'd quit griping about it) It was rainy and cold and the poor guy got the worst cold. I'm sorry honey, but thank you! What a stud! This is the kids building houses for their worms. We've had so much rain and with all the weeding have unearthed a bounty of night crawlers. Tate insisted on building them houses, but Allie kept stealing his worms to put in her house.

As far as baby news goes, there is no news. Which is good. I've stopped having contractions and the braxton hicks have even all but stopped. Of course I haven't done any vigorous mopping or weeding so that's probably helped. I have a Dr. appointment on Friday and I hope he'll do another ultra sound just to check. I'm really curious how big she is because she feels like she is as low as she can go and still can reach those little feet up into my ribs.

A trip to the hospital!

On Thursday I was feeling really energetic and after all the rain we've been having the weeds and grass in the flowerbeds was out of control so I decided to do some weeding. I handed Tate and his buddy Jack a little shovel and rake and I grabbed a hoe and went at it. Alex came home and told me to quit it, that he would do it on Saturday but that he had a ton of homework. I assured him I was fine, though I kept seeing the frustrated looks and hearing the exasperated sighs from the kitchen. I finally did quit when I started feeling crampy and exhausted.

I must have been nesting because Friday morning, even though I still wasn't feeling good I swept, mopped, did laundry and cleaned bathrooms. By then however I knew I had to be done. The cramps were feeling more like contractions and I sometimes had to stop whatever I was doing to wait until it passed. I knew I had over did it so I confined myself to the couch as much as I could with two kids and did nothing except drive to the park later that evening and sat down while the kids played. The "cramps" however would not go away and they hurt! Finally that night after the kids were in bed I gave in and told Alex that it felt like I was having contractions...and that they had consistently been coming every 2-4 minutes nearly all day. Although I defiantly told him all I needed was a good nights rest and I'd be fine he dialed the doctor's office and handed me the phone threatening to call his buddies on the fire department to come help him wrangle me to the hospital if I didn't comply. Fine!

The lady said she'd have the on call doctor call me back. An hour later there was no call and I went to bed. I was awakened at 11:30 by a call from Dr. Ott (who happens to be my doctor). I told him what was going on and that even though I was able to sleep through them I was still having contractions. He told me to head to the hospital. "Right now? As in...tonight?" Yep. So after calling Alex's mom to come sit with the kids we got to the hospital at midnight. They hooked me up to the monitor and sure enough I was having contractions and my cervix was thinning. (Yes Alex, my overprotective husband was right and his stubborn wife was not. Thank you honey!) We were forgotten for a couple of hours while two babies were born, but then a little after 2:00 they gave me something to stop the contractions and sent me home. By 3:30 the contractions did stop and I finally went to bed.

The next day Dr. Ott called again informing me that according to the urine sample I had some small kidney stones that apparently are a common cause of pre-term labor. He ordered lots of fluids and bed rest for the day and as long as the contractions didn't return and I took it easy I wouldn't have to come back in on Sunday to get checked out again. Mrs. Macho here decided to do as she was told. Well....almost. I did after all have a concert that night. Don't worry, the kids spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa and I slept and vegged all day until it was time to get ready for the concert. It went great too!

Ever since then, even something as small as sweeping the floor (a daily must in my house) making dinner and carrying Allie around for a minute gives me cramps. I might go crazy doing nothing, but having a baby 8 weeks early is not exactly an option I want to deal with. With that being said, anyone read any good books? I'm going to need something to keep me occupied and off my feet.

We had lots of fun this last weekend when my brother and his family (wife and two daughters ages 3 and 7 mo.) decided to come for a visit on the spur of the moment. They live in Ogden and we haven't seen them since Thanksgiving. Unfortunately my camera batteries were dead and so I didn't get any pictures :( but my sister in law got a ton so hopefully she'll send me some.

My sister, her husband and little 1 year old daughter who live in Hurricane were over everyday to hang out too so the house was constantly filled with people and noise! It was so fun and great for the kids to get to play with their cousins. And the weather has been so beautiful that it made it that much better.

I wish all my family lived close by so we could hang out like that more often. It so happened that same weekend that I had been asked to sing in Sacrament meeting too. Needless to say it has taken me a couple days to recuperate. That is one thing about pregnancy number three that I am not liking at all. I have zero energy! But not just that, there is a definite limit and if I push past that I will have lots of braxton hicks for days after. But not just normal braxton hicks either, like I feel like this baby could fall out any minute...and I still have 9 weeks to go!

Tell me someone else on their third felt this drained and useless too.

Okay I really have nothing to complain about. I'm not on bed rest or anything and am still going to be able to perform in a free concert this Saturday at the Good Shepherd Presbyterian church. It's just me and two other girls - The Three Sopranos. Though with this pregnancy I can't always claim to be a soprano. Some days I'm more like a tenor! I saw stars after singing last week in church so hopefully I'll be able to get through my three songs without passing out on stage. This is a free concert after all. You gotta pay to see me do that! If anyone is interested in coming please do, the other two performers, Stephanie Lister and Melissa Humphries are both amazing.

Just some fun stuff!

Alright so here I am at almost 28 weeks. If you can't tell from the last time I posted a belly picture, we've hit a growth spurt. I hate to admit it but the rubber band through the button hole no longer works for my old jeans and I've had to resort to maternity or stretchy pants. And this girl is a busy one. She's getting big enough now that every time she stretches you can see my stomach bulge or if she kicks my whole tummy jumps. I love it!

Today we went to the library and got a grocery sack full of books then headed to the park. They love the swings and usually we spend all our time there, but today I managed to steer them to the slides and low and behold they had a blast. Isn't this girl so beautiful?!

Handsome boy!

This was as far as Tate got on going down this thing. He has a terrible fear of heights and he worked himself up four or five times to go down, but could never get up the nerve. At least he tried. Funny kid!

The other day Allie asked me "Mommy, where is winter?" I told her it was winter right now and Tate responded by saying "Well then where's the snow?" Good old St. George. January and we are outside playing at the park.

A Tribute to Oscar the pug

Yesterday we had to do one of the hardest things. We had to put down our Oscar. He was only 6 years old (42 in doggy years) but was very sick. About three years ago while up at our cabin Oscar had swallowed a fish hook disguised with Velveeta cheese. It had snagged deep in his esophagus and we were prepared to put him down then since we couldn't pay the $2500 for the surgery to remove and fix it. But to our surprise an anonymous philanthropist dog lover offered to pay for it. After the surgery, however Oscar developed what the vet thought was food allergies. He started itching and losing his hair and just continued to get worse. We lived in housing where dogs were not allowed during most of this, but Alex's parents had taken Oscar in. We tried medication after medication and during this last year he grew exceptionally worse. We moved and were able to take him back these last 5 months and it broke my heart to see him. He would stay in bed all day except to reluctantly eat his food and go outside. In the last month he got so bad that if I didn't give him a shower every single day his chest and belly which was hairless would get a blackish brown slim on it and he would itch until he bled, to say nothing of the smell. Finally I took him to the vet again and the vet told us that there was nothing else she could give him. He was immune to all traditional medications. She assumed that he had gotten a staff infection during his surgery three years previous and it had wreaked havoc on his system. We tried to find another philanthropist group that would donate money to help him, but they also agreed with the vet that the chances of him recovering was just too slim.

It was a rainy day, which adequately reflected our feelings yesterday. I made it into the building, but had to let Alex take it from there while I sat in the car. When we told the kids that Oscar was too sick and couldn't get better and that he had died. Tate asked a lot of questions. I assured him that Heavenly Father has a special place in heaven for animals especially good dogs like Oscar. He nodded in understanding, but other than that didn't show much emotion. Allie happily exclaimed that Oscar was happy now and that he didn't itch or feel sick anymore.

It wasn't until Tate saw Oscar's empty bed in his room that he really understood and broke down crying saying over and over again "I want Oscar". It was a horrible day, but Allie was right. Oscar is happy now and feeling much better.

Tate misses his best buddy, Alex and I miss my first baby, and Allie misses her puppy. He was a big part of mine and Alex's life since we've been married and he will always be part of our family.

Love you pug a lug.