September's miracles, october conference

 Well, I almost didn't think this month would come. October really is my favorite time of year but somehow I kept thinking that I might just be pregnant forever, Mesa will always be so hot, and I am doomed to continual sweatiness. But, the weather is changing, the air isn't constantly on, and the mornings and nights are actually feeling nice outside! We spend the evenings int he backyard or going on walks and it isn't too bad. I wouldn't say it is cool yet- but definitely not as hot.

I am 35 weeks now. I have had some really bad hip and lower back pain lately. It leads to lots of contractions and just overall feeling of "ugh". But, I can't seem to find too many things that make it better. I am actually not even wanting to go to the doctor about it- trying to skip appointments to make this pregnancy go by faster! Ha ha. dumb, but effective! I will say though that it has totally motivated me to get my body back into shape after this baby. :) I loved this past conference talk this weekend where the guy basically said "are you uncomfortable in your own body? can you do something about it? Then...do it!"

Conference weekend was great. We haven't had James home for the whole weekend in a really long time and they boys never left him alone.  The kids seem to just play quietly and I laid down A LOT which actually really helped my back cramps. Maybe that's the solution.... lay down :). It seemed like all our family were out of town, and it was just us. Which made for a boring priesthood session night. But, I loved that the kids were asleep by 7:30 and I just read. Nerdy, but wonderful. James went with the Brown boys out to eat and then to watch the ASU football game. As for conference, I felt impressed too:

- Don't get 1st and 2nd commandment confused-- put God before others - Story of man who refused to work: aid is there but if we don't step up and take it- we feel total despair- God wants to help us but it is our responsibility to get up and work- so he has something g to help us with. He does not wait until we have reached a certain level of goodness - his help is available now. But we have to trust it is there. 

6 tips to raise spiritual confidence

1- take responsibility for own spiritual wellbeing 2- take responsibility for physical body - if you are uncomfortable in own body- do something about it- it deserves for you to be master of house3- embrace obedience- wholeheartedly "when I do good, I feel good" Lincoln4- repent quickly - 24/7 5- become really really good at forgiving all men all the time6- accept trials and setbacks as just part of mortal experience 

-Acknowledge and face weaknesses but don't allow them to immobilize you - they will be with you your whole life-Need peace?        Make time to pray everyday- share even mundane details - family prayer is non negotiable       Choosing to read scriptures  is more important than anything else- rearrange priorities         Schedule fhe       Don't let anything prevent you from going to the temple        The more we do this- the more satan will want to harm us but his ability to do so is lessened 

-How can we avoid errors in personal decision making? -recognize God doesn't want us to just live,exist and die. He wants us to do something greater 

Another favorite moment of conference was when I was changing dallin's diaper. I asked Dallin how such a tiny amount of poop could smell so bad? I mentioned to Tommie that it looked like a little squirt of toothpaste, but smelled so bad. Jackson over heard and said "toot - paste? Sick mom!" Ha, that's become a new phrase... "just a little bit of toot paste". We keep laughing about it. 

Dallin has quite the hair lately. I can not get it to stay down. I snapped a few of these pictures during a session. What crazy adorable little boys I have!  :) 

I really feel a miracle has happened. We had a $7000 bill from the emergency room visit with Tommie's first skull fracture. I had fought insurance companies to get coverage, been told they would pay a portion, but the bill kept coming back in full. I was getting so frustrated and feeling like there was now ay to pay off those, the other doctor's bills, the baby, and everything that kept breaking :).  A few weeks ago on a friday we got an official notice that insurance denied the claim and it was now our full responsibility and payments needed to begin. James came home from work that friday, frustrated with a few problems he was trying to handle at work and I decided I just couldn't tell him about it. He found the letter anyways and we kind of had a depressing weekend thinking about how to pay for everything. Well, monday morning I called down to set up some payment options with the hospital. The lady told me my account had been paid in full. I couldn't believe it. Some, anonymous donor, looks for people who's insurance denies the claim and then offers to cover it all. I just went quiet not he phone thinking about how incredible. All too often we think we know the way the Lord could answer our prayers. For me, this was for insurance to cover some of the bill. I felt frustrated that prayer of mine wasn't answered. But, Heavenly Father had an even better idea! :) And, somewhere in arizona, is some charity that I have no way to thank or know who it is. Incredible huh? Talk about a great reminder that Heavenly Father knows ME, personally, and all my problems and cares. Now, we can just focus on the smaller bills and that means, that I think the Yukon will be fixed within a month too. SO grateful. I will love having a car to fit all my kids :) 

Our fridge and dishwasher broke again in the past few weeks. Talk about frustrating! I couldn't handle life with no fridge-- how do some people do it? We ate way too many peanut butter sandwiches and crackers.  And the dishwasher, right before the repair guy came, it just started working again. Incredible huh?

Can't forget free krispy kreme day. If you dressed like a pirate, you got a whole free dozen donuts. Kids loved it and ya, we just sat in the store and ate donuts with shaela and her kids (and some friends) :)  Did I mention Shaela announced she's pregnant again too?

This week is October break. No school for Jackson and I'm afraid I am going to be SOO boring to him :) But, I am excited to have another week of not too much going on.  Jackson also had some bad cavities - ok 9 - that we took care of this past 2 weeks. It made for 2 really long appointments for him, with lots of laughing gas and pain, but one silver tooth and 8 cavities later -- he's a new boy! I was impressed with how brave he was!

And, look how handsome he is! Love his kindergarten pictures this year!  I went to my first parent teacher conference and Mrs. Jankunas had nothing but positives to say about Jackson. She says he is so smart, and way past kindergarten level. But, she said he is also the one that answers all the questions and helps everyone. I was glad to hear he was a rule follower, and not a rule breaker. :) 

Happy birthday Dallin!

Today my little dallin is one! His walking is impressive- falls a lot but never seems to get frustrated. He has brought so much peace to my life. Ever since he has been little, I can not hold him and be upset. He just calms me down.  He still doesn't always sleep through the night, and hates laying in his bed when he's awake. That leads to lots of rocking and snuggling, but I love him anyways. Some how we ended up with a pink cake for his birthday! I let Jackson convince me to get strawberry cake with strawberry frosting. And not once did I stop and think that it would be pink. :) Ha ha. But, who cares. No one really likes cake in this house anyways. We always throw 2/3 of it away. 

Another hot pregnant week down! I finished painting the front room- thanks to Becca's help. She was so sweet to come spend the whole day with me. She brought bread from the bakery, lunch (spinach salad with grilled chicken), and a whole pan of enchiladas for dinner. Wow! Not only that, but she spent the whole day painting my walls, and just talking to me. SO wonderful! I really did need her help to get up on the ladder, do the edges, etc. It took that day and another afternoon and I am finally done. I was sure tired afterwards with weird back pain, but I really love the way front room turned out. And so nice that the reminder of the moldy walls is now completely gone! :)

Jackson has discovered that the phonograms combine to make words this week. He is so into writing and reading, and figuring out what makes the words. I am impressed he is so smart and will lay in bed thinking of how to combine words.

A neighbor let Tommie borrow a little balance bike this week. He is loving walking that thing around. Even through the house. Been fun to watch him just be so excited about it. He hasn't been sleeping good because he coughs a lot. It gets so hard to have him up wandering around the house, waking up Dallin, etc. We have had some long nights lately, but oh well- preparation for what's coming.

Dallin is trying to take off walking. He took his first steps and now is trying to walk off anything. So cute to see him clapping for every time he finishes. I can't believe he turns one this week. What a sweet boy.

James had the busiest weekend. He took on a little side job of cleaning out a parking lot from the flooding (last week's crazy storm). Nice little bit of cash but sure took a whole entire weekend with his lawns too. I was impressed that he still came home so late friday night and mowed our lawns. Then, after getting home late saturday, he wanted to make swords for the boys out of palm frond sticks and then took me out to dinner and bahama bucks. He was so tired yesterday. Poor guy. He works so hard. I am so lucky he takes his role to provide seriously.

Drunk Tommie

This week little Tommie managed to drink a whole bottle of Benadryl. I had just gone into my room to make my bed, came out, and discovered that a bottle of benadryl was gone and his face was covered in the stuff. At the time, I had no clue where it came from or how much he had actually had. Turns out, Adam Brown had left the bottle on the counter, lid not on all the way, when he had been over the night before. (I finally figured this out when he came to get the bottle back for his sick daughter!) But, I called poison control and they agreed to monitor his symptoms with me, even though they suggested I just take him to the emergency room. I tried to explain he poor kid has kind of had a lot going on lately and they agreed to call back every 45 minutes or so. Well, normally, benadryl doesn't really affect Tommie. It sure doesn't help him go to sleep, but doesn't make him wired either. Sure enough, he started acting way weird. Crying, running into walls, and eyes open so wide. We decided just to let it work its way out of his system. But, he couldn't sleep all day. He looked so tired, but just sat glazed all day. My normally way hyper, talk-non-stop kid said NOTHING all day. Not even no. It was so strange. Luckily he finally went to bed that night and woke up incredible hyper the next day, yelling over and over- so we decided he was feeling better. Ha! what a crazy thing. 

Dallin is cutting his other front tooth and not sleeping well. That's making me a little more tired lately. But, he can officially climb out of his crib, up on the fireplace, and out of the bathtub now. Guess that means i need to watch him a little more carefully. :) 

I had another doctor's appointment. I can't believe it's time for every 2 week appointments all ready. The good news is- my iron levels are finally high. That's helped a lot with the fatigue I used to feel. I'm lucky I have been so healthy this pregnancy. Huge- but healthy.

James is especially happy that we have cable this year to watch the BYU football games. Somehow he gets the boys excited to dress up in "sports" clothes and sit around for 4 hours. AMAZING. :) But, Nate and Andrea's family joined us for this last game and we had a good time just talking and eating salsa con queso. :) 

Today it is pouring rain. Our back yard is totally flooded. Supposedly it's the most rain the state of AZ has ever gotten in one day. Even the 60 closed down for flooding. crazy. But, that didn't stop the boys from spending the morning in the back yard. Our tiny plastic pool would float like a boat- even with them in it, and they thought that was just so awesome. Dallin couldn't crawl well on the wet cement and kept falling face first into the puddles. Luckily he thought that was funny and laughed and laughed for the first hour. 

New family picture, Matt already gone, labor day

There it is- the most recent picture of our family of 5. This was with all of James' family at the cabin. I asked the photographer to just snap a few of just our little family. Honestly, I hate pregnant pictures, and first thought, what's the point? the new baby will be here in a few months anyways. But, then, it hit me, why wouldn't I want to capture just this moment in time? This year of my life has been crazy- and stressful- but I am the happiest I have ever been. And, I love this picture of all the boys. They are so sweet- each one- including James.  Life changes REALLY fast. 

Well, 24 hours after Matt got here, he was already headed back to Columbia. It turns out his cysts weren't as bad as the Columbian doctor thought, and he was given medical approval to go back. So, we had a monday night homecoming party- hamburgers and swimming. Then, a Tuesday night farewell party- columbian restaurant and celebrate Macey's birthday at Shaela's. And, then he was back on his mission. Ha! What a crazy thing for him. But, it was fun to see him and realize how much we miss him. 

Jackson fell of the slide at school and hit his head on the metal bars on the way down. He spent a good hour at the nurse's office and had a pretty big bump on his head. It made me smile as he told me how nice the nurse was, with the ice pack - made me realize I should be better at paying attention to my kids wounds :). I suspect there will be many more injuries at school. 

James spoke in church on sunday, with Mansi. His talk was on gratitude and it was the first talk he didn't read off the paper. I was impressed he shared so many personal experiences and said that he has learned he can't really love or feel charity - if he doesn't feel grateful. He even spent a good minute or so on all the things he's grateful for that I have done for him lately. So sweet.  Jackson also had a talk in primary, on family recreation, and didn't want any help. He is so confident in front of people and makes everyone laugh with his little jokes he comes up with. So proud of him too! 

James has been extra busy lately. He worked all day saturday and with a few night meetings last week, the kids were totally wanting just him. Luckily, yesterday was Labor day and we had him all to ourselves. He was so patient as all the boys wanted to do was just follow him around. :) We had brad and julie and Thomas and Carrie Brown over for some smoked chicken and "just dance" on the Wii. Brad of course entertained us all. 

There was no dancing for me. I have some lower back pain lately that really hurts my hips. I feel like an old lady. I always wondered why some pregnant ladies walked so weird- and now i know! :) I actually fell in the pool trying to catch Dallin who fell in. I landed on the steps pretty hard and hit my head on the deck. I think that may have thrown some things out of alignment. But, it sure has bothered me lately. I really feel like this 3rd pregnancy in a row is actually REALLY hard. I try to joke it off as I'm just getting old and fat- but really- I have never been so uncomfortable at just 30 weeks.