Blasphemy

Carson likes to sit down and read the scriptures. If he has the regular Book of Mormon, he will usually use biblical lingo while making up verse after verse. When reading the illustrated and abridged version his "reading" gets a little more...imaginative...cough cough.
We have been wanting to capture this for quite a while so tonight I finally whipped open the computer and typed while he talked. This was tonight's sampling:

"He knows how to teach the children. We didn’t know just what to do. We just love one another. The crucify man he thought he didn’t want some milk. He wanted bad guy water. He wanted the arrow. Would crucify Jesus. Jesus thought he would be really sad he didn’t know what to do He was just sitting on the cross. And he just knows what to do. The Lord, Jesus, He came crucified. The Lord, He gave the people some yummy coffee. He wanted some fruit snacks, not coffee. He wanted some milk. Because he wanted milk because it’s good for him. He wanted to see the Lord."

You can probably tell he was reading the illustrated copy by what he said. It is also laced with conversations we have been having lately. Carson is very intrigued by some of the things our neighbors do and we have tried to explain principles to him without getting ourselves in too much trouble. For example, our next door neighbor (male) wears earrings, has long hair, and drinks coffee. We have tried explaining that only mommy wears earrings and that it's best if boys don't have them. That goes for the long hair as well. We've also explained that coffee isn't good for us and we shouldn't drink it, but "O" (the neighbor), might not know better so we should be good examples.

Our neighbor across the street smokes. Carson will stand out on the front porch with his little belly thrust out, jam a finger up his nose, and stare across the street with that piercing gaze of his and yell, "Mommy!" (without breaking the stare) "Chris is smoking!! He shouldn't be smoking, mommy!" It is always painfully awkward.

On the flip side, Carson likes to know the nutritional benefit of whatever he may be consuming at the time. (The kid is smart!) Thus..."he wanted milk."

Proud Parents

We think all of our kids are pretty special. Today we captured a few shots with Brooks. He is currently just under 2.5 months. We wanted to show his awesome hair that we get comments on quite a bit. I affectionately refer to it as "Kramer Hair".

A pair of good looking boys if I do say so myself!

Burying our swords...Literally

For FHE this last Monday we taught the boys about the Anti-Nephi-Lehites. At this stage our goal was to drive home the most basic lesson taken from the story...to stop fighting. We then made paper swords and went in the backyard to bury them....


...the very next morning Carson retrieved the shovel and proceeded to "unbury" the swords. The usual chaos ensued...

at least we tried.

Love Hate Relationship

Drake has a hitting problem. HELP?! The other day he kept hitting Carson and while Carson was ok, he was tired and his feelings were hurt. He burst out in tears. After a combination of a gentle scolding and being surprised by Carson's reaction; Drake couldn't contain his own sorrow. I urged him give Carson a hug and apologize. He wrapped his little arms around Carson's waist, laid his head on his chest and just sobbed for a good few minutes. Carson graciously stood there while Drake soothed himself...I stifled laughter and grabbed the camera :).

Brooks' 2 Month Appointment

This kid is adorable! AND he has a slew of problems. Stink.

Height: 24''
Weight: 12 lbs 6 oz
Head: 16 1/4''

He has a pretty serious case of dry skin. He has some AWFUL baby acne...or so I thought until it wouldn't really go away. That is when I did a bit of investigating and had figured for myself it might be mild eczema. Turns out I was right. After talking with the doctor she looked at the few spots he had on his chest and told me I had it figured properly. I now need to step up from baby lotion to Hydrocortisone Cream.
The bigger problem is his head. He has what I call "Plate Tectonics" going on. One of the skull bones on the top of his head is "diving" under the mid suture line. He is pretty lopsided and the doctor didn't think anything of it at his 2 week appointment. "We'll take a look at it at 2 months" she said. "It should take care of itself". Sho' 'nuff it didn't. She wants me to do some little exercises with him and see if there is any improvement by his 4 months appointment. If there isn't she will refer us.
She thinks the reason he has this is because of how he was positioned in utero. All three of my boys have felt like they have been positioned the same to me. Drake came out with a lopsided head as well so the doctor is probably right. Drake's finally fixed itself entirely by about 18 months. Brooks also has a little Torticollis contributing to the problem. Either way, I hope we can fix this ourselves because to be perfectly frank, we don't have the money to take care of the problem but would have to because he is QUITE lopsided.
Otherwise, Brooks is happy and healthy. He continues to be a sweet baby and we love him dearly.

Belleview Park

We spent the morning at Belleview Park. Lots of fun.

Brooks is excited to be out of the carrier after three hours.

Who can resist a baby making a funny face?

Drake trying to pick up the sheep.

"Hall Aboard!" cries Carson.

Drake lies comatose in the swing, while Carson patiently waits his turn.

Two future pilots?

Carson dutifully smiling for the camera.

Carson's First FHE Lesson

Family Home Evening is sometimes a joke around here, as is scripture study, but I am proud to say that we never miss.
For scriptures we use the illustrated "cliff's notes" versions in order to survive the nightly torture...er... I mean...
Each family member chooses a picture and repeats the words for it as dictated by Dave or I. This process always involves any combination of the following by one or sometimes all of the family: screaming, crying, throwing objects, wrestling, seizure like convulsions, chasing, and always some sort of musical chairs or locations rather.
Today during lunch Carson kept singing the Primary Hymn, "The Lord Gave me a Temple". I took this (relatively quiet) opportunity to teach Carson and Drake a little bit, and Carson's first Family Home Evening Lesson was born. So even if nothing is gleaned tonight, we still internalized a little bit this afternoon.
Here is what Carson produced with only minor guidance:

Opening Song: "The Lord Gave me a Temple"
Opening Prayer: TBA
Lesson: My body is a temple. We want to keep our body clean and not messy. We can take care of our body by: going potty, running and getting exercise, eating good food like sandwiches, milk, hamburgers, and cheese, going to the doctor, and wearing modest clothes. Modest means to cover our body and not be naked anymore. Our bodies are a house for our spirit. It makes us feel happy when we take care of our bodies.
Scripture: Daddy will read 1 Corinthians 3: 16-17. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."
Closing Song: "The Lord Gave me a Temple"
Closing Prayer: TBA
Activity: playing baseball (because that is exercise and helps us take care of our bodies)

I am proud of my little guy and his desire to be a good boy.

Can you believe it's been 5 weeks already?!

Just look at this beautiful boy.

Brooks also has a bit of a clogged tear duct. Nothing like Carson's two that lasted for a year, but it still requires some minimal TLC.

I can't believe it's already been 5 weeks since our new little addition. In these past weeks life has still rolled forward, often gathering speed. Here are some pictures of the adventures.

Dave took Carson and Drake on the ward camp-out. What a wonderful daddy! Dave doesn't love camping and it probably didn't help that Drake woke up in the middle of the night screaming bloody murder and then proceeded to pee all over Dave.

Cute Carson "pumping" for all he's worth; trying to learn how to use a "big boy swing".

This is the last camping pic. Looks like a hard life...lounging in chairs sipping root beer hanging with your best bud...

Carson LOVES his new bike helmet and wears it often. Here he is displaying golf safety. He probably needs it considering both he and Drake are wielding real clubs.

I only have one dimple. Well, I kinda have two, but the one on the other side isn't much. Both Carson and Drake have two, huge, adorable dimples. Brooks is just like his momma. I love my dimpled little boys.

This picture makes me laugh. Drake plopped himself into this tiny little bin and played like this for quite a while. Looks comfy to me... (look at the way his poor little foot is smashed under his bum)

Oh, and I had a birthday. One year old and wiser too...

...zoom in and look at the candles if you can. Carson arranged them; he's a natural :).

Big Bottom Momma

I have goals. Lots and lots of them. After having a baby, I have some weight loss goals too. I want to document this to motivate myself and also to see if it really works like I've planned.
I can't believe I am going to do this, but whatev. Numbers are easier for me to follow.

Carson:
Pre-Pregnancy Weight - 159 lbs
Min Pregnancy Weight - 156
Max Pregnancy Weight - 190 lbs
Total Weight Gain - 31 lbs
*The first time I got on a scale after having Carson was around 4 or 5 months later. I had NO idea what it would say but was curious. Lo and behold, it read 153. I have no idea how long it took me to lose the weight, nor was I trying. Phew.

Drake:
Pre-Pregnancy Weight - 145 lbs
Min Pregnancy Weight - 143 lbs
Max Pregnancy Weight - 197 lbs
Total Weight Gain - 52 lbs
*The first time I got on a scale after Drake was around 8-9 weeks later (can't really remember). I was 166 fully clothed, in the middle of the day. I had just purchased a scale so I could see how I was doing, and was pleasantly surprised. I started working hard at that point to get the rest off and was down to 145 at exactly 4 months thanks to the stomach flu. I was grateful to shed the last few pounds, but had to FIGHT to keep up my milk supply for the 4 days I couldn't keep anything down. That was NOT fun.

Brooks:
Pre-Pregnancy Weight - 145 lbs
Min Pregnancy Weight - 145 lbs
Max Pregnancy Weight - 196 lbs (don't even get me started on this one. I went in at 39 weeks 2 days for an appointment and weighed 189 I think. I was DONE being pregnant at that point (even though I still had 6 days to go), so I started walking about 5 miles a day as opposed to my usual 2-3 hoping that the baby would come. My appetite decreased significantly at that point as well, I just wasn't feelin' too hot. SOMEHOW my weight managed to jump THAT much by my 40 week appointment. Do you know how many calories I would have to eat to put on so much weight in that time; on top of all that walking. 27,000 calories!! I am a big eater, but that is even impossible for me! Talk about adding insult to injury...)
Total Weight Gain - appx 45 lbs (I think this is an accurate number because this go-around I was weighing on two different scales which gave different readings. The low number is from the scale I like better because it tells me numbers I'd rather see, and the high number is from the scale that hates me :).

Here is my plan:
-No junk food
-No overeating
-Eat a lot of whole grains and a wide variety of fruits and veggies
-Exercise regularly
-Weigh in once a week, same day, same conditions
- Drink TONS of water

NOT part of my plan:
-Cutting calories (Hello! Can't do this! I am a nursing momma and think this is a bad idea. I am not even much a fan of cutting calories to lose weight anyway. I prefer to fill my "diet" with healthy food choices which, if done right, fill me up faster, better, and last longer, naturally cutting extra or unnecessary calories)
- Exercising too much (If you know me well, you know that I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE to exercise, and really really sweat and work hard. I love to get on a machine and see how many hundreds, or even thousands of calories I can burn in an hour! Once again, I want to keep a good, strong milk supply, so I am burning some calorie as I "work out", but am more aiming for a more efficient metabolism, and strengthening all my systems in order to be a healthy mommy.)

My specific goals are:
-To lose 1.5 pounds per week. (So far I have been as much as 2.4 pounds, and a little as 1.0 pound in a week, but I am averaging out nicely, so am right on track). I feel like 1.5 pounds per week for a body as large as mine is a-ok for a nursing mother. I know I could shed the weight faster, but don't feel it's a good idea for optimal health for me and the baby.
-Ultimately be back between 145 and 150
-Lose all the weight by October 1
-To not have to buy any new clothes. I want to fit into my pants when it gets chilly.

I should mention that all my weight is in my rear, hence the title of the post. My stomach never gets very big, even pregnant. If I were to put on 100 pounds, I would be one of the funky looking anomalies that has a tiny little waist and an ENORMOUS tush that you try and sneak a picture of because you haven't seen anyone look QUITE that odd. Because of this, all my shirts fit just fine; it's my pants that cause me all the grief.
Also, lest any of you think I am obsessive about this, I am not :). I LOVE a good challenge, and while I am sure my body would do what it has the previous two times (shed the weight fairly quickly, and without much thought or effort), it is fun for me to create an eating and exercise program for myself.
Lastly, one of my biggest motivations to lose weight is my knee. I actually feel really awesome at the weight I am at now (in the 160's), but losing another 20 pounds makes a HUGE difference on my poor little, arthritic, degenerating, weak left knee. I have had a few surgeons work on me, all of which have mentioned the need to stay thin for the sake of walking and being able to live life, especially as I age.
So there you have it. I have shared all my numbers with you and now I'm feeling naked!

Sah-Son

Is what Drake calls Carson. I wanted to document it because it's so stinkin' cute and I don't want to forget.
And, in the last few weeks Carson and Drake have begun to play really well with each other. So fun.