Dinosaurs Can Be Scary

Eli has recently realized he's scared of some things. You can tell he's scared of something when he starts chanting, "No? No? No?" and slowly backing away from frightening object.

I got to hear a lot of Eli's unsure "No"s when we went to the Dinosaur Museum with Leslie and Izzy. Maybe oversized dinos and big teeth weren't quite age appropriate. But I'll tell you what, the frightening prehistoric time sure kept Eli wanting to stay right next to me or remain in the safe haven of his stroller.  I felt like I was on vacation with my scared-into-being-well-behaved toddler.

Well. He was mostly well-behaved. I was too busy taking pictures to read the sign Eli was climbing on after he warmed up to the dinosaurs.

Mostly Eli and Izzy loved the part where they could throw toy dinosaurs around in watery sand.

We loved watching the difference between boys and girls. Eli was trudging around like he owned the place, launching dinosaurs to see how big of a splash he could make and digging into the sand. Izzy didn't like getting dirty as much, she was more interested in the kids around her than the mess of the water and sand and she wiggled her little hips when she walked.

We managed to lure them away from the sand and told them to tickle this dinosaur for an adorable picture.

Then Eli noticed Leslie needed help pushing her stroller, so he jumped right in to lend a hand.

It was a successful outing and always good to see Leslie. Even if the first thing she said to me was, "Wow! You're big!" I forgive you, Leslie. At least you didn't call me an elephant this time around.

We got home to find Eli's new dinosaur pajamas had arrived in the mail! He was super excited to put them on. I was relieved to see our outing didn't give him a dinosaur complex.

Killing Time

 

I got my pregnancy to-do list done a touch too early. Because now I've had mini stress attacks each morning as I try to come up with a productive, baby preparing way to spend my day. For some reason my "preparations" usually involve baking some kind of cookie and shoving them in my freezer. You know, because it's so necessary to be stocked on cookies when you have a newborn. Even though I realize I'm being irrational in my cookie hoarding, the freezer remains full of sweet treats that probably won't even last until the middle of April.

I ran out of hand-me-downs for Eli and I've been forced into buying him a summer wardrobe. Complete with adorable little flip-flops that he wouldn't let us take off until just before bedtime. What could get me more excited for #2 than to spend an afternoon (or four) staring at darling little boy clothes?

I've started experimenting with my hair. The last time I tried this hairstyle Jeff confirmed what I had feared after wearing the hairstyle all day -- I looked like a Polygamist. This time around turned out significantly less poufy and I actually kind of liked it. Thank you, #2 for staying put long enough for me to master the ever popular polygamist-esque twist on my hair.

I've kind of lost my crafting bug in the last month because I get so tired after Eli goes to bed and I can't really craft when Eli's awake. But when I saw how cute everyone's flower clips turned out at Girly Girl Weekend, I dedicated one of Eli's nap times to finishing mine. Love it!

If you thought my Green Smoothie drinking was hippie-ish, just wait until you see what I'm whipping up now. I've started crock potting whole chickens to freeze the meat and then make chicken broth with the juices. I haven't calculated whether or not I actually save money doing this, but I get about 3 cups of chicken and 4-5 cups of broth for a $5 chicken. That's pretty good, right?

Let's not tell Jeff that the first two times I did this I may have been oblivious of the need to remove the giblets from the chicken. So yeah, I'm pretty sure those innards got mixed in with everything. Oh well. A chicken heart never hurt anybody, right? And I probably got a whole extra cup of cooked "meat" those first two times!

Hippie Sarah #2 - Homemade laundry detergent. Yup. I buckled down last month and started collecting milk cartons so I could whip up the 10-gallon recipe of homemade laundry soap. It cost me less than $5 to make 10 gallons of detergent. Don't mind if I do!

After a mere week of waiting for baby to arrive, I have cookies in my freezer, a new hairstyle to sport during labor, an adorably dressed toddler, my one new accessory for the year, chicken broth and chicken to help Jeff cook for me post baby, a year's worth of laundry detergent and still three more weeks to go.

Preparing for Change

I feel kind of bad for Eli. His whole life is about to change and he has no idea what's coming.

Jeff has to remind me that Eli's life is changing for the better, but I still wish his little brain could somewhat grasp the concept of what he'll view as an invader in a few weeks.

In the meantime, I've been spending quality time with him and cherishing how easy I have it with just one little rascal.

 

Because Jeff also reminded me that my life is going to be changing a lot with the new baby. And I realized I might have been taking Eli's four hour naps for granted. And I haven't fully appreciated sleeping through the night for the last year. And I had a bit of an anxiety attack last night when I tried to envision grocery shopping with two kids.

I'm excited to meet the new baby and I'm anxious to see how we all adjust to being a family of four -- even if that means I won't be leaving the house alone for a few months. I can't believe the end is so close! Wish me luck and make your predictions on baby's arrival date!

36 Weeks and Feeling It

I now have 36 weeks of pregnancy under my belt. Quite literally. I'm feeling huge. Like all eyes on me at the grocery store huge. Like people jump out of my way when I'm headed towards a bathroom or a piece of food huge. Like starting to waddle huge.

I don't remember being horribly uncomfortable with Eli, but I think I just managed to forget the constant discomfort of month 9. If I walk more than 20 minutes I get a pinched nerve in my leg. I retain water in the evenings and find myself waking up in a pool of sweat every morning. The heartburn has become an all day thing. My belly button is unrecognizable. Braxton Hicks are in full swing. My bladder is doubling as a punching bag. I can't breathe. I can't bend over. And worst of all, Eli can barely fit on my lap for bedtime stories.

So you'd think I'd be excited when the doctor told me I was dilated to a two today. A two, folks. I cringed and said, "Oh no!! I can't have this baby early!" And then she smiled and said, "He's going to come when he's going to come."

No one has much faith I'll make it to the 17th. Hang in there, little guy. As uncomfortable as I am, I'll deal with the swollen feet if it means your father will be there for your birth.

My Weekend Away

We spent the weekend in Southern Utah for the Third Annual Excell Girly Girl Weekend!! Eli made goofy faces at us before he fell asleep in the car.

After he was asleep, he would sporadically wake up to yell, "Grandpa truck!" and then fall asleep again. He was very excited to spend the weekend with the guys.

I was especially excited about this Girly Girl Weekend because it was my first Girly Girl without a (born) baby. Laura was so sweet to plan this year's get together just before #2 is born so I could fully enjoy the Girls' Weekend experience. Nevermind that Tana and Laura had to bring their babies on my behalf. I enjoyed the freedom.

After I kissed Jeff and Eli goodbye and sprinted out the door, we made our way down to St. George. We went to the house to get set up and proved we are smart enough to assemble things without our husbands around...even if it took a couple tries before coming together.

Then we went to Kneaders for sandwiches and smoothies. This is where I tried to squish between two occupied chairs and may have severely underestimated the size of my belly. I am pretty sure the man whose head my belly grazed against was too busy eating his lunch to realize I was trying my hardest to gracefully unwedge myself from behind his chair. But unfortunately all the Excell girls saw. And I guess it was a sight to see.

After lunch we went to some historical sites in St. George. First stop was the Jacob Hamblin home. A part of me wondered if at first glance people thought we were a bunch of sister wives -- especially with my belly and the two babies we were lugging around. But what cute sister wives we were.

Next we went to Brigham Young's winter home.

We wore out the babies in the midst of our touring.

We met up with Mary's parents for a few minutes as we enjoyed the beautiful St. George weather. This is where I was called the paparazzi.

After our cultural enlightenment, we went back home so Laura could cook us up some pizza.

Do you know homemade pizza is just about one of my favorite foods right now?

Especially when it's made with Alfredo sauce. Yum, yum!

Mary and Coleman waiting for the pizza to bake.

Chicken Avocado Alfredo Pizza (cooked on a pizza stone, Becky). Couldn't have bought a better combo.

After dinner I took full advantage of my childless night. Laura got out a craft, but my pregnant state doesn't give me much energy past 6:00, so I kicked my legs up and soaked up the lovely feeling of not having to do anything at all. It was wonderful.

The next day was St. Patty's Day. You can't throw a bunch of women together on St. Patty's Day and expect the holiday to go unnoticed. We made the most of it by dying our waffles green, whipping up a green smoothie, and eating with Irish music filling the kitchen. (Mary is sporting her craft from the night before, the flower broach/hair accessory.)

I made my now famous spinach smoothie and everyone at least pretended to like it.

Breakfast was followed by games and pedicures.

So maybe I have a lot of lazy times when I'm with child because I could have easily taken a better picture of the pedicures in action, but I once again refused to move from the couch.

We ate a delicious cauliflower soup for lunch and then we decided it was time to relieve our husbands of their weekend with the children.

I will neither confirm nor deny whether it took me five minutes and a few tears to get out of the car and face motherhood once again after my two-day break. But I will confirm that once Eli and his rosy cheeks ran out to greet me, I realized how much I had missed him. Then I realized how awesome of a dad Jeff must be because Eli didn't seem to have missed me all that much. In fact, he wasn't really even running to greet me, but rather escaping to the garage so he could steal a look at grandpa's truck. Oh well.

I had such a fun time and I'm grateful to have awesome in-laws. Until next year girly girls!

That One Time I Called Poison Control (Again)

Here's a riddle for you: what do you get when you cross a sick, delirious mother with a mischievous little toddler?

Another call to poison control. We've got a pretty sad track record over here.

It all started with an overly exhausting visit to the mall with my mom. There's something about trying to eat while ignoring all the stares at my screaming baby from fellow food courters that really takes it out of me. In an effort to silence Eli for a few minutes so we could eat, my mom got the brilliant idea to buy Eli an apple juice. He was so happy for the three minutes it took him to guzzle his drink. Then he screamed for more juice all the way home.

After putting Eli down for his nap, I sat on the couch and stared at the kitchen, wishing I could teleport myself five feet to make the brownies I planned to serve at pack meeting the next day. Just as I was blaming my fatigue on pregnancy, the craziest thing happened -- I gagged at the thought of making brownies. I began to fear my achy body was suffering from more than just pregnancy woes.

I suffered through the grueling process of mixing eggs into a cake mix as the aroma of brownies left a lump in my throat. Meanwhile, all of my muscles became sore, creepy crawlies invaded and my forehead rose to such temperatures it could have been used as a second oven.

With my treat finally made, I collapsed on the couch to simultaneously shiver and roast. After a half hour to recover, Eli was up from his nap being clingy and refusing to eat or play. I figured he was feeling the same way I was so I got up to get him some medicine.

It must have been the result of lying down for a while and then getting up that made me realize how badly I needed to go to the bathroom as I was giving Eli his dose of Tylenol. I put the bottle on the kitchen counter with the syringe next to it to remind me to wash the syringe off before putting everything away. Then I waddled to the bathroom.

When you're eight months pregnant, you get pretty efficient at bathroom breaks. Which is why it was so shocking to come out of the bathroom and find that in 30 seconds Eli had managed to slurp down a full ounce of Tylenol as if it was a juice box. And if you remember our lunch, you know that my kid can slurp juice pretty quick.

I screamed. Eli threw the Tylenol. It sprayed everywhere. I yelled, "Where's my phone?!?" as if Eli was going to answer me. But then I found it on my own.

I ran to the kitchen, disappointed to already be calling poison control for the second time in my life since my one child isn't even two yet. The lady on the phone was super sweet and nonjudgemental. I answered her questions as clearly as I could in my frazzled, fevered state.

After a series of detailed questions, and my child's fate resting in the diagnosis of a sweet lady at poison control, she said, "Well, the thing about Acetaminophen is that when there's an overdose, there aren't really any symptoms to let you know something's wrong. The liver just shuts down and it happens fast. But I think your little guy is going to be just fine."

She then proceeded to tell me that he would have had to have ingested two ounces before they would worry about it. Whew?

I stared at Eli for the next hour and engrained every moment into my memory -- thinking they could be my last moments with him. Because after I hung up the phone, the only thing I could remember her saying was that my child may drop dead from liver failure without warning.

Eli spent the hour happier than he had been all day. After all, he finally got that second serving of "juice" he'd been asking for since lunch.

The poison control lady eventually called back to assure me everything was going to be okay. I finally took her word for it and took a breath for the first time since the overdose.

Let's hope that's the last call I have to make to my good friends over at poison control. But just to be safe, I think I'll keep their number on my fridge for a few more years.

Eli's New House

Do you know that Baby Number 2 (he-who-is-not-yet-named) is almost here? Reality of a soon to be newborn in our home once again struck when our double stroller arrived last week. It also struck tonight when I said, "Come to dinner, boys!" and I envisioned how many more times I'll get to say that in my life.

Here's a picture of me in all my pregnant glory. I won't even tell you how many outfits I tried on this morning before sighing and dubbing this my best option.

 

Jeff couldn't resist turning the huge box our new stroller came in into a little fort for Eli. I think I'm going to have an easy week this week if that box continues to keep Eli as happy as it did today.

 

Before long Eli's new house even had windows and a swinging door. He thought it was pretty awesome.

In an effort to cherish the last few weeks I have with just Eli, I wanted to get a video of him doing some of his latest tricks. I discovered this weekend that Eli knows all his body parts and animal sounds! So here he is showing off with crazy post-nap hair.

Big Tease

Every year March fools me when it gets warm enough for me to believe Spring might actually come. Today was one of those days. Eli and I fully enjoyed the three hours we spent outside in the almost Spring weather today.

Maybe Eli uses our garden as a sandbox when crops aren't in bloom. And maybe while he's there he finds crops that never fully bloomed.

And maybe Eli still always has tears coming out of his eyes even when he's not crying. Had my computer not been used as a urinal last week, I could have edited the tears out of this cute picture.

Throwing poor man's sand into the air and loving it:

Then I tried to take a picture of both of us. Eli didn't think that was such a great idea.

He got over it.

March, I wouldn't mind too much if you kept this up for a while.