My BIG Baby

I took Spencer to his 2 month check up last week. The doctor informed me that he weighed 14lbs 11oz. WOW! I asked the doctor if I had the amazing growing baby. "No," he says. "He is perfectly normal for his birth weight." So Spencer is in the 95th percentile for height, weight and head size. He's perfectly proportional and almost sleeping through the night now. I put him down about 10:30pm and he sleeps until 4:30am. I am definitely not complaining about his size because I feel like it might be helping with his excellent sleeping pattern.

I promised more smiles

Here are a few more pictures of Spencer smiling. He is such a happy baby and smiles all the time now. I hardly have to do anything anymore. He entertains himself for long periods of time just cooing, talking and smiling.

Santa Pictures

Thought I would post some of the cute pictures taken of the kids with Santa.

That's Crazy Talk!

I am not lying. It really did snow in Houston yesterday. Here's the proof.

Baby Smiles!

It is official. Spencer started smiling on November the 25th. I have been making a fool of myself for weeks now trying to get him to smile. Well all the waiting and hard work finally paid off. Here's a half smile picture. I will post more soon.

I am so grateful...

For my family! I mean, look at them--are they great or what?

What a handsome man!

Two cute girls having fun in the shower.

My happy little baby.

Of course, I have not forgotten that everything I have comes from my Father in Heaven and my Savior Jesus Christ.

Happy Anniversary Baby!

Mark and I celebrated our sixth anniversary on Saturday. It has been a crazy six years--a bit like a roller coaster. We are working on year number seven now and my mom says it is the first seven years that are the most challenging. WooHoo! We've almost made it! I love you Babe!

How cute is she?

Avery's school pictures arrived finally. It is a fun thing to send your child off meticulously dressed on picture day and then see the results a few weeks later. Not bad if I do say so myself.

Absentminded

My brain is not functioning lately. I thought I was pretty absentminded when I was pregnant but it does not compare to the brain farts I am having now. Just within the last few weeks I forgot a whole box of diapers in the shopping cart. I forgot to send over a picture of Spencer for the ward newsletter. I missed the really great sale at Children's place because I forgot to place my order by the last night of the sale. Mark asked me to pick up some things for him at the grocery store and I forgot and returned home empty handed. I completely forgot about visiting teaching on Sunday. My poor companion ended up doing it all by herself. I forget to return phone calls. I left Avery on the toilet for at least 10 minutes because I forgot she called me and needed help. The list goes on and on. I have so many things that I cram into one day, I need more organization. Well, at least I haven't left my kids at the store or something really terrible.

Anyway, before I forget, I have some pictures to post and some catching up to do. Here is a recent picture of Spencer and his acne. He is getting so big so fast. I am sure he is at least 12 lbs by now.


Last week, we were invited to go to the zoo. I tossed around the pros and cons of making such a trip with three children and at the last minute, I decided to go. We all ended up having a blast. The weather was perfect and Spencer was content to sleep in the stroller the whole time. I got to socialize and get the girls away from television all at the same time. It was a win-win situation for all.





This is a random picture of Sarah showing off the huge scratch on her face curtosy of Avery. What about that hair?! I cannot wait till it grows out more.

Acne woes of a 1 month old

Spencer will be one month old in a few days. I can't believe how big he is getting already. He is getting too long for a lot of his 0-3 month clothes. In the last few weeks he has had lovely little pimple patches pop up all over his chubby face. The same thing happened with Avery but Sarah didn't have much of an acne problem at all. Oh well, it doesn't bother him and I think it's cute.

Halloween 2008

Halloween felt very long this year. We had our ward Trunk or Treat party the weekend before Halloween. Then, Avery's school had a costume parade last Thursday. The excitement of dressing the kids in their costumes had worn off by the time Halloween finally arrived. I must say, they did look pretty cute. Sarah wore Avery's old candy corn costume. I made Avery a tutu, bought the leotard, and threw together the rest of her ballerina costume together. Spencer did not get too dressed up. I bought a cute little onesie that said "Baby's first Halloween" and a cute little pumpkin hat. He spit up all over it before I could take any pictures. I'll have to dress him up again and post his cute little outfit. Spencer and I stayed home and handed out candy while Mark and the girls trick or treated. It was a fantastic first Halloween in our new home. I look forward to many more here.

My Handsome Boy

I am incredibly grateful for this good little boy that I have. I listen to him hiccup and watch him explore the world with his eyes and wonder what he will be like when he grows up. Right now, in the background, the girls are screaming and fighting. How long will I have until my sweet, calm baby is participating in all the craziness?

I can't believe it's been a week

Time goes by so quickly but feels so slow sometimes. Little Spencer is already a week old and I enjoy every precious moment with him. I am officially on my own during the day with three kids since Wednesday night. My mom was a huge help and I was able to survive those first days just sleeping, eating and taking care of baby. What a treat! It's over now and I am adjusting pretty well. I do have to battle with the baby blues every now and then. It is amazing how many tears one can shed because of hormones.

Avery started school this week and is loving it. I cannot believe she is growing up so quickly.



I am enjoying being able to spend those few hours that Avery is gone with Sarah. She is such an interesting and independent little girl.

The girls love their baby brother but I am super paranoid about them squashing him. He is just so small.

Spencer Abram Rhodes

So, because I always like to hear everyone's labor and delivery stories, I am going to share mine.

I went to the doctor on Tuesday last week and she informed me I was dilated to 4cm but because I was only 37 weeks, we had to just wait and see what happened. The doctor also told me she was scheduled to leave town on Friday and wouldn't be back for weeks. This concerned me because she was willing to do a VBAC and some of the other doctors are not so willing. I wanted her to deliver my baby. She told me to come back later in the week if I wanted her to check me again. I decided Thursday morning to make an appointment to have her check again. She checked me at 2pm and I was dilated to 5cm almost 6cm. You can imagine my relief when she said she would not send me home. I checked into the hospital at 2:30. Mark hurried home from his appointment which was 85 miles away. The doctor broke my water at 6pm. She was going to start me on Pitocin but never needed to. I got my epidural which only worked for a little while. I don't have much luck with epidurals I guess. I was having lots of pain and started pushing about 8pm. Spencer must have been really ready to come because he was down the birth canal in 8 pushes--15 minutes. Honestly, I thought I was going to die, but when he was born, it was well worth all the pain.




I am still in shock that I pushed a 9 lb baby out. I asked my mom how she did it 4 times. She is amazing. Mom has been here since last Friday and it has been wonderful. I've been able to spend guiltless days locked in my room with the baby. I don't have to cook or clean or take care of the girls. It's wonderful!

He's finally here!

Spencer Abram Rhodes was born October 9th. He weighed 9lbs 8oz and was 22 1/4 inches long. I didn't even have to have a C-Section! He is beautiful and I will post pictures as soon as I can.

In the quiet of the morning

Lately, my internal alarm has been going off at random times. Some mornings, I am wide awake at 2am or 3am. On the good days, I can actually sleep until 5 or 6am. My mom is like this too. I can pretty much be assured she is up and going early in the morning if I need to chat with her.

Anyway, I could lie in bed and hope I fall back to sleep but I choose to get up and try to be semi-productive while the kids and husband are still sleeping. Because I like to check my email and read blogs, I have had to make a rule for myself. I am not allowed to even turn on the computer until I have read my scriptures. The lack of distraction and abundance of silence is the perfect atmosphere. I have come to love and appreciate the precious time I have in the wee hours of the morning. It makes getting up not seem so terrible.

37 Weeks and Counting!

Well, I finally made it! I am considered full term and no one will do anything to stop my labor at this point. Of course I am saying "full speed ahead" to this little one. Obviously, I have my reservations and fears about having a third child but the pros definitely outweigh the cons. Mostly, I just don't want to be pregnant anymore. Now, I haven't spent too much time complaining about being pregnant (Mark may disagree), but this one has really taken a toll on me. My complete lack of energy is almost unbearable. It doesn't help that most nights I can't get comfortable enough to sleep. I look forward to the return of my energy. My poor little girls are suffering from their sedentary lifestyles. Am I really willing to do this one more time?

Baby Shower!

So I am writing multiple posts in one day. I have a lot of catching up to do. Last Saturday, the relief society threw me a baby shower. I had a great time and ate too much. I mean look at this CAKE

Irresistible!


I look like I am ready to pop and the truth is--I AM!



I went to the doctor yesterday. She informed me that the baby was big. She did the Strep test on me. And checked to see if I was very far along yet. To both her and my surprise, I am already dialated to 3cm. Of course, that could mean nothing but I am still crossing my fingers for an early baby.

Not so good at pictures lately...

But I took this one on Sunday because I just love this dress and the matching bows my sister made. Sarah was MIA but they were both dressed the same. I love doing that.

Pinky Dinky Doo

Yesterday, I was watching pinky dinky doo with Avery.

I said "Avery, Pinky has a really big head!"

She responded, "No Mom, she only has a big head when she is thinking."

"Oh," I asked, "Does your head get really big when you are thinking?"

She giggled, "No! I don't like to think!"

Round 2

In anticipation of the storm, I called the orthopedic doctor to have Sarah's cast removed. We went in Thursday morning and Sarah was very brave while they sawed her cast off. After the x-rays, the doctor informed us that her bone was completely healed but it was still soft. He recommended a smaller walking cast for three more weeks. I was pretty disappointed that she still had a cast on when we left the doctor's office, but Sarah didn't seem to mind at all. She is so positive and accepting. Do you think this is one of the reasons we are told in the scriptures to be more like the little children?

Hurricane Ike

This has been a very exciting weekend for us. I can actually say I have lived through a major natural disaster. Fortunately for us, it was a hurricane and you can see those coming. We made all the necessary preparations ahead of time. Mark was amazing getting the house, yard and garage ready for the storm. It was not easy work. I bought food and batteries, did laundry, and packed a suitcase. On Thursday, I was seriously considering driving myself and the girls to see my mom but my body talked me out of it. The thought of driving the 7 hours alone, pregnant with two screaming children made me want to take a nap. So, I decided to take my chances with the storm in hopes that the electricity would not be out very long. We spent the night with Mark's sister Friday night and I hardly slept at all. I have never heard nor seen such terrible wind and rain. The girls were scared and woke up at 5am. Of course we lost power earlier that morning. We got out our flashlights, ate some breakfast and played until the light came through the windows. The storm started to settle and the excitement began to wear off around 9am when we all crashed. Fortunately, the weather had cooled enough to make living with no a/c bearable. So we all hung out and played until about 6pm when the lights came back on. Mark and I surveyed our home and found that we had passed through the hurricane with minimal damage to our home. We have been incredibly blessed!! Seeing all of the images on t.v. and hearing that there are still so many millions out there without electricity saddens me. I am grateful Heavenly Father is so mindful of each and every one of us.

Mark has spent the last few days clearing trees and fixing fences. The city is on its way to recovery; however, when I drive the streets, I realized how much work there is to be done. It is surreal to see gas stations with no gas or huge mile long lines of people waiting to fill up. To see grocery stores completely wiped out of food, water and ice. To see major retailers boarded up and closed down. Power lines and trees down--debris everywhere. That is only in our neighborhood which came out relatively unscathed. I cannot imagine how the people further south are feeling as they survey their damage.

Creepy!

Obviously, We women who choose to get pregnant multiple times have severe memory loss. We forget all the "joys" of pregnancy. Lately, my baby has gotten big enough that I can see him moving outside of my stomach. I forgot how creepy it looks to see an elbow or foot bump moving down the length of your tummy. I mean it's one thing to feel it, but to see it--weird! For people who have never carried a child, it is even more weird--like when I show Mark. He is fascinated by those little moving bumps but it is the kind of fascination you have when your watching a scary movie or something. The other day I saw a picture of Minnie Driver on the cover of a magazine 8 months pregnant in a bikini. Talk about creepy--you could see the kid in her belly on the front of a popular magazine read by millions!!

Well, thank goodness, the paparazzi is not following me around and I do not intend to go anywhere in a bikini. I will keep the weirdness of it all within the walls of my home.

Movie review

Every once in a while I will rent a movie. I enjoy a good love story and especially feel good movies. Last night I watched this....


Yes, it was predictable and a little far fetched, but overall a wholesome, entertaining movie. Also, I fell in love with this guy...


At first glance, James McAvoy isn't the most handsome guy, but I can honestly say, he is the most refreshing actor I have seen in a while.

My New Hobby!

I don't claim to be creative or inventive. I like a hobby that is easy and requires very little brain power. My sister Season got to come down for the weekend and she taught me how to make the cutest hairbows. Now, I never imagined I could be one who loves super girly matching bows, but I do. I love it when the girls leave the house looking put-together. Here are just a few bows I made. I will post some pictures of the the girls soon.

How you know your kid watches too much T.V.

I have a bad habit of thinking that the things I have to do are more important than taking time to really listen and talk to my kids. Well, yesterday I decided to take some time and sit down with Avery for a little chat. It wasn't long before she was telling me about a toy that she wanted.

"Mom, I want the mermaid who flips her tail by herself," she says.

"Oh, is that something you saw on t.v.?" I ask.

"Yes," she says seriously. "But the batteries are not included!"

It took me a while to stop laughing. You know when your child starts quoting commercials, she probably watches too much television.