Visitor

Back in June we had an unexpected visitor frequent our yard eating the cherries that had fallen from our cherry tree.  Even though we live in the city, with all the green around us, it is sometimes easy to forget, especially when we get visitors like this one!


He hung out somewhere in the weeds in the gully.  I don't know where he may have escaped from, but he would squeeze underneath the gap in our gate and he enjoyed feasting on our cherries.  He was quite shy and would run anytime we came near him, running back out through the gate.  He even managed to climb up on the fence and get into our neighbor's cherry tree.  Our neighbor thought we were pulling a prank on him until we showed him it really was a live rooster.

As all things must, our visitor couldn't stay long and he was relocated to a better home, but we had fun for the couple days he was around!

Seeing Pink

The results of the poll were split equally for a boy or a girl.  My Facebook poll wasn't so equalized.  The majority of people said "boy!"  The Chinese horoscope said "boy!"  However, it looks as though we are having a GIRL!

We are excited for another girl.  After I had posted the Bundle of Joy post, J told me that he is actually hoping for a girl; a sister for Zuri (that and the monetary cost would be a lot less since we already have girl toys).  When we told Zuri that she really is going to have a baby sister, she got all excited, putting her hands up to her face dramatically and saying, "a sister!"  It was adorable.  She is still set on the name Tree-on.  Tree-on Tree.  Of course she calls herself "Zuri Ballerina Superstar."  The Superstar is new.

I have to admit, I was more than a little nervous for the ultrasound.  You see, I haven't had positive experiences with ultrasounds.  It was on an ultrasound that we discovered Zuri's SUA (single umbilical artery), and the beginning of Kai's problems seemed to start.  Up until the ultrasound, I had been blissfully unaware that something wasn't right with my precious babies.  

The baby was stubborn in the ultrasound, having the umbilical cord tucked between her legs and never giving us a clear shot of her girl parts.  However, the ultrasound tech and the doctor are about 95% certain she is a girl.  There were a few other areas that we were also unable to see clearly--her spine, her heart (we were able to tell it is a four chamber heart), and her lip.  What that means is that I will be going in for another in-depth ultrasound next month.  From what we have been able to see so far, everything looks great.  The results from the genetic screenings have come back normal.  We only have one caveat--she is looking small.  Small enough that they may push my due date into the beginning of January instead of the end of December.  Not a big deal at this point but something to watch, especially since my other two children have been under five pounds.

One of my concerns was that I hadn't really felt her yet.  A little flutter here and there, but nothing that could be definite.  We found that the placenta is right in front, so it is cushioning her movements from me right now.  She was very active in the ultrasound and several times turned her face right into the camera.  She also liked to swipe her hand out (as though she was waving) with her fingers spread wide.  It was fun to see.  There is also the fact that she is sitting right on top of my bladder.  No wonder I have had to go to the bathroom so much!

Utah Pioneer Days

We celebrated the 24th of July in style.  For those of you who don't know, the 24th of July is Pioneer Day, a Utah state holiday.  Consequently, J had it off.  My mom took Zuri the evening of the 23rd and we had respite care for Kai all day on the 24th.  So, J and I slept in, then we went to a matinee, came home, took a nap, went to get Zuri, then went to the Utah Pioneer Days celebration in West Jordan.  They had all sorts of crafts, booths, and fun for the family.  After dark, they started the Pioneer Day celebration where they had sky divers, musical talents, a skit, and most importantly, fireworks!

Since we had missed the fireworks for the 4th of July, I really wanted to see them on the 24th.  We saw an impressive display--my only complaint is that they didn't start the fireworks until 10:45, which means they didn't end until 11:00.  Way too late for Miss Zuri, who had a tired meltdown when we got home.  I thought the fireworks would be an hour earlier--other displays were.  There were at least seven other fireworks shows that could be seen from our seats.  When the first one started, Zuri got so excited, jumping around, pointing, dancing, that the people all around us all had huge grins on their faces watching her.  She can be quite entertaining, and her enthusiasm is refreshing.





We watched the moon rise over the mountain

4th of July Weekend

For the 4th of July weekend we went south to 12-mile Canyon for J's family reunion.  We spent Thursday, Friday, and part of Saturday up in the mountains camping.  I had come down with a pretty severe stuffy nose and sore throat the night before we went up.  I think I overdid it that day--I had a sudden burst of energy and I took advantage of that energy by doing too much around the house.  Consequently, with the cold and being pregnant, I had little desire to sleep in a tent (even though under any other circumstance I would jump at the chance to go camping).  J's mom had just had knee surgery so both of us ended up going back to the house to sleep at night (a fact my dad will tease me about until the end of time).


Zuri is finally at the age where camping with her is fun.  She and J slept in the camper with J's dad, and she slept all through the night both nights--even through the rain, lightning, and thunder storms.  J said there was one time when she woke up, mumbled "daddy," and when J said, "I'm here," she said, "I love you," and went back to sleep.  So sweet.

With the storms, I am doubly glad that I didn't sleep at camp because as it was, I was up both nights (although I slept better the second night) having to go the the bathroom (par for course for this pregnancy) and trying to breathe (ie blowing my nose) while soothing a sore throat.

The family reunion itself was fun.  There was the usual horseback riding, 4-wheeling, a skit in the evening, fishing, and just hanging out.  We were able to see family that we haven't seen in a long time (J's Uncle Steve and his grown up boys and their wives all came out--we don't get to see them all that often), and it was fun catching up with them.  (A shout-out to my "blog stalker" peeps!) 


Zuri and her cousin.  She had so much fun playing with her cousins.  She just loves to be around other kids.



J and Zuri went on several rhino rides.  Zuri, our little gardener, had to stop and get some flowers along the way.  She would show the flowers to everyone and I think she had a good bouquet by the time we left.



I joined in on a couple easy rides on the rhino. 

Zuri and J playing horseshoes together.  Unfortunately, none of the pictures I took with J turned out while they played.

Going for a canoe ride, and going fishing.  We didn't catch anything but had fun rowing around the pond.  Zuri didn't understand the concept of "keep still" and sent our little canoe rocking more than once in the beginning as she shifted around. 


On Friday morning, there was a family hike.  Suzanne and I had planned on not going on the hike and getting lunch ready for everyone when they got back.  We arrived at the campsite just as everyone was leaving, and Robert said the plan was for us to do lunch at the base of the hike.  So we loaded the food into the truck and went along.  We realized when we got there that we had forgotten the propane tank to heat the meat.  That, along with the heat, lack of shade, and lack of places for everyone to sit, we then decided to go back to the original plan and have lunch at the campsite.  Unfortunately, everyone had started on the hike, and the road to get back is for more advanced off-roading, so we chose to wait until everyone got back.  Little did we know it would be several hours later.


The hike.  They went to the patch of yellow on the other side of the lake.  The picture was taken from the starting position of the hike--no motorized vehicles were allowed past that point.

When I originally bowed out of the hike, it was due more to the fact that I hadn't been feeling well, and since J and I didn't know how strenuous or long the hike would be, we didn't want a repeat of Seattle, when I pushed myself to the point where I was hurting (and pregnant with Kai; we have been more careful with this pregnancy than the others).  J more than once discouraged me from going, especially when we got to the starting point and I looked down at the "trail" and knew that I most likely would be fine. 

What neither J nor I knew was the reason for the hike--that was where James had his accident, and they were going to the place his body had been found. They had a little memorial service.  Had I known that, I would have insisted on coming, especially since I had been unable to attend his funeral.  I only found out the purpose of the hike after everyone had been gone at least forty minutes or so, and I happened to ask Suzanne why they were hiking so far from camp. 

I sent my camera along with J, and he was able to get these great pictures!  Beautiful field of dandelions.





They put a plaque in the trees where James had been found.

Robert, Peggy, Jannie, and Julie put on a little skit.  The sisters were pretending to be the Kardashian sisters and Robert was their brother.  It was pretty funny.  They handed out bags to everyone with a quote and something inside.  We had to guess who belonged to the quote.  J and I got: "When life gave them lemons, they made lemonade!" and inside the bag was pink lemonade.  Zuri got "daddy's little princess" with some chapstick.  So cute!





On Saturday, everyone was packing up camp.  Time to return the port-o-potty!  Haha.  At least we had that and didn't have to rely on a hole!

The highlight of the trip for Zuri came on Saturday with this little guy. 

I caught this little frog Saturday morning and showed it to Zuri.  She was so enamored with it that we found an empty grape container to put him in for a couple hours.  Unfortunately, he escaped through the holes a couple of times and I had to re-catch him.  We poked a few holes in a water bottle and Zuri showed everyone her frog.  I found another smaller frog to join him but the smaller frog eventually found his way out through one of the holes. 

Zuri's frog created a craze with the other kids, and they went down to the pond and caught some salamanders and other small frogs.

Finally, it was time to go home.  Zuri wanted to keep the frog but we told her that he needed to be with his family in the wild.  It took some convincing, but she finally let him go.  Ever since, she has wanted a pet frog and keeps talking about getting one.  She just loves animals.



Can you see the blur of the frog jumping away to freedom?

Bundle of Joy

...

In case you missed it:

That's right!  We are expecting baby #3 Christmas day!

For some reason this has been a really hard post for me to write.  I have written and rewritten this post in my head at least a hundred times, but whenever I get to the computer, I just draw a blank.  

First off, we are excited! When we made the decision to have another baby, it was done with much thought and prayer.  We did not go into this lightly, knowing how complicated another baby would make things with Kai.  I think the clincher was one day when Zuri was wanting attention and J was taking care of Kai while I was getting dinner ready.  We had already been contemplating another baby, but I just couldn't wrap my head around the responsibility of another child.  Zuri  had become all sad and huffy.  When I asked her what was wrong, she said that she is sad because no one will play with her.  Unfortunately, that was not an isolated incident--she longs for the company of other children.  Then, later that evening after we had put Zuri down to bed, J turned to me in a really disappointed tone and said, "we aren't going to have a big family, are we?"  I knew at that moment what was missing from our family.  We knew that the decision to have another baby was the right one.

Secondly, we are nervous.  I can list a thousand things we are nervous about with the introduction of another child.  First and foremost is balancing the needs of a newborn with the needs of Kai, especially when we leave the house.  Managing two strollers?  Luckily, we have respite hours that can help with some of that need, and Zuri is big enough to help out at times as well.  Then there is always the possibility of another special needs child.  If we were to have another special needs child, we would love that baby just as much as we love Zuri and Kai--that is not even a question.  I just don't know how I would be able to physically take care of two special needs children and Zuri (for those of you who know Zuri you know how energetic and active she is--she is sometimes two or three in one!).  

So far, everything indicates a healthy, typical baby.  I am about 16 weeks, trying to eat right, exercise, and take care of myself.  My blood pressure is normal (although we do expect it to increase as my pregnancy progresses), and everything looked good on the first ultrasound/blood tests.  Between 18-20 weeks I will see some high risk specialists and get an in-depth ultrasound done as a precaution.  The baby is measuring about 4 days smaller than the date of my last period would indicate, but the doctor is keeping the due date as December 25th.  I think I may have ovulated late, because I didn't receive a positive pregnancy test until 5 days after my expected period, which would also explain the baby measuring 4 days younger.

This pregnancy has kicked my butt.  With Zuri and Kai, my first two trimesters were relatively easy.  It was the third trimester that was the hardest.  So far, I have gotten sick (as in a cold) twice, and my energy has been nearly non-existent.  I was nauseous all day through my whole first trimester, although I only threw up once.  My bladder has been working overtime and I routinely get up at least two to three times at night to go to the bathroom, which results in a loss of sleep.  I normally don't hit that phase until my last trimester.  Since entering my second trimester, my nausea has pretty much gone away, but it will still randomly hit me.  My energy has increased, but I think I took advantage of it too much and caused myself to be sick trying to get things done while I could.    

Zuri is super excited about the baby.  She is always putting her hand on my tummy and wanting to feel the baby, which at this stage she cannot do yet.  Every week I show her how big the baby is growing, and throughout the week, she will say, "the baby is this big" and show me with her hands, and say the corresponding fruit or vegetable size (ie apple).  

When we askZuri whether she wants a brother or a sister, her immediate response is a sister.  In fact, she has become rather emphatic that we are having a girl.  When I told her that the baby might be a boy, she said that she doesn't like boys.  The first time I asked her what we should name the baby, she said, "Zuri!" When I said, "but that's your name."  Her response was: "so we can be twins!"  Since then she has given me a lot of made up names.  Most memorable is Tree-on. 

J won't say, but I think he is hoping for another boy--he states that he just wants a healthy baby.  As for me, I would like another girl.  There is nothing like the bond with sisters.  According to the Chinese gender horoscope, the baby is a boy.  I have had a feeling the baby is a girl (intuition or hope?), and I was right with both Zuri and Kai.  So, we shall see!

Bonding

Lately, after Zuri goes to bed, J has been unhooking Kai from his humidifier and bringing him over to the couch.  Usually, we use that time to play with Kai, but we generally do it in his area.  I think Kai has really enjoyed the change in scenery, and it is cute to watch the two of them together. 

In the picture above, Kai has fallen asleep.  My two guys.  So precious.  Love them so much!

Beating the Heat

We had a heat wave earlier this month.  It was two degrees away from setting a record high.  Luckily, it cooled down, but temperatures are on the rise again.  To help beat the heat (and boredom) we put a sprinkler under the trampoline and let the girls (Zuri and my sister, McKenzie) play.  It was a hit.




We have done it a few times since and the kids just love it.  Such a good way for the kids to have fun, exercise, and stay cool in this hot summer sun.