Curious

I'm curious about a lot of things. The first one being, WHEN WILL I HAVE THIS BABY????

With Tralee I was induced a little over a week early because they were worried she would be too big. Well, my doctor guessed that this little boy is already around 8 lbs (which was how big Tralee was) yet there's no talk of induction. Aren't boys supposed to be bigger than girls, and doesn't each kid get a little bigger with each pregnancy? So, wouldn't that mean they should induce me?

Here's the thing. I didn't like being on pitocin with Tralee, it hurt. . . a lot. However, after an epidural I was quite relaxed and the rest of the labor wasn't too bad. I told myself with this pregnancy I would like to go into labor naturaly without the help of pictocin. That was back when I thought I would have had this baby by now, and back when I wasn't nine months pregnant. Now I'm rethinking the whole induction thing.

Here's the other thing. My mom is flying into town tomorrow night from Ohio to "help with the baby." She's staying for ten days, and then I lose her. So, I really want this baby to come before she leaves so I have a little extra help.

My next appointment is on May 5th. If this little (or big) guy hasn't come by then, and there's STILL no talk of helping him out I might just cry.

What about all you mothers who read this blog. Did you get induced? How early or late were your babies? Does each baby get bigger? Are boys REALLY bigger than girls? Did you self induce (if so, HOW)? What advice do you have for a lady who wants to have her baby soon, and it doesn't seem like the baby wants to leave his cozy little cave just yet?

Any advice/kind words or thoughts would be appreciated. :)

Saturday Nature/Fishing Hike

Saturday was a beautiful day. After Jim was done working, Tralee and I let him know we were ready to broaden our horizons. Luckily, Jim knew of a perfect spot to take us. We went on a little family fishing/hiking expedition. The hike was easy enough for a two-year-old and nine-month-pregnant lady to do, and the final destination was a BEAUTIFUL waterfall! I'm not sure what the place is called, but it's somewhere up in the Owyhee (spelling?) mountains about 10 minutes from our house. I felt pretty lucky to live here when we finished our little adventure.

Within the first few minutes of our hike Jim spotted a lizard. We didn't think lizards lived around here, so it was pretty exciting to spot one (for Jim, not so much for me).


A little stream flowed all along the trail, and when there was ever a bit of a fishing hole, Jim stopped and put his fly in the water. Almost every cast Jim would catch a little trout. None of them were keepers -- all too small -- but Jim sure had fun catching them anyways before releasing them back into the stream. Below is the first catch of the day.


Whenever Jim stopped to fish, Tralee and I explored a little bit.


Before too long we made it to the waterfall. A nice guy offered to take a picture of our family. I wasn't too interested in putting this photo of us on the blog, since I'm looking huge and I'm swollen everywhere (face included). However, I decided to suck it up and share this photo anyways. It was the best one we had of the waterfall, and only one of all of us together.


The picture below makes me laugh. I was playing with my camera and trying to do a "self portrait" with the waterfall in the background. I didn't realize Jim would be in the photo. If you look closely you notice that there's a tiny little fish on the end of his line and he's trying to get my attention and tell me he just caught a fish. I was trying to get a picture of myself so I was ignoring Jim. Anyways, the picture was the end result. It makes me laugh.


This is what I was trying to accomplish in the above photo.


Next are just a few favorites of Tralee. Her favorite thing to do at the waterfall was throw pebbles in the water. After a few minutes she became brave enough to get her feet wet. If we would have let her, she probably would have gone swimming.

I love the picture below. It's just a good 'ol fishin-with-my-dad shot.



Below is the last photo of the day. I think it's my favorite.


This was a family outing I hope to repeat. It was the perfect little hike for our little family. If you're in the area, I highly recomend it.

Brownie Bandit and Other Foolishness

I made brownies last night. When I wandered into the kitchen this morning this is what I found:

As you can see Tralee is very self sufficient. She managed to pull a chair up to the counter, find a utensil (a toothpick) and not only feed herself some brownies, but poke holes in the rest of the brownies she wasn't consuming. I guess I need to get Tralee's breakfast on the table a little faster in the future.

The next picture is Tralee taking a nap. Nap time has been a bit of a struggle lately. We'll put Tralee in her bed, read her stories, sing her a song, give her a kiss, say "Night. Night. We love you," shut her door, and Tralee is supposed to fall asleep. Well, Tralee hasn't been keeping up her end of the bargain. Recently we hear a lot of chitter-chatter coming from her room, whining, playing, books being pulled off her shelf, knocking on her door, jumping on the bed, etc. Sometimes Tralee WILL NOT go to sleep. On these days I usually go in her room and firmly tell her to "Go night night!" Tralee usually climbs back into her bed (if she's not in it already), lays down, squints her eyes closed, and fake snores. I stand there watching to see what happens, and usually notice Tralee opening up her eyes to peak and see if I'm still there. If I am her eyes squint shut again as she continues to fake snore. If I leave the room the jumping, singing, or playing begins again within two seconds. The other day Tralee ACTUALLY fell asleep, but not in her bed. Nope. . . on her little couch surrounded by a pile of books she tore off of her bookshelf. I grabbed the camera and got a quick picture of Tralee before I got her back in her bed, covered her up, and thanked the heavens she finally surrendered to sleep so I could have a little break.

This last picture is some game Tralee and Jim were playing. We've been getting A LOT of magazines in the mail for some reason. Magazines that we NEVER read. Think: World Traveler, Car and Driver, GQ, etc. We're not sure why we've been receiving these. We must have signed up for something some time and got these magazines as a result. Anyways, Jim and Tralee were having fun tearing pages out of one and putting them on Tralee's head. For some odd reason Tralee loved it. She sat perfectly still as to not disturb her new head-wear. This last picture is of Tralee looking extremely serious, probably concentrating on being very still. We thought she looked funny, so we took a picture.

Enjoy!!

A few things

It seems we have a nudist in our midst. Tralee has been removing several items of clothing (diaper included) and running around bare-bummed. It's cute until she stops and decides to "relieve" herself. I'm not a fan of the clean-up duty. We're working on keeping the diaper on.

Tralee also discovered a pair of bright pink shoes in my closet. They're her new favorite accessory. Or. . . if she's running around as described above her ONLY accessory. I was laying in bed with my eyes closed (trying to get a little rest before #2 arrives) when I heard clickity-clunk clickity-clunk clickity-clunk chiming down the hallway. I got up to investigate and saw Tralee walking around in my bright pink shoes. The other day I also noticed Kitty laying on a chair with her two back paws placed in the pink shoes. I walked around the house and noticed that one of Tralee's bears was also sporting some of my flip-flops. Heaven forbid her stuffies go bare foot. Yet, it's fine if Tralee runs around in nothing at all.

I've decided that not very much makes sense when you're dealing with a two-year-old, but it's sure fun to see what they come up with next.

Fove

I went to the doctor yesterday morning while Jim stayed behind and watched Tralee. There's no news on the baby, he's still cooking. However, when I called Jim after my appointment he shared the following story with me about Tralee.

While Jim was talking on the phone with his mom, Tralee came running up to him. She started tugging on his clothes and wanting to be picked up while exclaiming, "Fove! Fove! Fove!!" (this is how Tralee says love). Jim wasn't sure what she wanted until he picked her up. As soon as he did, Tralee gave him a giant hug, laid her head on his shoulder, and said "Oh, fove!" Then she started tickling her daddy's neck and snuggling up to him. Jim said it was so cute and adorable he couldn't help but laugh, which made Trish (his mom) laugh, and me laugh when I heard about it.

I'm sure glad our daughter knows she can go to her daddy if she's ever in need of some love.

Hearing this story melted my heart, and don't tell him I told you (he's trying to keep up the nothing-can-break-through-my-super-tough-and-manly-exterior act), but Jim said it melted his heart too.

Tralee's Nursery Class Part Two

In a previous post, I wrote about how Tralee likes to teach her stuffed animals. We figured out this is how they teach/sing in her nursery class at church. At the end of nursery, we usually walk in to find Tralee and the rest of the kiddies sitting in a semi-circle singing along with the nursery leader's guitar. Tralee LOVES it! So, why not bring the fun home?

I went to a baby shower this morning, and while I was gone Jim took this picture and video. Jim said Tralee did this all on her own. He walked in to find her singing and reading stories to her "class."

Don't mind Tralee's appearance. I didn't have time to do her hair or get her dressed before I left this morning, so what you see is what you get. Jim has tried to do Tralee's hair in the past, only to give up after a half-an-hour of his huge man hands trying to get a tie in Tralee's super-fine hair. I laughed when he told me of this attempt. I love that he tried.

Anyways back to the video. Listen for "the end" at the end of each book. It's hard to tell that's what she's saying, do to her stuffy nose (she's getting over a cold). Also, when Tralee gets to the color book she actually says all of the colors. You might not be able to understand clearly, and that's probably due to the cold, and, you know, she's two. But, just know that she gets every color right. Which is a good thing. I don't want her stuffed animals walking around being all confused about colors.

I think we either have a future teacher or veterinarian in our midst. The girl LOVES animals, and LOVES to teach them. :)

Chocolate or Vanilla?

I always tell Jim he's like a woman when it comes to his chocolate obsession. When he wants chocolate, he will scour the kitchen looking for something to satisfy his craving. Sometimes he'll even melt chocolate chips in the microwave and eat them with peanut butter if he can't find anything else chocolaty enough. I've learned that some of his family members (all women) are the same way.

I'm different.

I've come to the realization that -- dare I say it -- I prefer vanilla over chocolate. I don't even like chocolate ice cream (yuck). Chocolate candy does nothing for me. I like vanilla cake better than chocolate. Same with pudding. I even prefer french vanilla hot "chocolate." Is that weird? Am I betraying my sex by making this announcement? I mean, as a woman, aren't I supposed to crave all-things-chocolate? I don't. I like it. I'll eat it. But, that's as far as my passion for chocolate goes.

Jim thinks I'm crazy, or that there's something wrong with my taste buds.

What do you think?

What do you prefer?

Easter Weekend

There are a million pictures on this post. So, I'll keep the dialogue to a minimum so it won't be too terribly long.

Jim's sister Sue and her family came to Boise for Easter. We had fun hanging out with them and other family in the area.

The Saturday before Easter is the annual Callister Easter egg hunt. We've had it at Trish's and Uncle Dave's in years past. This year it was at Aunt Michelle's. She has some nice acreage, so it was the perfect place for the Easter Bunny to leave TONS and TONS of eggs. Seriously, I think each kid was able to find 20 to 30 eggs EASY!

The troops rounding up for the hunt

Tralee patiently waiting with her Daddy to look for some eggs.

Cousin Kelly, Tralee, and cousin Colleen waiting for the hung to begin

Lookin' for eggs

Time out to swing

Egg in a tree

Check out all the eggs!

Swingin' some more with Colleen

Getting some more eggs.

She can almost reach it!!

Try not to be disturbed by the following picture:

Jim sporting his mother's wig.

The next few pictures are from Easter morning at our house. The Easter Bunny left some goodies for Tralee.



Cute Easter Dress Pictures
Tralee's Grandma and Grandpa Jacobs got this cute Easter outfit for her. I LOVE it!

The following two photos are of me trying to get a good picture of the hottest couple I could find. I think it was impossible to do.

Below are more Easter pics. I captured a few of our nephews Henry and Keaton, and most of the gang gathering to eat Easter dinner -- YUMMY!

We had a lovely Easter weekend. Thanks to everyone who helped make it so fun.

One Little Monkey. . .

. . . jumping on my bed.

Tralee LOVES to jump on or off anything.

Today while I was doing the dishes in the kitchen I heard Tralee giggling. I followed the giggles until they lead me into our bedroom where I found Tralee happily jumping away on our bed.

"Good," thought I. "I bet our mattress needs some fluffing up a bit." Then I grabbed the camera and took some pictures of my daughter in the midst of her delight.

Nope. I'm not one of those parents who forbids bed jumping.

I did it as a child and still recall the glee I felt hopping away on my mattress. How could I deny my daughter such fun? I mean,

check out this face:

Would you put an end to it?

I didn't think so.

There are other ways I can say "No" to Tralee. For instance, "No playing in the toilet," "No coloring on yourself or the furniture" (still working on that one, as you can tell from her blue hands in the pictures), or "No running away from Mommy at the grocery store." BUT "No jumping on the bed" is something I will never say.

Sorry.

Won't do it.

So if yours is a house where bed jumping is not allowed. . .

you probably shouldn't invite us over.

I had to put the above picture in because I thought Tralee's face was hilarious! Gravity sure is unkind, even to a toddler! :)

Tired Girl

Tralee had a busy day today.

First we woke up, got ready, and played outside for a while. Then Tralee and I got in the car and headed off to Toys R Us. They were having a Nickelodeon scavenger hunt thing for the kids. I was a little skeptical about going because the last special kids day they had (for the Little People's 50th anniversary) was kind of lame-o. Today's experience was much better.

When we got to the store we found the start table where they handed Tralee and I (Jim was working) a page to color, some coupons, and a little scavenger hunt booklet. The booklet had some clues on where to go in the store to find the stickers you needed to get your prize. It was pretty easy, and Tralee and I had fun wandering around the store looking at all of the toys. At each sticker station Tralee wanted to put the sticker on herself or kitty (her constant companion), instead of in the booklet. I knew I probably shouldn't have, but usually I let Tralee take one sticker for herself and one for the booklet. Besides, where' s the fun in following the rules exactly?

After we found all three sticker stations, Tralee and I headed towards the prize table, turned in our book, and got our little goody bag. In the bag were some little sample toys, a magnet, more coupons for the sample toys, a Sponge Bob sucker with slime and sugar dip (every kids dream, every mother's nightmare), and a dollar off coupon for ANYTHING in the store. I led Tralee over to the candy and let her pick ANYTHING she wanted. She picked a Push Pop that was exactly $1. Good girl. We checked out, I owed nothing, Tralee carried her little goody bag to the car while happily sucking on her push pop, and we headed towards home. Mission accomplished.

Jim was done working about an hour after Tralee and I returned from our Toys R Us adventure, and after some lunch, the three of us went outside to play again. I left to get some groceries, and when I came home Jim and Tralee were outside once more. Jim was teaching Tralee how to golf (which was SUPER cute).

While I was making dinner Tralee totally zonked out from her busy day. That was around 6pm. She's been out -- we're talking O-U-T since then, and I don't think there's any hope to revive her until she's rested up a bit.

What will probably end up happening is Tralee will wake up at 4AM and be rip-rearin' to go. Oh well. We'll deal with it then.

Until next time. . .