Hello, Iris!

We just got back from the hospital with our new baby, Iris Grace Arnold. She was born on monday night, weighed 10 lbs 1 ounce, 20 inches long, and is a pure delight. She's excited to meet you!

nesting for kara

I am officially the mother bird now. I have been working way more than I probably should this last month trying to get everything ready. I needed to make up for 6 months of morning sickness and 2 more months when I was so exhausted I felt like I couldn't do anything. I'm still exhausted, but I finally got panicky about nothing being done and had no choice but to work through the exhaustion.

I'm finally feeling on top of everything. The papers are all organized, every surface of my house has been cleared off and cleaned up, I have all the essential baby things out and in their proper place; my long to do list is as done as it needs to be. Things are seeming in order just in time for chaos to take over in 2 days.

I even got some grown-up furniture. The couch and love seat are my first pieces of furniture that I didn't buy used or have to assemble. As much as I love Ikea, it feels like I'm finally an adult.

So, three cheers for a clean and orderly house, and three cheers for only 2 more days of pregnancy!

p.s. This picture is only to document my truly huge belly and truly puffy pregnant face, for those of you who didn't believe me. Please don't click on it and make it any bigger than it needs to be.

it's birthday will!

(Will--almost one year old)

Will is now 4 years old, and he couldn't be prouder. I can't even count how many people he has told his new age. He was the last one to wake up on the morning of his birthday. Henry, Elsa and I were all sitting on the couch when we heard his footsteps running upstairs and through the kitchen. When he got in the living room he jumped up with his arms in the air and struck a pose, yelling, "It's birthday Will!"

It was a pretty low-key celebration. We had the family over for pizza and cake that night and gave the kids water guns so they could have a water fight. But, Will was very happy. (Please excuse the lack of pictures. We finally have a new camera, but we didn't get it in time.)

I am constantly amazed by that kid. He has so much energy and passion; he's very loving and social; and he's even starting to be obedient and sensible sometimes.

He's a singer. He frequently makes up songs about how much he loves me, he's the kid in primary who belts out every word he knows, and he gets mad when we try to sing along with him when he's singing one of his favorite songs.

He frequently lives in an imaginary world of video game characters. When it's just the two of us in the car, he makes up screenplays with his favorite characters. If I ask him what he's saying, he acts really put out and says, "I'm not talking to you. I'm thinking about 'puters (computers)."

He's constantly making us laugh (and sometimes yell:)). He is the life of our party, and I don't know what we'd do without him (besides have a lot more peace and quiet). I love my Will. He makes me incredibly happy.

i. am. huge.

Tonight my back hurts, my belly is stretched to its limit, and I'm swollen and exhausted. But, I don't feel like I'm going to throw up, and the headaches have died down. So I try not to complain, except for when I do.

I'm officially huge. Today a 1-year-old boy was mesmerized by my enormous belly. He couldn't take his eyes off of it and reached his little pointer finger out to touch it about ten times. Then tonight, a 5-year-old boy looked at me and said, "What's that great big thing?" I said, "It's my belly." He still didn't believe it and said, "No, I mean that," pointing at my belly.

Will has taken to lovingly calling me his "big, fat mama."

How can I possibly grow for 2 more months?

easter retrospective

I know it was a while ago, but I needed to post a little bit about it. We had the annual Easter egg hunt in the cold this year. But, the kids always love it anyway.




Make this next picture bigger and check out Will's facial expression when he saw the egg in the grass:



We decorated eggs and made a peep tree. I didn't take pictures. The camera I know how to operate is not working. So, I'm at Brandon's mercy for a little while. You'll just have to trust me that they were amazingly cute. Ha ha.

We watched General Conference, colored, did puzzles, and folded origami. And, we had Brandon's whole family over for dinner. Once again, no pictures.

The Easter bunny found his way in the snow. Elsa asked a few days before Easter if the Easter bunny was a real bunny or just a person dressed up like a bunny. I like to defer tough questions, so I asked her what she thought. She thinks it's a person dressed up like a bunny.

Enjoying the Easter bunny's gifts:



My favorite Easter conversation:
Henry: What do eggs have to do with Easter?
Me: Eggs are a symbol of life because life comes from eggs, and at Easter we celebrate the resurrection and that we'll live again. Blah blah blah.
Henry: What does candy have to do with Easter?
Me: I think the candy's just for fun.
Elsa: I know what candy has to do with Easter. When you eat a lot of candy, you get sick. And sometimes when you get sick, you die. So that helps us think about the resurrection.

Happy late Easter!

9 years ago . . .

(plus almost 2 months) Henry was born. He came into the world kicking and screaming. In fact, one of the nurses outside our room said, "I wouldn't want to take that one home." But, his amazing smile always helped make up for whatever trouble he caused. And, he's turned into a pretty great kid.

He suddenly seems so much older to me--he's an inch or so shy of 5 feet tall, he likes to go in and buy the hot 'n ready pizza all by himself, he's even getting a little bit of adolescent moodiness. But, sometimes it seems like he's really not that old after all. When I drop him off for school, he won't go in without blowing me a kiss. And, he still can't always restrain himself from leaping with joy and flapping/clapping when he's really excited.

There's just so much goodness and brightness and lovingness and helpfulness in Henry. I sure hope he doesn't outgrow any of that, even while he's growing so fast. I wish I could keep him small and innocent forever.

Somehow we didn't take any pictures of his birthday, even though we had a family gathering for him and a party with his friends. He wanted an Avatar: The Last Airbender birthday party, so we did activities for the 4 elements--made tea bag rockets and water bottle whirlpools, and blew up balloons without using our mouths, and played a game. Henry loves science and games. But alas, no pictures, just video. And, I don't know how to upload videos--that's Brandon's specialty.

Anyway,
Happy Birthday, Henry! We love you, and we're so glad we got to "take that one home."

it's a big, six-toed . . .

GIRL!

I know that to many of you this is old news. But, for those of you who are far away, we had the ultrasound a while back, and it's official. We are thrilled to be having a girl. In fact, we wanted a girl so much we were afraid we would jinx it. In retrospect, I think it's more that I just didn't want another colicky baby, and Elsa was our only colic-free baby. I realize now that this baby will probably prove my prejudice wrong and be a really colicky girl. But, we're excited anyway.

She doesn't really have 6 toes, but it looked like it to us from the ultrasound. And, she looked 9 days bigger than her expected due date. I'm trying not to get my hopes up about her coming early, since I'm pretty sure being huge and swollen in July in Utah is going to be miserable. Oh well. HOORAY for another girl!