MONDAY NIGHT MUSINGS

Tuesday August 23 - Monday August 29

- The kids have been obsessed with their backpacks the last couple of weeks. They will spend hours filling their backpacks with toys and things around the house, then put them on, along with a hat sometimes, and then take them to another room or chase each other or just walk around with them on. It's pretty hilarious and more often than not, if we can't find something, it's in one of their backpacks :)

- Bryce was gone for his brother's wedding last week, and I was SO bummed I couldn't I go! Anyway, I told CJ that when Daddy got back we could spend his birthday money to get some Mighty Beanz. He'd been back and forth between Might Beanz and a pet fish, but finally settled on Mighty Beanz. Anyway, we went Saturday afternoon, after CJ had been waiting for days, and he was so happy and proud to carry that box out of Target. We went home and CJ enjoyed playing with his Might Beanz track for a couple of hours before bed. That night, before Bryce and I went to bed, Mattie woke up with a bad dream. To get her mind off things we brought her out to the front room with us and she sat with Bryce on the couch and sipped some water and watched football with Daddy. At some point, she was playing with the Might Beanz (two mistakes: leaving them out, and letting Mattie play with them unattended), and sure enough, the next morning CJ was asking for them and we couldn't find them. We were practically late for church because we spent so much time looking for those darn beanz, but with no luck. So basically, CJ had his toy for ONE DAY before we lost the most essential part: the beanz!

- Even though CJ's beanz got lost, he didn't freak out like I expected him too. We kind of put off telling him that Mattie had been the last ones with them since we should have been watching her and we didn't want him to blame her. But even after he found out that she had been playing with them, he still didn't get upset. He didn't even cry. He was just bummed and kept asking us about them, where they were. Poor kid. So a couple of days later we went to the store and bought him 6 new Mighty Beanz. And you know what he did? As soon as we got home, we opened them up and when Mattie started to get upset that she didn't have any, he gave her two of his Mighty Beanz, all of his own accord. Isn't that so sweet?!

- Speaking of getting things, we finally got the Expedition back last week and it's been wonderful! We haven't taken it on any long drives yet - like to Seattle and back - so the real test will be this weekend when we head over for Camanda's (that's Cameron and Amanda) open house. Then hopefully it can take us down to Utah in November for Thanksgiving without any hitches. Anyway, we've loved it so far and feel spoiled. I'm not sure I could go to something like a minivan after having such a spacious SUV. Of course, the next car we get will completely depend on finances, so I may eat my words :)

- Have I mentioned the blessings and answers to prayers we've seen lately in our lives? As I mentioned before, funds have been a little tight lately with all the things we've been doing/trying to get done. It's been a bit of a stress. But the Lord has really given us tiny miracles and tender mercies which have humbled us and strengthened our testimonies. For example, Bryce found out only days before scout camp that all the boys needed a physical! Literally, only a couple of days to get the boys into a doctor, which we all know isn't really possible. But to Bryce's surprise, all the boys had gotten a physical in the last year for some reason or another. It wasn't an issue at all. Can you believe that?!

Then, we thought we were going to be dropping $500 on our Suzuki to replace the muffler and get the brakes fixed. Turns out the muffler was fine, we just needed a new pipe, which cost $30, and that the brakes were fine too. That was the biggest surprise because Bryce, who drives that car every day, was sure the brakes needed to be fixed (and had needed to be for months), but when they checked them out they said they were fine and that maybe the weather was making them squeak. And that was a free inspection! So one discounted oil change later, and we spent a total of $60 on our Suzuki! What a blessing. And our Expedition actually needed more repairs than they had originally thought, which had me so stressed, but apparently they had over estimated the cost of the original repairs and so the actual cost ended up being no different than what we had been told/planning on.

Then, Bryce found out last week that he's not only on track to get his hours, he's ahead! And of all 22 attorneys at the firm, including all the partners, Bryce is #9 in amount of hours. Considering he's a first-year associate, that's pretty impressive! I'm so proud of him! And it's perfect timing because his annual review was this week as well (that's when they determine how much of a raise you will get), and it went as well as it possibly could have. Everyone had great things to say about him and even the constructive criticism that he received was rooted in the fact that so many people like to work with him. I know Bryce gets down sometimes for the rookie mistakes he makes, and so I've been praying and fasting for weeks that Bryce would have something really great happen at work to not only help with his review (because we need as big of a raise as possible :), but help him feel confident in his abilities and good about what he's doing. Nothing super huge has happened yet, but it's a combination of several little things - hitting his hours, having the partner he's working with be the one to make a mistake and not him :), doing work for partners that is flawless and impressive, bringing in new clients himself, etc - that have been the answers to my prayers.

Things are perfect yet (not that I ever expect them to be) and we're still pretty poor with expenses continuing to get added on (new baby, another car on our insurance, CJ's preschool and extracurricular activities, home projects, etc), I feel very blessed and have faith that we're trying to do what the Lord has asked of us and so our needs (and even some of our wants) will be met. I know they will.  

- When Mattie says guitar, she says "cum-tar," and when she says oops, she says, "ewwps," and when she says scoot, as in "scoot over," she says, "scoop over" :). She's been saying things that way for months but I had to write it down before I forgot. Also, she doesn't always say her Rs or Ls, but is very inconsistent with it, which I think it funny and kinda cute. She is consistent in the words she in which is does or does not say those letters, but it's just funny to hear her say "yook" (look) one minute and then say "light" perfectly the next :)

- Mattie is finally picking up on potty-training. Last week she got #1 down. Now we're just working on #2. I'm not sure what it is with kids and not wanting to poop on the toilet, but she never tells us when she needs to poop. She just goes into another room and then comes out with a mess in her undies. That, or she waits until she has a pull-up on (which is when we go places - we're not quite confident in her abilities yet to trust her to tell us when she needs to go when we're out - or when she sleeps). So the key is to make sure she's never alone. Much easier said than done...

- So I saw the doctor last Monday. I'm 35 weeks and heavier than I'd like to be at this point, but oh well. As long as I don't gain much weight over the next 4 weeks I'll be satisfied. In fact, Dr. Pitts measured my belly and I'm at 39 cm so he said I shouldn't be getting any bigger. He said it in a nice way; not in a if-you-get-bigger-it's-just-because-you're-getting-fat kind of way, like I could've taken it. I went almost a month without gaining hardly any weight, and then I gained 4 pounds in 3 weeks. Blah. I'm just so ready to get this baby out of me and lose some stinkin' weight. Feel pretty again. I know - I'm superficial. Anyway, he also checked the baby's head and it's down...and Dr. Pitts thought it was down for good, so that's progress. Wednesday I'll get the strep B test out of the way and he'll check my cervix (and every week after that). Part of me is hoping I'm dilated and starting to efface just because I want to be done - and I don't want a 10 pound baby. But the other part of me really wants this baby to wait until my Mom gets here on the 19th (when I'm 39 weeks) so that we don't have to stress about what we're going to do with our kids if I go into labor in the middle of the night. But of all the problems to have when you're pregnant, I'm grateful that mine currently consists of constantly being uncomfortable, irritable, and tired, and trying to figure out what to do with our kids when I have the baby.Could be much worse and in spite of all my complaining, I'm grateful it's not.

- Currently, our big project/goal before the baby comes - or at least before winter - has been the fence. I started to stain in last year but not until it was too late and it got cold too fast. And for some reason we've procrastinated doing it until now. So now, I'm only 4 weeks away from giving birth and we're trying to stain almost our entire fence, both inside and out, done before the baby comes. We're making progress and it's so nice to see what a difference it makes. I think we're most motivated to get the outside perimeter finished so that our fence isn't "an eyesore," to quote Bryce. But I want to be able to look at something nice too, so I'm motivated to get the inside done as well. It's coming. Doing a little each day is a slow process, but it's coming. I'm not sure if we'll finish before the baby comes, but we should definitely be able to finish before fall/winter.

- Speaking of goals, I finally got everything organized in the kids' closet and the baby's room closet. We also brought in all of our baby stuff, including CJ's baby clothes, and I've done A LOT of washing and putting away of baby things (clothes, bedding, blankets, towels, washcloths, toys, seat covers, carriers, etc). I was surprised to see the lack of 0-3 month clothes from CJ. I don't remember getting rid of a lot of stuff, but that's the only thing I can figure. But on the bright side, guess we really did need those clothes I already bought the baby...and now I'm thinking we may need to do a little more shopping too :)

- And moving on to money, Bryce finally had his annual review this week. It went wonderfully! Probably the best it could have. But the raise, not so great. Ok, don't get me wrong, he got a pretty substantial raise for being a first-year associate, or so he was told. But before this process began, he was told by others that the partners can give up to a 15% raise. So of course, that's what I was hoping for. On our salary, a 15% raise isn't that great, but very much needed. We thought that if Bryce didn't get a 15% raise, he'd at least get a 10% raise. In fact, I was under the impression that 10% was the lowest they went. Apparently not. Bryce got an 8% raise, which computes to not even enough to cover our school loans each month that we are now in repayment for. I know it's because of the economy - no one is going to get the raises they've gotten in the past - but it just stinks that everyone set us up to think we were getting something that really was never going to happen (and I know they didn't know that either). I just need to remember to keep my expectations low when it comes to things like this...then it won't be such a massive blow.

- (8/29) When we pulled into the garage today after running some errands, I looked back and saw CJ sniffing his toes and whispering, "They smell like cupcakes..." I busted-up laughing and had to immediately text Bryce to tell him about it. That kid is such a comedian sometimes.

- CJ and Mattie have been playing really well together lately, thank goodness. Their latest game has been "Puppy." CJ is usually the puppy, though Mattie will be it sometimes, and Mattie will basically boss the puppy around, telling him to sleep or to come with her or to sit. They will seriously play Puppy for an hour and be perfectly content...and thus I am perfectly content as well :). Though I'm tired most of the time and the thought of 3 kids 4 years and under scares me to death, I'm so glad that I had CJ and Mattie close together. To see what good friends they are becoming just warms my heart!

Happy Monday!