One Year

July 2010

BABIES FULL NAME? Anne Kinslee

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THAT SPECIFIC NAME? Anne is my mother and my sister's middle name. Kinslee is  our own creation and went through a series of transformations. I was finally sold on it when we realized that it represents her grandfather's names. Brandon's dad's first name (Kevin) and my dad's middle name (Lee). A bit of a stretch, perhaps, but it brings meaning none-the-less.

HOW LONG HAD YOU BEEN MARRIED? We were a month shy of our 6th anniversary.

WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? We wanted a spring baby, March, April, or May. Fail, fail, and fail. Then another fail, and yet another fail. It was hard for me. I realize that many go through much more sorrow and trial and endure far worse than 5 unsuccessful cycles. Nonetheless, in complete honestly I admit that there were definitely tears on my part through those 5 cycles. When they finally came, we were both thrilled to see those 2 pink lines, naturally.

DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? No. We decided that this would be the one baby that it didn't matter the gender so we chose to wait until the birth. I'm so glad we chose to be surprised. Although, I think we were both still somehow convinced that we were having a boy so it really was a huge surprise for us to have a girl.

DUE DATE? July 30th

DID YOU DELIVER EARLY OR LATE? 15 days early

DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? Lots and lots and lots of nausea and fatigue. I puked once.

WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? "The most common thing that pregnant women crave is to not be pregnant."

WHO IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? I really struggled with my kids. I wouldn't say they irritated me, but every time they acted up or misbehaved I couldn't help but think what that would be like with a baby in the mix and it made me anxious and uptight. Not something I'm proud of, but the truth.

DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS WITH YOUR PREGNANCY? I had pre-term contractions starting at 24 weeks. I was never officially put on bedrest, but it certainly gave us a good scare.

HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? 2 hours.

WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? Brandon. We are now three for three for me being sent to the hospital from my 38 week doctor's appointment. With William it was high blood pressure, with Marie it was low fluids, and with Anne I was dilated to a 5. By the time we arrived at the hospital I was at a 7 and had felt one semi-painful contraction.

WHO WAS IN THE DELIVERY ROOM? Brandon. Dr. J. Some nurses.

WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? Natural

DID YOU HAVE AN EPIDURAL? You bet.

HOW MUCH DID YOUR BABY WEIGH? A cute, chubby, and squishy 8 pound 1 ounce-er. Exactly 2 pounds bigger than Marie.

DID YOUR BABY HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS? She had low blood sugars. They were quickly regulated within the first few hours of her birth.

WHAT HOSPITAL DID YOU DELIVER AT? Wouldn't you like to know.

HOW OLD IS YOUR BABY NOW? ONE!

3 months -- October 2010

6 months -- January 2011

9 months -- April 2011

12 months -- July 2011

Our Fifth Year

I once said ... here ... that this video would come before the end of our sixth year. I have been known to make unreasonable goals.

Alas, it is finally finished and it was like a marathon down memory lane. My kids were so little!

Enjoy!

The Buzz

A year (or two?) ago, I convinced Brandon that investing in some clippers would be a very wise decision. I could cut William's hair (instead of paying for someone to do it) and in a few months it would pay for itself. 

Brilliant idea, Bethany. Brilliant. Now I am stuck cutting William's hair always and forever because, well, we have the clippers.

His last haircut we decided to have a little fun, since it is a task I royally hate, and so does he (but in all honestly, I do love the cost savings.) 

I also talked him, and Brandon, into a buzz cut for the summer. So much easier to do!

 The reverse mohawk. I think we might me onto something, don't you?

 Old man - ish. Or mullet - ish.

The real thing. Buzzzzzzz .......

Awwww .... he's so cute!

For journaling purposes, the recently posted events happened in the following order:

Treehouse Museum -- May 30
Joy School Graduation -- June 1
Fantasy Canyon -- June 11
Triathlon -- June 18

I lost the next couple of weeks after that. So if anybody finds them, would you let me know?

The final event that I want to document for the month of June was a hike with Brandon's brother and family. We like to call it the Five Hike.

 5 kids age 5 and under, 

5 (ish) feet of snow; Eliza 5 months pregnant; 

 5.5 hours; 

 55 miles from our house to trail head; 

 555 feet of elevation gain per mile; 

 5 open wounds on Marie; 

 5 minutes of sleep for Anne.

High fives for all the kids (and adults!) for making it to the end.

Some Divine Inspiration

My calling has been stressing me out lately. Or frustrating me. Or discouraging me. All of the above, really.Yeah, you probably think I am Primary President. Nope, just lowly little ward choir director in a new-ish ward where this is anything but a long lasting tradition of ward choir. It is quite the opposite, actually.

I could vent, and gripe, and whine right now. I could explain all the reasons I have felt quite fed up; however, that wouldn't make me feel any better. I already tried it with Brandon and my mother and a friend. Didn't work.

Then I decided to pull out my lovely iPod the other night. Ward choir was far from my  mind, but it was time for some scripture study. I found myself in Preach my Gospel , then D&C 3:19-20. From there I went to my Citation Index app and was directed to a talk by President Eyring from April 2000 General Conference, "Watch Over and Strengthen". It was one of those, "he is speaking directly to me" moments.

"Because you are called by Jesus Christ to His service, you may go forward with great confidence. First, you may be assured that He knows you and your capacity to grow. He has prepared you. Calls will stretch you, often at the start and always over their course, but He will give you the Holy Ghost to be your companion. The Holy Ghost will tell you what to do when your own abilities and efforts are not enough (see John 14:26)."


After telling a story of a young man who was recently called to be Stake President he goes on,


"The Lord is his only hope for success. Most of the help will come through the ministrations of the Holy Ghost. The Lord's servants cannot succeed without it. We can only have the Holy Ghost as a companion if we plead for it and if we qualify for it. And both require a lot of praying, praying with real faith in our Heavenly Father and in His Beloved Son and in the Holy Ghost (see D&C 90:24; A of F 1:1)."


Although Brandon, Mom, and Friend are all willing listening ears, I failed to talk to the one who could really help. In my moments of frustration, not once did I turn to my Heavenly Father. How grateful I am that this time he gave me a tender mercy and still directed me to the words I needed to read. How grateful I am that he is willing to teach me this lesson again, and again, and again. And again. Maybe some day it will be second nature to me. I am sure there are many more challenging callings in front of me to help me learn. How grateful I am for these callings that help me to find my weaknesses so that I, through my Savior, can make them strong.

Triathlon: Take 2

We swam.

 They cheered.

 We biked.

 We ran.

 We finished.

P.S. Thanks to my B-Dawg for taking control of all 4 kids and managing to get some great pictures. What a man, what a man.

Joy School Graduation

 

 

 

 

 

Words escape me with this post. I just love this group of kids and this group of women. It has been one heck of a ride this year doing Joy School. Thanks for taking it with me, ladies! You have left “handprints on my heart”, for sure.

Fantasy Canyon

The facade: We spent a wonderful day with Grandma and Grandpa S., enjoying some of our Heavenly Father’s beautiful creations. Smiles were plentiful and fun was had by all.

The truth: Marie and Anne both didn’t feel well. Marie was whiny and grumpy and only smiled due to constant reverse psychology. Anne hated the Ergo, so we ended up holding her in our arms. It was hot and there was an apparent lack of shade.

When all was said and done: We did still enjoy both Grandma and Grandpa’s company and some of Heavenly Father’s beautiful creations.

 

 

   

Flashback to Memorial Day

Memorial Day weekend proved to follow the trend that most of May had set, it was rainy. Really rainy. The Treehouse Museum became our activity of choice. We love the Treehouse Museum and have been several time this year thanks to the membership Grandma and Grandpa P. gave us for Christmas. Most of the visits were just Brandon and the kids while I stayed home with Anne due to her chain of ear infections. Anne was healthy this time though, so we all got to go and so did the camera! So, here’s to a lengthy post documenting some of our favorite areas of the children’s museum. Drink up!

We don’t pose her, I swear, she is just all girl. Peaches and cream through and through.

Happy, healthy, and standing up. All incredible feats that are certainly worthy of documenting. The train table is for sure a favorite stop, although not as much a favorite for William as it used to be.

The dinosaurs are a new favorite for William and Marie willingly tags along.

 

Cutests. Firefighter. Ever.   The Finding Nemo fish tank.

 

The kids are usually too interested in playing to attend the story time that the museum provides, but this time I forced them to go. Really, we had to drag them down to the theater, but it didn’t take long for them to realize it wasn’t a punishment after all. Marie was able to help tell “The Three Little Pigs” and William assisted in “The Three Billy Goats Gruff.” Joy School often uses dramatization of stories in its lesson plans and it was apparent that both William and Marie had learned a thing or two. They were the only little ones up there that really listened to the story and “acted” accordingly. Thank you, Joy School.

I love that the Treehouse provides little costumes in each of the areas for the kids to use. We did a dramatization of our own of “Little Red Riding Hood” in one of the little houses.

  Yeehaw!

My favorite area, the music room. Are you surprised?

Brandon posed this one, haha.

It was such a fun day and fabulous to get out as an entire family.

Happy Memorial Day!