The Storks

The girls have been talking about another sibling for quite some time now. SO on Wednesday August 9th they wrote letters to the storks asking for babies!!! They were pretty direct:

 Sophie even included a plan for them, in case they weren't sure how to go about it. ;)

And then on August 12th a letter arrived in the mail to Lydia, Sophie and Mia. From Stork Mountain.

I love so many things about this video!! Mostly the excitement from each of them, but Sophie's little finger acknowledgment after hearing the expectations from the Storks is so perfect.

Afterward Lydia didn't want anyone sitting on my lap because it might hurt the baby. Soph drew a pic our new baby girl with a green mouth from eating a green cupcake. Lydia wrote a story that included a pic of a baby the size of a green olive. Mia already knew it was a boy. Lyds and Soph immediately started drawing pics and writing stories and boxing up toys (as requested by the Storks in their letter) Lydia told me to rest and take the day off. She handed me "Meena Otr" to read while I folded clothes. One of the many amazing books she's written and illustrated herself.

And things were really exciting for a couple of days. Lydia talked nonstop to my belly. She really wanted to make sure that the baby knew her voice so that when he/she was born he/she would know her and know her well! We told Jon's family on Sunday the 13th and planned to tell mine in Oregon a few days later. But then the 15th came. And we knew things weren't okay. And that's when my blood was drawn and we went to McKay Dee for an ultrasound. I was in there with the ultrasound tech moving things around far too long to leave with any hope that things were okay. The probe wasn't particularly pleasant, but I knew she was being thorough. And I had a really hard time reigning in my emotions while we waited for the staff at the hospital to contact my doctor so he could contact me. This nice lady found us some "contraband" soda and said she'd look into finding us a room so I could bawl in private. We never did get that private room, but once Dr. Stanley called they motioned me over to the front desk (the FRONT DESK!!) and he gave me the bad news over the phone while I was surrounded by staff and other patients. It wasn't a pleasant experience. So when I finally did talk to my doc the possibility that I had my dates wrong was brought up. But I knew that I didn't. And the news wasn't really bad if my dates were wrong. But the baby had measured 6 weeks 2 days when I knew it should have been measuring 10 weeks. It would be another few days before the results from my blood draw on the 15th (and again on the 17th) would really confirm that I was miscarrying. But confirm it did. But we already knew that. One of the most difficult moments was hearing Jon talk to his mom after we left the hospital. It was heartbreaking. He thought he'd be able to hold it together, but he couldn't. And we'd just told them our good news two days prior to this. Loss in any form is not easy to recover from. And the loss of how this baby was going to change and add to our family was (and still is) hard to deal with.

Jon broke the news to the girls. I can only imagine what that must have been like for them to try to process. But Lydia and Sophie were so sweet. As persistent as we were that things were not okay, they were holding out hope and saying that they really hoped (because that's what we all wanted) the baby was okay after all. And then once they were convinced and knew that the baby wasn't okay, they were still super positive and comforting. Telling me that things would be okay and we'd have another baby one day. And as I mentioned before, being in Oregon with family was such a blessing. I can't imagine what it would have been like to have been at home, with Jon working, trying to hold it together for the sake of the girls but failing miserably. So great to have been with family.

And once we got home from Oregon we found this:

Which reduced me to tears immediately. The Pynes, Talbots and Fraziers had written notes all over these hearts and Dad Frazier stopped by earlier that day to tape them up. What a welcome home gift! They were there for us right when we came home from Oregon and really did brighten our day. The notes were so sweet and thoughtful. I've saved them. They mean so much. It was exactly what I needed. And the girls loved all the hearts. There was a bright and girly looking lip gloss for each of them and they loved those too! We're so grateful for such loving and supportive family in both the good times and the difficult. It's been really nice to be able to talk about what happened and so sweet of family to check in on me just to see how I'm doing. I don't know that I deserve it, but I sure am grateful for each of them!

Another Sophie scare

On September 2nd we had an incident. It was a Saturday afternoon. Jon had just gone to Sam's Club for our weekly grocery run. I was in the kitchen cleaning up from lunch and the girls were playing puppies. We (darn it all!) were all in there together. The girls were all kind of on their hands and knees, taking turns being puppies or the owner, as the game went on. The pantry door was open and Mia helped herself to this blade:

And the next thing I knew Sophie was sobbing rather hysterically. I grabbed the blade from Mia before she cut her hands, which is what looked like was about to happen. Threw it in the sink and carried Mia to our bedroom so I could keep her in there while I assessed the damage. Blood was trickling down Sophie's hair. I pressed some tissue on top of her head where the cut was and couldn't tell how serious it was. The blood kept coming, sure. But how bad was it? Did she need stitches?? So I tried to reign in my panic while we waited for Jon to return home. Our plans to go to Lagoon seemed unlikely. When Jon got there we decided that taking her to the Insta Care was the right thing to do. Why is it these things always happen on the weekend? It's either that or when Dad is out of town. So Jon took Sophie in and I tried not to beat myself up about our two year old finding such a sharp object so easily nd inflicting so much pain on her big sis.

5 staples later Sophie was put back together! And she was tough as nails, once again. She told me, "they removed one of the staples after they put it in and had to do it over again." She lost some of her hair in the process. I'm not sure if it got chopped off when Mia hit her or if it was cut as a result of the staples, but either way she has this lovely bit of inch long hair that likes to stick straight up right on the top of her head. While she was gone Lydia drew her a picture and wrote her a letter. Her letters make me so happy!

Sophie came home with a strawberry shake for her and a Heath shake for Mom. Lydia and I shared it. Poor Mia didn't get any as a consequence of striking Sophie. That was actually really sad. As has been mentioned before, and will likely be mentioned many many more times, Mia has several sweet teeth. But helping her understand that hitting isn't okay was more important than giving in to her sweet teeth. We watched The Boss Baby and let Soph rest.

Some might say that Sophie has all the luck. Ha ha. From seizure, to stitches, to staples. She has so many battle wounds! But there's absolutely no question about it, she is one tough cookie!! She was so sweet and forgiving to Mia. I love that about her!

JUB Summer party Cherry Hill

JUBs Summer party, which is always a good time and always for the entire family, was at Cherry Hill this year on August 11th.

 Sophie and Mia were so excited that we had to test out their floaties hours before the party actually started. And Jon took them to Cherry Hill early to maximize our hours of fun spent there. Lydia and I joined them as soon as she got out of school early that afternoon. Year Round School has its ups and downs. Mostly ups, but as this day was a school day and right in the heart of summer fun time, at least it was an early out day.

Rock climbing was a big hit. The girls went back for a second round of climbing. I was impressed with how high they were able to get. They're tough and determined. It was so much fun cheering them on! Mia and I watched, but Lydia and Sophie and even Jon took a turn or two on the wall. Just watching their bare feet go made mine ache a bit, but they didn't complain! Not about the wall anyway.  They sure weren't fond of the animal maze. Too many authentically scary animal noises so we didn't waste much time there. The ball crawl was worth spending some time at, but there was plenty to do outside of that so we didn't stay there long.

And mini golf was really fun too. Fun, but slow going for sure. Choosing which color ball each of us got to use was one of the highlights. I liked watching the girls try to hit the golf balls. It took several attempts and we weren't necessarily paying attention to when it was our turn to go, so that was part of what made is so slow going. We didn't make it to the end of the course, but it was fun and entertaining while it lasted.

  The food was awesome too. Catered by Rumbi's Island Grill. But especially delightful were the drinks. If Mia could have gotten away without eating and only drinking she would have spent all her time with the Root Beer and Cream Soda. And she absolutely would have been in heaven. But probably the most enjoyed activity of the day was floating or "swimming" in the lazy river. These girls truly are water babies. Lydia and Sophie spent some time in a pool, showing Jon their newly acquired swimming skills and jumping off the side of the pool so they could monkey crawl along the edge. Swim lessons certainly paid off, and just in time to be enjoyed at Dad's work party. Thanks JUB for such a good time!  Sophie says, "I liked going to the JUB party. I really liked being in the lazy river!" Lydia says, "my favorite thing was the lazy river and the climbing wall. I really liked jumping into the big pool when Dad caught me." Mia says she liked, "swimming."

Sophie in charge and Mia growing up

Oh these two! With Lydia in school full time it's a different dynamic at home. We've had lots of adventures together. Playing in the rain and jumping in puddles at Ellison Park was one of my favorites. And in the middle of all the fun reality hits and we have to take care of business. Which is what we did to try to address this rash that Mia has had on her face, around her mouth for weeks now. Maybe even months. I finally remembered to talk to Dr. Stanley about it at our last visit. He recommended hydrocortisone. So we picked some up at the pharmacy and started applying it that night. She was a champ about it. She'd let me rub it right up close to her lips, and she'd even point to places on her face that I'd neglected. And it didn't take long for her to want to return the favor. Oh the little dear! I'd put the medicine away and come back with some lotion I'd just pumped onto my finger. She'd take it off my finger and rub it all over my face. I usually walked away with nice white streaks, but I loved bonding with her this way. And now her rash is gone and she probably doesn't remember having to have medicine put on it anymore at all.

She cracks me up. She's so fun and mischievous and hilarious and learning so much all the time! I don't know that I did a good job catching up on some of my Mia favorites on her birthday post, so I'll just a mention of few quickly. She's been a chatterbox since 18 months. Goldie and Bear were some of her first words and she'd cry out for them in the night. The little toys that she got for Christmas were just the right size to carry one in each hand. So cute to hear her little voice and her concern when Goldie or Bear (especially Bear) went "missing" which seemed to happen all too often. Some of her first words (besides Goldie and Bear) were: Mom, Dad, Tophe, Blanky, Bird, Ball, Monkey, Jammies, Puppy, Duck, Frog, Mommy, Cold, Nose, Mine, Abby, Good, Bowl. She had a few favorite books that she'd request I read to her over and over again. One was Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. She'd point to Grumpy and say "Daddy!" I'm not sure if it was because Grumpy dressed in red like Jon often does or for some other reason, but she'd also point to Cinderella scrubbing the floors in the Cinderella book and say, "Mommy!" Not sure why here either. Is it my choice of clothing?? The fact that I can occasionally be found on my hands and knees cleaning our floors or do I actually look like her?? No idea. Which is a cute expression that Mia has been known to say when asked where her shoes or her blanket or her toys are. No idea! I love it so much! Cutest little expression from the cutest little voice on the cutest little girl. And she's obsessed with Little Miss Scary. Naptime (which she's given up) and bedtime weren't complete unless we read Little Miss Scary. And more recent favorites include No David! by David Shannon and Too Many Frogs. Her vocabulary grows daily and we love her. She's sleeping in Sophie's bed and despite that being a difficult change, we're all getting more sleep at night since we decided to try it.

But back to these two. Another fun adventure came the following day, August 4th, when I was outside mowing the lawn and Lydia was at school. But before the yard work Sophie and Mia and I got to join Lydia for a mini fieldtrip on Gentile when a ton of bikers came for the Tour of Utah. What a cool experience! It was fun hanging with Lyds in that setting and seeing her interact with her class. The teachers passed out little American flags to all the kids so they could wave them when the bikers raced by and Soph and Mia got to keep theirs. It didn't take long especially once the bikers got up close, but it was fun to be a part of it with Lydia even if it was brief.

And then we went home and got back to real life. Soph and Mia joined me outside for a little while, but soon decided that being outside with the obnoxious lawn mower was not nearly as fun as being inside without it. Once I'd finished and headed back inside I discovered a very quiet house. Things were a little too quiet. Quiet enough that I was concerned and decided to go searching for my ladies. I found them snuggled up in Sophie's bed "napping".

They had helped themselves to some snacks. Lots of graham crackers. Lots and lots. I nearly stepped on one hiding on their rug later that night. But more importantly, they even created this fabulous treat all by themselves. Chocolate blueberries. Mmmmmmm..... How could anyone resist??! They put them in a heart shaped tin and put it back in the fridge for later. So they could share with everyone. Aren't they sweet? My favorite part of all of this though was listening to Soph praying later that day. In essence she thanked Heavenly Father that she and Mia were able to take such good care of themselves while "Mom was away." All the heart eyes. All of them. Even as roll my eyes. ;) These little darlings certainly keep me on my toes!!

Oregon and the Eclipse

We love Oregon!! And this trip was especially fantastic because it was the first trip we've taken with extended family. The drive to Oregon itself was pretty uneventful. I was a little preoccupied the entire trip because of my pending miscarriage, and then actually dealing with it when it came, but more on that later. I don't want it to be the focus of most of this post.

We decided to make the trip in two days and stay in Eugene on the way there. That way the girls would get to swim in the hotel pool and we could be there plenty early when we were allowed to check in on Friday. It was there that my doctor called to confirm that my HCG levels were dropping. I'd had blood drawn on the Tuesday we knew something wasn't right (thankfully Nate was there and watched the girls while we went first to IHC and then to McKay Dee for an ultrasound) and so we had more blood drawn Thursday morning right before leaving for Eugene. So we knew that call was coming. It was confirmed to us what we already knew. Anyway, we were also a bit worried about the possibility of traffic so making the trip in two days seemed like the right idea. All the articles we were reading made it sound like everyone would be heading to the coast if that was where they were going to witness the eclipse. I didn't know it at the time, but Jon brought $500 in cash because there were predictions that ATM machines would be overwhelmed by the huge numbers of people gathered for the eclipse. Rumors of towns running out of gas were running rampant and Jon changed our route so that we didn't have to travel near the supposedly gasless cities. In the end, despite the rumors, the drive there was pretty uneventful as I mentioned earlier. Just chilling in the van listening to good music, watching animated movies and enjoying each others company. I love these people I call my family.

Once everyone was gathered (Grandma and Grandpa Blackhurst, Uncle Jon (He actually came!! Everyone was hoping he'd join us, but when I tried to persuade him he didn't give me much hope that he'd make the trip), Uncle Isaac and Aunt Amber, the Heiselts (Aunt Lizzie, Uncle Micah, Simon, Oliver, Elsa and Felix), Aunt Abby, Uncle Tophe, Aunt Sarah, Milo and Elora, Aunt Jess and Uncle Derek and Uncle Nate) we figured out sleeping arrangements and went to the beach!

We looked at tide pools, climbed on the rocks and built rock towers (Jon totally dominated this activity). We drew in the sand and ran around on the beach and in the frigid water. I don't think Lydia or Sophie care about temperature when it comes to running through waves. No. Matter. How. Cold it is!! On the way back to the rental home the girls turned into geckos and crawled along the beach. Love their little imaginations. Er, I mean big imaginations!

Saturday was another fun day. Jon took the girls to the beach in the morning while I baked Grandpa's birthday cake. We shot off rockets that Uncle Tophe brought later in the morning and got some pretty good height and distance with them. So fun watching the cousins jump on the 2 liter bottles to shoot off their rockets. Jon went to the store and came back with art supplies (we unintentionally left ours at home) which proved to be an excellent purchase. Lots of time spent drawing and writing stories with the cousins. Lydia wrote a book called Little Pup gets a Family and shared it with everyone. I love her stories! And we headed back to the beach later as well. I had a really great time chatting with Uncle Jon then. Finding out how he decided to come after all and just enjoyed spending time with him.

The food was awesome. Sarah spent a lot of time planning the menus and with the help of Grandpa and Jess it was super organized and super delicious. We had pizza that first night, and cereal, eggs, and muffins for breakfast each morning. That night we had taco/burritos and that went over really well too. Oh! And Sarah did a photoshoot with Jess and Derek showing off her beautiful pregnant belly. I opted not to join. I needed to be alone for a minute and just cry.

But once they were back we also celebrated both Grandma and Grandpa's birthdays. It was Grandpa's actual birthday, but with so many of us gathered we decided to do a double birthday party with carrot cake for Grandpa and Watermelon cake decorated with berries for Grandma. We sang the extended version of Happy Birthday and just had fun together.

My miscarriage started in earnest that night and so I didn't sleep much. The sisters had been notified before the trip (I realized what was happening on Leila's birthday. Or at least we were pretty sure at the time) but I guess word didn't make it to Isaac and Amber. I ran into Amber on the way to the bathroom at about 2 am. She put two and two together when she saw my stack of pads and burst into tears, which made me burst into tears. She was so sweet and it was really therapeutic to talk to her for just those few minutes, and then it was back to bed for another hour or so. The night went on and on like that and so I didn't attend church in the morning. But I did get some really sweet messages from the most thoughtful daughters.

Sunday Mom was really supportive and so great to talk to about my miscarriage and Jess stayed home with me while everyone else went to church. She was so sweet to do that and wanted to cancel her baby shower that night due to what I was going through. So thoughtful, and so not going to happen. I just had to compartmentalize things. My situation didn't lesson the joy I felt for her and Derek (especially since they've waited so long for this little girl!) and so there was no chance of cancelling the shower. We got the baked potatoes cooking for the potato bar, but later realized we should have got on that sooner. It turned out just fine anyway, and we learned that there weren't nearly the amount of visitors at the ward there as were expected. They planned for Sacrament meeting and cancelled all the other classes because they didn't think they'd be able to accommodate so many people. It sounded like a good meeting and the Sisters dropped by later to take some of our excess food to families that could use a little help. Jon took the girls out to the beach again. Soph loved collecting shells and why not get as much of the beach as possible??

There had been talk of a cookie bake off months ago, so Lizzie, Sarah and Jess each baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies and we all tasted them that afternoon. I was off the hook (as was Abby) because we were in charge of cake baking. Both for Grandpa and for Jess's shower. They were all very different and all super delicious. I vote for a no vote in the future. Just a thought. But I'm always in favor of cookies! And while the cookies were baking Sophie make up a sea shell matching game. She'd been collecting them at the beach and then she traced and colored them with the art supplies, before showing them to everyone and challenging them to match each shell to it's drawing. Creative little doll! So cute and so fun!

And dinner was grilled tuna and cheese sandwiches. It was a bit late getting started because of lunch being late, and then the cookies, but once we were done we partied some more with Jess's baby shower. Derek wasn't able to join us because he'd gone home for a baby blessing, but Abby put together an awesome matching candy bar game and because Tophe is super generous everyone got to take some candy home. Jess walked away with some great gifts. Clothes, toys and nursing pillow and (though not present) a rocking chair. She was, of course, so cute with all the gifts! And so grateful. And the cake afterward was so tasty. My girls would have loved the party but we put them to bed so they wouldn't be grumpy girlfriends in the morning.

And then I had a great cry sess with the sibs. Totally cracked. So funny to see the Sarah/Nate dynamic. And we just talked about life and parenting and relationships. It was awesome. I really needed that in the middle of miscarrying. And it was so fun to just be able to laugh like crazy for a few minutes even if I was crying hysterically the next.

Monday morning was spent cleaning and packing. I was pretty weak but we figured things out. There was talk of going to the beach to watch the eclipse but ultimately we decided to stay where we were. Our view right in front of our rental home was incredible!! The Heiselts and Isaac and Amber chose to drive closer to totality, but the rest of us stayed and did laundry and totally geeked out once the eclipse finally happened. It was so awesome!! It was amazing leading up to it, and I loved hearing the gasps from my girls, the cousins, Aunts, Uncles and Grandma and Grandpa. Not sure you could ever be prepared for the glorious beauty that is an eclipse. It was fun seeing everyone in their special glasses and Lyds and Soph turned into professional photographers while we were all out there waiting for totality. When it actually happened it got misty and really cold. The birds were quiet and it was just super dark. I couldn't believe how much the temperature dropped! Crazy! And then we went inside and finished off Jess's cake from the night before. And then we said our goodbyes. Grandma and Grandpa and the singles were heading to Washington to visit more family, so their vacation was just beginning, but they were going to drop Jess off at home first. Such a great weekend!

And then we were on our way. We stopped at the Chocolate Frog store on the way home and bought some chocolate frogs and taffy. Sophie was so excited about going there!!

And we stopped in Mountain Home Idaho on the way home so that we didn't have to drive all night. Plus it was another opportunity for the girls to swim and enjoy the wonder that is a hotel. Our booked room wouldn't open for us so they upgraded us to a nicer room and Jon ended up in their second room with a big bed all to himself. I think everyone slept pretty well and we swam for a bit in the morning. There was some construction going on right by the pool which added to the adventure of it all, but didn't stop the girls from having a good time. And then we were headed home. Traffic wasn't an issue at all. Not until we were about thirty miles from home. Ha! That was the slowest part of the whole trip, but we made it and have so many great memories to look back on. Glad Jon didn't need to use that $500.00! And so grateful for the tickles with the cousins, the sights, the beach and the waves as well as all the awesome conversations had with everyone.