Pumpkin. Pumpkin. Pumpkin.

It occurred to us recently that in the five years we've been married, we've only carved pumpkins once. And that was before any of our children were born.

Yeah, we're a little behind on that tradition...

So, to make up for lost time, I took advantage of FHE night to journey out on the grand adventure of selecting the perfect pumpkins. Perhaps we could have gone to a pumpkin patch on a quaint little farm...but instead we went to Harmon's grocery store. Just as good, right?

Carving was entertaining. Jane wanted nothing to do with the innards. "Super gross and disgusting," she said.

Megan had no problem with it.

Ben kept a respectful distance from both the mess and the sharp knives.

Jane had a lot more fun with the actual carving part. She perked up quite a bit.

We all designed our pumpkins on paper before we started carving. Jane really did draw her face--I was impressed. Megan, on the other hand, wasn't getting the whole face concept. We tried to ask her what kind of face she wanted--happy, sad, scary--and all she said was pumpkin. Repeatedly. So, Chris carved her a pumpkin on her pumpkin.

And the final products:

left to right

Megan, Jane, Chris, Laura

Hooray for belated celebration of a long-standing holiday tradition!

P.S. Happy Birthday Amanda!!

Sleepless

Ben woke up first. I picked him up out of his bassinet and put him in bed next to me--I've never been one to actually get up to feed my nursing babies at night. I was a little annoyed to realize that it had only been two hours since I put him to bed...so much for sleeping through the night, eh? Oh, well. I went back to sleep while he was eating.

I woke up to screaming. Always rather disconcerting in those sleepy stages when you're awake enough to know something's going on but not awake enough for your brain to process what it is. Impressive, too, when I realized that it was only about four minutes later than when I had last looked at the clock with Ben and I was already that much asleep.

Megan was the screamer. She was sitting on the floor next to her bedroom door in utter despair--she doesn't know how to work the doorknob yet. I picked her up, sat on the edge of her bed, and just held her for a minute until she stopped crying. Then Jane woke up. Go figure. Screaming doesn't phase her a bit, but me walking into the room is like an alarm clock went off.

Jane said she needed a drink. Megan said, "Me too." Now, I am generally opposed to out-of-room venturing during the night. Too disruptive to the back-to-sleep endeavor. I put Megan down so I could get a drink and bring it back to them but before I knew it, they had both beat me out the door and into the kitchen.

Ok, fine. Get a drink and go back to bed before you wake up Dad and slash or the baby.

Megan sat on her bed content just long enough for me to get Jane tucked back in--"I need you to fix my blankets, Mom"--and find her baby, Honey, which was recovered only by my shuffling in small circles around the bed until my feet ran into said baby doll. I'm sure that would be quite entertaining to watch in daylight, bathrobe and all.

My attention was then commandeered back to Megan's bed. She sat on my lap for a while, refusing to even think about laying down. I told her she needed to go back to sleep, I offered any number of choice companions--her care bear, her pig, her doggie, her putt-putt fish, her baby Ronda. (Yes, Ronda. Thank you, Jane.) She would have none of it. I'm certain she fully intended to spend the rest of the night on my lap.

I nodded off a few times and just about dropped her on the floor once because my arms relaxed a little too much. I finally said, "Megan, I need you to lay on your pillow so Mommy can go back to bed. I'm tired." Her response? "Oh. Okay." And she laid right down, no problem.

Huh. I guess sometimes you just need a reason.

I shuffled back to my own bed, just to have my husband kindly remind me that I needed to sign my timecard or they wouldn't pay me for these overtime hours.

I laid back down and got comfortable, wondering who I could trick into counting middle-of-the-night parenting as overtime and pay me. How sweet would that be. That thought slowly switched to considering the wisdom that is my no out of room venturing policy, as my return to sleep endeavor had been officially thwarted. Something about interacting with every single member of my family between 12:30 and 1:00 in the morning makes it hard to go back to sleep.

Lunch Break

I have hinted here, and stated obviously and repeatedly on Facebook, that Chris has worked a lot of overtime in the last few weeks. This has been a lot more stressful to our family than I really noticed in the beginning. Chris generally works 40 hours a week, 10 hours each Monday through Thursday, Fridays off. In four weeks, Chris worked 65 hours of overtime, meaning he averaged 56 hours each week. He almost doubled that last week by working 83 hours in six days--43 hours just in overtime. He most often came home around 10:30 or 11:00.

On the worst night, he didn't get home until 2:30 in the morning. No joke.

On the best night, he came home at 6:15. We girls were pretty excited about it. Jane and Megan very much enjoyed just being with Dad. I could tell they missed him, even if they didn't realize it enough to say it themselves.

I was surprised at how refreshing it was for me to see my kids with their dad. Too little of that going on lately. Even though he was home, he spent 30 minutes sleeping while I got dinner, then we had about an hour and a half with him before the kids went to bed (including dinner), then he was back on his computer working for another two hours before we went to bed.

It was a long week.

The oft-asked question, naturally, is WHY is he working so much?? To be followed closely by When will he be done?

In layman's terms--because that's all I have any understanding of--he's testing. They have software that is going to be released and it's Chris and his team's job to make sure the programs actually work. They run literally hundreds of tests to find all bugs and defects, then they have to fix them and test again.

So, that's a big project anyway. Add to that the fact that they are testing three different programs at the same time and the fact that Chris is in charge of organizing and coordinating the teams running the tests and collaborating with the programmers who fix the bigger bugs. Chris is also one of the few guys who actually really knows what the tests all are, so he's one of the go-to guys when problems come up that are harder to figure out. Physically exhausting to work that many hours with little sleep and often not quite enough food and mentally exhausting to be actively problem-solving for most of those hours.

(P.S. Sorry, Chris, if I've totally misrepresented what you've been doing. I tried to get it right...)

The big push last week was to get the testing all squared away, so every test passed, before Butch came this week. Butch is witnessing each and every test to make sure it passes. That's what's going on this week. Chris is there basically overseeing all the tests while his team runs them and Butch records. By the end of the day yesterday, he already had 28 hours on his timecard for the week, and it was only Tuesday. But, there is an end in sight--Butch is only here this week. We've got our fingers crossed that the week will end on Friday instead of Saturday, but it certainly won't go past that. Yay!

We did take advantage of my stay-at-home-mom-ness yesterday and packed up a picnic lunch, stole Chris away from the office, and spent 45 minutes together at a park just up the road. Eating and playing with Dad was just the ticket for a very, very good lunch break.

Convenient that the park was close, eh?

Just a side note milestone, Ben has already discovered his hands. He will stare intently at them until he goes cross-eyed, then work as hard as he can to get them both shoved in his mouth at the same time. That's skills, dude.

He also slept through the night for the first time last night--seven hours of unconscious bliss. Here's to many, many more nights like that, baby.

I'm pretty lucky to have such a good husband and adorable kids. I must have done something right...

2 months, 2 weeks, 2 days

My little boy is getting so big!

Thank goodness for cell phone cameras to take pictures to send to Dad while he's still at work until 2:30 in the morning. (Blah for that, though.)

Every time Ben wakes up, he smiles as soon as he sees me. Even if he's been screaming, he'll switch right to a smile when I come in the room. That's just about the best thing ever. Ever ever.

Ben loves his sisters. He smiles a lot for Jane, too--right up until she accidentally sits on him or something equally not soft.

I love my baby.

Megan turns 2 for the 2nd time

Last Sunday was the combined Megan and Grandpa Jeff birthday party at my parents' house. Megan got to blow out the candles, which she hadn't done yet,

and she opened her presents from Grandma Karrie. Thank you for new clothes that fit and aren't stained! And Megan loves the pig in a blanket.

Grandpa Jeff also got to blow out his candles. He's just a little older than Megan, can you tell?

Luckily the smoke detector didn't go off...

He did get them all out in one breath, by the way. Go Dad.

20 Questions

Remember at the beginning of last year when Chris lived in Salt Lake and I was still in Logan with the kids? Single parenting all during the week, Dad home only on the weekends when we try to cram in as many catch-up chores as possible while still pretending to have time to be a family...remember that?

That's what the last month has been like, except now I am single parenting three kids instead of just two and am home all day instead of teaching. Chris has been working serious overtime--15-20 extra hours every week for the last four weeks, and it'll keep going until the end of next week. The kids have been in bed for over an hour already and he just called to say he won't be home for at least another two hours. Hopefully.

Sigh. At least we can still sleep in the same bed each night this time.

So, to pass the time until I get to see him just long enough to say hello before we both crash for the night just to wake up and say goodbye again tomorrow morning, I have decided to do a Couple Tag. If I can't be with him, at least I can think about him a lot. :)

P.S. I believe this tag was originally intended along the secret crush lines, so if some of the questions seem weird, that's why.

1. Where did you meet?
Chris and I met in Fairbanks, Alaska, at the dorms of University of Alaska Fairbanks. We were there for the Upward Bound Math and Science Program.

2. What was the first thought that went through your head when you met?
My first thought was, "What a dork." (Sorry, Chris! Love you!) He had a graphing calculator in his pocket. I'm not necessarily opposed to carrying around a calculator, but a graphing calculator seemed really extreme...and kind of dorky.

3. Do you remember what he/she was wearing?
Chris was wearing light colored blue jeans (with really big pockets) and a gray t-shirt. And the same sneakers that are still sitting in our bedroom closet right now.

4. Where was the first time you kissed this person?

In the hallway of the Lion Hotel in Pocatello, ID following senior prom. Chris told me it was tradition to have a good night kiss. We had been dating for ten months and our first kiss was senior prom.

5. Where did you go for your first date?
This one is up for debate. Chris says our first date was in Alaska when we saw Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course starring Steve Irwin. I maintain that wasn't an official date because we were there with about a dozen other people from the program. And it was a really stupid movie... I say our first date was the first time we saw each other after Alaska, when his family came and picked me up in Salt Lake and we went to a family reunion of his grandma's extended family.

Really, either way you look at it, we had a pretty lame first date. Don't worry, we got better at it.

6. How long did you know this person before you became a couple?
We met on June 15, 2002. We started dating on July 23, 2002. So 38 days.

7. How did he/she ask you out?
We were walking back to the dorms from the cafeteria when he first told me he liked me. It was a couple days later when we had the fateful conversation: Me--What happens when we get home? (meaning when we left Alaska, me to Utah, him to Idaho) Chris--What do you want to happen? Me--My sister is going to ask if I have a boyfriend and I want to say yes. Chris--Ok.

 

And the rest is history. Sort of.

8. Has this person ever proposed to you?
Three times. All within about a minute and a half. My responses: 1. Are you serious?! 2. y...e...s...? 3. Yes.

9. Do you and this person have kids together?
Only the three most adorable kids to have ever graced the planet.

10. Have you ever broken the law with this person?
Chris has gotten three speeding tickets with me in the car. I have gotten one with him asleep in the backseat.

11. When was the first time you realized that you liked this person?
Well, my mom had to point out first that he liked me. I was complaining about this guy that just kept following me around and carrying my books for me and singing when I played the piano and eating lunch with me... Once she awakened me to my obliviousness, I decided that he might be cool. And once I actually paid attention, it turned out he was a really good guy.

12. Do you get along with his/her family?

It's rare to meet a better group of people. So yes.

13. Do you trust this person?
I trust him with my mind, my heart, and my children. So yes.

14. Do you see her/him as your partner in your future?
Only forever. Not a minute longer.

15. What is the best gift she/he gave you?
We dated long distance for a year and a half. During one stretch when I was having a rough time, he came down with a little package for me. The movie Ten Things I Hate About You, a blanket he had made, a bag of popcorn, and a teddy bear. His instructions: watch the movie and eat the popcorn together right then. Later, when he was gone and I was missing him, I could wrap up in the blanket and hug the bear while I watched the movie. Yeah, he did good on that one.

16. What is one thing he/she does that gets on your nerves?
I must really like him because I can't think of any off the top of my head.

17. Where do you see each other 15 years from now?
We'll probably see each other in our house. Maybe this same house, or maybe a different one. We might see each other occasionally in the car, too. At church. At the occasional family gathering.

 

I don't think that's what this question really means...

18. What causes the most arguments?

Money.

19. How long have you been together?
We have known each other for 9 years, 3 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days. We dated for exactly 1 year and 6 months. We broke up but still wrote letters. Then we were engaged for 2 months, 1 week, and 4 days. We have been married for 5 years, 2 weeks, and 6 days. 

 

So... in all, we've been a couple for 6 years, 9 months, and 3 days.

 

(Can you tell I have time to kill before Chris comes home?)

20.  Are you married?
Yes. That's a dumb question. Don't tell the leper.

21. Who do you tag?
It seems to me that blog tagging is something of the past, but I did have fun writing this and would certainly not be opposed to learning a bit more about my friends' wonderful spouses. So, if you feel inspired, consider yourself tagged and write away.

And now I will copy and paste this entire post into Word, convert it to a pdf, then email it to Chris as an attachment so he can read it at work. Just like I do with all of my blog posts.

Love you, babe. Come home sometime. It'll be awesome. :)

I've been shot!

As I mentioned, I took all three kids to the doctor--Megan for her two-year checkup, Ben for his two-month checkup, Jane because there aren't a lot of babysitters available at 11:00 on a Thursday.

It was kind of an intense visit, in an amusing way. Megan and Ben were each getting immunizations. I had assured Jane all morning that she didn't have to get any shots, she just needed to sit quietly and wait until the appointment was over. That's all.

Then the nurse asked me about flu shots.

Jane was pretty ticked at me for pretty much the rest of the day. She was rather indignant that I went back on my word and let the nurse stab her leg while I held her down in a big bear hug.

Moms can be so mean sometimes.

All told, I think the nurse was more traumatized than anyone else. Megan was screaming because she was getting shots, Jane was screaming because she was going to get a shot, and Ben was screaming because no one was holding him. (He was still unaware of the shots to come.) It was rather noisy in that little room.

Once all was said and done, we went out in the hall with all three kids still whimpering. There was a brand new mom in the lobby with her brand new baby. I assured her it wasn't all that bad, I promise.

Of course, I had made all kinds of promises to Jane that morning and see how that turned out.

Anyway...

Ben's two-month stats:

12 lbs. 9 oz.

57th percentile

23 inches

55th percentile

I was a little surprised at his height. At one month, he was 25th for weight and 90th for height. He still looks really long and skinny, but that's not what the numbers say. *shrug*

P.S. Thanks go to Amy--she pretty much saved this entire week at our house. Just sayin'. And she's definitely Ben's favorite aunt.

P.P.S. Happy Birthday, Dad / Grandpa Jeff!