Then and now

Robbie and Clara aren't the only ones growing up around here.

Hyrum and Clara, 2005.

 

Hyrum and Robbie, 2012.

Another visitor!

We were blessed to have my mom come home from her mission for a few days while my dad was staying with my oldest brother, Matt, during his chemotherapy treatment.

 We were pretty excited.

 Clara has been begging me for months to make a stuffed animal out of some cloth that Nana gave us. Like the lemonade stand, I pawned this job off on someone else. I'm cool like that.

My mom made this awesome snake that I don't have a picture of. It was my idea to make the snake because I figured it would be the easiest thing to do, but now Clara has a five-foot long snake to add to her already-drives-me-crazy stuffed animal collection. Oh well.

 Nana and the newest grandbaby!

Although the circumstances of her visit were undesirable, it was wonderful seeing her and so great to have her help. She trimmed my hair, hemmed Michael's pants, and babysat so we could go to the temple. So glad she's my mom.

A six-week update

The last six weeks feel a bit of a blur. Overall, we are doing very well. I feel I have more of a handle on things this time around than I did at this point with Clara. Nursing is getting better, and miraculously I have avoided getting mastitis again, for which I am enormously grateful.

Robbie is a very good baby--sleeps a lot, is cute even when he cries, and his diapers aren't too smelly. He is a very loud pooper though--we call him Squirt. On Sunday he squirted during church and people around me snickered and smiled. Good times. He is holding his head up better and we are being rewarded with more frequent smiles, which, as you know, make all the other sacrifices worth it.

Clara is doing very well with him--she loves him and loves to touch him and take his binky out, and then put it back in. She gives him lots of kisses and even let him lie on her. For the record, where did the word "binky" come from?

Getting back into an ever-evolving routine is interesting. I have a profound admiration for mothers with multiple children at home. Amazing what you ladies do. Getting Clara on the bus in the morning is even more challenging now with the distraction of Robbie, but that's all right. "One day at a time" is my mantra. 

 Clara lost her other front tooth and speaks with a lisp at times. She also started second grade. Wow.

Hyrum is back from a visit to Atlanta after his parents came, and he is a big senior now with his braces off (Michael took them off while his family was here). He looks even more handsome and is thrilled to be nearly done with high school.

It is fun to be able to say "kids" and "children"--using the plural form is very gratifying. I have had my hormonal ups and downs and will probably continue to do so, but all in all I am feeling so thankful for two beautiful children and for the challenging honor it is to be their mother.

We celebrated our ten-year anniversary this week--it was very low-key, which is okay with us. Someday we will go on a cool vacation. For now, however, I am amazed that love can just keep growing and growing and growing. I am so thankful for Michael and how wonderful he is to me and our kids (ha, I got to say it again!).

The same but different

We have noticed how much Robbie looks like Clara did at the same age.

Clara at four weeks.

 Robbie at five and a half weeks.

Clara at six weeks.

Robbie definitely had a bigger (Dunford) head--his head grew one inch in circumference in the first three weeks. And I didn't realize how much more hair Clara had than Robbie does--but that's okay; boys are allowed to have receding hairlines.

Robbie's blessing day

We were very fortunate to have Michael's parents and two of his sisters--as well as Hyrum--here for Robbie's blessing at church.

A very talented friend from church made this little tuxedo for his outfit. I was picturing a very simple white romper, but Michael was ecstatic when our friend offered to sew a little tuxedo for the baby. It was so unexpected to me that Michael felt so strongly about it, and so I relented.

 Michael arranged for the tux to match his tie.

 Pretty amazing workmanship, huh? I love that it's a little bit retro with the wide lapels and the lace. She even pressed the pants to make the creases look like formal slacks. Best of all? It's washable.

 Three generations of Weilers.

Parents and son.

 One happy family.

One bigger happy family.

A visit from the Weilers

We enjoyed a lovely visit from some of Michael's family a couple of weeks ago. His mom made all the meals (grocery shopping included) and everyone helped clean, besides the most important help of all--playing with Clara and holding Robbie :-). How blessed I am to have such wonderful in-laws.

 Grandpa and his namesake. Robbie was named after him and my dad--both Roberts (although Michael's dad goes by Bob and mine goes by Rob).

 Clara was so excited to see her grandma.

 And Grandma loves her and her newest grandson, too.

 Melody was a great help and loved holding the baby. She was so patient and sweet with Clara, too. What a great aunt.

How did I not have a pic of Bethany with Robbie? It was so lovely having her help and was very impressed with her eagerness to help her mom and me as well. Wish we could see her more often from BYU.

I don't have many pics of me with Robbie so I had Michael take one. I like these above the head shots because they hide my double chin.

 Clara loved Crystal Light tea parties with her aunts and we loved hearing them laughing and talking in British accents. Hyrum joined them at one point and his imitation of an elderly British woman was pretty stinkin' hilarious.

 Michael also took them on a hike while I stayed home and rested. I didn't know that Clara had brought her bear Rosie on the hike until I saw this shot . . .

What a great fam.

Lemonade stand

Clara wanted to set up a lemonade stand in July. I was reluctant (partially because it happened to coincide with the same week of our son's birth, but also because I just get embarrassed doing things like that and knew that I would be doing most of the work), but Michael was a great sport and helped her make a sign, bought the lemonade and ice, set up the table and umbrella, and sat out with her.

 He even put a "Coming Soon" sign so that people could be ready with their quarters.

 It was a hot day, but customers didn't flock quite as soon as Clara would have liked. One of our elderly neighbors was getting in her car and Clara yelled out, "Lemonade!" The lady called back and said, "I cain't! It don't agree with me!"

So she came in after about five minutes and informed me, "I'm quitting the business!"

 I made a few phone calls to some neighbors and came back out with Clara. Soon we had a few of our elderly neighbors out, and Clara got more than just 25 cents from most of them as they were very generous and gave her tips as well.

She earned about $2.25--not bad for about half an hour of sitting in the hot sun. Clara used her cash register for storage.

All in all, I am not sure if Clara considered her venture a success, but I think getting to sample her own wares made it worth it.

Getting bigger

Robbie (I think that's how we'll spell it--thanks for all the input!) is such a sweet baby.

 Five days old.

Ten days old.

Clara ("big sissie" as she likes to be called) has been very sweet with the baby. She helps me burp him and gets his pacifier when he cries. She likes to hold his little hands and give him lots of kisses.

Welcoming Robert Michael

Before the utter exhaustion and overwhelming feelings really set in, I thought I'd take a minute to post some pics and tell Robert's story.

Tuesday I started feeling contractions during the day that gradually grew closer together as the evening came closer but were still about 15-20 minutes apart. I decided to head to our Relief Society meeting and enjoyed a rousing game of scripture pictionary and a s'more, I drove back home, feeling stronger contractions along the way.

At home, I told Michael that I think this might be for real, and after getting things organized I called my midwife. At about 11:00, we drove to the hospital (which is literally within walking distance). Even though I was three days overdue (four when he was born), I was afraid that they were going to turn me away.

Fortunately, I had progressed enough that they kept me. My contractions were between 3 and 5 minutes apart but were still pretty inconsistent. However, they were strong (i.e. very painful). I was very grateful to receive some pain medicine and then an epidural about 2:30 in the morning.

I am so grateful for epidurals. I will never contemplate the idea of going naturally again, nor will I feel bad about not being able to handle the pain.

I dozed off and on, gradually progressing to an 8 or a 9 (with the help of some Pitocin), at which point my midwife broke my water. Within 15 minutes I felt like I was ready to push, and sure enough, I was.

I had to push quite a bit more with Robby than I did with Clara, and after he weighed in at nearly 9 lbs 9 oz, I understood why!

He was born at 7:53am, weighing 9 lbs, 8.6 oz, and measuring 20 inches long. I am thrilled he has Michael's coloring. 

 Michael is so excited to have a son.

 Clara is already a great big sister. She was so excited when we were getting ready to go to the hospital and did not want to go to sleep. For several days before I went in, she would ask me every day, "Are you going to have the baby today?" or "Are you in labor?" or things like that.

 Hyrum was as excited as Clara was to get this baby here. We were so grateful he could watch Clara while I was at the hospital and has been a big help (well, he was before the baby was born, too).

 My favorite people.

She was willing to hold Robby once--which is just fine.

 An attempt at a family portrait on self-timer. Please note that Clara is wearing the same outfit as the day before (which she has also worn for a couple of days before that). Her hair hadn't been brushed until today when I did it for her at the hospital. I guess doing Clara's hair wasn't on the radar for Michael or Hyrum. Men!

 So glad to be together.

 Filled with so much love for these two.

At home in the bassinet.

Well, we are home and are going to be taking some time to adjust (duh!). We are so grateful for this little blessing. I am not going to lie--I am nervous about it and hope and pray for Clara to be filled with love for him (and him for her). I hope I won't get mastitis again. But no matter what, I am grateful to be an eternal family, bound by covenants in the temple.

In other news, should we spell it Robbie or Robby?

And finally, we are thrilled that we won't ever have to make him a birthday cake but can just get him a free slurpee from 7-Eleven and call it good. Haha.

Summertime

This past month has been a good one. I was nervous about not having Clara enrolled in any sort of summer school, therapy, class, etc., which she has almost always been in since she's been about one or two years old.

It has turned out to be precious time to enjoy just being with each other. That's not to say I don't get tired of pretending all the time or get frustrated with behavior, but we've made special memories reading together, swimming at the pool, snuggling, having playdates, and working on her summer skills (see later on in the post). And she's gotten to watch quite a few Charlie and Lola episodes while I work at the office a few hours a week.

My non-smart phone has only demo games, but she likes to mess around with it and try to text Michael.

Last week Clara lost her fourth tooth (the first on top). Now Michael has pulled two and I have pulled two.  She looks way too big and we have informed her that she can no longer grow but must stay seven years old forever. She refuses for some reason and takes great pleasure in informing us when she is eating healthy foods (if she drinks water she taunts, "I'm hyyy-draatiiing!") or doing something that can help her grow.

Clara really wanted to make taffy, so one Sunday afternoon I agreed. Let me put it this way: I broke the Sabbath because it was wayyyyy too much work--you are supposed to pull the taffy for half an hour (!). Clara's taffy totally worked better than mine for some reason, and she was very proud of it. I just ate some of mine and threw the rest away.

Summer skills? Yeah, like I could just not have any expectations or things we needed to work on . . . not in my personality, I guess. We try to do "summer school" at home and work on telling time, counting coins, adding and subtracting, and writing sentences. For physical activities, I emailed her PE teacher and asked her what things Clara could work on this summer. She let us borrow a jump rope and a rolling board as well as a kickball. So we are working on hopping on one foot, catching and throwing, kicking a ball, and jumping rope. Well, I haven't really practiced the rope-jumping part with her . . . Michael is going to help her with that since I can't seem to lift myself off the ground much these days.

Here's hoping that the second half of the summer will be as good as the first half!

No inhibitions

I have noticed that pregnancy makes people very uninhibited in their comments. Things that they would never say to a non-pregnant person are bound to pop out of their mouths at any moment. When would you ever make a comment to someone about their body shape or size? What most surprises me is when women who have had their own babies make thoughtless comments. I'm thinking, "Don't you remember what it was like?" Apparently not.

But it's been good for me to realize how vain I am and a good time to hone my sense of humor.

What not to say to a pregnant woman:

"Are you sure you're not having twins?" (I got a twins comment probably five times early on because I got big pretty early.)

"You look ready to pop!" (Gee, thank you so much.)

"You look so uncomfortable." (Wow, that is so nice of you to say that.)

"I hope you aren't offended, but you look like you've changed shape." (Um, okay. . .)

"Oh my goodness! Are you going to go into labor?!" (when on a short hike about six weeks ago)


What to say to a pregnant woman:

"You look beautiful."

"You look so good."

"I love that maternity dress."

"If I were pregnant, I would like to look like you."

"You look beautiful."

"You look beautiful."

"You look beautiful."


Michael is very good at saying nice things, fortunately. He can counter-balance all the silly things others have said. And you can imagine how much I am looking forward to going to church tomorrow to hear all the things people are going to say since I've passed my due date.

Here I am yesterday--the day before my due date. The bassinet I am standing by is the one that Michael's dad, Michael, and our future baby boy will be sleeping in. Well, actually he will only be sleeping in it for a picture for posterity's sake because it takes up too much space and will have to be moved.
 

Mornings

During the school year, I had a very difficult time trying to get Clara out of bed and get her onto the bus in a non-frustrated, timely manner. Getting her to complete her morning routine without being distracted has been quite the challenge. I have thought about lowering my expectations (i.e. not expecting her to make her bed, etc.), but I feel like I need to stick to my guns because life is only going to get busier for me with a baby. Teaching her and learning to be independent is a major goal for both of us.

I've tried a lot of different things:

After doing a ridiculous amount of research into an alarm clock (it couldn't be too loud because Clara hates loud noises and that would scare her and throw her off in the morning, etc.), I got this one with two alarms that I set ten minutes apart. The first had classical music from the radio playing, and the second alarm went off with a progressively faster beep. But you could control the volume, which was nice.

OUTCOME: I think it will be good, but sometimes I got lazy and forgot to set it and would just come in and wake her up (after which she would usually just go back to sleep again). I am going to use it more faithfully this next year.

I also got this timer that has a red area which visually helps you see the time diminish.

OUTCOME: It is helpful only as much as the child learns to reference it. It's still a work in progress.

Those who have been following my blog for awhile might remember the routine charts I made several years ago for Clara.  Here is a re-vamped version. (I have since added prayer to her morning--I am ashamed to admit I left it out because I felt I couldn't add one more thing!).

Of course, the mornings aren't the only time we need help, so I have an after-school and a night routine, as well as "She can do it all by herself" and "Skills to learn by age 8" and "Weekly Chores" lists as well.

OUTCOME: Again, these are only useful insofar as they are referenced by the child. But my goal is to teach Clara to learn to reference her lists so that (1) they will become engrained in her memory; and (2) she will learn the value of making lists for herself and remembering to reference them as she gets older and has to handle ADHD on her own.

In the summer we are a bit more relaxed (thank goodness!), but I also try to maintain a sense of order and expectation. So, taking an idea from a friend of mine, Clara gets to put one marble in a small jelly jar every time she completes her morning routine on time (within 45 minutes). We took her to Target and had her pick out something she wants, took a picture of it, and then taped the picture onto the jelly jar to help keep her motivated.

She chose Gak (remember that stuff??)--she hasn't ever used it but considering her propensity for sticky and gooey, I think she'll like it.

OUTCOME: The jar is about half-way full. There are definitely mornings when she doesn't get her marble--or when I don't time her and give her the marble when I can tell she is really "on" and focused that morning. I think it is a good idea and I will probably continue using it during the school year.

I am hopeful that things will get smoother in the morning this next year, but considering the fact that I will also have a nursing baby, I guess I shouldn't get my hopes up. But Clara is great at surprising us, so who knows?!

Quick comparison

Very randomly, I thought I'd post about an experiment we tried a few weeks ago. I wanted to see which tasted better: Kraft Mac 'n Cheese or Kroger brand.

I am not too brand particular except for a few things: brown rice (Uncle Ben's), detergent (Tide), and I'm sure a few others I can't think of. In fact, for some things I prefer the store-brand. Kroger cottage cheese, for example, I like much better than any other kind I've tried. I also like Martin's brand of Frosted Mini-Wheats better than Kellogg's. And Kroger's natural creamy peanut butter is better than Smucker's or other kinds I've tried. But I digress.

Sometimes it's worth it to me to spend more money and get the name brand. Was mac 'n cheese the same way?

 Well, the pan on the left is the Kraft and the pan on the right is the Kroger. You can see the Kraft has a much smoother consistency. We could have made the same consistency with the Kroger by adding more milk, I imagine, but this is what they looked like following the recipes.

Upon tasting them, we really couldn't decide. Yes, there was a difference in their taste, but neither was necessarily better than the other. The ingredient list, as you can imagine, is mighty similar, and I decided that if I'm going to buy a cheap box of processed cheese mix with some enriched pasta, it's probably not worth it to shell out an extra thirty cents for the Kraft brand.

But that's just my opinion. Are you partial to a particular brand of something?

Happy Father's Day

To the best dad in the world from his little girl. (For the record, if I were singing this, it would apply to my dad, too!)