You had one job, Pancreas!

Last night as I couldn't find my phone, which was a problem because I knew it needed to be charged. The last place I had it was at the playground—we met some friends for a picnic lunch yesterday—but I was pretty sure I brought it home because I used it for navigation purposes.

The GPS Andrew's parents gave us for our 6th (maybe) wedding anniversary (to help us find our way out of their house and into the real world) has been acting up a lot more than it's been working lately. Instead of replacing the GPS we got a stand-thingy to hold our phones since they're equipped with GPS already.

That's when it dawned on me that I probably left it in the car. Because I always leave my phone in the car now, which is probably the biggest downside to having our phones double as the GPS for the car.

Andrew went out to get my phone for me. He handed it to me and I checked for notifications. There were several. One was a voicemail from my doctor's office, specifically from the lab/health information supervisor, asking me to call her back. 

"This can't mean good news," I sighed. "I have gestational diabetes, which means you'll have to deal with grumpy wife."

"You don't know that!" Andrew said. "Check your chart online."

"I've checked it multiple times today. There's nothing there."

"Check it again. If she called that probably means they have your results."

"Yes, and it also probably means she's calling to tell me that I failed."

"They've never called you before."

Every boring detail

I've always been interested in stories from the past, which is why I suppose I've become the de facto family history guru of my family (a brave move considering I have no idea what I'm doing). Historical fiction and biographies are by far my favourite genre. Sometimes a nice fantasy is...nice...but I'd far rather escape into history than into another realm.

Once when I was younger my mom agreed to send me to my aunt's house for a couple of weeks so I could hang out with my cousins, eat way more popsicles than was good for me, and work on the farm. My mom drove me down from High River to Raymond so that my aunt could pick me up from my grandma's house, except she wasn't able to make the trip the same day my mom was so I ended up having to stay overnight at my grandparents' house by myself.

And I was terrified.

My grandpa was scary and my grandma was boring and their house was so quiet and there was a large portrait of some old ancestors above the fireplace in the basement that really creeped me out.

When my mom left I sat on the stairs and cried, making my grandma feel terrible, I'm sure.

Spring has sprung (I hope)

On Friday we had a two hour delay before school because it had rained on Thursday night and then supposedly froze overnight. What happened in our area was that it dried out over night and by the time we went out to catch the bus at 10:00 there was a distinct something in the air that told us spring was here.

It was still cold—below freezing according to official documentation (but somehow the water was defying laws of physics and was not freezing)—but it was different from the bitter nippiness of deep winter days. On this particular morning, winter was bidding us farewell and spring was telling us hello all at the same time, so even though it was cold it was pleasant.

I'm hoping that's the last of winter because I hate winter. So much.

Sometimes when I tell people this they say something like, "You're from Canada. How can you hate winter?" to which I retort, "I'm from Canada. That's why I hate winter."

I don't suffer from allergies (unlike Andrew) so spring and I are pretty good friends. I'm looking forward to it.

This morning our windshield was frosty, but I think this will (hopefully) be the last time that happens and really I think we can blame part of that on daylight savings since we suddenly found ourselves going to church an hour before we normally would. Why do we subject ourselves to such nonsense?

Anyway, by the time we got to church things had warmed up quite a bit and we had a wonderful day. We got to borrow one of my friend's twins during sacrament meeting, which Benjamin was over the moon about (except that the baby kept putting things into his mouth) and Rachel had a fun time holding a baby small enough to not mind being held. He was wiggly enough, though, that when we gave him back Rachel sighed with relief.

After church everyone rushed to change into shorts (except for me—I stayed in my church clothes because getting dressed takes so much effort (lifting legs and crazy stuff like that) and because the skirt I wore comes with such great memories) and we had lunch sitting on the back deck.

Here's the skirt I wore today—I'm 27 weeks and 5 days, for the record (I usually round up to the next week when people ask how far along I am on Sundays (so I'll just say that I'm 28 weeks) but today I accidentally rounded up my rounding up and told a friend I was 29 weeks (wishful thinking, I guess)):

It feels not great

Andrew was home this morning because I had my OB appointment and he didn't have class, so he was there when Benjamin made a crash landing in the living room. I can't even remember what he was doing, but he fell hard, and crunched his arm funny when he landed. Andrew swears he heard a pop, but I didn't. At any rate there was a lot of screaming and many, many tears. Benjamin was probably the most unconsolable he's ever been.

We quickly eliminated an arm break. At least, we think we did. But once my little sister broke her arm when she was jumping on the bed and fell off and we didn't know until about a week later when she fell off someone's skateboard and broke it again. She'd been complaining the whole time and I think she even was taken in for some x-rays but the doctor didn't find a break...until he x-rayed higher on her arm, where he thought the new break was and was like, "Oh. Huh. So. Yup. She did break her arm last week, too!"

I think she was about three at the time.

Anyway, we don't think Benjamin broke his arm because he stopped complaining about that pretty fast. It's just his finger—his "singy"—that hurts. And he's being adorable about it, of course.

Andrew was trying to see what he could do with it and where exactly it hurt. He tried touching it in places and asking, "Does it hurt here? Does it hurt here?" But Benjamin just said, "It hurts ezzywhere!"

It really didn't seem too bad—it was just a little red and swollen and he refused to do anything with it.

He wasn't really happy about the picture taking...

Picture this

During sacrament meeting on Sunday the girls drew and coloured pictures for me and Andrew.

Here's the front of Miriam's picture:

73°F

Tomorrow's forecast has been a little iffy. It keeps switching between plain ordinary rain and heavy snow, depending on which side of freezing things are supposed to be. Right now it's just rain, but even that hardly matters because it's supposed to drop below freezing overnight, so I'm guessing Friday morning will at least be bring us a delayed-start to our day.

I was supposed to have a doctor's appointment on Friday morning and I really didn't want to end up missing it so I called this morning to see if I could switch to Thursday morning and they had one opening so I grabbed it. So let that three-hour delay come! I might not have eggs or bread or milk but at least I'll have a doctor's appointment under my belt.

Today though? Today was beautiful and to celebrate we went outside without sweaters on.

"Out a sweaty?" Benjamin asked quizzically when I announced we were ready to go this morning after we put on shoes.

"Without a sweater," I told him. "It's nice outside. Try it."

He pushed open the door and stepped outside, immediately spreading his arms and lifting his face into the sunshine.

"That's nice!" he agreed. But he insisted on getting a sweater anyway.

Oh, spring. You're such a tease! Can you just be here already?

Apparently Rachel's teacher admonished her class to keep their jackets on because, and I quote, "just because it's warm outside doesn't mean that spring is here, so keep your jackets on!"

"But I didn't listen to her," Rachel said. "It was so hot running around I had to take my sweater off!"

I told her that was fine because it doesn't really matter what season it is—if it's hot outside you can take your jacket off and if it's cold outside you can put a jacket on. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, whatever. Dress for the weather, not the season.

Benjamin and I wore shorts and t-shirts today. Miriam wore a dress without pants underneath, which she was excited about.

Our first stop of the day was the library for Dr. Seuss's birthday party. We listened to some stories, sang some songs, watched an enactment of Green Eggs and Ham, made Cat in the Hat hats, played Pin the Star on the Sneech, made Cat in the Hat snacks with slices of banana and strawberry, and took some pictures at the photo booths. We skipped the face painting because face paints are terrifying according to my children. We had quite a bit of fun!

Snack Time!

Changing dynamics

We took the kids to the store today and it was such a momentous occasion that Rachel actually prayed to thank Heavenly Father that "we were able to go to the store and buy things." Apparently we haven't taken them shopping since before Christmas. Because shopping is the worst.

But Target sent me a coupon for a $20 gift card if I'd make a baby registry with them. So I made the registry just to get the gift card. Their ploy worked, I guess, because we ended up spending more than $20, of course.

We picked out a couple of outfits for Zoë and found some Easter-y things for next month (so we don't have to go shopping for that later), including matching dresses for the girls that were super on sale (seriously—sometimes Target has amazing sales, but only sometimes; other times I'm like, "Uh, twenty cents off isn't a sale price...but thanks for putting it on the clearance rack anyway.").

It was pretty late by the time we were heading home and even later after we'd gotten all ready for bed. When we pulled into the driveway Andrew said, "Remember what we're doing as soon as we get into the house? Pyjamas, teeth, bed."

"And stories!" Benjamin said. "Me can't go bed 'out stories!"

"And a story," Andrew added.

"And a gink!" Benjamin said. "Me need a gink!"

"And a drink. You're going to go through every little detail of your bedtime routine now, aren't you?"

"Hehehe! Yup!" Benjamin giggled.

Because it was so late Rachel didn't fully participate in story time; instead she perched on the arm of the couch while reading her own book...and listening. I completely sympathized with her. It's so hard to choose between personal reading time and story time with Mom. I hated growing out of the story time phase. Fortunately for me, my little sister is nine years younger than me so I was able to passively listen in for a long time.

Both Miriam and Benjamin were smooshing their little faces against my shoulders and it was breaking my heart to think about our family dynamics changing again.

Have I mentioned yet that I've been uber emotional this pregnancy?

Shopping was exciting. Everyone was looking at tiny little outfits and saying which ones they liked best. We found a book in the dollar section called Zoe's First Book of Seasons and...got it. (Zoë will love that she shares a name with a character on Sesame Street for at least the first few years of her life, I'm sure).

Story time was sad for me, though, when it ordinarily isn't. I guess because first there was one and it was so uncomplicated. She'd climb onto my lap and we'd read stories. And then there were two, and that was fine because one could sit on my lap and the other beside me. And then there were three, and it was still fine because I'd have one on my lap and one on either side of me.

This picture is from July 30, 2012, but it's basically how story time has gone for nearly three years now:

Benjamin on my lap, and a girl on either side of me.

End of cheer and kindergarten registration

This past Saturday Miriam had what I think was her last day of cheer...maybe. I'm not sure what's happening with snow make-up days and such. She had a good run and thoroughly enjoyed herself. Plus she got a trophy so she's definitely feeling like a champ.

Family Game Night

Looking at the forecast last night we knew our schedule would probably be thrown off, but when our alarm went off at 6:30 there was still no news so Andrew went ahead and took a shower. I was a little surprised when he climbed back in bed after his shower instead of waking me up.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

Sometimes he does weird things in the morning when he first wakes up.

"Going back to bed," he said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Church has been postponed until 2:00. Freezing rain or something."

So we slept in until 9:30 because our kids are exhausted from staying up super late the last few weeks. Seriously. They're out of control. I was telling little girls to stop whispering to each other at 10:45 one night. Sheesh!

Sleeping in was wonderful. Then the kids spent the morning playing LEGO, we Skyped with Andrew's parents, we ate breakfast and lunch, and then we went to church for an hour—that's all.

We gave someone from our ward—a born and raised southerner—home and he found our ice scraper on the floor of our van.

"What's this?" he asked, picking it up. "Looks like it probably comes in pretty handy. Is it for cleaning your car somehow?"

He rubbed it on the carpet.

"It's for scraping ice and snow off the windshield," I explained.

Those were my outside words. My inside words were, "No wonder snow shuts this place down."

When we arrived home Andrew immediately started on dinner (because it's fast Sunday but he's the only one fasting because I don't fast when I'm pregnant and the kids haven't even attempted such a feat yet) while I rallied the troops to clean the living room.

Rachel wanted to play the Harry Potter LEGO game she got for Christmas, which we hadn't even opened until today because it involved building the board and that just looked too intimidating of a project with three excited children bouncing around. Today, though, there must have been an abundance of patience in the atmosphere because we put it together (which easily took longer than it did to play the actual game) and played through one round before Benjamin had a complete meltdown.

Finished Dress

I finished the dress (for real) last night, including weaving in all the ends, which is the most tedious part of any project. We went to Miriam's last cheer event for a basketball game, so I sat for an hour and worked the shell border around the bottom of the dress (pausing to watch Miriam perform at halftime).