Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was great this year. First of all, the best part was being able to have Jeff’s sister Kimberly and her husband Mike here with us from Virginia. They just moved back east this year to attend law school. They got here Wednesday night and we had a blast having them here. The only bummer about the whole holiday weekend was that Jeff was on-call and ended up spending a lot of time at the hospital.

Thursday was spent baking & cooking and getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner. I enjoy being in the kitchen, but it was a lot more fun having Kimberly there with me. We were able to work together making all sorts of yummy things to eat for dinner, and all the while talking, laughing and keeping the dishwasher going! Kimberly did some awesome rolls, jello and many other things. I think I topped any of my previous records by making 5 pies (apple, cherry, pumpkin, and 2 cheesecakes). Jacob and Caleb had a great time throughout the day. Jeff got a special movie for them to watch that morning, they played with toys, and of course helped with the meal preparation. Jacob was so excited about the turkey & insisted that he wanted the wing. So we saved a wing especially for Jacob. Matthew was a sweet little baby and let me get a lot done! (We sure love his little swing.) Jeff had to go into the hospital that morning to see some patients, but he was back by about 2:30. We planned on eating around 4, and were actually right on schedule. We even had a guest for dinner, a nice man named Abi that Jeff home-teaches. It was fun to be able to sit down together and enjoy Thanksgiving dinner. The only problem was that Jeff got paged again right in the middle of dinner & had to go back to the hospital for an emergency and didn’t get home until 6:30. At least there was plenty of pie when he got home! We finished up the evening by playing games together.

Friday we spent mainly relaxing and enjoying the day together at home. Once again, Jeff had to go into the hospital a few times throughout the day. Jacob and Caleb also got to have some friends, Ben & Seth, over for a while to play on Friday morning. Friday night we had pizza & cinnamon rolls while we enjoyed some of the football games that were going on. We finished up the evening with more games and were all so tired at the end that we could barely stay awake.

Saturday morning, Kimberly & Mike had to head back home but the boys had one fun last walk with aunt Bo-Bo and got to play in some leaves with her. We said goodbye to them and spent the rest of the day just enjoying being home with nothing to do. (Well, me & the boys anyway- Jeff left at 8:30 in the morning & didn’t get home from the hospital & helping people move until 8:00 that night)

All in all, it was a pretty fun holiday weekend. Thanks Kimber & Mike, we loved having you here!

One Month Today

Once again, it's that familiar phrase again... "Where has the time gone?" Matthew is a month old today. And what a great month it's been! We've loved having this sweet little boy. Although I'm a bit lacking on the sleep end, it's been well worth the sacrifice! I'm even grateful for it. I was thinking about it, those late night and early morning feedings are tough sometimes, but I'm so grateful for them because it's time I can spend with Matthew just one on one without any distractions. I love to be able to give my full focus to my sweet baby boy. It seems to be the only time I can sit and enjoy his little hands, feet, face and all those irresistible baby features without anything (or anyone) else clamoring for my attention. The time is going quickly, but I sure love these days. We'll enjoy them while they last!

Hip Hip Hooray!

For the longest time I had been wishing that someone would come up with a way to make your blog into a book. There are plenty of sites that you can create photo books with, which I have loved, but photos are only half of the story. I also like to type my blog entries in a Word document and save them along with my journals, but again, then you have the stories without the pictures. What I really wanted was a place that would do the journaling along with the photos.
Well, after browsing around the blog world, I came across a new site from one of my friend's blogs. There is a site that can turn your blog into a book!

http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook

Take a look, isn't it awesome! They seem to have pretty high quality books, and the pricing isn't bad at all! I'm starting to feel very motivated to do a lot more blogging and more about the simple, "Everyday Experiences" that we have. I still love to scrapbook, and I will definitely continue to keep a journal (After all...we don't put everything in our blogs!) but this is such a great way to keep your family history in a nice book, complete with the stories AND the pictures. I would love to have a book done every year, a great family yearbook/history book. Look out EBlogger, you're going to be getting a lot more posts from me!

It's Always Fun When Grandma Comes

Today was the sad day we had to say goodbye to Grandma Tanner. My mom came out last week and we had a fabulous time with her!
Jacob and Caleb were so excited to see her and spend every minute with her that they could. And believe me, it was every minute! We had to convince Caleb that 5 am was a time for sleeping, not playing with Grandma!
We spent the week doing lots of different things. We did some sight-seeing and took Grandma to see Valley Forge, and also went to dinner at Geno's who we believe has the best cheesesteaks around. We would have done more sight-seeing of the city, but she's seen most of the downtown sights & Jeff needed the car a few of the days. Plus a few of the days were cold! We had so much fun though! Some of the boys' favorite activities were going on walks together, finding treasures, making fun pictures with the leaves we collected, feeding the ducks, going to the library and reading tons and tons of books! They also loved having a trip to McDonalds and the great local dollar store to pick out any prize they wanted. They were pretty much in heaven.
Mom loved spending time with Jacob, Caleb, and Matthew. I think they were ready to adopt her as their new mommy! It was fun for her to get to hold and help with Matthew. This is the first time she's been able to see him. And it was great for me! I remember one morning after a night of not much sleep, I looked at the clock and was worried that I wasn't going to make it on time for Jacob's preschool. When I came out of my room, my mom had fed the boys & gotten them all bathed, dressed and ready to go. I was so grateful! I could have really gotten used to having her around! I changed a whole lot less diapers and had a few of those guilt-free naps.
We really enjoyed having mom here and I was glad that we were able to do some fun things together as well. One afternoon we hit a few stores together and found some fun things. And one night we even were lucky enough to get to go out just the two of us. Jeff watched the boys while we stopped at the grocery store and Kohls for a little late-night shopping together. Of course we had lots of late night heart-to-hearts and even did a few movie nights at home. (We love Redbox!)
On Friday night Mom watched the boys while Jeff and I went out on a date together. We went to a hockey game, the Philadelphia Phantoms. We drove down to Jeff's hospital and parked, then took the Subway to the game. It was pretty fun and it ended up being exciting, we tied in the last 2 minutes of the game & won in overtime. It was so much fun to go out together and not even have to worry about the boys at home. They had fun watching a movie and of course reading all their new library books with grandma.
Sunday was fun taking Mom to church. She loved the ward and meeting lots of the wonderful people. It's a little different experience than your typical Idaho wards, and she had a great time. Monday we just enjoyed our last day together and made the most of the time we had. I took her to the airport at 4:45am this morning, so it didn't really count as a real day, but at least she and I had a little more time to spend together one on one.
I'm sure Dad, Lacey & Cole will be excited to have Mom back; they've been missing her I'm sure. But we're sure grateful for the week that we were able to spend with her. Thanks Mom! We love you!

2 1/2 Weeks Already

I can’t believe Matthew is already 2 ½ weeks old. It’s so fun to see him start to change, become more alert and responsive to everyone, and get cuter every day; and yet I can’t help but feel a little sad that he’s already starting to move through the newborn stage. I think it goes quicker with each baby. He’s already rolled over a few times from his tummy to his back & he’s starting to be able to hold his head up well. He’s starting to fill out and gain weight. He’s been taking ‘real’ baths now and seems to really enjoy them. Jacob & Caleb sure like to help too, although throwing toys into the water doesn’t provide quite the help I’m looking for! We just can’t help but feel so grateful to have Matthew in our home. He’s such a sweetie. Now if he’ll just stay my baby for a while!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween this year was so much fun! Over the past couple weeks we’ve cut out Halloween decorations to put up on our window. Jacob and Caleb have loved doing little pumpkins, spiders, ghosts, witches, etc. They loved sticking them on the window and pulling them off again. My handy little cricut machine has definitely gotten some good use!

Jacob was a gorilla again this year. It was the same costume he wore last year, but he really likes it and wanted to wear it again. That was great for me, simple & easy. Caleb ended up going as a Cowboy this year. It was pretty much some clothes he had & some Dollar store accessories. I wasn’t sure what to do with Matthew, even the 0-3 month costumes were way too big. I figured he would just go as himself, then my friend gave me a cute little onesie with a mummy on it, so even he had some Halloween spirit! (Thanks Sara!)

We had a ward Halloween party on Friday the 26^th. Jeff had to work late so we missed some of the early games & festivities, but we were able to do the trick-or-treat at the church. People decorated doors around the building and everyone went trick-or-treating to the doors. I did a door myself & handed out candy, so Jeff took the boys around & they had a great time. It was fun to be with friends, and see everyone all dressed up.

On Monday, for Family Home Evening we carved our pumpkins. (Finally!) Jacob and Caleb loved helping to pick out the designs. Daddy was kind enough to do the cutting & scooping of the yucky stuff inside (I’m not a fan of that part). And then I cut out the designs while Jacob & Caleb watched. It was fun to put the candles inside & see them all lit up outside on the dark balcony. When they boys saw them they just started to laugh & thought it was so fun. I love the excitement of kids!

On Tuesday the 30^th, Jacob had a Halloween party at Preschool. He had a blast and was so excited to wear his gorilla costume to preschool. They played games, made skeletons, painted pictures, and Jacob’s personal favorite- made yummy caramel apples. Caleb was definitely wishing he had been in preschool that day! Jacob was kind enough to share it with everyone though.

On Wednesday the boys could hardly wait to get all dressed up to go Trick-or-Treating. Jacob asked me about fifteen times throughout the day if it was time to go yet. They were so excited when Jeff finally got home and they were able to get ready. We made yummy chicken noodle soup for dinner, and had yummy apple cider. Then we went through the whole ordeal of trying to get them to smile for some pictures. It’s so hard to do when they know what’s coming! Finally we headed out to go trick-or-treating. We couldn’t have asked for better weather, it was a nice clear night with temperatures in the low 60’s. There is a neighborhood that we love for trick-or-treating here. It’s not too far from where we live and the people are really friendly, plus they’re pretty generous so it doesn’t take a long time! We parked at the bottom of the street, went up one side & back down the other and called it good. We all walked together, and Jeff would take the boys up to the doors while I waited with Matthew (who was perfect the entire time). The boys absolutely loved it. Especially Caleb! He couldn’t believe everyone was just giving him candy by him asking for it. He was so excited and would say “trick-or-treat” & “Happy Halloween” to everyone we passed. At one point when Jeff was trying to empty some of the candy out of Caleb’s bag to make it lighter, he told him, “Don’t touch!” He pretty much had an iron grip on it the entire night. Jacob had a good time too, but it was funny, when we got done with the street he said, “I think that’s good.” Both boys had such a great time. I love Halloween, and I especially love it with kids. Halloween is so fun when they’re this age!

I've Been Tagged...

I was tagged by my friend Lynette. Here are the rules:
A. Each player lists 6 facts/habits/confessions about themselves.
B. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog, for these rules.

1. I love the smell of bleach and have ever since I was young. There’s just something so clean & fresh about it. I love my bathrooms and kitchen etc to smell like it, and I am constantly buying bleach & cleaners with bleach. MMmmm.

2. I don’t have pierced ears. My dad wanted us to wait until we were older to have our ears pierced (or also gave us the option of letting him pierce them- hmm). Anyway, I didn’t have a huge desire when I was young, and when I got older and wanted to wear cute earrings I found out that they make cute clip-ons too. I love Claires & The Icing.

3. I love being a mom and spending time with my boys. I love doing fun things with them like making cookies, playing with their toys, doing little projects & especially reading together. We can sit together for hours reading stories. We love the library and fun stories with great pictures! I also absolutely love newborns & everything that comes with them! Being a mom really is the best job in the world & I feel so lucky!

4. I am completely clueless when it comes to television, sitcoms, tv shows & especially reality shows. We don’t have a television, so all I’ve seen is little clips at the gym, waiting offices, etc. I couldn’t tell you the difference between the shows, let alone the names. Pathetic I know.

5. I love organizational products- shelves, cubes, baskets, organizers etc. If I had unlimited funds, I could spend a fortune buying things to keep everything organized. I love the ads in the mail with pictures of closet makeovers and before & after shots of rooms etc. I especially have a thing for square baskets with liners.

6. I am very picky when it comes to socks. I have sensitive feet and am bugged by things that feel funny. Baggy or stretched out socks annoy me, and I hate and absolutely refuse to wear socks that have the lines right on the end of the toes, just ask my mom! I remember one day when I was about 5, sitting & crying because I didn’t want to wear a certain pair of socks that had the lines right on the toes. Everyone was going out to play in the snow; I wanted to go out & play with them, but I hated my socks & didn’t want to wear them.


Okay, Now I am tagging: Caitlyn, Caroline, Sharesa, Alyssa, Becky, & Amber.... It's your turn!

Welcome Matthew Lyle

Matthew Lyle Stevens decided to make his entrance into the world on Friday, October 19th 2007 at approximately 11:40 am. He weighed in at 6lbs 15oz and was 20 inches long. I was feeling a bit discouraged because I had a doctor’s appointment the Tuesday before that and there didn’t seem to be many factors indicating a quickly approaching baby. The doctor wanted to give me another week and then go from there. Technically my true due date wasn’t until the 25th anyway, but when your previous baby is two weeks early sometimes you expect things to go the same way. It ended up being great timing though, it couldn’t have worked out better with Jeff’s schedule. And once again it was a good reminder that babies know when they’re ready to come! I had been a bit uncomfortable that night & woke up a few times during the night. A little after 6:00 I started having some contractions and could tell that it was probably the day. I finished getting things ready and we headed to the hospital. Many thanks to my good friend Kari Marsh for watching Jacob & Caleb for us! We got there just before about 7:00 and got settled. I wasn’t sure how fast the delivery was going to be. I had made up my mind that if it looked like the delivery would be quick I would just go without any medication, and if it was slower then we’d see. With Caleb it was just over 2 ½ hours from first contraction until delivery and they say that your 3rd baby is supposed to be your fastest, but Matthew was content to come a bit slower, so unlike last time I was able to have an epidural this time. Anyway, it was a good experience and so wonderful to have a brand new sweet little baby placed in my arms. There really is nothing like it. Matthew has been such a sweet little baby and we love having him in our home. Jacob and Caleb love having a baby brother and love to give him hugs and kisses and help by getting diapers, blankets etc. I love having a newborn again & would be happy to just sit and hold him for hours on end. I love to just watch their sweet little faces and touch their little hands and feet. It’s different when it’s your third child and you have others that need your attention as well, but we’re so happy and so grateful for our little family. We feel so blessed!

He's Finally Here!!!

Matthew Lyle Stevens

October 19th, 2007
11:40 am

6lbs 15oz 20 In

More details to follow.....

Yes, still pregnant...

Many family members have been checking the blog to see if there are any exciting updates to report on. And I'm starting to feel guilty every time I call someone because their first words are usually, "Did you have your baby?" Nope, sorry for the false alarm, just called to talk.
This little guy seems to be pretty content where he is at the present time. And the doctor didn't seem to think there were too many indicating factors for a quickly approaching delivery at my appointment on Thursday, the day I was officially 39 weeks. So I guess all we can do is kick back and wait. Technically I still say my due date should be the 25th, so I'm not feeling too worried at this point, but it will be fun to see what day he actually chooses to arrive!

39 Weeks +2 days

Conference Weekend

This weekend was conference weekend. I always look forward to it. The only bummer was that we’re not with family at this time. There’s something about conference that gets me reminiscing about time with family and memories of watching conference all together. We did have a good time though, even with all the distractions that come from being a parent and trying to help your children to be reverent. We felt fortunate being able to watch conference. Usually all we could do was listen to it on the internet, but now you can even watch through BYU Television online, makes you grateful for technology. Plus it seems a little more like General Conference when you can actually see the speakers & singers rather than just listen. We also went to the church for the Sunday morning session, which was nice, and being at the church even for a couple hours makes it seem more like Sunday. Jacob and Caleb did pretty well, and I know they felt the spirit at times. It makes me grateful and I hope that it will be a constant thing throughout their lives. One thing for sure, listening to the wonderful messages sure gives you a renewed sense of the importance of striving to live righteously, having your life in order, and trying hard to be a good parent and raise your children in righteousness. It can seem overwhelming; it’s so easy to get caught up in everyday life and the general busy-ness of everything. I appreciate the leaders of the church because they tell you what you need to do and focus on, and yet they are very encouraging and have faith in our abilities.
Anyway, it was a fun weekend & enjoyable to spend the time together as a family! (Just a couple pictures of the boys. I couldn't resist the one of Caleb, he's so serious!)

A Finished Project

When we moved into our new apartment, I knew we were going to need some solutions for the 2 small bedrooms. First of all we decided to just put the boys in the master bedroom & take the smaller bedroom for ourselves, which has worked out great. Even at that I knew it would be a tight fit for the three boys in one room, especially when it came to the bed situation. Our new baby will be in the crib (Caleb still occupies that for now), but I needed to figure out something for Jacob & Caleb. I knew we could do bunk-beds, which many people have done great with, but I’m just not ready for that quite yet. I know we’d be bound for some ER visits for sure, especially with Caleb. What I really wanted was to find a nice trundle bed. After diligently searching for over 3 months, I’ve found it’s nearly impossible to find a good one that isn’t a girly wrought-iron day bed. I finally found a company online that had a great bed that was just what I wanted. Only catch… I didn’t really want to pay the $350 price tag, plus the cost of the mattresses on top of that. I continued to look around & hadn’t found anything so one morning I figured I had waited long enough, (well, Jacob had been sleeping on a made-up bed long enough) and sat down to order the bed. I figured I would check on Craigslist one more time and would you believe it? There was a beautiful white trundle bed that someone was selling for $150! I e-mailed them immediately and as luck would have it, the first person who contacted the seller about the bed wasn’t able to follow through so we were able to go pick it up. The seller was a nice guy & their family lived in an absolutely beautiful neighborhood which is a great thing when you’re buying their bed. Anyway, it was just what I had wanted. There was just one little problem…The bed had belonged to their 6 year old daughter & the headboard, footboard and both sides of the trundle were painted with all sorts of flowers & butterflies. It was beautiful, but not exactly what you want for your two boys! Actually Jacob was pretty excited at first and said, “Look Mom there’s flowers on my bed!” But he soon decided that he wanted a “boy” bed, and the flowers & butterflies had to go! So we looked around, got paint samples, etc. and finally last week I sanded & painted the bed. (The areas with the paintings) I wouldn’t call it perfect, but I think it turned out pretty well! With Jacob’s new bedspread I think it’s now a bed fit for boys! If anything, they sure enjoy it! I’m just glad it works so well because it saved money and it sure saves a lot of space in their room. Now we’ll see how well they’ll actually sleep in it!

The Name Game

I'm now just a bit over two weeks away from the big due date of our new baby. Of course when talking with people there are three standard questions. #1-When are you due? That one's easy. #2-What are you having? Again, a simple answer. #3-Do you have a name picked out?

So I wonder when answering, do I give them the quick answer or the 10 minute version? No we don't have a name for sure. Yes we've been thinking about it. Maybe we've been procrastinating. Yes, the baby is due almost any time now. We have been trying to narrow down the millions of possibilities into a more reasonable list of maybe 5-10 names. There are names we like, but we know way too many people with those names. My husband seems satisfied to veto all my name choices without returning other possible names in return. (okay, okay, he has been making an effort to contribute to the options the past few days, and has come up with two names- unfortunately ones that I'm not particularly sold on) Maybe we just need to see the baby first & the name will magically enter both our minds. Who knew it would be such a complicated process to pick one simple name? I guess that's a common problem; trying to find the name that is *perfect* for your baby.

Jacob has suggested that we name the new baby "Jacob" too. Hmm, if he's okay with that we'll just have Jacob #1 and Jacob #2, simple enough! Maybe we can even take on the practice of the "Sound of Music" and give each child a personalized whistle signal that they respond to! Okay, I guess we can be a little more creative than numbered children. Although it would make it more simple to just call out, "Clean your room #1." or "Your turn to set the table #3." (Just kidding)

I'm sure the name will come, hopefully before the baby. All I can say is that I'm amazed by the people who can make up their minds about the name as soon as they find out they're pregnant, have all the baby things embroidered, the nursery painted & customized with the name before the baby is actually even delivered!

Well, only a couple more weeks to worry about a name and then the whole process will be over. The baby will be named and I'll forget all about the ordeal that went into choosing one 4-8 letter word. The name will be perfect for the baby and through the rest of his life we'll wonder why we even worried about coming up with this name that fits him so perfectly.

For now, I'll stick with the simple answer when asked if we have a name picked out. "Not quite, but we're close."