OVERWHELMING

Tight waistbands, high waters and holes in the knees prompted me to get all the boxes of clothes out (ok-Johann did the heavy lifting) so that I could find Ammon some pants that would fit him. It was after about a dozen boxes that came out that we made the discovery of where the next size of boys clothes were. Ammon is now thankfully wearing clothes that fit so much better. He thought it was Christmas to get a full box of new clothes!!



When all the boxes were pulled out we ended up with 21 boxes downstairs and 4 boxes upstairs. 25 boxes of outgrown clothes-OVERWHELMING-to go through and put into a better order. Thankfully a good chunk of the smallest clothes are very organized, but once they hit 2T they're more mixed up, and require more work to get totally boxed up right.
I've been in a purging mood, so not all of the clothes will be being kept. A swap night later this week at church gives me a deadline to get these boxes cleaned out.

Ammon sillies

I found this post that I had started about the funny things Ammon tells me during the day, but had never posted it.

Ammon while shopping at Target: "Some people call me a toddler, but I'm not a toddler, I'm human!"

Ammon gave me a rather wet kiss then said "Don't wipe that one off."

Ammon and I were talking the night before the ultrasound about how we don't get to choose what the baby is, that Heavenly Father chooses the gender a long time ago. To this Ammon said "Before there was ground?" He was talking about the creation.


'FIRE' chips

Ammon saw a mouse trap in the garage. I asked him what we catch in them besides mice. He said "Girls". I said we don't catch girls in them. He said "yes we do-they're fuzzy and live outside." Then I realized he was trying to say "squirrels", NOT "girls"!

We were talking about going to a friends to play. Corrine said "James is a baby." I said actually he's a toddler, to which Ammon said "NO mom-he's HUMAN"

1-24-09
Ammon was playing doctor with dad, and he said "Dad you need numbing cream." We put numbing cream on Simeon's port before they access it-which means putting the needle for the IV in it.

Ammon was coloring a picture in his Star Wars coloring book. He colored alittle bit then asked me "Does this make it come to life?" Another picture he'd fully colored he said "Look how this picture comes to life!"

Lately if you ask Ammon a question he'll put his hand to his chin with one finger up and "think" about it.

Ammon loves to lay by me and "take care of the baby". He'll kiss my belly then ask "Do you think she felt that one?"

"The house is tipping" Ammon said this after spinning in circles.

Flashes of HOPE

During Dance Marathon this year we were fortunate to get pictures taken by 3 different professional photographers. Here are a few from our photo shoots-there are many many more!

The 1st set was taken Friday afternoon when we 1st got there-everyone had energy. We met up with Becky for some pictures.



The 2nd set was taken Saturday late morning, and Simeon wasn't really up for smiling. (What you can't see in the pictures are the green spikes in his hair.)



The 3rd set was taken late Saturday afternoon and would have been a lost cause, except he was able to get his picture taken with our DM Rep Annalisa. Simeon was beyond tired and was giving the strangest smile ever.



Flashes of Hope is a wonderful organization that provides these pictures at no cost to families who have a child with a life threatening illness.

Ammon's Primary Talk

"Today my talk is about why we celebrate Easter.

Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed to Heaven Father. He took upon himself all of our pain and sickness.

There were some people that were mean to Jesus. They crucified him. His friends took his body and laid it in a tomb.

After 3 days Jesus was Resurrected-He came back to life.

He said “Feel the nail prints in my hands”, so that people could know that he had a body of flesh and bones.

Because Jesus was resurrected, we can all be resurrected too, and live with Heavenly Father again."

Love @ Lowes

Walking in Lowes today getting more supplies for Corrine's loft bed and some vegtables for the garden, Johann and I were treated to this wonderful view.

Easter

We have decided that we want Easter to be about the really meaning, and not about egg hunts and candy and bunnies. That being said we did take the kids to 1 egg hunt, so that they could still have a hunt.

We were told about an egg hunt at a retirement center called Legacy Gardens. It was a very windy and cold day-but the sky was blue and sunny.

They had hunts for each age group. We got there in time to watch them put out the eggs for the 3-4 year old hunt. They had a grassy area roped off and they COVERED the grass with colorful eggs. When they let the kids go in, Ammon filled his bucket up so quickly that he had to stop getting eggs. He was so excited to open them up and find the candy inside.

While we waited for the 5-7 year old group we went and saw the Easter Bunny. I asked the kids if they wanted to get their picture taken with it. Corrine said yes, Ammon & Simeon both said no. I told them that was fine, but they needed to walk over with me anyways. Corrine went up to get her picture with the bunny and Simeon said he'd go to, then Ammon sighs and said "Ok, I'll go too." After we got the picture Ammon loudly says "That's just a person dressed up mom!" I told him he was right, but that he needed to say it quieter since some of the kids around us didn't know that and we didn't want to spoil the fun for them.


Since Ammon ran out of room in his basket Simeon & Corrine both traded theirs for cloth grocery bags so that they could collect more eggs.

Corrine's age group didn't have many kids, so she also got alot of eggs.

While we waited for the 8-10 group we went and got a cookie and dad showed up after baseball tryouts. Simeon was hoping that they'd hide the eggs for his age group-but there was no where to hide them on the lawn.

The last group had so few kids that all 3 of the kids got to do the hunt. So needless to say we came home with over 150 eggs and LOTS of candy. Corrine was the lucky one getting 2 ice cream coupons in her eggs.


On Easter we did an egg hunt in the yard. The kids filled thier own eggs. Some eggs had 3 pieces of candy while other were empty-but that is the way they wanted them.

In the late afternoon we walked over to Grandma & Grandpa Smiths for an egg hunt. The eggs were hidden in the backyard and they each had to find one of each color and size. It took a while to collect all their eggs because they needed to get so mnay different ones. Grandma Riddle gave the boys a offroad jeep, and Corrine got a Cinderella lotion dispenser.

26 weeks and counting

I missed updating at 24 weeks-mainly because I didn't have an updated picture. I know-lame excuse!


Ammon took these pictures-he's getting to be pretty good at the camera!

The last 6 weeks I have gone from people wondering if I was gaining weight or pregnant to people knowing I'm pregnant. There's no way to hide this growing belly of mine! But honestly-I love it!!
My belly button hernia has definitely come back. I got it with Ammon around 7 months and this time around 5 months. For the most part it doesn't bother me if I don't cough or sneeze. This little girl of ours seems to think my bladder makes an excellent pillow or punching bag and Johann wonders how in the world we go through so much toilet paper. I tell him when you go 20+ times a day-you just go through it quickly!
At my 24 week apt the heart beat was 140 bpm. I have been feeling kicks really high up, and when Dr. Clevenger measured me, she said I was measuring about 2 weeks bigger.
Weeks 22-24 I had LOTS of contractions. Some would catch me off guard with their strength and I'd had to stop and breath through them. I would get 5-6 an hour, then they'd stop. I was told that was normal since the baby was having a major growth spurt (shown by my bigger measurement this month). If they get to be 6 of more times a hour and lasting for 2 hours I'm suppose to call in. The last week they have stopped coming on as often.
I was told to get a belly band for the hernia and a support belt for the nerve numbness from pressure. I got a BE Band and LOVE it. It actually is doing everything and is so comfortable to wear. I might go get another one because I'm sure I'll be wearing this one daily.
It's so incredible to sit and 'watch' my belly move or dance. Our little girl is still shy about letting the kids and Johann feel her move, but if you watch she'll show you how strong she is. She is funny in that when someone puts their hand on my stomach she moves away from it, and right after they take it off, she will sometimes give that spot a kick!
She is starting to have regular wake and active time. She is awake a 7:00 am when I wake up and after 9:00pm once I've put the kids to bed and I'm laying down. She has other wakeful times, but those are the ones I feel the most. Ammon asks me if "I'm rocking her to sleep" when I'm walking.
The kids love to talk about their new sister. Ammon likes to lay by me and "take care of the baby". He'll kiss my belly and asks me "Do you think she'll feel that one?"
We got our new stroller and carseat travel system this past week, and I LOVE the stroller! It's a jogging stroller style and it moves so easily, even with one hand. I'd been researching them for a year or more (honestly) and had been watching 2 different ones online for a few months. We finally got to Target to 'test drive' the one they had there and it was just what we wanted. The one @ walmart.com went on sale, so I bought it that day and had it delivered to our house by Fed Ex for $1.99. I got an AWESOME deal! The carseat has the neatest feature-an easy lock system where you don't have to re-adjust the straps when the baby grows longer. It is so easy to make bigger and it has a really sturdy base with the LATCH system. They make them so much nicer now then 8 years ago when we bought our 1st infant carseat.

The Monkey Cage

Ammon and I have been in a play study an Spence Lab at the University of Iowa for the past 6 months. Each time we go a play appointment we park in the parking ramp across the street and go down the elevators which are next to an area that has a chain length fence around it. If you look down into the area they had a tree or 2 and a few hostas-that's it.

One day Ammon said that it looked like a Monkey Cage and started looking for the monkeys. Every time we went by this area he would stop and look for the monkeys. Sometimes he'd say he saw one, other times he didn't see any.
It became such a fun thing to do that we planned a few extra minutes each play appointment to look in the monkey cage.

Today was our last appointment in the play study, so we took some pictures of the monkey cage.


Looking down into the monkey age in the elevator.

During the play appointment Ammon got to pick a toy out (they are all wrapped) and he picked A Monkey. It was the perfect present to pick! He also got his very own flashlight which he thought was the greatest gift ever!!

My FAVORITE Snacks

Nearly everyday Ammon has an apple* or 2. He regularly requests a carrot too. He can partially peel the carrot on his own, but wants me to finish it up for him.


I'm scared for the day that we run out of both of them and he's hungry!!

Lately he has been into a very healthy kick. Very similar to what Simeon went through at that age and is still in now. Ammon wants milk or water to drink, and hardly ever wants juice, but he will still gladly guzzle soda if offered. He asks me alot if things are healthy for his body. He likes to exercise and tells me "it's good for my body." He loves to suck the juice out of oranges, and the other day I got him to try canned peaches again and he liked them. He told me he was taking little bites to suck the juice out. He absolutley LOVES spinach-the greener the better.

*Disclaimer-I will honestly say that I don't buy the "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" line anymore. Simeon ate hundreds of apples before getting sick, but maybe they just kept him healthier while on chemo? Ammon still deals with reflux so maybe they are just keeping it from getting really bad?

Either way-if we had an apple tree in our backyard we'd hardly ever have any rot!

A NEW set of Wheels

It's that time again-time to move everyone up-this time it's the bikes. Ammon was clearly outgrowing his bike, and so was Simeon. So new training wheels (the old ones were bent) were put on Simeon's outgrown bike, and it became Ammon's new bike.

At first Ammon wasn't so sure about a bigger bike since he's farther from the ground, but he soon got over that fear.


Ammon loves his Diego 'skater' helmet-Johann isn't so fond of it. Maybe he'll outgrow it this summer and need a new one:)

And Simeon-well he's without a bike for a few weeks. He's getting a new one as an early birthday present. We just need some time to go get one.