Bentley says....

Chloe is going to be on the soccer team, and I am going to be a rockstar.

Ummmm ok dude....

ok, ready when you are...

Last week I was blown out of the water when my doctor told me I was 2 almost 3 centimeters dilated. Today I went again, to find out I am closer to 4. So, this week I have been kicking my butt into gear to get prepared for this baby.

The crib is all set up with the sheets, bumpers, crib skirt (you can't see it but there is a blue stripe that runs along the bottom), and mobile. My mom is in the process of making the quilt so I don't have a picture of that, but expect one when it's done!

The clothes have been washed and hung up.

The socks, onsies,pajamas, bibs, hats, shoes, ect, have all been washed and put away.

I bought diapers.

and some fun extras....

The suitcase, car seat and diaper bag are sitting with my purse by the front door.

So basically, any time this little Mattix Jett decides to make his debut we are ready.
and since this is likely to be the last chance for a belly shot... here ya go.
37ish weeks

happy birthday to me!

this is my early birthday present from Jesus. At least thats what he claims... haha. There better be other gifts waiting for me... say a camera.... or sewing machine... hint hint. But in the meantime I wont mind crusing around in this.....
An '05 Lincoln Aviator fully loaded. Also it has captains chairs which will be so nice with getting the kids in an out of.
We have been talking about getting rid of the Tahoe for a while now, and when Jesus went to auction yesterday and saw this baby going through he couldn't resist. Now we just have to sell the Tahoe... if anybody wants it we will give you a good deal!!

the difference between my kids

Today I decided to let the kids paint with the art set my mom had bought the kids.
After looking at the difference between the pictures and the aftermath I realized this showed a lot of the differences between the two.

This is one of Bentley's pictures

He tried so hard not to mix the colors. Notice the distinct lines. He did another picture similar to this, but the lines went at an angle.

Here is one of Chloe's pictures.

Chaos. mixed colors, no distinct shapes. All her pictures looked fairly similar to this.

This is Bentley's work space. There was little clean up required when he was done.

Chloe's was more... umm... involved....

Bentley disliked getting paint on him at all. He wanted to wash his hands anytime he got a little paint on his finger.


Chloe thought it was more fun to paint her face than the paper.

Now, there is nothing wrong with either of these "styles" of art. It just shows some of the distinct differences between Bentley and Chloe. Bentley likes things fairly organized and structured. Chloe is more of a free spirit.

Either way - I love em both, and can't imagine my life without them!

Random Thoughts

While I sit here at work I have lots of time to ponder, and think random thoughts, so I thought I would share them with you....

I am now 3 weeks and 5 days away from my due date, not that I am counting... (by the way my ticker is wrong at the bottom of the page) and suddenly its all very real. I mean, I knew all along that pregnancy = baby... duh, its my third time around, but until you really look back on those first few days of new baby, you don't really remember. Everything about it just seems like a blur when I remember Bentley and Chloe's first few days. Transition from zero kids to one was a breeze, and from one kid to two wasn't too bad either, but what if this time its like a national disaster? Jesus will be around even less because of work, but luckily I will have my mom and grandma as often as they can be there. I am sure it will all be fine, but there is always the what if...

Bentley starts preschool in less than two weeks. What if baby picks that week to come? I already have alternate transportation lined up just in case (thanks Megan!), but I really want to be there for him as much as possible. He is so excited about going to school, but I really scared to leave him there. I have left him at babysitters and things, but I wonder how he will do in a structured environment like school. I know I am over-analyzing it, but once again... what if?

There is nothing set in stone yet, but I may have an opportunity to come back to work full time mornings rather than part time evenings. It would mean a better schedule, and better pay, but I am so torn about what to do. If the timing was different, say even 6 months from now, I would have no questions. But do I really want to find a babysitter for 30 or so hours a week for such a little baby? Do I want to stay home and be a stay at home mom or a working mom? I know there are times when I want to stay home and be with my kids, but after a few days I get itching to go back to work. I have pro's and con's both ways. Part of me wants to stay home and nurture my children, do craft projects and play fun games, but part of me feels the need to work, to contribute to the income (as minimal as it has been). I see both sides of the argument and can't decide what is best for me. I know that eventually this decision will have to be made by Jesus and I based on what is best for our family, but I would love any opinions on the matter.

Lastly, I don't know if its because I am pregnant and have no patience, or because we bought a retarded dog, but I am ready to kill the thing. She chases the kids around pulling on their pants, shorts, diaper or underwear and really bugs the kids. So the kids are whiny and crying, and I wanna kick Belle across the room! They love the dog but when she gets excited she starts to bite, nothing hard, and had never drawn blood or anything, more just annoying. Plus her nails are really sharp, but that is easily remedied by a trip to Petco for a doggy pedicure. Any tips on how to train a dog to not torture kids without killing her first? :)

Looks can be deceiving

A normal warm pile of laundry waiting to be folded, right?

Think again......

Salt Lake = Lots of Pictures!

We just got back from my sisters wedding in Salt Lake. We had such a great time.

The Happy CoupleBentley and Seth were the ring bearers....

Seth was excited with his responsibility.... Bentley..... not so much

Jesus was a groomsman, and I was a bridesmaid...

The kids played......

We danced..... (Aren't my mom and Bob so cute?)

We conga lined....

And then we crashed....

Some harder than others....

Here are some random pictures of how cute my kids are and other stuff...

The beautiful cake

My Stud Muffin sonMy brother Derek with Chloe and my sister Lindsey in the backgroundNiki, her baby Ava and BobThe Many Faces of Chloe.....

Mad

Happy

Not quite sure what this look is about....
We decided the make this trip into a mini-vacation since its so hard to drag Jesus away from work. We got a condo in Park City and shared with my mom and crew. We went shopping, out to eat and spent a lot of time with friends and family. One night we went to dinner with Chelsey and Alan. Afterwards we went to Boondocks, a family fun center. Jesus, Bentley, Chels and Alan went to ride the go-karts and Chloe and I hung back since one of us it pregnant and the other is too small. We had to wait a while since there was a long line. Well, I guess Chloe got tired because I looked over and this is what I saw....

I put the kids in the bath one night and we all learned a valuable lesson....

Bubbles + Jetted Tub = Problems.....

Bentley wanted to sit in the hot tub on the deck, but since it had sat uncovered overnight it was looking pretty nasty. I offered to put him in the bath tub and turn the jets on and that made him happy. I walked out for a minute to gather pajamas and what not (don't turn me in to CPS, I could hear them the whole time! ) and Bentley decided they needed bubbles and dumped half a bottle of shampoo in the water. At first the bubbles weren't too bad, but then they kept growing and growing because of the jets. When I couldn't see Chloe's neck anymore I decided it was time to turn the jets off and drain the tub. It took 20 minutes of rinsing to get all the bubbles out of the tub, not to mention off the floor...

Breaking Dawn

I JUST finished. All I can say is FINALLY! I think a lot of my issues with the first three books were finally fixed in this one. I was thoroughly impressed. And that is all I will say since I know many of my blog readers haven't had a chance to read it yet. My sister Courtney has next dibs on the book, but if anybody wants to borrow it after her let me know!

my funny boy

this is what I found when I walked into Bentley's room the other day -

every single Car's figure lined up along the road on his Car's rug....

while wearing his Batman mask.

First Trip to Labor and Delivery

I went twice with Bentley, and three times with Chloe, but hopefully this time wont be quite as frequent. Yesterday I noticed my feet were swollen. I have never dealt with the swelling in my other pregnancies so I was somewhat surprised. I just assumed it was due to the heat and didn't think twice about it. However, while at work, I noticed I was feeling some contraction-like cramping. I only had an hour or so left of my shift so I waited it out and called Jesus on my way home. He left work and we headed to labor and delivery. With the combination of swollen feet and contractions I didn't dare take any chances. I am still around 6 weeks away from being due, so this was not a ton of fun. Our nurse was awesome. They hooked me up to monitors and started asking all the standard questions. She was concerned I either had a bladder infection, kidney infection, or simply was dehydrated. I wasn't sure about the bladder infection, but was fairly certain it wasn't issues with my kidneys again because this was a whole different pain. They did a UA and it came back with no sign of infection, and everything was pointing to dehydration. Dehydration is one of the biggest reasons women have preterm contractions. Now, I want to point out that I drink water. I drink lots of water, but being prego in the St. George heat and chasing two toddlers while working full time has a way of wiping you out. So, I got re-hydrated, they cleared it with my doctor, and 3 hours later, I was home. I have been told to rest, drink even more water than I think I need, and call my doctor if anything changes. I took a picture of my feet so I could show you how swollen they are, but its not the greatest. You can see the red marks from where my shoes were and notice that there isn't much definition between ankle and calf... basically - I have cankles. The good news is, baby is doing well, and is still in a very good position for how far along I am. Very high, not dilated at all, and the cervix is still thick. We may make it to my due date after all!

On another note, we getting prepared and super excited to go up north for Niki's wedding. My step sister is getting married on 8/8/08 and the whole family is going up. I am a bridesmaid, Jesus is a groomsman, and Bentley is one of the ring bearers. We are staying in a condo in Park City and I am so excited to go shopping, swimming, and just relax. Jesus is actually taking a few days off of work! We will leave Thursday and hopefully (if Jesus isn't itching to get back sooner) we will come home Monday. Well, hopefully I will have lots of pictures of our little vacation to share when we get back since a lot of my posts have been kinda boring...