Ok, Now Jana's on Bed Rest

Jana went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago. They measure all sorts of her anatomy, and yes I know what they all are, but I'll spare you the details. The result is that she's been put on bed rest. I've taken some time off of work to take care of her and the kids. I love it, but I'm exhausted at the end of the day and I've been slacking some of my journal writing. I got back in to it today and wrote down some cute things the kids did this week.

22 September, Monday

I took Sam and Kaylie to Costco and they were incredibly cute. Sam is SO sweet to her and they just chatter back and forth. We stayed for lunch and both of them worked on a piece of pepperoni pizza and some soda. It was fun not to be in a hurry for lunch and since neither of them ate any of the oatmeal I made for breakfast, they were starving and ate very well.

26 September, Friday

While Kaylie napped, I took Sam to the store to buy a gift for his friend's birthday party tomorrow. Dallin's been working on inventing gifts from construction paper all week. He's made a paper car, a little lasso out of yarn, and two paper snow shoes.

Dallin wanted to go camping tonight, so Jana told him he could build a tent in his bed. He hung a sheet from the slats on the top bunk and a blanket over the side to enclose a small area for him and Sam to lay in. Dallin read stories to Sam, while Sam played with his flashlight. They are great brothers and it makes me so happy to see them playing nicely together.

Jana and I watched the presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama tonight. When I was putting the boys to bed, Dallin asked who I'd be voting for. He wanted to vote for both of the candidates. I talked to him a little about the war. Dallin's eyes got big and said, "We're in a war!" He was concerned that someone was going to come to our house or that I would have to leave to go fight somewhere else. I told him that I wouldn't be fighting, but that uncle Jeremy would be fighting in a year or so. He was very concerned and both he and Sam asked me if I would die. I said that yes but not for a long time. Sammy started crying that he didn't want me to die. It nearly broke my heart. It was particularly touching after struggling to get them in bed and having them ignore me for about an hour. I guess they do want me to stick around.

28 September, Sunday

Dallin had a talk in primary that was extremely cute. Here is the text he helped Jana to write:

"Once my family had a lesson in Family Home Evening about prayer. We learned that we could ask if the prophets were true. I wanted to do this. So, I prayed. At first, I didn't feel anything so I prayed again. Then I had a warm and toasty YES feeling in my heart. I knew that Heavenly Father sent the Holy Ghost to tell me that the prophets are true.

In the Friend Magazine there is a story about Misti. Misti was 8 years old and deciding if she should be baptized. She thought that if she went to General Conference Heavenly Father would tell her what to do. During the conference President Monson was prompted to talk to a little girl he could see in the Tabernacle. The little girl was Misti. Misti decided that she should be baptized because of what President Monson said during his talk. The answer to her prayer came from Heavenly Father, through someone else, President Monson.

I know that answers to my prayers come from Heavenly Father through the Holy Ghost, the scriptures, and others.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

No Bed Rest... Yet...

8 September 2008, Monday

Dallin had an assembly today where they sealed a time capsule at the school for 50 years. I asked him if he would be alive when they opened it and he said he would but that I would almost be dead.

After dinner we had family home evening. We talked about the primary theme for the month, something like "I can pray and Heavenly Father will hear and answer my prayers." We talked about Joseph Smith's first vision, and Jana and I shared personal experiences about having prayers answered. Then we read a bit from Alma 34 about when we should pray. Dallin told me, "I just said a prayer in my head, because I'm not sure if the prophets are true. But I didn't get an answer." Jana and I told him that he was doing the right thing to pray about it and that sometime answers don't come right away. We encouraged him to keep praying and to think about the feeling he is getting. He said later than he was getting a little feeling. He is a great kid.

9 September 2008, Tuesday

After school, the boys went over to James' house to play. Dallin and James set up the play date, while Sam was playing on the big toys. Jana didn't know if Sammy was included. She told Sam it was time to go home, and he started to get sad that he wasn't going to play. James and Dallin ran back to get him and included him in their play. James is right between Dallin and Sam, and sometimes Sam gets left out. I'm glad they included him today.

Sam fell asleep while I was reading to him tonight, so Dallin and I postponed our "Roughhouse Night" until Sam could do it with us. Dallin read to me tonight. I got out a handful of Smarties and ate one every time he didn't correct a mistake. He gets going too fast and guesses words by their first two or three letters. After he saw me with the candy, he slowed way down, and his accuracy was close to 100%. Smarties are gross.

10 September 2008, Wednesday

Jana didn't feel well today. She asked me to pick the kids up from school. It was my first time picking them up and I didn't really know what to do and the teachers didn't really know what to do with me. I kept expecting to see Sam in his classroom, but he wasn't there. It turned out that he had a bloody nose and I had to be taken to the office to pick him up.

When I got home, Jana was still having regular painful contractions. She and I dropped the kids off at the Amber's and went to the hospital. We were there for several hours and Jana received two shots and some oral medication. Her doctor came to check everything and she was sent home unsure with a wait-and-see until the next appointment.

We picked up the kids at the Amber's. She had asked the boys what they wanted for dinner, and they told her they wanted spaghetti. When she put it in front of them, they announced that they didn't like spaghetti (what they think they don't like is tomato sauce). She suggested they take a bite and they ate it all.

12 September 2008, Friday

Dallin really didn't want to go to school today. I had to hold his hand all the way so he wouldn't run home. Jana and I think he is just worried about the baby and he doesn't want to miss the fun of having Dad at home all day. I told him he could stay home from school if he wanted to clean all of the bathrooms with me. He jumped at the chance, but when I said he had to put his hand in the toilet to clean the bowl, he decided he'd rather not.

Jana went to the doctor and everything checked out normal. He did not put her on bed rest, to our huge relief, but asked that she reduce her activity.

13 September 2008, Saturday

Today was cleaning day. Dallin helped me with my chores by mopping the kitchen floor. He did a very good job.

I took the boys on a bike ride to get out of the house and let Jana rest. We rode just south of Blue Mountain Elementary school and stopped to look at the irrigation dam. We saw a bunch of snakes sunning themselves on the rocks. They looked lazy, but when they saw us the scattered amazingly quickly. We rode on the dirt road over to Altona Middle School which still had some big puddles from the rain yesterday. I told the boys not to ride in the puddles, but Dallin did. I had to push him out. Sam wanted to next but I convinced him not to. Unfortunately, as he was riding around one of them, the ground became uneven and his training wheel hit a bump and pushed him into the puddle. He was very sad, but was able to keep riding after a little break. We rode to Altona and then back along Clover Basin DR. Along the way Dallin told be about bad people that cut down our trees and that we won't have any air if they keep doing it. How did my son become an environmentalist?

Two Lost Teeth

1 September 2008, Monday

Jana made lunch for us and we all went to the park for a picnic. As we were leaving the house, Jana called Sam "Cutie Face." He replied, "Don't call me names! Just Sam-o and Handsome." Dallin wanted to lead the way and told us not to worry if we got lost because he "knows the neighborhood." He did a pretty good job; we just had to gently remind him a couple of times that he was turning right a little too early. He and Sam are both getting pretty good at looking all ways before crossing at a corner. They get a little over cautious if there's a car moving at all within sight. That makes me a lot more comfortable.

We ate the great lunch Jana had prepared. Dallin wanted some chips and I told him that he needed to eat the five grapes on his plate. He started trying to make a deal with me. "Can I have five chips when I eat my fie grapes." "Yes," I replied. "How about two chips after I eat two grapes." "No, you can have two chips after you eat five grapes." He got pretty upset and threatened to go get lost in the neighborhood. After watching both Kaylie and Sam eat 5 grapes, he was able to choke them down. After we ate, we played pirate ship on the big toys.

I took the boys down to Google to play and have a little treat while the girls rested. I played pool with Dallin while Sam played the arcade games. Dallin did a pretty good job, once I figured out how to shorten the cue. Then we went upstairs for a treat and played foosball. We came back down and I played pool with Sam while Dallin fussed around with the Xbox and the Wii. I don't know how to use them, but I got Guitar Hero working for Dallin. He didn't want to play that game, so he fussed around some more. When it was time to go, Dallin threw a major fit and told me all sorts of mean things, that he didn't love me anymore, that he was through with me, culminating with "and when I get older, I'm GOING TO SMOKE!" When we got home, Dallin apologized to me for "freaking out." He's a good kid, just going through a fit-throwing phase right now.

2 September 2008, Tuesday

Tonight at dinner, Dallin began telling me about DDT and how it affects mosquitos, which affects fish, which affects Eagles, an endangered species. I'm surprised that they are already feeding the kids this stuff so early. DDT kills mosquitos that propagate malaria, which kills people. The link to Eagles is dubious at best. Anyway, I expressed some doubt and Dallin got pretty angry at me. He told me that I don't know everything. I agreed and told him I would do some research on the subject.

Today, Jana spoke with Sam's teacher and she told her that Sam had picked out the most difficult puzzle, a turtle, and had sat and concentrated over it until he had put it all together. She was impressed that he stayed focused and that he completed it.

3 September 2008, Wednesday

When I got home from work, I heard a little voice say, "Daddy, look for me!" Kaylie was hiding in the pantry. When I opened the door she shouts, "Ta Da!" She likes to hide there lately and usually says something like, "I'm going to work now," and shuts the door. After I found her, she told me that she wanted to go potty on the toilet. I took her upstairs to sit for a while, but she didn't get anywhere.

At dinner, Dallin showed me his loose tooth. I asked him if he wanted me to pull it out and he said yes. Pulling teeth used to give me the willies. However, it wasn't nearly as bad as I had remembered. Dallin's tooth came right out! He lost his first tooth! He was very excited and to celebrate, I made strawberry milkshakes.

6 September 2008, Saturday

Last night, while Jana and I were watching a movie, we heard a cricket in the house. We looked around but couldn't find it. It stopped chirping, so we forgot about it. We were awakened at 12:30 by the sound of chirping downstairs. I went down to try and find it. It sounded like it was near the garage, but it stopped chirping. After waiting a bit it started again, but it sounded like it was coming from the screen door. Not there and then it stopped. I sat on the stairs, waiting for it to start again, but it never did.

At 3:00 we heard the chirping again. This time I went into ninja mode. I crept down the stairs an noticed a small black blob under the door in into the vacuum closet (right between the garage and the screen door). I took one more step and sure enough it moved and stopped chirping. I had it trapped and I knew I would be victorious.

I get a little freaked out by bugs, especially jumping ones. I tried a few times with a shoe, but had to resort to a fly swatter in the end. My heart was going pretty strong by the end and I ended up staring at the ceiling for about an hour. At least I heard the sprinklers come on at 4:00.

7 September 2008, Sunday

Dallin had me pull out his right front bottom tooth, the second one this week. He wrote a note to the tooth fairy that was really cute. It had a picture of him in bed sleeping and the tooth fair taking out the tooth and putting a dollar under his pillow. It said "Dear Tooth Fairy, Thank you for the money." He is an awesome kid.