Just Me?

Is it just me or does anyone else find this image a little absurd? (I attempted to enlarge it to show off the issue but it just makes the picture fuzzier.) I hate to rail on one of my favorite stores but this was in Target's advertisement this week. Maybe it's hard to see but this little boy's pjs have skulls and cross bones on them. Seriously? Skulls and cross bones?? Seriously!? For Christmas? Standing in front of a Christmas tree? I mean, come on here, it's not Halloween. What is up with boys clothing? It is so disgusting! And we are suppose to put this on our 3, 4, 5+ year olds?? Not happening in this house.

By the way, the girl's pjs are really cute panda type bears. Go figure. She doesn't want to sleep in anything gory apparently.

Tale of the Tree

A new form of entertainment has arrived at our house. A 9 foot, sparkly, green, fragrant fir tree. What would a Christmas tree be without falling over at least once -- or twice! (First time kicked, second time pulled. And believe it or not both by the resident 5 year old.) We've only had it three days. Clark does what he does best and crawls under the tree and adjusts and fixes as I push and pull the sappy trunk around. We stand back and admire the 1500 lights (have I mentioned I'm crazy?!) on our slightly leaning tree. And I contemplate enjoying the tree this year without decorations.

Truly, it is the most wonderful time of the year.

Happy December everyone!!

Sick . . .

and Tired.

Nothing seems better than cozying up on your chair during dinner when you are feeling under the weather. I sure am grateful for doctors and medicine to help nip that ear infection in the bud.

First Flakes

In honor of my parents receiving 9 inches of beautiful, white snow yesterday I cut my first snow flakes of the season. While some might look at snow as a cold, wet, horrendous thing that falls from the sky and sticks to the ground, we here in the Miller household LOVE it. The kids danced with excitement watching me cut and hang these snowflakes on the wall. I'll see how many flakes I can get on the wall this year. I didn't quite make my vision to fill the kitchen. Get out your hats and mittens (and shovels!) it's snowing in our house.

Who Says?

I would like to know, who says nothing in life is free? Because below is a picture of items I got for free. Ok, yes there was a small cost of time involved in getting these items. But essentially, monetary wise, this was all free.

This really is a small sample of the things I've gotten for free. It's probably triple this amount if I spent the time finding everything and we including all the things we have already consumed. I know people think I'm crazy about couponing but the question begs to be asked. Aren't people crazy who don't? Companies are willingly paying for the products you would in most cases be buying anyway. I have found that the time involved in clipping, organizing and remembering to use coupons, is worth the savings. And those savings then go to pay for unexpected car maintenance or worried-mommy-drag-you-to-the-doctor-appointments. Seriously people, couponing is so worth it! Not to mention incredibly fun! Maybe I should be careful of how much plugging I do. My mom might sometime read my blog and decide to keep all those valuable coupons she has been sending me.

Two months

Here's our precious little Afton. Two months old and growing like a beautiful flower.

(I always disliked the phrase with "weed").

Stats:
11 lbs 2 oz
23 3/4 inches long

Afton is sleepy and smiley. Smiley and sleepy. She's a chatter box too. Talks and talks and talks if she can get your attention. Good thing we have 3 boys to balance out the 3 chatty girls in this house.

Laundry by the Numbers

Today was my Laundry Day. Hold you breath for the forth coming excitement.

Laundry for a family of 6 . . .

takes 20 minutes to sort . . .

and 45 minutes of dedicated time to fold.

6 loads washed today . . .

and 1 more to go.

5 pairs of clothing shed before 4:30 pm today and awaiting cleaning.

9 pairs of pants washed and folded for Russell.

7 days since my last laundry day . . .

but ran 7 loads in between Laundry Days.

Jaron ran out of socks 1 day ago. Russell ran out of socks 2 days ago and underwear 1 day ago.

6 folded, clean burp cloths - 4 laying around; not sure if they are clean or dirty.

2 laundry baskets held together with duct tape.

1 very tired ME!

(Anyone want to help me put it all away??)

Beggar's Night

Because we live in the bible belt we lucked out in people being willing to hand out candy on Saturday evening. It was a bit chaotic trying to get our kids ready and out the door. Jaron wanted to ride his scooter. Russell wanted to go shoe and sockless and ride his tricycle. Eliza wanted to push her lawn mower. To add to that, there were lots of people milling about in our yard watching a certain celebrity walk up and down our street. Clark saw him and was still unimpressed. I just wish the neighbor guy standing on my lawn would have stopped puffing on his obnoxious smelling cigar. Who knew someone walking up and down our street was so exciting? I didn't see anyone else attempting to take pictures of my darling kids! Oh well.

This is one of the only pictures we have of Jaron in his costume. In true Jaron fashion he requested to be a snowman. Not surprising from a boy who always thinks it is going to snow. Just this morning as I was dropping him off for school, he jumped out of the van and declared, "I think it smells and looks like it will snow today." Nice prediction.

Eliza's costume cracked me up. She wore it almost all day on Thursday. And occasionally got grumpy or angry about something. I just couldn't take her seriously as she was melting down. I mean really, she was just any angry bumble bee! But for the most part, she was just cute. And I loved hearing her sweet little voice say, "Thank you" at each door. I wish my boys would have remembered to be so polite (maybe about half the time).

Ribbit, Ribbit, Russell.

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And again, a random photo of Afton.

Often Clark and I will be carrying Afton around while attempting to manage the chaos in our home. And you'll look down and she'll just be grinning wildly at you. It makes you feel bad that you haven't been enjoying the smiles the entire time. But it sure is fun to "catch" her smiling at you. Have I mentioned she is sweet? Well, she is!!!

Star Struck

I'm a stay-at-home mom. A housewife. A home maker. What ever you want to call it, you get my point. Thrills in my life consist of a clean kitchen, no laundry to do and finding a great deal at the grocery store. So you'll have to forgive me that this afternoon's events gave me a bit of a thrill.

There is a movie being shot here in our little ville. I can't say if it is a major motion picture or anything but it does have a big name or two starring in it. Yesterday I got a knock on the door with a woman informing me that they would be doing some filming at the home around the corner. There was also a possibility of some filming taking place on our street. She wanted to know if they could shoot the exterior of our home. Sure, why not?

Of course, I was curious about the filming that was taking place. Not brave enough to walk down the block and attempt to do some star-gawking. I was in the midst of menu planning and creating my grocery list (Friday night fun!) when Jaron requested for me to close his blinds. His room is in the front of the house and I couldn't believe the sight I saw out the window. Lots and lots of kids outside playing. Adults milling about talking. Ummm, this is very atypical of my neighborhood.

Being curious, I spotted my neighbor/friend Rachel across the street. I quizzed her as to the memo I missed. Apparently they were going to be filming in the street soon and anyone who wanted there kids in the movie could have them outside playing. Ok, I'm up for that. Thankfully I was decently dressed and Russell accommodated my request to get out of his pajamas. (It's been a thing lately for my kids, to get into their pjs at 3 in the afternoon.)

Well before too long we were outside watching a camera crew make their way down our street. And they made their way down our street and into our yard. And there stood Ben Afleck. In my yard. Yep, about 12 feet from me. Should I say that again? Ben Afleck in my yard. Eliza could have cared less as she tooled around our driveway pushing her lawn mower. I was amused about how my kids had little reaction to the small mob of people and cameras and other movie thingys as they crowded our yard and then into our driveway.

And five minutes later they were headed across the street and away. It was pretty darn cool.

Look hard at that picture. There is a ball laying in the grass. That's where he stood.

Standing at the ball looking toward where me and kids were by the garage. A picture can't capture the closeness.

Before long I was back in the house changing a blowout diaper, dealing with a toddler tantrum, and then nursing a baby on the couch looking at my toy and book strewed family room. Life goes on.

By the way, he looks like a pretty normal guy except he was wearing make-up.

Smashing Pumpkins

A few weeks ago, I asked my kids to forgo a trip to the pumpkin patch in lieu of a trip to Aldi to pick out pumpkins and a treat. And it worked! Which I was so glad it did for a few reasons. One of which, we have some super nice and thoughtful teenagers in our neighborhood who one evening thought it would be great fun to swipe all four of our pumpkins and smash them. I'm so incredibly happy that I could provide entertainment to them! And I know that teenagers are about the most thoughtless human beings on the planet, but gosh, I wish I could have had a little conversation with those guys. Because it was incomprehensible to my little people as to why someone would take their preciously picked pumpkins and ruin them.

Anyway . . . thankfully Aldi sells pumpkins cheap. Our first round of pumpkins were $1.99. My second round was $2.99 each but HUGE. So worth the money.

Clark and the kids enjoyed (maybe a relative term) carving pumpkins the other evenings. I happily ran an errand to the grocery store, observed, and worked on roasting the pumpkin seeds. A few shots of the evening, although missing was a shot of all the dishes needing attention. Lucky Clark got to do those while I worked frantically on preparations for preschool the next day.

Eliza really tackled cleaning out her pumpkin. Although at one point she got a hold of the carving knife and was going to town on it. She sure is determined to think she is capable of a lot more than she really is!

This is what Afton did for a majority of the evening until she got tired of "chilling" and requested my attention. Hopefully she doesn't feel bad in not getting her "own".

As for now, the pumpkins are safely perched on our back porch to avoid the greedy hands of those teenagers again. Maybe they'll get a second round of smashing in after Halloween.

Siblings

It's fun that I've captured two different but equally cute sibling moments today.

Sisters.
Smiling and holding hands.
(Sorry Afton I had you in something so non-girly.)

Brothers. Sharing a bed, a pillow, a treasured blanket . . . and sweet dreams.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
And I'm including a recent darling photo of darling Afton to appease a grandparent or two.
(It's late, I'm tried and too lazy to do a separate post.)

Knowing

This is Afton.

I mean, really, this picture just captures her.
She exudes happiness and joy.

In her eyes.
In her smile.
In her face.
Her whole body.
It just pours out of her.

She is only 5 weeks old and I can't wait to get to know her.

In the same breath, I feel like I already know her. How do I explain that? I feel like I recognize her. And I am reminded that she is as beautiful and lovely and joyful as I see her now. (Minus that horrible infant acne!)
I'm overwhelmed with the privilege of being her mother.

And I am joyfully, excited with the opportunity I have, of being her mother.

Back in the Pool

I took up lap swimming six-weeks after Eliza was born. I made quite an entrance apparently because I caught several people eying me. I was surprised that so many guys would find my post-pregnancy body that appealing. After a 30-minutes swim and down to the locker room to change I realized why I was being checked out. The posterior of my swimming suit had worn extremely thin and I was giving anyone who bothered to look a nice show. Oops.

Thankfully, that didn't hinder me from returning to swimming on a regular basis. I've quickly become addicted to lap swimming. Of course, I've always loved swimming. Throughout the last year and half as I've weekly visited the pool, lap swimming has become an addiction to me. It's my escape. Quiet where I only have to listen to myself. Where I work out my frustrations or my gospel doctrine lessons (although troubling when I come up with something so profound only to lack the paper and pencil to write it down). Swimming to me is better than a therapist and sometimes I think I've needed one!! But to me, best of all, a place of prayer.

I've been away from the pool some 5 weeks. Truth be told, my hiatus started about 10 days before Afton was born due to repairs on the pool. But desperation set in a week after Afton was born. I needed to swim. I was contemplating all sorts of crazy things just so I could swim. I had little patience for allowing my body appropriate recovery for fear that I was going to lose my mind in the interim.

It was so great today to finally go swimming again!! Who cares that my arms were sore in the process. It felt incredible to be enveloped in only my thoughts and water. So peaceful and calm.
And I prayed.

And prayed.

And prayed.

Amazingly, things seem more doable today.

Awesome Afton

With her budding verbal skills, Eliza struggles a bit with the "f" in Afton. Frequently when Eliza says her name it sounds like "awesome". Which, truth be told, Afton really is awesome in all her sweet baby ways. And since she in on the verge of being a month old(!) (and may I ask, where does all that time go??) I thought I would post a few recent photos. Enjoy.

Afton in a wide-awake moment.

A glimpse of her smile.

Afton has been flashing us beautiful smiles since around a week (or ten days) old. She is a very responsive smiler. It's hard to capture babies smiles though. Poor thing, she has to deal with a lot of hand-me-downs and by the fourth child I'm not too concerned if she is in pink. But I do love gluing bows to her head.

Contemplating a Conference talk (see in back ground). I would love to know her thoughts!

Doing her baby push-ups.

Who's that cute baby in the mirror?

This is something I love to see her do. Enjoy looking at herself in the mirror. Since acquiring a real dresser and mirror we took advantage of turning it into a changing station. And she loves it! I wish I had this with my other kids.

Highs and Lows

Let's be realistic here; having four young children is joyfully hard! Although Clark and I feel like we've got the zone defense down pretty well (meaning we are ok handling more children we've got hands for) things are still pretty intensive.

Having a kindergartner struggling with anxiety issues, a regressing potty-trainer, a toddler with periodic tantrums if you do something like change her out of her pjs (thankfully few and far between) and a baby who comes with all the regular baby needs . . . well things are a bit crazy. And in the course of a few hours you can go from really low to really high emotionally. I know that your hormones go a little out of whack after having a baby, but I have to say, this is the first time I've felt this emotional. Maybe it has more to do with everything that is going on that with my hormones.

But today was a perfect example. Jaron was really upset about some things and I was contending with him, attempting to feed Russell and Eliza breakfast, cooking pancakes and hoping that Afton wouldn't suddenly decide she was hungry. After finagling 4 kids into the van, back out again and "walking" to school (sorry, national walk to school day is a bit of a joke!!) and then 3 back in and home again adds to the stress. Then stuck in the kitchen on the charging cell phone making a very discouraging phone call to a doctor while nursing a baby only to hear Russell desperately calling for me to help in him the bathroom. Well, by the time I got in there, what did a find? Poo, a big pile, on the floor next to the toilet. And gosh, that was just grossly the icing on the cake at that point.

What did I do?

Put my child in the tub and sobbed, sobbed, sobbed while I cleaned up the mess. And gosh did I ever feel better. Thirty minutes later found me laughing on the phone with a friend and shortly thereafter, thrilling at Afton's huge smiles and Eliza's giggles.

And that was only until 10 AM. Highs and lows.

Things can be tough. Often time very overwhelming and discouraging. There are days and moments that I think, "I can't do this." I find myself in those times consumed essentially with fear. However, I've been pondering this quote my mom read to me weeks ago.

"I'm taken back to the importance of knowing who you are. If I believe I am the daughter of the power that created the universe, I have more power than I will ever be able to use. Now, if I believe that, then I act in a certain way. Not in arrogance, but in certainty. If I believe that I came here to be challenged and refined, to grow and develop my talents, then I should internalize that. . . . I ask young women to remember the words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy: 'For God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind' (2 Timothy 1:7) If you have a spirit of fear, it didn't come from your Heavenly Father. You need to examine where it may have come from. If you're not in the appropriate frame of mind or if your behavior isn't what you want it to be, then you need to get on your knees and pour out your heart. " Catherine M. Stakes in Mormon Women

I realize in pondering this and Sister Beck's talk I need to be calling on, living worthy of, and acting on the power and direction given to me by my Heavenly Father to succeed in all that I have responsibility for. Even though we experience hard things, disappointment and discouragement I love that we are promised peace, joy and hope when we are successfully living the gospel.

I'm holding onto that as I experience life's highs and lows.

Newborns & Family

It's got to be tiring being a newborn. I know that I once was but I can't remember it. Probably because I did a lot of sleeping attempting to process my new body, the world around me (hoping all those larger creatures poking me all the time really weren't my siblings), and trying very hard to remember what heaven was like. At least, that's my guess as to what Afton is doing.

I'm sure we are wearing her out around here. We just enjoyed having my dad and brother, Blake, join the fun on Thursday. Then my awesome sister, Kirsten and her mob added to the chaos yesterday. Just so you know, her license plate on her ultra stretch van says "The Mob". I love it.

(Picture taken of Kirsten by one of her paparazzi daughters so I had to include it.)

Afton was blessed yesterday by Clark, her Grandpa Halverson and a member of our bishopric. The circle was smaller than it has been in times past, but I felt that the other priesthood holders in her life were there in spirit.

I'm probably very biased when I say this, but she is just darling!! Yes, she is sometimes awake. When she is, she is already attempting to flash us with smiles. That, and projectile vomit on us. (So excited that we have a third child who erupts like a geyser. Could be worse I guess.)


Yep this us. Can't you see how thrilled all our kids are to be there taking a picture?? We are all still adapting to this change in our family. (Gosh, that is such an understatement.)

I'm so, so, so, so, so thankful for my mom. She was here for 2 weeks. I wish it could have been longer. Although, she is probably so grateful to go. She was a huge help. Just even in the little things. I realized this morning when I heard the washer finish I was going to have put those clothes in the dryer. And the thought went through my head I was going to have to fold those clothes too. They are still in the dryer.

But it was more than her physical help. She has such a great presence. Always quietly serving. Seeing what needs to be done and doing it. Or just sitting down with one of the kids and reading book after book after book. I credit her for my love of reading. She gives me hope that I can do this; although she can't remember how she survived in my same situation years ago. She did so with her sense of humor intact!Thanks Mom!!!! Want to see what the weather is like in Oklahoma in October??

And I just need to include this picture because I love how scrunchy and snuggly newborns are. Sometimes, that's what gets me through those hard moments.

Timing

On Monday morning, Clark's car wouldn't start as he was attempting to go to work. It got me thinking about timing. Of course, just having a baby may have a prompted these thoughts a little bit too. I'm so glad that this happened after Afton was born, not before. I could picture the conversation, "Hey Clark, I'm in labor." "That's great Kim. Can you pick me up from work since my car won't start?"

So here's some of my thoughts about the timing of the great event that just took place in our lives.

First, I may be wrong on this, but I believe that every woman wants to have her baby early. You hit about the 9th month and your uncomfortable and little bit tired of the whole thing. So I was in that boat. It wasn't until the week before she was born that I decided I was ready to be done and I figured that having her over Labor Day weekend was going to be the most ideal time. But that came and went and several more days and finally the morning after my mom arrived she was born. And even though she came after my ideal time, when she was born has been the ideal timing! It gave Clark a few days off because of the weekend. And the Lord sure knows that I'm the kind of mom that really struggles leaving my kids with just anyone, so having my mom here before I had the baby was such a big relief.

When a woman is in labor, timing can be critical. Usually you start timing contractions and watch how they get closer together and then you know it's time to go. Well, not with this one. I probably started having contractions the evening before but they were all over the place. They would be 7 minutes apart for a while, then 10 minutes, than 3 minutes than 5 minutes. Get my point. It wasn't until 1:00 AM they came fast and regular. Of course, for 45 minutes neither Clark nor I believed it. Finally, he convinced me we should go to the hospital. I'm notoriously bad for not wanting to be there.

Good thing he did because when we arrived at the hospital we received the last room and it was just a triage room. At our small hospital they have 4 labor and delivery rooms and 2 triage rooms. Apparently minutes after I showed up a pregnant woman number 7 did. And she was stuck in the hallway. No thanks!! I should mention that not all the women there were actually in active labor. I think about 3 were there for inductions. But it was a crazy, busy night for the nurses. And yes, I did deliver Afton in a triage room.

A small mention about the nurses. I had a horrible experience with a nurse in this same hospital when delivering Eliza. It made me concerned about delivering there again. The nurses this time were FABULOUS! When I first walked in they seemed so delighted to know that I was in actual labor (a walk-in). And the nurse who was first admitting me almost gave a cheer when she learned that I wanted to attempt to deliver without an epidural. I instantly made her my nurse.

Unfortunately, about 10 minutes later she got called away to help a woman in another room (also delivering naturally) that was making a whole lot of racket. I silently told myself I wasn't going to be that way! Well, I was eating my thought about an hour later when I was screaming, yes, screaming about the pain. I really am embarrassed to share that. I couldn't help myself. Really and truly. It was a stressful situation because my doctor wasn't there yet and I needed to push and the nurse kept telling me "Don't push! Don't push!" Needless to say, Afton was born perfectly fine without the doctor (even though I sure do like the guy). He arrived 5 minutes later. I later learned he's gotten a lot of ribbing from the nurses about that although he wasn't to blame. He was informed a little too late.

So timing is a funny thing. Sure does make for interesting stories though. And all of that has been worth it for this:

And Then There Were Four

We happily and ecstatically welcome a little baby girl,

Afton

to our family.

Weighing 8 lbs
21 inches long

Complete with a bow on top (that way we knew she was a girl because it was a surprise!) and a sweet disposition.

She has instantly been adored by all.
Her siblings wipe her out with all their love, attention and affection.

But we sure couldn't be happier. It is so wonderful to have a newborn around.
Welcome to our family Afton!