from October

general confrence tent

Every general conference our family makes a blanket tent that faces the TV. This way we are pitching out tents towards the prophet.(http://scriptures.lds.org/en/mosiah/2 )
We find it has helped Arora (a bit) to sit and watch conference or at least play quietly in the tent. Here are some photos from past conferences too.

a month of photos

remember to check out my other blog (that I actually update!) http:meaningfulmothering.wordpress.com

Welcome baby Ender!

Ender was born Tuesday Aug 3rd at 8:35 am. It was a slow to start but quick overall birth. It felt so long to me but I only pushed for about 20 minutes. It was so empowering to do it un-medicated and I feel like I can do anything! I am feeling well and we are home now. Thanks you to everyone who is helping is will Arora and meal the next week or so!!

This is a wonderful message and I had to share it with all of you.

New midwife

I finally switch my midwife and could not be happier. I was getting so frustrated with my other midwife. I always had to wait, some times up to an hour past my appointment time. Then I would see her for 5 minutes and she would be out the door. I never had my questions answered or felt like she even knew my name.
So I switched to a different clinic and love them. When the midwifes previous appointment went 10 minutes over, the assistant came in and apologized and gave me a gift card to Starbucks to say sorry. I thought that was a bit over the top, but so different from the first midwife. When the midwife, Julia, did come in she introduced herself and actually sat down to talk with me and David. First thing she asked what questions I had, and if David had any questions.We were both was called by our names through out the appointment. She listened and asked clarifying questions. She was supportive of my desire to have a low intervention- unmediated birth. She answered all my questions and invited me to bring any other questions next time I come.
She was kind, personable and even made some jokes. It was like night and day. This is why I wanted to see a midwife, for a personal connection. I have been smiling all day. I am just so happy with the new clinic.

This was Arora's lunch today: one bite peas-spat out, one bite carrot, one bite broccoli- spat out. two bites pasta, 2 oz orange juice. Then all done full. How is she still running everywhere??

getting ready for baby

I can hardly believe it is the beginning of June! Ender will be here in no time, well sometime between 7-9 weeks. We cleaned out our closet and are getting things organized for him to arrive. We set up his bed, and that alone made it seem like he is going to be here so soon. My sister Heidi is throwing me a baby shower on June 12th. I am excited to see so many friends and family and celebrate this coming baby.
In getting ready for Ender I am thinking about things that we will do the same, and things we will do differently then we did with Arora. Some things that will be the same are: using hypnobabies for Ender's birth, Breastfeeding,and EC.
Some things that I will do differently are: Take it easy at first! I really jumped back to doing everything after Arora was born, this time I'm going to ease back into our routine. This also means asking for and accepting more help.
Also I would love to find a Le Leche League or some other breastfeeding support group to go to. I had a difficult time starting nursing Arora and I think it added a lot of stress to those first few weeks. On the same track, I need to find a GOOD nursing bra. I just bought one from Motherhood Maternity and hate it :( Of course I can't return it now because I wore it. There are pads sewn into the bra that have moved, so now they are all bunched up and look pathetic. There is no way to move them back unless I rip open a seam. It is basically not wear able.
I would love your suggestions on your favorite nursing bra.
I am trying to get arora ready for the baby. We have been reading lots of books with babies in it. We also made this poster. We talk about how babies sometime cry and what to do if a baby is crying. Such as give the baby a toy, sing a song, maybe the baby needs to go potty or is hungry etc. I think Arora will be a great big sister.

photo update

We took these photos last Sunday. I am 29.5 weeks pregnant. Arora is eating the first ripe strawberry of the season.

new blog

Dear Friends,
I have started a new blog. A themed blog all about mothering. Please visit it at http://meaningfulmothering.wordpress.com
I think you will all enjoy it. Please leave your comments and suggesting. I will keep this blog as a family update blog, but will be updating the other one much more often. Love Holly

We finally decided to start paying for internet at home. Before we had a really spotty wireless connection from David's work. It just wasn't cutting it!
So I had some pre-labor contraction last weekend and was told to rest as much as possible this week. Then we all came down with colds. Well now I feel fine, and on Monday I will see my midwife to get the all clear for actually doing stuff again. Thanks to everyone who helped out this week.
One day I was so bored with staying at home and resting, so David suggested we have a Harry Potter marathon. he even made this little sorting hat and wand to make me smile. What a wonderful husband I have!


p.s. for some reason it will not up load the pictures But I will try again later today.

things I have learned this week

1. We started making our raised beds in our garden; I love to dig, playing with that shovel was a lot of fun!
2. Even if you think your child is potty trained take a change of clothes; or you will have to go to Kmart and buy a pair of underwear and pants because you do not have time to go home before your next appointment.
3. When you are trying a new place for lunch and 1/2 and sandwich cost over $6, just leave. No tuna sandwich is THAT good.
4. I have renewed my love of garage sales. 3 baby outfits, 2 bibs, 2 blankets a toy, 3 books and a teddy bear for $3.75!
5. Go to the temple often, then get ice cream with your sweetheart.

David rides the horse

One of Arora's favorite games is when Daddy rides her rocking horse. Sometimes David will really get into it.


Today I went shopping with my friend Stephanie and her baby Lexi. We went to Toys'R Us to look for doll accessories. Santa brought Arora a baby doll for Christmas. She is really starting to like it now and has been wanting to get the baby dressed. We picked up a little ducky outfit and a 6 in 1 playset. Later today I went to target to just double check I got a good deal and boy am I glad I did. Target had almost the same set, little crib, with removable changing station, carseat, bouncy chair, high chair and a baby carrier and stroller for $15. I had paid $35 at Toys' R Us! So back to Toys' R Us the first one went. We opened it up after nap and Arora loved it. We took her baby on 3 walks and ended up having a picnic dinner because she saw not done walking the baby. The only problem is, Arora was very upset that the baby did not have any shoes to put on to go outside. I don't think they make doll shoes that small but maybe we can find some newborn socks and shrink them.
When I was leaving Target, I was approached by a man (some kind of producer I think) who was looking for people who might want to be on "Super Nanny'! I guess they are going to be filming here in Portland and are looking for problem kids. I told him that Arora don't sleep. He said the studio would be in contact if they thought it would work. I would love to have Super Nanny come and help me get Arora to sleep. We have tried everything! We started putting her to bed at about 8pm, by 9 she was nowhere near asleep, 9:30 at least in bed. Now it is 10pm and she just started crying again for her circle pillow, not the square one. So aggravating.

A great saturday

We all slept til seven, then ate breakfast and played in our jammies for a while. I had a little early nap while David and Arora played. Then we got ready for the day and went shopping. We finally found the brown socks David has been needing. I found cute shoes that actually fit on mega clearance for ---$5.00! Then we found Arora 3 pairs of pants and 2 shirts in the next size up for ----$10 total! We found the perfect gift for my nephews birthday next weekend. We ate lunch together in the mall food court and then came home to play some more. It was simple and satisfying. I am going to put the cameras batteries in the charge tonight so i can then load up our pictures.

ranom tidbits

random tidbits of life:
Arora was eating dried apricots in the tonight. I kept telling her to chew it up before she could have another one. Then David ate one and Arora said "chew Daddy chew!"
While rocking Arora before bed each night I tell her no wiggling, if she wiggles she gets put into bed with no more rocking. The other night I needed to move her because she was slipping from my lap and she said "mommy no wiggles !"
Arora loves anything rainbow.
We did some spring cleaning and finished unpacking and organizing the last of our boxes!
David felt the baby move a few nights ago. Ender is a real mover and shaker.
Arora is daytime potty trained!! She hasn't had an accident in 2 weeks. We are still putting her in diapers for sleeping.
Arora is getting to be a MUCH better sleeper.
We finally watched New Moon. It was good, not the best movie ever, but entertaining.
I am seriously considering having a home birth.
We purchased a Zoo membership and have already gone enough to cover the cost. Every time we go now will be completely free. After we go to the Zoo Arora want to play the Waht wasthe animal doing game. it goes like this... Me : what was the Lion doing? Arora: big rock. Me: the lion was on the big rock! Arora: what beaver doing? Me: Oh what was the beaver doing? Arora: swim water! Me: the beaver was swimming in the water. and so on.
I am writing this at home we now have (patchy) internet.
We went to IKEA today and fell in love with a crib.
I have been craving Ceaser salad and Coke.

"untitled"

Arora is getting so independent. She helped herself to a whole box of Kix while I was putting the laundry in the washer a few days ago. She was so proud of herself too. these are the cupcakes I made for my nephews Caleb and Mathews 3rd birthday party. I think they turned out cute. Arora loves to help me in the kitchen, especially to make bread. She likes to watch the mixer, stir with a big spoon, and really gets excited about the rolling pin. She always wants heart bread now. We try to make our own bread or rolls at least once a week. She also loves chocolate. We made a cake for my friends house warming party last weekend and Arora helped by licking the beater. Boy was she happy.

It's a Boy!!

We are so excited! I had my ultrasound today and we have a healthy baby boy! I knew it was a boy. This pregnancy has been so different then Arora. We already have a name all picked out so we are ready for him to arrive... well in about 20 weeks :) He should arrive around July 28th. Arora is starting to talk about her being a big sister, though I don't think she really knows what it means. I am just so excited!

photos finally and good news!

kArora's grandma brought over this bed for Arora. It used to be her Aunt Katie's like 20 years ago! Arora loves having her bed. One of Arora's honorary grandmas who live here at Rose Villa, gave her this umbrella for her birthday. She loves it and loves to take it outside for walks. Arora also was given a Mrs. Potato head set from her Mayer grandparents, obviously she loves it especially the glasses. So it looks like we may be getting some wifi soon and if we do I will be a better blogger. I miss keeping connected with everyone .
Oh and the good news is that we are expecting our second baby in July. Most people know but I had not put it on here yet. We are so excited and will find out the gender in about 3 weeks.

ok ok

so I have been a very bad blogger since we moved, but we are choosing not to have internet at home so getting online is not a regular occurrence. We are all well, and happy. I would love to have a nice phone conversation with each of you who look at my blog when you have a minute. Maybe next week I will load up some pictures and actually give any update.