The Christensen Chronicle

Halloween decor

2010-10-08T15:34:00.000-07:00

I've recently been reading a book called "It takes a mother to raise a village." I love how the author encourages us homemakers and lets us know how very important that job is. That being said, being a homemaker can be hard in many ways and the author, Colleen Down, advocates doing at least one thing in the following 5 categories every day: physical, spiritual, creative, social, and educational. When one of these areas is neglected, the whole balance of our lives is thrown off. I can see the truth in this.

Now my thoughts on the creative side - I LOVE scrapbooking, I really do, but sometimes the whole process takes a lot of time - thinking up journaling, picking papers, etc. etc. I don't always have the time or energy at the end of the day to do it. Enter a new way for me to exercise creativity: home decor! There is so much gratification in doing a home decor project. I used my Cricut machine to cut Halloween vinyl shapes and then did another craft to make a Halloween banner. (The kids think it's awesome that the O's in "spooky" are like eyes.) And I get the satisfaction of seeing it several times a day...every time I go in the bathroom since it's hanging on the bathroom door!

Here's a Halloween cross stitch I did a couple of years ago that my mom had framed in Thailand before they moved (for only about $10!), and this is the first year I've had it to display:

Kaia decorated our front door using some vinyl cut outs and a Frankenstein she made herself - you've got to click on the picture to see it enlarged. It is adorable!

I'm curious if others have also found all 5 of the areas listed above important for your lives to feel in balance. Do some of the areas feel more important than others to you?

You Might Be A Homeschooler If...

2010-09-24T14:24:00.000-07:00

...you can't seem to get your nose out of a book.

...you get to have recess with your siblings.

...you have your drawing lessons at the park (while Asher practices his photography skills ;).

...you wear knee-high socks with mismatched sandals! Just kidding. Only Asher can pull off a style like that!

And, hello!! I seem to be back to blogging after a LONG break. I haven't read others blogs or updated this one in months. During my break from blogs, I was spending a lot of time pondering my priorities. The simple fact is that there are too many things I would like to spend time on and too little time to do them all in. I needed a period of time when I was hardly ever on the computer so I could figure out how I really want to spend my time. I've recognized that I absolutely must be spending time for my own spiritual development - praying and studying the scriptures - so that I have the help of the Spirit to be a better mother. And I can see that some other things that are really important to me - like studying Chinese, scrapbooking, and reading good books - need to be included in my life. When I'm on the computer, time just seems to be sucked away and those other things don't get included in my life. But now that I realize that I have to plan those things into my life first, I'm ready to try to include blogs and other computer time into my life in a more moderate way.

By way of an update, I am LOVING homeschooling!! A couple of years ago, I had read somewhere the words of a homeschooling mom who said that she didn't really start enjoying motherhood until she began homeschooling. Although I wouldn't make quite so drastic a statement, I can see what she means. Up until we officially started homeschooling a couple of weeks ago for Kaia's kindergarten year, it was too easy for me to put my own priorities first. Now I have committed to putting my kids and schooling first and I am enjoying motherhood so much more. Amazing!!

Did you know?

2010-05-16T18:20:00.000-07:00

Today I learned what "the devil's contraption" is. I thought I would let you all know so you are forewarned.

We were walking out of our building on the way to church. I had Leila in the sling so I could have my hands free. Here's a picture of Leila in the sling a few months ago:

A couple of people were chatting outside when we walked by. The man facing me exclaimed, "I'm so glad to see you wearing your baby in a sling! I love to see that instead of pushing your baby in one of those things (he was referring to a stroller)."

Then he said something like, "I've heard people say - and I just love it - why would you push your baby in a stroller anyway? Why would you push them away from you?"

I responded by saying that I love having Leila in the sling, but she will be in a stroller before long because my back won't last if I carry her in a sling forever.

Then he said, "Well, carry her for as long as you can. Those other things (again, strollers - he seemed to have a major aversion to saying the word) are the devil's contraption." Wow. Not weapons of mass destruction? Nope, it's the stroller. Now you know!

Half a Year

2010-05-04T18:01:00.000-07:00

As hard as it is for me to believe, Leila turned 6 months old today! Wow. I was feeling nostalgic tonight so I decided to go through the pictures we've taken since she was born. I thought I'd share some, although it was very hard to narrow it down to just a few.

Leila, who has been a pretty calm baby since she was born, has recently developed a flair for the dramatic. If she's annoyed, she lets out this high-pitched scream. But, on the flipside, she's started giggling a bit more, especially in response to Asher bonking his head on her belly or Peter holding her upside down.

A Day at the Park in Pictures

2010-03-17T19:15:00.000-07:00

I love spring. And I love afternoons spent at the park. The kids made a bird feeder to hang on *our* willow tree. Since we don't have a backyard of our own, the kids have adopted this willow tree in the large park next to our house.

Check out the view from the park! (Peter's office building is the tall one in the upper right hand corner of the picture.)

Pancakes for breakfast!

2010-03-17T18:01:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share my recipe for whole wheat pancakes. I've combined a couple of recipes to create this one, about which Kaia said, "This recipe is awesome!" And it only uses whole wheat flour. Even if you're skeptical, you ought to give these a try. They are really delicious.

Maile's Whole Wheat Pancakes (although you can name them whatever you want)

1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
3 T. brown sugar
3 T. wheat germ
2 T. cornmeal
1 (heaping) t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1/8 t. salt
1 1/4 c. buttermilk (you can also use milk with about a tablespoon of vinegar added and left to sit for about 5 minutes)
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1/4 c. canola oil (I usually put a heaping spoonful of applesauce in the measuring cup and then fill the rest with the oil)

Mix together the first 8 ingredients. Combine the last 4 ingredients in a separate bowl, then stir into the first mixture just until combined.

Today our pancakes turned green for St. Patrick's day! (They definitely look for appetizing in their original color - see the first picture.) And my favorite way of having them is with banana slices cooked into the bottom. In fact, I don't even make these unless we have bananas in the house.

ETA: I use something different for syrup now. Since normal store bought syrup often has high fructose corn syrup, I wanted to find a healthier alternative. What I use now is agave nectar that we buy from Costco (they definitely have the best price for this). Agave nectar has a sweeter taste than sugar so you can use less of it, but at the same time it has a much lower glycemic index than sugar or honey or even maple syrup. I really enjoy the taste on pancakes and also in oatmeal. I thought I'd pass on this new find as we're looking for healthier sugar substitutes.

Tummy Time

2010-03-10T17:46:00.000-08:00

I was lightly chastised by the pediatrician this last week at Leila's 4 month appointment (how on earth is she 4 months old already?!?). When the doctor put Leila on her tummy, she asked if I've been giving her any tummy time. I hemmed and hawed for a minute and then pointed at the two other kids who were climbing all over the room. That should make it clear, right? Besides being afraid that one of them might step on her, Leila doesn't particularly like being on her tummy and her older brother is quick to rescue her and flip her onto her back. She still is "stinking cute," as Kaia has taken to saying. I LOVE all of her little sounds:

Playing School

2010-02-25T19:00:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I forget how strange the idea of homeschooling used to be to me. Now that I've been researching it and contemplating it for a couple of years, it seems like the obvious choice for us right now. But then I'll run into an old acquaintance, like I did last Saturday, who looks at me like I've just sprouted 2 extra heads when I tell them we're homeschooling. I think this meeting planted the idea in my head of writing a post to share some of our reasons for homeschooling for anyone who's curious. I've been composing this post in my head the last couple of days since I haven't had a chance to sit at the computer for any length of time; the post in my head is exceptionally long and the actual post appears to be just about as long.

First a couple of stories...

Last week, my kids were excited about getting yet another Land Before Time movie in the mail from Netflix. I milked it for all it was worth by getting my kids to get lots of things done in the morning before they could watch it after lunch. Right after breakfast, I told Kaia that we would "do school" as soon as I finished feeding Leila. She excitedly ran to her room and got everything set up. She moved her "little table" so it was facing her chalkboard and then drew white lines across it and told me that I could write words on the board and then she would copy them in a little notebook she made for herself. As we were doing this, she asked me, "This is like real school, right, Mom? Except that we have more time after to do other fun things." (Can you tell that this girl, who hears and retains everything, has been listening to me tell people about some of the benefits of homeschooling? And, as a side note, I think a lot of people may envision homeschooling as being, basically, just like school but at home but I have discovered that there are just about as many different methods of homeschooling as there are homeschoolers.)

The next part of the story is for my brother-in-law, Erick. Kaia wanted to play hangman next, which she learned in Primary a week ago. She wanted to be the one to think of the word first. As I guessed the letters, I was wondering if she really had a word in mind. My suspicion turned out to be correct. When we got the point we were in this picture, I asked her if she knew what the word was going to be. She said, "I'm thinking about it." I then told her that so far it spelled, "Eric_." She exclaimed, "What!?! I spelled Erick? That's crazy! We have to tell him!"

On a different schooling note, I think I am addicted to laminating! The picture below is from the first time I went to this teacher supply store and got this entire 11' of laminating for $3! We now have cards for practicing our Chinese vocabulary (my kids are in a Chinese class on Saturdays - I can't remember if I've mentioned that on the blog before) as well as sight word and letter cards. They've been great for playing games like Go Fish and Memory. I've since gone back and got 22' of laminating for just over $6!! There is something so satisfying about getting things like this made for such an amazing price.

While Kaia and I have been busy with "school," Asher has been using our older digital camera to practice his photography skills:

Now for some of our reasons to homeschool...and first let me give a couple of qualifications. First, we began thinking about homeschooling because of the area in which we live. Our particular neighborhood has notoriously bad schools. So that initiated my research about homeschooling, but the longer I have learned about homeschooling the more benefits I see from it. In the interest of honesty, though, I cannot say for sure if I would still be homeschooling if we lived in an area with good schools. That possibility seems so remote at the moment that it's hard to really know what I would do. So, my second qualification, is to make it very clear that I do not look down upon anyone's decision to send their child to school. I don't think that schools are inherently bad and I didn't have a bad experience going to schools myself. Without further ado...

A few of our reasons for homeschooling:
*Homeschooling can allow us to adapt the methods of teaching to our children and their unique learning styles.

*We are in charge of what our children are exposed to at their young ages. We are not homeschooling for religious reasons. To be sure, we have very strong religious convictions. However, I don't feel it necessary to isolate children in order to teach children religion. In fact, I have many good memories from my growing up years of having religious discussions with friends of different faiths, and I came through with my faith intact and I would even say strengthened. While we aren't homeschooling for religious reasons, I would say that, because of the area we are in, we are homeschooling for what might be called moral reasons. I know this is an overgeneralization, but for the most part, children in the neighborhoods surrounding us are exposed to all types of movies and influences that I do not want my children to be exposed to at their young ages.

*Homeschooling gives us much more time together as a family. My children are best friends and get along really well most of the time.

*Homeschooling allows us to delay excessive academics. In our area, kids can begin going to school full time at 3 years of age. I want my children to experience a childhood of playing and being creative. I feel like a mama bear in wanting to protect this experience for my kids.

*I get to learn about all kinds of fun things along with my kids and help them maintain their love of learning. Peter and I joke that our kids don't realize that learning's not supposed to be fun. :)

*I feel like my kids just get to be more and more fun as they get older and I get to share that with them. I love the many moments when I am left in awe at the wonderful people my children are becoming.

The above are just a few of the benefits of homeschooling. The main concern I have had in regards to homeschooling is how to maintain my own sanity when I am with my children day in and day out while also being responsible for their education. Fortunately, in regards to the latter concern I have found a method of homeschooling that really resonates with me and has a lot of on-line support from other moms who are in the trenches, so to speak (if you're not tired of reading about homeschooling yet, you can go here to learn more about the Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling).

One thing that is really helping me right now is getting more of a schedule in our lives. I think I have resisted putting more structure in our lives for a long time due to some subconscious feeling that we would lose any opportunity for spontaneity. But what I'm actually finding is that having some structure enables us to get more done and have more fun. If I know that I will have a time to check e-mails, exercise, read scriptures, do chores, etc. etc. then I can be more present with my children when we're reading stories or playing games. And my kids are better at entertaining themselves when I'm doing the above things if they know they will have set times for reading and playing games with me.

I can certainly say that homeschooling tests me in so many ways - just today my kids tested my patience, love, and selflessness to the extreme. And I'll admit that I failed in a lot of ways. But by coming face to face with my shortcomings, I am forced to improve. This is my favorite quote of the week from this amazing talk:

“As we draw closer to God, He will show us our weaknesses and through them make us wiser, stronger. If you’re seeing more of your weaknesses, that just might mean you’re moving nearer to God, not farther away.”

My Valentines

2010-02-17T08:53:00.000-08:00

I'm a couple days behind in getting this post up. That seems to be the story of my life these days. As long as I don't worry about making it on time anywhere or getting any type of project done on any sort of schedule, we have pretty enjoyable days. So I'm trying not to be overly stressed about punctuality while I still have a newborn (is a three month old still considered to be a newborn?).

Anyway, I love my Valentines...

Peter asked me a week or so ago (in an impromptu discussion of our marriage and how it's changed over 8 years and 3 kids), "We still have fun, right? I cleaned the stove tonight." That sounds like fun to me! My family knows that neither me or Peter are the most sentimental people in the world. We don't go all out in celebrating V-day or even our anniversary. But to me, it's all the little things on a daily basis that make me truly appreciate my amazing husband. This is a guy who will take out mounds of trash for me, cook dinner when he has the chance, get up countless times with kids in the middle of the night, and clean the stove every time I get it dirty (I have not cleaned our stove once in the 3+ years we have lived in our condo). I know he loves me by these daily actions.

The kids wanted to make Peter special Valentines gifts. If Asher has a personality trait that is shining through these days, it would be thoroughness. In this case, he grated this carrot until it was almost non-existant. Kaia wrote this card for Peter (or Pete or Pet, as she decided to write); I helped her with the spelling. The picture quality isn't great; the card reads: "KAIA FROM (she accidentally wrote her name first) DEAR PETE HEARTS LOVE XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX"

Flexitarianism

2010-02-10T08:19:00.000-08:00

Have you ever heard of flexitarianism? I just heard the term for the first time yesterday, but I already know that's what I am. Here's the definition according to Wikipedia: Flexitarianism is a semi-vegetarian diet focusing on vegetarian food with occasional meat consumption. A self-described flexitarian seeks to decrease meat consumption without eliminating it entirely from his or her diet.

I had already told my sister earlier in the week that I was becoming a borderline vegetarian, but I like the term flexitarian. It fits how I feel about food right now - after spending 3 weeks in Florida with my family, half of whom are now either vegetarian or vegan, I've been incorporating a lot more vegetables into our diet - and loving it! Roasted veggie pizzas, butternut squash orzo, spinach feta quiche...yum. But I don't mind having meat once in a while. I just don't really plan on preparing it very frequently (I've only made it once in the past 2 weeks). (Here's an interesting article from Newsweek about flexitarianism, including the viewpoint that many vegetarians don't like the term - how can you be a meat-eating vegetarian? - but I think people incorporating a lot more plant-based foods in their diet is a good thing even if they do still eat meat on occasion.)

There is something so inspiring about a pot of beautifully colored veggies mingling together:

I used this recipe to make Butternut Squash, Sweet Potato, and Red Pepper Soup. I was a little nervous about the lack of spices, so I used a recommendation from a song you may have heard of - I added parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. :) They were on to something - these spices gave the soup just what it needed. Kaia's assessment of the soup: "I love it."

I wanted to have whole wheat rolls with the soup but I only started dinner prep at 5 pm so I didn't have time to make traditional rolls. Instead, I found this fast Whole Wheat Dinner Muffin recipe and we had hot muffins for dinner. I recommend these with a qualification: they taste very healthy, which I like but the wheat flavor is pretty intense. They were more similar to biscuits than muffins, but I thought they went great with the soup. I also enjoyed them with a little butter and Trader Joe's raspberry preserves. Kaia's assessment: "They taste ickier than they smell." (Obviously not a hit with her.)

On a different note, Leila does really well in her chair or hanging out on her mat during the day, but she always has a hard time with it just as I begin to prep dinner. Tonight we tried something different. She really enjoyed her role as supervisor right next to where I was chopping veggies.

Comedian

2010-02-10T07:41:00.000-08:00

Asher likes to ask me to tell Leila stories, usually involving her wanting some variety of cake or ice cream. Yesterday's version included Leila eating Toe Jam Cake (at Asher's suggestion, of course). When I got to the part where Leila took a bite of the cake, Asher started laughing hysterically and covering his eyes just like this picture shows. (Of course I had to stage the picture, but this is exactly what he spontaneously did on his own). I'll tell you - nothing can make you feel like a comedian like getting a reaction like this!

We were watching a movie last night in which a female character who was a high-powered executive saw no need to have a family and children. She highly valued the praise and attention for her achievements in that sphere. Well, I would guess she's never gotten a 3 year old to laugh like this. I can't imagine any higher praise. Seriously.

Hello, Friend

2010-01-29T19:47:00.000-08:00

Leila is my little angel girl. She is so content sitting in her chair or hanging out on her mat. It probably helps that there's always tons going on around her with Kaia and Asher running around so she doesn't get bored. She will lay on her mat looking at herself for up to half an hour! I know neither of my other kids did anything like that. Maybe she's relieved to finally see someone her size who isn't attacking her with kisses.

This morning Kaia said to Leila, "Do you want to earn a kiss? Give me a smile and you'll earn a kiss!" I have no idea where this idea came from - I definitely don't make Kaia smile for her kisses! - but I did think it was pretty funny.

Improvising

2010-01-29T19:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we enjoyed the first snowfall of the new year, and the first snow my kids have seen this winter season since we were on vacation in Florida when New Jersey got snow in December. They were ready to go sledding the minute they saw the snow! I wasn't quite mentally prepared to get all 3 kids bundled to play in the snow, so I came up with what I thought was a brilliant plan - to let the kids play with the snow that fell in the open courtyard in our building while Leila and I sat in the comfort of the lobby. I would be able to watch the kids through the glass doors to the lobby and let them have their fun.

But this is what we found...

How could all of the snow have melted so quickly?

Fortunately, my kids are great at revising plans when things don't go as they would want. Kaia immediately suggested we could go to the parking lot to play in the snow. Notice the carrot in Asher's hand for the snowman they were ready to make.

Kaia was busy making a snowman. Asher had fun in the snow for about 5 minutes. Then he was done, so he sat in a chair in the lobby waiting until Kaia was done 10 or 15 minutes later.

Kaia was able to make the snowman head. Unfortunately, it collapsed when she tried to put it on a snow body. As she said, "Thank goodness we got a picture!"

A Recap

2010-01-23T11:42:00.000-08:00

I've been spending a lot less time on the computer recently. Or, more accurately, I'm rarely on the computer when I'm not holding a baby. So I have been checking e-mail and reading blogs, but I never seem to get back in a timely fashion when I have both my hands available for typing. I've also been ramping up our efforts at homeschooling, which has been filling up my days with kid-centered activities and my nights with lots of homeschooling reading.

I thought I'd do a brief recap of the happenings around here the last week or so. To my surprise, I seem to have my first thumb sucker. Leila is the first of my kids to absolutely not take a pacifier. She's only been willing to use it a handful of times so far. But she's had a couple of 8-hour stretches at night in between feedings. I think part of the reason she's been going so long is that she gets her thumb in her mouth and doesn't realize she's not actually eating. I probably would prefer her to take the pacifier instead since it would be easier to break the habit later, but she doesn't suck her thumb that often. She just doesn't love sucking as much as my other kids did.

We recently celebrated Peter's birthday. Kaia had been planning to do a World War II birthday for him for months. We just had a small celebration at home with the family, but Kaia did decorate this cake. It started out as a propeller plane, but Kaia said that was too hard so it ended up being an owl. :)

One of Kaia's favorite things to do is hold Leila and declare, "We're having Sister Time!" Asher tries to join in on the fun when he can. Kaia is making this face on purpose. She's really into posing these days.

I was feeding Leila first thing in the morning a few days ago when Asher said, "She wants her Daddy!" I said she probably didn't want her Daddy just then because he wouldn't be able to feed her. Asher replied, "Yeah, because he has small armpits."

Small armpits?! Well, that's as good a reason as any not to be able to nurse. :) I have been notoriously bad at teaching my kids the correct names of body parts, but I have tried recently to refer to them by their real names. I'll admit that I'm okay with letting Asher think (for now, at least) that "feed babies" (the term Kaia still uses) are called armpits. I have this fear that my kids will start talking about anatomy at really embarrassing times, like in the middle of church or in the grocery store or something. I did find out a day or so later what Asher thinks real armpits are called when he exclaimed, "Don't tickle my arm pickles!"

A Virtual Christmas Card

2010-01-10T08:21:00.000-08:00

We've been away from blogland for a while. We spent a wonderful 3 weeks with my whole family in Florida for Christmas. Then we came home to a wonderful stack of Christmas cards from so many of you. Reading them kind of made me regret the fact that we didn't get Christmas cards out this year, but I think I'll use the I-have-a-newborn excuse this year. :) I wanted to let all of you know that the reason you didn't get a card from us isn't that you didn't make our list - we just didn't have a list at all.

In lieu of a card, we thought we'd share this little video with you as a virtual Christmas card. Now, I've had this video uploaded on the blog for a few days but it's taken me a few days to be brave enough to actually post it. I've always been pretty self-conscious; that has waned quite a bit as I've aged, but there's still something about watching yourself sing that's a bit unnerving. But all in all I find this video pretty funny. Don't watch it if you'll be grossed out by a little boy being a boy. :) Asher puts on a pretty good show starting at about 47 seconds and again at 1 min 35 seconds. In the video, the music and lyrics of the song we're singing were written by my very talented mother-in-law, Vickie. We're not going to win any awards for family musical productions, but I have a feeling this will be a cherished family video for a long time to come.

What happens when...

2009-12-13T17:27:00.000-08:00

...Kaia is asked to be Mary in the ward nativity pageant?

You get a girl who has her entire outfit planned out for a week beforehand. And she remembers to bring the taxes! She was ready to pull out her money from the green purse to pay the taxes throughout the entire pageant. She was concerned afterwards that no one took them. I love this girl and her thoughtfulness! (And below see a thoughtful Joseph leading Mary in so gently and Asher loving his role as a shepherd.)

What happens when...Leila has her older sister's baby wardrobe at her disposal but all kinds of adorable new clothes have come out in the last 5 years?

I can't help but buy an outfit here and there. This dress is gorgeous in person. It's definitely cuter than anything I own, although I wouldn't be able to find anything like this for me for $9. My mom wants to have pictures taken of our entire family when we're all together for Christmas with everyone wearing black, red, and white.

What happens when...I'm on the phone for 5 minutes with my dad?

My kids construct a "spider's web" throughout the whole living room/kitchen/dining room. They were so silent as they worked that I had no idea they were so busy. They came in whispering something about a secret they couldn't tell me about but they wanted me to close my eyes and follow them. After seeing it, I retreated to the room to finish my conversation. I did have to draw the line on their fun once I saw Kaia coming out of the bathroom with wet clothes to hang on the spider's web turned clothes line.

Asher's Announcement

2009-12-10T09:49:00.001-08:00

Asher has been in one stage of potty training or another for at least a year and a half. I haven't been stressed about it. I've heard that boys take longer than girls to potty train, and it's honestly easier to just have kids in diapers most of the time. Asher has known how to use the toilet for a long time, but he has never been consistent about remembering to use it. As long as he is only in "unders," he remembers to go to the bathroom, but as soon as he gets pants on he forgets that he doesn't have a diaper on and has an accident.

This all seems to have changed 3 days ago. 4 days ago we bought him a new package of Cars underwear. He woke up the next morning wanting to wear Lightning McQueen. I told him he needed to go use the potty before he could put the underwear on.

A couple of minutes later, I walked into the bathroom and Asher made the following announcement: "I went pee and poop, Mom. I'm potty trained now!"

I wasn't really planning on potty training a week before going on vacation (to visit my family for Christmas in Florida), but I figured we might as well run with it. It's been 3 days now and the only accident he's had was one time when he didn't get unbuttoned in time.

Asher's pretty excited about one thing in particular: "Now I can go to the ball place!" Let me explain - in the past, I've tried to motivate Asher to get potty trained so he could join Kaia in the "ball place" or kids' play area at IKEA. Of course, I myself had dual motives in encouraging him - both to get him potty trained and to look forward to an hour of shopping by myself (now with Leila, but she's relatively easy when it comes to shopping). Asher later added some detail to his statement: "Now I can go to the ball place, and Kaia can go, too, because she's already potty trained. Then we can be friends in there!"

I decided to spare you pictures of Asher in his unders (he likes to wear them backwards so he can see the cool pictures when he looks down although I'm working with him to break that habit :). Instead, I thought I'd share a couple of pictures of the kids dressing up as I was nursing Leila the other day. Kaia had the brilliant idea to dress in Asher's clothes and vice versa. Asher was fair game for a while, but partway through our little photo shoot he started to run away. Kaia yelled after him, "Stop, Ash! You're not going to be delicate anymore!!"

The kids had fun, but it's probably a good thing for Peter's sanity that Asher was Batman by the time he got home. :)

Baby Blessing

2009-11-30T17:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I came across this quote in the Ensign by President Hinckley: "There is no substitute under the heavens for productive labor. Is is the process by which dreams become realities. It is the process by which idle visions become dynamic achievements."

I thoroughly enjoy productive labor. One of the women from our ward (church congregation) feels the same. When I was called as the Relief Society president earlier this year, she stopped me in the hall at church and said, "Your first job is to let me know all of the women in the ward who are pregnant so I can make a gift for them." Vilma shares her talents of crocheting, knitting, and sewing to make beautiful gifts for the smallest new members of the ward. When Vilma learned that we had a girl, she crocheted a beautiful dress, bonnet, and booties for her to wear for her baby blessing. This outfit is so well made I can see it being in our family for generations!

Here's Vilma holding Leila (as you can see, Leila was sacked out throughout the blessing and the next 2 hours of church).

She knows her own mind

2009-11-18T10:12:00.000-08:00

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who'll decide where to go."
--Dr. Seuss

Anyone who knows Kaia knows that she knows her own mind. She was dressed to impress on Sunday when she went to church with Grandma Mary. She found this coat when we pulled out the baby clothes for Leila; it was Kaia's when she was about a year old. And she insisted that she have twisty braids in her hair with the headband placed behind it. Kaia's pizazz never ceases to amaze me. :)

Leila's Birth Story

2009-11-15T10:07:00.001-08:00

First, some pictures...it took a ridiculous number of attempts to get this one good picture of Leila. It is hard to get a flattering picture of a newborn!

Kaia is so proud that she can hold Leila on her own. I've caught her trying to pick her up on her own a couple of times.

I'm never able to take pictures of Asher near Leila because I have to keep a close watch on what's happening. He loves her too much sometimes! Putting these glasses on Leila was his doing:

I’ll admit it. I am a passionate advocate of natural birth. Here’s why: my two natural birth experiences have been THE MOST exhilarating and empowering experiences of my life. No other experience I’ve had has even come close to replicating the feelings of empowerment I’ve had immediately following Asher’s and Leila’s births. In fact, Asher’s birth triggered a change in me where I became more assertive and began pursuing personal goals with much more zeal than I ever had before. If I could give birth completely naturally, I could do anything!

Let me make clear, first of all, that I am very grateful for modern technology. I am so grateful that C-sections are as safe as they are so that Kaia could be born safely (she was breech). Second, I do not in any way judge those who use drugs to get through labor. But I do wish people would be more willing to give natural birth a shot.

At the beginning of this pregnancy, I heard about the Hypnobabies program, a self-study course to prepare for labor and birth by learning to deeply relax. I was a little skeptical of the claim that labor could be pain-free using this program, but I figured that since I made it through Asher’s labor just using my own resources and intuition, it certainly couldn’t hurt to prepare for labor using Hypnobabies. Here’s a brief explanation from the website: “Many people think hypnosis is like the stage hypnosis shows they've seen where people seem to be unable to control themselves, act goofy and provide entertainment for the audience.  In reality it is a state of focused concentration where the body and mind relax together. Hypnosis is very simply: a natural state of mind in which the body and mind are extremely relaxed and yet the mind is also highly aware and focused.”

On to the actual birth story…My mom flew in on Tuesday evening (November 3). At the time my mom flew in, I was having Braxton Hicks contractions but nothing painful. I woke up the next morning around 7:15 feeling crampy. I wasn't sure if it meant anything so Peter left for work. By 8:00 a.m. I started timing contractions; they were every 5 minutes lasting 1 minute each! I didn’t want Peter to come home if this was false labor, but my mom convinced me to call Peter and tell him he'd better come home!

By the time Peter got home and we finished packing the hospital bag, it was 10:00 when we were heading out the door. Both my mom and Peter were completely stressed about me getting to the hospital in time, but I was so relaxed. During each contraction, I would just stop where I was and rock my hips back and forth as I focused all my energy internally. Kaia's farewell to us was "Birth in the car! Definitely yes!" Fortunately we made it to the hospital without having a birth in the car. By the time we got into the hospital, it was about 10:45.

I had been hoping to labor in a birthing tub, but by the time we got there I just knew that I wasn't going to have time to get in a tub. When Peter mentioned this to me (he knew how important that had been to me), I said that I’d rather have a fast labor than a tub labor.

The nurse checked me when we first got there; I was dilated to a 4, and my contractions were about every 3 minutes. I had the same problem in this labor as in Asher's - the contraction monitor never showed my contractions going past 40% intensity even though I knew they were much more intense than that. In fact, I later learned that when the midwife first arrived, the nurse suggested that they might want to send me home because she didn't believe I was really going to give birth anytime soon. The midwife came in, looked at me and then at the monitor, and asked me how intense my contractions really were (I looked so relaxed that she didn’t believe I was very far along in my labor). I told her the contractions were pretty intense. She decided to check me and was shocked to find that I was dilated to an 8 - I had gone from a 4 to an 8 in half an hour!

I got off the bed and onto a birthing ball. Being on the birthing ball was incredibly helpful. Rocking my hips back and forth made the contractions much more bearable. Even still, the contractions were getting pretty intense pretty quickly. The midwife could tell by my reaction to the contractions that things were speeding up, so she suggested that if I got up on the bed on my side, the baby might be ready to come out. I stood up and immediately felt the baby ready to come out. The feeling of her dropping terrified me, so I sat immediately back down on the ball! I was worried about that next step. With encouragement from the midwife and Peter, I stood up again and got on the bed at 12:24. My water broke on its own at 12:25, and after 6 intense minutes of pushing, Leila was born at 12:31 p.m.

My birth experience was very intense but so worth it. I’m not sure whether or not I would say that the labor was pain-free. I would definitely say it was more intense than it was painful. Pushing was painful – thank goodness that only lasted 6 minutes. It was amazing to give birth completely naturally. I learned in the next couple of days that of the 9 babies our pediatric nurse was in charge of, ours was the only baby not born by C-section.

The long and short of my experience is that I completely recommend natural birth and the Hypnobabies program. Here in summation, are a few of the things that using Hypnobabies did for me:
• I would usually listen to the program on my iPod after middle-of-the-night trips to the bathroom. During my previous pregnancies, I would often lie awake for a long time before falling asleep even though I would be extremely tired. Listening to my hypnosis would put me to sleep, usually within minutes! The program still works if you fall asleep because your subconscious mind is absorbing all the messages. (It may sound hokey, but I’m convinced it works!) The price of the program was honestly worth it just for the great sleep I had after listening.

• I felt wonderful this entire pregnancy. The Sunday before I had Leila, people at church were asking how I was feeling and I felt like saying that I was feeling too good to be having a baby within days. I attribute this to the Hypnobabies – the relaxation that came from practicing decreased the degree to which I felt the aches and pains I’ve had in my previous pregnancies.

• I felt very empowered through the Hypnobabies program even while pregnant. The program focuses on how you, as the pregnant woman, are able to make your own decisions for yourself and your baby. This encouragement led me to switch from my OB to midwives at about 6 months pregnant. I’ve never regretted that decision.

• I wholeheartedly believe that my labor was only 4 ½ hours because I was so relaxed; instead of fighting against the pain, my body worked with the contractions to get Leila here so quickly.

• I was also able to use my Hypnobabies to get through the afterbirth pains – those really do get worse with each birth! Relaxing during them made them much more bearable.

• Although I was so grateful that I had a natural birth with Asher, for months afterwards, every time I thought about or talked about the labor, my stomach would start clenching up and I would almost feel sick to my stomach. I don’t feel that at all when thinking about Leila’s birth. I guess the relaxation I felt during the labor made a difference even in how I remember the laboring experience.

It's a...

2009-11-06T13:29:00.001-08:00

GIRL!!!

Leila Marie Christensen was born Wednesday, November 4 @ 12:31 p.m.

As it turns out, I was only 1 for 3 in my accuracy of predictions with this birth.

1. I was sure this baby would be an October baby, but she held on until November 4, which was actually Kaia's due date (although Kaia was born almost 2 weeks early).

2. I was pretty sure this baby was going to be a boy, but I was definitely wrong!

3. I did have a feeling that this was going to be a pretty fast labor, and I was right on the mark with that one. My total labor was 4 1/2 hours.

To say Kaia is thrilled about having a sister is probably an understatement. In fact, she broke into spontaneous song earlier this morning: "She's a girl! She's a girl! I'm so happy she's a girl! You're a cutie patootie - oh yessiree!!!"

There have been several declarations that "She is The Adorable." And even: "She's the cutest thing in my whole fancy life!"

In preparation for coming to the hospital, Kaia got dressed in all kinds of fancy clothes to teach Leila what it means to be fancy. She also made Leila a necklace so she can "be a Native American girl." Kaia's going to be a great big sister to her little sister.

Asher's first question when I talked to him on the phone once the baby was born was, "Did Leila Marie pop out of your belly?" I think Asher's getting used to Leila being a girl, but he did ask me, "Why is Hermie not a boy?"

My mom with the kids:

Seeing Peter in the hospital bed got some chuckles from the nurses. Peter was a little embarrassed, but I got tired of sitting in the bed all the time and his couch/bed was not nearly as comfortable.

On our way home:

I was planning to write some of Leila's birth story here (I know some people are interested in my experience using Hypnobabies), but that will have to wait. I've just sent my mom and Peter out the door with the other kids to go shopping at Costco. What a contrast to when Kaia was born! I was nearly terrified to be left alone with a newborn. Today I could hardly wait for everyone to leave so I can just enjoy Leila and a quiet house. I realize I can use this time to get lunch, shower, make the bed and tidy up the house, sit on the couch snuggling with Leila, or finish writing a blog post. I'm thinking getting lunch and snuggling with Leila are my top priorities right now, so I'll get the story up when I can.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T18:50:00.001-08:00

Halloween has come and gone and Hermie is still inside! To be honest, I'm completely surprised this baby will not have an October birthday. I really thought he/she was going to be born early (just 5 days to go until the due date!). I had really wanted a Halloween baby when I was pregnant with Kaia but was then relieved when she was born October 23 instead. This time I really did not want a Halloween baby. I told Hermie on Friday night, "Baby, if you choose to be born tomorrow, just remember that you will have to live with that decision for the rest of your life." I'm totally fine with Hermie still being inside, as long as I don't go overdue! My mom will arrive on Tuesday, and I'll be glad to have the help.

Halloween preparations have kind of taken the back burner this year. We did finally carve a pumpkin according to Kaia's original design:

On to trick-or-treating...

Our kids were thrilled to finally wear their costumes for the real Halloween. We went to a parade in the neighboring town, followed by some trick-or-treating along the main street. We only made it one block of trick-or-treating when Kaia exclaimed, "We have so much candy - this is GREAT!" They each had about a dozen pieces at this point. They were happy calling it quits, so we headed back to the car. I had told the kids not to eat too much of their candy yet since we also had a ward party that afternoon. Kaia's response was, "I know! Why don't we each eat 3 pieces of candy and then save the rest?" And that's exactly what she did. I was very impressed by her self-control.

I was feeling like I should try to be a little more festive than I had been in recent weeks, so I had the kids help me make Halloween sugar cookies for our ward party on Halloween night. I was inspired by this guest post by my friend Lori on the blog Bloom. I have to admit that this turned out to be way more of a project than I had anticipated, but I was rather pleased that the sugar cookies turned out soft and delicious!

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture before these were saran wrapped, and then I learned that saran wrap and sticky frosting do not bode well for all those time intensive designs. They still tasted great!

We had the face painting crayons out so Kaia could get Native American designs on her cheeks. She took it upon herself to draw a propellor plane on Peter's cheek. She knows that he loves World War II, so she's already begun planning his World War II birthday party!

Shake your what?

2009-10-19T06:12:00.000-07:00

You know those times when you say something in front of your kids that you immediately wish you hadn't said? That happened this last week when we were watching a friend's daughter. The little girl was really getting into dancing with the music from our keyboard. Without thinking I exclaimed, "Shake your booty!" I followed that immediately with, "Oops, I shouldn't have said that." I really didn't want to be the one to teach my kids that saying. Of course, Kaia immediately asked, "What's a booty?" I tried to deflect her questions by just saying it means to dance and shake your body. Later in the day, Kaia looked up at me with this look on her face like she was trying to remember something. Then she exclaimed, "Move your buddy!" I like her version much better.

Kaia has recently taken up dancing as a hobby. I don't mean with dance lessons - this is just spontaneous, uninhibited dancing in the comfort of our own home. It shocks me because I am an extremely inhibited dancer. I would rather do just about anything rather than have anyone see me dance. Here's a sample of her new dancing skills:

Move your buddy, girl!

Some Daily Life

2009-10-13T04:55:00.001-07:00

I woke up to Kaia saying things you just don't want to hear before 7 am. Kaia was saying, "No, don't cut there, Asher! I'll show you where to cut!" I thought, what is going on?

Moments after these declarations, Kaia came bounding into my bed and said, "Mom, do you want to come see the ponies? I'm making them beautiful. I snipped a little bit here and a little bit there to give them a haircut. And I put hairspray in their hair. We're saloning them!"

Let me backtrack a moment. Yesterday Kaia was the recipient of oodles of My Little Ponies from an older girl at church who was done with them herself but wanted to pass them on to another home where they would be loved. She picked the right place!

I wasn't sure how Asher would respond to all these girly toys in the house. As it turns out, he loves them, too. When Peter saw last night how much Asher was enjoying them, he jokingly told Asher in a manly voice that he didn't want to play with them...but then Peter admitted that he used to love braiding the hair of his sister's My Little Ponies (but don't tell him I told you :).

On Sunday afternoon, Asher did something that I'm guessing is a boy thing - he stuck a bead up his nose! We were on our way to pick Peter up from church once his responsibilities there were done. As we walked to the car, Asher said, "I put the bead in my nose." I turned around and asked, "Are you joking?!" Sure enough, the bead was in his nose. I was pretty scared as this is the first time either of my kids have done something like that. I called Peter in a panic, not knowing if I would need to go to the emergency room (I know I was kind of overreacting). I gave Asher explicit instructions NOT to touch his nose anymore (he had been pushing the bead up higher in an attempt to get it out). Then I let Peter have the job of extracting it with tweezers. The joys of parenting! (You're all spared from seeing the inside of Asher's nose since the bead was removed before we got a picture of that. :)

36 Weeks and Nesting...

2009-10-10T16:07:00.000-07:00

First, thank you to everyone who gave an opinion on our baby names. Now we'll wait to see who Hermie is before making any final decisions.

I hit 36 weeks on Friday, and I'm getting a little panicky. We had our hospital tour this morning, and I felt vaguely nauseous as I thought of impending labor - at least it only lasts a few hours (hopefully) and then we'll finally get to meet Hermie. My nesting urges have been coming on strong. A week ago, I cleaned my house from top to bottom, thinking that if the baby came early, it might just break me to come home to unmopped floors. :) Then I realized that if the baby goes to term, I'll have to mop the floor a few times more to have a clean floor to come home to. Anyway, here's the belly at 36 weeks:

Some of my nesting instincts have been stranger than others. On Monday, I just had to find Halloween costumes for the kids. We headed out to a couple of consignment stores and found the perfect costumes. Asher will be a "Sharptooth" and Kaia is Pocahontas. She's been on a big Native American kick ever since seeing Disney's Pocahontas in August. I'd say the money I paid for her costume has already been worth it since Kaia has been Pocahontas every day this week. In fact, as we've headed out to the grocery store and on other errands, she tells me, "Mom, don't tell anyone I'm pretend. I'm really Pocahontas." She literally beams when people say, "Look, there's Pocahontas!"

This picture illustrates another one of my stranger nesting instincts - buying 22 boxes of cereal at Wegman's, one of our favorite grocery stores. The sell their own version of some of our favorite cereals like Wheat Chex (theirs is Wheat Squares) for half the price of the brand name cereal. Cereal is a real staple around here and I was getting very worried about the imminent arrival of the baby when we were down to only a few boxes in the house.

I've been making good headway on some of my other projects. This week I finished up Hermie's blanket:

And I'm almost done with Christmas stockings. I need to finish the last of the stitching on the boy stocking and then add embellishments to both of them. I had made the girl stocking a few years ago but then couldn't find it when I was pregnant with Kaia, so I made her a different one. I figured I would make the boy one so I would be covered either way. It will be easy to sew the needed stocking up once the baby is here, but there's no way I would have time for all that cross stitching after baby's arrival.

I definitely have the tendency to get obsessive about my projects sometimes, so I've been grateful to come across a couple of quotes that have really meant a lot to me in the last couple of weeks. First, in the recent General RS Broadcast, Sister Julie Beck quoted Elder Uchtdorf:

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf taught: “A wise man once distinguished between ‘the noble art of getting things done’ and ‘a nobler art of leaving things undone.’ True ‘wisdom in life,’ he taught, consists of ‘the elimination of non-essentials.’ ” President Uchtdorf then asked: “What are the nonessential things that clutter your days and steal your time? What are the habits you may have developed that do not serve a useful purpose? What are the unfinished or unstarted things that could add vigor, meaning, and joy to your life?”

Then this quote from Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin from his address in the April 2002 General Conference:

Sometimes we feel that the busier we are, the more important we are—as though our busyness defines our worth. Brothers and sisters, we can spend a lifetime whirling about at a feverish pace, checking off list after list of things that in the end really don't matter.

That we do a lot may not be so important. That we focus the energy of our minds, our hearts, and our souls on those things of eternal significance—that is essential.

So I've been trying to eliminate the non-essentials from my life, which mostly means that I'm spending far less time on the computer. And I'm trying to spend my days enjoying Kaia and Asher before the dynamics of our family change and my evenings pursuing or finishing things that "add vigor, meaning, and joy" to my life.