Visit from Papa Johnson

My dad came to visit as part of his annual trip to the Laughlin River Run. We were so happy to see him and the kids were very attentive. I heard Miles say "Where's Papa-May-Duke?" exactly 351 times before Papa came - and now I am hearing it again because he wants to go visit their house. We will be there soon enough - since my little brother Matty is getting married in August. But that's another story...

I think some of my favorite parts of dad's visit were seeing him with my kids - listening to Claire read him her books, and seeing Miles come down in the morning and lay next to him on the couch for some cuddle time. I looked over a few times and Miles had his hand on my dad's cheek - precious! We also had a nice visit with my aunt Cindy and I always love hearing them reminisce about their childhood. I usually find out something about myself in the process - this time it was about my competitiveness and focus. Dad has some crazy intense football stories...

We also went on our customary trip to Bass Pro Shop and Miles was in heaven with the shooting range and we got to see the divers in the aquarium.

I had a plan to pay back my loud neighbors with a little Harley noise around 5 am. We have had the pleasure of listening to their TV all night, their dirt bikes roaring up and down the street for hours, and electric guitars on the porch. But then I realized my dad would have to get up at 5 am too... I will have to think of another revenge plan. :)

See you soon Papa! We had a great time!

Disney On Ice...The Meltdown

We had free tickets to Disney On Ice recently and the kids were so excited! Claire and her friend Halle dressed up like princesses and we were ready for some Disney to get us through til our next trip to Disneyland.

Well, the lights went out, the crowd went wild... and the lights stayed out. A car had hit a power box and we lost power to the Thomas & Mack, in addition to a nine-mile radius around the accident. We had emergency power for nearly an hour, during which we got to see a few performers demonstrate ice skating skills and then meet a couple characters like Mickey and Minnie. But, after trying to get power back on, they finally said the show was cancelled because even if they got power back on soon, there wasn't enough time to complete the show. Plus the ice was melting and was dangerous for the performers.
 

 Miles was not happy about waiting, but I knew that with my luck, if we decided to leave before the official cancellation, the show would start the second we hit the parking lot.

Before they shut the show down all the characters came out and skated around the arena a few times - we told the kids that was Disney on Ice, they got to see their favorites, and seemed content. So, we tried. It got the kids out of the house for a bit while Matt and Phil worked on the Nova. 

Claire's Jokes

If you have a 4 or 5 year old in your life, you know they love telling jokes that they make up themselves. These are not funny, at all. Yet Claire cracks herself up over and over again. I decided to write down a few of them to remember her start writing jokes, in case she is a famous comedienne someday.

"Why did two castles talk to each other? So they can tickle each other!!!" Followed by hysterical laughter. I said, how do they tickle each other? She said, "Well, they have special arms." Duh!

"Why do planes land in trees? Because they talk!" Bwahh ahhh ahhh ahh!

Matt told Claire a real joke - Why was 6 afraid of 7? Because 7 ate 9! Claire said, "Dad, that's not funny, it's not a joke. That's just numbers!"

3 Weeks Left

Last week at my doctor's appointment, the doc was worried that Baby Hiller was still sideways and not headed south. She said that if the baby hadn't turned by today (37 weeks), then she would want to schedule me for either the process to turn the baby from the outside (an aversion), or if that was not an option because the baby was stubborn, then she would want to schedule a C-section. The aversion didn't sound like a lot of fun - pushing really hard on my belly could be risky - torn placenta, ruptured uterus, not things to take lightly. Since I had Miles early, the other danger would be going into labor with the baby still sideways and then I'd end up in an emergency C-section. Well, I said I provide a penthouse suite for my unborn children and they just have so much room to hang out, why would they move? Plus I have read that the more kids you have, the later the baby turns. Plus, plus, I am afraid of C-sections for some reason. I know logically it will be fine, but I guess I was looking forward to the possibility of an easy third labor with a slip and slide exit, not a stomach surgery with no tummy tuck to show for it.

Well, today was my ultrasound and the last appointment with my wonderful specialist who is monitoring my thyroid, as well as the baby's thyroid. Everything looks good (thyroid is pregnancy level good, he says)and they estimate the baby is 7 lbs 4 oz already. During the ultrasound, where we managed to avoid an accidental gender discovery, we found out that the baby is head down. Yippee! I had felt some major movement last week after doing one whole yoga pose that I was told would help use gravity to move the baby (similar to downward dog).

However, I credit the super human amount of ice cream I have been eating to get the baby hyper enough to move around and find their way to the exit. The doctor said to eat something cold and sweet to get the baby moving, then do the yoga pose. Well, that equals milkshakes in my world. Here are some pics from the ultrasound - it's pretty squishy in there, so we weren't able to see a true profile. But here is the baby's ear - we have elfin children, apparently.

And here is the face - a sideways view of the nose and lips. We could also see a lot of hair on the baby's head already - both Claire and Miles were born with a lot of black hair, so this baby seems to be following the trend.

I am excited to meet this little person. I have decided my favorite part of pregnancy (other than it ending) is to feel the baby moving. It is sometimes a freaky there's-an-alien-inside-me feeling, but usually it is just a very cool reminder of the life I am carrying and trusted to take care of. I am usually a little sad to lose that feeling once the baby is born - though holding the baby is a nice trade off.

Every. Single. Day.

This is what we are working on (one of the many things) before baby - you are responsible for your own stuff/trash/cups/rooms. Claire has it down, Miles, not so much.

Random

I find random things in my purse during the week - most often on a Monday or Tuesday after taking the kids around town for the weekend. Trying to not use a diaper bag leads to using my purse for kid stuff. I guess I better get used to the diaper bag again soon...

Anyway, when I find these little items in my purse while at work, I get a little sad and start missing the kids. Here are some of the random pieces of childhood that I have found in my purse of late:

1. Rocks collected from the park
2. Lots of Cafe Rio mints collected by Miles
3. An alien from Toy Story
4. Crayons
5. More rocks (big collectors item for my kids)
6. Pictures on my phone taken by Claire
7. A diaper
8. Plastic bag of beef jerky (yikes)

36 Weeks. Tick Tock.

I am 36 weeks today - hooray! Just one week shy of full term. With Miles, I went into labor the day I hit 37 weeks, but I think that was a fluke. I don't know if this was the real reason I went into labor or not, but Claire had jumped on my stomach the night before while I was laying blissfully unaware on the couch of her soon-to-be-performed gymnastics jump off the side. Ouch. A half a day later, my water broke and then it was off to the hospital. I was only 3 days early with Claire so I don't really have a consistent track record to go by, other than hopefully I will go before my due date.

I have been thinking about this pregnancy compared to the other two, and the main difference has been how nice it is to not be pregnant during a Vegas summer, especially given my hyper-thyroid this time around - I would be on FIRE! I already sleep sans blankets and with a fan... The only woman who could possibly one-up me in enduring the miserable heat of pregnancy department is a hypothetical mother of triplets born in Phoenix in August. But with an August and mid-September baby born in Vegas, I think I have earned my stripes.

This go-round, here are the benefits I have seen with a spring baby:

1. My wedding ring still fits. Miracle!

2. My ankles are only just now starting to swell. Normally they started in about mid-May, when the Vegas heat really kicks up and I was left with several miserable months to go. That said, I am still going to get a doctor's note allowing me to wear flip flops to work if it comes to that (we have very strict footwear rules at my office and as "Director of Marketing & Administration," I can't be above the law).

3. I actually got to experience wearing a maternity sweater! That was a first. And I very recently have worn non-maternity cardigans to layer over my maternity shirts for work. Expanded wardrobe - score!

4. My maternity leave will fall during the beginning of school vacation so visiting me will be easier. Hint, hint.

5. I won't have to start losing baby weight right in the middle of the holidays. With Claire, a month later I was smack in the middle of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. A tough time to try to count calories.

So, maybe just maybe I will make it to 40 weeks. My plan is to work one day and have the baby the next - I don't want to take any maternity leave that does not involve having or holding a baby. Though maybe a day or two of extra time wouldn't hurt... I just count those 8 weeks of leave as so precious that they cannot be wasted on time without this wee one.

I guess I better pack my hospital bag soon... that too would be another first with this baby. I never managed to have that done in time for the other two.

Kids Quotes

Oh Miles - he is a chatter box these days. Words and sentences sounding much better during the last few months especially. Claire is as vocal as ever, though she does have her shy moments (outside the house, of course). Here are some of their recent gems:

Claire was brushing my hair and trying out different hair styles, spraying my hair with the leave in conditioner I use to detangler her hair. She said, "Do you know what a shrink-a-mah-doodle is?" I said, like a shrinky dink? And she said, "No, it's a hair style I am going to do on you." I.... can't wait Claire.

Then it was Miles turn to do my hair. He mostly wanted to spray my hair with the conditioner. He sprayed once, twice, three times about 2 cm from my head. I said, one more spray Miles. Squirt... squirt. I said - Miles, what does one more time mean to you? And with a mischievous look on his face said, "Two!"

Miles is very into saying our complete names lately - first and last. Which is a big deal, considering he refused to say his own name for so long. We like to get him to practice everyone's names to make up for his previous silence. In fact, when my friend Becky Baird was in town recently, he called her Becky Baird Hiller. She is officially adopted.

We were watching Star Wars all together and Miles started reciting our names. Miles Bi-Wan, Claire Bi-Wan, Matt Bi-Wan, Shannon Bi-Wan. Should I be concerned? :)

Tiger Lillies Picture Day

Picture day and a game today after two weeks off. We had great weather with probably one of our last cool weekends of the Spring. Yours truly made some soccer hair ribbons for the team - complete with tiger print and soccer balls. Gotta love girls sports hair dos.

Claire did really well today - she is improving, especially with not getting discouraged and sticking with it. I love the "thumbs up" she gave me after an attempt at the goal. Classic Claire.

Message Received...

My fortune cookie tonight at Pei Wei. OK, OK, I can wait a month to find out...

Easter Pics at Bonnie Springs

Took the kiddos out to Bonnie Springs - a little hike off the beaten trail to a spot where Matt and I took our engagement photos more than seven years ago. It was still a very cool spot with an old river wash lined with slabs of limestone and a ton of rocks everywhere. Miles was in rock-throwing heaven! And luckily no one was hit by his efforts. We also saw a little burro who wondered onto the top of the wash and hung out for a bit. Perfect weather, very cool light coming over the mountains. I wanted to get some pictures of Claire and Miles before Baby comes - just the two of them. Getting them in their Easter clothes was the perfect excuse.

The Outtakes

They were cracking each other up! They were supposed to look at each other for the pics and they just started making silly faces and laughing so hard. I loved it - so glad our photographer kept shooting. These show that they do have fun together...most of the time.

Happy Birthday Uncle Nick!

Uncle Nick came to visit from Reno for his birthday and Easter. I am loving his new hair cut - it's the shortest I have ever seen it, I think. Looks good Nick!

Easter

Easter baskets + hunting for eggs + painting/dying eggs = kids in heaven. They had a great time!