Not Much to Report On

Elijah's Surgery News

Things here are good. Elijah has not complained any more about his hernia, and we are hoping to keep it that way. We have a consultation with Children's Surgery Center on July 18th. I am assuming we will then set up the surgery date. I'm guessing that since the appointment isn't until July 18th, the surgery won't be until late August or September. Who knows, though. Even if they could do it earlier, though, I have a feeling I won't want it to be much earlier than that. ... I'll let you all know when the surgery is and if there's anything you can do for us.

Pregnancy - T minus Two Weeks

No, Dad, this is not an update to say I'm in labor. Braxton-Hicks all day long, but no labor. We are hoping to avoid all labor until the safely scheduled 21st. That's less than 2 weeks away, so I think we'll probably make it.

Go Mode!

In terms of how I'm feeling. I have hit the final go mode (nesting just sounds so weird to me). I have cleaned the house from top to bottom about 5 times. I think I have used an entire roll of paper towels cleaning every piece of glass in the house. I keep looking at things going, "This is dirty. I MUST CLEAN IT." It's compulsive and weird and I will be glad to put this stage past me. I think Rob will, too. I worked him hard yesterday cleaning and doing things. But, because I'm in the Ready For Baby Stage, it means I have a little more energy. So I feel better now just before baby than I have for at least 2 months. I can handle that.

Having said that, I don't have much energy at all. And on top of that, my body still can't handle a lot. We went to the store as a family on Friday. Intended to go to another store, too, but I just wasn't up for it. I have been avoiding the sun and going outside at all costs. The sun and heat drain me really quick. We went to a BBQ last week for 2 hours. I came home and slept for 2 hours. There's a picnic next Sunday that we're all invited to. I'm sending Rob with Miciah.

P's Baby Blessing

We had company today, and that was a lot of fun. Our good friends the T's had their baby the first week of June and the baby blessing was today. They have a little one bedroom apartment, so we invited the whole clan over to our house so they could all be in the same room together. It worked out well and it was a lot of fun to have company that brings their own food! Rob and I worked really hard to clean the house, but they didn't leave a mess when they left, so it's still clean now. That's the best kind of company. Brings their own food and eats off paper plates. :) They were here for a few hours, but it was more draining than I assumed it would be. Rob and I both just chilled for a few hours after they left. My body obviously was a little stressed, but hey, it was worth it. And their little baby is really cute. It's been weird to hold their little one and think, "I will have one of these very soon." But we're ready for it.

The Secret Baby Name

We have picked out a name, but we have decided to keep it until he is born to announce. Seems like if we've waited this long, might as well keep it till the end. We went through 25,000 baby boy names from a baby book and to top it off, the name we chose wasn't even in there! How's that for funny? But we've been using the name amongst ourselves, so it's finally feeling like his name. So that's a comfort. For a while it seemed like nothing would sound right except Baby Robert. And Elijah says the name really well, so that makes me happy, too.

Last Ultrasound

We had an ultrasound for week 36 on Monday. It was fun to see the baby so big! He is still a boy, so no worries there. Everything looked good. The doctor predicted that he would be just over 7 lbs. (like 7 lbs. 2 or 3 oz.), and have a full head of hair as well as hair all over his back. :) It was really cool to see this hair floating there. You really could see it! It was neat. About the hair all over his back, Rob said, "See, dear, we ARE having a monkey." Great. Maybe he'll be blonde-white like Elijah and you won't be able to see the hair on his back. :) It'll be fun to see what he looks like.

We're excited to have the baby and see everyone soon. Hopefully we can keep things calm between now and then. The next 2 weeks of my calendar are clear, which is a nice feeling. It will be nice to not have much to do.

Thanks for all you guys do for us. We love you!

Tamra and family

Family Update (Any baby name suggestions?)

I feel like I'm behind on family updates, but not a lot has happened lately anyway, so you're not missing much.

Baby Boy Names

Rob and I have decided for sure on one of the baby boy's two names: Robert. After Rob, of course. But we haven't decided on the second name, but whatever the second name is, that's what he'll go by. We won't actually call the boy Robert or any variation thereof. So if anyone has any suggestions on baby names, we're open to them. We already have 3 that we're thinking about: Isaac (Ike for short?), Talmage, and Jonah. Of the 3, we're leaning toward Isaac, but our goal is to go into the birth with 5 or so baby names so that we can pick which one he is after meeting him. Unless, of course, we really are struck with a name that says THIS IS HIS NAME! ... And do B & J have any names picked out? Cause we can't overlap names, that just wouldn't work.

Recovered!

We are now completely recovered from being sick. It feels like that took FOREVER. Elijah is back to eating normally (he dropped 3 lbs., like the rest of us), I've put back on 5 lbs. (so with the sickness week in there, I'm at positive 2 lbs. from where I was) and am eating happily, and you can't see Miciah's ribs any more. I still have some congestion hanging on and a cough that afflicts me randomly, but nothing to complain about.

Spring Weather

The weather here has been fantastic, and that's the main thing to report. Miciah and Elijah are loving playing outside. I'm loving playing in my garden, and Rob is working hard to try to get the lawn to stop being a weed patch. On Saturday we worked from the minute we woke up until just past midnight to get things in order. We divided and conquered and did about 7 times what we normally do on weekends. It's amazing how much more enjoyable work is when it's done outside at 70 degrees instead of inside or outside when it's cold. It almost shouldn't count as work. But Rob did do a lot of work Saturday and now our entire front garden and the side garden is lined with nice looking pavers (that we got for free from a friend, which makes it even better). We will most likely use some more pavers when we cut out our vegetable garden in the back yard. It's nice to have a house project that didn't cost us an arm and a leg. Just took a bit of time and hard work. We have a lot more outside projects to be done in the next few months. But it's such enjoyable work. So we're looking forward to it.

Our Neighbors ROCK!

We just (meaning like 20 minutes ago) received a gift from the neighbors of a bunch of child toys. A play kitchen set, a play bus, things like that. How fun! They said when Lonnie moved out of our house (Lonnie is the elderly lady that used to live here) she gave them a huge wooden doll house for their grandkids to play with and that's all the grandkids play with now. First I thought, weird how things come and go around, isn't it? Because the previous owners of this house gave them a dollhouse, our neighbors are now giving us kid toys. Fun! And then my second thought was, "Wow, did he build it?" I don't know what his name is, Lonnie's husband, but he did a lot of woodworking, I know (our now office was covered in 20 layers of sawdust when we moved in. You could still smell it all over things). And he did build it. They said he even put electric lights in it. How cool is that?! I told them I'm going to have to come see it. Cause that's awesome. ... Our neighbors are about the friendliest people on the planet. And T is about the cutest old man when he dresses up for church on Sunday mornings. :) I hope when I'm older, I'm as cute as them. They're probably in their, um, late 60s early 70s? I dunno, I'm a bad judge of age.

Nap Time

Elijah is transitioning out naps which is a frustrating period for us. He still needs one most days, but how long should it be? If it's too long (like if I just let him wake up on his own), he stays up until midnight or wakes up at 7, or both. If it's too short, he throws a tantrum for like 45 minutes when he wakes up. I wish it was either full nap or full no nap, but I trust the transition will be shorter than it feels like.

Pinewood Derby

Other than that, Rob competed in a pinewood derby. It may be cute to see 10-year-olds race little wooden cars, but when it's 30-and-40-and-50-year-old men, it's not so cute any more. The elders quorum of our ward challenged the high priests group. The high priests won, but only because the same man took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd (two of his kids entered cars and they got 1st and 3rd, while he got 2nd). I told Rob that if they do it again next year, we're going to have to submit an "open class" double-decker bus. Cause that would be rad. Some kid this year showed up with a car with monster wheels and a rocket engine. He fired it off outside in the parking lot. It was kind of fun. And the guy that won the open class showed up with just the unpainted block of wood with random pieces of metal attached, plus a Samuel the Lamanite mounted to the top. It weighed 1 lb. 7 oz. Regulation is 5 oz. ... All I have to say is that pinewood derby is weird. But there was a ton of food there and I think Elijah (who was just walking around most the time) ate like 35 cookies. Man the kid likes sweets. I don't know where he got THAT from! :) (Right. My latest passion is icecream bars and we have 3 different variations in the freezer, and probably 30 bars total. Sad, maybe, but they taste good! And I do occasionally share, except for the Dove bars).

That's "news" around here. We're liking being homeowners and having little kids who make us laugh. Miciah and Elijah are playing so nicely these days and seem to really like each other, and that's so fun. Miciah is still sorely disappointed that we're having a little boy instead of a little girl (she asked the other day if we could change it to a girl). But I think she's warming up to it. And Elijah seems to be okay with babies these days, so I'm confident he'll do well, too. Next we just have to transition them to a bunk bed and get Elijah out of diapers (yeah, right). It'll all happen eventually.

We love you.

Tamra, Rob, Miciah, and Elijah

Oh, and I don't know how this family update of mine got a fan club, but I've had a lot of requests from people to pass these on to others outside the T family. So if I sent this to you and you DIDN'T want it, just let me know.