New Baby Top Ten

I thought I would do a new baby top ten list that would kind of recap the last two weeks with our brand new baby.

10........the approximate number of dirty diapers to change in a 24 hour period. We have already gone through three packages of newborn diapers (that is just for Kiera, Beck is still in diapers too).

9.........I think I must be about 9 hours behind on house work. I currently have 4 baskets of unfolded laundry that have been sitting there for three days and tomorrow is laundry day again. When I finally get to the dishes, I have to do like three loads just to clear out the sink. I feel like my house will never be in order again. I can't find anything and I am hoping no one will stop by to visit because I would be so embarassed. I have only cooked dinner for my family twice and the rest of the time we have gone out to eat which has been at least four different times what we usually might do in a month or even longer.

8.........Kiera is gaining weight and now weighs 8lbs she is in the 40th percentile for weight (I wonder how long that will last :) our babies usually are less than the 5th percentile for weight and Kate even dropped off the charts for a while).



7........I think I attempt to take a nap during the day about 7 times unsuccessfully. It seems as soon as I lay down I can't sleep because the baby wakes me up to eat, my kids wake me up because they are fighting, or I am too uncomfortable to sleep and need to get up to get an ice pack or pain reliever etc.

6........In addition to regular meals, the number of snacks I eat a day as my body is preparing to nourish a newborn. I constantly feel like I am starving and I am craving sweets like crazy. I just can't seem to get satisfied on the no-dairy, no-eggs, no-nuts diet, but hopefully it will help Kiera avoid the allergies her brother has.

5......The number of times I have been peed on while changing diapers. I thought my son would be the one I would have this problem with, but it is Kiera's favorite trick lately.

4......I am guessing I am averaging about 4 hours of sleep a night and it is not a regular scheduled time either, so I am surprised I am even coherent since I am the type that needs more than the standard 8hrs to function as is.

3......I can't believe I have three kids and I don't see how I will manage trying to drag three kids to the store and everywhere else. I have been spoiled to have Eli's help for the past two weeks. He got to see Kate and Beck in action at the Super Wal-mart last night and he even agreed that I should try to go without them.

2......The number of times I have actually done make-up in the last two weeks. I have attempted to do my hair even less.

1......I was thinking how grateful I am that I had just one new baby and not twins or more because I would be going insane not to mention how hard it has been for my body to recover from the delivery of just one baby. I am so lucky to have Kiera she is such a good baby and only cries when she wants to nurse. She doesn't have colic or spit up much. My only problem is that she likes to sleep too much and then I get a little engorged and have issues with plugged ducts etc.

Having a newborn in the house is at times a challenge physically and emotionally, but I am trying to enjoy every moment with her sweet smells, funny sounds and faces, her tiny grip, her snuggly little body, and pure innocence. One of my favorite things is watching kiera dream. I watch her eyes move rapidly back and forth and she twitches and smiles. I also love to tickle her feet and she seems to like it too since she will stretch her little leg toward me as far as she can and flex her foot for me to tickle it.

I was thinking the other day how intently they focus on your face when you talk to them and how interested they are in you. Newborns give you their full attention and enjoy just gazing at you. I was thinking how I wish I could get my 4year old to give me a 10th of that amount of attention. How much easier things would be. As is I have to ask her to do something like 10 times and she still seems oblivious that I am talking to her. Kate and Beck adore Kiera and I have to keep explaining to Kate what Kiera's limits are. She will literally scream at Kiera trying to get her to look in her direction or do what she wants her to do. Beck loves to rub her head and ear lobe and he lets me know if her eyes are open or if she is crying. He gets very excited when her eyes are open since she sleeps most of the time. They have had a cold this week which is one of my worst nightmares for my newborn to get sick, so I have tried to keep them away from her and that has been quite a challenge. Now I am just hoping for Kiera to settle into a routine, so I can manage things a little easier. I am not looking forward to Eli's return to work tomorrow:(. At least I can say it has taught me to take the day as it comes and to be more flexible.

By the way, we had a nice Easter. We had my family over Saturday for lunch and an Easter egg hunt and then we went to Eli's family's on Sunday for dinner. It is also my first anniversary for blogging since my first blog entry last year was Easter. I wasn't sure back then how long it would last since I wasn't sure I would enjoy it or if I would even find things to post about. Now my post are so long usually I am probably the only one to read them.

Kiera Anne Briscoe

Eli here, posting in proxy for Asia.

Kiera Anne Briscoe was born April 2, 2009 just before 5 PM. She was 7 lbs. 12 oz. (exactly what I guessed :P ) and 20 inches. She has long fingers and feet like her sister Kate. Her grandma (my mom) Carrie Ann Briscoe also has April 2nd as a birthday, and Kiera is an Irish form of Carrie.

Both mom and baby are doing great, and there haven't been any complications.

crazy dreams

I know I already did a post about pregnancy dreams (they were mostly about food back then), but now that I am ready to pop I am having more crazy dreams. I have had two dreams that started very differently, but both ended the same which was with me alone on an icy lake or ocean and the ice begins to crack and break apart and I am about to sink into the deep black frigid waters. These dreams both started very light hearted with me surrounded by people and having lots of fun then all of a sudden I am alone. This dream both times starts out in color and then ends in black and white with a great contrast between the bright white ice and the darkest black waters you could imagine. I don't put too much stock into dream interpretation, but it is pretty easy to figure out that my brain is trying to express that I have some fears that I haven't really dealt with. I have always feared deep dark waters and so it seems like a pretty natural expression of my fears. It is also quite expected in my state to have some fears since I am going to be experiencing childbirth soon. I know it is the third time for me, but I still worry about the same things I did the first time around. It is hard to prevent all the horror stories and hundreds of possible problems that could take place from entering my mind.

The other dream that I have had was me and my three children in a field surrounded by deer. Kate was facinated by the mommas and baby deer and wanted to get closer. I kept calling for her to follow me and stay with me because I also had the baby and Beck to keep safe. I knew it wasn't a good idea for her to go wandering off after the deer because there were these huge bucks ready plunge their huge antlers into any intruder. Then all of a sudden there were mountain lions decending on the deer and devouring them. Now I was in a state of panic trying to get Kate to listen to me, but she was oblivious of the dangers around her. I am guessing this dream addresses my fears of being overwhelmed with the responsibilities of motherhood and trying to take care of three children one of which is getting more and more independent each day. I think there is a very spiritual meaning to the dream as well with trying to protect your children from all the hidden dangers in the world that you are aware of and your children do not quite comprehend. They don't know how vulnerable they are and they have to make their own choices which may put them in danger and you as the parent are in the position of having to watch and not being able to do much about it accept warn them with your voice. It is kind of tormenting to love someone and to know the right way and watch them turn away from your voice and the voice of the spirit. I can't help thinking what a much greater scale our Father in Heaven experiences these feelings. I just hope that my children will listen when they are in danger whether it is physical or spiritual dangers.

I am not the only one who has been having these crazy, stressful, anxiety ridden dreams. My husband also told me he had dreams where he had to fight with animals. It started with him having to fight two gorillas and then sharks and I can't remember what came next. I guess it is not all pregnancy hormones, but anticipation, fear, lack of control, and general parental anxieties. Hopefully none of it will be justified and things will go as smoothly as they possibly can. I have prepared myself and the kids as much as I can for the transition and I am just going to have to take it one day at a time. I know that it will get easier juggle three kids when the initial pain and fatigue subside.

I am going to end with a quote from Elder Holland which my friend posted on her blog. I don't think she'll mind, but it seems fitting with all the fears I am obviously experiencing lately.
"I ask everyone within the sound of my voice to take heart, be filled with faith, and remember the Lord has said He 'would fight [our] battles, [our] children's battles, and [the battles of our] children's children' (D&C 98:37; emphasis added). And what do we do to merit such a defense? We are to 'search diligently, pray always, and be believing. [Then] all things shall work together for [our] good, if [we] walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith [we] have covenanted' (D&C 90:24). The latter days are not a time to fear and tremble. They are a time to be believing and remember our covenants."

I love that quote and it brings me much peace when I am feeling overwhelmed with the responsibility of both the physical and spiritual welfare of my children in this sometimes very dangerous world.

Independent 4 year old

Kate informed me the other day that "I don't need you anymore mom". I knew this would come some day, but I didn't think it would come at 4 years old. she has become quite independent and can do so many things on her own including getting dressed, getting in her pjs, getting out of the car, and has recently learned how to swing on a swing without having to be pushed. This was the moment she realized she did not need me. She is a pretty good helper and big sister. I worry sometimes that I am too hard on her or expect too much of her because she is the oldest child and can do so much more.

She is still a baby in a lot of ways and often cries at the drop of a hat. Maybe that just comes with the territory of being female because I know a lot of adult women including myself who have days like that. To all my friends out there who are expecting their third boy, do you see all the dramatics you are missing?

I am trying to enjoy her every day. I love seeing her gifts and talents and I have a lot of hopes for her future. I am amazed by her artistic abilities and intellect and I know she is much more gifted and talented than I am which makes it quite humbling to be in the position of being her mother. I never quite feel qualified for the job.

Lately she has been saying "In a minute it is going to be so hot we are going to have to run through the spinklers" Every night before bed we have to remind her what day it is today and what day it is going to be tomorrow. If we don't she will get out of bed 10 minutes later to come ask "what day is it going to be tomorrow?" She is working hard to understand the concept of time. She is remembering longer periods of time and gets excited when she can remember what we did earlier that week etc. I think it is kind of fun and interesting to watch and be a part of their development.

Sabotage

Some days I feel like I am being sabotaged. I will be cleaning an area of the house and move on to the next only to find that the one I just cleaned is already a mess again. My kids seem to think that they need to get all the toys out at once when they are playing and we are trying to get them to decide what they want to play with, so they can leave the rest of it alone until they are ready to put the first away. Maybe that is an impossible goal, but it sure would be nice. Our play room in the basement is not even finished yet (we do have carpet and paint picked out-yay!) and my husband says he has already accepted that it will be a constant disaster. I have a little more hope than that but maybe I am only dreaming.

Even though it seems like I always have someone in the house going through the terrible twos, I started to think I was going to get off pretty easy. I didn't have to take a lot of extra precautions like some parents (locking the toilet seat or safety latches on cabinets etc.) I didn't use to have to worry about the bathroom door being left open since they rarely caused too much trouble and the worst was ususally a box of kleenex all over the house. However lately they have been getting into more trouble. Perhaps it is spring fever, but even my four year old who should know better by now still seems to want to participate in some of the activities like coloring on the walls. Here are some pictures of their latest work.

One day I found Beck in my bathroom with my make-up all over him and all over my floor. It took 3 washings to get the lip stick out of the rug.

It was just like the next day that I found both my kids art work on my walls in crayon and pen. Luckily my cousins wife had just sent me a list of cleaning tricks like alcohol to remove pen and baking soda to remove crayon that helped. You can see it worked pretty well. The first picture is after I had been scrubbing for a few minutes. It was actually much darker to begin with.

I can't wait to see what trouble they will get in when I am distracted by a new baby. Hopefully with the better weather they can spend more time outdoors and not make messes indoors. For now I guess I will go on cleaning and re-cleaning and trying to keep a better eye on what they are up to at all times.

Happy 2nd Birthday Beck!

Here is my baby Beck 2 years ago. It is wierd that in a little over a month I will be posting another baby photo of the still to be named baby girl. Looking at all the baby pictures of Kate and Beck lately is reminding me how small and helpless she is going to be. I am starting to get a little more excited the more I check off my before the baby comes to do list.

We didn't do much for Beck's birthday today since we already had combined parties for Kate and Beck with both sides of the family. Here is the cake daddy decorated for Beck. He loves Thomas the train and knows the names of all the engines. It looked good and it actually tasted good too considering it was dairy and egg free. I am so glad to have Beck in our family. He is such a sweet, smart, funny, little boy. We are really enjoying seeing his personality develop and watching him grow and learn new things. I just hope I be the kind of mom that deserves such a special boy.

Here are some pictures of Kate and Beck opening presents and enjoying their cake at their parties. Kate is already asking when she turns 5 and when she can go to school.

Sister Beck

About a month ago, we had a stake enrichment night in which we were priveledged to have the General Relief Society President sister Julie Beck come to speak to us. Our stake president emphasized at the beginning of the meeting that the church does not approve of members passing along notes from talks given by general authorities. I think the main reason is that they can be mis-quoted and mis-represented as their words are taken out of context or the person hears something different than what the speaker intended etc. I just wanted to mention that this entry is mainly for my own journaling purposes and my notes are not direct quotes from Julie Beck, but more what the spirit emphasized to me was important as she was speaking and answering questions posed to her from the audience.
Spritual Strength:
Sister Beck spent a lot of the evening discussing the importance of developing more faith, hope and charity. The question was posed "what keeps you up at night?" and part of her response was how can she help the women of the world increase their faith, hope and chairty. She said without these things we can't make it. She discussed the power to change from who you were to who you need to be. Sister Beck also discussed that we can fulfill our responsiblities through personal revelation and spritual gifts. We are lost without them!
Sister Beck read Alma 32:41 and talked about the importance of nourishing our faith. Don't let go of faith! Nourish it with great diligence and patience! She talked about how we live in a world of 15 second fixes. For example, if you want to fix bad breath, whiten your teeth, or even arrange to go on vacation you can do it all in about 15 seconds. However developing faith, hope and charity take time, effort, patience and diligence. We can't let ourselves get discouraged by thinking if we can't fix it now we are a failure.
Missionary work:
Someone asked her the question (I got the impression it was related to all the negativity toward the church in relation to proposition 8) about how we should respond to all the negativity and attacks on the church lately in the media etc. I think the sister asking the question was wondering how best to defend the church and sister Beck's responses were not about being able to defend the church, but instead to be an example of righteousness and a light to the world. She read a quote from President Kimball. I wish I had the direct quote and if any of you do please pass it along. It went something like my dear sisters much of the growth of the church in the last days will come because women of the church reflect righteousness seen as distinct and different in happy ways. We were encouraged to be articulate in righteous, distinct and different ways not to argue or be defensive but to live righteously and let our light shine. Sister Beck told a missionary experience she had where a stranger told her they knew she had something to do with God after she handed them a business card with the name of the church on it. What a compliment that stangers are able to pick up on the fact that we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ just in doing regular every day business with them because of how we live and act. Julie Beck reminded us that many have not been taught how to live after the manner of happiness and she encouraged us to tell what we know in our hearts.
Visiting Teaching:
Sister Beck told a personal story where a family was in great need of assistance and she stopped by to check on them and found the needs of the family basically being ignored while the wife sat patiently while her visiting teachers gave her the message. She emphasized that visiting teaching is not about checking off a list of behaviors and is more about ministering. She told another personal story where she was assigned to visit a sister who had requested no contact with the church and she didn't know how to love this sister or what she needed so she prayed for help from the Lord because she knew he did love her and he did know her and he could help her love her and understand her too. She encouraged us to pray about our sisters and that the Lord can help us understand their gifts, heartaches etc. Sister Beck emphasized the importance of being spirit driven and not list driven in visiting teaching. She said the spirit can't speak to you if you've already decided.
Unity:
John 17:11 She said this is the best explanation of unity "to know God and Jesus Christ" and that it takes a lifetime of practice to not do or say anything that wouldn't make our Father happy.
Positive attitude:
Sister Beck talked about how a lot of her friends are pointing out blogs that they think she should check out and she is always hesitant because a lot of the time it is about "I didn't get what I wanted" out of life's experiences. Some complain they don't have kids and some complain they have too many kids and so on. She discussed that we need to focus not on what we didn't or aren't getting out of life and foucus on helping each other prepare for eternal life. We can't buy the dream, but we can earn it. Increase your faith and personal righteousness. Strengthen families and homes. Mortal life experience is to prepare us for the dream. We fought a great war in heaven just for the experience.
Education:
In addressing the single branch she encouraged them to get the best education they can afford. She encouraged them to work for their education and not to go into debt for it. She also said to work toward a profession you could support your family with and not something that is your hobby.
I am glad I was able to go back through my notes and remind myself of these important pinciples. I know I can make a lot of improvements in my own life and I am grateful I had the chance to listen to such an inspired leader to help motivate me to continue pursuing these goals.