Babies, Babies, and More Babies!!

The past few weeks have been busy and filled with "grandma" fun!!

First--my oldest daughter Camille came to visit and stayed for two weeks!! That means for two weeks I got to spend time with our little three year old diva, Carly!

And hug and kiss all day on her baby brother Camden!! It was so much fun to have them with us and we are missing them terribly! Look at this sweet little face!

On the day Camille's family returned to Colorado, this little guy got a new baby brother!! At first Enoch wasn't too excited about the new addition to his family, but he soon warmed up and now he loves him!

I don't usually post pictures of new mothers, but here Kali (our daughter in law) looks so beautiful I was sure she wouldn't mind! It is hard to believe she gave birth just minutes before!

And here is the new little one. Emmitt. So cute and so tiny!! He looks bigger in this picture than he appears in real life. I guess 6 pounds just isn't all that much when you think about it.
But that is not all . . . I have more grandbaby news!! Here is our daughter Kristen at 28 weeks with twin boys!! She is doing great--still teaching school all day--and could even hike up a hill with me and go for a walk in the rain!
I went to Utah last week to spend a few days with her during her spring break and while there we had a baby shower with her family and friends--hosted by my three sisters who live there. They did such a great job and it was a very fun night.

My sister Melissa, cut out these little onsies from different patterned paper and on the back we wrote a question from a list of twenty most often asked questions of new mothers. On others we just asked for advice. Each guest took one and wrote their answer on the back. It was so much fun to read their comments.

One of my favorite comments was from my niece, Aleena, who is also a mother of twins. Her best advice--have low expectations!! She said, "Don't expect to ever get a shower, so if you do, it is a great day!" "Don't expect to make your bed, so if you happen to find time to make it, you feel you have really accomplished something!"

Another question was, "What do I do if my husband complains he isn't getting enough attention?" The answer was, "Hand him a baby to keep him company!"

AND . . . I saw a diaper wreath on pinterest and decided to make one myself. Although, truthfully, I just bought the supplies and my daughter Kathryn assembled it. We thought it turned out so cute!! Only now Kristen doesn't want to take it apart to use the diapers.

The weather had been awful during the day so I was worried no one would come, but thanks to it clearing up and faithful family and friends, we had a great turnout.
And thanks to my sisters, we had delicious food!!
But even fun parties must come to an end! Thanks so much to everyone who attended or contributed towards gifts. And a special thanks to Ruth, Becky and Melissa for the food and decorations . . .

And especially to Melissa for letting us have the shower at her house--where she then got stuck with the dishes. :-)
These past few weeks have been so sweet for me. And we look forward to meeting the two new little boys soon. It will be so hard to leave them all for three years but . . . just thinking about them brings . . . joy to my journey!

A few things I will probably get in trouble for sharing . . .

I have had a hard time writing lately. It isn't that nothing is happening, it is just that my family doesn't like me telling the world about their lives.

For instance a few posts ago I mentioned that we were expecting a new grandbaby in August. Since it was pretty much announced to everyone at the family Christmas party, I didn't think it mattered if I mentioned it on my blog. But apparently Camille had not yet told any of her friends so when they read it on my blog and called/emailed her about it, she was FURIOUS with me.

Actually, FURIOUS might be a bit of an understatement.

I really did feel bad. I didn't want to steal any of her thunder. But now she has posted about it herself, so I am authorized to say . . . Camille is pregnant and due in August. This will be her second child and we are so very excited!!

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But, . . . that experience made me bit apprehensive to share another event that has been happening in our family. A BOYFRIEND.

One of my daughters at BYU--who shall currently remain nameless :-) has met a young man she is interested in and I am DYING to meet him. I mean seriously----when they have gone from dating once a week to seeing each other every day I think it is time for us all to meet.

But until that happens, I have been getting reports from other family members. The younger sister has met him and thinks he is great. And yesterday my parents had lunch with him. Afterward my mother called in her report and my father sent an email listing his many positive observations--with the final comment that the boy got his vote.

And of course, I have also checked him out on Facebook. Unfortunately he isn't much of a FB person, so all I have been able to find out from there is that he likes to fish. A Lot. Almost every picture he posted, had a fish in it. Which is why I told my daughter that I am not going to take the relationship too seriously until she replaces the fish in his pictures. :-) Then I will be speed dialing Southwest.

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Lastly--for this post . . . I have been spending a lot of time working on my "healthy life style" goal. I have been exercising twice a day almost every day and searching --and then preparing--healthy meals for my family.

They have eaten a lot of salads, chicken, fish, brown rice, quinoa, and fresh fruit and veggies. They were brave with the spicy black bean soup and even ate my homemade totally from scratch (as in fresh tomatoes) spaghetti sauce where I sneaked in some butternut squash.

Although I kept waiting for them to ask why their plate turned orange.

It has been working for me as I have also lost 12 pounds (hooray, hooray!) and I thought they were also enjoying the meals as both my husband and daughter had expressed a desire to be healthier as well.

But . . . apparently not complaining is not the same as enjoying.

Last Friday I offered to cook dinner instead of eating out so we could save money and I would be in control of what we ate. My husband suggested that it was good for us to eat out so I could have a break from cooking. I told him that I didn't need a break and as we were going out with friends Saturday night anyway, I could have my break then.

But he insisted we eat out. It was after all, out of consideration for me that he was suggesting it. He even called our neighbors and invited them to come with us.

Then he ordered mashed potatoes and gravy, corn on the cob and a large plate of greasy, honey barbecue, deep fried chicken fingers. And he ate it all.

And then exclaimed, "It feels so good to EAT!"

Say what?

It's not like I have been starving him. He was welcome to eat as much of that salad as he wanted. :-)

So I am headed back to the cookbooks. I found a WW recipe for Cuban pork and sweet potatoes that I am going to try out tomorrow.

Sounds yummy to me!