Au contraire, 'Etagere.

Thanks to my mother-in-law for educating my mind this past weekend. I had never heard the word "'Etagere" before, but apparently it is another word for bookshelf. And so I post it here for all of you readers, to add another word to your vocabulary, if it wasn't there already.

We had a great time (as always) with Jeremy's family. Jeremy had training in Spring on Tuesday, so we used it as an excuse for a long weekend... a really long weekend because we added two days to Jeremy's days off. We were able to spend five days in Texas! Very nice. And since I am a complete doofus, I forgot to take pictures while we were there. Maybe I have some on my camera or my phone. I'll have to check on that. Anyhow, it was very delightul (it is extremely difficult typing the letter F on this laptop, so forgive me for any F related typos.) As I was saying it was very delightul, except or the last day. Little Evie got pretty sick (high fever, vomiting, some sort o mini-seizure...) No bueno. So we drove back home and she has been eeling much better. Now we are all ive o us dealing with colds.

On the way back from Kingwood, Jeremy got to experience an embarrassing parenting moment. We stopped at a gas station to use the restroom and Jeremy took Jack to the men's room. While Jack was using the restroom, a man came in and occupied the stall next to them. When he sat down, Jack, upon seeing the man's shoes said "who's that, Daddy?" (Mind you, Jack only recently became a potty-trained citizen so using a public restroom is a bit foreign to him.) Jeremy said "That's a guy." Jack said "Is he using the bathroom?" Jeremy tried not to laugh and said "yes." Soon after that, I guess the man started really taking care of some "business." Jack said "Is he tooting?" And before Jeremy could say anything Jack said "he's tooting really loud!"

Sorry, I don't mean to turn my blog into one of those humor sections from Reader's Digest. I just find some of these situations too amusing not to share.

In addition

Yesterday, as I was giving Charlie a bath, Jack was climbing around on the bathtub. Jack started touching my back with his pointer finger, and each time he did, he would count "1,2,3,4,5..." I didn't think much of it because he always does random stuff like that. Then he did it again and said "I can count on you, Mommy." An amusing interpretation of the phrase, which he undoubtedly learned from Handy Manny.

No, YOU spell it!

Jack has been very interested in spelling lately. Or rather, Jack has lately been very interested in spelling. He actually knows how to spell halliburton because he frequently sees it on Jeremy's truck and coveralls.

Sweet enough, I'd say.

Me: (after saying something regarding Jeremy) You know, Jack, Daddy is my best friend.
Jack: Evie's my best friend. (Looks at Evie) You're the best, Evie.

I want my baby back, baby back, baby back...

My mom kept Evie for a couple of days this past week. I was having a hard time letting my mom keep her for very long because I knew I would miss her, but I never really thought of how much Jack would miss her. I am very grateful to my mom for keeping Evie, but Jack is almost more difficult to keep when Evie is gone. It's like he didn't know what to do with himself. His room never got messy because he didn't want to play in his room, or Evie's for that matter. Finally, yesterday morning he said "I miss Evie. We need to get her." Fortunately I had already made plans with my mom to pick her up then, so I said "OK." We met Mom and Sonny in Longview. When Jack and Evie saw each other there was much joy and kissing and hugging. I had the kids all out of their car seats while I did some rearranging. I put Jack in his car seat first and as I went to retrieve Evie from Sonny, I heard Jack from the back of the van in a desperate crying voice "we need to get Evie! we need to get Evie!" I looked at him and said "of course, sweetheart, we're taking Evie home with us." After I had Evie fastened in, I went to get Charlie from my mom, and Jack started crying again "We need to get Charlie!!" It was really very touching how he was so anxious about our family being separated again.

Jeremy has been working on a weird job the past few days, so the past couple of nights have been hard with just me and the kids. It was a bit of a shocking thrust into this new type of motherhood-- seeing as yesterday was my first day alone with all three kids. Tonight was better and I really enjoyed watching Jack and Evie chase each other around, laughing, and then watching them both so excitedly run over to Charlie and kiss him every once in a while. You know, there's not much that is easy about having three children this close together, but, my gosh, it's worth it.

And then along came Charlie...

Charlie Emerson Butler
Born January 18th 1:48 pm

Saturday night I started having contractions. We went to the hospital at 8:30...they admitted me and in about five hours, Charlie was born! He weighed 9 lbs 3 oz and was 21 3/4 inches long. It was all way too easy. After it was over, I felt a bit guilty when people said "good job, Amy!" I really didn't do much. I got an epidural when I was at 6 cm and the pain wasn't even that bad. Then before I knew it, they said it was time to push. He came out and I wasn't tired or in pain. I just kept commenting on how it shouldn't be that easy. I'll take credit for enduring the discomfort of pregnancy and the pain of post-labor recovery (ouch), but the labor and delivery itself was a complete cake-walk.

Charlie is such a handsome little guy. Now that he is a couple of days old, he's really starting to look a lot like Jack when he was a newborn. Jack and Evie are very excited about him. Jack particularly. He kisses him all the time and is constantly saying "I love Charlie." Whenever he sees me walk into the room, it seems new to him that I am no longer pregnant. "There's not a baby in mommy's tummy anymore!"

Here is a video and some pictures. We didn't take many at the hospital with my camera. Hopefully I'll be posting some from Tammy's camera soon. But for now, I'm gonna go take a nap.


(Particularly great is the 3:54 mark)

More like a "don't" date...

Today marks the eighth day past the baby's due date. It's so annoying because really, the "due date" is a midpoint of a four week period that you are most likely to have your baby. No matter how many times I tell myself this, I still think of myself as being "late" when I go past my due date.

Earlier this week I called to ask my OB's nurses about some back pain I was experiencing. I was basically wanting them to tell me whether or not I might be in labor. Instead they wanted me to come in so my doctor could check me and make sure everything was OK. He said that the baby was fine and that I hadn't progressed any. (I have been dilated to a 1 1/2 for three weeks.) I told him to go ahead and schedule me to be induced on the 19th (Martin Luther King Jr. day!) I'm not sure why I did this. I guess because the baby is going to be big, and I felt like 10 days was a good amount of time to wait after the due date. I know that a lot of doctors don't want you to go much longer than two weeks past. I also felt that if I scheduled the induction that I would be more likely to go in labor. That's silly, I know, but Andrea and I both went into labor two days prior to being induced. I was only six days past my due date with Evie so I've been surprised by this baby being even later. Everyone says that the more babies you have the faster they come and the shorter the labor. Well, I think it is a good idea to never listen to anyone, no matter how tempting it is. I'm such an optimist that I just hear all the good things people say about third babies and assume that will be the same for me and my third child.

So, here we are. Two days until the baby's very possible due date. Whatever the case, I'm glad that I'll be seeing his face soon. I can't really wrap my mind around it, but I am excited all the same.

Please pray for me if you think of it. I would be very happy to go into labor on my own before Monday. Pitocin is some seriously vile stuff and I want nothing to do with it.

A Quest for Charlie

One thing that is good about the baby taking his sweet time, is that we had more time to procure a vehicle that he too could fit in. We had been sporting these wheels but now we are sporting these.
The first thing you may have noticed is that they are the same color. Jeremy and I are very much boring black/gray color type people. Both times it just seemed that the red vehicles were the best deals.

A lot of people seem to have this odd association with mini-vans. Like owning a mini-van means you are old, or lame, or old and lame. But to me it just means that our family finally got big enough so that a mini-van was actually a necessity. I like the way it looks, and I like the way it drives. It seems so much lower to the ground than the Jeep that it really feels more like driving a car. Jeremy just bought this yesterday, and I am really happy with it. So, I may look like a soccer mom (or a mom with a soccer ball under her shirt,) but I don't feel like one, and that is really what is important... I guess.

Well, I guess that's all. Obviously no baby yet. Now that I'm past the due date, I feel rather like a ticking time bomb.

Birth-day guesses that are still in it for the big prize:

Andrew- January 13th
Anna- January 14th
Andrea- January 15th
Hannah- January 16th

I'm still taking guesses... so don't be shy. You could be the winner of a grand prize... or something really stupid. Curiosity should be enough to entice you.

Breakfast conversation

After a lot of noise-making and laughing

Jack: Evie, what does a cow say?
Evie: Moo!
Jack: Yeah!! Hey, Evie, what does a horse say?
Evie: Moo!
Jack: No! That's a cow, not a horse!

Birth-day predictions, anyone?

Go ahead: leave your prediction in the comment section. If you win, I'll give you a prize. I don't know what, but you can bet it will be pretty lame.

The year of Charlie

I figured a follow-up blog might be nice for some of you who were probably sitting there in suspense. "Did she have the baby? Didn't she have the baby?!"

No baby yet. Last pregnancy I was SO ready for Evie to come out at this point. But now I feel somewhat comfortable and energetic, so I say "take your time, little guy." However, I do feel very excited to meet him. I'm usually too busy to think on it, but when I do, I shake my head in disbelief. Then I stop thinking about it because it seems too crazy that we could have another child in just a matter of days. Another child! Saying that doesn't begin to relate the feelings associated with it. When I think "we're having another child" I think "there is going to be another person in this world with his own personality and his own face-- a whole new person that Jeremy and I will love as much as we love Jack and Evie." It really just makes my head hurt thinking about it.

Whoa, Charlie is salsa dancing in my womb! I just looked down to see my stomach jolting around quite violently.

Okay, then. I'm off to bed.

To bed, I said.

"Does he have to SAY 'poopy diapers'?"

(If you don't want to read about the bathroom habits of three-year-olds, then skip the first paragraph.)

Jack has been a really tough little guy to potty train. Mainly because he is WAY too busy to use the bathroom. It's kind of funny thinking of him being "too busy" to stop to go to the bathroom. I mean, what if an adult said that. "You know, I really just don't have time to go to the bathroom. I have to just go in my pants and deal with it later." Well, as you all probably know, I am due with baby number three in a couple of weeks. Changing three sets of diapers is not really something I am interested in. Especially with children that are so "regular" as my kids. I often change six poopy diapers in one day. Yeah. So, I was really ready for Jack to be ready. We have been trying on and off for a good while, but I knew he was never ready. Well, a month or so ago, he got to where he would pee in the toilet. He still won't tell us when he needs to go, but if we take him in there, he is very good to do it, and also he goes for long periods of time with a dry diaper. (I'm pausing now and thinking "really, does anyone need or want to hear this?" Surely the answer is "no", but I am so exhausted that I have decided not to care.) OK, so to the point... he was always afraid to poop in the toilet. This is a pretty common thing among toddlers, but it always seemed weird to me. I'd tell him to sit on the toilet and he would immediately get up and run out of the room. Well, a week or so ago he started pooping in the toilet (oh my gosh, am I still talking about poop?) Then after a few days he just stopped doing it. Well, the other day I had an idea. I grabbed his bath frog (a safety device that doesn't fit on our new bathtub, so he just keeps watch on the sidelines):



and started talking to Jack with "Mr. Frog" in a funny voice. I said "hey, Jack! What are you doing?! Are you going to poop?!! Wow! That's amazing!" Jack got really excited and decided he wanted to impress Mr. Frog, so he tried really hard and, sure enough, he did it! He has been pooping for Mr. Frog for a week now. But he mostly only poops if Mr. Frog is encouraging him. He always says "can you do Mr. Frog?" when he sits down to poop.

Well, Evie has a new obsession: toilets. I have really been having a hard time keeping her away from them. There have been several times in the past couple of days where she got into the toilet, even when I thought I had locked the bathroom door. Well, generally she just likes to put things in there. Toys, toilet paper... her hands. Well, yesterday she dunked this little penguin in the toilet.



Fortunately I had my phone with me. I very casually took a picture of her so she wouldn't think that I thought it was funny. Well, this morning I was in the living room with Jack. I hadn't heard from Evie in a while and I hadn't checked on her because I thought I had locked the bathroom door and there is really nothing for her to get into on that side of the house. Well, finally I heard her crying. She didn't sound frantic-- it was more like a "help, please!" cry. Well, I start looking in all the rooms, and I realize that she sounded far away. I go into the bathroom and Evie is sitting IN the toilet. I mean, she has the toilet seat down and she is just stuck in the toilet, only her torso and head sticking out. Oh man, I wanted to laugh, I wanted to run and get my camera, but I knew I needed to get her out and tell her that THAT is something that we just don't do. Well, that really amused me so I thought I would blog about it. That is all.

Cute things Jack has said recently:

"Mommy, I like your forehead."
"Evie, where's my kiss?!"
"Hey, what's the big idea?!"

OK, well I am extremely tired so I'm going to go to bed. You might be glad to know that I have done a lot in getting ready for the baby and what not. I feel much better. I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday, so I am hoping that I am not further dilated, because that could really mess up our holiday plans. "Go ahead and keep cookin' little fella."

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

When sitting here thinking about what to type, the first thing that comes to mind is "oh my goodness."

I feel overwhelmed when I try to think of all the things that should be included in this blog. But really, I just feel overwhelmed in general. Our life has been a crazy train this past month. We have moved away from Wyoming and are now somewhat settled in our new house in Bossier City, Louisiana. The settling process is quite slow going as I am so busy with Jack and Evie and I am very waddly and tired. Jeremy has also been very busy and tired (not so waddly.) He very often wakes up at 3 or so in the morning to go on jobs and usually gets home around 5:30. This usually means that he and I are very ready to go to bed at 9.

So the baby's due date is January 9th. I feel as though I'm going to just go into labor one day and not know what the heck is going on. I have not done anything in preparation for the baby being here. And I'm not just saying that. I've yet to retrieve his clothes from my sister, so of course I haven't washed them. I don't have his little bassinet set up, I don't have any diapers bought (well, I have PLENTY of diapers, just none of them are his size. At least I pray that he won't be born wearing a size 3.) I went to my doctor's appointment the other day and was alarmed when they told me I was actually dilated a little already. That's not what I was expecting to hear and although I was very happy when they told me, I later realized that that only meant that I was more likely to have him before his due date. Based on my other deliveries, I really was counting on him being late. I guess I should get on the ball. Maybe all the house decorating/organizing and the Christmas present shopping/wrapping will just have to wait this week. Maybe I should focus on the little guy that is presently jolting my stomach around quite violently.

All of this and I feel as though I am only talking about how overwhelmed I am. But really what I have been feeling more than that is overjoyed. We have already had several opportunities to see our family and friends. I have always been blessed with wonderful families, but now I am even more blessed to get to seem them virtually whenever I want. It's so wonderful that I can't express how happy I am, but that's mainly because I can't believe it. After having lived away from home and feeling so lonely on so many occasions, and having the kids being so far away from all of our family....oh. It's just too much to express, so I won't try.

I have many other things to say, but I am uncomfortable and tired and I gotta pee.

Coming to a city near you...

Boy have I needed to blog. If anything I've needed to blog just to get the word "weewee" off the top of this page. I've been meaning to blog for a while now, but it's the usual story. I'm too busy during the day, and too tired at night. No excuses, let's just get to the point.

We're moving! Sadly, some of you do not know this. All of you probably knew that Jeremy put in for a transfer, but a position has opened up for him in Bossier City, Louisiana. I am soooo very excited about the move. It's hard to believe it is actually happening. I have missed everyone in Texas so much, and now I will get to see you all so much more. My kids will be near all their family, which makes me happier than I can say. We will hopefully be moving into a house, which will be a huge change from this little condo. And really, a silly little thing that keeps boiling to the top when I think of what I'm most excited about moving... NO MORE SNOW. I really never thought I would be saying that. I was excited about the snow when we first moved here. It was nice because we didn't really have to worry about shoveling the snow or anything like that. But our garage isn't very close to our door, and the first winter I was pregnant and carrying Jack to the car, and trying not to slip. The next winter I was dealing with a baby and a toddler and the snow and the not-very-close-garage. This winter, I would be dealing with a pre-schooler, a toddler, and a big pregnant belly/tiny baby, the snow and a not-very-close-garage.... well, you get the picture. All this to say that I haven't really enjoyed the snow very much since I've been here, which has been sad. The one time I live near it and all it is is a thorn in my side. So, it sounds crazy, but I'm so glad I won't be dealing with snow this winter.

I'm also glad that this next baby won't be born in Wyoming. Not that there's anything wrong with Evie because she was born here, but I just don't like the state of Wyoming very much. Anyhow, it will be neat having all three kids born in three different states (Jack's the lucky one.)

So, our next step is house hunting! Jeremy and I will be heading to Bossier in just two days to look for a place to live. My mom left this morning to come take care of the kids so that Jeremy and I can go by ourselves. You know, we've flown quite a bit since we've lived here. It's hard to remember what it's like to fly without kids. Well, of course I will have one kid with me, but he doesn't fuss much...

After this trip, it will only be a matter of time before we move! Halliburton is paying for movers to move us (I mean, they will actually be packing up our boxes and moving them for us) and they might even be transporting our car to Bossier for us, so we won't have to make that trip with Jack and Evie in tow. Crazy!


In other news, Jack just turned three! We had a pretty fun little party for him here. His little friends came over and they had such a fun time running around playing. I'll post some pictures of his party now, and also some other ones, and maybe a video or two? Enjoy.

For the sprinkling wee-wee...

I was perusing all of my regular blogs and I was rather surprised to find that I won something! Check it!

I happen to know that "Button" is having a little girl, therefor, I am the grand winner! Most exciting.

No pee in my face THIS time around... no sir!

Here comes the son.

Well, it turns out that 11 of you were right. We are having a little boy! I don't know what it is that can make a mother feel so certain that she's having one gender or the other, but I felt so positive about this baby's boyness, that I would have been shocked if it had been a girl. Anyhow, we are very excited. More than anything, we are excited for Jack to have a little brother. Also, we are glad to help even out the boy/girl ratio on my family's side. This will make grandson #3 out of eight grandchildren. I'm thinking that Andrew and Charlotte will be providing the next boy. I mean, it IS their turn.

The pictures from our sonogram aren't very good. There are some pretty decent shots of feet and hands, but I was very sad when the little fella wouldn't show his face. Maybe he's shy. Anyhow, here are some pictures of our perfectly healthy looking baby (many thanks, God.)

Here's a foot:



Here's a shot of his face straight on. Again, not a very good shot, but you can see (or maybe YOU can't)that he has a chubby little cheek on the left side of his face.




A tiny little fist:



Here's his profile shot. Not very clear, but at the top, you may be able to pick out a little nose, and lips.



And finally, the tie-breaker shot:

Just for kicks...

I put a poll on the left hand side so that you can tell me if you think I'm having a boy or a girl. I feel pretty certain that I know what it is, but I don't want to give away the secret, you know.

Your vote is important!

A little bump, a lot crazy.

I was going to put a fork in the dishwasher just now. When I opened the dishwasher, there was steam coming out and I realized that it wasn't through running it's cycle. I quickly gasped and said "I'm sorry" and closed it very quickly.

Not really sure why I apologized to my dishwasher.

Anyhow, I thought I would take a profile picture for friends and family that live so far away. It's always alarming when you don't see a picture of a loved one until the third trimester. I'm trying to soften the blow. Here's me and Itsy Bit, 18 weeks along.

(Jack is Little Bit, Evie is Itty Bit, so of course this one is Itsy Bit.)

Hello darlin', nice to see ya...

Well, I know it has been a while, but I'm hoping to start up my blogging again with some sort of consistency. I don't think I've officially announced it on my blog, but we are expecting our third child! My due date is January 9th (coincidentally, the kids' aunt Jenna's birthday.) Pregnancy has been the reason for this blog scarceness. Jack and Evie's nap schedules keep me from napping, and by the time they are in bed at night, I usually just want to relax next to Jeremy on the couch... and the go to bed early.

I guess I have also been in a sort of slump for another reason. A month or so ago Jeremy put in for a transfer back to Texas. I think I really checked out of Casper early, thinking it was going to be a pretty sudden thing. Now here we are, still in Casper, no calls or anything like that. We still feel like it will happen, but I had gotten myself too excited into thinking it was happening soon. That combined with the exhaustion of my first trimester, I sort of gave up on Casper. Anyhow, my second trimester is here, I'm not nearly as fatiqued and I have really been trying to make more of our time here, whether short or long-term.

One reason I really need to jump back on the blogging wagon is that I have often used it to refer to Jack's milestones. Here Evie is growing up like crazy and I haven't been posting any of it. Well, I hope to change that.

Jack has been changing a lot. He's becoming more creative and imaginative. Evie has really gotten a lot more expressive and affectionate. She and Jack will run around the house screaming with each other and laughing. It's been pretty fun watching them play with each other. Jack loves on her so much and every once in a while, Evie will come up to Jack and lay her head on his back and kind of pat him. It's very sweet. Anyhow, they are too much sweetness and greatness and it takes a lot to keep from kissing them all the time. I can't imagine having another one as great as they are, but God is always astounding me.

So I guess I'll post some pictures and videos since that is my way.







Here is a video of Evie eating her birthday cake. Way overdue, but I mainly wanted to post it for the grandparents.

Veggietaled OUT.

I know. I haven't blogged in some time. We were in Texas for three weeks and then when we got back Evie got a stomach virus and passed it around to Jeremy and Jack and we've all been sick in some way for the past few days. Jack has been the most sick. A lot of laying around and watching Veggietales. Poor guy, he looks so pathetic. Anyhow, I was hoping that the next time I posted it would be a video and pictures of Evie eating her birthday cake. I made her a cake a few days ago and it's just sitting in the kitchen waiting for us to eat it. Anyhow, maybe tonight's the night. I hope so. One of my favorite all time memories is Jack eating his first birthday cake. Ok, just wanted to fill everyone in on why I've been so lame.

How 'bout some pictures to tide you over?