Together again

The Richards siblings were all together on Sunday for baby Aaron's blessing.  With Jeff & Melissa in Arizona and Joe & Sarah in Idaho, it can be months before everyone is together. So we quickly grabbed some pictures.

I'm a little ashamed of my yelling: "All Richards to the living room NOW! Let's get this done before the children disappear or melt down!"

PS That scarf is the one I blogged about here. Silly craft blogs and Pinterest make things look so easy. But I love it.

And don't Max and Benny look so sharp in their new suits?  They are their Christmas presents from their grandparents. They love to look like Daddy and/or missionaries and don't want to take off their suits. But right after the pictures I made them change into clothes more suited for eating and playing.

Those are their new Junior Jazz jerseys, which they also don't want to take off.  They have had one Saturday of basketball games and are in love with the sport.  That's good, because I'm betting they will each be more than six feet tall.

Perspective

It's funny, people's attitudes and perspectives toward pregnancy.

At church, I get big smiles and comments like, "How exciting!" And I get the feeling some are thinking, "It's about time, Andrew is just about 2 years old now after all."

But at work, two people said -- I kid you not -- "Was it planned?"

Gulp.

I feel for those couples who are unable to get pregnant easily or even have a baby at all. The questions and stares they must endure.  And I feel for those who have their families more quickly -- they also get comments and stares. 

You can't win!

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This awful spituation of mine is also forcing me to gain perspective.  It does me no good to cry and be depressed over the awfulness and embarrassment and gagginess it gives me. 

Having to spit out a mouthful of saliva every 30 seconds day and night is terrible.  But there are more terrible things in the world, and this will end in 5 1/2 months. 

I know of so many wonderful people who would do anything to be able to have a baby.  I'm blessed and grateful for this opportunity to bring a new sweet life into the world.

Instead of praying for the symptom to end, I pray instead for a healthy baby.  And I pray I will be kinder to others and understand their hidden challenges and griefs.

The town crier

I don't think many people, at least at church, check blogs anymore.  One still does; she said congratulations at church to me for my pregnancy news that I posted on here last week.

As I was smiling and saying thanks, all of a sudden 4 other women were right there surrounding me. "What's this?! You're pregnant? How exciting!"  I swear they came out of nowhere. I think women have a radar for this kind of news.  One said she suspected after I pinned something on Pinterest. and she thought she saw me discreetly spitting.  We really are a gossiping, wondering bunch, aren't we?

We told our boys last week at the 12 week mark.  Max squealed and danced, Benny immediately drew a picture of a baby, and Andrew kept playing with his trains ("What are those big ones all talking about? Oh well. Choo Choo!").

Now Max has taken it upon himself to tell anyone and everyone he sees. His teachers, his friends, people in the store....  We take a walk around the neighborhood each day, and three or four times in the past week we have run into someone we know in their yard or walking from their car to their home -- each time he practically yells our news.  It's different every time:

"We're having a BABY!"

"My mom is PREGNANT!"

"There's a baby IN THERE!"

No hello first, no howdoyado.

Oh well, it makes it easier to let people know without bringing it up in conversation.  And ye olde bigger pants have come out, so I'm sure more people would have been questioning soon. That and the spit. I get so tired of chewing gum.

A hint

Did you know....


1) Excessive spit and saliva is called Ptyalism? (Tie-a-lism)


2) It's only seen in Parkinsons, Rabies, mercury poisoning and pregnancy


3) It can happen in a subsequent pregnancy


4) 6-7-13 is a great due date, not only because the math adds up, but because it's the anniversary of the first date JB and I went on.

The Natural History Museum

This has been sitting unpublished in my list of posts! I have so many more posts unpublished in my head. But then I just put on my jammies pants and lay on the couch.

So, in September, we went on the free day to the Utah Museum of Natural History with cousins Emily and Jane. They were with Aunt Suzanne and Uncle Seth after their new baby brother was born.

Andrew had a love/hate relationship with the stuffed spider at one of the interactive areas.

The kids tried breakdancing on the glass over a dinosaur dig.

Then, a few weeks later, I was given the opportunity to do a radio story previewing the Museum's Family Sleepover events. They invited me and my older boys to check out the activities.

We pretended Max was a fossil found in the mountains, and carefully wrapped him up to transport.

Then we transported him carefully down the mountain. He wanted to do this over and over. It about broke my back.

Benny did it, too. They also made their own fossils out of clay, threw paper airplanes from the balcony, and more. The museum showed us where families could put their sleeping bags in the galleries, and we took a flashlight tour and had a snack. If you have the money, it would be a fun event for a family.

Family Pictures

I can't stop smiling when I see these pictures of my boys.

We went to Wheeler Farm two weeks ago with Kristy Merrill Photography.  She was FANTASTIC.  She was sweet, goofy, funny, creative -- and it all worked! The boys laughed and smiled the entire time -- no meltdowns, no "SMILE, OR ELSE!" moments. 

Max is getting so tall, my 7-year-old son.

That picture sums up Benny I think. So enthusiastic. Always on the go!

I just melt for those blue eyes. Can you believe he's almost 2 years old?

And here's the whole family:

I think the boys' daddy has some melty-blue eyes, too.  Nine year anniversary tomorrow!

Andrew takes requests

Just kicking back on a Saturday morning, wearing any gloves or hat he can find (obsessed boy), Andrew started singing his three favorite songs.


This is Sweet Caroline.  Sometimes he really sings it passionately and loudly.

This is We Will Rock You.

And the more traditional ABCs. Though he got tired of singing and more curious about what I was doing with the phone pointed at his face.