Wildfires

In Arizona we have always been worried about wildfires. It has always been a part of the hot dry summers we have. But this year we had such a dry winter that there is a little extra concern.

Yesterday, we had a summer storm and lighting. There was a strike in Carr Canyon, not far from our home. The Hot Shots were on it right away and it was exciting to watch them drop slurry and water. I did have a few worries about that we might need to evacuate but the fire was contained so quickly I didn't have it for long.

One Year!!!

We've been married for a whole year. Back on Mother's Day was our anniversary, but our cake was up in my parent's freezer in Mesa. So this past weekend when we went up to Mesa we ate our cake.

Happy Anniversary to us! Yeah we've made it a whole year.

Inherited Goodies

When I was called to be the chorister (wow almost a year agao), the old chorister gave me a rubbermaid container filled with all sorts of things ie: past visuals, books, song ideas and helps, and activities.

One thing in the box were all these pictures on sticks. There is a mouse, lions, humm, la la la, teachers only, boys only, girls only, bee, glasses only, and a bunch of others.

I took them on Sunday (1st sunday back after having my baby). We used the song jar to pick songs, and then each one we did different. For some songs we used the mouse and lions, when the mouse is up you sing quitely, and the lions you sing slightly louder than normal. On another song we used the "humm" sign, and hummed through it first and then sang it, same idea with the "la la la" sign and the bee (buzz through the song). I wish I had a "bump" sign to bump bump bump through the song, I guess I'll have to make one.

Other thinks to do are... have them do one action and see if they can do it for the whole song-without laughing (like sit on their hands, put their hands on their head, plug their nose). Also you can do a sort of "do as I'm doing" while singing a song. I find 'How Firm a Foundation' works really well for the "do as I'm doing" activity. The older child enjoy the "do as I'm doing" alot but the single motion the older the child is enjoy it less. But the younger the child is the more they enjoy all these activities- so its especailly good for JR primary.

Activtivity: Board Game

I started making and working on the idea for this board game prior to having the baby, with the idea of having it be a sub activity, I might still use it for a sub, but I made it a little more complicated and am not sure if a sub would want to deal with it.

the Board Game:
I wanted to make it so I could reuse it over and over and have it laminated. Since finishing it I've thought of lots of different ways I could have done it. You need construction paper, glue, something to use as a game piece, and a dice (standard one from a game or make one yourself so it's larger than normal-either way)

• (how I did it) I made the board to be used over and over by glueing each piece on the board and writting what the space tells you to do. I have the yellow spaces are a "you choose" and the pink and red spaces are a "question card" space. What is a "question card"? Its a card that I've put questions on for the children to answer. There are three types of questions 1-a line from one of the songs we've been learning 2-Guess that prophet: clue to who the prophet is some are modern and some from the scriptures 3- What would you do? Overall the idea is I can always make new cards. All the rest of the squares are pick a song from the song jar (all the songs we've been working on this year and in the song jar, plus a few other fun ones-I would recommend always having a song jar for a back up, and not useing glass, find a good plastic jar).


• (thought of after the fact) make the board and laminate it, cut out the squares and laminate them. Then use a marker to write the songs on the back of the squares (or the front is find since the children aren't picking the squares you land on), then tape, velco, or just hold on with the magnets when you set it up. Washable markers should come off fine, overhead markers would work great too, you could use a permant marker and then use rubbing alcohol to remove it afterwards. This way you don't make any question cards and each square has a song to sing.


• Make it up like in the first example, but instead of labeling each square, write down your own color code, you could just assign each color a song (sing it more than once if you land on that color alot or use all different colors), you number each square and assign a song to each number.
  

I have some other board game ideas that involve finding some old children's board games like "shuts and ladders". I got the idea from for the board game I made from a board game I made on my mission. That game was made to teach the 4th D (at the time was the Plan of Salvation Lesson). The plan of salvation game worked by choosing a card, each card had a life experince, either a good one or bad. If good you moved forward, if bad you moved backwards. Eventually you reach the end of the spaces (life) then each of the principles were taught as you move from each of the after-life pictures. Back to the game I just made... I made the start Earth because that is where we currently are and the end a sun to represent living with God in heaven. That way we are moving towards returning to Heavenly Father. You could make start and finish whatever you want. Good luck.

What a Cute Little Baby Boy

So being a mom is taking some getting use to. I am particually not thrilled with the middle of the night feedings. But I can't be mad at Alistair, he is so cute and so innocent. Its not his fault his tummy is too small to keep it full all night.I've learned that my baby loves his binky and we can not be without it.

I am also surprized at how much he sleeps. I know newborns sleep a lot but I didn't have any idea how much is a lot till now. Sometimes I joke my baby has narcolepsy because he seems fully awake one moment and then the next he is out and nothing I do will wake him. Everyone keeps telling me I should be grateful for these days because come a few months or weeks and it will seems like he never sleeps day or night.

So that cat leaves the baby alone. She hasn't become brave enough to actually touch the baby yet, she mostly just ignores that he exists. Sometimes I think she wishes that he didn't. I took this yesterday and I couldn't help but laugh at the fact they were both sleeping in the same position.

Alistair is waring my husband's glasses. He was awake just prior to them being put on his face, and by the time they were on his face he was out like a light. Isn't this just too cute.

Baby's Birth (we never made it to the hospital)

Alistair Wayne was born at 9:00pm on May 1st. He was 7lbs 6oz, and 20.5 inches long.

How it happened:

I had a normal Friday. The only thing that was different was that I decided to go get a pedicure to try to get my mind of the non-labor I was in. There were these massage chair at the nail place and I just had it pound my back. I don't know if that contributed to going into labor but is sure felt good. I had also received a few suggestions to eat spicy food, so we went to La Casita with my in-laws for dinner. We had just sat down, ordered, and eaten a few chips with salsa, when I felt the need to use the restroom -big surprise, I'm pregnant, I use the restroom every 20 minutes. The difference this time was my water broke while I was in there- that was a surprise.  I went back to the table and told my family. I had a silly notion that I was going to be like other women who have their water brake and its hours before their contractions start, and thought that I could sit down and eat my dinner. My in-laws were like no, we're taking you to have this baby. So my mother-in-law drove us home to get our stuff, while my father-in-law stayed at the restaurant to wait for our food (which I was very concerned about at the moment). We left the restaurant a little after 7:00, we est that my water broke at almost exactly 7 or a little after. On the way home (about a 20 minute drive) contractions started, they were hard and fast. By the time we got back to the house the contractions were already 2 minutes apart. Darci, our midwife, who had planned on going to the hospital with us and act in the role of a dula. She met us at the house. I was in such pain. Cory ran around trying to find all the things that we wanted to take with use to the hospital. Well I was trying to breath and do what I had read about and talked about, but I was having trouble breathing. She used her dopler to try to find the baby's heart beat and couldn't get anything. Darci insisted that we go back to her birthing home (across the street) to get me oxygen and a see if that would give us a heart beat. Since there is a huge danger of a still born baby if you go to long with no air to the baby. Once I had oxygen, she could find his heart beat and it was strong. The next step was to get me to the hospital. We had been calling the doctor over and over and leaving messages with his answering service. Darci checked me, and was surprise that the head was right there, almost about to crown. We still hadn't heard from the doctor. We had a choice to make, with how fast this baby was coming we'd be taking a big chance that this baby would be born in the car OR to just stay at the birthing home and have the midwife deliver the baby. We made the choice to stay there. Darci had me get into the birthing tub. Almost right away after getting in the baby's head was crowning, and not long after that he was fully out. It was so intense and so fast!!!! I was in labor slightly less than 2 hours from our estimated time that my water broke. Never did I think or prepare myself that I would have my first baby that fast. Instead I had mentally prepared myself to be in labor for hours and hours.  We never planed or thought that we'd have a home birth, we wanted to do in at the hospital. My mom and in-laws were joking yesterday that I will never be able to joke that my baby was switched at the hospital. I am so grateful to have had Darci. I keep thinking if we had still come home and then I was having so much trouble moving, that we would have ended up on the floor of the bathroom, on the phone with 911, waiting for the ambulance. It was such a piece of mind to have Darci and her birthing home so close, and as a medical professional to deliver my baby. When it was all over I was praying the thanking Heavenly Father that I lived through it and that I was doing good, and that my baby was perfectly healthy. We are so blessed. 

Swine Flu

The panic and all the idiot remarks are driving me nuts. I could not hold my tongue any longer. I am trying to stay on the simple side of this discussion.
Lets get Educated:

• 1- The flu is a virus, not a bacteria- therefore it can't be treated with an antibiotic.
• 2- The flu is an upper respiratory virus.
• 3- The flu is doesn't effect your stomach, there is so such thing as a "stomach flu".
• 4- Swine Flu is not something you can get from eating pig, pork, or any pig product.
• 5- Symptoms of the Flu are fever, coughing, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue.
• 6- How did the Swine Flue become a human flu?- There are many types of flu viruses. Just as with most viruses there are different types that are adapted to different species. This particular virus was adapted to pigs/swine. The flu virus is a quick evolving virus, the main reason its so hard to make an effective vaccine for the flu. In some areas of the world, humans live in close contact with animals. All of these animals have their own strains of flu, on occasion a strain has mutated enough to effect a human, and then sometimes that strain mutates again enough to effect another human who is around the first human who contracted the flu from the animal. Once it has made this mutation it is now a human virus with various levels of strength.
• 7- How to protect yourself?- Wash your hands WELL on a regular basis (not just using a hand sanitizer and not just after you use the bathroom). Get a good nights rest, exercise, and eat well (these things will keep your immune system strong). Clean surfaces that are touched regularly (especially if you work in a public place- help everyone out by cleaning door knobs, counter tops, and other high traffic areas). Avoid coughing/sneezing on others, or allowing others to cough/sneeze on you (face masks do their job, but are a little extreme, if you live in an area that has a high confirmed case rate then you might consider this extreme method of protection).
• 8- The flu, as with many viruses, have an incubation stage (a stage where you are infected but not showing signs of being sick). During this stage and the next stage (where you are showing symptoms) you too are contagious. Please take precautions when you are feeling unwell and even when you feel fine.
• 9- If you think you have the flu (swine or otherwise) or any other virus- you should stay home. Don't be going everywhere trying to function and possibly getting others sick. Wash your hands even more often than before and don't sneeze/cough on others. Take lots of Vit C (it may only be a placebo but its a placebo that apparently works) and take lots of Zinc (it has less of an effect in mass studies of people but very effective on the flu in lab tests) - so take both and lots of it. Get sleep- it will give your immune system do its job. Its sad that people only take these precautions when there is "Pandemic scare" going on. But there is always a possibility of a pandemic, and we should be taking these precautions everyday. I'm not trying to make people paranoid, because I am one of the least paranoid people out there. Instead I am trying to educate people so they will be aware and make smart choices- like washing your hands.

Doctor Gave me a Deadline

Yesterday was the doctor's due date. At my last appointment I brought up that we still have time before I'm 40 weeks and he explained how he calculated my due date. He explained that he calculated April 30th off of my first ultrasound and then recalculated it off of the second ultrasound we did and both came to April 30th. It made me feel better to get that explained. However his due date here we are May 1st, still pregnant, and dilated to a 5. While at my last appointment the doctor gave me a deadline for how much long he will give us to have this baby come out on his own. He gave me a week from his due date, a week from yesterday. While at the doctor's office I was actually really grateful he was giving me 9 days (that's how many days it was when I was at the doctor's), but at the same time it brings up a lot of concerns. I don't want to be induced. As we discussed what this would in tell, and my great concerns over Pitocin, the doctor said that he has no intention of giving me Pitocin. Instead he plans on just breaking my water, and that should get me going. But that doesn't work for all women, but he tried to convince me that I'm so far dilated that is all that is needed. So in the mean time we are trying everything we can to get this baby coming on his own. We've gone walking every night. I've been trying to walk on my own during the day, we took a drive up Carr Canyon (really bumpy dirt road), I sit on the yoga ball all day bouncing and rolling, and my husband gave me a blessing. And so far-nothing. I'm not worrying over it, however each day has brought a little more anxiety that he won't come on his own and we will have to break my water. I know breaking my water isn't the end of the world, but I wanted my body to do this as much as possible. The other problem is trying to keep busy. I'm having a hard time knowing what to do with myself. Sure I still have some stuff to unpack, but most of what is left I need my husband to help me with it. I could finish organizing the nursery, but its so overwhelming every time I go in there. I finally packed for the hospital, I've made chili that's in the fridge so we have food afterward, I went grocery shopping so we'll have food in the house, I finished the birthing plan and other paperwork to take with us. I want to stay busy so that I'm not constantly thinking about it, but physically labor wares me out too much and everything else costs money that we are trying not to spend. Maybe I will just go pamper myself by getting a pedicure and manicure, or go have my hair done- again there is the money thing. So until next Thursday, I'm waiting and trying to be as relaxed as possible. In one way its nice to have a deadline, so I know that at least by then- the wait will be over, because I really want icecream and I haven't had any for a few weeks now.