Midwife's Advice

I get this same advice (in different forms) EVERY pregnancy. I'm not sure why it bugs me so much but it does. (It might be because the guilty taketh the truth to be hard).

This was how the advice was presented to me this time.

Midwife: "Are you exercising?"

Me: "Nope." (Uncomfortable laughter).

Midwife: (Annoying smile, like she knows better than me and she pities me). "Did you exercise during your last pregnancies?"

Me: "Yep." (More laughter).

Midwife: "Well you really should be exercising. 30 minutes a day, everyday. It will help you feel better and you will be stronger during delivery and make it easier to get back into shape afterwards."

Me: (I didn't mention NOT feeling well, in fact I feel great! Thank you very much! AND I always get fat during pregnancy but lose it fairly quickly and I am happy with my strategy. Did I ask for your advice?) (Nodding in pretend agreement).

Midwife: "How are your eating habits?"

Me: "Okay..."

Midwife: "Well you should really limit yourself to one little sweet snack maybe a day and one real dessert a week."

Me: "Okay." (Seriously! Did I ask? I'm definitely not going to volunteer that I had 5 or 6 ice cream sandwiches two days ago!)

Midwife: "It looks like since your last appointment you've gained nine pounds...which if you continue on in this way you will have gained about 33 to 38 pounds by the end of your pregnancy. Which does fall within normal range."

Me: "Okay thanks. I usually gain more but I lose it pretty quickly. I'm not too worried." (Seriously, seriously! Do you have to rub it in? Yes. I'm pregnant. I'm going to get fat and IF it falls within normal range why the freak show are you counseling me?)

____________________________________________

And that conversation happens EVERY pregnancy. Is it required for ob/gyns and midwives to give that "talk" to every "normal" pregnant lady?

If ever Wes and I decide to have another baby I am having serious thoughts about introducing myself to my doctor with this statement.

"Hi, I'm Brandy. If I'm within normal weight gaining ranges throughout this pregnancy, I don't want to be "counselled" on ways to maintain a "healthy" weight. It only makes me want to go home and blend up a big fat snickers bar into some thick and creamy ice cream followed by 6 or 7 cookies and maybe some candy from the snack drawer. Can you remember that? K,Thanks! It's nice to meet you!" :)

Gender Issues During Ultrasounds

Early on I decided that I didn't want to find out what the gender of this baby was. I mean does it really matter when you've had at least one of each. Plus I have talked to several (women) that have said they LOVED waiting until the end to be surprised.

Wesley reluctantly got on board a few months later. :)

He agreed that if that was something I really wanted to do he would support me but he wanted to be clear that I understood it wasn't his preference.

So everything was hunky dory until two days before the exam. And then one thing happened to ALMOST change my mind. All of a sudden I realized that if I wanted to make the baby's blessing outfit I would probably need to know the gender. GOSH! First of all something that little shouldn't be the deciding factor, I mean how annoying and secondly why didn't I think about that before?

Every other little or big thing didn't matter about not knowing to me but I did make Sadie's blessing outfit and I really liked the idea of it. But if I didn't know until the baby was born what the gender was I would have to make one of each AND if I waited until after it was born I would have to make one quickly while taking care of a newborn and three other kids.

So crap.

Why was that one thing such a big deal? I have no idea, let's just chalk it up to pregnancy hormones.

So the day of the ultrasound came. When the technician asked me if we wanted to find out I said I didn't know....yet. I'm sure she was wondering in her mind WHEN exactly I was going to know. I'm also sure hoping I'm no the only one that has done that. :)

Novalee kept asking during the ultrasound, so is it a girl or a boy. Over and over again so I finally was like, "I guess we need to find out but we don't want to tell the kids just yet so is there a way to do it without her (Novalee) knowing?"

After some thinking the technician said she could put XY or XX on the screen and I'm sure she also mentally put us down as the crazy family. :)

Well it came to that point, the technician scanned over to the lower part of the baby's body and I could have sworn I saw something like a boy part (like I'm a pro at reading ultrasounds) but then the technician put on the screen XX. She also said something funny however probably not appropriate that would clue us in that it was a GIRL.

I didn't catch it. I was still caught up in my mind that it was a boy. Did you know I made a boy baby blanket with HIS name on it? I did. So naturally I immediately started wondering if I knew my chromosomes.

(Novalee by the way has from the very beginning called it a girl. She would rub her hands on my belly and say, "Your such a good girl! Aren't you, aren't you!".)

Later that day at my appointment I was still "wondering" if I knew my chromosomes and when the midwife asked me if I found out, I said I think so...haha.

She confirmed it.

A girl.

I don't know why I wanted to wait and be surprised. I've never really had to deal with surprises much, I generally know what's coming. I should have known that being surprised wouldn't have worked out well for me. I'm terrible with surprises.

This time was no different. :)

AND I still wonder if the technician didn't look well enough. :)

However we are NOW pretty convinced it's a girl and we are really excited ! We are also glad she is healthy according to the ultrasound. :) We keep laughing at how crazy our house is going to be with three girls, especially during their teen years. :)

Yay for our little girl!

Now to decide on a name...

Game System Games Container

The kids got Leapsters for Christmas. They are pretty cool. I don't feel too guilty about letting them play them since they are learning games. Novalee last night told me what 9 minus 4 was!

Anyways, they got several games with their systems. Where do you think they ended up?

Where pretty much everything else small in our house ends up, my dresser drawer.


Not my preference.

There is this craft blog that I like. The lady that does the blog is amazing. Anyways, she had this great craft recently that I knew would be perfect for this little problem. Here's her link if you are interested.

I don't really like taking the time to follow instructions or for measurements so I just kind of looked at the pictures and winged it.

Here's mine! I love it! It's perfect for travel too!

Perhaps if I used the measurements mine wouldn't be so tall but maybe the kids will acquire more games and then it won't matter.

The coolest part is that the plastic that I used was free. Last year in Utah there was a (severe to me) wind storm and a big pile of that plastic stuff rolled behind our apartment so I clipped some for later. Yeah for being a hoarder! ;)

Shooting

We decided to ring in the New Year by going shooting New Year's Eve. My brother Jeremy came.

Wes showed us how to shoot his cool bow.

Can I just say that I got closer to the bulls eye on the target than Wes AND I was using Jared's practice bow that doesn't have sights? Not that it's a competition. ;)

I kind of really liked the bow. I can see why it can be something girls get into. I even thought about listing "gaining more skill with the bow" as a new years resolution but then I realized that I would never shoot any living thing with it and so it would be pretty pointless...except to out do Wes...hmmm...it might still make the list. :)

Jared attempting to fling the clay pigeon thing. It is super hard.


My sexy husband, who shot like 10 clay pigeons in a row.


Apparently having an arched back isn't correct form. My brother had a good laugh about it but whatever, I shot a couple. :)


Jer shooting.

Novalee was really good. She didn't shoot the bow and she only "helped" Wes shoot a couple of times but she was really patient and just hung out.
Don't you love her smile? ;)




Jared helping Wes shoot the gun.



Sadie slept through the whole thing in the car until almost the end. Good girl.


Just the girls.


My brother says that this next picture should be next years family Christmas photo. Haha!


It was pretty fun. I hope we go again soon!

Christmas

We bought a camcorder on Black Friday and filmed our whole opening presents on Christmas morning only later to realize we didn't really take any pictures.

But Santa did come:




And we did get a picture of Sadie enjoying her present from him.


Jared and Novalee had a great Christmas. They kept telling us that they thought they were very blessed/spoiled. And that they got more toys this year than any year. :) I'm pretty sure they get about the same every year but it was a good Christmas and it was nice to hear their gratitude. :)

Merry Christmas From the Crockett's

Dear Family and Friends,

It's a little late to be writing and mailing a Christmas letter. I actually considered not even writing on this blog a Christmas letter. But in the last couple of weeks our mailbox has only been without Christmas greetings on a couple of days which makes me feel a little more than guilty that we skipped out on sending holiday wishes to you.

So Merry Christmas. :)

What have we been up to this year? Well besides the usual, each of us having another birthday, the kids getting taller and Wes and I growing wider, there actually have been some exciting things going on around here.

So here are the highlights.

* In February Wes got really old (I like to tease him that he is so old but really there is only about 8 months difference between the two of us) and turned 28. And Novalee made me feel old by turning 4.

* Wes graduated from Optometry School on May 21st! Woohoo! Such a nice feeling!

* To add to our delight and happiness, around the same time he was offered a job in the exact area we had been praying he would find work.

*Then for several weeks Wes made everyone anxious by daily wondering ALOUD whether or not he passed the final portion of boards and would indeed be able to work as an optometrist. Thankfully his fears and ours were finally put to rest, he passed and did wonderfully!

*We traveled to Southern Utah before moving to Oregon at the beginning of June to visit family at the Beatty's family cabin in Kolob. My first time ever going! It was awesome!

*We drove the 775 miles back home to Oregon for the FINAL time! We are all so glad we don't have to make that trip anytime soon.

*Wesley started working for ABC Vision on July 1st! Yay for real income! :)

*Sadie turned one on September 9th and on the same day we found out we were EXPECTING baby number 4!

*I turned 28 on Oct 4th (Wesley lovingly reminded me that I was old now too) and for my birthday present (I consider it that anyways) I got to see baby number 4 for the first time by ultrasound.

*Jared this year lost so many baby teeth that I've lost track AND he turned 7! The shock of him turning 7 will probably pass around the time he is about to turn 8! His big highlight this year is that he got a Bow for his birthday and enjoys shooting it with Wes and that he played on a soccer team and did great!

*Novalee's highlight this year happened just last week when she sang with her preschool class for all the parents to hear during the schools Christmas Program. She was such a joy to watch. She sure does have a loud set of pipes when she wants to use them. :)

*And last but not least just today we reach a financial goal we had made as a couple! Nothing like procrastinating to the last minute. ;) Honestly I'm just grateful we met it. :)

I can't tell whether or not time is speeding up, if our time is filling up with activities or if we are getting so old that we can't keep up with the activities we've always had. :) Either way I feel like we have been busier this year than ever before.

This is such a special time of year. A time to slow down and appreciate things that often go unnoticed. There is always an extra special feeling in the air around this time of year. I love thinking that the feeling is a witness of Christ's birth. I love that this time of year points us to our Savior and the love He has for us. I'm so grateful for His goodness and the sacrifice He made for all of us so that we can live with Him again. May we all think a little more often this Christmas season about the reason why we celebrate Christmas and may we all feel His love for us a little stronger this coming year.



We wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Love,
The Wesley.Brandy.Jared.Novalee.Sadie

Nativity Costumes

I volunteered to make the costumes for the nativity program this year for our ward Christmas party.

Since I was making them, it was great to have free creative license on what they would look like.

I started out by buying different colored sheets at the nearby thrift store. Then I added some accessories (some made by me and some bought).

Well when it came down to it, we already had plans for the night of the party and so we didn't get to see the costumes in action.

But I wanted to have a record of them, so my dear Wesley kindly agreed to model the boy ones and I tried on Mary's.

Here they are.

Herod:


Wiseman 1: (There are somethings I can't take credit for, like the accent piece around the neck).


Shepard 1:


Wiseman 2: (Oh yes, I made the hat! This one was my favorite).


Wiseman 3: (Doesn't Wes look so wise. ;) ).


Joseph:


Shepard 2:


Mary:


BaaBaaaa:


While it was sad to miss the party we did enjoy our travels to the North Pole by train. :)

ALL ABOARD!

Even Sadie had fun. She wanted to have her own seat most of the time though and kept pushing Novalee off the seat. I guess we should have known...

Novalee and her golden ticket.



Novalee asking Santa for a candycane. Holy moly, is that all she really wants? If only I had known...I mean I should have. Of course Novalee would want candy.

Jared asking for a harmonica and a book to learn to play pirate songs.

They each got a bell from Santa's sleigh.


Boy we sure love Christmas around here!