Letter to Zach on 2/4/07
…By the way, a laptop doesn’t really work on you lap when you don’t have one!-my arms are reeeeeeeaaally stretching to get around my big belly)
The kids have been so funny and adorable lately. I have been trying two experiments to improve the way they get along. They seemed to be always fighting and never just playing together so I decided that we would have TV Free days MWF and that they couldn’t play with friends for awhile (it was about two weeks) I told them that they couldn’t play with friends until they learned that the best friend they could have was their sibling. It has been SO MUCH BETTER!!! Of course we have a few squabbles here and there but they actually play together! I think Sam has discovered the value of Lizi’s imagination (she has an incredible one) and Lizi has discovered how exciting Sam can be even though he doesn’t wear ballet clothes (or anything pink for that matter). And not being able to watch movies has really helped them learn that they can entertain themselves and have a good day without the television! Sammy’s reading and writing have really taken off. He is using his writing skills to get what he wants by writing apologies and explanations for bad behavior and then giving them to Grant, Lizzie or me or even some of his friends. His little crooked handwriting “IM Sori” letters melt my heart! He has also learned that he can ban Lizi from his forts and their room by writing “No Lizze alowd” I’ll tell you it is quite a barrier for a girl who can’t read. Lizi on the other hand has developed into the future Minerva. She draws and draws and draws. Not only does she draw, but she will spend an hour on one picture and include every little detail imaginable. Today in church Sammy was trying to do a nice thing for Lizi and quickly drew her a mermaid and then wrote “Little Mermaid” above it. She sweetly thanked him then upon closer inspection detected a difficiency and scornfully asked, “Where are the ARMS???” Sammy, (a little embarrased) quickly added a stick arm (no hands or fingers) on either side and handed it back to a now satisfied sister.
I don’t know if you heard this story or not but around the time of Lizi’s birthday, when describing what sort of decorating she wanted for her tea party and among all sorts of pink and purple decor, she asked if I would remove all the spiderwebs from our house as part of the special decorations. I removed the largest, most obvious ones but left others. Well, a few days ago she was drawing a picture of our house and after about forty-five minutes of drawing details she added a very large spider and a big black spiderweb. (the rest of the picture was drawn in pleasant pastel colors) She obviously did not want to leave anything out! AND, I obviously should do a little better with the spiderweb removal.
We are all doing very well here. Grant is moving right ahead with adding a 9th grade at the school for next year. All the parents and board members are excited. Every time I run into someone from the school they tell me what a great job he is doing and how much they love him. I’m the first one to agree with anything they say!
I am getting very large and so is this little boy. He is moving around right now- whole sections of my belly will suddenly poke out and then he will move and another section will do it. I love the feeling of movement in there. Now he is about 14 inches long and weighs about 2 pounds. I have 12 more weeks to go which doesn’t sound that long until I look outside and see the snow and realize that he won’t be born until spring is in full bloom- and then that seems like an eternity! Do you realize that it was around my due date that we all started working on the fence last year?
Grant and I are really excited for the spring to see how our lawn comes in and all the flowers we planted turn out- not to mention the rose bushes! This year we hope to put in a simple fence around the garden area, plant twenty or so trees and hopefully re-do the deck (and have a baby). We also hope to help fat Charlie loose some weight. A couple of months ago I took him into the vet because he had a cut on his paw that wasn’t healing. They weighed him and he was at 110 lbs! We decided to put him on a diet and try to give him a little more exercise. I promise I have been trying to feed him less! However, when I took him in this last week for his shots instead of loosing weight he put on ten more pounds! He is twenty pounds overweight!!!! Oh the GUILT! I felt like a terrible pet owner. If I felt this guilty I can’t imagine how I would feel if one our children was a chub. Maybe he is putting on some sympathy weight because I have already gained about twenty pounds. I just have to warn you for the future…I sometimes wonder if pregnancy isn’t more difficult for the man than it is for the woman (though if Grant ever suggested that I would probably bite his head off). The reason I say that is because sure I’m the one throwing up and getting huge and uncomfortable and moody and my joints are loosening and hurting and my eyesight gets worse and I have to spit all the time (yes, still spitting) and I always have heartburn and a bad taste in my mouth and my back is killing me…but at least I get to have the joy of creating a baby. I get to feel it moving inside me. I get to bond with this baby even before I see it. I have reminders every minute of the miracle of creation and birth and life and the plan of Salvation and I get to feel the gift of a loving Heavenly Father who allows us to participate in this incredible act! Grant, on the other hand just has to put up with a cranky, moody, emotional, huge, sore woman! He is asked to give countless back rubs. He has to put up with coming home at night to no dinner and a messy house because I was too tired or sick to do it! He even has had to take the trouble to help me get out of a dress two Sundays ago when I tried on a non-maternity dress, saw that it didn’t even come close to fitting and then because it was so tight I couldn’t get it off! So you see, don’t you think I have the better deal?
I think this has been a sufficiently long letter. I hope I haven’t bored you will all this. We miss you SO MUCH and love hearing from you. (Though we understand if you can’t write just to us, the family e-mail is great). We hope you have a wonderful week. You are always in our prayers.
Love and hugs and kisses (Charlie sends a lick, Kevin sends a bite and nameless baby boy sends a kick),
Candice and Co.
Archived 1/12/20
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