thoughts on having fun and being a mom

I love swimming. I always have enjoyed jumping into the nice cool water and gliding through the water. I love the feel of floating on my back in complete relaxation. I love challenging my body and swimming out to a very far point in the lake or snorkeling with fish under the water. I love to boogie board and bob in the waves. It is my favorite thing in the whole world. But it also can be very dangerous if you do not know how to properly swim. Today I shared how to love the water with Ashling.

She has had a difficult swimming start. When she was two she almost drowned. I was getting ready to leave a friend's pool and was packing my bag. The girls still wanted to be in the water and naively I "let" the kids stay on the shallow shelf in the pool. I kept asking them to get out but would turn around and not follow through as I packed the bags. Ashling's floaties were off and she somehow got knocked off the shallow shelf and into the deep water. I wasn't paying close enough attention and didn't notice. Ali screamed and screamed to me-probably saving Ashling's life. I could see her kicking and reaching with her arms as she struggled to come to the surface. I was glad she was still kicking. I went towards the pool in what felt like slow motion as each movement took way too long. I jumped in with my shoes on. I was so afraid I would be performing CPR and calling 911. But thank goodness I had taught her to hold her breath and she breathed as soon as I pulled her out of the water. I hope none of you ever have to experience that feeling as you realize you almost lost your child because you weren't paying enough attention. It made us both very afraid of what water can do and I am a lot more vigalent.

This is why I believe swimming lessons are so important. Ali learned to swim well at three and all it takes is enough experience in the water and anyone can swim. Last year Ashling had some swimming lessons but she never really learned to swim. So today I planned to go to Cameron's Aunt Marion's pool for Ashling's first mommy-daughter swim lesson. It was so fun to spend the time with my daughter alone. Marion took care of Annika and Ashling and I swam. I first had her get in the water and we worked on kicking. Since she has not been in the pool for so long she had forgotten most of everything. We worked on keeping our legs straight as we kicked. We practiced reaching with our arms. We played motor boat to work on her kicking skills. She rested on a princess pillow (floated on her back.) She jumped in and each time she got a little more brave.

Splashing around in the water and listening to Ashling laugh as I thought of fun ways to learn a new skill was so rewarding. I enjoyed having her play on my back holding on as I swam. I loved how trusting Ashling was and how she would try each thing I asked her to do even if she was afraid. And then she would try it again. Each time she got a little better. I remembered why I love being a mom again. It isn't the laundry or the dishes or the fighting. It is the laughing, the smiling, the trust and the sweet little arms around my neck that make me a mom.

Baby pictures

Annika has been so cute lately and I couldn't resist this outfit so I took some pictures. She is 15 weeks old and reminds me of a little doll. She is sleeping 10-11 hours at night and still takes lots of naps during the day. She recognizes her name now and turns when we call her. She loves to suck on her hands and puts anything else that she can in her mouth. She is mostly happy. She loves her sisters and has really started to watch everything that they do. In order to take these pictures I had to have Ashling sit behind me so she would look the right way. Annika has started to really use her hands and she is getting proficient at rolling from her tummy to her back. She hasn't rolled the other way yet though. I put her in the backpack carrier this week and she is only slightly wobbly and she does pretty well.

My 5 senses

I can smell it. I can feel it. I can hear it. I can see it. I can touch it. Spring is on its way. And with spring comes the thoughts of gardens, flowers, fresh peas, juicy tomatoes, tiny carrots, onions, canning pickles and Zucchini cake. I can imagine long days where Ali and Ashling spend the whole day search for and catching butterflies. Even though the temperatures are cold now the days are longer. The sun hits my windows in a whole new way. The birds are making their songs heard. At night the raccoons are on our deck enjoying mating season. A pleasant surprise is that the woodpeckers are not assaulting our house this year.

Last year our garden did not work out. Gophers ate it and the cold and lack of water destroyed it. What was not taken over by those critters was ate by the birds. It was a big dissappointment after the wonderful garden we had in Provo. But gardening in the mountains takes a lot more effort.

We have been preparing our new garden. We moved the location to a place where there is more sun. It is up against a wall and we think this will help it stay warmer at night so the tomatoes will be happy. (tomatoes have a very hard time growing if the temperature at night gets below 50 degrees.) We are setting up a system to protect it and a way to cover it in case it is too cold. I am also not pregnant and vow to spend entire days out in the yard protecting the garden. I will sleep by it if necessary!

We dug down about 10 inches and moved all the dirt. Then we laid chicken wire (the gophers can't come from underneath and steal the plants while I sleep,) and built a small retaining wall with some random cynder blocks in our yard. We also put this disgusting combination of cow blood and cayenne pepper down that is supposed to deter gophers. We have put poison in the gopher holes.

Right now we are working on getting the dirt back into our garden bed. We are sifting all the dirt through a sifter to get rid of pine needles, rocks and other debris. It takes a long time. We are mixing that dirt with garden soil that we bought. After work each night poor Cameron puts on his "work clothes" and goes outside to dig and sift. I try to help as much as possible but Annika is not particularly happy when she is not held in the evenings. So I am mostly moral support although my legs do hurt from bending over to push the dirt through the sifter.

Soon we will be planting. We have peas and carrots that are ready to plant now. Later- summer squash, cucumbers, brocolli and green beans. We have some tomatoes in my window sill waiting for warmer temperatures and we will have onions as soon as I find them at a store.

I am very excited for our garden and hope that the critters will all stay out of it this year. The bee bee gun got rid of the wood peckers so I am hoping that the poison and gopher repellant will get rid of the gophers. Do not mess with the Browns!

By the sweat of my brow...

I have not always done yard work and I am still very bad at it. But the last couple days I have at least ventured into our yard with the intent to improve it. How could I not want to be outside when it has been so beautiful?

Our yard is HUGE. I am not kidding. We have a normal size backyard all on one side of our house and then a regular backyard and another side yard. Our front yard is pretty small but still has plants in it. We have to do the normal pine needle raking clean up before the 1st of June. That involves tons of trashcans full of the pine needles that need to be raked and then put into trash cans. Cameron has done most of that... I just swept the small concrete patio.

Today I planted some lilies into pots to put on our deck. And I finally bought a plant that is supposed to be in the shade and it flowers too. Trust me it is hard to find the right kind of plant. But I have one to sit on my front porch and make it beautiful... I also started digging the dirt out for our new garden spot. My back aches and my arms are tired and there is still a lot more dirt to move before we are ready. But hey... I tried.

Happy Birthday my sweet Ashling!

Ashling is 4 years old!

My little girl is 4. I would love to have my children stay little. I remember when she was born so clearly. She was much too big for my stomache and I was induced. It was such a pleasant experience to have her. The epidural worked well, labor was pleasant, and she was born with hardly any pushing. She was so cute and fun to hold and so many people came to visit her. I was so happy to have a baby who did not have colic and who hardly ever cried. Mostly she was calm and let Ali do whatever to her without crying of fussing. She still is that way today.

Ashling is a joy to have in our household. She is the mellow one, the one with patience, the one who loves to please and who is excited by anything. Some examples.... One time we went to the mall and I needed to buy her pants. We found some and she was excited because she would not have to wear the pants with holes in them anymore. She also saw a really cute pair of shoes and really liked them. I could see it in her eyes that she wanted to ask to buy the shoes but instead she looked at her pants, had self control and told me they were beautiful-that was it. Today I asked her where she wanted to go for lunch. She said,"Wendy's because it wasn't too much money and I don't want to take all the money."

Ashling is getting so big. I do not want her to be four but she already acts and is as big as a 5 year old! She weighs 40 pounds and is about 43 inches tall. She know all her upper and lower case letters and numbers to 10. She can spell a few words although most of them are our family names. She loves to play with her barbies, ride her bike and go hiking. She plays so cute with Annika and will play with her for almost an hour in the afternoon almost daily. She loves to help around the house especially with dishes and laundry, although she doesn't like to clean her room too much. She is our family cook and helps with every meal that is prepared in this house. She tries to be a peacemaker and will give Ali whatever she wants. Everyone loves to play with Ashling because she is so fun. Kids of all ages gravitate to her easy going personality.

Today for her birthday we decorated the house before she woke up. All her presents were on the fireplace. She woke up early and excited that it was her birthday. We let her go pick out one present to open in the morning. It was a butterfly shirt and she put it on in a hurry. She went to preschool and took oatmeal cookies as a treat for the kids. We went to lunch and then we played at home. Daddy came home early and she got to open the rest of her presents. She got two barbies, a swim suit, sandles, sunglasses and a sandbox. We built a sandbox for her in the afternoon. We had hot dogs and macaroni and cheese for dinner and she ate it all. (This never happens!) Then we went on a walk to the park and came home exhausted, took a shower and she went to bed still giggling and laughing. The best part of the day for her was all the presents. Tomorrow we will have a birthday party with friends and there will be chocolate cake!

pictures

I posted a lot of pictures so please scroll down and look at all of them if you please. My spring break post now has tons of pictures! So scroll all the way to there and look at them if you want.

Hiking

We went hiking twice this weekend. Once each day. On Saturday it was quite a difficult hike. We wanted to hike up to Vivian Creek but we were not aware of what the trail was like. (At least I wasn't.) It was a very steep trail with about 50 other hiking "friends." We took our three girls and the dog with us. Usually when we are hiking the dog just does her own thing but with all the people we had to have her on a leash the whole time. This made it harder for me to help Ashling hike with the dog in the way. Also since this trail was so steep people kept stopping in the middle of the trail to rest. And each time someone came down the trail you had to move over for them to pass. Each time we stopped, (actually moving off the trail,) someone who passed had to talk to our kids, give us suggestions so we could keep hiking or give our kids something. I am usually okay with this but I have never taken the kids on this kind of trail.

Amazingly despite the tons and tons of whining they were able to hike up the trail at about the same rate as all of the other hiking buddies. This meant that we kept passing each other on the very narrow narrow trail and I kept imagining Ashling being bumped off the trail and tumbling for 20 feet before she stopped on the switchback below us. The dog was hyper because of the walk and all the other people and dogs around. She kept trying to get off lead and sometimes I was worried about her bumping Ashling off the trail too. We did not bring enough water for the warm day and the hard hike. Soon I noticed our water supply was depleating and realized that I had forgotten both a diaper and wipes. (Yes I was very not prepared.) Annika started to fuss and this made me more on edge. A group of people stopped in the middle of the trail again and we had to hike around them getting still closer to the steep edge. Now my nerves were shot. I looked up ahead and yet another group of people was stopped in the way of the very steep trail! I am sure we had stopped at least 50 times on the 1 mile trail! I had it and demanded that everyone turn around and go back down! We never made it to the meadow (Cam said we were only 300 yards from the top) and for the rest of the day my nerves were shot! I will never take my little kids on such a steep trail with that much exposure and the next time I will insist we turn around much sooner.

So Sunday afternoon we decided to try a different type of hike. We went to a dirt road with a gate over it. There were no other cars parked around there. There was some up and down but basically the trail went across the mountain. We were able to let Sierra run and the girls ran all over the place. We brought a ton of water, a pacifier and diapers. Although we hiked for about 3 hours and were all tired by the time we made it back to the car there was only a very little whinning and lots of giggling and laughing. Cameron and I were able to hold hands and enjoy watching our kids try to climb the steep snow patches. We stopped at a creek and they made a bridge while I nursed Annika. We even found a second bigger creek at the very end of the hike. Lesson learned... start hiking with something the kids can do and they will be much happier than if you go up a cliff!