Easter(s) Part II

Dyeing Easter eggs outside is the best idea EVER! Please note in the top picture that Garrett spilled the blue dye two minutes after we started. No big deal. Jer hosed the table down when we got done. It was barely warm enough to do the eggs outside but so very worth it. I actually enjoyed it instead of biting the inside of tmy cheek trying to be a 'fun' mom instead of the one freaking out about all the dye she has to clean up. Woohoo for the great outdoors.

Harry Potter Party!

 We had a Harry Potter party on Friday the 13th, how cool is that? But where did the last 8 years go? We went from reading How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? to Harry Potter and now she's obsessed. Can't say I blame her. 

Madilyn was Hermione of course and all the family were very good sports and dressed up. Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, Dumbledore, Belltrix Lestrange, Hermione (after the final battle of Hogwarts), Professor Trelawney, Gilderoy Lockhart, Harry and Hermione's muggle parents all came.

Celeste helped make (made) the cupcakes for school and the birthday cake, Brenda came over and helped me make a bunch of the goodies, and Sandi brought most of the decorations and the other half of the goodies. We had cauldron cakes, licorice wands, acid pops, treacle fudge, lemon drops, rock cakes, blood worms (spaghetti), and yummy butter beer.

Madilyn loved it.

I like to put some of my observations about each of the kids on their birthday post. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the 8th birthday is a big deal. Madilyn is old enough to be baptized and become a member of the Church. Madilyn has always been a deep thinker. She has asked questions that seem well beyond her years since she was young(er). Last year her and I were talking about baptism and Jesus Christ and she asked me, "What if its not true?" Basically, What if everything that we've talked about and taught her isn't true? What if there isn't a God? What if nothing we do here matters? I told her that was something she would have to come to know for herself. We have tried to teach her how to go about finding answers.

She isn't always so deep and has been less doubtful since several of her friends at church have already been baptized in the last couple of months. But I know that she has felt her Heavenly Father's love for her. She'll be baptized in a couple of weeks. I am happy she's made the decision but sad that she's growing up so fast.

Madilyn is a special girl. She is strong-willed and wants to make her own decisions. I think she may become a lawyer one day because she'll argue about anything and doesn't back down even when she knows she's wrong. Let's just say I want her on my side of the argument. She loves to dance. She is a great reader. She likes to write plays and direct them (Emma as her fellow actor is not quite as keen but goes along because Madilyn is so persuasive). She has a strength of will well beyond my own. Example, if she doesn't like whats for dinner she'll not eat. Refuses and doesn't eat until breakfast. That's will power and conviction if I ever saw it.

She loves her brothers and sister and has been a great help with Grant.

We love her lots.

Easter(s)

Urgh. 3 of my 4 cute Nashlings on Easter. Terrible pictures but that's what I got. Grant had a cute outfit too but he pooped on it. Shocker. Love these funny kids.

Getting to Know You

Grant is almost 1 month old. How did that happen? We're still trying to find our new "normal" with this new little person. I am going to admit that the newborn phase isn't my favorite. The lack of sleep, the diapers, spit up, etc.

BUT I am really trying to enjoy Grant. Mostly I want to remember those things that are unique to newborns. I want to remember that newborn smell, the soft skin, the way their breath smells like sour milk (OK that's not quite so cool), the way he tries to keep his eyes open by scrunching up his forehead, and the way he snuggles under my chin and falls asleep. It's a very short stage and its almost over. I'm mostly posting to remind myself what a truly special stage it is.

Grant Richard Nash

He's here at last. Actually he's my first child to ever come early, so I'm not going to complain. I'll give a short run down on the birth story.

My water broke last Wednesday evening and we had to go directly to the hospital to get on antibiotics. However I wasn't actually in active labor. I was dilated to 4 cm at my last doctors appointment about a week earlier so we had thought my labor would go pretty fast. Wrong. We spent the evening dozing as much as we could. My doctor waited to give me Pitocin until 5 am hoping that I would go into labor on my own, but my contractions were still not coming very often even though I was then dilated to 6 cm. Thankfully, my doctor also waited until I could get an epidural before she increased the dose of pitocin. So by the time I got the epidural and the full dose of pitocin I was at 7 cm. Three hours later Grant was born. His umbilical cord was wrapped around him like a candy cane and was around his neck twice causing his heart rate to drop pretty dramatically in the last 40 minutes of labor. He was blue and not crying when he came out but the doctor never seemed worried. She rubbed him down until he started responding. He's done great since.

We didn't have a name firmly picked out when we got to the hospital. But we started 'trying some on' to see if any fit. The name Grant had actually gone down on my list before the hospital because having a Garrett and a Grant could get confusing even for me. But after trying several names out Grant was the only one that Jeremy and I both thought fit him.

He's doing great. I've had a couple of long nights but over all he's doing well at night. My parents have been here for the last week and have pretty much taken care of (along with Jer) all child care (besides Grant), cleaning, dishes, cooking, and laundry. Many wonderful people from our ward are planning on bringing meals after they leave. We are truly blessed to have this sweet little person enter our family. And even more blessed to be surrounded by many giving and thoughtful people.

Thank you to everyone.

I recently got rid of all of our VHS because our VCR broke and we've decided not to replace it. While You Were Sleeping was among the collection. I had a particularly bad today and Jer came home, took me out to dinner, and then we replaced a couple of my movies.

While You Were Sleeping is a classic romantic comedy. My favorite scene is when they're eating dinner and there's 4 conversations going on at once that get all tangled up and no one knows what they're talking about. I kid you not it is exactly what it was like trying to have Christmas Eve with my dad's family while growing up. Everyone participated in everyone else's conversation but no one knew what anyone else was talking about.

For awhile it seems like Hollywood came out with a series of great romantic comedies but the last few years, I feel like they've tanked. They've become like so many other movie genres, trashy and full of dirty humor that ruins the experience.

So tonight we're enjoying a classic...I'm enjoying a classic and Jeremy is being a good sport since I had to unclog the toilet today with a stick.

Freegal, You Rock My World

I love Freegal. Seriously it is the most wonderful thing since Napster. I'll admit that I don't own an ipod or any other MP3 carrying device of any type. Nor do I buy cd's. I have the same 10 cd's I had in college, two or three of which are ones roommates burned for me. That seems a little odd to me considering how much I love music.


BUT I have a really hard time bringing myself to buy a cd when I really only like 2 maybe 3 songs on it tops. There are very few artists that I like everything they sing, which is why, back in the day, I loved Napster. I think I had 150 songs before I got the lovely little message that I needed to delete them from my computer or I would be sued.


Freegal Music Library is accessed with my Pierce County Library card number and password. I get three free downloads each week. Right now it includes most artists that are under the Sony label, which is a lot. Its wonderful.


They have classic artists like Rosemary Clooney who I adore, voice like butter and classical like Handel's Messiah. But they also have both of Adele's cds which I also really like...most of it anyway.


Freegal, you rock my world.
Yet another reason I love my library card.