Doh!

I swear, I am getting stupider every day. I don't know if it's pregnancy, motherhood, or just that I really am losing my mind. But nearly every day I find myself saying, "That was so dumb! I can't believe I did that!"
Here are some examples:
1. I had to buy a new cell phone and I chose a Juke b/c it would only be 10 bucks after the rebate. Well, I was so careful to save the receipt for the rebate, but totally threw the box away the second I got home, even though the guy at the store told me I needed the box for the rebate about 5 times. There goes $50.
2. I bought a little kid picnic table at a garage sale. It didn't exactly fit in my trunk, but with a little shoving I got it to go in. But when we got home, no luck. I tried for 1/2 hour to get it out, but eventually had to take it apart while in the trunk and then put it back together. Sheesh. Like it would have been a big deal to just drive with my trunk open.
3. I bought a bunch of plants on clearance last week for our yard. My mom and I worked hard all day to get them planted, and then I nearly killed them b/c I didn't water enough. I think they are on the mend though, and I'll post pictures soon since it makes me feel like our yard is coming along.
4. This one is the killer. Today I got out all the baby/toddler clothes from our storage because I wanted to see what would fit Kate this winter and get an idea of what we still need for the baby. Well, Kate's all set, but our baby has like 3 sleepers and that's it!! I remember before we moved I went on a get-rid-of-junk spree and went through the baby clothes. I remember being so sure that there was no way we could have ANOTHER girl, so I gave a bunch of stuff to a friend who had just had a girl. I mean, boxes and boxes of stuff. Anyway, wish I could take that back now. This baby officially has fewer clothes than any of her sisters and I could just kill myself. Plus everything I kept is yellow, since I just KNEW it would be a boy next. GRRRR.

Liver

I have iron deficiency anemia. You might sometimes read about it in women's magazines, with a little checklist that says something like "Do you often feel tired? Do you have difficulty maintaining a regular body temperature? Do you have strange cravings like chewing ice?" If you answer yes, then maybe you are anemic. I answered yes to all 26 questions on the last test I took.
But I ask you this, wouldn't you? Seriously, it's like 90 degrees outside, so I have trouble controlling my body temperature and I want to chew ice so I can cool off. And as for feeling tired, I cannot even think of a day in the last 4 years since Anna was born that I haven't felt tired. Don't the rest of you moms agree? I'm telling you, it's not unusual.
Anyway, every pregnancy so far they have tested my iron and have had a little freakout about how low it is and how I need to get it up so I can have a healthy baby. A healthy iron level is 36. At my last appointment, I was at a 24, which technically qualifies for a blood transfusion. So, I must go about increasing my iron intake.
I already take 2 iron supplements in addition to my prenatal. And I drink prune juice, which is sick, but is high in iron. So what does the midwife tell me to do? Eat liver, every day. No better source of iron than calf liver.
Have you ever eaten liver? Have you ever even seen liver? It's beyond Disgusting. But, in an effort to be good to my baby, I went to allrecipes.com and tried finding a liver recipe worth trying. It was tricky because if you type in "liver" at allrecipes.com, you end up with results like "Squirrel and Liver Stew". No matter what, I am not eating squirrel. Anyway, I found a recipe that was rated four stars by Aunt Mamie.
It was not rated four stars by me or my family. In fact, I just gave my family chicken and kept the liver for me. It was horrible. HORRIBLE. I choked down five bites, only because we had made a deal for Coldstone (thanks Jen!) if I did that many. But, ew, it was awful. And my house smelled like it for a few days.....
I guess that I am posting this asking for recipes if any of you know of some way to make liver okay. But don't be offended if I can't get up the courage to try them.

Red Shirt Day

Today I became the mother I never wanted to be. I dropped Anna off at preschool this morning and noticed that the other two kids already there were wearing red shirts. I made some stupid comment like, "Red shirt day, huh?" to the teacher.
It turns out, it really WAS red shirt day. They were getting their class picture taken. As all the other kids showed up, they were decked out in red shirts with cute hairstyles. But not my Anna. She was wearing a pink shirt with her hair still kinky from the braid she had yesterday.
I couldn't believe I'd failed her like this. I had my mom pick Anna up from preschool on Tuesday b/c I had a dr. appt. and apparently she failed to pass along the note that all the other kids got. I would have sent her in a red shirt if only I'd known! I remember being the odd one at various times when I was a kid, and I vowed I wouldn't let it happen to my kids.
I seriously got in the car and bawled. I felt like a failure as a mother. For crying out loud, how hard is it to dress your kid the right way once a year? Not that Anna even owns a red shirt b/c she basically refuses to wear that color. In fact, Kate was wearing a red shirt and I offered Anna to trade with her sister but she had none of that. Her teacher was really cute about it, telling Anna that pink was just a light shade of red. Anna didn't seem to care, but I'm sure that when she's 14 she'll look at that class picture and say "Why am I the only one not wearing red in my class? What kind of mother are you anyway?"
Maybe homeschool really is the way to go. At least your kids can show up for school in pajamas/princess outfits/PINK shirts and nobody's worried about it.

We had such a great weekend! We went to Teasdale, just outside of Capitol Reef, with Trav's parents and his sister and her family. It was so fun to do a little family vacation, and I hope that next year all the brothers and sisters can come. Anna and Kate love their cousins so much, and it's so good for them to spend time together, since we live a little further away from everyone.
Worth the hike, for sure. This is an area where Butch Cassidy hid his treasures, and I can imagine why. First off, who could ever find it? Who would ever even try with the heat and the lack of water? Plus, no matter how you try, it's impossible to figure out which way is north. Easy to get lost. Luckily we had a trail. :)
Our little fam at Goblin Valley. This place is cool, although it's in the middle of nowhere. We loved that the park ranger told us we could climb on the goblins and to not worry about staying on trails. Hooray for adventure! We played chase and hide and seek all over these things till Anna decided she had to go potty. She's not so much for squatting behind a rock....
Is there anything better to wake up to than this?
These three were inseparable all weekend! Anna, Bailee, and Gates
Kate rides in style!
It was so hot!!!! We put wet wipes on the kids' foreheads to help cool them off. When we got done with the hike, I asked Anna what her favorite part was, and she said "When we taked breaks." That's my girl! Thanks to Uncle Jason for carrying her practically the whole way back.

First Day of School

Anna started preschool last week. What a big girl she is becoming!!! There were a few parental tears shed, but none from her. She was so excited to go and loves it. I love hearing about it each time she comes home..... she always tells me they read a story, what snack they ate, what she played, etc. Thursday she had some fun news: "we were playing outside and Aliyah got stinged." Bee stings are a big deal for her ever since she got stung earlier this summer.

Anyway, I love that she is so happy, although I miss her and so does Kate. We considered doing preschool at home this year and just putting her in gymnastics or dance since it would be less expensive, but this was her response: "I NEVER NEVER NEVER want to go to DANCE class!" (followed by much thrashing about and huge tears) Holy cow, point well taken sweetheart. Enjoy preschool.

REAL LIFE picture tag

I thought this was one of the best tags I've seen. The rules are that you take a picture, right now, of the following 10 things. No straightening, touching up, cleaning first. Just take the picture and post it.

1. The Fridge

I wish I could say it usually looks better, but it's just not true.

2. the Closet

This is the picture that makes my closet look kind of clean.

This is the pile of clothes I got mad at this morning because they don't fit my pregnant self anymore. Doesn't look so clean now, does it?

3. The Pantry

We actually use our pantry as a mud room for shoes/coats/miscellaneous stuff. It seemed like a good idea when we moved in, but now all my food storage is in my front closet.

4. My favorite room

This room is my favorite because I love the DI armoire I found and refinished. I think it makes the room!

5. Laundry room

Nothing too interesting

6. Self portrait. Am I always this shiny?

7. What kids are doing

Anna, watching the new Ariel movie. She watches it every day while Kate naps. Kate is napping, and no matter how fun this tag is, I am not waking her up to take her picture!

8. Bathroom. This is our master bath. I envision a day where I paint it, but for now it's pretty dull.

9. My favorite pair of shoes. These are my favorites for many reasons: they're comfortable, cute, easy to get on, and most of all, because I bought them in Paris.

10. The kitchen sink. I never think of it as too gross, but the picture doesn't make it look that great.

Amazing Deal

I don't actually know how many people read my blog that live in the Provo area, but I found an amazing deal that I have to share.
http://provo.craigslist.org/bab/816713185.html
This woman is selling a roomful of kids' clothes. Literally the size of most of my downstairs area of my house. She used to sell it on ebay but has become too busy. Great deals! I went last Friday and bought a ton of stuff for Anna for the winter. (and subsequently Kate for the winter, and subsequently BABY GIRL #3 for the winter). :) A lot of stuff she bought at Savers or DI, but it's still great condition and name brands. It just saves me the headache of looking through all those places, I figure. Some of the stuff is new from the stores too.

Just in case you don't have enough to worry about

Last week our stake had an Emergency Preparedness fair. The keynote speaker was this doctor who works for the Church doing Pandemic Preparedness. Now, in case you have no clue what that might be..... it's essentially some sort of disease that spreads across the entire world and causes much death and sickness. The current thinking is that the Avian Flu will mutate into a worldwide pandemic.
Here are some scary statistics:
The world is due for some sort of pandemic. There was a major flu in 1918, 1957, and 1968. Tens of millions of people died from them. Apparently the time is here for another major pandemic to hit.
World health officials sort of assume that Avian Flu will warp into a disease that is spreadable from human to human contact. Once that happens, they believe 40% of the population will be infected. Right now the mortality rate is between 60-80%. That means most people that get it will die. It also means that we will probably have shortages on everything-- farmers too sick to grow crops, truckers to sick to transport food, etc. Gas will like quadruple in price.
And you'll basically be quarantined to your house. You won't want to go to the grocery stores anyway because you'll get sick if you're not already sick. Churches, schools, government offices will all close.
Yikes!! So, stock up on food storage. And check this from Provident Living. It has information and tips about how to keep your family safe. One major tip is washing hands. I've become a handwashing Nazi. My hands are seriously peeling from how dry they've gotten from all the washing.