Cabin Fever!

Yes, we've had Cabin Fever these last couple of weeks! I know, I know...I talk about the wonderful weather down here in sunny Arizona, and we really have had nice weather,  but it's hard to enjoy the sunshine when you're not feeling so hot. We did have a freeze for a day or two, but then our temps were back up in the 70s. A freeze in Arizona? Yes, our pipes froze in the middle of the night a few weeks ago. We had no water until 1pm. It's a good thing the only form of "food storage" we have are gallon sized apple juice containers full of water. We have a lot of them because we go through a gallon a week! The schools were shut down due to sanitation issues, but work was not canceled. So, we bundled up for the day, watched movies, ate soup, and waited for the water. I was glad to get a warm shower in. I can't seem to get my day going until after the shower.

The following week I was having some pregnancy issues. Paul was kind enough to take the morning off so the girls could go to preschool and I could rest. Ewan got to hang out with Daddy while I took a nap and waited for things to pass and doctors to call.  Everything's fine, nothing really to report. I had my appointment that Friday. I was measuring a little small, so we will have a follow-up ultrasound at the end of the month. Hopefully, we'll get a better idea of the gender of the baby (for planning purposes). We're excited to be counting down, although it seems we have a lot to get done before baby #4 arrives!

After returning home from Church that Sunday evening, the kids were sick! Paul had gone to a meeting a few minutes before the explosions happened. We were up most of the night doing laundry, giving baths, and watching UP. Paul went to work, but came home after lunch so I could lie down. The baby I was in-charge of didn't go back to sleep until 4:45am and was up with a new load of laundry for me to do at 7. We skipped preschool for the week, 'cause I'm pretty sure none of the other moms wanted to do ten loads of laundry in 48 hours. I'm positive I washed everything everybody owns twice! Maybe I should buy more clothes, towels, blankets, and sheets...or, I should have just let everyone run around in diapers and wrapped them up in towels.  However, my kids don't really like not being covered (weird, for toddlers, I know!) Luckily, by Wednesday the kids were all feeling much better, and Paul and I have not "caught" whatever it was. We quarantined ourselves for the week, with the occasional trip to the backyard to get some much needed fresh air.  We've suffered Cabin Fever all week, but we look forward to a healthy week with trips to the park, preschool, more restful nights, and less Clorox Clean-up!

We pretended like we were doggies and played under the table.

We sat in strollers a lot so that we could feel mobile, even though we weren't going anywhere.

More strollers.

Ewan is a lot like Paul. He loves to carry a book around. His favorites right now are Brown Bear, Brown Bear and How Do I Love you.

Aislee posed for pictures.

We had heart-shaped french toast on Tuesday (our first meal since Sunday).

We dressed up like Mommy.

We watched Wallace and Gromit:The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. And then we pretended to be rabbits.

Ewan thought it was especially funny.

We lounged on the floor and sucked on Ring-Pops. Blue-raspberry may not have been the best idea for Olivia.

Ewan loves to read.

Showing off our colored tongues. Paul got them Ring-Pops for Valentine's Day, but we waited to eat them. They crashed pretty hard for naps that day once the sugar wore off.

We rode the brooms and danced around with "hats".

100!

I thought that my 100th post might be something kind of important, but it's not. This is just an update on us. We're just hanging out, trying to stay busy, and enjoying the warmth of AZ winters. I started doing a little preschool with a few of the ladies in our neighborhood for the girls. It's twice a week for an hour and a half. The girls enjoying spending time with other kids, doing craft things, and learning all the sounds of the alphabet. Ewan and I enjoy spending time together. I've figured out that it's a lot easier to take one to Wal-Mart. The twins are starting to show a little interest in potty-training. Olivia has been a little more interested than Aislee, but I think we'll wait a little longer. I don't want to push them, or stress myself out. Diapers aren't so bad. My mom says, " Life is too short to spend so much time sitting on the edge of the tub." I think she's right, so we'll take it a little slow. The twins love being outside with Paul while he works on the trampoline hole. He's done quite a bit of it, and he's only worked on it for one weekend. Paul is enjoying the winters here also. We want to get the yard a little more functional before he starts the master's program in January of 2012. He got into the Johns Hopkins program that Raytheon does. We're very excited, but a little nervous having four little ones and a busy Daddy. Ewan is just getting bigger and figuring out life. He likes to follow the twins around wherever they go. He likes action and being busy. He'd do a very good job coloring if he'd stop putting every crayon in his mouth. He's still our good sleeper and eater. Ewan's working on not biting the twins when they get him frustrated. We've had to have a few Family Home Evenings on biting and what to do when Ewan bites. The twins say, "Ouch baby. Teeth or for eating." This pregnancy has been a lot easier than the last two. I still take medicine for the morning sickness, but it's really not as bad. Smells get me sometimes, and I look forward to being able to exercise. I have to pick paint colors for the house soon so that I can get some projects checked off my list before the baby comes. It's hard to pick a color that you're gonna have to look at every day for a while!  The baby is fine as far as we know. We're still not quite sure what we're having, but we'll take the ultrasound and call the baby a "her" for now. I haven't had an appointment for a while (almost 8 weeks) because my OB had to reschedule due to a death in the family, and then rescheduled me again. My next appointment is February 11th. Other than playing the waiting game, we're doing pretty well. Here are some pics of the latest adventures at the Burkinshaw household.

Helping me clean the house.

Riding the broom.

Ewan always smiles when he sees I have the camera.

Bath time crazy hair (Olivia).

We were telling them to cover themselves for the picture. They did a pretty good job.

Ewan is sleep eating while we drove.

He loves oatmeal!

The hole. It's actually a little deeper now. They really like the help him, but I only let them really get out there when he's been out for a while and I need him to come inside. It doesn't take long for him to not get a whole lot done and want to get everyone inside.

Saturday morning bubble bath in Mom and Dad's tub.

We got these chairs before Christmas so they could sit on the porch and watch Paul shovel. They like to watch movies in 'em.

26 weeks and 4 days. Just counting down!

Motherhood

This topic has been on my mind for the last week or so. Paul and I were asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting this coming Sunday, and our topic is "our divine nature and destiny" stated from The Family: A Proclamation to the World. Since, I feel that our divine nature and destiny is to create families, I'll be speaking on the divine role of mothers. I talked to my mom about it a lot because she is a mother of ten, and always has very good insight. She's also spoken many times and usually has a talk that fits right in with the topic. Being a mother does have it's challenges, especially when so many people think you're absolutely crazy for doing it. But, it has so many more rewards. While I was researching, actually I was blog stalking a friend of mine, I found an interesting article she posted about a woman who is obsessed with reading "Mormon Mommy Blogs". I found it quite fascinating that this woman; atheist, single, "overly educated" as she put it, would be so interested with the everyday in-and-outs of these stay-at-home Mormon women. I highly doubt that anyone outside of our circle of friends and acquaintances read my blog. Anyway, this women talked about these "Mormon Mommies" with super-attentive husbands, Gap model children, perfect homes, and crafts up the wazoo. I will admit that I have a very attentive husband, but I'm glad when my kids are clean, my feet don't stick the kitchen floor, and I don't have any hand-crafts around the house at present. What makes the stay-at-home mom so fascinating? In this article, it seemed that this woman was saying that women who choose to stay-at-home are uneducated, unable to do things outside of the home, or trying to fit in a cultural norm. I read many of the responses to her article, and found that most of them were feeling a little resentful at her article and how she portrayed "picture perfect" mothers who probably took large amounts of prescription drugs to compete with one another. I had to laugh! Most of the stay-at-home moms that I know and associate with are well-educated, highly-motivated, inventive women who try their very best to do what they love to do; be a mommy. There houses aren't always perfect, their children may have peanut butter on their shirts, she may have to turn off a football game to get her husband to make eye-contact with her, but she's doing the best she can, and are usually too busy with the household of children to compete with anyone. This may be silly to blog about, especially since I don't usually share my thoughts on controversial things on my blog (maybe that's why no one comments...), but I'd been thinking about my role as a mother for a while, and had some thoughts.  It's really what I always wanted to do. I did have a Plan B. I wanted to be a pediatrician, but Paul found me during my junior year at BYU, in the midst of O-chem, Functional Anatomy, and Nutrition Through the Life-Cycles, classes I use every day! Although there may be days when I wonder what my life would be like if I hadn't meant the sweetest, kindest, cutest guy to sweep me off my feet, I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be a mother, to be surrounded by good women who are mothers, to have examples such as my mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, mother and very capable sisters that help guide me through the chocolate stains, peanut buttered couches, and apple juice spills. The influence of mothers (women) reaches far and wide throughout the world. Who are we without our mothers, those good women who nurture, love and care for us inside and outside our home? A friend of my mom's posted this about my late sister, " I remember when Tessa and Wes were in Nursery. I thought Tessa was the cutest and smartest girl ever, not to mention, very well-behaved! Then I found out why. Megan was patiently and lovingly teaching her in the hallway at church. I was very impressed and I wished I could be more like her in teaching my own child. She was a great example to me even though I didn't know her very well." We never know who we can influence as a mother, especially when no one is watching or when we think no one is reading. I hope that woman who wrote that article continues to stalk those blogs, maybe someday she'll see us a little differently when she becomes a mother.

My mom and the twins right before I had Ewan.

Paul's Mom dancing with Ewan.

The Einfeldts

Mary (my sister-in-law), Blair and their three girls.

Arianne (my sister), Adam, and their five kids.

Me, Mom, Grandma Crimin at the twins' blessing.

African Safari

Entering the Safari.

Olivia and the giant turtle

Walking with the elephants.

That's probably not the best place to be...

or there.

They got to ride the elephant.

They tried to ride the large lizards.

Ewan just enjoyed walking around.

Aislee petting the small turtles.

Cheese!

Olivia petting the turtles.

We stopped to pet the lion pride. They were busy drinking at the river, so the girls  hopped on for a ride.

They weren't too fond of the hippo. He was standing on a small turtle.

Paul and Ewan.

Olivia liked to ride everything! She got on the pig all by herself.

Paul wanted Ewan to join.

Ewan tried to escape early.

Olivia couldn't get up to the Big Horn Sheep, but she kept asking to ride one.

Since the weather has been so nice here (70s), we decided to go to the safari trail to see the animals. It was a little too warm for a jacket, but the twins insisted on wearing one. We walked down the trail and met the various African (or not-so-African) animals that we came across. It was kind of fun to see the kids' reactions to the animals. Olivia didn't seem scared at all. Aislee and Ewan on the other hand were a little apprehensive, but Aislee came around very quickly after she realized that they were not real and could not hurt her.

Bushel and a Peck

 It's interesting how things stick with you even after years, and years. As I rocked Ewan to sleep tonight and sang the same song I sing to him every night, I couldn't help but think of my sister, Megan. Actually, every time I sing it, I think of Megan. "I love you a bushel and a peck." I remember sitting in her apartment in Georgia, listening to her sing to her little guy, Wesley. She would sing this song over and over, and leave out certain words that he would fill in. Wesley knew that his mommy loved him more than anything. As Megan added to her family, she continued to sing this song to her kids. I remember her singing it for Tessa, and then Krissy. It's a very simple song. It probably doesn't really make sense to many of us anymore because we don't use such measurements, but the message it contains; "I love you more than you can imagine." It's just interesting how such little things, little songs stick with you. I can't imagine singing that song with out picturing Wesley and Megan; Wesley filling in the "peck" and giving "hugs around the neck." I hope my kids know that I love them more than they can imagine.

The ten of us before Rand left on his mission, and a few months before Megan past away.

Arianne, Megan and Me

Megan at Lake Powell with Wesley, Tessa, and baby Krissy.

Megan keeping Tessa safe.

Sweet baby Krissy.

Tessa Lou

Wesley (Westifer)

Wesley and Uncle Joel (I just love this picture)

The four older kids, Christmas of '86.

Christmas of '85.