Ethan

Ridin' his cousin's trike at G-ma Jansson's house in May 2010.

He LOVES legos!  Showing off his big tower!

Ethan turns 3!!!  Diggin' his Superman cupcake.

Hugging Uncle Logan.  Ethan loves giving Logan hugs =)

I tried to have a Harley Davidson themed birthday party but it turned out to be just a motorcycle party instead.  Like the kids cared, I know. 

Family party at Pirate Island!

Church Halloween Party.  He couldn't wear his mask so I offered to draw a spider on his face instead.

We lost his mask for Halloween day and so leave it up to a super cool Dad who can just draw it on instead!  Pretty good job, eh?

Jane

She's lost two teeth on the bottom and the top two are loose!

Was in the 24th of July Parade as a future missionary

Started kindergarten!  She's one of the oldest and tallest in her class.  She loves PE, reading time and any craft that involves paint!  Her best bud in class is a boy in our ward named James (yeah it's hard keeping their names straight!)

Sittin' pretty coloring a school bus.

Jane has a tendency to hug too close to the chest area.  She did the same thing to the princesses at Disneyland.  But she loves hugs and she LOVES her teacher Ms Harris.  But sadly Ms Harris left for a mission and when they got back from Christmas break they had a new teacher.

Church Halloween party . . Tinkerbell of course =)

Halloween Day.  Princess Aurora.  We had a nice little hailstorm visit us while trick or treating!  The kids came home, had dinner then went back out after the storm cleared =)

 

Jane got to dress up for Elf Day at school.   But sadly it was the day we got hit with 2 feet of snow so they canceled school and then it was Christmas break.  Thankfully my neighbor next door had her own elf party the next day!

3 - 2 - 1 . . . Reset

I'm not one for new year's resolutions.  They're too easy to break.  I, like most people, am constantly setting goals.  I've had the usual weight loss, get out of debt, read the scriptures more, go to the temple type of goals.  Which I still want to be better at but after 2010 I sort of see life differently.  I was reading a book on how to get your child to fall asleep on their own and came across a sentence I rather liked.  I can't find the exact wording but the gist of the sentence was; don't wait for a Monday to start your routine.  Start on a Thursday instead.  I really like that.  I find I incorporate that a lot in what I do.  My laundry day's used to be Monday's . . why?  Because they suck already so I should make them worse??  Let's start on a Tuesday or Wednesday?  I guess that's why I've never fancied New Year's.  I felt like I was already being set up for failure.  So last year I tried to start things when they worked for me and made sense.  Because of this it made me constantly review my life and see where I was at at that time.

For instance, when Jane started up school last August, I was waking her up at 7:30 to be out of the door by 8:05.  It worked great until the kids started waking up at 7:00.  URG!  Can't a person get some sleep??  Well then let's make the most of it.  I had them cleaning up their rooms and whatnot, but they didn't care too much for that.  Then the thought came into my head, "Hey, you used to read the scriptures before school when you were little.  Why not start now?"  So we did.  And it was great!  How sad would be if I would've waited and put that on my new year's resolution list??

I can say, though, that the one thing I love about New Year's is that it feels like a big reset button!  I try to reflect on the past year and see the mistakes I made and try my hardest to never do them again.  Looking back on past events helped me to realize I could have been more compassionate.  I could have served more.  I could have treated my children with more love and yelled less.

I know my view on this has it's holes and flaws.  But it's what I got and I commend anyone for trying to be a better person and progressing no matter how they choose to do it.

I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to grow and learn in every aspect of my life.  I'm thankful for a reset button every year to reflect on my past so I can move forward a better person.  I'm thankful for brand new days to be a better mom, wife and  . . .just a better me =)

***  Side note  . . . .If I had to pick a big New Year's Resolution it might be something along the lines of finding JOY no matter the trials that come my way . . .=)

Dylan Brent Seavers

(I better get to this post before I forget all that happened . .blast the postpartum!)
Okay I'll try not to get too long winded but a few people have asked about Dylan's birthday.

I was sitting at home on bedrest checking stuff out on the computer . . .facebook, gmail . . .then some more facebook.  After doing that for sometime I thought I should take a nap when I felt a pretty good contraction coming on.  I thought to myself, I'll go to the bathroom NOW before the contraction gets too bad and see if  I can relieve the pressure in my bladder so the contraction doesn't get any worse.  Normally I breath through the contraction and THEN go to the bathroom . .TMI I know but it's needed for the full story.  Well I got going on the potty and for those of you who have had babies and felt your water break, well I heard that pop inside of me telling my water broke. . . .buuuut no water came flowing out.  So I thought maybe I was mistaken.  That's when Brent came into tell me something and noticed the slight look of terror on my face.  I told him what happened and he suggested going to the hospital just to see if anything happens.  I agreed with him since the hospital was 22min away and there was crazy construction going on.  So we shipped the kids off to my neighbors house and jumped in the car to head to the hospital.

The drive was uneventful and so was my stomach.  No contractions the whole time we were in the car.  Now I was starting to feel like it was a false alarm and that I'd look like an idiot when I got into the hospital.  I'm sure the nurse would wonder what my problem was being that this was my 3rd child and I still didn't know what it felt like to have my water break!

Well we made our way to the 3rd floor and they but me in like a mini check-up room and the nurse said she was going to check to see if in fact my water did break.  She does her test and it comes back negative for amiotic fluid.  Great!  I am an idiot, I thought.  So then she decided to see how far I was dilated.  Well when she did a huge gush of water came out . . .so sorry nurse lady!  So I guess the rest of the water came out and yes my water had in fact broke!  I was so not ready mentally to be having a baby that day!  But it's not like it's something you can just put on hold until you are ready!

So off I went to the labor and delivery section to have our baby.  Man I was glad that Brent had that day off of work and was right there beside me the whole way!  Oh and just to give a time table really quick.  I heard the pop sound at about 2:30 p.m. and was in the car to the hospital at about 2:45.  Got checked in at about 3:30ish and hear comes the fun part . . .had the baby at 4:44 p.m. of the same day!  Yes the baby came an hour and 10 min after my water broke for real.  No that doesn't typically happen for people and yes I'm very lucky that I dilate early.  But there is the downside of dilating too fast in the fact that I have to go on bedrest and be pretty much immovable until it's safe to have the baby come (not my favorite).

This un-medicated delivery about "done me in" as Eliza Doolittle would say.  I'm glad it's my last because I don't know if my body could handle another one.  I say un-medicated because I realized everyone has a natural birth it just depends on whether they are happy while in labor or screaming there lungs out . .hehehe.  I'm all for whatever makes you happy.  I guess I like to feel the pain because I'm psycho like that!  No just jokes I really do have my reasons but I won't bore people with that today.

So there you have it.  He was born healthy and happy and ready to EAT!  That cracked my up because none of my kids have been so eager to nurse like he was.  The NICU doctors who were there right when he was born said that my due date could have been off a little bit because of the development of his lungs and organs.  Which means I could have been closer to term than I thought.  I was so freaked out about delivering at 36 weeks and having to stay at the hospital so I'm soooo grateful that it all turned out well.  He was 7lbs 14oz, yes I know a nice big baby, and 18 1/2 inches long.

The next best part about having this healthy bundle of joy was made known to me by me sweet little 5 year old, Jane.  She brought to my attention that I had the best present of all for my birthday . . .a new baby!  And I quite agree . . . but one year of that kind of present is enough for me!

Born July 5th 2010 and my birthday was the next day!

Such a different  face from the top photo . . .
it's so hard to capture what they really look like!

About a week old chillin' on my bed . . .so fun!

Baby's Name

Brent and I were on the couch deciding how to reupholster our ugly yellow wing back chair and were doodling on some paper.  Well that got boring so I started to write out baby's name for fun.  Dylan has been the only name we could think of and now we were trying to find a middle name we liked.  Originally Brent picked Dylan because of Bob Dylan and it was a name I wasn't bothered with.  Well as we were doodling I started writing baby's name and we came across a very cool discovery with the letters in Dylan's name.

So I tell Brent, "I hate writing "Y" 's in cursive and Dylan has a Y"

He tells me, "Why . .oh because you have a Y in your first name . . .well you actually have a few letters that are the same in Dylan's name . . . "

another pause . . .wait for it . . .

We both start laughing because Dylan has ALL the same letters in his name as I do in Lynda.  Pretty funny, eh?  So that leads me to his full name:

It includes both of our first names.  Anyhow just thought I'd share this funny discovery with y'all and now you can have a name to this baby that's coming soon. =)

I think it makes me like the name more now that I have a closer connection to it.

Yay for Potty Training!!!

 Trying out the new pair of underwear!

This picture was taken a while ago when we first introduced Ethan to potty training.  It was fine as long as I kept asking him if he needed to pee.  Once I forgot to ask then it was all over!  So little by little we would try and he would have an accident and then we'd wait and try again on another day.  But every time we would try again he would always do better and better.

 Isn't that just the cutest thing ever???  He didn't want his picture taken so that's why he's turned around.  But that makes it even cuter! 

Finally about a week ago we gave it another go.  What was my motivation for this time??  I was standing in front of the diapers at Costco and I couldn't do it.  I couldn't spend another 40 bucks on diapers.  So I got my laundry detergent and walked out of there with only that, determined to get Ethan potty trained this time.  Well folks it worked!  He did great!!  Only 2 accidents and that was all.  What was his motivation??  Daddy said he would take him to Disneyland.  We didn't say when but yes we will take him to Disneyland.  After the baby's born.  And the baby turns 1 =)  So yes not for a year or so.  But by golly it worked!  He even goes and pulls his own underwear off, hops on the toilet himself (without a special potty seat) and does his business!  It's great!  The only thing I have to help with is turning on the sink and putting his underwear back on.  For pete's sake I can handle that.

It couldn't have come at a better time too with me being on bed rest again.  Thank goodness this time it's only for 2 weeks or so!

I want to ride my bicycle I want to ride my bike

While we were gone in Cali, Brent decided to buy Jane a bigger bike and Ethan his first bike.  They were soooo excited when we came home to find their new bikes in their room!!!  It's nice having slightly taller children because the can get away with a lot at a young age.  Ethan could hardly stand it and Jane was so thrilled to have a bike that was big enough for her now.

I forgot to mention that before we left Brent taught Jane how to ride without training wheels.  She was on cloud nine when she finally got it!


Ethan's 2 and riding a bike with training wheels all by himself!  I'm so excited and proud of these little guys.  It's so exciting being a parent and seeing your children excel!  I WOVE  IT (as Ethan would say)!!

I was on my trike taking these pics.  It's perfect for riding along side Ethan to help him out and give him a push when he needs it.

Mine looks a little like this one . . .super nice to ride when prego too!

I also have a bike carrier for the kids that fits nicely on the back just like it would with a normal bike.  Now the two oldest can ride their own and when baby is old enough he can ride in the child carrier!  I can't wait to ride again!