Nursery

Sandy loves nursery! She loves the nursery leaders, playing with the toy kitchen and baby dolls, getting snacks, and especially singing time.

Here's a picture of her nursery class:

The nursery leaders do snack time at the very end of Primary and then give each kid a ziplock bag to take the rest of their snack with them to Sacrament meeting. Bill and I don't like Sandy eating in the chapel, so we've been taking it away from her. She's come to expect this, so now as we walk toward the chapel she starts frantically stuffing goldfish into her cheeks. Last week she was able to get all of them into her mouth -- I don't think she finished chewing until the Sacrament hymn started. This week I got her from nursery earlier and we stood outside the chapel while she ate her goldfish. That worked out better than her stuffing her mouth, so I'm going to try to get her earlier so we can do that.

She did really well in Sacrament meeting today. I think it was our most reverent Sunday yet. We didn't have to take her out once. I wish I knew what made the difference.

Stitches

Our morning started with Sandy cutting her finger on a tin can in the fridge. She got three stitches and she's doing fine now. Although, I can't seem to keep a band-aid on her finger. Any suggestions? I took her to pick out her own band-aids and we've already gone through most of the box. She's supposed to keep the stitches in for 10 days.

So...here's the story of what happened this morning. Sandy opened the fridge (we've been meaning to get a fridge lock, that's something we will definitely do this weekend!) and found a half-used can of spaghetti sauce that I had lazily stuck back in there with some plastic wrap. She pushed the lid down, and then tried to pull back and got her index finger got wedged between the can and the sharp lid. I pulled her finger out and stuck her hand under the kitchen faucet. It looked really deep and we decided she needed stitches so we headed up to Instacare. We got there right at 7 a.m. and I assumed they'd be open, but they don't open until 9 a.m.

So we called our pediatrician's office and had the on-call doctor paged. He said he could stitch it up when his office opened at 9. By the time we talked to the doctor, it was 7:30. Instacare and our pediatrician are in the same building so we decided to just hang out and wait. Bill needed some lab work done anyways and the lab opened at 8. The biggest challenge was keeping the bleeding under control - Sandy quickly lost patience with me holding a paper towel on her finger, but wrapping it in gauze never lasted long either although we tried it several times.

I cut my finger on a tin can when I was 10 or 11. The can cut into the tendon and it was a pretty big deal to stitch up and repair the tendon.


So I was worried that Sandy's finger would also need extra care and we might get sent up to Primary Children's Hospital. So I decided we'd just wait for breakfast since the hospital would want her to have an empty stomach if they were going to sedate her.

Instead, Dr. Allred agreed it definitely needed stitches, but was happy to stitch it up at his office and thinks her finger will heal well. So he had me hold her on my lap, used a needle to inject her finger with some sort of numbing fluid. She cried while he did it, but she did a great job of holding her hand still. Then he put three stitches in while she watched. She was really intrigued by what he was doing for the first two stitches and sat perfectly still and watched. By the last stitch she wanted to get down, but she still did really well.

On the way home, we stopped and picked up some breakfast.


I thought I was going to pass out by that point if I didn't get some food fast. So I guess we should have just eaten breakfast while we were waiting for the doctor's office to open. I'll do that next time.

Potty Time!

At Sandy's 18-month appointment, Dr. Baar recommended we start potty training. She said there is a window for most kids between 18 months and 2 where they can be potty trained. So, I went out and bought a potty chair and stuck it in the bathroom across from the toilet. I've been pretty skeptical that Sandy was ready for potty training--she liked to stick stuff in the potty chair but that was it. She comes into the bathroom with me and so the last week or so I've started asking if she wants to sit on her potty while I sit on mine, but she hasn't shown any interest.

At our ward playgroup on Tuesday, though, I got some advice from some of the moms there: they suggested skipping the potty chair and going straight to the potty seat on the toilet. So, today when we were getting ready to shower, I put the potty seat on the toilet and the step stool in front of it. Sandy instantly wanted to try it out. She spent about 20 minutes sitting on the chair and getting up and down until she could get onto the seat by herself. She never went potty, but she was having a great time. I'm thrilled to skip the little potty chair because that saves me having to clean it out! Yeah!

So, we'll see how it goes. I'm still not sure she's really ready for potty training, but if she'll happily sit on the toilet everyday, I'm happy to let her. It can only help, right?

Art Class

Salt Lake City offers some excellent and inexpensive classes for kids. The youngest group is 18 months to 3 years. The classes run about 6 weeks. So we took a music class in January/February and now we're in an art class.

Sandy had fun painting...for about 3 minutes. She also had fun gluing...for about 3 minutes. Same with pipe cleaners, pom poms, etc.

Here she is wearing the hat she made. It's nice that we can go somewhere that she can paint and make a mess, and I guess her attention span will lengthen out eventually....

Ward Activity

We held our first ward activity of the year on Saturday. Here's a picture of some of us that were setting up. We had a lot of help, so this is not a complete picture of everyone that helped with the activity.

Our Bishop suggested an unusual approach to ward activities for the year. He invited the Primary to plan the activities and then invite the rest of the ward. I'm excited about it -- I think we've got some great activities planned. We have very talented ladies in Primary and many of them have been quick to volunteer to help with the activities. We've kept it all on a volunteer basis because I understand that everyone is busy. But I have been amazed at what people have stepped up to do! Someone volunteered to take the lead on each activity -- Becky took the lead on this one.

For this activity, we made cards and cookies and invited each family to take a plate of cookies to someone on their way home (we ended by 7 to give people time to go) -- we suggested people could go to someone on their home or visiting teaching list or just someone they were thinking about. I heard some fantastic stories on Sunday about experiences people had when they went to deliver the cookies. (We also served dinner, of course... we had sloppy joes!)

Sherry had everything for the cards pre-cut out and in ziplock bags to make it easy for people to assemble them. She included a slip of paper that said, "Made with love by the Wells Ward Family" and another one that listed our meeting schedule and said "Please Join Us." Since people were putting together the cards, they could choose to include the information or not.


We used black tablecloths from my sister Molly's wedding and Allison brought the pink table runners from her wedding. Some pink balloons and the room looked quite festive!

We put candy to decorate the cookies in the center of the tables. We split up sprinkles into some little cups and Bill had the brilliant idea to hole punch the lids to turn the little cups into sprinkle shakers.


I think it was a great activity! Thanks to all that helped and all that came!

Pictures of Sandy

I realized I haven't posted many pictures of Sandy this month.

I've been asking Bill to do a photo shoot with Sandy in this cute tutu and matching headband ever since she got it from her Aunt Julie on her birthday. I was hoping to get a good picture and use it on a Valentine's card. But, we weren't able to work out a time that Bill was available and Sandy was happy and awake, so the other day I put it on her and snapped some pictures. I wish I was a better photographer, but at least this is better than nothing.

Playing peek-a-boo.

Today, Sandy came up to me and patted my belly and said, "Baby. Baby. Baby sleeping?" We talk a lot about the baby in mommy's tummy but this is the first time she's started the conversation. I'm excited for her to be a big sister!

Having a Dog

The good thing about having a dog: my kitchen floor is nice and clean even after Sandy spilled a large container of chicken noodle soup on it.


The bad thing about having a dog: Sandy helped.

The goal for today was to get the kitchen clean - and when I say clean, I mean I've cleaned the oven, scrubbed the microwave, wiped down cupboards, etc. I've made some good progress, but still have a lot to do.

At noon I stopped to make lunch. While I was 2 feet away making sandwiches I heard a crash and an "uh-oh". I turned around to see that Sandy had opened the fridge -- a new skill. You know, I think that's one of the things that makes being a mom so hard. This is the first time she has opened the fridge on her own and so I didn't think when she was playing by the fridge to worry that she would get in it and spill a tupperware container of chicken noodle soup on the floor. My first thought was to clean it up, but luckily the dog took that job. My second thought was to take a picture, but I decided to finish making lunch instead. Then I looked over and saw Sandy sitting on the floor eating the soup with the dog and I was too embarrassed to have a picture documenting that. Now I wish I had taken a picture.

Baby Shower

My sister Rosie is due May 4 with her first baby. I'm so excited for her -- and it has been fun to be pregnant with a sister again (my sister Molly had a baby a month after I had Sandy).

We had a shower for Rosie last week. My mom came into town and it was so much fun to have her here -- and so much help!!

The invitation:
From left to right: Rosie, my Mom, Erin:
Favors - aren't these baskets adorable?
Close-up of the favor (the bags were filled with junior mints):
Napkins (I found this tutorial online for napkin rings):

A close-up of the silverware with the napkin rings:
The food. We had warm chicken salad sandwiches on croissants, cheese and crackers, caesar salad, and grapes.
For dessert, Gayla made these delicious brownie bites with chocolate-cherry frosting and a maraschino cherry. Yum!
Heather made these decadent chocolate covered strawberries. They went fast!
Heather also made oreo truffles. Delicious!

Now I only wish I had thought to get pictures of (1) my mom and Sandy and (2) me and Rosie with our matching pregnant bellies!

Cake

I made a cake tonight for the Cub Scouts Blue and Gold banquet. We were celebrating 75 years of cub scouts (100 years of boy scouts). Maggie made the cookies for me which was a huge help!

Here's the back:

I used white cake mixes. I think I used 8 of them.


I mixed dry strawberry jello into strawberry jam for the filling between the layers (I used 3 jars of Smuckers simply fruit and two 3-oz packages of jello and heated it in the microwave for 1 minute).

Here's a close-up of the filling:


The three layers before frosting:

Dark Thoughts

I have struggled with dark thoughts throughout this pregnancy. It's a general feeling, almost like I'm waiting for something bad to happen. A lot of these thoughts center around losing this baby. I don't have this feeling all of the time, but it has happened several times and it is really pressing in on me today.

I keep telling myself I don't think these thoughts are coming from a source of truth and light because I don't think they would feel so dark if they were. It's hard for me to remember that, though, especially when they are as strong as they are today.

I'm not sure what started these feelings. Maybe it's the rocky start we had to this pregnancy or the worry that came with Bill being laid off shortly after we learned we were pregnant. Of course, those things have worked out well and we have been very blessed. The pregnancy is going really well now and my OB keeps reassuring me that everything looks good. Bill started his own company and things seem to be moving along there.

Maybe it's just the rash of the things that have happened in Bill's family this past year. The extended Buhler family--including Bill's immediate family--has had lots of health-related struggles this year.

Maybe I'm just more aware of all the things that can go wrong during pregnancy than when I was pregnant with Sandy. Bill's cousin Megan lost a baby last year and my sister recently told me about her friend that lost a baby at 25 weeks. She would have had her baby the same time as my sister and I are expecting ours.

Maybe it's been kind of a rough week and that is getting to me. I took my car in Monday for a minor car repair and the mechanic discovered that the timing belt is frayed. So he is fixing it, but I still don't have my car back. I feel really blessed that he discovered it, though, because Bill said if it had gone out while I was driving it could have done serious damage to the engine. That would have been more expensive - and my mom is coming into town next week and we are having a baby shower for my sister and it would definitely have been more inconvenient to be without a car next week. Tuesday our vacuum cleaner died. But Bill thinks he can fix it if one of us can just get to the Hoover store to pick up a couple of inexpensive parts. So, really, although this week has had some inconveniences, I would have to say things have worked out just fine -- at least they will if I get my car back tomorrow morning so I can get the last couple of things I need to finish the cake I'm making for the Cub Scouts blue and gold banquet tomorrow night.

For some reason it seems to help to label the feelings so I thought writing about it might help. Of course, a good night's sleep will probably do more good than anything else, so I guess I should head to bed!

Mommy, let me go!

Sandy said her first complete sentence today: "Mommy, let me go!" She is talking quite a bit and she has put other words together ("No, Sage! Mine!") that could almost count as a complete sentence, but I think this counts as the first official sentence.

We went to Bouncin' off the Walls with a friend. Since my car is in the shop, we rode with her. On the way home, Sandy reached over to her friend's car seat and grabbed her arm. I warned her sternly with no success so I reached back and grabbed Sandy's hand and held it. She started screaming, "Let me go! Mommy, let me go!" I only held her hand for a minute and warned her again. She still did it again, so I put my hand back between the two car seats as a barrier. Within a few minutes Sandy fell asleep.

For those readers that know my husband, you will not be surprised by Sandy's latest toy. Bill set her up her very own computer.

He raided his computer graveyard for old parts. It doesn't have internet access or even games, but he set it up so the keys do various things: beep, change screen color, change text color, draw simple line drawings. Sandy loves typing on her computer while I type on mine. The desk her computer is on is just a little high, so I'm searching for something a little lower.