Pictures galore...

Hallie's Reaction...

Hallie is still a little unsure about this whole "baby brother" situation.  She came to the hospital first thing Friday morning with Bob and Virginia and she immediately came running to me asking me if I was still sick.  

We asked her a couple times if she wanted to hold her baby brother, she resisted multiple times and then gave in, only to quickly say, "take him." Virginia worked on  her a little bit more and she got a little closer. 

Hallie spent the rest of the day at friends houses and had the time of her life. She came and said good night to us at the hospital before moving to another friends house for the night. As she was walking out she informed us that we couldn't come with her, we would have to stay.  She wanted to be with her friends.   We're lucky she's so independent and didn't seem to miss us too much! The next morning she came to the hospital with her best friend Paige.  Once again, she didn't want a whole lot to do with her brother, she wanted to play with her friend. Paige on the other hand asked to hold the baby and couldn't get enough of looking at him. Upon Paige holding him, Hallie suddenly wanted a turn, which we gladly gave her.

Hallie spent another afternoon with Bob and Virginia before coming back for her last visit for the night. She informed me 10 minutes into the visit she would rather be at Bob and Virginia's house, clearly they're the favorite aunt and uncle - nothing personal against any other relatives, but it's hard to beat Grandma Gin and Poppy! At this point I'm starting to take it personal. The same girl who 2 days prior to having the baby asked me multiple times if we could be best friends.  Had I already been replaced? So quickly? Now she wanted nothing to do with me. This killed me. She was just acting up, throwing fits, screaming for attention. We played multiple games of red light/green light out in the hallway, went for walks just the two of us, but it just wasn't enough. Steve stayed with her at home Saturday night and brought her back this morning.  And again...more tantrums like this:  

We were discharged this morning and it wasn't soon enough for me. It's so nice to be home again, hospitals just aren't that comfortable. We're still working with Hallie: games of Candy Land, dance parties, and whatever else keeps her satisfied. This is going to be more of an adjustment for her than I thought it would be. It seems as though all the sudden, all of her toys and all of her books just aren't interesting anymore. Instead she wants to  play with everything she shouldn't be playing with; the camera, computers, the baby stuff...you name it.  I think it'll hit her in the next day or two, that "baby brother" isn't going back to the hospital, he's here to stay. It's a good thing Steve has paternity leave to help diffuse her energy!

He has Arrived!

Hunter Stephen Pothier was born September 26th, 2008 at 1:19 a.m. 7lbs 14oz, 21 inches. Healthy and strong!

Dead beat dryer...

About a week and a half ago I was moving clothing from the washer to dryer. I started up the dryer: there was a large pop, smoke, and an awful smell. And the dryer had died. We're assuming it (as well as the washer) to be nearly 20 years old if not older. They came with the home and it was always on our mind to get a new set, but they worked great so we weren't too concerned.

Of course it goes out right after we spend all the money to finish the basement and just before we're about to have this baby. I wasn't too concerned. I went ahead and layed out all the clothing to dry, it wouldn't be that bad right? The next morning all the clothing is still so wet, and its now acquired a nasty musty smell. This is when I realized a dryer would have to take more priority than I originally thought.

So I start my search on craigslist, which took some time. Unfortunately electric dryers (as opposed to gas) just aren't very popular, but of course that's what we needed. So after a week and a half we finally found a set, so we could get rid of the washer as well. WAHOO!! Getting the old set out was a bit difficult, they made things alot better back in the day and they were plenty heavy. With all the laundry mounting I can officially say tonight was the first time I was excited to do laundry...imagine that. I get the washer set up, push the dryer into place, Steve plugs it in...and the outlets don't match up. Our set was that old that the outlet wasn't even compatible with our new set.

Time: 8:47 p.m. Home depot is exactly 6 minutes away and they close in 13 minutes. I make a dash (as any pregnant lady would) for the Depot and got their just in the nick of time. We thought there would be some sort of converter. Wrong again. Must buy brand new outlet. Great, this is exactly what Steve wanted to do tonight. Well, Mr. Fix it, installed the new outlet, new dryer vent and in just under an hour we had the wash running. I'm singing praises to Home Depot as we speak, they were there for me when I needed them, they always are. You can do it, we can help.

Comment of the day...

Hallie, Steve and I were cleaning our bedroom. Hallie was sitting on the bed and from out of nowhere, she says, "I love sugar...(long pause)...just like daddy!" Enough said.

Less than two weeks...

We are less than two weeks until the big day! Even typing that makes me a little nervous, but what can you do? I'm starting to wind down an several projects, and making lists now only of things that absolutely have to be done, and if I have extra time later than I'll do some other things, but as for now we're sticking to the "have to" list.

My wonderful and lovely sister-in-law Virginia threw a baby shower for me yesterday which was more than appreciated. She is an excellent host, great entertainer, and an even better conversationalist. She filled her home with my friends of whom she had never met, and yet she made conversation with them as if she knew them. Not only that, she bought a cake from the best cake shop ever, "Shaker Baker". (That action alone showed her love for me!) We played a few games; everyone had to cut a ribbon to fit around my belly...clearly some people thought I was a lot larger than I was because they cut their ribbons way, way too long. I found out who my real friends were!! One game I liked in particular was a card I filled out saying what attributes I wanted our child to inherit from either Steve or myself. Everyone else filled out the same card and tried to match my answers. Here's the card I filled out:
It was fun to see what everyone else predicted I would want, and on a few qualities I had to explain my response.

It was great to spend some time with friends and just have fun. Everyone was so generous with gifts, I really am grateful. Grateful for Virginia and all of her hard work and preparation, and everyone who took time on their Saturday to spend it with me and offer up gifts. Thanks again! We'll keep you posted on any progress...

Exhausted...

My body is exhausted, it aches, and I'm tired...but happy to report that the basement is getting closer to completion. It's a good thing, because my body is telling me, "Please stop treating me like this, I need more rest, you realize you're going to have a baby soon and to make it easier on the both of us it would be a good idea if you just relaxed a little bit!" What about put me over the edge was installing the baseboards in the basement at midnight the night before the carpet was arriving. I woke up the next morning more sore than I can remember being in a long time. I had basically completed multiple reps of squats in the process of hanging the baseboards and my legs could feel it. Luckily we had some great friends who were willing to help us move the furniture down stairs and it's starting to feel like home downstairs, I love it. Of course there's always more work to be done, but like I said before, my body is saying, "Let's wait, let's wait until after this baby comes, and then we can tackle another strenuous project." I'm giving in. For what Steve might think is the first time, I'm saying I'll wait. I'll take a break for a while and pick this up a little bit later. Don't get me wrong, I'm still running a hundred miles an hour doing everything else, but I'm going to leave the heavy labor enduring projects for another time, another time meaning 2 weeks down the road!!

3 weeks to go...

We are down to the wire, with 3 weeks to go...possibly less...

Family Reunion...

While in Montana I attended the Oxnam Family reunion which is held every other year. Here are the highlights and not-so highlights...
Highlights:
Spending time with family- extended and immediate
Great food- each family is in charge of a different meal and we ate well
Beautiful scenery, right on Georgetown Lake
Oxnam Family Olympics - Anything from horse, paintball, to speed Scrabble
Our immediate family winning Family Feud
Nice Cool nights to enjoy
Fun activities to keep the kids busy and entertained
Learning how to play speed scrabble, I'm quite the fan
Surrounded by family so willing to entertain Hallie
Canoe Rides - Something Hallie will probably only experience when we're visiting my family!

No-so Highlights:
Not having Steve there to enjoy it with us
Being pregnant enough to not fully participate in the active side of the Olympics
The 8 hour drive there and back, Hallie was great on the way up. The way back was a completely different story!
Hallie deciding this was the best time to want to potty train
Mosquitos, even with layers and layers of bug spray I couldn't fight off those wretched pests.
Hallie and her cousins constantly wanting the toy they didn't have
Dirty feet - I can't stand dirty feet, but it's inevitable when you walk around the dirt in flip flops!
Smelling of campfire smoke/bug spray/sunscreen

Comment of the day...

We just finished dinner and we told Hallie that we could go watch one her FHE on DVD (which she absolutely loves), she goes running off to the living room to choose which one she wants to watch. Steve quietly says to me, "How long is it going to take before she realizes the TV isn't there anymore?" (we recently moved it down to the basement) Seconds later we hear Hallie from the other room, "Oh no, the TV is lost again!" That dang TV just doesn't stay put!

Montana...

We made our way up to Montana for a family reunion on my dad's side. On the way we made a quick, very quick stop at my Grandma's house. I hadn't been to visit her in two years so it was nice to take Hallie for a visit. We only stayed one night but it was well worth it. My grandma just celebrated her 90th birthday in July and she's still going. I remember when I was younger we'd make the drive once or twice a year to visit my mom's parents. The drive seemed excruciating when I was younger, I remember hours and hours of endlessly winding roads as we made our way from Idaho to Montana following the river. The older I get, the shorter the distance seems to be, and the less windey the roads become. It's a beautiful scenic drive- but the one thing I can't handle about the drive are all the trees. I know, I'm crazy. But there is something about driving on a windey road with trees hovering and sunlight shining through sporadically that makes me ill. It's as if a strobe light is continuously going off and it makes my eyes go batty. To add to the feeling of sickness, when we were younger we only had so many cassette tapes to listen to on our road trips. I associate these songs which we seemed to listen to over and over again with feeling sick driving these roads. And to this day, I don't care for the music. Peter, Paul, and Mary for example...great people I'm sure, but at the sound of "Lemon Tree" my stomach turns, and "If I had a hammer" pushes me over the edge. It's amazing the associations we make as people, especially as children when we're so young that seem to stick with us forever!
As a kid, although it was fun to go visit grandma and grandpa, it always seemed like such long a trip. Looking back, they really weren't that long, 5 or 6 days max. But I couldn't understand why my mom would want to go for that long...flash forward 10 years as I make my annual trip home...much longer than 5 or 6 days! I dread the day when I feel as though I'm dragging my kids to do so, because to me it's a great way to spend my time, being with my parents. I wish I could've realized that when I was younger and perhaps would have made it easier on my mom as she wanted to spend time with her mom. I understand that connection and longing now.I just want to write down a few thing, random as they may be, that will forever remind me of my Grandma:
Hummingbirds
Bird Clocks (the ones the sound off every hour with a different bird!)
Honey nut Cheerios
Huckleberries
Hiking/flower picking
Flavored mini marshmallows
Orange Julius
The silent, hunched over chuckle
Crossword Puzzles
TwisterGrandma with her youngest great grandchild - Kole

Grandma and Grandpa...

Just spending some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa! Hallie's pretty lucky to have so many people who love her so much!

Best of friends...worst of enemies...

When we got to Payette we were surrounded by more cousins, which we couldn't get enough of. For a short period...very short, 2 hours to be exact, we had everyone in my family together. Nathan's family had driven from Colorado and he flew in late Saturday afternoon, just hours before Steve had to fly home. Derrick and his family drove down for the weekend to see Steve and Cameron and Kaytlin managed to be home as well. We fit in some swimming with the kids and spending time together before we all (minus Steve) headed to Montana for a family reunion. Hallie has two cousins very close in age and they are your typical girls. One minute they love each other, the next minute you're prying their hands from eachother, or the other's toy. We're hoping with age they mellow...then again, maybe they'll just be sassy for life!

A little back track...

I realized I was only half way through our vacation to the west before I got caught up in the basement so for my own documentation I'm going to continue forward with our trip in pictures...Last I posted we were leaving Rexburg...

We rented a car and drove from Rexburg (Steve's family) to Payette (my family). We realized just a few days prior to this that the Twin Falls temple open house was taking place. Twin Falls is just off the freeway and really not out of the way, so we reserved some tickets. What was great was the fact that Hallie grew quite close to the temple staying in Rexburg. Never failing, everytime we would drive by it (which was every time we got in the car) she'd quietly start singing from her carseat, "I love to see the temple". She was so excited one night when Nana and Papa took her to walk around the grounds of the temple. So you can imagine her excitement when we pulled up to the Twin Falls temple and told her that she was going to go inside the temple. She thought this was so cool and she once again started singing quite loud (as we're gathered in a small room waiting our turn for the tour) "I love to see the temple". It was beautiful and had beautiful murals painted in several of the rooms with regards to the Twin Falls area. We felt so blessed to have stumble upon the opportunity to attend, seeing as though we felt cheated not being able to go to the Rexburg temple. Hallie was great, and continually pointed out Jesus in all the pictures she could find, which in a temple happens to be a lot.