2 weeks of E

first bath

meeting the cousins

playing with the boys

Happy Birthday to me

best birthday ever
Sean made my Pavlova!
I was surprized by a present
got to cuddle with a sweet baby girl
the boys remembered it was my birthday
I got some sweet nonstick pans, boots and a fox
I stayed home and didn't have to travel anywhere on my birthday 
Mum was here...nothing says happy birthday like waking up  at 3 am to jig baby E to sleep so a tired birthday girl can sleep for a couple of hours or maybe it was all the dish doing, room cleaning, nappy changing, food making and babysitting. thanks mum.

Christmas 2011

This Christmas was really special because we got to spend it with Grandma, aunty Bethy and the Gallants

J dressed as the Angel for our nativity

mary, shepherds and joseph.....costumes were all picked by the kiddos

christmas cookies that were never given away

the boys got a kinnect

playing dance central

zac super excited to get his very own motorbike

trying to brainwash will into byu. it should say byu idaho.

Elise and her cute bunny

playing with the cousins after dinner

 We skipped out on a couple of our traditions because I was just too tired and the boys don't remember what we do for Christmas and neither does Sean so I was thinking I could pick different traditions every year. 

Baby!

Elise Desiree Berensen

December 14th 2011

8:18am

9 Pounds 2 ounces

20.5 Inches

After the photos I'm writing all the gory birth story details.  You've been warned.

With this baby I felt like I should try to experience a natural birth.  Crazy right? nope not really.  I had heard too many epidural horror stories and I'd basically gone natural by accident with Zac so I decided to be prepared this time.  I took Hypnobirthing class and it was awesome! I'm totally sold on hypnobirthing it helped me tremendously, if you are pregnant you should look into it.  Here is the confession to which I'm really embarrased to admit to my other hypnobrithing mothers...I ended up getting an epidural and it was the best.  Hypnobirthing + epidural = best labour and recovery ever. 
So I started feeling consistent contrations while we were at the dinosaur bones museum around 5ish on tuesday night.  By 7pm I started timing them and Amy came to get the boys.  They were very excited to be going to sleep over at Amys house.  I laboured as long as I could at home and at around midnght things started picking up so I thought I should get to the hospital so they could put me on the monitors before I really needed to start concentrating.  We arrived at the hospital and I was still at a 3cm (I'd been that at my doctors appt earlier that day)  The nurse checking me in took about an hour just to register me she was so slow and the entire time I had to be hooked up to the monitors for a reason she couldn't tell me.  After that she told me to go and walk then we came back in and I thought I was doing all this hard work and that I'd be really close but when she had to check me again to register me again I was only at a 4 which is why in hypnobirthing they tell you not to have them check you at all.  I was really discouraged but I kept trying and remembered that I went from a 6 to delivery with Isaac in 45 mins.  Then I threw up alot and got the shakes and couldn't hold my self up to do any sort of position changing and I had a really hard time concentrating on the hypnobirthing breathing and relaxing techniques so the pressure i felt turned into pain, I called for a epidural!  I think the entire staff were relived, including my doctor (she told me afterward that she doesn't understand why women don't get epidurals and aren't induced at 39 weeks).  Seriously if you want some support from hospital staff to go natural don't deliver where I did.  2 hours later the epidural man came in and gave me the best epidural ever, I could still feel my legs so when it came time to push I knew and was able to use the hypnobirthing birth breathing to breath my baby out.  two contrations and minimal stitching miss Elise came into the world.  she was promptly taken away because she was having a little trouble breathing, it felt like they had her forever and I was a little miffed that everyone else had held my baby before me.  When I finally got to hold her I decided she was the cutest newborn ever, serioulsy both will and zac looked like old men when they arrived.  She is eating like a champ and sleeping exactly how a newborn would sleep.  The boys love her, for zac it was love at first sight but William threw a huge tantrum and wanted nothing to do with her.  Don't worry now he loves her just as much as the rest of us.  so even though some people may think that the hypnobirthing class was a waste of money because he knew i was going to get a epidual anyway hypnobirthing helped me during labour which means the class was worth every penny and even though I felt like a failure when I got the epidural I really wasn't prepared to be spewing my guts out and shaking uncontrolably but thats child birth you really have no idea what will happen.

Happy Thanksgiving

The Pligrims came to Williams preschool for a big feast

Making the thankful tree

Isaac bird by our thankful tree

William:  I am thankful that I don't die, preschool and playtime with Isaac
Isaac: I am thankful for baby sisters, tigers and playgroup
Both are thankful for Wild Kratts.

Have you ever...

I'm positive that a pregnant brain is completely different to a regular brain because here are some of my thoughts lately that I just had to get out of my head because I'm finding it hard to get to sleep right now even though all I want to do these days is sleep. I'm not sure if that is because I'm growing a human or because I know in a couple of weeks I'll get no sleep at all for months.  So here is whats floating around in my brain tonight....

Have you ever

• not wanted to go to bed just because you know you’ll be tired in the morning
• Liked blue grass but hated country
• Felt like your life is a never ending cycle of dishes
• Thought you might explode because your kids just may be the cutest in the entire universe
• Wanted to crash into someone just to see what it would be like
• Wanted to erase your memory so you could read a book for the first time again
• Cry more in movies now that you have kids
• Think actors are better looking in some movies just because you like their character better.
• Purchased items of clothing or shoes that you are so in love with you haven’t actually worn them yet
• Wonder if you offend people because you don’t like something that they love
• Hate people touching you when you sleep
• Discover that all you really want in a house is a good kitchen and fabulous natural light
• Want to move to the country and learn how to farm
• Wonder why girl beach volleyball players have to wear bikinis? The boys play just as well in shorts.
• Get mad at yourself for not reading a really good book slower
• Change your dinner plans because making that dish causes too many dishes
• Go to a park with no swings on purpose
• Wonder how your favorite song and the worst song in the world comes from the same band
• Wonder why people tail gate? Bbq in a parking lot just doesn’t sound really appealing

That's what happening in my head.  Meanwhile in real life A&co came over this morning and she helped me sort out the junk corner and one of my closet's!  Thankyou A!  now the baby has a corner all of her own.  AND in other big news the Mr. and I may have actually agreed on a name. So I'm not reading anymore books, watching new tv/movies or meeting any new people until this baby comes just in case someone evil ruins the name. 

Nutella

One time I swapped my entire lunch for a trial size version of Nutella. totally worth it.  These days I buy the costco sized Nutella, cause I'm all grown up and can eat whatever I want as long as I buy it and make it  So although I try everything I can that is Nutella flavoured like cookies, cupcakes, gelato and have basically tried spreading Nutella on everything nothing is better than eating it from the jar.  Anyway I just wanted record that I may have found a Nutella flavoured thing that is better than Nutella flavoured spoons and it is Nutella yogurt fruit dip found on pinterest.  The best thing ever!  I didn't make it with greek yogurt cause its too expensive I just used plain yogurt and I think my days of eating Nutella out of the jar are over.  Really you don't even need the fruit, its my new favourite healthy dessert, you know healthy because of the yogurt...right?  This new found food addiction may be because I'm pregnant.  ooo I wonder what it tastes like frozen?

Baby Shower!

Eat your heart out Martha Stewart &co, S, R and L just put together a better baby shower than you ever will!  and guess what it was for my baby!
I enjoyed it so much that I was bawling happy tears of gratitude all the way home, you know Sally Fields Oscar speech style, for real.  It was a beautiful party, I really don't know what else to say other than thank you friends for making this baby shower so special. 
I'm trying not to think about how we have to leave all the wonderful friends we've made here in Houston at the end of the school year, I may just start crying sad tears.  It seems we are always leaving after I have a baby, first Rexburg then San Antonio and now Houston.
I didn't get that many pictures because I was too busy having fun, opening presents and eating fondue.  A friend did take some more pictures but since they have a pregnant me in them I'm keeping them for myself.

Here is the food minus the chocolate and cheese fondue. yum.
 guess what? those fabulous looking cupcakes had oreos in them!

Little hot chocolate party favours, can you see the little feet? so cute!
sorry about the blurry photo.

Thank you to everyone who came and an even bigger thank you to S, L, R for putting it all together.  Come out anytime now baby girl because you have lots of cute clothes to try on!

Happy Birthday William

Mr William,

I regret to inform you that since your mother was 35 weeks pregnant at the time of your birthday we did not have the awesome Wild Kratts party with all your friends as discussed.  We opted for a smaller more intimate affair with your cousins.  We did this because cousins can be told 30mins before the party starts when to come for the party and they don't care about party favours, cakes, decorations and they'll even help you cook lunch. 

It was still a very fun party complete with Shark cupcakes and shark fins.  Please inform your father that cupcakes are very trendy right now and you are not being deprived by having no birthday "cake" Also cupcakes are smaller and your mother did not want to have Halloween candy and 3/4 of a birthday cake available in one week. 

The cousins won the present game with a remote control car that you have played with everyday.  Grandma B sent you bumblebee transformer, it doesn't get transformed very often because your mother refuses to learn how to do it and father gets very frustrated every time he picks it up, so its just a lovely yellow car right now.  Grandma G and Great Grandma W sent some money. Mum got you s a shark and a shark attack victim, and dad got you a spider man watch in hopes you would quit playing with his expensive watch.  You still play with it.  So you see it was an excellent birthday even if you won't remember it. 

Sincerely,

the birthday fairy

thats supposed to be a shark jumping out a wave...

our birthday guests

Shark fins that needed alot more safety pins than I had

Halloween

Wolverine and BumbleBee

I have never been a lover of Halloween but this year I really tried to celebrate it.  It was all peer pressure. William had a Halloween party at school and the boys actually knew what trick or treating was so I figured we’d give it a go and I think I finally get Halloween!  I always wondered why people loved a holiday that celebrated scary stuff? but I was looking at the meaning behind Halloween and its origins, no one cares about all that stuff it is just a day to get candy from strangers and dress up.  Like an atheists Christmas, just for the presents.  So while I was complaining to Sean about all the stuff you have to do for Halloween and how many candy meltdowns we’d had already I told him that I’m not doing Halloween ever again.  He immediately said that it was really unfair for the boys and Halloween what the best holiday ever getting all that candy and going through it.  See my problem is I don’t have any childhood Halloween memories to look back on when my kids are having meltdowns.  Parents must love Halloween because they are re-living their childhood and not thinking about costume changes, candy meltdowns, naggy children, decorations and nightmares.   So our compromise for next year is Sean is going to do all Halloween related activities with the boys, which is why I’m coming out with my Halloween indifference publicly so all of you can remind Sean that he’s in charge of Halloween next year. 

On a brighter note, the boys did have lots of fun at the trunk or treat and they loved dressing up!  And both of them ended up throwing away some of the candy they collected thanks to William having a very bad fever Halloween night.  Sean ate all the rest because apparently dads have a 10% tax for all halloween candy collected.  I think he made that tradition up.
 

Whiney preggers post...

 Things you shouldn't say to a pregnant lady

• Why are you so emotional today? 
• So you went to bed at 11 and got up at 7.  8 hours sleep, maybe you got too much sleep.
• I'll give you a $500 shopping spree when you get back to your pre-baby size. 
• Holy cow you weigh as much at me?
• 6 weeks to go, wow you are big.
• You know if you eat that snickers you could get diabetes.
• How much of that did you eat? 
• Oh I hate it when people don't pick out a baby name till after the baby comes. 
• this pregnancy has been hard on me too. 
• awww babe could you rub my foot/calf/shoulder its really sore from basketball.
• I'm so tired.  I shouldn't have stayed up till 3am playing xbox.
• awww look here come the pregnancy love handles/double chin its so cute.

this pic is for linny &lize
32 weeks

after smacking my belly Isaac says, "don't worry mum i was just hitting my sister." not worried at all.

 

*No one was offended in the making of this post. please don't be offended when reading it.  I promise I won't complain anymore even though when i'm pregnant i feel like only other pregnant women have the right to complain about anything.

Anyway here is some happy preggers thoughts

William is really cute when he sees/feels the baby move. 
She is really responsive to his voice and always moves when he yells, "hi baby sister," at my tummy.   I don't mind it at all when he says wo mummy your tummy is huge!

Isaac wants to hold her every day when she comes out but not when she is slimey.
He really wants to name her lucy farto or ponga stinker and he is going to make sure he puts all of his good toys away because she doesn't know how to play with them.

 

Oil Ranch

At the Oil Ranch we...

Rode Horses

Milked a cow

Found spiderman

bounced in a castle

raced some horses

brushed a goat

Made a cow face

got up close and personal with some cows

found our way through the hay maze

got smart and moved further back on our seats so the cows wouldn't try to eat us

flew around on the indian sky swings

more swinging

 It was a great day! We had lots of fun with our friends and Mummy didn't melt or go into early labour.  Daddy was able to come because Clinic was closed for a conference.  There were hardly any people there so we didn't have to wait in line for multiple horse rides.  Poor Zac suffered the only mishap of the day when he was attacked by fire ants.  We hate fire ants but love the Oil Ranch.

Lately

Just some random things that needed to be recorded.

William is loving preschool.  He always asks to stay later.  Isaac is enjoying mummy preschool and seems to believe me more than William did.

Both boys started soccer at the Y this fall.  William loves it and is really getting the hang of it this year.  Isaac on the other hand is more than happy to sit on the sideline and pull up grass.  When he is on the field he usually just runs around behind the pack of kids following the ball.

not happy playing soccer. I hope a trophy will cheer him up.

After watching Babe or the pig movie as its known here.
Will:  Mum, what happens to the mummy pigs
Me: Well, they kill them so we can have ham and bacon.  (I know so delicate)
Will: No where to they go?
Me: they die then we eat them.  When you are eating ham you are eating a mummy pig.
Will: awwwww. pause.  Can I have some ham?
No vegetarians around here.

Yard sale season is here and my best deal has been baby gap stuff for $1 a piece, some of which were brand new.  Williams best buy, a wolverine costume.  Isaacs best buy, a new Hercules figurine with a sword that lights up,  I should tell him its a Nephite since we haven't seen Disney's Hercules. 

I am getting fatter and fatter.  Some days I think this baby will be here really soon and others its not soon enough and I still have 10 weeks left.   I don't really have anything to complain about I am still making it to the gym most days and Wild Kratts make it possible for me to take a nap.

Zac;  Mum why did you get married in the temple?
me; So I could stay with daddy and my family forever even if I die
Zac; oh if you get married in a house you die?

Wolverine watches General Conference.  Do you?