A mostly me themed post

This week was ultra busy- as usual! Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning I was in charge of Steven's preschool. It went so smoothly and even though it's my last week for this school year, it won't be my last week ever. Thankfully there are enough people interested in doing it next year that Steven will get to be in preschool again. That makes me so happy because without the co-op, he wouldn't get to go to preschool at all.

Tuesday and Thursday I subbed. Tuesday's sub job was exhausting! They had Field Day which meant standing out in direct sunlight for 2 hours- no shade. And unlike the Field Days from my youth, this one included no water play. Plus they didn't have enough Otter Pops for the teachers. Absolutely depressing. But the highlight to the job: my old principal from Coronado, the one who I thought hated me, actually told me I could come see her if I ever want to teach full-time again. Very flattering!

However, that evening I got in trouble with my tutoring boss. I have this awful parent who is constantly "forgetting" to tell me that their child is not going to come to tutoring, and my boss wasn't happy with how I handled the situation. Apparently stating facts- that they are habitually not showing without a heads up so I will have to charge them the no-show fee- was not the way to do it. She also said I was being too crabby with one of my students. It's no fun to get in trouble so I must start working on my niceness. Darn pregnancy hormones.

Sadly I lost 3 tutoring sessions this week. I'm just so good that they don't need me anymore (or just so mean they don't want to see me anymore). But the one client was nice enough to get me a gift card to T.G.I.Friday's (and make me the sweetest card) so Tyler & I had a nice date night tonight. I love FREE food!

And since this post is not too fun, I will end this me-centered post with a fun picture:

Yes, Steven willingly let his daddy try out his rope tying skills on him :)

Happenings

Ben is such a messy, little boy.  I swear this kid is always covered in something and if for some reason he isn't a mess, then he is creating a mess somewhere. The picture above doesn't show it too well but his face was covered with black patches and sticky, white goo.

Ben has been a really happy boy lately, if only I could fix his bad eating habits. I tried this week to give him fruit in the guise of a smoothie, to slip some ham and pineapple in his pizza pocket, and give him muffins with carrots inside. I was unsuccessful, he was on to each attempt...Except for the muffins! I did get him to eat one carrot muffin which he had greeted with, "Birthday!" He thought it was a cupcake. Whatever works!

Above is the result of a random "spooning" incident. Steven was drumming some pots with a spoon and then decided to whack my Kindle. It now doesn't show any of the top words which is very depressing. Especially since I was in the middle of reading an excellent book on it, "The Forgotten Gardens." Thankfully I can still read the book on my computer....

Some funny things Steven said this week (that maybe alleviated some of my anger at him for breaking my Kindle?) I told him he was going to Bryson's house Friday and he asked what Bryson's mommy's name was. I said, "Aunt Tara." He said, "No! Ants bite mommy!" Oh homophone humor. 

Second funny, Steven came home from cleaning the offices at the end of a chick flick I was watching. Of course the characters were smooching and I said, "Ewww! They're kissing!" Steven added, "On the lips!" Then he paused for a moment and added, "I wanna do that!" My, my is my child already fresh.

Here's a lovely picture of Steven hiding behind my bum as I show off my barely visible baby bump. I was feeling large but this picture makes me feel better. I'm really surprised I'm not larger due to all my cravings, Cherry Cream Slush at Sonic, Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory, mozzarella sticks... all matters of unhealthiness! The queasiness is still present, I'm still always tired and my patience is very limited but with every passing week I get more and more excited to have this baby! Only 27 weeks to go ;) 

Umm...Can you say bump!?

I'm a terrible mommy and when I got back from tutoring Tuesday night and saw this on my son's head rather than worried thought crossing my mind, I tried not to gag....

According to daddy, Steven tried to walk inside a round tube and ended up face planting it instead. My poor child :( He bumps up so awfully bad at first but thankfully by the next day it was like half that size. Also good to note, not a concussion. Pupils were normal, he wasn't drowsy, he wasn't acting unusual and he woke up after a good nights rest- we know the drill!

Annual Check Ups

Yesterday Ben and Steven got their annual check ups. Ben had issues with standing on the scale and being measured, for some reason he finds those procedures traumatizing. Maybe because they usually lead to shots but lucky for him, this visit required no shots. Surprisingly, I learned that my little chubbers is in the 20th percentile for weight- meaning he is way below average in weight. I also learned he's in the 60th percentile for height. According to these numbers my baby is tall and skinny but all I see are his chubby cheeks and I just can't believe it.


Steven did really great for his checkup until, of course, he had to get 4 shots. It was extremely traumatizing for all involved. The shot from when they put him under at the dentist was still very prominent in his mind and he did not want to feel that "pinch" again. They had to have me and a nurse hold him down while another administered all 4 shots. I thought I was going to burst out in tears, I felt like such a horrible mommy as he screamed, cried and struggled against me.


In order to lessen my guilt I picked up Tyler from work and we took the boys out to lunch. After chicken stars and a play place he was feeling much happier.


At the doctor's visit, Steven was also prescribed a 5 day treatment of oral steroids. This past week he had some really bad nights and one awful day full of coughing. It was almost non-stop coughing, just 30 seconds in between fits. It was rough for him because he was lacking sleep and cranky and it was rough for me because I was lacking sleep which made me feel more queasy. I even slept in our walk-in closet one night because it was far enough away from the coughing that I could finally rest. These oral steroids seem to be helping though, we had a cough free night last night. The Doctor said if he continues to have these bad episodes though, she may have to prescribe steroids that he inhales on a more regular basis. My poor sickly child. I really hope none of my other kids have such health issues! 

12 Weeks Down

Somehow I missed writing about Baby Hatch #3's ultrasound that I had it last week. Maybe it was because I was going to scan in the picture but our scanner is not working. Lame- I know- but the picture is not the best baby photograph anyways. 

Anywho, the ultrasound was way fun and reassuring. My little baby was jumping around in there like a little jumping bean- I'm pretty sure it's a boy. Baby's heartbeat was normal and baby was measuring well. 

My due date is is now set for October 26th and Steven can't wait to tell anyone he comes in contact with that his mommy has a baby in her tummy. From RS presidency members, preschool teachers to random people in the park. I'm so glad he's SO excited about it! I'm also glad that he enjoys staring at my bloated nighttime tummy and asking if my popped out belly button is the baby. Thanks to that bloating I'm already wearing the stretchy pants which I actually happen to love- so comfortable!

The sickness of pregnancy remains in force. My sickness is like a roller coaster- sometimes I feel absolutely fine and other times I feel so darn queasy. Food helps sometimes and sometimes the idea of food makes me feel worse. And I always seem to feel tired. I love when I don't sub and I can lie down with Steven in the afternoon and take a nap too. The one positive thing to this first trimester is that my crazy heartburn only lasted the first couple weeks and hasn't returned since. Yippee! And since I am now 12 weeks along, hopefully those queasy feelings will end soon...

Easter Sunday

The Easter Bunny came Saturday night and left clues for everyone in the family:

Steven's clue said to go where daddy builds stuff and where his bike's go night, night. He did an excellent job of figuring out his clue and finding his basket in the garage:

Ben's clue said to go to a place that he hates but makes you smell like roses when you leave it. Steven helped Benny out with this one and they found his basket in the shower:

Daddy's clue said go to a room he rarely visits, where things get made clean. He found his in the laundry room (so excited):

Mommy's clue said to go behind the box that makes pictures. She found hers behind the TV:

Steven was very excited with what the Easter Bunny brought him, so excited that he told everyone what he got (without being asked) during Sharing Time in Primary. He got a chocolate bunny, a Mater toothbrush (as requested), an airplane, a watering can, bubbles and gum!

Benny loved his basket as well. He got all the same stuff as Steven except instead of gum, he got a Spider-Man ball:

That evening we had an Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma Hatch's home with all the cousins. The big boys had to wait for a bit while the 3 youngest cousins got a few eggs and then they were let loose. Ben needed lots of help but Steven did pretty good at finding some well hidden eggs..

 All the Hatch boys:

Easter Saturday

This Saturday morning I took the boys to our Ward's Easter Egg Hunt at Spinnaker Bay Park. It was a long wait in line for breakfast that neither of  the boys indulged in but I enjoyed the food. Then they gathered the kids together to tell them the Easter Story, laid down the Easter Egg Hunt rules (only 10 eggs!) and off they went! Steven got about 20 eggs before I got to him and he was quite upset with me for throwing them back out. Thanks to Steven's extras though, Ben was able to get his 10.

Steven, still mad about the loss in loot, just wants to go home

When we got home I boiled some eggs and let the boys dye them. Steven had fun making them different colors and was disappointed that I didn't make more for him to color. Ben just stuck his eggs in the dye and then forgot about them until mommy asked if he wanted them out. Such a goof!

Shown below are the final products which Steven now refers to as his babies. When he accidently cracked one, he insisted it was hatching. I guess he doesn't realize that his mom hard boiled his babies... He also wanted to take them all up to his room for nap time. I'm worried at some point our house is going to smell like rotten eggs due to hiding "babies"

 While we were enjoying our Easter Festivities, Tyler was out on a manly hike with my brother Mike & my cousin Fred. It appears that they enjoyed their bonding time...

Conference Weekend

My best buddy Rebekka is in town from Germany for 3 weeks and in those 3 weeks she has to try and get her whole wedding planned- craziness! So, with such limited time, we ended up spending Conference Saturday wedding dress  shopping. I felt a twinge of guilt for skipping out on Conference but hey, I can read it later, and I wouldn't have missed wedding dress shopping with her for anything. It was way too much fun and I loved seeing how happy the dress she chose made her! Here's one of the dresses she tried on but this was not the winner. We'll save that shot for the wedding day...

On Sunday for General Conference I decided to try out an idea I got from Pinterest. I attached a craft/art activity, or candy to each member of the first presidency and to the apostles (well to the ones who hadn't already spoken on Saturday). Then when one of them spoke Steven and Ben would find their picture, say their name and get to do the activity or eat the treat. I also had a grab bag of things for when other people spoke.

It sounded good in theory and it did work well in distracting Ben. But for Steven, it ended up being annoying. After 2 minutes of the candy or activity he would ask, "Can I look for this person's picture?" I would have to remind him that he just did and he already had the stuff that was attached to it. And of course he continued to ask and pester. It was frustrating and I eventually had to tell him that he wouldn't get anything if he kept asking. Not so sure I'll do it again but at least it did work for Ben...