Guest Payne

Funny story. Last week Harrison was playing a game on the computer, and Noah was watching - a common occurrence at our house. Only this time Noah decided he wanted to try and play. Harrison thought this was a fine idea, but decided that Noah needed his own account on the computer, just like Harrison has. So I went in to the settings, and created an account for Noah. While I was there, I turned on the option to have a guest account. The next day Harrison sat down at the computer, but before he logged in he pointed to the new guest account and asked what it said. I replied, "Guest". He answered, "Oh, is that what we are naming the new baby girl?"

Warning! Warning!

Luckily today, I was given two warnings...

Today was a pretty busy day. I had the boys signed up to go the the "playcare" at the YMCA while I worked out, then Harrison had a sports class, while Noah stayed at playcare a little while longer. Harrison also had a birthday party to go to, and I hadn't taken the time to wrap the gift for the party yet. I felt rushed all morning.

While we were at Harrison's sports class, one of the kids showed up about 15 minutes late. His mom said they would have been on time, but she got pulled over. I was thinking "I'm so glad that wasn't me!" I just recently (within the last year or two) had the ticket that I got back in college (driving home cross country) taken off my record. And I have never gotten a ticket in California, but from what I've heard they are expensive. I was thinking "I'm glad I haven't ever gotten a ticket here" and thinking that if we move soon I will have dodged that bullet. That was warning number 1.

So sports class ended, and Harrison and I rushed to grab Noah, and rush off to go to the party. I was giving the boys a lecture on how fast we needed to be when we got home so Harrison wouldn't miss any more of the party. We were already a half an hour late, and so I was rushing. Just as I was telling them this, I thought to myself, "I should watch my speed." But did I? No. I adjusted my rear view mirror and thought "I never see cops around here..." I didn't even have a chance to look at my speedometer when I looked up to see 5 CHP motorcycles and a cruiser with several officers with radar guns. And one of them was waving me in. All I could think was "How stupid can you get?" (me, not them...) After I stopped, I rolled down my window, to have the cop turn the radar gun around and show me that I was going 42. In a 30 zone. All I could think was, "Man, how much is that going to cost me." but I managed to mutter, "I am so sorry." He asked me for my license, and said hi to the kids in the back as I pulled it out. I tried to explain myself, "We were late to a birthday party, and I wasn't paying attention. I'm sorry." He asked for the year of the car, and then said it would be a couple minutes. He went back over by his bike, and started filling a ticket out. I said to Harrison, "This is going to be a really expensive birthday party..." and started thinking about the long term insurance ramifications. A few minutes later he came back to my window. I was prepared for the worst. He said, "I'm going to give you a warning this time. And I'm giving it to you because I want you to get this bird poop off your car." And that was that. He handed me a piece of paper that just told me to drive better - no fine, no driving record. Wow. Warning number 2.

A little background on the bird poop - Sunday morning when we went out to our car, a seemingly massive bird had left quite a display on Noah's window. It was huge and nasty. So big that the boys have been complaining about their view being obstructed by it. But, with gas prices being what they are, we've been driving less, and going to the cheaper gas stations without car washes. So I hadn't had the chance to go through a car wash. And so there was (and still is) a huge mess on the window right next to where the cop talked to me. Thankfully it saved me paying a big fine. I've never been so happy to have such a dirty car before. Needless to say, I drove under the speed limit the rest of the way home, not worrying about the extra time it took.

It's a...

GIRL! Well, at least that was the consensus after my ultrasound- the most strictly medical ultrasound I have ever had. On all my previous ultrasounds (even the ones done for a NST at the hospital) there was at least some amount of ohhing and ahhing about the baby, and stopping to look at the profile, or little movements of the hands and feet. Not this time. As soon as my Dr. put the probe on my stomach I could see a really cute profile with arms and legs moving all around, waving, etc. But it only lasted a few brief seconds. What did the Dr. see? My full bladder, and promptly stopped the ultrasound to send me off to the bathroom. After a long wait at the 1 bathroom in the office, I finally got another glimpse of my baby. Another cute profile, but my Dr. promptly moved to the top of the head to measure the circumference. And printed out my one and only picture for the entire session - yes, the head circumference. The same shot he printed out at my 12 week appointment. The same shot my 4 year old could easily recreate on paper with a crayon for me - a circle. He then methodically proceeded to check all the other medically important things - the spine, length of the femur, circumference of the abdomen, chambers of the heart, etc. Now, don't get me wrong. I understand that these are all important checks, and the reason for doing the ultrasound. Maybe I was just spoiled in the past with my previous doctor who would constantly point out cute things the baby was doing, and really took her time to let you look at everything, both medically essential and cute. Who also exclaimed with in moments of starting the ultrasound, "I see a wee-wee! It's a boy!" So, this whole time I was trying to be extremely patient, but bursting to know the gender of my baby. Just as the ultrasound was ending, he said, "Well, can't tell the gender, so whether you wanted to know or not, I can't tell." Without even trying for a few more minutes. I was like WHAT!?! I prompted with, "You really can't tell????" Trying to plead without being obnoxious. Luckily this prompted him to probe for a few seconds more trying to prove to me that it was my unwilling child that was causing the problems. "See, there's the stomach, and the two legs. That's where the gender should be, and unless you can get your child to cooperate..." he said, pointing to the nothingness that existed right there. Just as he did, my baby moved - "oh wait, if I had to guess, I'd say girl. Oh wait. There we go. A girl. It's a girl." Thank goodness he took those last few seconds. Afterwards I wanted to confirm how sure he was - so I asked, "It's really a girl, right?" to which he responded, "You saw it just as well as I did. If I'm wrong, you're wrong too." So, from what I saw, and I guess I'm just as much of an expert as my Dr., it's a girl. I just hope I'm right...

Too Cute

A couple of days ago, I was helping Noah get dressed, and I was noticing and commenting on how cute he was. I asked him, "Are you cute?" He nodded vigorously yes, and said, "I'm cute! I'm cute!" Then he paused, looked at me quizzically and and asked, "What's cute?"



Just yesterday Harrison was trying on his "Wedding Outfit" (the cute little getup all the nephews will be in for my sister's wedding in May). I told him he looked cute, and he looked at me like I was crazy. "Mom, I'm handsome. I'm a big boy. Big boys are handsome, only babies can be cute!"

Family History Wall

I have been pondering doing some kind of family history wall in my entry way for quite some time. I have been gathering family photos for 2 years, and spent a good deal of time scanning and touching them up. But I hadn't come up with a solid idea of how or what I was going to do. I saw a post on Design Mom recently that totally inspired me. I've been working since January to get this up, and it's finally all in place (except for the one photo I forgot to order....) The center piece for the whole thing is a family history fan chart, filled in with all the family history we have for the Payne and Madsen sides of our family. What took the longest (and is still not resolved) was getting the chart printed. I wanted it printed on nice parchment paper or something - but I had to settle for just plain white bond paper. When I find a printer that will do it, I'll upgrade it - for $10 you can have the a chart generated with your family history all filled in in a pdf form. So I have the pdf, and I can make as many prints as I want (and trust me, I made lots of them trying to find a better paper...) But I still love it. And it got Harrison excited about family history. He found an old check register of mine, and told me he was writing his own family history in that. I even had a friend come over for a few minutes, and he explained to her that mommy's family history was on the wall, and he had a family history in his little book. I'm glad it's up, and I love looking at it!

Sunday Talk

Harrison had his first talk for the year in Primary this Sunday. He wrote it almost exclusively himself. I only added a couple lines to help bring out the theme for the month: "Jesus Christ is my Savior" Here's his talk:

Jesus made the earth. Jesus loves us. Jesus came to the earth to save us from our sins.
Jesus teaches us to repent.
Jesus is our example.
Jesus was resurrected so that we can be resurrected.
Jesus will come back to the earth again.

I simply asked him what he knew about Jesus, and that's what he came up with. I added the part about saving us from our sins, and part about us being resurrected, , but other than that these were Harrison's thoughts on Jesus. He helped me pick out pictures to represent each line, and he quickly memorized the talk (just needing the prompt of the picture to remember each line.) He did a great job!

Perfectly Perched

After a fun evening at the Mitchell's home, a much to early morning waking (5:30 AM???), and a long day at church, Harrison fell fast asleep perfectly perched on two couch pillows. He slept just this way for 2 hours. I just love how his feet are crossed in the back propping his cute little tush up into the air!