HALLOWEEN

We had perfect weather for Halloween this year. I felt like I had gone back to California and the Halloweens of my childhood. First we made the rounds to all our grandmas and grandpas before dark, then we had a quick pizza dinner at home, and finally headed out for trick-or-treating. Jeremy passed out candy at home and I took the kids around the neighborhood. Halloween is just so much fun! Taylor was Bumblebee (the transformer), Russell was Spiderkid (he always likes to adapt his superheros just a little for a more personal touch), Benjamin was Sweetpea, Jeremy was Popeye and I was Olive Oil. We had another fun ward party this year that we were in charge of for the 4th year in a row. FYI we grew those pumkins in our garden!!! Jeremy carved the big ones, I helped Russ with the yellow one and Taylor carved the smaller orange one that you can't quite see all by himself!

Road Biking

What a fun weekend! Some friends (Courtney, Brook and Donna) and I rode our bikes from my house in American Fork up Provo Canyon to Park City. We stayed the night at the Park City Marriott, sat in the hot tub, watched a "chick flick", did some shopping at the outlets and biked home the next day. We rode about 90 miles in all. Grandpa McQueen (who is a serious road cyclist) followed us up with the van in case we had any problems but it was smooth sailing all the way UP. The weather was perfect and the scenery was amazing! Saturday morning my friend's husband came and picked up all our overnight stuff and we started for home with no support vehicle this time. We had a really stiff headwind the whole way so it felt like we were going uphill again...bummer. Between the 4 of us we had 2 flat tires, 3 chain issues and one pretty nasty crash...ouch. Luckily the crash was near the end of our ride so we were able to get Donna taken care of quickly. It is sad that she got hurt, but she still wants to go again "next time". She broke her wrist and hurt her hip pretty badly, but was genuinely relieved that her new clothes were not ruined and that her bike was an easy fix. GIRLS! (rolling my eyes.) Aside from the accident we all had so much fun. It was such a beautiful ride, especially this time of year. Thanks to Jeremy for letting me go play all weekend without him.

overdue update!!!

The boys are doing great! Taylor loves first grade and is becoming such a good reader. Last week he wrote a book about Casper for Halloween and it is really cute. There are two girls in his class that "like" him but he likes Megan the best. She gave him her phone number which he was confused about at first but when I explained to him why people exchange phone numbers, he was very excited and he called her as soon as he got home from school. His end of the conversation went like this:

"Hi, is this Megan's mom?
Can I talk to Megan?
Hi, Megan, this is Taylor Haws.
Next centers if we have 'buddy read', want to read with me?
What is your favorite food?
Now, let me ask you this; Why did the cow cross the road?
To get to the MOOOVIES.
Okay, I'll see you today again.
Okay, bye."

The next day they were holding hands after school and Taylor walked her to her car. Or at least he tried...I made him say goodbye and come with me before they got all the way there. As Jeremy would say, "Taylor has mad game." The best part is that it is really so innocent. Taylor is really confused why kids keep saying that he and Megan are "in love." He just likes having a good friend and still claims that he is going to marry Sarah,
the neighbor girl, when he grows up.

Russell wants to marry Annalisa, Sarah's little sister. Annalisa is a good foot taller than Russ. Hahaha! Maybe Russell will have a growth spurt one day, but for now he is loving gymnastics. He is in the Boys Only Advanced Tumbling class twice a week and sometimes he cries when it is NOT a gymnastics day. He also cries if he doesn't have "super-hero-basketball-clothes" to put on in the morning. For years Russell struggled with problems with his digestive system and we did all kinds of testing for food allergies and all sorts of stuff. At one point we discovered he had Giardia and did the treatments for that. He was still sick for a moth or two after that but he seems to be better now! He feels a lot better and has also been growing so we are really happy about that. Hopefully he has grown out of the problem or gotten over it once and for all, whatever it was.

Benjamin is doing so good. He is a rollie-pollie and very squeaky. He loves his mush and he loves it when his brothers clap for him. Ben is a good sleeper and is usually a happy baby. He cries when he is hungry, tiered, messy or lonely so it is usually easy to figure out what is wrong and how to cheer him up. He has been a really great baby and we love having him around!

Meet Benjamin

Saturday February 2, 2008 my water broke, 7 1/2 weeks before my due date. I was admitted to the hospital in Provo and kept on bedrest, antibiotics and monitors for a week before I went into labor. Props to Jeremy for being superdad that week! My contractions started late Friday night and the nurse gave me a shot to try to stop labor. That nasty drug did not work, it just made me jittery and anxious. It was really awful! The baby was breach and his foot was crowning, which is dangerous because it could allow the cord to fall out and get crushed. They started wheeling my bed to the O.R. for an emergency c-section and Jeremy walked in just in time. I was so glad he made it!

The c-section was not a good experience for me...I think mainly because of that shot they gave me. I was so anxious I think I had a panic attack. When they showed me the baby and I saw he was here and okay I had a moment of joy. Then again when I saw how excited Jeremy was to go help clean up the baby. Then my anxiety got so bad I think I passed out, but I'm not sure. Apparently they gave me another drug to calm me down and it made me really weird. I was in and out of consciousness for the rest of the night but don't really remember much of it. Jeremy said, "Now I know what you would be like if you ever got drunk!"

At 2:52 am February 9, 2008 Benjamin Richard Haws was born. He was 4 lbs. 2 oz. and 18 inches long. He was in the NICU for 3 weeks and a day, which was a really long and hard time for me and my family. While trying to recover from the surgery and dealing with postpartum depression I had to find sitters for my kids 3 times a day to drive to Provo to try to teach Benjamin how to nurse/ bottle feed. Since he wasn't strong enough yet, I had to also pump milk 7 times a day so he could get it through a tube. So much thanks to my mom and dad, my inlaws, sister, grandpartents and great ward members durring this time! We received true charity!

Benjamin is doing great! He is home now, on oxygen and an apnea monitor, but he is growing fast and is a really good baby. It is hard having him hooked up to so many wires and tubes and not very fun trying to keep him home, away from germs. The doctor said to keep him away from crowds and public places at least until the end of March, maybe longer. I am hoping for an early spring so we can get outside and go for some walks! Things keep getting better...I am feeling better, Benjamin is getting bigger and closer to being off his "equipment" and most of all, it is just nice to have our whole family home together again!

Happy Birthday Russell!

Russell turned 3 on January 25th, 2008. He had a couple requests...1. that we go to Chuck E. Cheese's, which is a great way to do a birthday party since there is no mess to clean up and $30 buys enough tokens for the boys and all their local cousins to squander freely...and 2. he wanted a superman, batman, batmobile, spiderman and mean spiderman cake. Luckily, Jeremy built some cabinets for a desert shop in town and they asked to pay us a portion of their bill in cakes. The owner of the desert shop laughed when she received the order and said she wasn't making any promises about how it would look, but it turned out really cute and was delicious! Best of all, it took no effort on my part and didn't really cost us anything.

Russ was happy with his cake but only took the time to eat the frosting batman. He was completely uninterested in opening his presents. He was ecstatic to be at Chuck E. Cheese's and all that birthday stuff was kind of a nuisance. He was sprinting from game to game, took an occasional ride and climbed all over the playland. His favorite game was the one where you shoot crocodiles; at least that's what he thinks he was doing. He enjoyed referring to himself as the "birthday boy" all day and his favorite gift (once we left the party) was a dollar store motorcycle from a cousin, which he made great sound effects for. (Thanks Teresa!)

Christmas

I think this Christmas was the best we've ever had in the 7 1/2 years Jeremy and I have been married! Our kids were old enough to really get into it and since we were home we were able to follow and form some of our own family traditions. Last year Jeremy and I felt like we spoiled the kids too much on Christmas morning. They were kind of overstimulated and unappreciative. This year we decided to make a "reasonable" list before we went shopping and we stuck to it pretty well. Don't get me wrong, the kids were still sufficiently spoiled, but they were also happy and excited (that is an understatement) the whole day and have played with all their toys a ton since then! Their improved attitudes may just be the difference in age from last year to this year, but I think we will stick with the "list method" from now on.

Most of the Haws family was out of town so we had a really quiet Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa Haws, Aunt Kelli and Great Grandma Jackie at Jay and Vicky's house. It was different not to be with a HUGE crowd of people on Christmas Eve, but it was really nice. It was a perfect year for me to have a small Christmas because big crowds tend to make me a little irritable when I am pregnant : ). We ate the Haws' traditional "Christmas Enchiladas" for dinner, watched the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert on DVD, and Taylor recited "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss, which was the highlight of the whole night and one of my favorite new family traditions. He learned it last year when he was obsessed with the Grinch and brushed up on it pretty easily this year.

On Christmas morning Jay, Vicky and Kelli came over to watch the kids open their presents. We had a little drama when Russell first woke up and realized Santa had come and gone and was not still there to open presents with us. His sadness diminished quickly when we started opening presents, however. I wish I could have bottled up some of the boys' reactions so I could enjoy them over and over again. We did take some pictures and got some of it on video, but you never can catch the best moments since you don't know when they are coming! Taylor, wide eyed, fingers spread, hands up in the air yelled, "He remembered! Santa remembered that's what I wanted most of all!!" (I think that was the SmartCycle.) Russell thought a couple of his toys were so neat he just held them out in front of him, staring in stunned silence with his mouth wide open in the shape of an "O". Jeremy and I agreed not to spend too much on each other this year, but of course he spoiled me beyond the "limit" we set...not that I'm complaining. I love the jewelry he and the boys picked out for me and will never turn down a gift certificated for Massage Envy!

When we were done with the presents, we had a huge and delicious brunch of cinnebiscuits, eggs, fresh fruit, baked brie, summer sausage, smoked gouda, bacon, juice and hot cocoa. Then we listened to a sweet account of the Christmas story told by Taylor's 4 year old friend on CD. We spent most of the day relaxing at home and playing with our new toys and spent a little time at Grandma and Grandpa's house, too. It was really a fun day!

Thanksgiving

This year we had Thanksgiving at Grandma Challis' house. It was kind of a special time, knowing it would be the last big family gathering there. Grandma just moved to an assisted living condo and the family is making preparations to sell her house. We had a nice big crowd with lots of extended family and all the fun family traditions. We had a turkey bowl, football on T.V., the kids made candy turkeys, we played Turkey Bingo, the men (and some girls) went to the church house to play basketball, we had a nice devotional and ate and ate and ate! The food was great. Each family that came contributed to the meal so nobody had the stress of cooking an entire Thanksgiving feast. I made some really yummy orange-cranberry sauce and Jeremy fried a turkey in our turkey fryer. It turned out really delicious...we had three turkeys and I think the fried one was the first to go.