Here are finally some pictures of Oliver George and his beautiful mom. He was born 2:14 pm on Thursday December 30th. He was 9 lbs 11 oz and 21 inches long.

Winter Wonder-FREEZING-land

Well, after weeks of waiting for the "snow clouds" to come, Orion finally got up one morning to find them. Dumping snow on us. He was THRILLED, and very disappointed when at 7:00 am, I told him no, he couldn't go outside yet. At about 9:30, we all finally got all our snow gear on and went outside. William was so excited too. Until he got out there. He walked out into the snow and turned around and went back into the garage. Orion just loved being out there I think. He goes out every afternoon now, and is getting better and better about putting on his own snow gear, and taking it off and putting it away. William, is happy to stay inside and play with me.

Today, we made some Christmas sugar cookies. Holy Cow, it takes a TON of red food coloring to make dark pink frosting! The kids had a lot of fun helping, but I got to say, it was a lot more work with their help!! William kept cutting different designs over the ones we already cut, and Orion insisted on doing several of the snowflakes. (The hardest shape to get out of the cutter.) But they had a good time, and that was pretty much the point, so I guess it was a success.

In other news, Philip has finals next week. WOOHOO!! And then he has the last two weeks of December off of work and school. My parents and brother are planning on coming out for Christmas and should be here on the 20th or 21st. AND lastly- I have an ultra-sound on Monday the 13th to decide if we will induce this baby early or not. If I have my way, I will go in early Monday the 27th and be induced. But, I only want that if the baby will be strong and healthy enough to enter this world. If not, he should stay in a few more days.

And one quick funny story. (Or conversation.)

Orion: Mommy, you please play tag with me.

Me: Sweetie, it's to hard for mommy to run.

Orion: It's not hard! See? (As he is demonstrating how to run.)

Me: Yeah, but my big belly makes it really hard to run.

Orion: Oh . . . (big sigh). But your bum is so little.

Who needs Toys?

The other day, we played in the leaves. The kids had a blast!!

And their favorite toy of late- is a box. A regular cardboard box that doesn't have a top or flaps.

October stuff

The Monday night before Halloween, we carved pumpkins. Orion did NOT like that he had to touch the "gross stuff" inside the pumpkin. And then, he didn't like the roasted pumpkin seeds. Silly boy.

On the Friday before Halloween, we went to the Pumpkin Patch. Orion really liked feeding the goats, and William really liked everything. I am a little bummed that we didn't get a family photo there this year.

Friday night, we went to the ward Trunk or Treat. Orion has been looking forward to this for a while. He dressed up as a dinosaur. William was supposed to be a clown, but the costume so did not fit. It was labeled 2T, but I think it is more like 12 month. So he went in jammies. I went as a mom. And Philip went as Dr. Horrible. Lest you think I am just an amazing seamstress, I just want you to know that I did not make Philips costume this year. My friend Ann, designed the pattern, and then sewed the whole thing for us!! She is amazing!! (And somehow I didn't get any pictures of the kids.)

On Halloween night, we stayed home and played games and watched movies.

Overall, I am happy that October is over with and that November is upon us. I am hoping that with the Bainbridge Family reunion coming up, and Thanksgiving, and then all the excitement of Christmas, that the next two months will go quickly and before I know it, my hips and back won't hurt anymore and I will be holding my new little baby boy.

A Regular Piccasso

We got out the play dough today, and this is what Orion spent 30 minutes making. In case you can't tell what it is, this is a jack-o-lantern. Complete with green hair, orange ears, and a chin & cheeks. Really, I should have had him make it on paper. Then we could have let it dry and sold it for thousands to some museum.

Halloween House

Philip drives by this house on his way home from school three nights a week. He thought it was pretty fun, and so we took the kids to go see it Saturday night. Orion was facinated by some things, and scared of others. They had their whole huge yard just covered with inflatable decorations.

GOOD NEWS!!

So, I had another OB appointment today. It was a really long one again, because I got to do the three hour glucose test, again. But the good news: if my numbers come back normal I DON"T HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN!!!! (I will find out the results tomorrow.) In between waiting, I also got to have an ultra-sound. Good news: this baby is only measuring in the 70th percentile. Right now he weighs about 3 pounds 2 oz. Most babies at this point weigh about 2 pounds 8 oz. He is also still head up (I guess they are usually head down by now, but they will give him until 35 weeks before they start to worry.) and his feet are also up where his head is. That has got to be uncomfortable. Then again, I can't imagine hanging upside down for three months would be very comfortable either.I have another ultra sound in a month to continue to monitor his growth. I did get some semi-bad news at my appointment today though. I have to start going in every two weeks already. They really just want to monitor babies growth, but still. It's not like they are going to induce this early, even if he was really big.

UNATTENDED

This is what happens when you leave William unattended for just a short 7 and a half minutes. (I say William, because I am pretty sure that he started it, and then Orion joined in.)

I'ts Harder than You Think

Like most three year olds, Orion loves to help. It doesn't matter what I am doing, he wants to help. At least he thinks he does, until he starts really helping. For example, I am picking up the house, and Orion asks to help. " Sure, can you take all your toys to your room?" A few minutes later, he comes to me and says, " Mommy, this is harder than I thought." Or when I am putting sheets on the bed and he asks to help, I hand him a pillow case and ask him to try to put it on. He enthusiastically starts trying. After a few minutes, he brings me the pillow and case, and says " Mommy, this is harder than I thought." I hear this many times a day. And I usually reply with "Well, it's a good thing you can do hard things."

Recently in Institute we were discussing repentance. At the end of class, we watched a short seminary video about how repentance is A LOT more than just quiting what you are doing. At the end of the video, the teenager tells his uncle " I guess repentance is a lot harder than I thought."

Well Orion, I want you to know ahead of time that repenting is going to be a lot harder than you think it will be. And it is probably (ok, not probably but really) better if you just avoid doing the things that require repentance. But, I know that you will be like the rest of us and make some mistakes that require repenting. Luckily, I know you can do hard things, and even though repenting is harder than you might think, it is well worth it.

I've decided we live very boring lives around here. In the last month these are the "not as boring" things we have done.

Right after we got home from our long trip, William ended up with an eye infection and an ear infection. This is a picture of him about 5 minutes AFTER I cleaned his eyes up.

We are planning a Bainbridge family reunion this Thanksgiving to the Wisconsin Dells. I was looking at their site, and Orion saw and asked if he could play that game. When I told him it wasn't a game, that we were going to go there, he said with much enthusiasm "Ok, let me go get my shoes on." He was very sad when I told him we weren't going for a while. He then looked at the clock and told me we were going when the big hand reached the 4. Again, he was disappointed when I told him no, we weren't going then either. I tried showing him on the calendar all the days we had to wait before we could go, but he just didn't get it. So finally, we made a chain. Each morning he gets to take one link off, and he knows that when the chain is gone, we will go to the water park. We have roughly 63 more days to go.

William and Orion love to play outside. One day, I showed Orion that I could cross the swing set, without touching the ground. Orion has been practicing and practicing, and now look what he can do.

And lastly, the other night, Philip wanted to make pretzels. So after we put William to bed, we made pretzels. Orion was kinda sad that he couldn't make the "pretzel" shape all by himself, but was very pleased when he discovered he could make a circle all by himself.

Oh, and just a funny little story. (Again, about Orion.) On Sunday in church, Orions friend Molly was crying. He pointed to her and said " Look, Molly is so sad. I will go tell her she is beautiful, that will make her feel better."

Other than that, life is pretty normal. William is busy busy busy getting into everything! Orion has started speech therapy again. Philip is taking four classes this semester, so we don't get to see him much. And I am trying to be a patient mother to my wonderful little boys.

Our Trip to Another World

Just a couple of cute pictures that don't really have a place in this post. Orion is playing "Hide and Seek" with me, and that is where he chose to hide.
Ok, so we didn't really go to another world, but it sure felt like it at times. On Tuesday July 27th, I loaded up the car and the kids, and headed out west. We drove all the way to Kearny Nebraska before I decided I was too tired to drive. We stayed the night in a hotel, where both kids slept great! On Wednesday the 28th we drove to Rawlins, Wyoming. We visited my brother Stuart and his wonderful family.

Orion and his cousin Phillip had a good time playing together,and so did Majia and William. We stayed until Friday (30th) morning, then took off to Idaho Falls, Idaho. What should have been a quick 6 hour drive ended up taking 8 long hours. Construction was awful!! We finally got to my parents home, and had a couple of hours to relax and play before we headed out again for a short trip to Rexburg, to play at a splash park with all the cousins. Saturday was spent playing with more cousins, and we had a special birthday party for Samuel. On Sunday (August 1st) after church my parents, brother Chris, my kiddos and I loaded up the cars and headed north to Hall, Montana to visit my grandparents. Uncle Shawn and his family were also there. It was so nice to be up at The Ranch. I always just take a deep breath and feel like I am home. We stayed up and visited until Tuesday (3rd) night, then headed back down to IDF. On Thursday (5th) afternoon my mom, the kids and I once again loaded up the car and headed to Salt Lake City, Utah to visit some friends. I dropped mom off with Starla, and went to go visit my best friend (next to Philip) Tiffany. I don't know how I didn't get any pictures of that visit though. Very Sad. On Friday Tiffany and I took the kids to lunch and to a fabulous park. Then we went back to Tiffanys house and while the kids played, Tiffany gave me my first ever set of Glitter Toes. After a wonderful dinner, and the kids were in bed, Tiffany was given free reign over my hair. Looks good huh. Yeah, shes great.

Saturday morning, while Tiffany was at work, I went and hung out with Starla and my mom. Then we met Tiffany and Travis for lunch before we headed to Ogden for our good friend Kyles' wedding reception. Afterward, I said goodbye to Tiffany, and my mom and the kids and I headed back up to IDF.
Monday (9th), was my daddys 56th birthday. We had a surprise birthday party for him with all the "in town" grandkids.
It was a lot of fun. This is the super cute farm cake we made for it.

Things were a little less eventful after that. My Aunt Sherry and Uncle Berry and a few of their kids came up over the 14th and 15th. It was great to see them all. I did get to go have dinner with William and Kylie and see their new home. And I drug Alice and Rachel out to lunch and to get pedicures. We went to the zoo with Alice and her family.
I got to go to the Temple.
I took Orion and William out to Reeds Dairy for ice cream.
On the last day I spent at my parents, James and his family came into town. After I got the car all packed and ready to leave a whole bunch of us went out to dinner at Bar Jay. I had a lot of fun talking with Julie on the way up. (It took two hours to get there.) It was nice to get to know her a little better. We had a lot of fun at dinner. And the show that followed was great. We got home just after midnight, and I went straight to bed. Friday (August 20th) I drove down to Aurora, Colorado to visit my sister Tasha and her family. Saturday (21st) Tasha made us breakfast, and then we went to the Splash Pad. Afterwards we met Aunt Janice and Uncle George at Casa Bonita for lunch. I remember going there whenever my cousins were in town way back when. It brought back a lot of memories. After lunch we went back to Tashas and let the kids play while we visited. It was great to get to meet Max and Chris. Eventually I packed up our stuff and the boys and we drove to Westminster, CO and stayed the night with Desi and Mike. Sunday (22nd) morning I got the crazy idea to leave earlier then planned and surprise Philip. The boys and I packed up the car and headed out around noon. My goal was to get to Lincoln, Nebraska, but we didn't quite make it that far. We got to a hotel about 8:00. We pulled out our bathing suits and enjoyed a nice cool dip in the swimming pool. I wanted to put the kids down early so that I could get up early and leave, but William had other ideas. He didn't fall asleep until almost 11:00. Neither he nor Orion slept great that night. I had a hard time waking them up at 7. We were fed, and on the road again by 8 am. William fell asleep about 20 minutes later, and Orion fell asleep a little after that. They both slept soundly until 12:30, when I woke them up for lunch. By the time we ate lunch, went to the bathroom and filled up with gas it was 1:30. The Garmin had our ETA for 4:30. We had to stop in Debuque for gas. But then we headed straight home. We finally pulled into the drive way at 5:05 pm.

This is my hand compared to my brother Williams hand. I don't have small hands, but they sure do look little compared to his.

Aren't they Perfect?

My two wonderful little boys having their after dinner treat. And I think they look perfect! Just like little boys should.