First Smiles

Totally made up for the diaper blow out a few minutes earlier.

Yet Another "Best Christmas Ever!"

Christmas morning our kids told our parents, "This is the best Christmas ever!" They've said that before, but I think this Christmas they might be right. Katie said, "I'm so happy I think I'm going to cry." And for the record: Will got the almond in the rice pudding.

We had a great day on Christmas and Christmas Eve, but we don't have many pictures. Instead Jer used the camera to record video of our annual Cragun family Christmas program and of the kids reactions Christmas morning. I was going to try to load them here (and I did get two added), but it was taking SO long that I opened a YouTube account and posted them there... much faster. So if you need some comic relief go to www.YouTube.com/jerandjill and you can watch the Cragun "tribute" to the Lawrence Welk show and some EXCITED kids on Christmas morning. Note: The lighting is terrible... especially in my mom's living room. But she did get a new lamp for that room for Christmas. Yeah!

Here are a few pictures and a couple of videos... the good stuff is on YouTube.

Not the best picture of Cal, he wasn't cooperating, but we had to get a picture of him in his "Baby's First Christmas" jammies on Christmas Eve

Sweet Baby on Christmas Day wearing a new bib from Grandma Cragun.

Matthew and Katie spent Christmas night playing with their cousins and sleeping at Grandma Cox's house, but Will and Ashton were happy to come home and play with their jeeps.

Ashton and Will were so excited for jeeps that they started putting them together by themselves. In fact, when Ashton saw the jeep he said, "Yes! We get to build stuff!"

The day after Christmas the boys decided to play in the snow while they waited for Matthew and Katie to get home.

It was SO cold they needed hot cocoa to warm up.

Ohhh... My Heart Hurts

Today was the Reflections assembly at the kids' school. For the second year in a row Katie won the literature category and will be going on to Region. She got an awesome medal. We are so proud of her! (I'll share her poem at the bottom of the post.) Matthew entered a photo of Calvin (his teacher made entering Reflections an assignment) and he got a certificate for participating. They both got passes to the Clark Planetarium... yeah!! Jeremy and I are excited about those.

So, Katie was on-stage after receiving her award and after they read the photography winners she started crying on stage. My mom thought it was because she couldn't see us and she could see all the other parents taking pictures. I thought it was because her photo (she also entered photography) didn't win and I was a little put out thinking she should be grateful for her talents, she doesn't have to the best at everything, etc.

Anyway, after the assembly I had to run my mom to her Statistics final and so Jeremy stayed to take pictures of the kids. When I left he was trying to get Katie to smile, but her eyes were red and she wasn't happy.

When I returned Jeremy said that Matthew was excited for Katie and trying to put on a happy face, but Jeremy could tell that Matthew felt bad that he didn't win. So my heart broke a little for my sweet boy.

Then, Jer said he found out the reason that Katie was crying on stage was because she also felt bad that Matthew didn't win. She told Jeremy, "It's not fair that I get to win twice and Matthew hasn't had a turn to win." Now I really wanted to cry because 1. I totally misjudged Katie and thought the worse of her when I, her mother, should have thought the best and 2. I was so touched at her empathy. In fact, her love and concern for her brother makes me so much more happy than her cute award winning poem.

Now for that poem...

When I Think of Beauty

by Kathryn Cox

When I think of beauty

I think of the moon at night

I think of the stars so bright,

The daffodils, the violets

The sunshine and the blue sky.

I think of the trees so high

They almost touch the sky.

I think of the world.

I think of my home,

My family and friends

And that is why I wrote this poem.

Four Weeks...

The Kids on Thanksgiving

The last four weeks have been a whirlwind!

Four weeks ago today I was sitting in stake conference with a headache, watching my feet swell, and wondering if my doctor's appointment the next day would be my last prenatal visit. (And it was.)

In addition to recovering from childbirth, experiencing sleep deprivation, and helping kids adjust to some life changes, we've been BUSY. Here are a few of the things that have kept us hopping the last four weeks:

• Three Usborne booths
• Thanksgiving and Christmas preparations
• Reflections projects
• Jer finished Organic Chemistry and got another "A." Is he brilliant or what!?!
• Black Friday... shopping and book selling
• The Holiday Gift Boutique with the accompanying planning and phone calls, parade float, advertising time, etc. and then worrying.
• Exclusively nursing. This is the first time I've had a four week old that I was still only nursing. Why? He doesn't like the taste of formula and won't eat it. So, I feel like I spend over half of my day feeding the little darling. And he doesn't sleep as good as a baby who has a bottle of formula at night. And the two times I've left him have required extra preparation to make sure he has a bottle of milk in case he gets hungry while I am gone. On the upside... he hasn't stained any clothes with formula spit up and he always has that delicious nursing baby breath and baby smell. Thank goodness he will still take a bottle.
• Regular life stuff... homework, piano practicing and lessons, karate, etc.

Here are some pictures from the last four weeks...Katie's Thanksgiving decorations on display at my mom's. I love little kid spelling...

Loving our cute baby Calvin...
Decorating the tree...

Making gingerbread houses with Kiersten...Also, in the last four weeks we've fallen more and more in love each day with the little boy Heavenly Father has blessed us with. We are so thankful he was sent to our family. This holiday season we are also so grateful for the birth of another Babe whose life and atonement make every good thing in life and happiness in eternity possible.

Skip to My Lou

Conversation tonight...

Me: Katie, it's time for bed! Go potty!
Katie: I'm looking for a book.
Me: Read your chapter book for school.
Katie: No, I just found the perfect book: Skip to My Lou.
Me: I think your school book would be perfect.
Katie: No. This is my perfect because I have to go to the bathroom and this book is called Skip to My Lou and the toilet is a loo.
Me: Okay. Fine. (Go into the other room and laugh.)

Happy Anniversary!?!

So... when we found out that my due date was 5 days after our wedding anniversary we knew that our celebration wouldn't be very exciting or elaborate this year. (We were just hoping that I wouldn't be in labor on our anniversary... we'd had that experience with Matthew. Thankfully, Calvin was born 11 days earlier and so he has his "own" birthday and we get to keep our special day to ourselves.)

Yesterday pretty much stunk though... It was like a normal, non-special day, only crappier... I had weird health problems and passed out, Jeremy had to work on the farm, Will ruined my make-up (and destroyed the house), I saw the sad state of our budget, etc... We did pick up take out from Stockman's Grill and enjoyed a delicious, but not hot by the time got it home, steak and shrimp dinner.

In spite of the way the day transpired, I still had time to reflect on the day we were married and I feel like the luckiest girl ever to be eternally attached to Jeremy. I love to be around him... he makes me laugh like no one else can. He is such a good dad... I love to watch him interact with our kids. He makes their lives fun and happy. And he is so good to me! I am so, so, so grateful I get to be with forever.

Ashton

Ashton is a funny kid. He comes up with the funniest ideas and says the most hilarious things. Like in the picture above... The other day he decided to use some rock climbing clips to hook him and Will together. They then ran (literally ran) around the house hooked together for about 20 minutes. At one point they stopped for a rest and Will jumped up, ready to run some more, before Ashton was ready. Ashton said very exasperated, "Hold on Jose!" Kiersten and I couldn't stop laughing.

The next day, he had Jeremy cut out arm holes in empty Usborne boxes so he and Will could be Transformers. Later, they used the same rock climbing clips to hook their boxes together so they could be a train. Again, they ran around the house hooked together for 20 minutes or so. At one point, I heard arguing about which direction the hotel was... not sure what that was about.

Since Cal existed we've seen a different side of Ashton. When I was pregnant, he would often come up and stroke my tummy and say things like "Our new baby is going to be so cute." He also confessed to Jeremy that he had a secret toy he like to play with... a baby doll he received for Christmas a couple of years ago.

Since we've had Calvin home, Ashton has been so cute! He is always coming up with cute nicknames for him (like Calvin the Chipmunk and Cutie-pie). He loves to hold him and for a couple of days he asked how and when he could feed him. So, one day Jeremy helped Ashton feed the baby a bootle and then burp him. Ashton's happy face in the picture below is pure delight when he got Cal to burp. It is so fun to see this other side of Ashton.

Yellow Baby

For the 5th time... we went through the daily blood draws and hassle of bili-lights last week. I do have to say, little Cal didn't have it nearly as bad as some of his siblings. For one thing, he had the bili-bed and bili-blanket so he didn't have to wear "sunglasses" and lay in a tanning suitcase. Also, because we were oh so familiar with babies getting jaundice we caught it fast and stayed ahead of it so he was only on the lights for a few days.

Still... it is always such a relief to be done with the daily trips to the hospital. I'm sure Baby is glad too.

Welcome Baby

Our new little guy, Calvin Michael Ray Cox was born Tuesday at 1:31 am. We were excited when the clock struck midnight and we realized his birthday would be 11-10-09. It goes quite nicely with Katie's birthday 01-02-03. At 2 1/2 weeks early, he weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long.

The 1/2 hour before his birth and the 1/2 hour after were a stressful time to say the least. It was very fast. I went from 5 cm. dilated to completely delivered in 1 hour and 15 min. My blood pressure was too high. His heart rate was unstable. I had to labor in one position on one side which meant that the epidural settled in one leg and didn't actually block pain (but that one leg was nice and numb for HOURS). I had a placental abruption which is very dangerous for mom and baby. And the cord was tightly wrapped around his neck twice (which probably caused the abruption and the heart rate problems). He swallowed quite a bit of blood from the abruption.

The NICU team was ready and waiting when he was born and after working on getting him stabilized they took him away. We LOVE NICU teams!! His cord was also immediately taken away for labs so they could determine how much oxygen he had missed out on and if he was going to be okay. Although it was nerve wracking, I felt surprisingly peaceful while Jer was in the NICU with Calvin and I waited for the test results.

We were so, so, so blessed in the way things turned out. If my epidural would have numbed me the way I wanted I wouldn't have been to get him out so fast. After he was born the doctor told us several times that it was good that everything happened so fast and that if labor had taken any longer Calvin would not have survived. He also said that my health (and possibly my life) was spared because it was so fast. We are so grateful my water didn't break at home, but in the hospital were they were monitoring him and could take steps to save his life. We are so grateful we were in Provo so we didn't have to be separated from him the way were from Ashton and that there were experts there ready to help him. We saw the hand of the Lord so many times in that critical, scary hour. And now that we know how things turned out we can see His guiding hand in so many other things. Why don't we trust Him more? We feel so blessed and grateful that Calvin and I are both here and alive and pretty darn healthy.

Because of H1N1 and the hospital rules about visitors, the kids were just able to meet Calvin for the first time today. To say he is adored is truly an understatement. Katie, Ashton and Kiersten spent quite a bit of time arguing over whose turn it was to hold him. Matthew said, "I just can't stop looking at him." And so far Will has only shown affection for his new little brother (crossing fingers). Katie read story after story to him and did all of her homework with baby on her lap today.

We feel so grateful for our sweet little ones (especially the littlest) and family and wonderful friends who have already offered so much support. We are so blessed!

What Happens When Instincts Take Over

Sorry I have to record this here or I'll forget it later and I don't want to forget it...

Today Will and Ashton wanted to go the farm with Jer and they were so cute about it he took them. I also think Jer was hoping I would have a nice relaxing day at home. It was not relaxing... I am driven... driven by instincts I can't control.... Instincts that force me to push and bend in spite of extreme back and joint pain. Here was my day:

7:30 am... Help kids get ready for school, remind to brush teeth, comb Katie's hair, etc.
8 am... Check emails, reply to urgent Usborne emails, online banking, pick up living room
9 am... Watch Jer research how much different jobs pay in Utah vs. the United States.
9:30 am... Jer and boys leave. My instincts to clean take over! I start sweeping.
9:45 am... Mop kitchen, entry way and bathrooms
10:15 am... Clean kids bathroom and all of mine, but the shower
10:45 am... Clean stairs with carpet cleaner, Start on family room
11:45 am... Eat quesadillas, grapes and crushed ice while I talk on the phone to JoDee
12 pm... Continue on carpets, discover carpet cleaner is not suctioning properly, call Jer, he will come home and look at it.
12:37 pm... I troubleshoot the carpet cleaner myself!! Call Jer back and tell him not to come home, I've figured it out!
1 pm... Sick of carpet cleaning, my back KILLS but I can not stop. Wash walls, door frame and baseboards in my bedroom, hallway, and entry way.
1:30 pm... Must finish the basement carpet cleaning!
2 pm... Basement is done! Set up fans to speed up the drying process... hopefully before kids get home from school and want to play down there.
2:05 pm... Scrub my shower. To do this I have to climb the shower and get on my hands and knees. My tummy is too big and my back to weak to clean it any other way.
2:15 pm... Shower and dress... for some reason I feel more exhausted than refreshed.
2:30 pm... Break out the pedicure stuff my friend Rachel gave me for Christmas last year. My whole body hurts, but my swollen, swollen feet especially need some TLC. Watch the end of Biggest Loser online with Kiersten. That show is so inspiring. I always get emotional when some sacrifices themselves for their friends.
2:45 pm... Start the dishwasher before kids get home so we have dishes to eat off tonight.
3 pm... Reply to the emails that have accumulated in my in box.
3:15 pm.. Kids home from school! Time to focus on homework, piano practice, etc. and figure out what I can make for dinner that won't mess up my clean house.

Halloween... Harry Potter Style

This year Jeremy and the kids were the Weasley family from Harry Potter. My friend Tiffini made the kids' awesome Gryffindor costumes. They looked so cute! Here is her website.

We had a fabulous time at the school Halloween carnival, Grandma Craguns for scary movies, chili and breadstick dinner at church, followed by trunk or treating in the church parking lot. The kids made a haul!!The kids were very excited to go into the Spook Alley. Here they are waiting in line. When the time came though they started to get a little nervous and clinging to each other. (See below)Here we are at the ward party. I've been hiding from the camera for awhile... 8 months pregnant isn't a good look for me. :)

Jeremy wanted to decorate our trunk with a Harry Potter theme to match the costumes, but of course he was delayed on the farm so the kids and I threw it together a half an hour before we had to leave. Sometimes I think that my creative juices do not flow until crunch time because although I'd been thinking about it for a couple of days it wasn't until I realized I was going to have to do it myself that I got some decent ideas. And HOORAY!! our trunk won 3rd place!!! The kids were so excited (especially since they had helped so much... with the ideas and the actual decorating).

Our award winning trunk... Harry Potter & Ron Weasley's room with Gryffindor posters, a picture of Mrs. Weasley, a quidditch game out the window and potions class assignment brewing.

The Carpet

I can not find my camera cord so I haven't been able to upload pictures. BUT if I could... I would definitely post a picture of my mom and dad's carpet cleaner. My siblings and I bought it for them for Christmas last year. I didn't want to be the first to use it, but we had to clean some carpets! So, I finally broke down and borrowed it. I love it! I can just use water and it gets out so much nasty stuff.

Carpet cleaning has become my new obsession.

Now I must get off so I can go do another room while the boys are happily playing trucks.

Nesting

I am seriously so sick. I can hardly talk. I have a headache. My throat is on FIRE. I feel quite miserable. And what have I done the last couple of days?...

Painted, cleaned carpets, and laundry...

It is that DARN nesting instinct. It won't let me rest!! And I still have a list of projects that I want to do in the next four weeks. Most of them require spousal assistance... poor Jeremy!

On the upside... my living room carpet looks like new and Will will be moving into his new bedroom on Friday. He is SO, SO, SO excited!!

Ashton's First Lost Tooth

Ashton lost his first tooth this week. He has such tiny little teeth! He said his tooth felt weird. I felt it and it was SO loose. A few minutes later he pulled it out himself!

All day, I kept thinking... I can't believe he is old enough to lose a tooth. I know he is... he is 5 years old after all... but where does the time go.

Incidentally, he has already figured out that his dad is the tooth fairy.

Pumpkin Day

I have been quite sick since Friday, but yesterday I felt a bit better and got too ambitious. (Now I am really sick again.) I ran errands in Provo, taped off the old office so it can be painted, went to WalMart and for Family Home Evening we had "Pumpkin Day" where we enjoyed some of the 16 pumpkins Levi grew this year.

Dinner was "Dinner in a Pumpkin."
Then, we decorated pumpkins... with sharpies, not knives because the kids are all very independent and insisted on decorating their own pumkins and the LAST thing we need right now is a trip to the ER.

We had a great night and the kids finally feel ready for Halloween.

Only in Sanpete...

Today we were driving from Ephraim to Manti and about two miles outside of Manti we had to come to a near complete stop behind a trail of several cars. At first we were annoyed because we thought that there was a farm vehicle ahead that people were too timid to pass. But then, Jeremy spotted the real problem and started laughing. Ahead of us, running down Highway 89 were...

FOUR HORSES.

The horses ran side by side covering parts of both lanes, at about 10 miles an hour, with a trail of cars behind them, all the way into town where they were met by a Sheriff's deputy. The Sheriff's truck and another truck tried to herd them with their vehicles and finally got them stopped and cornered at the fairgrounds.

We couldn't get good pictures while they were running down the middle of the highway, but the one above we snapped with Jer's cell phone, once we got close to town and the Sheriff was rounding them up.

Baby Bailey

Bailey Helen Cragun

Born Today!

Congratulations Andy and Jenny!

Where to Go...

William was thrilled when Elder L. Tom Parry talked about the Manti Temple during General Conference on Sunday morning. He loves to drive past the temple and look at pictures of the temple and often asks, "When can I go to the Manti Temple?"

Last night, when we were talking about his reaction to the talk my mom said, "Will, do you want to go to the temple?" And he replied, "Yes! I do want to go to the Manti Temple." Then after a pause he added, "Cuz, I miss Jesus."

We, of course, thought that was adorable. Then this morning while I was getting ready for the day I was thinking about his comment. I thought about how the temple is the perfect place to be when you need to feel close to Jesus. Then, the oft-quoted phrase from the Bible dictionary popped into my mind about only the home being as sacred. And I realized... for my children our home can and should be the perfect place to be when they "miss Jesus"... when they need to feel God's love for them and be reminded that He has a plan for them... when they need to get away from the pressures and evil and stress of the world.

And I was reminded again about the great responsibility is to be a mother. Because my attitude and what I do and say will determine whether our house is a place they can go when they are really longing for their true home.

Bed Time Without Daddy

Why do my children listen to Jeremy so much better than they do to me? Tonight I angrily sent them to bed before scriptures were read, chores were fully completed and piano was adequately practiced because a fight over who was practicing first ended up in Matthew having a bloody nose. (They both wanted to practice right then.)

Katie knows she is trouble for the bloody nose and having done very little on her chores. I sprayed "Monster Spray" under Will's bed to scare away the monsters and have threatened Ashton with being grounded tomorrow.

And yet, Will just said, "I don't believe in Monster Spray. Now there are monsters AND crocodiles under my bed." He and Ashton are currently reading tractor books in the hall. And I can hear Katie in her room reading instead of sleeping.

Thankfully, Matthew, "the obedient child" as he calls himself, practiced, worked and is asleep.

Okay... update... Ashton is on the stairs hiding and Will is sitting in my bed saying, "Mom, I'm going to color with you tonight!" Now, he is DELIGHTED because he just drew an excellent circle. "That is cool! Mom!" By the way, while I am typing this Ashton has joined the coloring party. And Katie is telling me I never have time for them because we didn't read scriptures or Nancy Drew tonight.

But I guarantee that if Jeremy were home tonight all four kids would be sound asleep by now. And they would have practiced their piano, finished their work, and received spiritual nourishment and we would have read Nancy Drew. Also, there would not be a trail of blood from my living room to the kids' bathroom or blood drips all over the toilet, floor, and vanity. There would be a lot less contention around here.

p.s. Ashton just said, "I've got to tell you something weird about me. I don't fall asleep at night. I sleep in the morning." This from our little alarm clock.

State Fair

I really liked Rodgers and Hammerstein's State Fair when I was younger, but only had a few vague memories of what the State Fair was REALLY like. I think we only went a couple of times when my 4-H projects made it to the State Fair.

Now... I go every year to sell books at the fair. It is quite different than I remember. Luckily for my kids though, Jeremy has brought them up at least once each year to enjoy the fair while I work my booth. This has turned into a nice tradition for our family. The kids have seen some really cool things and had great experiences. Here are some pictures from their visit this year.

p.s. If you are planning on attending the fair stop by the Usborne Books booth in the Market Building (near the sheep) and buy some amazing, educational children's books. :)

Menu Ideas

I really enjoy the blog "Eat at Home." Recently, Tiffany (the blogger) has started posting weekly menus and shopping lists. The menus have been very affordable, easy and it's been nice to try some new things. (Plus since she has four kids too they are perfectly portioned for us.) If you feel stuck in a food rut (like I did) I highly recommend her weekly menus. Here is the link: http://eatathomecooks.com/weekly-menus. You can get to her website from the button on my sidebar.

Awesome Deal...

I have two dates left in September for Usborne Book parties that I need to fill asap. So if you (or anyone you know) would like to host a fun, easy party (I'll do all the work) this month you'll learn about something new, get LOTS of free books, have fun, AND you can choose a bonus gift of:

The Complete Book of Farmyard Tales, plus CD... my #1 seller. Perfect for boys and girls 0-8 years.

ORThe Internet-Linked Children's Encyclopedia... my #2 most popular book... perfect for ages 4 to adult (seriously, Jer and I learn from this book all the time!)

OR Any set of for 65% off

Plus, we have AMAZING... seriously truly AMAZING.... New Titles (including lots of Christmas ones) just released.

I am happy to travel to do parties!

You can email me at: jill@utahusbornebooks.com if you have any questions. Thanks!!