Milestone: 2 years

I never knew what the big deal was.  Two babies in diapers.  How hard could it be?  Whoa.

I swear that's all I do all day long.  Change diapers.  Happily.

This little lady turned 2 on Sept. 21st.  A week or so before the baby came.  And she is exactly that.  A two year old. 

We laugh at her talking, her singing, her dancing, her book reading, her cat loving, and screaming all day long.  I admit she is at times hard to be mad at, even when she deserves my full wrath.

She has had her world turned upside down, these past couple weeks.  She had no idea where little Elijah came from but she was sure glad to see him.  She has not stopped kissing and loving on him.  I am grateful she decided not to take her anger confusion out on him.  We are working on her sleeping in one bed at night - most of the time it is with her sister, Macy.

I find myself counting to 5 a lot lately.  And shaking my head.  When and how did this happen?  Amazing.  When did my life go from busy Mom to just flat out crazy?

Was it when Mikael came?

Was it when we took on this giant remodeling project?  Or the ones before this one?

Was it last March, when Jace purchased the other plumbing company?  And our lives changed drastically?  I'm drowning in paperwork and he is working hours we haven't seen since we were first married.  Gratefully.

And what will a sweet baby named Elijah do to my sanity?  How will I ever have the time?

Well, so far he has been nothing but sweet.  I am grateful he has forced us to slow down and enjoy this chapter.  There are certain moments in the day, when my lap is full of babies that love me, that I love being home - I love being their Mom and Jace's wife.  I just wish that was all I had to do - sit on the couch and love babies.  I'm probably going to have to tell Jace to hire another secretary and maid.

He is here.

We will call him 

Elijah Lewis Baum

Sunday, September 30, 2012 8:21 am

9 pounds 0 ounces 21 1/2 inches

Much to my delight, labor started last Saturday night, one week early.  It was my best delivery yet.  I am always amazed, no matter how many times I do this, how incredible the experience of giving birth is.  I fall in love instantly and wish I could spend all day doting and staring at him.  He is a quiet, content baby.  It is like he knows and was saved to be our #5.  He patiently endures his siblings fighting over him, poking him, breathing on him, and his older sister Mikael's screaming fits.  He can sleep thru it all.  He was born on my Dad's 60th birthday.  His middle name comes from and in honor of my Mom.  Lewis is her maiden/middle name.  Our lives have changed again at the Baum household.  Some of us are adapting to the change better than others.  I will write more on that later.  We are so thankful for our healthy, beautiful boy.

100 yard dash



Mikael and Livi - 4th of July 2012

There is a story told in my family.  My Mom still wants to cry when she recalls that day.  It was spring 1983, my Mom left her 4 little girls in a running van and with heavy steps made her way inside her Dad's house.  She was 9 months pregnant with #5, who would later be known as Addie.  Back in that world of no car seats, 2 year old Lindsay made her way to the front seat, and somehow managed to take the van out of park.  The van that was now in reverse was headed for a nearby ditch or beyond.  When my Mom noticed the now moving van - She ran for her life.  The van beat her to the ditch and stopped.  I have heard her describe the terror she felt many times.  I can only imagine.  Her girls survived, without a scratch but my Mom was in bad shape.  She had to be picked up and hauled into her Dad's house.  She could not walk.  Her pregnant hips had given out on her after her 100 yard dash.  Two grown men hauled her to the bathroom and sat her on the toilet.  My Mom was on the brink of hyperventilation, extreme humiliation, and imminent labor.

Labor did not come that day.  Or the next.  Addie would arrive on her due date a couple weeks later and my Mom's hips and pride would eventually heal.  I would assume that my Mom caught a glimpse that terrifying day of how much her life could and would change with the birth of her 5th child.  I'm sure she contemplated her predicament.  I'm sure she wanted to take me out and beat me.  I'm sure she cried to my Dad that night.  5 babies would be a lot of work and worry.  And maybe, just maybe running after that van that day would not be the only time as a mother that she would feel like she was in the sprint of her life.

And so now, here I am, 9 months pregnant with my 5th child.  I'm at times terrified.  Hyperventalating.  Eating humble pie.  And sprinting toward the finish line.  (The finish line less than 3 weeks away)

So please excuse my long absence? 

And please excuse the following photos.  They have nothing to do with this post.  Here is just a glimpse of what we have been up to:



Mikael - Milwakee airport June 2012

Noah - Lake Powell July 2012 - Was quite the wakeboarder this year!

Mikael's "baby" - That cat has a special place in heaven for putting up with her

Family Pic on Pioneer Day 2012 (some of us in costume)

Mikael and Ezra bike riding on the newly poured concrete

1st day of school 2012 and a house still under major renovation

Mikael has a slight obsession with books right now

Jace's favorite past time - breeding.  Anything.  Me.  The llamas.

I do not like sheep.  Jace does.  They get out of their pen every time Jace leaves town.

Jace buried the trampoline this summer.  That baby can help herself to a few jumps whenever she feels the need.  It's fantastic.

Dangerous Words

My bellybutton sticks out when I'm pregnant. And it's painful.  But not as painful as these sponge painted walls.

Our Heber project has been waiting patiently in the wings.  As you can see from the above (before) photo, the Heber house was bought last summer when I was pregnant.  Very pregnant.  I have had visions about this house bouncing around in my head for months.  This house cries for our attention, time, and $.  Has it's turn finally come?

I hope so.

The Show Low house sold this week.  Don't cry.  I use the word "sold" loosely and optimistically.  One time Jace and I "sold" a house in Snowflake.  We packed, lined up rental, and basically moved out - only to get a phone call on the last day of escrow informing us that the buyers were no longer qualified for a loan.  We moved back in.  Cried.  Unpacked.  And then sold the house a year later for $50,000 more.  Boom.  We showed them.  But a valuable lesson was learned....your house is never sold until you have the $ in hand.  Got it?  Repeat after me:  "Money in Hand.  Money in Hand."  The correct terminology is:  "Our house in Show Low is under contract."  Some very nice people are in the process of acquiring the funds in hopes to purchase the adorable house before month's end.  So....Wahoo!  I have already starting spending my 1st commission check!
What was it I was saying earlier about $ in hand?  I don't know.  Whatever.

The "sold" Show Low Family Room.  Before.

There was a tiny twinge of disappointment when I signed my name on the contract line this week.  I daydream about living in a town with a Wal-Mart and a car wash with real employees that will vacuum your car for you.  If the Show Low house was never to sell, then I could have told those Snowflake Lobo children of mine that desperate times call for desperate measures - "Pack your bags!  We are going back to the Motherland!"  They would have been whistling the Cougar fight song in no time.

Family Room.  After.

But it is not to be.  And the good part about that is.....we will soon be moving on to another exciting house project!  Hold on to your shorts - it's about to get real messy around here.

Dangerous words posted (definition of dangerous will vary from person to person):  Sold, Snowflake Lobos, Show Low Cougars, Wal-Mart, bellybutton, pregnant, sponge painted walls, and the phrase "moving on to another exciting house project".