A Little Christmas Cabbage

Each of our children have gotten a Cabbage Patch Kid for their first Christmas. This tradition probably stems from my Cabbage Patch experience as a child. Bless my dear grandma's heart, but when I was little, I wanted a cabbage patch doll desperately... so grandma made me one. She was great from the chin up, but from neck down she was NOT a cabbage patch doll. No bellybutton, or tushcrack wrinkles or most importantly...a signed heiney!! Alas....the Dahlstrom kid Cabbage Patch Christmas came to be. (who cares if we started out with boys!)



Meet Raphael Jasper Dahlstrom. We call him Jasper. This little guy has had his share of life experiences since this morning 5 years ago... poor thing no longer sports a bellybutton or tushcrack wrinkles, his face has a perma-tan now it is stained so badly, lost for weeks in a box in the garage (eerily around the same time as the balloon boy incident). And once when and his "daddy" were only 2 years old, he was the bearer of an unfortunate haircut that will never grow back! BUT, through thick and thin these two have been the best of buds.

Introducing Theodore Jamir Dahlstrom... But you can call him Theo. Mr. Boom-jangles drew the short stick and got his little friend for his second Christmas. He is his "daddy's" second best friend. Afterall, he's always had an "uncle" to compete with for attention! Which, in turn means he is in much better shape. Plus, he's a whole 2 years younger than his "cousin", Jasper! His face is less stained and still has his bellybutton and tushwrinkles fully intact.


Last, but not least Rachel Jeri Dahlstrom has arrived! However, she's been nicknamed R.J. This was the number one thing I was excited to see be opened on Christmas morning this year. Ellie's girl was a secret until she came out of her box because apparently they don't sell Cabbage Patch Dolls like they used to and now the newborn size only comes dressed in a cabbage where you can't see their hair or name on the birth certificate. Ellie really lucked out getting such a cute girl, though! I'm super excited to see all the shenanigans my girl puts her "daughter" through over the next few years, and I'm even more stoked for all the doll clothes I'll get to make her! (I have made my "grandsons" numerous outfits including their own little Colts jerseys, but for some reason they'd much rather be little exhibitionists all the time!)

All of our kids and Christmas"grandkids". It's amazing how fast our family has grown!

seriously...?!

i think my boys have it out for me today. just last night, they were allowed to take a bath by themselves. BIG MISTAKE! they decided to dump out the whole brand new bottle of body/hair wash we hadn't ever used yet, to make a bathroom full of bubbles (seriously, the toilet downstairs was glugging as the tub was being drained upstairs). and covered the bathroom floor with water. as punishment they ended up going to bed and hour early. wet.

fast forward to just now... the boys had been playing quietly for about an hour, so i went to check on them. they heard me coming and quick scramble to lock the bathroom door. not so easy with soapy hands!! they once again have soap suds and water ALL over the bathroom. they had filled up the sink with water and dumped the liquid hand soap all in to make a pond for the thomas tracks they had built over the sink and toilet. i'm kicking myself now for not taking pictures, but i was furious. seriously?! the bath mat and half a dozen towels it took to clean up last night's mess hadn't even made it to the dryer yet! i had the train tracks and train thrown into the tub before i had that "this will be funny later" thought. plus i've found taking pics knowing i'll cool off later, makes them think what they've done is so funny it's picture-worthy.

i've said it before and i'll say it again...the NUMBER ONE thing i cannot stand about having boys... never having a clean bathroom!! it's always wet or soapy or dirty or the TP is destroyed in one way or another, hand towels that get drenched in all the wet or used with dirty hands and faces.

watch... i'll come back and read this when i'm 50 and my kids are grown, and miss this stage. for now.... not so much!

who's who?

we recreated my baby pic with ellie. obviously she's the baby with dark hair, we think ellie looks JUST like her big brother boomer, but when you take these photos side by side you can really see the resemblance to me. which makes me happy. i feel like everyone always says our kids look like jason, so it's nice to see a little of me in her too.
this morning i swear i saw a dimple in her cheek. but maybe i just wished it to be true. we'll see i guess.

Ellison Anne

11:15 - Lights go out after a very eventful night of trick or treating throughout Bellingham. Last thing Crystal says before she goes to sleep; "I'm not ready for a baby." Famous last words.

2:22 - Crystal wakes up to go pee and I wake up to "My water just broke." Roll out of bed and look at the clock and think "2:22, that's a good sign." It's Crystal's favorite number.

2:25 - Call the midwives' pager and wait approx 1.5 minutes for them to call back. Another good sign that Catriona calls back that quick. I tell her Crystal's water broke and a medium amount came out. She seems relaxed and helpful, not like she's gonna rush out. All our midwives (4 of them) know how quickly the other births went, but that's just Catriona, cool as they come. Crystal asks to talk to her to get some reassurance and tells a little white lie that she's having contractions too. Just to get her moving. Contractions started 2 minutes later, so she didn't REALLY lie.

2:32 - Call to Nana that takes a while to wake her to a level of consciousness that she can understand what's happening.

2:50 - Nana arrives on the scene and helps get things set up for the ride.

3:09 - Midwives to the rescue. I just happened to see them coming down the road and it looked like the swat team pulling up to a bank robbery. Zooming down the road, swooping through the cul de sac and backing into the driveway. All in slow motion. Crystal had really been fretting that it would just be me and her for the deliver, so this was the highlight of the night so far. Contractions had been steady with a big one followed by a smaller aftershock followed by 3 minutes of catch up breathing. She's acting like she's done this a million times. My wonder never ceases. I don't know how many people have ever witnessed a natural childbirth, but it is amazing the difference between home and hospital. All the familiar smells, sounds, sights make it seem so much more.......natural.

3:12 - Midwives (I guess I should use names) Catriona and Eloisa have shop set up and are ready to take care of mama and baby whenever she decides to show up. They really are amazing in their prep and they just instill so much confidence and peace.

3:31 - Ellie decides to show up. I'll have to check the tape, but I'm pretty sure that Crystal only pushed twice. This may seem like I'm bragging about my wonderful wife (and I am) but she was absolutely amazing. Ellie came out talking. Not crying, just baby talking loudly. Telling the world that she was now in it.

3:40 - Me and Nana run upstairs to wake the boys (seemed like a good idea at the time) and bring them to meet their baby sister. They didn't know what was happening until we walked into the room and they saw her. It was like they had known her forever, she was just a part of our family the minute she arrived.

5:15 - Catriona had been gone for a while, another mother had called about her labor, and Eloisa was packing up to go because everything went so smoothly, and mama and Ellie were happy and healthy. We'll get a call today and a visit tomorrow to follow up, then an office visit next week.

6:00 - Nana calls it a day and heads out to get some sleep. Just the Dahlstrom 5 now.

where to even start??

here are some of the things that have been going on around here....

MOLLY
the beginning of this month was tough for us. our sweet little molly kitty got very sick and we ended up having to put her down. she was the best, most perfect kitty for our family. she was sweet and spunky. we loved her so much and she is very much missed around here.

we went back to boxx berry farms this year to search for our perfect pumpkins. the boys got an extra bumpety train ride.

here are the kiddos at our ?? annual pumpkin carving party. this is the best pic i got of jason's pumpkin. it's the green one behind brookie. if you can't tell, it's a fetus. in a womb. he's too funny.

jess is the hostess with the mostest and had cute little favors for everyone. here is miss brookie showing everyone the proper way to use a kaliedescope. she is just too cute!!

ladies' man
this little guy is all about the ladies. he was pretty darn sad that his keira wasn't coming. but he was happy with the next best thing...her gorgeous mama!! and this pic sure shows his heart. i think we're in for trouble, for sure!!


nana heidi
came up with tif for the shower... she brought the boys new books and read to them. it was really sweet. boomer looks so concerned because the book is all about stranger danger!

baby shower
ellie's shower was on saturday. it turned out great. the decorations were so cute that i'm keeping them up until she's born. unless thanksgiving comes first... which it had better not!! lots of friends and family came to celebrate and lizzie and jessie were the best hostesses. i had lots of fun. i only took one pic on my camera, so until i get pics back from other people, here is me and lizzie...hopefully our last photo op with us both having bellies!


37 weeks
these pants were a STEAL of a deal at target last night... $3.51. i've been avoiding buying new comfy jammies. i outgrew mine months ago, and ended up taking over all of jason's. he's happy to not have me in his clothes anymore, but hates these pants. i think they're super cute. they have bright little owls all over them.




i've been having lots of contractions. they will check me on friday to see if my body is doing anything productive yet. the time is still FLYING, even though my body is DONE and has been for a few weeks now. i can't quite fathom yet how life is going to change. we are mostly ready, but still have some things that need to get done or that we need to buy before we really are.

i have lots of projects that need to get done. costumes, a baby shower gift for the neighbor, christmas jammie alterations for ellie, thank yous, the boys' playkitchen christmas gift... and that's just craft stuff.

maybe now that my blog is mostly caught up, i can feel like i can move onto those things that need to get done. and i'll leave you with yet another super cute prego pic...

KINDERGARTEN

Jaxon's first day of kindergarten was september 16th. He started a week later than he should have because of the teacher's strike. I was fine with prolonging my heartbreak, but he was VERY disappointed to have to wait even longer! The first day was only an hour or so long assessment to see which of the 2 kindergarten classes he'd be in, but we called that his first day.

Boomer had to get in on a first day pic. I seriously think I have the cutest little boys ever!

And then we all had to get in on one. Hey, it was a very big day for ALL of us! Jason took the first half of the day off so he could be there for it.

In front of the school sign. It's kinda sad to think that next year he'll probably be as tall as that sign!

Onto the second day, Friday. This was the day we got to go to school with him for kindergarten orientation/meet the teacher.



Mrs.Udo is his teacher. She is VERY experienced and super great with the kids. She even plays the ukelele!! It's kind of funny...Jason went to school with Mrs.Udo's son, my cousin's sister in law is one of the office ladies and I had the principal as a student teacher for a semester when i was a freshman in high school 14 years ago and he actually remembered me. It is a small world, indeed!

Jax had fun playing with his classmates while all the parents got to sit in tiny kindergarten chairs and go through paperwork and expectations( i'm kicking myself for not getting a pic of Jason in those chairs-too funny!). Then we all went on a scavenger type tour of the school.

Okay, so here's the first funny story about kindergarten. Monday, the 20th (my birthday) was his first full day at school. we dropped him off in the morning and he just waved bye and never looked back. It was VERY sad and i had to hold back my tears, but I really am thankful that he's so independent and isn't one of the kids who can't let go. (i'm pretty sure it'll be the complete opposite with boomer). Anyway... Jason took that day off, being such a big day and all. He took me shopping for shoes and kept me occupied enough to not break down all day. Finally it's time to pick up Jax, which was supposed to be the highlight of my day. Well, it didn't quite turn out that way.
We go to the office where the kindergarteners are to wait for their parents to get them, and he's not there! Panic ALMOST set in, but the classroom helper told me to just go out to the buses where the teacher physically makes sure each and every one of them gets on the bus. sure enough, he's out there. I catch up to Mrs. Udo first and tell her Jax isn't a bus kid. she says, "okay, i'll take him off my list, just go ahead and take him". sigh of relief. I go over to Jax and grab his hand and say, "c'mon jax, lets go home." His shoulders melt and his chin starts to quiver, "but i wanted to ride the bus..." i try to tell him, no daddy and boomer are waiting inside for us. he still wants to ride. I try to call Jason's cell to tell him to come out and help me reason with jax, no answer, left it in the car. I ask him, "are you POSITIVE you want to ride the bus today?"/
"what does positive mean, mama?" /" it means are you very sure?!"/ "YES!!!"
so i have to decide who's heart gets broken today. his on his first real day of kindergarten or mine on my birthday? guess who won??


you better believe we stalked that bus the whole way home!


here we are doing his first homework. We're a bit worried about it, and hope his schoolwork catches up with him. one of his homework assignments is to count forward from 0-10. really? this kid can count to 10 by twos and to 100 by tens or fives. he's great at simple math and even told jason the other day what half of ten was! he's brilliant and i'm sure they'll start an advanced kindergarten class just for him! j/k but we do hope he won't be bored.


currently jax is on restriction (by us) from the bus, until he can prove that he can listen to us and follow our directions because he WOULD NOT get off the bus on thursday. My big ol' pregnant self had to get on the bus and physically carry him off. All the while he's kicking and screaming and grabbing everything he can to stop me. Then drag him a block and carry him another block home! NOT an easy task!! Later, when we had our talk about consequences for your actions he told me he just wanted to ride the bus all the way to our house, not realizing that the bus doesn't stop in front of everyone's house.

Trip to Oregon in Pics

I have 2 favorites....
*Jax loves his Keira. The pic of the two of them shows that so perfectly, he looks
in complete bliss.
*The one of the girls is super cute, the bridesmaid thinks her "girls" are pretty great, too!

MORE Before & Afters

she may get her big brothers' handmedowns, but she sure won't LOOK like a boy while wearing them!!

half her wardrobe so far is made up of the boys' old clothes!